Don’t be a gooseberry – bake a cake and then everyone will be your friend!!

On Sunday, my friend Vic hosted a wonderful 4th birthday party for her daughter, Mia. Vic, being Vic, had totally gone to town, in addition to catering for over 40 hugely excited children. There was fairy crown making, fairy wand making, bee/ladybird/dragonfly making; I was helping children to ice and decorate their own cupcakes and the long-suffering husband named himself the ‘bouncy castle fascist’ – monitoring how many children were on at one time and counting down their bouncing time!

How do you cater for that many children and their parents?? Vic made all children a sausage in a roll, served up veggies with houmous and crisps; finishing up with birthday cake! Parents were treated to a range of homemade cakes made by Vic, family and friends and the cake below was my offering – a gooseberry cake made with the gooseberries Abbie and I found at Groveland farm shop last Wednesday.

My gooseberry cake… – makes a large loaf tin shaped cake – easy for party slicing
280g/10oz self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
75g/3oz caster sugar
100g/4oz demerera – you’ll need an extra bit at the end for sprinkling to make the top crunchy (always do this on my loaf cakes)
100g/4oz soft soya marg
2 eggs
tiny splash of vanilla extract (or use vanilla sugar in place of caster)
1 large punnet gooseberries (sorry I didn’t weigh them) – top and tail

• Preheat oven to 180C. Line your loaf tin with parchment and grease the sides
• Stew the gooseberries by bringing to boil and then simmer for 5 mins until soft and popping out of their skins
• Beat the dry ingredients to combine
• Add marg, eggs, vanilla  – beat lightly until it looks like cake mixture
• Add all but 1 cup of the stewed gooseberries (if you want some for a pudding) – fold in
• Pour in to loaf tin and sprinkle demerera sugar on top
• Bake for 45 mins and check that it is cooked by inserting a skewer into the middle – it should come out clean – if not bake for 5 mins and try again!
• Cool in tin for a little while and then remove to a cooling rack (or take it to the party in the tin as I did and turn it out there!
• Slice and enjoy!

Gooseberry cake, stewed gooseberries and Nigel Slater's amzing mascarpone cream

Abbie was dying to try gooseberries; I think she has had them before, but couldn’t remember – so that was an interesting experiment while we made the cake. Luckily she LOVED them! So I snaffled a few leftover pieces of cake from the party and served it up for our pudding.

I served it up warm with some stewed gooseberries and made Nigel Slater’s Mascarpone cream to go alongside – trust me when I say this is AMAZING!  A no-cook custard which can be whipped up in a few mins.

Beat 2 egg yolks with 2 tblspns caster sugar; add few drops vanilla and 250g mascarpone, beat until smooth and custard-like! If it weren’t for the calories, I’d make it everyday!

Unfortunately I think we will have to rely on Grovelands for our gooseberries – have counted and we have 7 berries on our bush (still in trauma from last year’s frost obviously). I may be back this week!!

What do you do when you have no energy, but your daughter is bouncing off the walls??

Answer – to the kitchen! I was able to sit, with the occasional move whilst we weighed, mixed, poured and baked Nigel Slater’s ‘Lemon Frosted Pistachio cake’; surely guaranteed to lift my spirits and put a smile on my face. Abbie is becoming suddenly more independent in the baking arena and now insists on trying to do everything herself…. cracking eggs has definitely improved – I only had to retrieve 3 pieces of shell (a definite improvement on previous attempts!)

Weighing and measuring...

If you could hear this photo it would say...'Ta da!'

Juicing the orange - luckily I only need 2/3 of its juice

This was a great recipe for trying new things – ‘green nuts’ went down very well, although she came a cropper later when sneaking a naughty one as my back was turned…. tried to eat the whole thing, shell and all!! That’ll teach her! Abbie also enjoyed pinches of ground almonds (so different to how whole ones taste) and smelling the rosewater which she said smelled ‘flowery’.

Thank goodness also for Jonts, who probably wished he hadn’t called to say he was coming home, as he was greeted with a ‘please could you just……’ (this happens quite a lot). Anyway, he was the cake’s hero as without him and the bottled lemon juice, there would have been no icing!

GORGEOUS!

This cake is GORGEOUS!… we ate it with berries and creme fraiche. I made 2/3 of the recipe and we were only supposed to eat a third of the cake. Confession: there is only half left and I am not sure that it will make it through the evening – I am in bed and I can almost hear Jon sliding a plate from the cupboard…. opening the fridge door….. Hero or not, there had better be a piece for Abbie and I tomorrow or he’s in big trouble!

Abbie has seconds and then asked to share my second piece! Cheeky monkey! Of course I let her - weak!

Have to say, I am a Slater convert at the moment as I have not had any kitchen disasters with any of his recipes and they have all been simply delicious. In fact I am at present thinking up a name for all Slater followers…. maybe I am a ‘Slaterite’, ‘Slatertater’ or a ‘Slaterplater’? All lame I know! I’m sure you can do better……

LEMON-FROSTED PISTACHIO CAKE (from Nigel Slater’s ‘The Kitchen Diaries’)
serves 10-12

250g of butter
250g of caster sugar
3 large eggs
100g of shelled pistachio nuts
100g of ground almonds
An orange
1 tsp of rosewater
60g of plain flour

Icing:
100g of icing sugar
2 tbsp of lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 160° C. Line the bottom of a non-stick 22cm cake tin with baking parchment.
Cream the butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between adding each egg. Blitz the pistachios in a food processor to turn them into fine crumbs and then add them, along with the almonds, to the butter, sugar and eggs. Add the zest and the juice of the orange and then stir in the orange blossom water and, finally, fold in the flour.
Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 minutes, covering the top lightly with foil for the final ten minutes. Check that the cake is done by inserting a skewer, it should come out quite clean with no wet mixture stuck to it. Leave it to cool in the tin before turning out.

Make the icing by mixing the icing sugar and lemon juice together until smooth and then pour it over the cake. If you have any leftover pistachios use a few to decorate the top of the cake. Leave the icing to set and then serve and enjoy.

Mmmm Sunday lunch and a lemoniscious trifle from Nigel Slater ….

Roast chicken, new potatoes, kale, carrots and yummy homemade gravy today. Did my chicken the Jamie way – boiling a lemon for 5 mins, stabbing it and shoving it in the chicken with some salt, pepper, garlic and herbs before roasting – keeps it really moist.

Abbie and I got up early this morning and made the lemon trifle – another wonderful dish from Nigel Slater’s ‘Kitchen Diaries’. It was a really easy trifle, couldn’t believe I could make something that resembled a custard from just double cream, sugar and lemon juice – no egg and therefore no curdling!!

After our main meal, which Abbie polished off in record time…. she asked to get down… I was surprised as Abbie usually loves her puddings! The following conversation then took place…
Me: Don’t you want pudding?
Abbie: Mmmm…. no I don’t think so…………… what’s for pudding?
Me: Lemon trifle…. it’s in the fridge….
Abbie: Maybe I’ll just go and have a look……. (goes to the fridge) …… Hmmmm…. Mummy…. I think I will just have a bit of pudding!

As you can see from the photos, Abbie was very reluctant to lose possession of said trifle! I adapted Nigel Slater’s recipe only slightly, replacing crystallized violets with white chocolate chips as I had them in the cupboard. It was enjoyed so much that we will be making it again when my mother-in-law comes for lunch next Sunday!

Link to the recipe: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/533841

very protective of the trifle!

can you see Abbie's hand creeping in to get her portion??

a happy girl....

A bicycle made for two…. and the best meatballs ever courtesy of Nigel Slater

Another day of fantastic weather! After putting up with her parents loading and unloading two car loads of crap at the dump, I thought that Abbie deserved a treat….. so I finally fixed her new tag-along and we went for a spin – TWICE!  Abbie absolutely loved cycling and has now insisted that we go out every day ‘even if itis raining Mummy’!  This will definitely help towards next month’s Healthmonth pledge!

After a couple of long cycle rides and some much needed work in the garden… we made ‘Pork and lemon polpettine’ from Nigel Slater’s ‘The Kitchen Diaries.  Abbie and I used the mixer to speed up the meatball making process and then formed quite a production line to make and flour the balls.   I served them with buttered pasta and brocolli. Abbie loved the meatballs and even had seconds!

To the recipe…

70g cup white breadcrumbs

500g ground pork

1 lemon, zested and juiced

1 large handful of parsley, chopped

6 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped from stems

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

10 anchovy fillets, chopped

Flour

 

To cook:

2 tablespoons olive oil

40g butter

200ml chicken stock

 

Combine the breadcrumbs, pork, lemon juice and zest, parsley, thyme, Parmesan, and anchovy in a big bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly.

Roll 18 or so balls of the pork mixture. Place them on a baking tray/chopping board that you’ve dusted with flour. Roll the meatballs in the flour just before cooking to coat.

 

 

 Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat. Fry the polpettine in batches, careful not to overcrowd the pan. Cook for five or six minutes, turning for even browning. (I rolled them only twice during this time, to create a good crust on each side and make sure they don’t fall apart.) The meatballs should be crisp and golden. When they’re bronzed, put them all back in the pan, reduce the heat a bit, and sauté until they’re cooked through, an additional seven or eight minutes.

 

Now, remove the meatballs and pour out most of the fat. Add the chicken stock. Let it simmer down for a few minutes, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Serve and enjoy ‘A meatball to beat them all'(Nigel Slater).

 

 

 

Jumping, juicing, jelly, jam tarts….. and all things that start with ‘j’!

Abbie was learning about the letter ‘j’ this week so when her friend, Lily, came to play I thought it would be great to theme the day, using this letter – just call me ‘alpha mother’!  After lunch and much JUMPING, we headed to the kitchen to JUICE the citrus fruits ready for the JELLY and then bake some JAM tarts ready for tea with Lily’s mum and little brother.  Abbie and Lily shared all the tasks really well and I think they did a fantastic job – do you agree?

Jumping.....

Jelly..... bashing the cardamon the most fun way I know!

Orange and Cardamon Jelly – Nigel Slater (from The Kitchen Diaries)

12 oranges, 1 lemon, 1 pink grapefruit

6 cardamon pods

8 sheets of gelatine

1 tsp sugar (optional)

• Squeeze the oranges – you need just under a litre of juice – reserve for later.
• Squeeze grapefruit and lemon – put into small pan with equal quantity of water
• Remove 3-4 strips of zest from grapefruit and lemon and add to pan
• Split open cardamon pods – can do this with the flat side of a knife (although much more fun with a hammer!) – add to the pan
• Heat the pan until the juice bubbles – lid on, turn heat off and leave for 15 minutes
• Slide the gelatine sheets into cold water – 1 at a time – leave to soften for 5 minutes
• Pour juice, through a sieve, into a scrupulously clean bowl – reserve the cardamom seeds
• Lift the softened gelatine sheets from the water and whisk into the warm juices until dissolved – it takes seconds
• Add orange juice and stir thoroughly, making sure that every bit of gelatine has melted
• Add reserved cardamom seeds – they will float around, apparently pointlessly, but will in fact discreetly give some of their flavour to the jelly as it sets
• Refrigerate for 4-5 hrs

Enough for 6-8

Jam tarts.... rolling out the pastry

...adding jam

Jam and Jelly all done!

 

Jam Tarts – the easy way

I bought ready rolled pastry today – life is too short! Pre-heat oven to 180C.  Use a cutter just bigger than your tin ‘holes’ and cut 12 crimped  rounds to push into the dips.  Fill each with a small tsp of jam and bake for 10-12 mins – take tarts out of dips and cool on a rack. Child’s play!