Samhain Cake

I've done it! Now that I'm British I've made my first authentic Jack'O'Lantern out of a turnip/swede/rutabaga! 

This was actually my third one, as I carved the first two out at work and even won a prize for one of them! As you may guess, they are a lot more work than a pumpkin, but they aren't so messy either. No gloop!

But that left the question: what do do with all the scooped out vegetable innards???? I could have made soup (the obvious choice) or made haggis, neeps, and tatties (a wonderful choice as well) but I decided to try carrot cake's cousin: turnip cake.

It was, er, interesting and not as bad as one might expect. Everyone who has tried it has been pleasantly surprised, but I don't honestly think it will give carrot cake a run for its money. 

If you wish to give it a shot, the recipe is here (and below).

If not, just enjoy the many faces of my colleagues' Jack'O'Lanterns!!!

Happy Hallowe'en!

Swede (Rutabega) Nutmeg Cake with Brown Butter Frosting and Salted
Hazelnuts
Ingredients
For the cake:
150g (1 cup, packed) raw peeled and grated swede (rutabega)
3 eggs
175g (¾ cup) sugar
100g (½ cup) plain full-fat yogurt
100ml (½ cup) rapeseed or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250g (2 ½ cups) plain (self-raising) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarb of soda (baking soda)
2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
For the brown butter frosting:
400g (3 cups) powdered icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons milk
115g (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
To serve:
30g (¼ cup) salted hazelnuts, chopped
Instructions
For the cake:
1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line a 9” square cake tin with parchment paper.
2. Beat the eggs, sugar, yogurt, oil and vanilla together well. Stir in the grated swede. Sift in the flour,
baking powder, bicarb of soda, nutmeg and salt and gently stir to combine.
3. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Cool
for 10 minutes in the tin and then turn onto a wire rack, removing the parchment paper, to cool
completely.
For the frosting
1. Put the icing sugar, vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the milk into a large bowl. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan over a low heat, melt the butter and continue to heat until it turns brown and smells nutty.
Pour into the bowl of powdered sugar and beat until thick and smooth, adding more milk if necessary.
3. Top the cooled cake with the frosting and sprinkle with the chopped hazelnuts.

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Icing

The other day I was chatting to the staff at my son's playgroup when pumpkins came up. We were discussing how true jack'o'lanterns are made from swedes/turnips/rutabagas NOT pumpkins. We who have only ever carved pumpkins have no appreciation for the blood (literally) shed for the creation of these Hallowe'en lanterns in years gone by, now a dying art since pumpkins flood the Scottish shops  in October. I did confess I tend to carve pumpkins out of interest for my children's safety and because you can cook a lot more tasty things with a pumpkin than you can from a turnip. The staff nodded, but then they confessed they had never actually eaten any pumpkin apart from pumpkin seeds. I decided this was no good, that something had to be done.

The easiest solution was these: Pumpkin bars. Easy to throw together, and generally popular with everyone (apart, perhaps, from anyone with a dairy allergy). I first had them when a friend brought some along to another playgroup and immediately asked for the recipe. I'll warn you though, it's Paula Deen....



She's made some not-so-great choices, I know, but she does have some good recipes. Well, I've heard she does, I think I've only tried this one and maybe one other one sometime. I did once gag when I looked at a few of her other ones. So...much...oil...and...sugar...

Speaking of which, you start this one off with some oil and sugar. And this is what it looks like when you've finally run out of your huge Costco bag of sugar and need to throw in some brown sugar.

Some Lidl eggs went in . Then a whole can of pumpkin. I really like that the recipe uses a whole can, so I don't have a partial can taking up space in my fridge/freezer, demanding I organise its use before it grows something/gets frostbite. Alternatively, you could steam, puree, and drain your lantern after hallowe'en and use roughly the same amount as a can of Libby's. Your choice!

Last, but not least, in went some flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Costco cinnamon is the best. Really. It's amazing. Go get some now. NOW.

Then in it went into my lined 9 X 13 pan. I love this pan, it makes American recipes possible on a regular basis.

It came out looking like this, then sank a bit, but I didn't care because the knife came out clean which means no one will get food poisoning. 

The icing was a simple mix of a tub of cream cheese (about 180g I think), with roughly the same amount of butter (more butter is required in the UK as we can't get firm blocks of cream cheese here), a splash of vanilla, and perhaps just short of a cup of powdered sugar (though the recipe called for 2 cups) all put into a food processor at room temperature and pulsed until smooth-ish. I then put it in a freezer bag, cut off the corner, and squirted blobs onto the cooled squares.

The staff said I was most welcome to bring these in again, anytime. And another friend who also sampled a portion asked for the recipe too, so Paula Deen, we salute you. 

Ingredients (adapted)

Bars:
4 eggs
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
15 -ounce can pumpkin
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
Icing:
8 -ounce package cream cheese, softened
7 oz cup butter , softened
1 cup sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F/180C

Using an electric mixer at medium speed, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and pumpkin until light and fluffy. Stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix at low speed until thoroughly combined and the batter is smooth. Spread the batter into a greased 13 by 10-inch baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely before frosting. Cut into bars.

To make the icing: Combine ingredients in food processor and pulse until smooth. 

Apricot & Almond Tart

Last week, my family and I travelled over to Northern Ireland to visit some family. While there, my husband's cousin asked if I would be willing to make the pudding for the family's Sunday dinner while the others went to Sunday services, and I happily agreed to this plan.

When we entered the kitchen, a Jamie Oliver cookbook was thrust upon me with this Frangipane plum tart recipe.
A few pages earlier was the pastry recipe.

Now, I had expected something like, you know, a crumble, to throw together easily at a leasurely pace, not something that requires about 6 hours if you follow the recipe to the letter. On top of this, we were short of a few ingredients, we didn't have the right size tin, and there were no pie weights (or dried pulses) to hand for blind baking the pastry.

I managed to put some semblance of a tart together in the end (improvising with garden stones for pie weights) which was, er, rather "caramelized" on top, but it was eaten enthusiastically by the adults and even by a couple of adventurous children (my kids were more interested in ice cream, sadly). Pleasantly surprised by it, I resolved to go home and make a similar one, in a more suitably sized tin, and with apricots rather than plums as I love me some apricots.

Yesterday morning, I was faced with a question: should I clean up the flat while my two older kids were at school, or should I make a tart? A couple hours later, this emerged from the oven:

It looked a bit sad, really, so I looked at the recipe again and saw that it suggested an apricot jam glaze. I didn't have any of said ingredient at that moment, so off I went to get the kids, picking up jam on the way. After depositing kids at gymnastics with their father, I dashed home, quickly microwaved some jam, and spread it over the top:

Ahhhh...better. It was then shoved into a bag and brought into work, served with posh Sainsbury's custard. One colleague was disgusted when I said I'd brought apricot tart, but then she saw it and decided she had to try some...there were no crumbs left on her plate. So if nothing else, I convinced someone to eat apricots yesterday. Get your 5 a day every day, people. 

Jamie Oliver's fancy recipe page is here, but I've also copied and pasted below...and as I did this, I just realized I completely left out the oranges when I made this. Ooops: 

Apricot Tart 

from Jamie Oliver's Magazine

INGREDIENTS

• 500g sweet pastry
• 12 ripe apricots, halved and stones removed (or 2 x 400g tins apricot
halves, drained)
• 100g sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 4 tbsp apricot jam
• Crème fraîche or ice cream, to serve (optional)

Filling
• 300g ground almonds
• 225g sugar
• 225g butter, at room temperature
• 3 heaped tbsp flour
• 4 eggs
• Zest of 2 oranges, juice of 1
• 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped out (or
1 tsp vanilla bean paste)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Place the pastry on a floured surface and roll out to the thickness of a £1 coin. Lift over a rolling pin then unroll it onto a 28cm fluted tart tin. 
2. Gently ease the pastry into the tin, making sure it is pressed into the fluted edges. Trim the edges with a sharp knife and pierce the pastry base a few times with a fork. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes – this will stop it shrinking when baked.
3. Meanwhile, blitz all the filling ingredients in a food processor so it forms a thick paste.
4. Once chilled, place the pastry in its tin on a baking tray and loosely cover with a sheet of baking paper, letting it hang over the edges. Fill with baking beans or rice.
5. If using fresh apricots, place them cut-side down in a large shallow pan with the sugar and 275ml of water, then cook over a medium heat for 3–4 minutes, or until slightly softened but not mushy. 
6. Bake the pastry case blind for 15 minutes, or until slightly coloured, then remove from the oven. Take out the baking paper and the baking beans or rice, and return the pastry to the oven for a further 10 minutes. Once it has a nice colour, leave it to cool slightly before adding the filling, then press in the apricots, cut-side up. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for 40–45 minutes, or until the filling has almost set and is coloured on top. 
7. Heat the jam in a small pan over a medium heat until melted. Brush over the tart to glaze, and leave to set. Once set, serve with crème fraîche or ice cream, if you like.

Sweet Pastry

Ingredients

• 250 g plain flour , plus extra for dusting
• 50 g icing sugar
• 125 g good-quality unsalted cold butter , cut into small cubes
• 1 orange , (optional)
• 1 vanilla pod , halved and seeds scraped out (optional)
• 1 large free-range egg , beaten
• a splash of milk

Method

Everyone needs a good, basic pastry recipe, and this is one you can rely on. It’s easily adaptable if you want to add extra flavours like orange zest or vanilla – or even a pinch of nutmeg or cinnamon – and is really simple to knock up. If you have any pastry left over, simply wrap it in clingfilm and freeze it to use another time.

You can make your pastry like this by hand, or pulse it in a food processor. From a height, sieve your flour and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Using your fingertips, gently work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. If using orange or vanilla for extra flavour, either finely grate in the zest of your orange or add the seeds from the vanilla pod and mix again.
Read more at http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/eggs-recipes/sweet-pastry/#TmktueWtSKiK2L57.99

Sweet and Strong Hare

On Saturday mornings, when all in my household are well and the weather is not too horrific, you will find me at our local farmers' market. It is a relatively small affair, with only some 30 or so stalls in total on a busy week, but there you can find items you really can't find easily in your local supermarket. The vegetables are ugly and obscure, the eggs don't just come from hens, and the hand crafted items are, well, very obviously hand crafted, shall we say.

The main draw for me is the meat. Puddledub bacon is the best bacon you'll find in Scotland. Really. And you can get great other cuts of really good meat at far cheaper prices than the butcher would offer for the same stuff. For example, the chickens I buy there I pay about £10 for (which is still pricey compared to a supermarket factory farmed bird, I know) but at the butcher's the same bird will cost you £25.

The first time I tried hare was when my husband brought home a bloody, skinned carcass from the farm where he worked and announced it would be dinner. I was skeptical, but he prepared jugged hare it was, indeed, very flavourful. Hares are far bigger than rabbits, so you really get a good amount of meat off of one of these violent creatures.

My preferred recipe now is one found in a book my mother sent me, an Italian cookbook named The Silver Spoon, which is some kind of Italian institution (or so its cover tells me). Its secret ingredient is chocolate - a small amount is all you need to add complexity and depth to the sauce enveloping the hare. You basically just slowly simmer the meat in some booze and stock until it is tender, then add sultanas and simmer some more, then some nuts, dark chocolate, vinegar and a tiny bit of sugar. Once that all comes together, it's easiest to just remove all the meat and put it in the sauce for simple serving, which we did alongside some roast potatoes and cauliflower in cheese sauce. No calories were counted in the creation of this meal.

For a good cauliflower cheese I recommend you try Nigella Lawson's recipe. For the next time you bag yourself a hare, try this recipe below:

Sweet and Strong Hare

from The Silver Spoon

serves 6-8

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil

25g butter

40g smoked bacon bits

1 hare, cut into pieces

2 Tbsp plain flour

175ml red wine

175ml meat stock

1 bay leaf

50g sultanas

25g pine nuts or sliced almonds

25g plain chocolate, grated

1 tsp white wine vinegar

t tsp sugar

salt and pepper

Method:

Heat the olive oil and butter in a pan, add the bacon bits and hare and cook over a medium heat, turning and stirring frequently, until the pieces of hare are browned all over. Season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with half the flour, mix well and cook for about 10 minutes. Pour in the wine and stock, add the bay leaf, lower the heat and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. Meanwhile, put the sultanas in a bowl, add warm water to cover, and leave to soak for 15 minutes, then drain and squeeze out. Stir the sultanas and pine nuts into the pan and simmer for a further 30 minutes. Mix together the chocolate, the remaining flour, the vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt in a bowl, then stir in 3-4 Tbsp water. Pour the mixture into the pan and bring just to the boil. Taste and add more salt if necessary. Serve the hare covered in this ancient chocolate sauce.