CHERRY AND COCONUT CAKE

Whilst doing my occasional purge of ancient condiments and out of date foods in the fridge I found a part used jar of bottled cherries.  These things are very sweet but delicious on ice cream or with chocolate cake.   This time my thoughts turned to "cherry cake" swiftly followed by "coconut"! 

I used one of my favourite coconut recipes from the Waitrose website which you can see here. I've previously adapted it to make a delicious coconut and lemon cake which you can see here.

I rinsed, dried and quartered the cherries, a process which I find a bit tedious which is why I've given the cake two stars for the faffing about.  It’s not hard to do, just always takes longer than you think!

The mixture turned out stiffer than I remember so I had to add a splash of milk if I was ever going to get it into the tin.  The good bit about that is that the cherries didn't all sink to the bottom of the cake!

Anyway, it turned out really well, was a lovely cake, with a good coconut flavour, a crisp crust, moist with a Madeira-like texture and little hits of the very sweet cherries.  Perfect for a "not quite Spring yet" cup of tea in the warm afternoon sunshine.  

It was very much appreciated in my watercolour class where we were painting snowdrops and everyone had a second slice!

Ingredients

175g unsalted butter, softened

175g golden caster sugar

3 eggs

1/4 tsp coconut flavouring (optional)

175g self raising flour

100g dessiccated coconut

100g bottled or glacé cherries

a splash of milk if needed

 

Method

 

Butter and line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin or use a paper liner.  Preheat the oven to 180°C /160°Fan / gas mk 4.

Rinse the cherries well and pat dry with kitchen paper.  Cut into quarters.  Put about a tablespoon of the measured flour into a small bowl and tip the cherries in.  Roll them around in the flour with a spoon so that they are well coated in flour.  This should help to avoid them all sinking to the bottom of the cake (although sometimes they do even though I have done this step!).

 

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar using a hand mixer, until light and fluffy.  

In a jug, beat the eggs with the coconut flavouring and then add a dribble at a time to the creamed mixture along with a little flour, beating well with each addition.

 

Fold in the remaining flour, then the coconut and cherries.  If the mixture seems very stiff, mix in a splash of milk to loosen it.  Spoon into the tin and level the top.

 

Bake for 50-60 minutes, covering with foil after 30 minutes, until done.  

 

Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Cuts into 8-10 generous slices.  

(Leftover slices are nice served warm as a pudding with custard!)

CHOCOLATE AND RASPBERRY CAKES for Valentine’s Day

With my OH back in the UK for a week I had arranged a Valentine’s Day meet up with some other ladies who are on their own and without a hot date for the evening.  Feeling at a loose end, I abandoned all the chores I had planned and decided to do something frivolous instead.  I made them all a little Valentine’s gift.

My first idea was to make some fairy cakes, or butterfly buns.  I used my basic all-in-one chocolate cake recipe which you can see here and poked a frozen raspberry into each one.  They turned out a bit craggy* which proved tricky for making the butterfly wings so having struggled with a few I gave up on that idea.  For the rest I just flattened the tops and swirled on some buttercream then sprinkled them with freeze dried raspberry chips.

I wrapped them up in food gift bags, putting a round coaster in the bottom of each one to keep them from falling over.  They looked very pretty and were much appreciated.  Luckily the bar we had chosen to meet was not full of twosomes staring lovingly into each other’s eyes so we didn’t feel too out of place!

*There are several possible reasons for the cragginess, including oven temperature, tin size (small paper cases) but it might be because I used a bag of sponge SR flour which was slightly out of date.  I added a half teaspoon of baking powder to compensate for the possibility that the raising agent might not be as effective but clearly it wasn’t needed and they rose a bit too much!

Ingredients

For the cakes

150g self raising flour

3 eggs

150g softened butter or baking spread

150g caster sugar

1 tbslp cocoa powder

1 tblsp warm water

12 fresh or frozen raspberries

For the icing

50g softened butter

100g icing sugar

1 tblsp cocoa powder

1 tblsp water

To decorate

freeze dried raspberry chips to sprinkle over or other red sprinkles

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C / 140° fan.  Put 12 paper muffin or cupcake cases into a muffin tin.

In a small bowl, jug or cup mix the cocoa powder and water together to make a paste then put all the cake ingredients except for the raspberries into a large bowl and beat well until combined or use a hand held electric whisk.

Divide the mixture evenly between the paper cases (using an ice cream scoop will make this easier).  Push a single raspberry into the top of each cake.

Bake for 20 minutes until done.  Leave in the tin for a few minutes then remove to a wire rack to cool.

To make the icing, mix the cocoa powder and water together to make a paste.  Beat the butter until smooth, sift in the icing sugar and beat well.  Add the cocoa mix and beat in.

To make the butterfly buns, scoop out  a disc of cake from the top of each bun using a sharp knife.  Cut the disc into two halves.  Fill the hollow with a spoonful of chocolate icing and push the halved discs into the top to resemble butterfly or angel wings.  Sprinkle raspberry chips over the icing between the wings.

Alternatively, spread the top of each cake with a swirl of buttercream and sprinkle with the raspberry chips.

Makes 11-12 cakes

BEEF TAGINE WITH PRUNES

We have been rather under the weather for a couple of weeks lately, with horrible colds that we can't seem to shake off and that, combined with the grim winter weather, has had us feeling the need for comfort food even more than usual.

We haven't been up to doing much shopping either so, apart from a dash to the supermarket for some fresh milk and veg, we have been eating up what's in the freezer.  The other day I came across a small piece of stewing beef, called paleron in France, so decided to make another tagine...........we had enjoyed the lamb one so much!

This cookbook is the one I brought to France by mistake, not our favourite but has some nice recipes.  In it I spotted one for beef tagine with prunes which looked easy to do and not too taxing for my cold-fuddled brain.  I adapted the recipe and cooked it along similar lines to the lamb tagine but this time we had it with fresh carrots, broccoli and small potatoes.  We were desperate for fresh veg!  Just what the doctor ordered!  

I can remember clearly the very first time I had prunes cooked with meat.  It was in London in 1972 and I had only ever had prunes with custard or rice pudding before!  They go really well with beef and the lovely spices.

Ingredients 

1 tblsp olive oil

1 large knob butter

2 small red onions, finely chopped

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ ground black pepper

a few strands of saffron

150g stewing beef, trimmed and cubed

¾ of a tin (about 300g) of chopped tomatoes

1 tblsp honey

125g pitted prunes or just a few, as you like

2 tblsp flaked almonds (optional)

Method

Heat the oil and butter in the tagine, add the chopped onions and fry until softened.

Stir in the spices then the meat.  Stir well until the meat is well coated in the spice mixture.

Add the tomatoes and enough water to almost cover the meat and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat, put the lid on and simmer for 1½ hours, stirring occasionally.

Add the prunes, stir well, season to taste and cook for another 30 minutes.

If using the almonds, melt a little more butter and oil in a small frying pan, stir in the almonds, cook until they begin to turn golden brown and add to the tagine just before serving.

Serve with couscous (or veg and potatoes, or pasta)

Serves 2.

LAMB TAGINE WITH DATES

Many years ago, at least fifteen years, possibly more, we were given a book for Christmas entitled "Tagines and Couscous", things that were not part of our usual cooking repertoire.  Then shortly afterwards, Nick came home from work one day with a lovely Emile Henry tagine dish during the January sales, spotted in the window of a gorgeous kitchenware shop which he passed every day on his way to and from the station. (Sadly the shop closed down several years ago.)

The idea of putting a ceramic dish on the hob to cook something seemed very wrong but we crossed our fingers and tried one of the recipes from the book.  It was delicious and we embarked upon a cooking adventure of buying ingredients we had not used before - at the weekends when we had time to do it.  Tagines require long, slow cooking.  

Our opportunities were limited as my dad came round for dinner every Sunday evening and he was not a fan of "foreign food" so it had to be a Saturday or nothing.  Then, a few years later, my GI (gastrointestinal, not American soldier) problem prevented me from eating anything even faintly spicy and the tagine fell into disuse, gathering dust on the top of the fridge.  The shape of them makes them take up too much space in a cupboard!

We dusted it off and brought it back to France with us after our latest trip to the UK at Christmas - such things have to wait until we make the journey by car! Unfortunately we left the recipe book behind but at least that can be easily fetched the next time we fly!  Nick found one of our favourite recipes from it online here which we adapted to use the two lamb neck steaks, destined originally for making haggis, to make our favourite tagine.

I now manage my GI problem by simply leaving the chillies and strong spices out of recipes!  Everything is just as tasty without the searing heat!

If you don't have a tagine you can of course make the stew in a heavy based saucepan with a tight fitting lid or a cast iron casserole dish.

Ingredients 

1 tblsp olive oil

1 large knob butter

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 small knob of fresh ginger, peeled and grated (or ½tsp ground ginger)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

2 small lamb neck steaks or 250g lamb, trimmed and cubed

1 tblsp honey

125g stoned dates or just a few, as you like

2 tblsp flaked almonds (optional)

Method

Heat the oil and butter in the tagine, add the chopped onion and fry until golden brown.

Stir in the spices then the meat.  Stir well until the meat is well coated in the spice mixture.

Add enough water to almost cover the meat and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat, put the lid on and simmer for 1½ hours.

Add the dates, stir well, season with salt and pepper and cook for another 30 minutes.

If using the almonds, melt a little more butter and oil in a small frying pan, stir in the almonds, cook until they begin to turn golden brown and add to the tagine just before serving.

Serve with couscous (or potatoes, or pasta)

Serves 2.

CHICKEN BALMORAL AND HOMEMADE HAGGIS with whisky sauce

Whilst back in the UK for three weeks over Christmas we talked about holding another Burns Night Supper and I wondered whether it might be possible to buy some actual haggis to bring back to France (illegally, as it’s a meat product).

I remember eating haggis in my twenties and liking it.  At the time I lived in Leeds and would buy a real haggis, tied up with string, from the excellent food department of Lewis's on the Headrow. That’s not John Lewis, by the way, but Lewis's.  It was a fabulous shop (to me it was almost the Harrod's of the North).  The food department was in the basement with a black and white tiled floor and you could buy all manner of everyday or exotic foods.  Between Lewis's, Schofield's, the old arcades and the fantastic markets Leeds was a wonderful place to shop in the 1970's.

I found several recipes online suggesting how to use haggis, including some for something called "chicken Balmoral" or "highland chicken" where it’s used as a stuffing for chicken breasts.  I thought that sounded more interesting and possibly more tempting that just serving a dollop of it on the plate for anyone unfamiliar with haggis.  I chose one on a blog called "Caroline's cooking" then noticed that there was also a recipe for homemade haggis, a version that has the offal elements reduced to a minimum.  Real haggis contains the kind of offal that few people would enjoy nowadays, plus suet, onion, oatmeal and spices.  This recipe has enough of a hint of offal without the scary bits.

I had a tin of pinhead oatmeal in the cupboard so brought that back to France after Christmas. For the meat element I used neck of lamb steaks which were reasonably priced and the chicken was ultimately wrapped in English smoked streaky bacon, now an illegal import from the UK!  We had long since worked out that most of our friends were bringing their favourite meats and cheeses to France without any trouble so we thought we'd risk it ourselves.  Nobody at the border took the slightest interest in the contents of our car or cool box.  I imagine that after the early post Brexit flush of enthusiasm the border staff have bigger fish to fry than to search for the odd pound of bacon or sausages!

You can see the recipe for Chicken Balmoral here and for the haggis stuffing here.  I modified both recipes and have to say, I wouldn’t make it again, but decided to write about it because our guests enjoyed it!  For myself I decided that my haggis eating days are well behind me but you never know, you might like it!  I also used some of the Oxo cube stock to make a whisky sauce or gravy to go with it.  Once we got going making the haggis we only used two of the four small lamb steaks I had bought so saved the other two to make a lamb tagine.  I enjoyed that much more!

The stuffed chicken filets can be prepared well in advance which makes it an ideal dinner party dish, as long as you like haggis!  Alternatively stuff them with something else!  The whisky sauce was nice.

Ingredients

For the Haggis

a large knob of butter plus 1 tblsp of vegetable oil (more if needed)

250g lamb steaks

½ tsp each of ground cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, allspice and dried thyme

1 onion

100g chicken livers (or other liver)

50g pinhead oatmeal

½ pint / 200ml chicken or beef stock made using a stock cube or stock pot (we made 400ml from one cube and used the remainder to create a whisky sauce)

salt and pepper

For the chicken Balmoral

4 medium sized chicken breasts

12-15 rashers smoked streaky bacon or unsmoked for a lighter flavour

For the whisky sauce

200ml chicken or beef stock (the remainder from making the haggis)

2 tblsp double cream

A good splash of whisky

Method

To make the haggis, cut the lamb steaks into cubes and mince in a food processor until medium/fine.  Add the liver pieces and process again until combined.  

Chop the peeled onion finely.

Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and cook until softened.

Add the meat and spices, fry until the meat is browned.  Add the stock, cover and simmer for 20 minutes until the meat is cooked.  Season with salt and pepper, stir in the oatmeal and cook for another 20-30 minutes.  You can add more pepper and spices to taste as it cooks.  Go easy at first.  Set aside to cool.

Slash each chicken breast, open out and flatten slightly by bashing with a rolling pin.  Place 1 tbslp of haggis in the middle of each one or enough to fill it adequately.  Fold over to close the fillet.

Lay enough rashers of bacon to almost cover a chicken filet on a piece of cling film, place one on top and roll up, leaving the joins in the bacon underneath.  Repeat with the other chicken filets and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes in the cling film on a tray.

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan.  Place the chicken filets on a baking tray and bake in the oven for around 40 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.

To make the whisky sauce, put the stock into a small pan and bring to the boil.  Stir in the cream and whisky and cook gently until heated through.  Serve immediately with the chicken.

Traditionally this would be served with mashed potatoes and swede, plus a green vegetable such as beans or cabbage.

Serves 4.

ECCLEFECHAN TART

After the success of last year's Burns Night Supper we decided to do it again this year but with a different menu.  The main course and dessert were things I had never made before.  I'll save the post about home made haggis for another day but as Nick said about the dessert "it's a keeper".  I'm not sure the same could be said for the haggis!

I stumbled across the recipe for Ecclefechan tart in a blog called "Them Apples".  You can see it here where it's credited to Jamie Oliver from his book "Jamie's Great Britain".  It's almost a cross between a mince pie and a treacle tart, looks suitably dark and dramatic, and is very rich and delicious.  It also reminded me a little of the Be-Ro butter tartlets that I made a while ago - see here.

My own copy of "Jamie's Great Britain", a charity shop purchase, is currently in our UK house so I couldn't verify the recipe and several other versions of it appear online.  Look it up and take your pick!

This recipe makes quite a large tart and being very rich you only need a small slice.  It would easily serve quite a crowd.  Next time I think I would scale it down a bit (which would be another good reason to go and get a smaller tin!).

I made my own pastry from scratch for the first time in ages.  (Whisky is used to bring the dough together but I'm not quite sure I would do that again.)  I certainly seemed to be out of practice with the pastry making, even with the help of a food processor!  There was much patching of splits and cracks and it was very crumbly, which I found rather disappointing considering that until I got lazy and started using shop bought pastry, I've been doing it since I was about ten years old!  Even so, the tart was lovely and I would definitely make it again, and not just for Burns Night.  It’s a great dessert for the winter months.

As an aside, over the years several people have asked me where I find black treacle in France.  The answer is, I don’t think I ever have!  You can probably get it from the online shopping services that provide British foods to ex-pats in France although I haven't used them myself.  I have occasionally seen tins of Lyle's golden syrup on the "English shelf" in several French supermarkets but in fact I bring mine from the UK.  

Squeezy plastic bottles make it easier to weigh or measure out so I now buy both black treacle and golden syrup that way. 

Lyle's golden syrup is available in squeezy bottles in UK supermarkets but most have their own brand equivalent.  The flavour is slightly different from Lyle's but fine for baking - you might only notice the difference if you like it on your porridge or a crumpet!  I first saw a squeezy bottle of Silver Spoon black treacle in (I think) Asda but the other shop that stocks it is M&S.  I usually get some when we visit the UK by car.  It’s perfectly legal to bring it to France but as it's a liquid you can’t carry it in a cabin bag if travelling by say Ryanair.  It’s fine in your checked in bag but I'd recommend sealing it in a plastic bag or two, just in case of mishaps!

A further update/aside:

I ordered a secondhand copy of Jamie Oliver's book from Amazon.  The books never cost very much and the postage to France was only a couple of pounds more than to the UK so I thought it was worth a punt.  I have had secondhand books posted successfully before but that was before Brexit and I thought this might be a good test case in terms of whether or not I would be stung for hefty import duties.  (The reason why thousands of small UK businesses have lost their European customers.)  A friend recently had to pay 38€ to receive a parcel containing her own clothes, mostly old and well worn, which she had posted due to lack of capacity in her flight luggage.

Anyway, four weeks later the book had not arrived.  I contacted the seller and they immediately sent another copy.  Three weeks later book number two turned up and was just left in my post box with no demand for import duties.  (I am still convinced that book number one might eventually turn up!)

I looked up the recipe for Ecclefechan tart and found the only difference to mine was the addition of some chopped stem ginger, so the next time I make it I will add that and also some chopped walnuts as Karen suggested in the comments.

As a further, further aside……French post boxes are excellent.  They are a large metal box which is usually positioned on the street, so in your gate, wall, door if that's on the street, or a pole at the end of the drive.  They are quite capacious and will take a large parcel.  The outer door has a lock to which all postman have a universal master key so quite large parcels can be delivered whether you are at home or not.  The inner door has a key unique to the box so that only you can retrieve it.  Great idea!  Of course, you can still have a bit of a palaver if the parcel is sent by courier other than La Poste, as they don’t have the master key.

Ingredients

For the pastry

250g plain flour

125g cubed salted butter

50ml whisky

For the filling

1 generous tblsp black treacle

300g mixed dried fruit - I used roughly equal quantities of currants, sultanas, raisins and cranberries

150g unsalted butter, softened

150g soft light brown sugar

3 large eggs

150ml double cream

zest of 1 small orange and 1 small lemon, mixed together

Method

Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour either by hand or using a food processor.  Add the whisky to bring the dough together into a ball (I also had to add a splash of water).  Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.*

Preheat the oven to 180°C / 160° fan / gas mk 4.  Butter a 25cm loose bottomed tart tin.  Placing the tin on a baking sheet makes it easier to get in and out of the oven.

Roll out the pastry to line the tin and prick the base all over with a fork.  Line with scrunched up baking parchment, fill with baking beans and blind bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven and lift out the paper and beans.  Bake for another 5 minutes until beginning to turn golden brown and remove from the oven.

To make the filling, cream together the butter and sugar and beat in the eggs one at a time.  Stir in the double cream.

Drizzle the black treacle over the pastry base and scatter the dried fruit evenly over it.  Scatter the orange and lemon zest over the top.  Pour or spoon the filling on top of the fruit and spread it out evenly.  

Return to the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (mine took about 40 minutes) until almost set.  There should be a slight wobble.

Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin.  (Mine had leaked here and there and stuck to the base so I served it on the base, on a cake stand.)

Serve at room temperature.

Cuts into 10-12 generous slices.

*the next time I made the tart I made a standard sweet pastry recipe using 225g plain flour, 120g cold butter, 2 tblsp icing sugar and an egg beaten with a splash of water.

For the filling I used 260g combined weight of dried fruit plus 40g chopped walnuts.  I also added 2 balls of stem ginger, chopped.

The pastry was easier to handle and roll out, didn’t need any patching, I didn’t chill it because it was a perishing cold day, and it turned out of the tin beautifully!

SOUP OF THE DAY (soup maker recipe)

I know I have waxed lyrical before about how useful I have found my soup maker but.........

Having made the Caesar salad for lunch one day I decided to use the veg and liquid from poaching the chicken the next day in a soup.  It worked really well using a random selection of other veg.  I poured the poaching mixture through a sieve into a jug first to pick out the veg then strained the liquid again to avoid using any unwanted bits in the soup.

My soup maker is a very basic design, doesn't have a sauté function, simply cooks either smooth or chunky but can be used as a blender only.  This is handy if I have made a chunky soup, such as minestrone, then decide I want the chunks a bit smaller.  A quick zap on the blender function makes it a bit finer.

My machine is essentially a large kettle with a blender in it.  Whilst I know that there are some soups that are better made using other means, for everyday lunches and most soups it works perfectly well.  There’s no simmering, stirring, or ladling into a blender to be done.  Once the veg are chopped and you switch it on it does all the work while you do something else and a perfectly good home made soup is ready less than thirty minutes later.  You can add a little spice, a few chopped herbs and a swirl of cream when served in the bowl or, my personal favourite from a Nigella Lawson recipe, a splash of dry sherry and some freshly grated nutmeg.  

There are numerous websites and cook books available to give you ideas, although many of them use machines with extra functions.  If a recipe needs fried or roasted ingredients I do that while chopping the rest of the veg.

One of the veg I like to use now is Jerusalem artichokes as a couple of these add a unique smokiness to the flavour of any soup.  I always buy a few when I see them as they also seem to keep quite well in the fridge.

For this soup I used

The veg and parsley from poaching the chicken (celery, carrot and garlic)

1 large carrot

1 largeish potato

1 medium onion

1 large leek

2 smallish Jerusalem artichokes

3 broccoli stalks, woody outer layer removed

1 chicken stock pot

Method

Having put the poaching veg into the soup maker add enough prepared other veg to fill to the bottom line.

Add the strained poaching liquid and enough water to fill to the top line.

Add the stock pot, give it a good stir and cook on smooth.

Makes 4 generous bowls of soup.