Mum's Chocolate Cake

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Cake is gonna get you!

Here's Cake-ie!

My mum has been making this cake ever since I can remember - I think she got the recipe from Martha down the road - but I'm claiming it for my mum. Any occasion of note which involved kids saw this cake getting whipped up. It's a moist and delicious and appears a lot more complex than the simple recipe that makes it. The secret ingredient is black treacle - I won't hide it from you! 

Ingredients

9oz Caster Sugar

9oz Self Raising Flour

9oz Butter

3 eggs

2 tablespoons of Cocoa Powder

1/2 teaspoon of Baking Powder

1 tablespoon of Black Treacle

A dash of milk

For the icing

5oz of Icing Sugar

1.5oz Cocoa Powder

2oz Caster Sugar

3 tablespoons Water

3 oz Butter

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/180oc, and grease 2 circular cake tins, and line the bottoms. I used cake tins that had a diameter of 10 inches.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together in a large bowl. Add in the softened butter, eggs, treacle and the milk. Blend them all together until very well mixed, add more milk if the mixture appears too chick. Spoon into the tins and bake at the centre of the oven for 40 mins. 

Meanwhile you can prepare the icing. Sift the icing sugar and the cocoa powder into a bowl. Place the caster sugar, water and butter in a small pan.

When the cake is cooked it should spring up from a gentle press down, or a skewer should come out clean when poked into the centre. Remove gently form tins and allow to cool.

To make the icing - melt together the contents of the pan and then mix into the icing sugar mixture. If the mixture is a little thick for spreading - just add the smallest dash of boiling water and that should loosen it out a small bit. Similarly if it's to runny you could sieve in some more icing sugar. Spread over and between the two cooled sponges and you're done.

Decorate with chocolates and marshmallows for kids - or give it a dusting of icing sugar or cocoa powder for the adults. You can also make this in a tray and slice out little squares. It looks a bit like a scary ominous monster in this photo I think! It's the cake for every chocolate cake moment

Pecan & Banana Loaf

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Bananas!

I used to play in a band - where I met my boyfriend and the lovely Jane and Andy. There was a song that had a strange stop in it - and the only way we could all come back in at the right time was for Jane to sing the word - Bananas! Then it became everyone's favourite part of the song - good memories!

Ingredients

6 oz softened butter 

6oz golden caster sugar 

3 eggs 

5oz of self raising flour 

3oz ground almonds 

½ tsp baking powder 

100ml/3.5 fl oz milk 

2 small really ripe bananas

2oz pecan nuts – chopped

Pre-heat your oven to 160c/Gas Mark 3. Grease and line a 2lb/900g loaf tin.

To make the loaf batter simply lob all the ingredients into your trusty vintage Kenwood Chef (Did I mention I was given a lovely old Kenwood Kitchen Chef from my parents friends?)

Whisk together until you get a lovely batter. Then lob this into your loaf tin.

Lob this into the oven for 45-50 minutes.

Then lob into your face – after a modest amount of cooling on a wrack. Yummy 

You could always add some icing or frosting if you like – but I thought this was perfectly sweet light and spongy – maybe next time another banana.

This picture is silly and I love it! It's Friday let's all be silly

Carrot, Chickpea & Harrisa Soup

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A Thoroughly Super Soup

So I spent a lovely weekend at home with my parents and visiting my friends and all of their little babies! Cute the lot of them. My mum cooked a great soup which she got from the BBC Food magazine. It was delicious, spicy filling soup, with a hearty consistency. A real winner and super healthy of course, thanks mum!

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 onion dices
50g of carrots
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of cumin seed
1 tsp of coriander seed
1 tsp of caraway seed
1 tbsp of harrisa paste
1 litre of vegetable stock (or chicken of you like)
a small bunch of parsley
410g can of chickpeas
To serve – plain Greek yogurt

In a large pan cook the onion in some olive oil on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes until translucent and soft. Next add in all the carrots and the garlic and cook uncovered for another 5 mins.

Meanwhile grind all the whole spices in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Tip this mixture into with the carrots and onion long with the harissa. Stir well to mix and then add in all of your stock. Bring to a nice simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until the carrots are soft.

Then add in the drained chickpeas, and allow these to heat through. Remove one cup full of the mixture and blend the remaining with a stick blender. Add back in the cup and stir before serving with a big dollop of yogurt.

This soup sounds pretty simple – but it’s pretty spectacular. It must be the harissa – seriously make it – it’s great!

I went a bit crazy with this photo – but I like it.

Sun Dried Tomato & Sprouted Red Linseed Tapenade

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Alive, Alive – ooh!
Firstly, you may or may not have noticed that this little corner of the Internet has been a little quiet of late. Reasons for this being, firstly various holidays taken by me and Lola and secondly has been work – I have been closing up a large and frantic tender – and Lola has recently started a new job. Food, sadly has been low on our list of priorities.

I ate some wonderful Polish food in Gdansk, great sauteed potatoes and pork fillet pounded thin and tender in a  rich creamy sauce spicy with green peppercorns (for breakfast – ahem). The other memorable food experience was cooking a ratatouille in an empty swimming pool in the centre of Berlin.

So following these late nights of both partying and working – with all convenience food that goes with them, I felt like I needed a little cleanse. So I’ve been eating raw food  for the last few days. I’ve been sprouting seeds sporadically over the last few years, it’s great fun and very easy to do.

Simply soak 1 tablespoon of seeds in water over night  - then drain and place on a saucer/plate/sprouter. Rinse the seeds once/twice a day and watch as they triple in size and explode apart with shoots. I’ve bought a few packets of pre-mixed assortments of seeds in health food shops, but have also successfully sprouted mung beans, chickpeas, cress and various lentils. It’s amazing to think of so many store cupboard ingredients being able to transform themselves so readily with just some water and daylight.

I’ve added these most often to salads, but also go great in curries, stews and soups – as garnish or an integral part of the dish. This was the first time I used them as a part of a dip,  Sharp, tangy, hot and garlicy – goes great with crudities.

Ingredients
4 sun dried tomatoes in oil 
a big handful of any kind of sprouts (I used a mixture of brown lentils, red linseed and mung beans) 
1 clove of garlic (less if you’re not a big garlic fan) 
A good squeeze of lemon juice 
2 small cherry tomatoes 
1 tablespoon of olive oil 
1 tablespoon of tahini 
a few sprigs of parsley 
Salt and freshly milled pepper

Add all ingredients,  except the fresh tomatoes, into a blender and blend to your desired consistency -  I added in the two small tomatoes at the end to thin it out a little and give it a better consistency. I’d love to know what you think of this yummy cousin of hummous twice removed !

I’ve been busy in the kitchen – making various things to go in jars – spicy tomato chutney and homemade mustard – can’t post till they’ve had some time to mature so stay posted!

Smoked Mackerel Kedgeree

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Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner

This is a traditional english breakfast dish but I just ate it for dinner and it hit the spot nicely! There is no need to be pedantic about what time of day things should be eaten, I always think!

You can make this with any smoked fish but if its raw fish make sure to poach it in milk for 8-10 mins previous to adding it in to the rice.

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 smoked mackerel fillets

2 eggs

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

1 inch piece ginger

1 yellow or red pepper

1 red chili

1 teaspoon garam marsala

1 teaspoon curry powder

160gr basmati rice (I used wholemeal/brown basmati, but you could use white just as well)

1 bunch fresh coriander or dill

begin by washing the rice thoroughly

Then boil it according to the cooking instructions on the pack. Wash the eggs, then, using the tip of a very sharp knife, drill a small hole in the end of each egg. This will stop them cracking when you drop them into boiling water. When there is 10 minutes left to go on the rice, add the eggs in their shells to the rice and cook the rice and eggs together (just handier this way!).

Chop the onion, garlic and chilli finely, and grate the ginger. Saute everything in a frying pan until the onion is soft and transluscent. the add the spices and the chopped pepper.

When the rice is cooked, remove the eggs and set aside. Add the drained rice to the frying pan with the onion etc in. Stir well. Flake the mackerel fillets into chunks and remove the skin. Add this to the rice mixture and stir well.

To serve, peel the shells off the eggs, cut them in half and put them on the plate as a garnish to the kedgeree. Chop the coriander of dill and sprinkle this over just before serving.

Yet another breakfast/brunch treat! We must have a brunch party soon to try out all these recipes on real people!

Spicy Curly Veggie Fries with Mint & Chive Dip

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I discovered a nice new blog yesterday from fellow Dubliner, David - Kitchen 72, there are some nice recipes with a healthy bent. I read his recipe for carrot and feta salad with mint and harissa and decided that I would make this for my dinner. One hugely failed shopping trip later and I had half the ingredients - so I made this instead - it has carrots, harrisa and mint in too - same same but roasted!
 

Ingredients
Serves 2
2 Yams
1 Sweet potato
2 Large carrots (all cut into thin batons
1 Tablespoon of harissa
5 Cloves of garlic
Salt & pepper
A good dash of olive oil

For the dip (serves one)
2 Tablespoons of yogurt
A handful of chives (finely chopped)
A handful of mint (finely chopped)
A sprinkle of smoked paprika

Pre-heat your oven to gas mark 6. Toss all the fries ingredients well in a big baking tray - the thinner you can spread them apart from each other the crispier they’ll be. Bake on a high shelf for 45-50 minutes turning once or twice to ensure even crisping.
 
To make the sauce simply mix together the yogurt and herbs and sprinkle with a bit of paprika.  The spicy harissa is balanced out with the mint ad yogurt beautifully.
 
This dish would be great with baba-ganoush as a dip  - or roast breast of chicken on the bone  - or some grilled halloumi.

Lemon Meringue Pie

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Guest Chef no.5 - Jane Fitzgerald

Jane Fitzgerald is a mutual friend of both Lola and mine - we met her on the first day of college also, though not over a cigarette. She's a great cook, and prepared a fabulous dinner for us and a few other friends last Saturday. The entire meal was wonderful but the piece-de-resistance was an enormous Lemon Meringue Pie, it's size was matched only by how delicious it was.

She kindly agreed to share the recipe with us below, enjoy ......

Lemon meringue pie - a 50's housewife's piece de resistance. Don't be scared off by the long recipe, it'll be well worth the effort, and isn't too laborious if you have a food blender.

Ingredients:
For the pastry:
4 oz (110 g) plain flour
pinch salt
2 oz (50 g) butter, at room temperature and cut up into dice - sized cubes
1 -2 tablespoons of water

For the filling:
grated zest (see my tip below!) and juice of 2 large lemons
3 level tablespoons cornflour
2 oz (50 g) golden caster sugar
3 large egg yolks
1½ oz (40 g) butter

For the meringue:
3 large egg whites
6 oz (175 g) golden caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Serves 6.

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5, 375°F (190°C).

You will also need a 1 inch deep pie tin with sloping sides, measuring 7½ inch at the base and 9½ inch at the top. It helps if it's a nice dish as you'll be serving the pie in it.

Start by making the pastry. Sieve the flour and a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Then add the butter, cut into smallish lumps, and, using only your fingertips, lightly rub the butter into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs. Sprinkle in some cold water – about 1 tablespoon. Knead the pastry, adding a few more drops of water until you have a smooth dough that will leave the bowl clean. Or if you're lucky enough to have a food processor, mix the butter, salt and flour together until it does the same thing, then add the water. If you have enough time, leave it wrapped up the fridge for half an hour as this makes it easier to roll out. This also gives you time to put your curlers in and do your nails for when your husband comes in from a hard day at the office.

Next, roll the pastry out to a circle about ½ inch larger all round than the rim of the tin and lay it out in the tin. Make sure not to leave any air under it, and press a fork around the entire rim so that the pastry doesn't come away from the tin as it cooks. Then prick the base all over with a fork. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove the pastry case from the oven and immediately lower the heat to gas mark 2, 300°F (150°C) for the meringue.

Now, for the filling, otherwise known as lemon curd (you can have anything left over for your toast in the morning!). Measure 10 fl oz (275 ml) cold water into a jug, and spoon the cornflour and sugar into a bowl. Add enough of the water to the cornflour to make a smooth paste, then pour the rest of the water, along with the grated lemon zest, into a small saucepan. A little tip here. If you have a hand held blender and hate zesting lemons, do this instead. Using a peeler, peel the lemons, taking care not to peel off too much pith, then put this in a hand held blender and whizz around. Hey presto - hassle free zest.

Bring the mixture in the saucepan to the boil, then pour it gradually on to the cornflour, mixing all the time until it is smooth. Now return the mixture to the saucepan and bring back to the boil, still mixing. Next, simmer very gently for about 1 minute, stirring all the time to prevent any lumps forming. Then remove the pan from the heat and beat in the egg yolks, lemon juice and, finally, the butter. Pour the lemon mixture into the pastry shell and spread it out evenly.

Finally, for the meringue, use a large, roomy bowl (or a blender) and whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Now whisk in a quarter of the sugar at a time, then spread the meringue to the very edge of the pastry rim with a spatula, so that it seals the edge completely. Use a spatula to smooth out the meringue, or add a few swirls. Cook in the oven on the centre shelf for 35 - 40 minutes, or until the meringue turns a golden beige, and is squishy on the inside and crunchy on the outside.

I prefer to serve this luke warm, and all on its own.

It's a good thing that I'm salivating as I type!

This recipe is taken (mostly) from Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery
Course and Delia Smith’s Complete Illustrated Cookery Course.