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.

Chestnuts cooking in a Chocolate Cake

It was the 10th of March and it had been a pretty decent weekend; Saturday night had involved stumbling on a beer festival at a village pub with a few friends and Sunday morning saw me brush off the cobwebs to walk my dog with another friend and his dog in the un-seasonal snow.

In the afternoon I kept a promise I made a couple of weeks earlier and made a chocolate cake filled with chestnut puree partly for the family, partly for my work colleagues and partly for me.

The album on the player that afternoon was Peter Gabriel's second album now commonly known as "Peter Gabriel 2" or "Scratch" and the fifth track White Shadow with its atmospheric, icy guitar lines certainly matched the weather outside.

In a mixing bowl I beat together two hundred and fifty grams of low fat margarine and two hundred and twenty five grams of caster sugar. I beat the margarine and sugar together with a metal tablespoon until the margarine took on a fluffy appearance.

In another mixing bowl I combined two hundred and twenty five grams of self-raising flour, two teaspoons of baking powder thirty grams of dark cocoa powder. I find that with this recipe it helps if you mix the margarine and sugar and the other more dry ingredients separately as this gives them chance to bind together and enhance the taste.

In a small bowl I whisked together the whites and yolks of four eggs that I had removed from the fridge about an hour earlier so as to bring them to room temperature. Once the eggs were combined I added them to the margarine and sugar together with the dry ingredients. It is this part of the preparation where this recipe will either succeed or fail on an epic scale. The trick is to reconcile all the dry ingredients with the eggs sugar and the margarine. If they are not mixed together fully then you will end up with an overly sloppy mixture that will not cook well. Ideally the mixture should be the consistency of a dark chocolate milkshake when it has been stirred together properly.

Once the ingredients were mixed I placed them in a cake tin that was around ten centimetres deep and twenty five centimetres across. I had been sure to grease the tin with plenty of margarine and dust its base with plain flour prior to adding the cake mix. I then cooked it in the oven at 160 degrees, 170 degrees for non-fan ovens, for fifty minutes. I undertook the usual test of poking a skewer into the cake to check if it was done in the middle and when only a small amount of cake came off of the skewer I knew it was ready.

After removing the cake from its tin and I left it to cool on a wire rack for about an hour. While the cake was cooling it made the filling. I took a dark chocolate bar, that amounted to about two hundred and fifty grams worth of chocolate and one hundred and twenty five grams of margarine, put them in a heatproof bowl and then balanced the bowl over a pan of boiling water until the margarine and bar of chocolate melted to form a thick and strong tasting paste.

I took the bowl off the heat and added a can of chestnut puree, that contained around four hundred grams of puree, mashed the puree and mixed it into the chocolate paste. Once the cake had cooled I sliced it lengthways, and put the top part upside down on the wire rack while I spread the puree mixture onto the top of the base of the cake. I then added the top part of the cake onto the base to create sandwich. I spread the excess mixture on top of the cake.

This is a cake that despite the puree is not too rich for its own good as the melted dark chocolate and the chestnut puree in the filling coupled with the dark cocoa make sure of this. Although the cake is fairly sweet it is not sweet enough to stop you coming back for several further helpings as the family and my colleagues found out subsequently.

Moroccan Role

The first Sunday in January was a quiet one and an opportunity to wind down after one of the best and most enjoyable Christmas holidays I had experienced. The weather was damp and overcast everywhere was shrouded in mist when I went out to walk the dog; it seemed that no matter how hard I tried I couldn't keep myself or the dog dry for the duration of the walk.

This meant that when I returned home I needed something hot and fiery to warm me up and take my mind off the dull weather. The solution was to make a Moroccan Lentil soup dressed with coriander oil.

As I poured enough olive oil into the bottom of the Le Cresceut dish to cover it the sound of Fleetwood Mac's 1969 record Then Play On rang out of the speakers of my stereo. The album was made at a time when they were fronted by blues purist and talented guitarist/ songwriter Peter Green and its very English take on North American blues is far removed from the yuppie corporate rock they became known for in the late seventies.

I first top and tailed two white onions and one carrot. I then peeled the carrot and diced the carrot and onion until they were the size of one centimetre square cubes and not dissimilar to the ones I and others were taught to count with at primary school.

After I had heated the oil in the Le Cresceut dish on the hob for about one minute I added the diced carrot and onion together with three finely sliced cloves of garlic, a tablespoon of ground coriander, two teaspoons of cumin and a teaspoon of paprika to the dish.  After I had stirred everything together with a large tablespoon so as make the spices blend with the vegetables, I covered the dish for around ten minutes and sweated its contents on a low light while always remembering to stir the contents occasionally so they did not stick to the bottom of the dish.

After the ten minutes was up I added six ounces of dried red lentils, which are pretty easy to pick up from most local supermarkets, together with two and half pints of vegetable stock. I then brought the dish to boiling point and boiled it for ten minutes before leaving it to simmer slowly on the hob for around half an hour.

While the dish cooked on the hob I made the coriander oil by sticking two ounces of fresh coriander, grown in a box on the kitchen window, a clove of garlic, four tablespoons of olive oil, the juice of a whole lemon and half a teaspoon of chili flakes in the blender. After they had been sufficiently pureed by the blender I poured the coriander oil into a small side dish and reserved it to be added to the soup later.

After the soup had cooked for the requisite time I added it to the blender and then after blending I reheated it and served it. To give the soup an extra kick so as to ensure I was properly warmed through I drizzled some of the coriander oil atop it.

Hot green coriander oil on top of what is a substantial soup and the perfect winter warmer. 

The soup certainly got the job done as far as warming me up was concerned and the taste of the coriander oil served to transport me from a muddy wet field in the middle of winter to one of the many top class curry houses in my local area.

How many beans make five?

The first weekend in February was a good one; it really got going on the Saturday evening with a trip to a local beer festival with some good mates, top quality local beer, a free tankard and a welcome reunion with someone from my past. After the festival the Sunday morning involved sweating out a slight hangover by walking the dog and cooking a Tuscan Bean Casserole for lunch.

The music on the player was suitably mellow as I still had a slightly sore head and today's album of choice was the Moody Blues' 1967 offering Days of Future Passed which is a concept album about the day in the life of an ordinary person. The orchestral backing coupled with healthy doses of mellotron organ and songwriting that takes in a number of styles make this album something special. Also the cover is so intricate you could spend several hours just staring at it.

I first covered the bottom of my Le Cresceut dish with olive oil and then topped, tailed and peeled three carrots. I sliced the carrots length-ways thinly enough that they were two or three milometers thick. I then cut each strip of carrot in half and fried them gently in the dish. The way the cook the carrots quickly is to cut them into thin strips otherwise they remain tough to eat properly. Once the carrots began to brown round the edges I added the leaves from four fresh Thyme Sprigs together with three diced red onions and two diced garlic cloves.

While these ingredients cooked I took on the task of preparing two sticks of celery. As those of you who cook with celery will know, preparing it can be a little tedious. The first job was to scrub away the dirt from the sticks and then top and tail them. Once I had completed this task I cut the celery into one centimeter wide pieces and ensured that any string was pulled off the sticks and discarded. When this tedious task was completed I added the celery pieces to the dish with two bay leaves and cooked the ingredients on a medium light on the hob until the onions became translucent and the celery soft.

When the ingredients had softened I opened a can of Borlotti Beans and poured them into the dish with three teaspoons of red wine vinegar and a packet of Creative Cooks Tuscan Beans best found in Sainsburys. I also poured half a pint of water into the dish and let it stew on a low heat for about forty five minutes. So as to stop the food from drying up I periodically added water and red wine vinegar and stirred the dish until the forty-five minute period was up.

Bubbling away which allowed the flavours to infuse

The vegetarian sausages made a perfect accompaniment to this dish 

This dish can be served with a variety of side orders as a main meal including mashed potato and mashed parsnip. On this occasion I opted to serve it with some fried vegetarian sausages made using some Marjoram.  Despite not having any meat this meal is extremely substantial with the beans giving plenty of protein and a red wine vinegar providing a strong but not overpowering flavour. It certainly helped fortify me for the first indoor cricket practice of the season later that evening where I troubled the batters with some aggressive bowling.