APPLE AND FENNEL SEED SODA BREAD

Rustic, crumbly soda bread

1 small loaf

100g stoneground rye flour

50g strong white bread flour, plus extra to dust

100g wholemeal flour

2 tbsp ground linseed/flaxseed

1 tbsp toasted chopped hazelnuts

1 tsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp fennel seeds

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp flaked sea salt

1/2 grated apple

200ml whole milk

1.  Heat the oven to 210C/fan190C/gas 7. Lightly flour a baking sheet.

2. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl then add the milk and stir to form a wet dough. Scrape the dough into a ball and lift onto the baking sheet. Dust the dough with a little flour and slice a cross in the top with a very sharp knife. 

3. Bake the loaf for 1 hour until crusty and baked through. Stick a skewer in it; if the centre is very sticky, put it back in for a little longer. Allow the loaf to cool before slicing or tearing, and spreading on lots of butter.

PIZZETTE BIANCHE

I've been on a mad hunt for firm, smoked ricotta for months and months, ever since I grated some into a sauce with nduja and homemade passata at work (that fella Francesco Mazzei won my heart from the first mouthful). I still haven't got my grubby hands on any - and that's because it's a very seasonal (and very shy) cheese.

I did find, to huge delight, a ball of sweet, creamy, woody smoked provola. This has completely eased the search - and, dare I say, possibly gazumped the smoked ricotta. Get some - it's total heaven. And put it on littles pizzas to share before dinner. 

PIZZETTE BIANCHE

with smoked provola and 'n'duja

(makes 8 little white pizzas for nibbling or 4 large ones)
Takes 15 minutes to make, plus proving, 10 minutes to cook

7g sachet of fast-action dried yeast

½ tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
300ml lukewarm water
500g Tipo '00' flour or strong white bread flour
1tsp fine sea salt
50g finely ground semolina flour

for the topping

1 x 250g ball of smoked buffalo provola (available from good Italian delis and Natoora)

few teaspoons of 'n'duja (as above)

grated lemon zest (optional)

parsley leaves to serve

1. Mix the yeast, sugar, oil and half the lukewarm water together and set aside for 10 minutes to fizz and froth. Combine the flours and salt together in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour the yeast mix and the rest of the warm water into the well and gradually beat in the flour with a fork, until the dough starts to come together.  Knead in the bowl for 5-10 minutes until the dough is soft and elastic. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour until almost doubled in size.

2. Preheat the oven to 180C/fan160/gas 4. Knock the dough back on a lightly oiled surface and roll into 8 little balls (or 4 large ones). You can leave it in the fridge at this point for up to 3 hours, wrapped in clingfilm until ready to use or freeze it, tightly wrapped in clingfilm, for use another day.

3. Scatter the table with the semolina. Flatten each ball into a circle, pressing the dough out with your fingertips, and stretch with a rolling pin into 8 x 1/2cm thick circles. No need to be neat.

4. Place the rolled dough onto lightly oiled tin foil or a floured baking sheet. Tear on the scamorza to top the dough, then drop small dots of the nduja on top. Slide onto a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes until the edges and base of the pizzas are crisp.

5. Remove from the oven and slice while still baking hot and the cheese is stringy. Top with lemon zest, if you like, and the parsley then season and serve on pretty wooden boards.

[THIS RECIPE IS A TWEAKED VERSION OF ONE THAT WILL APPEAR IN MY FIRST COOKBOOK THE RECIPE WHEEL (EBURY), AVAILABLE TO PREORDER ON AMAZON FOR RELEASE IN JULY]

BROWN SUGAR PEAR CAKE

Brown sugar pear cake (for pudding)

for the pears

2 large ripe pears (such as comice) peeled

juice of a lemon

100g caster sugar

2 slices of fresh ginger

splash of brandy

for the cake

100g golden caster sugar

100g light brown sugar

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

100g ground almonds

100g semolina

1 tsp vanilla extract

zest of a lemon

4 medium free range eggs, lightly beaten

200ml olive oil

1. Place the pears in a deep saucepan with 300ml water or just enough to cover. Add the lemon juice, sugar, ginger and brandy and bring to simmer. Simmer over a medium-low heat for 10-15 minutes until just beginning to soften and the poaching liquid has taken on some of the flavour. Remove the pears with a slotted spoon and allow to cool. Don't worry if they start to brown.
2. Vigorously simmer the juices for 20 minutes so they reduce into roughly 75ml of golden, caramel-like syrup. Pour almost all of the syrup in the bottom of a lightly greased 20cm springform cake tin and swirl to cover a bit. Slice the pears in half, remove the core and thinly slice. Layer onto the caramel base in a spiral shape, overlapping slightly and covering entirely.
3. Preheat the oven to 180C/fan160C/gas 4. In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Stir through the eggs and olive oil to make a wet batter. Pour the batter over the pears and slide the cake tin, on a baking sheet, into the oven. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until golden and a skewer comes out clean.
4. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before turning it out onto a wire rack. While still warm, brush the remaining syrup onto the pears. Best served warm (not hot) with a drizzle of cream.

BANANA, DATE AND CARAMEL LOAF

I just had to....

Banana, date, caramel loaf

3 ripe bananas (250g), mashed

100g unsalted butter, melted

100g golden caster sugar

6 pitted dates, finely chopped

1 tbsp amaretto/ dark rum

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 free-range egg

150g plain flour

1 heaped tsp bicarbonate of soda

for the caramel:

50g golden caster sugar

1 tbsp creme fraiche

pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 180C/fan160C/gas 4. Grease and line a 1ltr loaf tin with baking parchment.

Mix the mashed bananas with the melted butter and golden caster sugar. Stir through the dates, the amaretto and vanilla then beat in the egg. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and gently fold through the banana mix with a metal spoon. 

Pour the mix into the loaf tin and place in the oven. Bake for 45 minutes - the cake should be dark on top with a soft, moist sponge. Check that it is done by poking a skewer through the centre - if it comes out clean it's ready.

Leave the loaf to cool completely in its tin while you make the caramel. Heat the sugar in a small pan with 1 tablespoon of water over a low heat. Without stirring, leave the sugar to melt and gently simmer until it turns a deep hazelnut colour. Remove from the heat and add the creme fraiche and salt and stir. It will splutter at first, then turn into a smooth caramel. 

Transfer the cake to a plate or platter and quickly pour the caramel over the loaf. It will immediately harden like toffee, giving a good snap when you slice through. Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche and a good cup of cha.

MELANZANE PARMIGIANA

I'm drawn to vegetables of unusual colour and size. Bulbosities stare at me from shop shelves and I can't help but stretch out for them. They make great paintings - you can get away with wild imperfections on the canvas too - and become beautiful ornaments for the middle of the table. 

The best thing is, once you've had enough of painting, you can cook them.

Umbria has buckets of choice with local farms and Agriturismi pushing forward the overripe uglies - long pointy radicchio, tiny green figs and bunches of scarlet onions stalks still on. My baskets are breaking at the straps. 

These fat and round aubergines - pale pink, mauve, deep purple and deadly nightshade - are my favourite and make for a wonderful Melanzane Parmigiana, dished up for lunch with salad and ham. 

MELANZANE PARMIGIANA

Baked aubergines

serves 6-8

ingredients

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tins good quality chopped tomatoes

dried herbs, chopped (oregano, rosemary, thyme)

salt and pepper

5 tsps olive oil

2-3 large round aubergines, sliced

large handful basil leaves, torn

200g block Parmesan, grated

100g breadcrumbs

200g mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 180C. 

Add a little drizzle of olive oil to a saucepan and add the onion. Fry over a medium heat until soft. Add the garlic and dried herbs and tomatoes and cook for 10 minutes until the sauce has reduced and tastes sweet. 

Add the olive oil to a large frying pan or griddle and whack up the heat. Lay on the aubergine - cooking in batches if necessary - and fry evenly on both sides. You want to char slightly. Once you've done the lot, set aside. 

Once you have cooked down the tomatoes, ladle a layer of the sauce into the bottom of an oven-proof dish (I used a 30 x 30cm dish). Follow with a layer of aubergine and a layer of grated Parmesan. Continue this process until you use up the remaining sauce and aubergines, finishing with a generous layer of Parmesan. Evenly scatter over the breadcrumbs. Tear up the mozzarella over the crumbs as a final layer. 

Place the dish in the oven and bake for 25 minutes until the top is golden and bubbling. 

EXHIBITIONS AND BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

The boys at the 10 cases are very generously letting me put up a few paintings next Monday (6th Feb).

It'll be a casual affair so please pop your head in, buy a glass of their very good wine and take a glance at some of my scribbles downstairs.

All work will be for sale - it'll be a silent auction, so if you like a particular painting, put your name, number and price in the box and the highest bidder will have something to put on their wall.

Hope you can make it.

Meanwhile, here's my recipe for Bread and Butter Pudding. Two puds in a month, I know, but you can't cut out everything in January.

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

Serves a greedy 4

1 loaf sliced brioche, with approx. 12 slices

150g butter

100g sultanas

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

200ml whole milk

150ml double cream

50g caster sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

dash of golden rum (optional)

extra sugar for sprinkling on top

Set the oven to 180 degrees C.

Lightly grease up a deep dish, large enough to tower the brioche slices. Butter the bread on both sides and lay, side by side, in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with sultanas. Repeat this until you reach the top of the dish.

In a large measuring jug, whisk the eggs and egg yolks. Mix in the milk and cream. Then add the sugar, spices and rum, if using. When mixed through, gently pour over the bread.

Set the dish aside for at least 45 minutes so that the bread soaks up the cream mix. Sprinkle with any remaining raisins and sugar. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes until the top bread layer is golden and crisp.

Best served with a wobble and a generous drizzle of single cream. Pretty good cold too.

PEAR AND GINGER MUFFINS

I like to call these ragamuffins: mini mountains of sponge, scantily constructed with the remnants of near-empty packets (well - I used the last of the butter which just happened to weigh a perfect 50g), rough on the outside but wonderfully soft and moist in the centre.

They are muffins in a ra - ga - mekin.

PEAR AND GINGER RAGAMUFFINS

serves 2

2 halves of tinned pear, sliced

1 ball stem ginger, thinly sliced

2 tsp dark brown sugar/molasses

50g butter

50g golden caster sugar

1 medium egg

50g self-raising flour

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tbsp icing sugar

2 tbsps pear juice from tin

2 tbsps juice from stem ginger jar

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Butter two standard-sized ramekins and lay the sliced pear and stem ginger in the bottoms of each. Sprinkle over the dark brown sugar.

Beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg and stir through - the mixture will look scarily wet so don't freak. Sift in the flour with the ginger and fold.

Divide the batter between each ramekin and place in the oven for 20 minutes. By this time they should be risen and golden.

Leave the muffins to cool slightly whilst you make the drizzle: simply dissolve the icing sugar, stirring it into the pear and ginger juices.

With a skewer, poke about 8 holes into each muffin. Pour over the sweet, syrupy juices and serve with the last spoonful from the yoghurt

There you have it, you ragamuffins, you.

DEATH OF THE CUPCAKE

Remember the days of butterfly cakes? The small cases filled with a strawberry-sized scoop of soft batter? Top of the sponge carefully cut to make two wings, stuck back in with a spoonful of butter icing and sweet jam? Two wee bites of the cake and you've finished. So light, you might as well be the butterfly on the cake.

Now all we see are giant cupcakes, layered high with a mountain of sickly icing that, when you go to take a bite, smothers your upper lip and nose. You have to finish it all in one go - there's too much icing to wrap it up and take it away - so by the time it's been eaten, you'll never want to see another cupcake again. They may look dainty but, boy, unless you're laden with a knife and fork, it's a messy business.

It's time to bring back the fairy cake. Plain sponge, white transparent icing, a few silver balls and a blob of butter icing. Who's with me?

FAIRY CAKES

makes about 30

250g soft unsalted butter, cut into cubes

250g caster sugar

5 large free range eggs

250g self-raising flour, sifted

2 tbsps baking powder

vanilla extract (optional)

icing:

500g icing sugar, sifted

6 tbsps warm water

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C/ 400 degrees F/ Gas mark 6.

Mix the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Use an electric beater for best results. Add the eggs one at a time and mixing it into a wet batter. Then fold in the flour and baking powder until all the ingredients are well combined. Do not over-mix - you do't want the mixture to be airless. Add a touch of vanilla extract for sweetness.

Lay out the cases in a fairy cake tray (shallow indents rather than little cupcake ponds). Take a melon ball scoop or two teaspoons and divide the mixture into prune-sized amounts between each case. Place the tray in the preheated oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cupcakes have risen and are a golden colour. Remove and leave to cook in their cases on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, sift the icing sugar into another bowl and add the water. Mix with a metal spoon in to a thick paste. When the cakes are cool, fill a cup with hot water. Dip a silicon palette knife into the water, dip into the icing and spread thickly onto the cake top, leaving no gaps.

Decorate with those lost and forgotten shards of sugar -

silver balls

hundreds and thousands

chocolate drops

iced gems

sugar lemons

- and gobble sweetly.

Dear old fairy cake friend, we love you.

RASPBERRY AND ALMOND FLAPJACKS

Quick to whip up, blooming gorgeous to look at, and irresistibly scrumptious to eat.

RASPBERRY AND ALMOND FLAPJACKS


makes about 20

ingredients

150g salted butter
5 large tbsps set honey
80g golden caster sugar
250g jumbo porridge oats
100g raspberries
50g toasted flaked almonds

dried rose petals to decorate

Preheat the oven to 200˚C/400˚F/Gas mark 6.

Line a small, shallow baking tray with baking parchment and set aside.

Melt the butter, honey and sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Reduce the heat to very low and gently stir in the oats. Remove from the heat and add the raspberries. Stir them through. You want them to break up slightly so the flavour melts through the oats. Mix in the almonds.

Spread the oat mix onto the to baking parchment and pat it down so that the oats are compact. Place in the hot oven for 15 minutes, or until the flapjacks are golden brown. If the edges start to burn, don't panic! Trim them off and sprinkle over natural yogurt, or use in a crumble topping.

Slice the jacks with a sharp knife as soon as they come out of the oven so they are soft to cut, then leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Very good with a pot of tea, or if you are picnicking in the park, they taste even better alongside a cheeky bottle of elderflower cider!

NESTING SEASON OVER

I was sternly reminded at the Christmas table this year that overfeeding Blue Tits can make for a particularly lazy mating season. Too much pecking at the bird-feeder could result in a reduction in the number of spring-born chicks. I wonder what point they were trying to get across...

Had this person been hinting at something other than the welfare of birds, they were clearly unaware of the large and unforgiving note that reads MAKE NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION in my next year's diary.

But let's be realistic. However loud the call of abstinence from our stomachs between Christmas and New Year, from the warm dent in the sofa we cherish the days left until any solid deals are made. I know not one person who starts trimming down pre-12am on January 1st, and even then it bottles down to a strict diet of Bloody Marys.

I hail the wonderful Diana Henry, then, for her final-binge New Year's pud because January, and not a moment before, is when this tit's giving up...

CHOCOLATE AND PRUNE CAKE WITH ARMAGNAC CREAM


following Diana Henry's New Year Entertaining recipes in Boxing Day's Stella. p. 41.
Serves 8

ingredients
14 pitted prunes
100ml Armagnac/ brandy
200g plain chocolate, broken into chunks
110g unsalted butter
3 large eggs, separated
135g soft light-brown sugar
35g plain flour
75g freshly ground walnuts (ground almonds work just as well)
icing sugar for dusting

the cream
300ml whipping or double cream
2 1/2 tbsp icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp Armagnac

Roughly chop the prunes, and put them in a small pan, covering with the Armagnac or brandy. Heat to the boil, and reduce to a simmer for about 10 minutes. Set the prunes aside to plump up for a couple of hours.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/ 375°F/gas mark 5. Put the chocolate and the butter into a heat-proof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water. Heat until melted. Leave to cool a little.

Beat the egg yolks until pale and fluffy.

Sift the flour with the salt, add the walnuts and fold into the beaten yolks, followed by the chocolate and butter mixture. Now stir in the prunes and their soaking liquid.

Beat the egg whites until they form firm peaks. Using a large metal spoon fold 2 tbsps of the beaten whites into the mixture to loosen it, then fold in the rest. Scrape the batter into a 20cm (8in) buttered and base-lined loose-bottomed cake tin.

Place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. If the cake feels firm on top and the sides have shrunken away from the tin slightly, it will be ready. The skewer-test doesn't work due to the cake's gooey centre. Leave the cake in the tin to cool completely. When cooled, remove onto a plate.

Whip the cream until it holds shape, then beat slowly while adding the sugar, vanilla and Armagnac. It shouldn't be too sloppy but sit in gentle folds.

Dust the cake with icing sugar or cocoa powder and serve the cream on the side.

A top-of-the-pecking-order cake.

PANIC COOKIES

We all make a furious attempt to get present-buying over with quickly and have a few days of uncluttered peace before stuffed turkeys and drunk grannies get the better of us. But with Christmas parties and yuletide drinks ahoy, the precious 'thought that counts' gets scooped up in the constant hangover.

So here's a last minute solution for curing the lingering aches, pleasing the old farts, and saving a bit of shrapnel for the figgy pudding.

WHITE CHOCOLATE, WALNUT AND RAISIN COOKIES.
(MAKES APPROX. 30)

ingredients
80g caster sugar

1 egg
150g salted butter, chopped into small cubes
75g self raising flour
100g ground almonds
60g walnuts, roughly chopped
40g raisins
(1/2 tsp honey optional)

100g white chocolate (preferably G&B's delicious Vanilla White Chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 4. Line a baking tray or two with baking parchment.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar and egg until smooth. Fold in the flour and ground almonds, followed by the walnuts, raisins and honey. make sure the nuts and raisins are spread evenly through the mixture.

With a teaspoon, scoop equal portions of the cookie mix onto the baking trays, sitting them about 1 cm apart. Put into the pre-heated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes or until they begin to brown at the edges.

Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of boiling water. Do not sit the bowl in the water but rest over. The steam will gently soften the chocolate. When melted, take off the heat and begin to dip half of each cookie in the chocolate. Leave to cool in the fridge for 5 minutes so that the chocolate stiffens onto the biscuit. Try one.

Take about 10 cookies per person and place carefully in a see-through container. I used old plastic pint glasses but jam jars or soup pots look great too. Cut a large square of brightly coloured tissue-paper or cloth and place over the lid of the container. Finally, tie the cloth in place with a piece of string or ribbon and cut off any excess material.

In 30 minutes you'll have yourself a gift worthy of the whole present list and a halo hovering over that throbbing head.

APPLE SODA BREAD

If the bread in the basket is warm and grainy when I go to a restaurant I know I should order a light meal. With a knob of salty butter melting into the holes and dips, there's no holding back and frankly, how could anything that follows be better? I love soggy bread too. Bread and butter pudding, pappa al pomodoro, and another hunk of fresh bread to soak up the soup. And nothing beats cutting into a fresh loaf.

As much as I love bread though, it's easy to forget the effort involved. Hours spent mixing, kneading, waiting, and it's all disappeared before you know it. Which is why Soda bread is my favourite kind of bread; Still the same heavenly smells, still the tingly toes, still the desire to eat it all in one go...but in half the time. No need to knead, leaven, re-knead and re-leaven, just mix and put in the oven.

Cook it just before a dinner party and not only will your guests be fainting from the smell but they won't even notice your starter is shop bought and your main is burnt.

APPLE SODA BREAD

INGREDIENTS for one medium loaf

500g malt bread flour

2tbsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsps grape nuts

1 tbsp oats

200ml milk

300g natural yoghurt

handful mixed seeds

1 small apple, sliced, skin on
1 tbsp demerera sugar

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees C or 500 degrees F. Prepare a medium sized loaf, rubbing the bottom and the sides with unsalted butter and a dusting of plain flour.

Mix the flour, the bicarbonate of soda, the oats and grape nuts evenly in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the yoghurt and milk. With a fork, mix in the wet with the dry. The mixture will be sticky and wet still but this is how you want it.

Take half the mix and spread it into the bottom of the tin.

Now, lay the sliced apples on top and sprinkle with the sugar. When cooked with the bread they will soften slightly but not lose their shape. Pour over the remaining dough and sprinkle with the seeds.

Bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, checking it at half time by pushing a clean knife or skewer through the middle. At the end of the baking time, it may still be slightly wet but take it out and let it rest for 30-45 minutes before breaking loose and diving in.

This bread is fantastic with savoury dishes as well as a good jam - try a apple soda cheese on toast for a lovely fromage/pomme combination, or with salted butter and marmite.

Warning: It may bring a tear to your eye.

GEORGIE'S SNOBROD

Has Autumn officially struck do we think? Wake up and it's sunny; go home and you wish you'd brought your woolly jumper? Leaves get stuck to the bottom of your shoe, your leisurely stroll unexpectedly skids into an awkward run, that excruciating laugh 'It's fine! Ha ha ha...', an autumnal shade of burnt umber rising up to your roots? I'd say it has.

Which is why I've chosen to cook Georgie's recipe for her Snobrod: the perfect nibble for those days when we're just not sure which season we're in. This authentic Danish recipe is originally cooked over the fire in the great outdoors, but can just as easily be baked in the oven for a bit of warmth if the weather's turned all umbrella.

Just before I left for life int smoke, I cooked this for friends on the beach. Not only did it cuddle our cockles then, but it's warming mine now just thinking about that first stringy bite.

SNOBROD

SERVES 4
200g flour
100ml water
1tbsp sugar
pinch salt
secret ingredient of your choice
(I used up some of our last Isle of Wight green figs, roasted and wrapped round with the dough)

'This is a recipe I used to cook with my sister as a little girl in Denmark...it is called 'Snobrod'.

'All you need is 200g flour, 100ml water, 1 tbsp sugar and some salt. Knead all the ingredients together to make a dough, divide into 4 portions and roll each portion into thin sausages.


'Wind each sausage securely around a stick (any stick that is lying around, normally best to pull the knobbles off them first!), and cook by turning the stick over the open fire until the Snobrod is brown and crispy.

'It is very basic, but it is tres rustique...you can add any bit of magic to make it more exciting. Perhaps chop olives, raisins and cinnamon or parma ham into the mixture for extra flavour...'

A wonderful one. Thank you my dear Georgie.

RAIN FALL

It's raining sideways in a typically late-August way. I have my best selection of over sized autumnal-coloured clothes on, giving up but not forgetting the summer that has just swept past us. This always happens after my birthday. Tuesday was all bright sunshine, windy but warm; presents were unwrapped in the garden and dinner was crammed into a open-windowed, open-doored wooden hut, with candles and wine the only fire to warm us through. Next day, and the sky has well-and-truly let loose.

As an eater rather than a gardener - as much as I try from my flat window - I have never quite appreciated nor liked the phrase: 'Oh yes. We've been needing this rain'. How could anyone truly think that? Surely England could do with more sunshine than anything. The harsh reality is, if I am to continue being the eater that I am, it is well-worth training myself to nod happily at the heavy downpour, because as we all know, what we eat needs to eat too.

So, in my oatmeal jumper, red shorts, grey tights, thick socks and brown boots, I am slowly warming to the arrival...ahem, sorry...continuation of big rain.

To celebrate the almighty rainstorm, as it turns plums from green to red, and brings blackberries to the bushes, here is my recipe for:

UPSIDE DOWN RAINY ISLE OF WIGHT PLUM CAKE

ingredients for

UPSIDE DOWN PLUMS:
80g softened butter, unsalted
80g light brown soft sugar
enough halved plums to cover the base an 10 inch tin. (approx 15 small Victoria plums)

SOFT AND GOOEY CAKE:
250g softened butter, unsalted
125g dark brown soft sugar
125g light brown soft sugar
4 medium free range eggs
juice of half a lemon
200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
80g ground almonds

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

In a large cake tin, preferably a 10 incher, paste the base with the softened butter and sugar. Having halved and stoned the plums, place them side-by-side, skin side up, on top of the butter mix. Depending on your harvest of plums, try to fit in as many halves as you can as the fruit makes the cake. If your plums are not fully-ripe don't panic. Mine weren't. The slight sourness complements the sweetness of the batter and the plums will be caramelised by the sugar and butter beneath them.


In a large bowl mix the sugars with the butter until light and fluffy. Crack in the eggs one at a time, mixing in each one thoroughly before adding the next. The mixture will be wet and ready for the flour.

Sieve in the flour, baking power and salt and gently fold into the egg mix with the ground almonds. Do not over-mix. You don't want the flour to stiffen the other ingredients.

Carefully pour the contents of the bowl into the tin to cover the plums. Place into the oven for 50 minutes. If the cake starts to burn on top cover with a grease proof baking sheet. Test with a metal skewer - if it comes away clean, bingo. If not, whack it back in for a bit. Turn carefully onto a wire rack and cool. Serve warm.

The rain will be enviously tapping on the door for some before you know it...A serious cockle warmer.

FIG OF THE DUMP.

The figs are just coming into bloom on the Island now; the flesh soft, sweet and earthy.
Breaking into them raw seems risky, clenchingly persuading oneself that the pink giblets in the centre are not worms, just the fruit. 'Whatever's in there will have only been eating fig anyway': words that are thrown confidently across the table. Oh what a relief we are eating by candlelight.


Few and far between the figs fall: some already eaten, and still being eaten by god-knows-what, some picked unripe from the tree by little hands trying to help harvest the sparing yield. Every year they are savoured. They'd be wasted on jam; 'FRESH AND FRESHLY BAKED ONLY'.

Apart from eating them as they come - unwashed, unpesticided, unchecked - there is another way to eat the figs that, in a whisper, taste better than the original. Eaten for breakfast with fried bread and bacon, or for pudding with marscapone, I welcome whole-heartedly the season for...

MUM'S BAKED BALSAMIC FIGS

Serves 4.
INGREDIENTS:

2 large GREEN figs
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tbs balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to a low-medium heat - about 100 degrees C.

Slice the figs long-ways and lay them on a baking tray. Sprinkle evenly with the sugar, then drizzle over about 1 1/2 tbs worth of good balsamic vinegar. You don't want to drown the flavour of the figs - there should be just enough tang to complement the natural flavour without ridding it altogether.

Place in the oven and cook for 5-7 minutes until the balsamic turns sticky. Turn the figs over, and cook for another minute. The figs will be soft in the middle, slightly sticky and truly scrumptious.

We ate ours with smoked streaky bacon on fried white bread - toasted in the bacon juices - and a dollop of creme fraiche for a second breakfast at midday... Ever so naughty.

I KNEAD BREAD

Today, my Sunday morning kicked off punctually at 8 o’clock, setting out of the house with baking buddy, Miss Mackenzie, on the hunt for yeast and bread flour, in preparation for a morn of energetic bread making. I wanted my house to smell like a bakery. I wanted to breathe in those heavenly fumes, waft the warmth into my nostrils and watch the perfectly formed dough rise in the oven...


My mum – Happy Mother’s Day to her – is, and always has been a queen for whipping up a freshly baked loaf, mixing flavours and always succeeding in getting a warm approval. And as I am away from the comfort of her kneading expertise, I felt the ‘knead’ (ahem) to brighten up my weekend with a loaf of the highest ‘a la mère’ quality.


Asking around for thoughts on flavours just put me right back to where I started. Any amount of fresh inspiration couldn’t erase the thought of one particular combination. I was advised to add Marmite to my bread. Or Parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, or blue cheese and rosemary. Even the sound of banana and apricot couldn't shake me. But stubborn as I am, the thought of walnut and honey baked in a warm loaf makes me want to collapse into a heap of joy. Its sweet crunch, humid from the oven, and spread with a little melted butter, tops them all. It has no place in the bread bin and MUST be eaten immediately; no time wasted, just instant pleasure.

So, we kneaded the dough. And let it rise. And baked it. And ate it. And what a perfect complement to a, not so lazy, Sunday morning.

WALNUT AND HONEY BREAD

INGREDIENTS

500g strong white/wholemeal bread flour (either works)
7g dried yeast
300ml warm water
25g butter
Extra flour for dusting
1tbsp honey (or molasses if you’ve got it –even better)
50g crushed walnuts

Preheat the oven to 230 degrees C/ 450 degrees F/ gas mark 8. Mix all the dry ingredients together, and then rub in the butter. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the warm water. Use your hands to combine the ingredients until you have a non-sticky ball. Knead the dough well on a floured table, for approximately ten minutes until it bounces back when pressed.
Place into a bowl and cover with a damp tea towel. Find your warmest place in the house, apart from inside the oven. Leave it to rest until the dough has risen to double its original size (usually 1 ½ hours), knock the air out again, and leave it to prove once more for about 30 minutes. Add the walnuts and honey, and shape into desired form. Place into a large, deep, floured bread tin, or a floured baking tray for about 8 rolls. Bake in the heated oven for 30-35 minutes, until the dough is cooked and the top, brown.

Now, slice, and serve with a knob of butter, your favourite jam and a mug of fresh coffee. Mmmmmm...

LET THEM not EAT CAKE.

Ironic that the last blog is about cakes, isn't it? When, just two days ago, I gave up everything to do with them.

Usually I don’t go near tying myself to such a binding promise for 40 whole days and 40 whole nights, but this year I have. And the pain has begun.

No cakes. No flapjacks. No biscuits. Nothing that looks like something that you might eat when you aren’t hungry, but do because it just looks SO GOOD.

So this week, I thought I’d help myself out. My rumbling pudding stomach, for the fourth time today, made me think...What alternatives are there to cake that can still satisfy my greed?

I've searched high and low and found a recipe that I could make at home, and eat out.

Yogurt covered nuts and raisins.

YUM! The perfect little morsels to take to the library, discretely nibble, and ease the void...

This recipe is slightly long-winded - a massive 2 day affair. So, I'm going to split the blog in two.

Today I am making the

Yogurt Cream Cheese

500g natural yogurt

1 muslin cloth

1 piece strong string (to reach the cabinet from the kitchen side)

1 bowl

Pour the yogurt into the muslin cloth/cheesecloth and tie at top with string. Hang the string from a cabinet over a bowl.

Now sleep on it.

Let the yogurt drain overnight so that all of the liquid has dripped into the bowl. Whey!!

12 hours later.

After drainage, hold the cheesecloth and very gently squeeze any remaining moisture out of the cheese. Empty the whey from the bowl and let stand another 8 hours. Place the cheese in a clean container. The Yogurt Cream Cheese is now ready to use.

See you tomorrow for some damn good yogurt dipping!

This is not just any chocolate cake...

One always wonders whether it is the husky female voice on the Marks & Spencer advert that makes us want to reach out and demolish the gooey, steaming fondant on the television screen, or whether it is the longing for chocolate that is so irresistible, making us flash back to the last time we indulged in such a dreamy dessert...

It seems that everyone likes chocolate - some once in a while, some very often and many of us, A LOT. That is why I have chosen a pudding of the chocolate variety to round off my Last Supper, that hopefully will suit all creatures: great and small.

Oui. C'est un fondant au chocolat. Or chocolate fondant. Or hot chocolate sponge pudding with unbearably mouth-watering molten centre.

I had never made one of these before this blog - having heard how wrong they can go nerved me a little - but, as practice makes perfect, I thought it was time to dip my toe into the frozen lake.

Like all the most reputable chefs say, make a spare one - and good thing I did:


This recipe is adapted from Waitrose Chocolate Fondant Pudding Recipe.

INGREDIENTS:
SERVES 4.
125g butter, plus extra for greasing
25g plain flour , plus extra for dusting (or use cocoa powder)
200g good-quality dark chocolate, chopped
2 eggs, plus 2 yolks
100g caster sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Evenly brush individual metal pudding moulds (175ml) (I actually use the silicon non-stick ones which worked well) with butter. Evenly coat the buttered moulds with flour or cocoa powder, tapping off any excess. Transfer the prepared moulds to a baking sheet.

Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of lightly simmering water - do not let the bowl touch the surface of the water. Once melted, stir until smooth. Then, take the bowl off the pan and allow the chocolate to cool slightly.

Crack the eggs with the sugar into a large mixing bowl. Using an electric whisk, beat on high for a few minutes or until very thick, pale and fluffy. Fold the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar. Sift in the flour and gently fold it in.

Divide the mixture equally between the prepared pudding moulds. Place in the oven for 14-16 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside for 2 minutes. Using a tea towel, invert onto plates and carefully remove the moulds.

Serve immediately with yogurt or a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Head straight for the centre and take in the ooze - try not to faint.

As it is coming up to Valentine's day, why not split the recipe for two people - or perhaps just one to share? Although I don't know why you would...

EY UP. PUT T'KETTLE ON LOVE.

AT LAST. Internet, after many an hour talking to the-people-who-know-best, is connected! This is a pathetic excuse for my inactivity over the last few weeks (although it does help), but just because I haven't blogged it doesn't mean I haven't cooked it.

Getting back into the swing of moving into a new house, spending life in the library again and realising there is no food in the fridge is slowly but surely getting back to some state of normality. Summer has flown, gardens are nowhere in sight and the nearest I've been to cultivation is by way of a 'grow your own basil from an egg' plant on my windowsill...four shoots so far. Every little helps.


This season I will be bringing you flavours of the North, experimenting with hot-pots and parkins; I will be preparing for the winter with warming and sustainable foods to defrost blue noses and keep the stomach rumbling at bay; and finding ways to make food last longer...

Before any of this happens though, I would like to bring on the term with the perfect housewarming gift: my favourite cupcake, the RED VELVET, courtesy of The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. My home baking has never tasted so good!



RED VELVET cupcakes

Makes 12
60 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
150 g caster sugar
1 egg
10 g cocoa powder
20 ml red food colouring (preferably Dr. Oetker Red Food Colouring)
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
120 ml buttermilk
150 g plain flour
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
11⁄2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1 quantity Cream Cheese Frosting*
(300g icing sugar, sifted; 50g unsalted butter, soft; 125g cream cheese, cold. MIX)
a 12-hole cupcake tray, lined with paper cases

Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.

Put the butter and the sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy and well mixed. Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.
In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a thick, dark paste. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Turn the mixer down to slow speed and slowly pour in half the buttermilk. Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour, and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added. Scrape down the side of the bowl again. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth, even mixture. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.


Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until two-thirds full and bake in the preheated oven for 20–25 minutes, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
When the cupcakes are cold, spoon the Cream Cheese Frosting on top.

This recipe comes from the brilliant book, The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook by Tarek Malouf.

Or check out their website at http://hummingbirdbakery.com/flash.html to order cakes for delivery if making them yourself seems just too much...

BRAMBLES AND BLACKBERRIES

Late August, given heavy rain and sun
For a full week the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a juicy glossy clot
among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate the first one and the flesh was sweet
Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
Picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
Sent us out with milk cans, pea tins, jam pots,
Where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.

This extract from 'Blackberry Picking' by the Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, for me sums up the last weeks in August with every single word. Whether laden with empty bowls waiting to be filled, heading out on a "can't-come-home-until-we-fill-to-the-top" mission, or stopping at every bush, slowing the power walking down, resulting in bored and frustrated dogs.

There are endless opportunities for this bountiful berry. Jam. Pie. Crumble. Fool. Compote. Sprinkled on Yogurt. Summer pudding. But there is one new discovery for me that tops it off and hits the spot: a recipe found in the August 2009 edition of Waitrose Food Illustrated, slightly altered and loved loved loved by my niece and nephew.

The original recipe by Mark Price uses ripe plums, at their best at this time of year. Thanks to our garden, we had these too - and used them for a tangy alternative to the sweet blackberries.



Blackberry and Yogurt muffins.

Makes 30 mini muffins or 15 large ones
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes

115g Unsalted butter
300g Self-raising flour
1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp Salt
250g Caster sugar
250ml Natural Yogurt
2 Eggs
200g freshly picked Blackberries
(for plum recipe:
300g chopped plums
3/4 Ground ginger
2 stem ginger balls, finely chopped)

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. If you are making mini muffins, use the non stick plastic cases, laid out on a baking tray, which work brilliantly. If making large, line a baking tray with muffin cases, or for a beautiful rustic look, adopt Waitrose's idea of using squares of baking paper (tying them round the middle with string at the end - it looks fantastic).

In a saucepan, gently melt the butter; set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, (ground ginger) and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar, mix thoroughly and make a well in the centre.

Add the yogurt, eggs (and ginger) to the pan of butter and whisk together.

Pour half the mixture into the dry ingredients: combine quickly using a wooden spoon. before mixing in the rest, add 150g blackberries. Don't over mix - any lumps will keep the muffins light.
Spoon into the muffin cases and top with the remaining blackberries.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and risen. cool in the tins/ cases for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Delicious!

CREDITS:


Extract from 'Blackberry Picking' by poet, Seamus Heaney. The whole poem can be found in Opened Ground: Selected Poems 1966-1996


Original 'Spiced plum and yogurt muffins' recipe by Mark Price, taken from Waitrose Food Illustrated, Page 74. August issue 2009

INTERESTING FATHER FACT OF THE DAY:

There are now 88 species of bramble growing on the Isle of Wight.

Thank goodness for that!