Birthday cake

We have just had a birthday in our household. What better way to celebrate the event than with a chocolate cake. This Chocolate Victoria Sponge Cake is quick to make and is a big hit with my family. I like to fill it with some whipped up cream (sweetened with a touch of icing sugar) and some fresh berries.  

Chocolate Victoria Sandwich Cake

INGREDIENTS

200g unsalted butter, softened

200g caster sugar

4 eggs

175g SR flour

50g cocoa
1 tsp vanilla essence
FOR THE FILLING
250ml double cream
170g raspberries
icing sugar to dust the cake

METHOD

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C, gas mark 4. 

Grease and line 2 x 20cm round sandwich cake tins (shallow tins) or 1 x 20cm deep cake tin.

1. Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. If the mixture begins to separate (curdle), then add a tablespoon of flour, which will help to stabilise the mixture again.

3. Sieve together the flour and cocoa, then fold into the mixture using a metal spoon.

4.Place half of the mixture in each of the prepared tins and quickly smooth out with a knife.

5. Bake for about 25 - 30 minutes until the cake is golden and springs back when you gently touch the surface.

6. When cool, slice the cake in two if you have baked one sponge, fill with chocolate the whipped cream and berries icing and top with a dusting of icing sugar.

Baked cod with butter beans, tomatoes and chorizo

A few months ago, having had a few glasses of wine, I decided to sign up for ‘The Edinburgh MoonWalk’ with a group of friends.  By signing my name up I have committed myself to a 26 and a bit mile walk through the wee hours of the morning in Edinburgh during the dizzy heights of a Scottish summer. When I signed up for this event I figured the only way that I was ever going to complete a marathon was by walking one. Of course it is also for a fantastic cause as all funds raised go to a breast cancer charity.

In order to get ready for the event the committed party have walked many miles in an attempt to build up our stamina.  It is also an excuse to eat a little bit more than usual!

As part of my training this week I walked a hot and sweaty 17 mile walk in 25C along a canal path. The night before the walk I prepared a carb-loaded dish with butter beans and chorizo in a tomato sauce served with a chunky piece of baked cod.  It proved to be the perfect preparatory dish, although you certainly do not have to walk 17 miles to walk off this dish. I also took along some chocolate brownies for my pudding on the walk day (which made my blisters feel better). 

Baked cod with butter beans, tomatoes and chorizo

INGREDIENTS

(Serves 6)

900g cod fillet

400g chorizo, chopped into cubes

450g small tomatoes

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 bunch spring onions, chopped

3 x 400g tins butter beans, drained

150mls white wine

2 tbsp olive oil

juice of 1 lemon

1 tbsp chopped chives

METHOD

1.Pre-heat the oven to 200 C/gas mark 6. Place the cod fillets on a piece of foil big enough to seal the piece (it might be easier to divide the fish in two and have two pieces of foil), and drizzle some of the olive oil and lemon juice on each piece. Season well, seal in the foil and place on a baking sheet. Cook for approximately 20 minutes until the fish is cooked.

2. Meanwhile, place the chorizo in a pan. Cook the chorizo until crisp and brown. There is no need to add oil, as the chorizo will release its own oil. Once cooked, add the garlic and spring onions and cook for 1 minute.

3. Next add the baby tomatoes and cook until soft. Add the white wine and cook for 2 minutes. Then add the butter beans and heat them through.

4. Serve the chorizo, tomatoes and butter beans with the fish placed on top and sprinkle the dish with the chopped chives. 

Chocolate brownies

In my view, you can never have too much chocolate. These chocolate brownies are wonderfully gooey and ooze with dark and white chocolate. This recipe is one of my family’s favourite teatime treats. You can make these brownies with or without nuts. For a fruity version why not try the raspberry chocolate brownie recipe.

INGREDIENTS

300g (10oz) caster sugar

4 eggs

225g (8oz) unsalted butter

75g (3oz) cocoa

75g (3oz) plain flour

225g (8oz) good quality plain chocolate

100g (4oz) hazel or pecan or walnuts roughly chopped

225g (8oz) white chocolate chopped into pieces (you can put in less if you like as I have doubled the amount on the original recipe)

METHOD

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 C/350 F/gas 4 and lightly grease a 20cm (8 in) tin. (pop up tin if you have one)

2. Beat together the sugar and eggs making the sugar has completely dissolved.

3. Melt the butter, cool a little and whisk into the sugar and eggs.

4. Melt the dark chocolate in a pan over a bowl of warm/hot water on the stove.

5. Whilst the chocolate is melting, sieve together the cocoa and flour and add to egg and butter mixture.

6. Add the melted dark chocolate. Mix in well.

7. Finally, add the chopped nuts and white chocolate.

8. Turn the mixture into the prepared baking tin and bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes. Leave to cool and cut into wedges/squares.

Raspberry chocolate brownies (no nuts)

INGREDIENTS

170g fresh strawberries

3 medium eggs separated

150g caster sugar

150g dark chocolate

150g white chocolate, cut into pieces

200g natural probiotic yoghurt

4 tbsp vegetable oil

175g self raising flour

75g cocoa powder

METHOD

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 C/375 F/Gas mark 5. Grease and line the base of a 20cm tin with parchment paper.

2. Place the dark chocolate into a bowl and place over a saucepan of hot water over some heat. Allow the water to gently simmer and melt the chocolate.

3. Puree half the raspberries in a food processor and reserve the other half. Mix the pureed raspberries with the egg yolks, sugar, yoghurt and oil. Sift in the flour and cocoa and gently fold into the  raspberry mixture.

4. Add the melted dark chocolate to the mixture and fold in.

5. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add a spoonful to the raspberry and chocolate mixture and stir well. Then gently add the rest of the egg whites and fold in until the whites all incorporated into the mixture.

6. Add the whole raspberries and white chocolate and mix in well.

7. Spoon the mixture into the tin and bake for 20 minutes or until firm to the touch. Cool for 5 minutes and turn the cake out onto a rack, removing the parchment paper. Cut into squares to serve. Store in an airtight container.

Asparagus and chicken risotto

There is nothing quite like our wonderful British asparagus, it is delicious. It is roughly available from May through to June, which is a very short season. One of my favourite ways of cooking with asparagus is to use it in a risotto. You can make a vegetarian version with asparagus, adding some mint and lemon just before serving. I like to make an asparagus risotto served with chicken. Needless to say both versions are served with lots of grated Parmesan. A glass of Sauvignon also works well with this dish.

INGREDIENTS

(Serves 6 as a main course)

1 litre/1¾ pints vegetable or chicken stock

4 tablespoons olive oil

3 chicken breasts, chopped into pieces

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

600g/1lb 6oz risotto rice

250ml/9fl oz vermouth or dry white wine

2 bunches of asparagus, woody ends removed and discarded

1-2 handfuls of freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus a block for grating

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

1. Bring your stock to a simmer in a saucepan. Put 1-2 tbspns olive oil in a separate pan and cook your chicken pieces. Season well with salt and pepper. Once cooked, remove the chicken from the pan and put to one side.

2. In a clean pan add 1-2 tbspns olive oil and a little butter. Add the chopped onions and cook very gently for 15 minutes until soft, taking care not to let the onions brown. Once the onions are soft add the chopped garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Next add the rice (it will sizzle) and turn up the heat. Try not to let the rice mixture catch on the bottom of the pan, so keep stirring.

3. Quickly pour in the vermouth or wine. You will smell the alcohol immediately, so keep stirring all the time until it has evaporated, leaving the rice with a lovely perfume.

4. Add the stock to the rice a ladle at a time, stirring and waiting until it has been fully absorbed before adding the next. Turn the heat down to low so the rice does not cook too quickly, otherwise the outside of each grain will be stodgy and the inside hard and nutty. Add the chopped asparagus and allow it to cook with the rice in the stock. Continue to add ladlefuls of stock until it has all be absorbed. Keep stirring the risotto through out this process (for about 15 minutes).

5. Add the chicken pieces back to the pot and continue to cook the rice until soft (al dente) for approximately another 5 minutes. The risotto should hold its shape but be soft, creamy and oozy, and the overall texture should be slightly looser than you think you want it.

6. Turn off the heat. If you want a rich risotto add a knob of butter and stir in, then add a handful of Parmesan to the pot. Alternatively leave the mixture as it is for a less rich version. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed. Put a lid on the pan and leave the risotto to rest for a minute. Serve with some grated Parmesan on the table.

Italian cheesecake

I often make this cheesecake for pudding or for teatime. The cheesecake can be put together in 10 minutes and it’s quick to bake. The base is made with amaretti biscuits, which gives the cake a wonderfully chewy texture that works brilliantly with the creamy top layer.

If you are feeling very indulgent and fancy a rich cake, you can use mascarpone cheese. For a lighter, more fluffy cake use ricotta cheese.

Serve with fresh berries when they are season. When berries are not in season this cheesecake is great served with a compote made from frozen berries.

Prep 10 minutes

Cooking time 35 minutes

INGREDIENTS

85g (3oz) unsalted butter, plus some butter to grease the tin

175g (6oz) amaretti biscuits

400g (14oz) mascarpone OR ricotta cheese

finely grated zest of 3 unwaxed lemons, juice of 1 lemon

115g (4oz) caster sugar

2 eggs, separated

2 tbsp cornflour

1 tsp vanilla essence

pinch of salt

METHOD

1.Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/gas mark 4. Butter and line with parchment paper the base of a 20cm/8in loose-bottomed cake tin.

2. Put the amaretti biscuits into a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Melt the butter, put the crushed biscuits and butter into a bowl and mix. Put all of the mixture in the baking tin and press down into an even layer.

3. Put the mascarpone (or ricotta), lemon zest and juice, vanilla, sugar and egg yolks into a bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon.  Put the cornflour into the bowl and mix.

4. In a separate clean bowl, whisk the eggs whites with the salt until they form stiff peaks (like a meringue). Fold the egg whites into the cheese mixture.

5. Spread the mixture on top of the biscuit in the cake tin. Smooth off the top.

6. Bake the cheesecake for 35 minutes. The cake should be firm to the touch. Once cooked, leave the cake in the tin to cool.

Steak and chips - Election night TV dinner

This is the first election where our children have been able to comprehend a little about what is going on in the political world. It has been quite interesting discovering what children can glean from the news on TV, newspapers and conversations in the playground. We have been bombarded with lots of questions. Many of the questions and conversations have been about just who mummy and daddy were intending to vote for. My youngest asked me as I dropped off at school before I went off to vote on Thursday morning, “So mummy are you going to vote for Labour, the Orange coloured party or the Conservatory Party” – I have tried to explain that the Conservatives do not make glass buildings, but maybe she is right after all.

We decided to have a TV dinner on election night, something quick to make and delicious to eat, steak and chips seamed the obvious answer for a ‘change’.  We watched the election unfold late on Thursday and into Friday. As the polls had predicted, we got our Hung Parliament and three days later we are still waiting to hear who will be running government. We could have had a very slow roast dinner instead!

Fillet steak

1 x 6oz fillet steak per person

1 tbsp vegetable oil (you can use olive oil, however it has a lower burning point)

The secret to making a good steak is to put a little oil in a pan and make sure that the pan is very hot before you put the steak in to cook. The frying pan should be almost smoking before you add the meat. You should also make sure that the meat is well seasoned.

Cook each side of the steak for 3-4 minutes – depending in how well cooked you like your meat.

Home made oven chips

Oven chips are quick and cheap to make. I prefer to leave the skins on my potatoes, but you can peel them if prefer.

Pre heat the oven to 200 C/ Gas mark 6

Scrub a handful of potatoes (enough to serve for the number of people you are feeding). Chop the potatoes into large chips and place onto a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season well. Use your hands to turn the potatoes over and coat them in oil. Bake the potatoes for 35-40 minutes (until golden brown) turning them after they have been in the oven for 20 minutes.

Purple sprouting broccoli with slithers of garlic

1kg purple sprouting broccoli (serves 4)
3-4 tbspn extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, cut into slices

This vegetable dish is delicious. Cook your broccoli al dente. In a separate pan add the extra virgin olive oil. Add the garlic chopped and cook until golden brown. Stir the oil and garlic into the drained, cooked broccoli, season and serve.

Purple sprouting broccoli is in season from February through to early May.

Handmade beetroot bread

Making bread is incredibly therapeutic. The lovely soft texture of the dough is great to pummel and you get a 10-minute work out in the kitchen - perfect. The bread making process is not laborious (I promise!) and you can choose to add seeds, herbs, grated vegetables or a whole host of other flavours to your dough.

Beetroot is roughly in season from May to October in the UK.  Some beetroot breads can be made with a starter dough (dough that has been mixed 24 hours in advance and allowed to ferment). As this recipe is made without a starter dough, it is quick and easy to make. It is great to eat with a hunk of cheese or a bowl of soup.

INGREDIENTS

Makes two loaves

750g strong white flour

350mls tepid water

250g cooked beetroot, grated

20g fresh yeast, or one sachet of dried yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 egg, beaten to glaze

caraway seeds

METHOD

1. Dissolve the yeast with sugar in a little of the water. Allow the mixture to become frothy. Add the yeast mix to the rest if the water.

2. Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl.  Pour in the water and yeast mixture and mix the dough together by hand.

3. Sprinkle a work surface with some flour and knead the dough. This process is important as it is stretching the gluten. After 7-10 minutes the dough will stop feeling sticky and will be all stretchy. The dough is ready when you it can stretch to a very thin skin without breaking.

4. Oil a bowl and put the dough into it. Cover it with oiled cling film or a cloth and put it somewhere warm to rise for one to two hours.

5. When the dough has doubled in size, return it to the work surface and knead once more making sure that you knock all of the puffiness out of the dough.

6. Shape the bread into loaves. You can make round loaves or bloomer shaped loaves (oval). Put the shaped bread onto a greased baking sheet, cover and leave to prove for 45 minutes, again in a warm place.

7.  Preheat your oven to 230 C/450 F/Gas mark 8.

8. When the loaves have risen, brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with caraway seeds. Then make a series of knife cuts across each loaf, on a diagonal about 1cm deep.

9. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. To check if the bread is cooked, turn the loaf upside down and tap the bottom. When it is cooked it should sound hollow.

10. When cooked allow the bread to cool on a rack to allow the crust to form properly and the structure to hold inside before slicing.

Italian meatballs in a tomato sauce

In our house we always seem to have group conversations about what we should have for dinner. My three children can never agree. They all like to express a preference. So, as my youngest (aged six) and I were having some quality one-on-one time this Thursday during our trip to the Opticians, she was allowed to choose what she would like for tea. 

After asking me a raft of questions about eyes, including why people wear glasses and whether cats can wear glasses too, we moved on to what food she would like to eat that evening. “How about meatballs and pasta?” she asked, “I love them!” Dinner was decided. She then turned to look at a passing white van that was covered in grime on which someone had written on the back, “I wish my wife was as dirty as this”.  My youngest promptly asked, “What does that mean mummy?” I quickly changed the subject. There is clearly nothing wrong with her eyesight.

Dinner that evening was a big success, all of the family was happy with the menu selected by number three child. Everyone has a recipe for meatballs. My recipe has two options, one that is a little spicy or a more traditional Italian recipe. My children love them both.

Pork meatballs

(prep time: 10 minutes, cooking time: 20 minutes)

2 tbsp olive oil and a knob of butter

1 onion finely chopped

500g minced pork

500g pork sausage meat

handful chopped basil

EITHER 60g grated Parmesan

OR ¼ tsp paprika for the spicy version

1. Heat the 1 tbspn olive oil and  butter in a frying pan and cook the onions slowly until soft. Remove from the pan once cooked and cool down.

2.  In a bowl mix the minced pork , sausage meat, chopped basil and Parmesan for the non-spicy meatballs, OR add paprika instead of the Parmesan for the spicy meat balls. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.

3. Take a pinch of the mixture and roll a meatball. The mixture should make enough for 20 meatballs (makes more or less depending on the size).

4. In a clean frying pan, heat the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil. Place in some of the meatballs making sure that you do not overcrowd the pan. Cook the meatballs on a medium heat, turning them every few minutes to make sure that they are cooked and caramalised to a deep golden brown on each side.

5. Remove the cooked meatballs and repeat the process until all of the meatball mixture is cooked.

6. Add the meatballs to the tomato sauce and serve with pasta. Serve with linguini or spaghetti. Garnish with chopped basil and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

(If you are making the sauce and meatballs in advance, keep the meatballs separate from the sauce in the fridge. Add the meatballs to the sauce and heat together as you cook the pasta).

Tomato sauce - for pasta

(prep: 10 minutes, cooking time: 60 minutes)

2 tbpns olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

1 heaped tbspn tomato puree

200mls red wine

2 tins of chopped tomatoes

1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper

1, Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and add the garlic. Cook until golden brown.

2. Add the tomato puree and wine. Cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the tins of tomatoes, plus half tin of water.

3. Add 1 tsp sugar (helps break up the acidity of the tomatoes) and season well.

4. Bring the sauce to the boil, then turn the pan down to a low heat and cook for 45-60 minutes.

Spring Dinner Party - It was all about the rhubarb pudding

Spring has definitely arrived. The sun has been shining and our garden is flourishing with shoots in our vegetable patch, herbs that are waking up from the harsh winter and blossom covering our fruit trees. What could be better! So this weekend the menu for our dinner party for ten friends was inspired by what could be used from our garden - rhubarb. We have lots of the stuff. Probably down to the fact that my husband (our resident Farmer Giles) has been diligently looking after the rhubarb and feeding it lots of natural chicken fertiliser.

So I worked my menu in reverse. Pudding would be made with our deliciously acidic tangy rhubarb. I decided that I would make a Rhubarb Crème Brulee, served with baked rhubarb, orange tuile and garnished with crispy rhubarb sticks towering on the plate. Oven baked fruit is simple to make, striking to look at and tastes delicious. It can also be made days in advance, with most types of fruit, and kept in an airtight container. In fact all of the components for this course can be made in advance, which makes the preparation somewhat easier. The pudding worked a treat, but I would hasten caution over the use of the old kitchen hand held blow torch to caramelise the Brulee. I managed to singe and slightly burn my arms and I narrowly escaped having burnt eyebrows as I had over zealously filled the hand held device with lighter fuel, inadvertently covering most of the gadget with the liquid which produced the largest and most ferocious flame my daughters and I had ever seen - at which my younger daughter giggled and my elder daughter frowned. No one was seriously hurt.

I then moved onto my main course, 'Tenderloins of Pork stuffed with Spinach, Parmesan, Porcini Mushrooms and Pine Nuts, cooked in Marsala and Stock'. Cooking pork with Marsala is a classic Italian dish. There a few types of Marsala available to buy. If possible it is best to use one that is medium to dry (you can use the sweet variety if this is all you can get hold of). The pork was served with dauphinoise potatoes and green beans. Again much of the preparation can be done in advance. The dauphinoise can be made up to 24 hours before. When making the potatoes in advance, cook them for 40 minutes in the oven. Once cool put them in the fridge over night leaving only another 30 -40 minutes of cooking time in the evening before the food is served.

For the starter I was inspired by a jar of our home grown pickled beetroot and served 'Beetroot and Goat's Cheese Salad with Caramelised Walnuts'. Pre-cooked and vacuumed packed beetroot is just as good and is readily available from supermarkets all year round. This starter is quick to make and colourful. The caramel coated walnuts are ready in minutes. I always make double the amount of walnuts in the recipe, as my children love to eat them separately as a treat.

And so, with my eyebrows intact, we sat with our friends and ate our dishes in the correct order, each consuming a large glass of Sauvignon Blanc with the Beetroot and Goat’s Cheese Salad, followed by a fruity glass of Rioja with the Tenderloin of Pork. Happy Days!

Crème brulee

CREME BRULEE (serves 6)

250g rhubarb chopped into batons

15g unsalted butter

1 tbpn clear honey

2 vanilla pods

350ml double cream

125ml whole milk

6 egg yolks

75g caster sugar

METHOD

1. In a frying pan heat up the butter and honey. When the butter has melted, add the rhubarb in a single layer and cook gently for about 5 minutes until soft. Strain the rhubarb through a sieve, discard the liquid. Put the rhubarb onto a clean dry tea towel and dab out the juice.

2. Put the rhubarb into the bottom of six ramekin dishes.

3. Preheat the oven to 120 C/225 F.

4. Next mix beat the egg yolks in a bowl until smooth and a paler shade of yellow.

5. Slit the vanilla pods and add to the cream and milk in a saucepan. Bring to the boil.

6. Pour the hot cream mixture onto the egg yolks whisking continuously. Add the caster sugar and mix until the sugar is dissolved.

7. Strain the mixture through a sieve and discard the vanilla pods.

8. Pour enough mixture to the ramekins to cover the rhubarb. Put the ramekins in a bain marie (warm water in a baking tray coming up three quarters up the ramekin dishes). Transfer the bain marie with ramekins to the oven and bake for 20 minutes so that the custard holds the rhubarb in place.

9. Add the rest if the custard mixture and bake in the oven for a further 45-60 minutes until the mixture is lightly set. The mixture should hold and be slightly wobbly in the centre. Remove from the bain marie and put in fridge until you wish to serve.

10. Just before serving, sprinkle each crème brulee with caster, granulated or demerara sugar and either use a hand held blow torch or place under a hot grill to caramelise the sugar.

Roasted rhubarb

750g Rhubarb cut into batons

2 tbspns granulated sugar

Place the rhubarb in a dish and sprinkle with sugar. Mix. Cover with foil and bake in an oven at 180 C/Gas mark 5 for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Cool the rhubarb.

Crisp baked rhubarb sticks

100g granulated sugar

100mls water

A few stick of rhubarb

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160 C/Gas mark 4. Line a baking tray with non-stick parchment.

2. Put the water and sugar into a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved. Then bring the mixture to a rolling boil for a minute and remove from the heat.

3. Slice the rhubarb thinly and coat in the sugar syrup, place on the baking tray and slowly roast until crisp for approximately 2 hours.

Orange Tuile

2 egg whites

110g caster sugar

55g melted and cooled unsalted butter

55g plain flour

grated zest of 1 orange

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/Gas mark 5

2. Grease a baking sheet or line a tray with non-stick baking parchment.

3. Whisk the egg whites until frothy. Add sugar and whisk until well mixed.

4. Add the butter to the meringue mixture with the flour. Fold in the orange zest.

5. Spread out teaspoons of the mixture thinly onto the baking tray.

6. Bake for 5-6 minutes until golden brown.

7. Oil a rolling pin or wooden spoon. When the biscuits are cooked you can then wrap then around the rolling pin or wooden spoon handles to make baskets or twirls.

8. The tuile will keep for up to a week in an airtight container.