Cooking Allsorts On Tour Part 2

It was the afternoon of Easter Saturday, after polishing off the Red Kale Frittatta it was time therefore to think of making some food for the party that evening. The fact that it was the Easter weekend and my view that no party is complete without a good cake led me to produce a cake that those who know me and follow this blog will have heard of before; a Simnel Cake. The first reference to the cake was in 1226 which talks of bread "made into a Simnel" however the cake as we know it today became popular in the nineteenth century when it was topped with a layer of Marzipan on top of which sat twelve balls of Marzipan which were said to represent Jesus and his twelve disciples minus Judas.

As the weak early spring sun crept through the large bay windows and into the kitchen of my friend's flat in Glasgow, I began work by greasing a cake tin half a foot deep and twenty centimetres wide with margarine prior to sprinkling a light dusting of plain flour in the bottom of the tin. This usual trick with cake preparation ensured as far as possible that when cooked the mixture would not stick to the cake tin and come out of it cleanly.

At the risk of being accused of product placement I weighed out six ounces of Stork Margarine and then creamed it together with six ounces of caster sugar. I found the brand of margarine used fitted the bill well as it was thick and rich tasting, which is just what you need for party food.  

I next added six ounces of self-raising flour and, one by one, three beaten eggs until I had a thick paste forming in the bowl. So that the mixture was a little drier I added twelve ounces of sultanas with two ounces of mixed peel and stirred them into the rest of the mixture. So as to give the cake a bit of a kick I added a teaspoon of nutmeg and then poured half the mixture into the cake tin. Next I spread a thick layer of apricot jam onto the top of the half of the mixture in the tin and then covered it with the remaining mixture.

It was now time to cook; so I placed the cake tin on a baking tray, in case any of it leaked out into the oven during cooking, and then let it bake in the oven at 140 degrees for about an hour and three quarters. As always with this type of cake I knew it was ready because the surface of the cake was crisp and I could push a skewer through it and pull the skewer out clean.

Once the cake had cooled I spread apricot jam over the top it and used the jam as glue to keep the marzipan I had cut into a circle stuck to the top of the cake. To make it a little more aesthetically pleasing I put the spare marzipan on the sides of the cake and rolled the remaining Marzipan into balls to put on top of it.

The cake certainly seemed to go down well as there was not much of it left when the party finished at 5am later that evening and when one, no doubt hungover reveller, departed the flat the next day they took a piece with them to consume on the long and no doubt uncomfortable train trip home.

Watch out for the final part of my culinary adventures in Glasgow in part 3...

Simnel Cake- traditionally made to celebrate Easter... and for high class parties.

Cooking Allsorts On Tour part 1

It's not often that people say they're going north to find warmer climes but the week leading up to Good Friday in my town proved the exception to the rule; almost every day of the drive to work that week saw me drive on roads bordered by snowdrifts twice as high as the car. It was more like what I would expect to occur in the country I was heading to; Scotland and more specifically the city of Glasgow.

The purpose of my visit was to catch up with an old friend from uni and go to a hat themed house party he was throwing in honour of his recent birthday. Sure enough as the train headed north the snowdrifts disappeared, the sun shone and the temperature warmed slightly. As it did so my thoughts turned to the plan for the weekend and the fact that my friend would need some decent party food.

I knew from previous visits that the city had a wide range of interesting food shops and I was hoping that a trip to one or two of them would inspire some cooking projects to help add something extra to the weekend. This blog entry aims to give a little insight into the meals made did just that.

The first dish, prepared to cure a very slight hangover after a trip out to a couple of quality Glaswegian Bars on Good Friday night, was a Red Kale Frittata. I have to say that seeing Red Kale, together with a whole host of barely known vegetables, in a supermarket I visited shortly after arriving in the city on Good Friday certainly helped shatter a number of my erroneously held views about the culinary tastes of Glasgow. Previously I was of the opinion that it was the home of many stodgy, bland meat dishes and overly sweet puddings served with extra double cream. However, the range of unusual vegetables and selection of spices on offer changed all this.

I found the cleanest and deepest frying pan in my friend's cupboard and sprayed olive oil on the bottom of it before warming it through on a low light. In the meantime I took the two bunches of Red Kale and  sliced them up finely having first washed them thoroughly. I made sure to discard any thick stems that would not soften enough when cooked and then poured the Kale into the frying pan. I let it fry on a medium heat for around twenty minutes.

I took extra care to stir the Kale occasionally as it cooked to be sure it did not stick to the bottom of the frying pan and burn. So as to give the distinctive taste of it an extra edge I added three teaspoons of dried Marjoram to the pan and stirred it into the Kale.

Apparently Kale is part of the cabbage family although its shape and taste to me has a lot more in common with Broccoli and it has less of a bland and watery taste than many types of cabbage. Interestingly Kale was also a staple part of people's diet in the UK during the dark days of rationing during the Second World War.

There were no rations on the eggs needed for this recipe however when I added the yolks and whites of five eggs to a mixing bowl and stirred them hard until I had a golden yellow mixture in preparation for adding to the Kale. Once the Kale had cooked for twenty minutes and was soft enough to cut with the edge of a tablespoon I added the stirred eggs and pushed the frying pan gently from side to side so that the eggs spread evenly among the Kale and Marjoram.

I let the fast forming Frittata cook on the hob for around ten minutes while carefully running a wooden spatula underneath to stop it sticking to the pan and also to help the egg solidify and keep the food together. When the ten minutes was up I removed the Frittata carefully from the pan and served it. I noticed that the process of cooking had transformed the Kale from a rich red to a sea green colour.

The meal did the business to revitalise me in preparation for the evening's party and the protein in the eggs coupled with the fleshy taste of the Kale which was sharpened by the presence of the Marjoram made this dish something special.

To be continued in part 2...

Just about finished: the once red Kale had turned green by being fried continuously 

Full of Beans

Friday night's drive wasn't the best way to start the penultimate weekend of the coldest March I could remember; the reason being that part of the drive home included sliding down a hill on black ice sideways. The following day saw wall-to-wall snow more like that you might expect in December but not in March the week before the clocks were due to change to British Summertime. As a result any of the usual activities I undertake to take my mind off the working week were strictly off limits, apart from cooking that is.

The need to be warmed up coupled with the fact that I needed to use up two tins of Haricot Beans was the inspiration for making a soup of chili flakes, Haricot Beans and Tomatoes. The album in tow on the CD player for the culinary project of the day was Eric Clapton's 1975 live record EC Was Here. A good friend of mine sometimes refers to Clapton as 'Eric Crapton' with it has to be said a little justification as for our generation he is sadly associated with bland adult contemporary rock and providing soundtracks for beer adverts. None of this however can take away the fact that on his day he is one of the best guitarists and interpreters of the blues that has ever been seen and EC Was Here provides plenty of evidence to support this. 

I diced three cloves of garlic, the largest white onion I could lay my hands on and one stick of celery which I proceeded to slice width-ways and de-string. I added these vegetables to my Le Cresceut dish, which had its base covered with olive oil and was warming slowly on the hob. I cooked the garlic, celery and onion on a medium heat on the hob for ten minutes and also added a teaspoon of chili flakes to give an extra kick to the dish. 

After ten minutes, the celery, garlic and onion had taken on a golden colour which meant it was time to add half a pint of vegetable stock, two tins of Haricot Beans and a tin of chopped tomatoes. I stirred these ingredients together and let them cook on a medium heat for around twenty-five minutes until the celery, onion and garlic were softened. After this the soup was ready. 

The presence of the chili flakes helped give a real warmth and fire to the soup while the presence of the tinned tomatoes and haricot beans gave the sort of sweetness to it that was reminiscent of baked beans. This is definitely a cold weather soup as the beans give plenty of protein while the chili as well as the garlic and onion help heat you through. The fact that there is no need to blend the soup helps give it a real substantial taste and thickness- perfect to ward off the negative effects of being exposed to excess snow. 

Sage Advice

After a good weekend on the 9th and 10th of March the weekend of Saturday 16th and Sunday 17th of March was a little epic on the Friday night before being followed by some mellow reflection. The evening of Friday the 15th of March saw a long but worthwhile night out that left me tired on the Saturday, but still fit enough to entertain guests with a self-made dinner on Saturday lunchtime, and ultimately led to an early night followed by twelve hours sleep which commenced at 8 o'clock that evening.

Sunday morning was spent wandering the local woods with some of the local walking fraternity and by Sunday afternoon the effects of Friday had worn off enough to think of cooking projects. I delved back into my past for the afternoon's meal by choosing to cook macaroni cheese- a staple meal of my childhood.

To keep the nostalgia factor up the album I cooked to was Pink Floyd's 1979 album The Wall which was the soundtrack to the summer after my G.C.S.E Exams finished and most of my A-Level years. For me hearing Pink Floyd for the first time was like moving from seeing everything in two dimensional black and white to three dimensional technicolour.

I melted around five ounces of margarine into a large pan and melted it on the hob. I added two heaped table spoons of plain flour to the pan and stirred it into the melted margarine until I had some chunks of flour that looked like soft golden nuggets. I then added half a pint of milk to the pan gradually and over a medium heat mixed it into the flour and margarine until I had a thick sauce.

In the meantime I boiled ten ounces of Macaroni for around six minutes to soften it up. I then drained it and poured one third of it into a well greased ovenproof dish. Next I grated some Parmesan onto the Macaroni and then covered it with the second third of the Macaroni. On top of this third of the Macaroni I grated a large amount of Sage Derby Cheese. This is a cheese that was common in my early days with its distinctive bright green colour. However I had not seen it for some time until I came across it in a local village shop and it made a welcome addition to the Macaroni Cheese.

I added the final third of Macaroni onto the layer of Sage Derby and spread five cherry tomatoes decoratively onto top of it. I then poured the sauce onto it and allowed the sauce to permeate down through the layers of Macaroni until it was totally covered. It is true to say that the key to the success of this dish is to ensure that all the Macaroni is covered with the sauce otherwise the dish will dry up when cooked in the oven.

I added the dish of Macaroni to the oven, which I had preheated to 190 degrees or 200 for a non-fan oven, and cooked it for twenty-five minutes. When I removed the dish from the oven it had started to brown at the edges, which was a sign it was cooked.

The richness of the Parmesan and the distinctive taste of the melted Sage Derby, which glowed an almost neon green, coupled with the melted margarine transported me back twenty years or so to a time when the dish was a regular part of my diet. The Macaroni itself served to offer plenty of protein to help revitalise my body after Friday's excitement.