Author: gochugaru girl

Pavilion Road in Chelsea

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

Sometimes the sky is blue and it is a happy day. Sometimes the sky is blue and you discover an ice cream shop and a happy day turns into a marvellous day.

This morning I had cause to travel to Sloane Square. Leaving Peter Jones by the back door, which I had not planned to do, I stumbled into Pavilion Road. It is a little treasure in this area, as the pavements are wide and car-free. Interesting shops line both sides of the road and my one thought was that I must return with some friends and family in tow.

Then I found an ice cream shop. As this was before my lunch, I skipped dessert and headed straight back here afterwards.

 

Ice Cream from Ice Cream Union

 

I remember my first visit to the original branch of Ottolenghi in Notting Hill 20 years ago, and I am still a big fan of their shops and of course, their cookbooks. By coincidence, as I was walking home from the tube station, I spotted Mr Ottolenghi who is often in my area doing the school run.

 

 

Food shops include a cheesemonger, coffee roaster, small supermarket and greengrocer. Add to this a butcher and baker. All we need now is a candlestick maker!

 

Over dinner this evening I tried to work out how best to justify eating a doughnut and ice cream in one sitting. Mr Gochugaru said that we could walk here from home, and that it would take 90 minutes. Junior 2 said I would have to walk home as well. I am working on it.

 

 

Other addresses in the area:

I highly recommend David Mellor Kitchen Shop, 4 Sloane Square SW1W 4EE.

Pickett, 149 Sloane Street SW1X 9BZ, carries a wide selection of lined leather gloves, essential for the British cold weather.

You will find all manner of luxury shops up and down the streets here. King’s Road is good for general shopping. Harrods is just up the road. I am asking myself why I don’t come down here more often.

 

Sunday Lunch at The Pig at Combe

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

I have lived for nearly 40 years in England. In that time I have seen restaurants come and go, chefs rise and fall, hotels open and shut. I admire the tenacity and hard work of the chefs, restaurateurs and hoteliers who have survived trends and recessions, and of course the recent pandemic.

In that time also, I have not only improved my cooking skills but have been consolidating ideas of what and how I really like to eat. I like to eat food that can either be scaled up to feed the masses, or smaller portions which can be shared. I like communal dining because this is the way we ate when I was growing up in Malaysia.

Last weekend we visited my parents-in-law in Devon and as always, we have Sunday lunch out. This is so we don’t have to spend part of our 30 hours together preparing a labour intensive roast lunch.

We mostly go to The Jack In The Green, home to our favourite braised red cabbage (recipe at the end of this post). This weekend we went to The Pig at Combe because there were more vegetarian dishes for Junior 2, who had come along with us. It was also conveniently near Otter Garden Centre.

A Sunday roast lunch is the perfect opportunity to share a joint of meat and plenty of vegetables around the dining table. It is not always possible to do this in a restaurant but the idea is there, that this is a meal to be shared en famille. At The Pig we ordered our own main courses and then shared some starters and desserts. We dipped the lovely bread in a herb-infused oil and smoked salt.

 

Isle of Wight Tomatoes, Garden Sorrel, Crispy Capers and Basil Vinaigrette

 

‘Newhouse Farm’ Asparagus, ‘Buffalicious’ Mozzarella and Toasted Seeds

 

Chargrilled Garden Oyster Mushrooms with Broad Bean Leaf and Hazelnuts

 

Roast Pork with Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Potatoes and Vegetables…and the crunchiest pork crackling ever

 

Junior 2 had a Nut Wellington (Beef Wellington is beef encased in puff pastry)

 

Chocolate Mousse with Gorse Ice Cream (if you come across a patch of gorse, it smells like a Pina Colada)

 

A selection of ice creams which were not sweet at all, but also not very flavourful. I think you can’t always have everything!

 

My parents-in-law also had Fillet of Hake with Butterbeans, Bacon and Fish Cream, and Lemon Curd Tart with Strawberries. They belong to a generation who never take photos of what they eat, so I did not dare to reach over and take photos of those dishes.

Like most British restaurants there is a discretionary service charge (anything from 10% to 15% of the total food and drink bill) which I think is the most sensible way to reward service. I find it quite stressful with the American way where adding a sum for service is left up to you but don’t you dare give anything less than 20%. Why not simply take the hassle out and include it in the bill?

At the end of the meal we agreed that we would all quite happily dine there again.

The Pig has a link to one of my favourite hotels from the past i.e. Hotel Du Vin. We had stayed at the first HdV in Winchester, in January 1997, where their Head Chef was a very young James Martin. The owners were Robin Hutson and Gerard Basset. HdV was sold to Marylebone Warwick Balfour in 2004, then after expansion the chain was sold on 10 years later. I recently re-visited HdV in Winchester which brought back some nice memories. I am not sure if the other branches of HdV are any good.

Mr Basett sadly passed away in 2019. Mr Hutson is chairman Home Grown Hotels, owners of The Pig Hotels until they were sold a year ago (to the same group which bought HdV from MWB).

All this is my way of saying that we should enjoy what we have for the moment, because that moment passes by in an instant. Sometimes when a hotel chain expands, standards are maintained. Sometimes they are not, and we are left looking for something that no longer exists. Through all this I hope that by sharing meals together as a family we will still be happy wherever it is we dine.

 

 

Address:

The Pig at Combe, Gittisham, Honiton EX14 3AD. Telephone 01404 540400. Other Pig Hotels here.

 

Books:

The Pig: Tales and Recipes from the Kitchen Garden and Beyond by Robin Hutson, published by Mitchell Beazley, ISBN 978-1784725570

The Pig: 500 Miles of Food, Friends and Local Legends by Robin Hutson, published by Home Grown Hotels, ISBN 978-1399907422

 

Date, Carrot and Coconut Bundt

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

To be honest I am not sure how to photograph another Bundt, as all cakes made in the same Bundt pan will end up looking like each other. I was about to skip this post but then I brought this cake to a church meeting where it was very well received: one person asked for the recipe and another asked for a cake baking lesson. So I decided to include it here. There is only the one photo as I left the cake for the host and her family to finish later.

This cake is very fast to make, and the most important thing to stress is that you should weigh out and prepare all the ingredients before starting. I used a 6 Cup Anniversary Bundt Pan but the cake can also be made in a 2 pound / 900 g loaf tin, which was how I made it originally at the start of the pandemic. I have lowered the sugar and raised the fibre content in this update. The carrots were grated in my Thermomix Cutter.

 

 

For the Cake:

3 large eggs

125 g golden caster sugar or light brown soft sugar

115 g sunflower oil

100 g spelt or wholemeal flour

50 g plain white flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of fine sea salt

100 g Medjool dates, cut into small pieces

50 g desiccated coconut

265 g carrots, finely grated

grated zest of one orange (optional)

10 g each softened butter and plain flour to line the Bundt pan

 

How to Make:

Preheat the oven to 170°C/ 150°C fan.

Brush the softened butter evenly over the entire inside of the pan, taking care to fill every corner. Sift over the flour, moving the pan around to coat evenly. Remove the excess flour by turning the pan upside down and giving it a tap (do this over a sink).

Sift the flours, baking powder and salt together into a large bowl. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Whisk in the oil slowly.

Add the flour mixture and, using a silicon spatula, gently fold into the whisked egg mixture.

Add in the dates, coconut and carrots. Grate in the zest of an orange if using. Gently fold everything together until well mixed.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan.

Level the surface and tap the pan on a folded dishcloth to settle any bubbles.

Bake in the oven for 45 – 50 minutes or until the cake bounces back when touched. A metal skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.

Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

The cake will slice into eight thin and eight thicker pieces – perfect for a sharing with friends, and perfect for picnics.

 

Carrot Cake Number Three

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

It has been an eventful weekend, and you can read about the coronation of King Charles III everywhere, and possibly forevermore. Our family has so enjoyed the extra day’s holiday, which we spent mostly doing more Spring cleaning.

Taking inspiration from Britain’s monarchy and its attempts to refresh its image, I have been refreshing my cake recipes by making them in Bundt pans. I used to write ‘bundt’ in previous posts but since reading that ‘Bundt’ is a trademarked word, I am using Bundt from now on.

I need to admit that I have quite a number of Bundt pans. The one I have been using a lot recently is the 6 Cup Anniversary Bundt Pan (gold edition). This is because its volume roughly equates to the volume of the 2 pound loaf tins I always baked cakes in. Like a loaf cake, the appeal of this Bundt pan is that its formed lines are a good guide for cutting even slices. At one stage when I was bulk baking for church and community events, I had six loaf tins. These Bundt pans are so crazy expensive here in the UK (but worth it) that I only have one of each type of pan. For now.

 

It is easy to slice from this cake following the lines of its shape…the dilemma is whether to eat a thin slice or a thicker slice

 

When reviewing the carrot cake recipe on which this Bundt is based, I realised that I don’t often keep wholemeal self-raising flour. Today I used a combination of spelt and plain white flours, with baking powder as the raising agent. I used sultanas instead of raisins, and one other thought I had was that the grated zest of an orange would be a nice addition to the batter.

Everything should be weighed and prepared beforehand. The carrots were grated in a few seconds using my Thermomix Cutter (grate fine). For fine grating, I have found that large carrots grate better than small carrots, which tend to come out more watery. You can of course grate the carrots by hand or in a food processor.

 

 

 

For the Cake:

3 large eggs

125 g golden caster sugar or light brown soft sugar

115 g sunflower oil

100 g spelt or wholemeal flour

50 g plain white flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of fine sea salt

75 g sultanas

75 g desiccated coconut

265 g finely grated carrots

10 g each softened butter and plain flour to line the Bundt pan

 

How to Make:

Preheat the oven to 170°C/ 150°C fan.

Brush the softened butter evenly over the entire inside of the pan, taking care to fill every corner. Sift over the flour, moving the pan around to coat evenly. Remove the excess flour by turning the pan upside down and giving it a tap (do this over a sink).

Sift the flours, baking powder, cinnamon and salt together into a large bowl. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Whisk in the oil slowly.

Add the flour mixture and, using a silicon spatula, gently fold into the whisked egg mixture.

Add in the raisins, coconut and carrots. Gently fold everything together until well mixed.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared pan.

Level the surface and tap the pan on a folded dishcloth to settle any bubbles. You can see in the photo above the little holes that form in the cake if you forget to do this.

Bake in the oven for 45 – 50 minutes or until the cake bounces back when touched. A metal skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.

Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

The cake will slice into eight thin and eight thicker pieces – perfect for a sharing with friends, and perfect for picnics.

 

 

My next cake refresh would be the Date, Carrot and Coconut Cake, as I need to get through a box of Medjool dates. Originally planned for Sticky Toffee Pudding, a sharp warning from the doctor to reduce my sugar intake has resulted in the said dates (and sad dates) being literally left on the shelf. However, I hope to make a gluten-free version of the STP when we visit my in-laws next weekend. They can enjoy it, and I will just have a spoonful after dinner.

 

 

Coronation Chicken Salad

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

From the Old Testament of the Bible, in Judges chapter 21 verse 25:
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

 

Why do we have kings and queens? What purpose do they serve in a modern world? When we read accounts of royalty in history, we understand that one of the king’s role was to protect his kingdom where there were no geographically defined borders. This was mainly done by raising and leading an army to defend land and people. Ultimately if need be, a king had to to sacrifice his life in order to save those who serve him.

That’s the kind of king I should like if I were to swear allegiance.

In the Bible, one of the functions of the king was to lead God’s people in God’s moral and spiritual ways. There were good kings and there were bad kings. Sometimes things went well and sometimes things did not go so well. Then there was a period when there was no king, and without a leader directing the people as to God’s way, everyone was a law unto himself.

It is not difficult to imagine what life was like at this time. All we need to do is to read the daily news to see God’s original commandments still being broken: murder, adultery, theft, false witness, envy. The Bible makes it clear that all this stems from putting ourselves first instead of seeking God’s will and direction.

This is not a political essay, and my background is in Law and not in Theology. But I often think about how difficult it is to be a leader when you do not have any moral compass or grounding. So my prayer every morning is that God helps me make good and wise decisions when I am faced with a dilemma or predicament.

In my world, baking cakes or cooking do not often cause dilemmas or predicaments. However, I could not make progress on what to cook this Coronation Weekend. No one in the family wanted to eat Coronation Chicken. None of us were born when the late Queen Elizabeth had her coronation. In my recollection, this is a salad made up of cooked chicken, raisins, curried mayonnaise and topped with toasted flaked almonds. I think we ate it at our own wedding (and I think my dad enjoyed it very much).

I like all things chicken so decided to make my own version of Coronation Chicken. This is a large raw salad topped with a small amount of chicken bound in a light dressing and chopped toasted nuts. It does not resemble the original, but then King Charles does not resemble his beloved mother in many ways. I hope his reign will be memorable, as much as I hope my chicken salad will be too.

 

Some of the salad and dressing ingredients

 

For the Salad:

Use any amount of torn salad leaves, shredded or sliced crunchy vegetables, apple, grapes and fresh herbs. Below are suggestions. Wash and dry the vegetables and fruits and make a salad as you normally do.

Salad leaves could be little gem, rocket, iceberg lettuce, butter lettuce.

Crunchy vegetables could be small radishes, celery, sweet peppers, cucumber, red cabbage, green cabbage, carrots.

Fruits could be apples and grapes. Nothing sour (see note at the end of the post). Maybe some pear but only if it is crunchy, like Nashi pear.

Herbs could be rocket, flat-leaf parley, mint.

Nuts could be pecans, cashews, walnuts. For something extra I would use smoked and salted almonds.

 

For the Chicken:

This is the important part that brings the dish together and gives it the Coronation element. I used 120 g of cooked and cubed chicken breast for two people, but please use more if you need to provide a more substantial salad.

For 120 g of cooked and cubed chicken breast, the dressing is 1 tablespoon mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon mango chutney, 1 teaspoon olive oil, 1 teaspoon lime juice, 1 teaspoon wholegrain or Dijon mustard, few turns of freshly ground pepper and grated zest of 1 lime.

 

Assembling the Salad: start with the salad leaves, add the shredded crunchy vegetables, top with the dressed chicken and chopped nuts

 

I had a little chuckle to myself when thinking up this recipe. I thought that I should like this salad to be like the ideal monarch. That is to say, not bitter (this is why I avoided chicory, radicchio) and not sour (hence only a little lime juice and no sour fruits). A little feistiness (rocket, radish), mainly home-grown (our local carrots, red or green cabbage, apple, celery, mint, parsley), with some global influences (grapes from South Africa, French mustard, Spanish olive oil, Japanese mayonnaise). A little nuttiness is totally ok. Overall I wanted something fresh and easy going, not heavy or overbearing.

 

 

 

Three Salads and a Rice

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

Any night is a good night to see the children for dinner. I am happy to spend time in my kitchen whether it is the weekend or the beginning of the working week. Tonight I made three salads, a beef curry, some rice and a pistachio bundt with fruits for dessert.

Need I say it? It is raining as I write. I know some men have Man Caves where they try to hide away from the world. But you can’t get away from the rain! After nearly 40 years of living in England, I have come to accept (but not entirely embrace) it.

The three salads are very simple to make, provided you use the oven to roast the main vegetables of aubergine, celeriac, beetroot. Recipes follow for each salad, with a photo at the beginning of the recipe.

 

Salad Number 1: Roasted Aubergine with a Soya and Maple Dressing

 

Vegetable: 3 large aubergines, olive oil

Dressing: 2 tablespoons soya sauce, 1 tablespoon sesame oil, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, 1 teaspoon gochugaru (Korean chilli powder)

Garnish: spring onions, sesame seeds, red chilli

How To:

Preheat the oven to 180C fan.

Cut the aubergines widthways into 2 cm slices.

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and drizzle on some olive oil.

Place the aubergine slices on the tray in one layer. Drizzle over more olive oil. Roast for 40 minutes, turning over once.

Whilst the aubergines are roasting, mix the dressing in a large mixing bowl.

When the aubergines are ready, tip them into the bowl and toss them gently in the dressing.

Place the aubergines on a serving plate and garnish with some sliced spring onions, sesame seeds and sliced chillies.

 

 

Salad Number 2: Roasted Beetroot with Salad Leaves and a Sherry Vinegar Dressing

 

Vegetables: 4 medium sized beetroots, a handful of mixed salad leaves

Dressing: 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar, 1 teaspoons honey, 1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard

Garnish: toasted walnuts

How To:

Preheat the oven to 180C fan.

Clean the beetroots if they look muddy. Wrap each beetroot in a piece of foil and place in a small roasting tin.

Roast for 40 minutes or until the beetroots feel soft enough for a knife to pierce through it without much resistance.

Cool the beetroots then scrape off the skin with a small knife.

Slice each beetroot in half, then each half into even sized wedges (as thin or as thick as you like).

Place the salad leaves in a serving bowl, add the sliced beetroot, whisk the dressing ingredients and pour over.

Garnish with some chopped walnuts.

 

 

Salad Number 3: Roasted Celeriac with Green Lentils and Asparagus

 

Vegetables: 550 g (peeled weight) celeriac, 150 g green lentils, 350 g thin asparagus spears, olive oil

Dressing: 3 tablespoons lemon juice, 2 tablespoons cider vinegar

Garnish: some chopped flat-leaf parsley and toasted chopped almonds would not go amiss, but this time the salad was fine without them

How To:

Preheat the oven to 180 C fan.

Please see the original recipe here, and simply add some asparagus which have been roasted at 180 C for 10 minutes. This time of the year make sure the asparagus are locally grown.

 

 

Confit Garlic and Mushroom Rice

 

Rice: 300 g basmati rice (soaked for an hour if possible), 8 large garlic cloves, 6 tablespoons olive oil, 200 g sliced mixed mushrooms, 1 stick cinnamon, 3 whole star anise

How to:

Preheat the oven to 180C fan.

Please see the original recipe here. I make this rice a lot and today I used mushrooms. I have also added cherry tomatoes, courgette and bell peppers at other times.

Place the garlic and olive oil in a large oven-proof pot (I used Le Creuset) and cook over a low heat until softened.

Turn up the heat a little, add the mushrooms and sauté this for around 2 – 3 minutes.

Tip in the drained rice, add 600 g boiling water along with the cinnamon and star anise.

Give everything a gentle stir, cover the pot and place in the oven for around 35 minutes, until the rice is cooked.

If you have an inkling that your guests might be running late, switch the oven off after 30 minutes and leave the rice covered until everyone is ready to eat. This rice dish is very forgiving in this way.

 

 

Dessert: Pistachio Bundt

 

Recipe in a separate post, as it is a bit more detailed. Need I say it? I love cakes baked in bundt pans.

 

PS: I left out the beef curry because I had a lot to do, and used a ready made paste. But the tip is to use beef short ribs and cook this in a pressure cooker for one hour. Remove the meat from the bone, cube the meat, reduce the sauce, skim off the fat, return the meat to the sauce-turned-gravy and serve to your guests.

 

 

Gingerbread Bundt

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

I have been spending my free time clearing up files of unwanted notes and avoiding the still persistent rain here in London. As a reward for accomplishing more or less the daily To Do lists, I make yet another bundt cake. This time it is Nigella Lawson’s Fresh Gingerbread Cake with Lemon Icing (page 236 of How to be a Domestic Goddess). I have said it before and will say it again: baking a cake in a bundt pan makes it so much more attractive and presentable.

The original recipe will fill a 10 cup bundt pan but I wanted to make a smaller one. Much as I hate to mention this in a blog which deals a lot with baking, my doctor said I have to watch my sugar intake as my recent blood tests show that I am in the pre diabetic range. Worry about overworking my pancreas needs to balanced with a healthy eating life. I have been to hospital so many times with friends (and my father) who were dying and who wanted to eat but couldn’t. So I always tell everyone around me: eat when you can and enjoy every bite and every chew.

Each time I use my 5 cup lotus bundt pan I think of Singapore, where I bought it. Shamefully I also remember I need to write up some notes about the Botanic Gardens and share a few photos of the city at nighttime. Hopefully sometime this week or next.

 

The gingerbread ready to be turned out of the lotus bundt pan

 

To update the recipe, I added some crystallised stem ginger, doubled the grated fresh ginger and cut the sugar elements in the cake by 60%. It was still quite sweet because of the stem ginger and the lemon icing. Instead of crystallised stem ginger it is also fine to use stem ginger that has been preserved in syrup. Either way just cut each knob of ginger into smaller pieces before adding to the cake and icing.

 

 

For a 5 cup Bundt (double the recipe for a 10 cup bundt):

8 g each of softened butter and plain flour, to line the bundt pan

75 g unsalted butter

25 g dark muscovado sugar

40 g golden syrup (I used Lyle’s brand)

40 g black treacle (I used Lyle’s brand)

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

125 g milk (semi skimmed is fine)

1 large egg

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon of warm water

150 g plain flour

85 g crystallised stem ginger (70 g for the cake and 15 g for the topping)

90 g icing sugar and 1½ tablespoons lemon juice for the lemon icing

 

You will also need a 5 cup bundt pan. The recipe can be doubled to fit a larger 10 cup pan. Nordic Ware is the only one manufacturer you should go to for these marvellous baking pans.

 

How to Make:

Preheat the oven to 170°C/ 150°C fan.

Brush the softened butter evenly over the entire inside of the pan, taking care to fill every corner. Sift over the flour, moving the pan around to coat evenly. Remove the excess flour by turning the pan upside down and giving it a tap (do this over a sink).

Start by sifting the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add 75 g of the cut up stem ginger. Set aside and prepare the wet ingredients.

Measure the milk and beat the egg into this. Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in water. Set both of these aside.

Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup, treacle, ginger and cinnamon in a saucepan and melt together over a gentle heat. Do not boil the mixture.

Remove the pan from the heat and pour into the bowl with the flour. Add the milk and egg mixture, followed by the bicarbonate of soda in its water.

Mix everything together until you get a homogenous batter. Work fast as the bicarbonate of soda will react with the other ingredients, releasing bubbles which trap precious air into the batter.

Pour the cake mixture into prepared bundt pan. Level the surface and bake in the oven for 40 minutes (up to 55 minutes for the bigger pan) or until the cake bounces back when touched. A metal skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.

Leave the cake to cool slightly in the pan before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Make the icing by sifting the icing sugar into a bowl. Add the lemon juice then whisk until smooth.

Pour the icing over the cake and sprinkle over the remaining 15 g of stem ginger. The icing will stick better if the cake has cooled down a little.

 

 

Mr Gochugaru and I loved the cake but I had a customer complaint from Junior 2. She had requested this cake as she remembered it from earlier schooldays, and so could not understand the shape, lighter colour and additional stem ginger. I had to explain that I changed the baking tin, removed 60% of the black treacle and added whole preserved ginger. She didn’t quite agree with everything but in this round of Baker vs Cake, it is the Doctor who wins hands down.

 

The Book:

How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson, published by Chatto & Windus, ISBN: 978-0701189143. You can safely cut down on the sugar in all the recipes, and still have a delicious cake at the end of the baking sessions.

 

 

Banana Bundt

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

One of a number of nursery rhymes the children and I used to sing together:

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man
Bake me a cake as fast as you can
Roll it, pat it, and mark it with a B
Put it in the oven for Baby and me.

 

How fast can you bake a cake?

In my Home Economics classes at school, I learnt the different methods of making cake batter e.g. the creaming butter and sugar method, the whisking egg and sugar method. All add air into a batter so the cake would rise and hold its shape. I understood the science behind it, but it was also time consuming.

Imagine my surprise when I first watched Nigella Lawson putting all her cake ingredients into a food processor, giving it a whizz and pouring the batter into a baking tin. How revolutionary, and contrary to everything I had been taught previously. That Ms Lawson’s cake rose and looked very edible was the start for me to see how far I can push things when pressed for time.

There is only so much you can adapt. Definitely, you cannot make a chiffon cake unless you are prepared to wait whilst the egg whites get whipped up separately. For other simpler cakes (what I call butter, eggs, sugar and flour cakes) you can pretty much use a food processor to make the batter without compromising on the quality.

 

 

In the past few weeks I have been making batch after batch of banana cake, using different methods. I wanted something that was easy to make, looked presentable and which could also have add-ons like seeds, nuts and chocolate. I also wanted a gluten-free version for my mother-in-law.

The recipe here is what I made today, using spelt flour to up the fibre content of the cake. There is a substitution and add-ons list at the bottom of this page for ideas on how to make this cake your own.

I have always made my cakes in loaf tins or round tins. Currently I am in a bundt pan phase as their shapes make the plain cakes look so much more appealing. Here then is a banana bread recipe adapted for use in one of these shaped pans.

 

 

For a 6 cup bundt (see below for a 10 cup bundt)

80 g unsalted butter, very soft

80 g unrefined caster sugar

2 medium eggs (100 g without shell)

210 g ripe bananas, each cut into 4 pieces

135 g spelt flour

1¼ teaspoons baking powder

¾ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

60 g soured cream

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

 

You will also need a 6 cup bundt pan. The recipe can be increased proportionately to fit a larger 10 cup pan. I used a Thermomix but you can also use a food processor. The results would be the same.

 

How to Make:

Preheat the oven to 170°C/ 150°C fan.

Brush 10 g of softened butter (15 g for the 10 cup bundt pan) evenly over the entire inside of the pan, taking care to fill every corner. Sift over some plain flour, moving the pan around to coat evenly. Remove the excess flour by turning the pan upside down and giving it a tap (do this over a sink).

Place the butter, sugar, eggs, banana, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt, soured cream and vanilla extract into the TM bowl. Mix 20 seconds/ speed 5. That’s how fast it is.

Pour the batter into the bundt pan and bake for 50 minutes (55 minutes for the 10 cup bundt) or until the cake bounces back when touched. A metal skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean.

Leave the cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Today we ate the cake warm, after a sandwich lunch. Last week we brought a few slices (walnut version) to the Cotswolds with us for a picnic tea.

 

10 cup bundt with walnuts

 

For a 10 cup bundt:

135 g unsalted butter, very soft

135 g unrefined caster sugar

3 large eggs (165 g without shell)

350 g ripe bananas, each cut into 4 pieces

225 g spelt flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

100 g soured cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 

Gluten-free version, which turned out to be the most popular on account of its sponge-like texture

 

Substitutions and Add Ons

Instead of:

  • spelt flour, use plain white flour, gluten-free plain flour, wholemeal flour
  • soured cream, use buttermilk, plain yogurt, crème fraiche
  • unrefined caster sugar, use coconut sugar, light brown soft sugar, light muscovado sugar
  • butter, use sunflower oil.

For the 6 cup bundt, add one of the following:

  • 50 g chopped walnuts or chopped hazelnuts (works best with plain flour)
  • 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
  • 60 g milk/ dark chocolate chips.

For the 10 cup bundt, add one of the following:

  • 80 g chopped walnuts or chopped hazelnuts (works best with plain flour)
  • 3 tablespoons poppy seeds
  • 100 g milk/ dark chocolate chips.

 

For the gluten-free version I used flour and raising agents from Freee. Here is a gluten-free banana bread recipe from Nigella Lawson

 

 

Easter Sunday: The Lord is my Shepherd

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

Happy Easter! For Christians all over the world this is a joyous day as it celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, and a triumph of life over death.

On our drives over the Cotswolds I have been thinking about Psalm 23, as fields abound with grazing sheep. They look well fed, calm and contented, but upon approaching them (for a photo) I found that they scattered and ran away with no clue on direction. I think this is why they need a shepherd.

Like sheep, we too need a shepherd. When we are lost, scared, unsure of what the future holds or mistrusting of life in general, we have Jesus who said he is the Good Shepherd.

 

 

Today’s plan was to have a walk, eat lunch, visit a National Trust property and not do too much. In detail: Batsford Arboretum – The Howard Arms – Chastleton House – Hotel. Maybe some ice cream.

Being so busy these past few weeks, we mostly missed the cherry blossoms in London. We saw the stretch along Swiss Cottage (now quite famous) but had no time to visit Kew Gardens. The season is over all too soon so I was very happy to see the cherry blossoms in Batsford Arboretum, most of which are still in bud.

 

 

The estate of Batsford Park was inherited in 1886 by Algernon Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale. His interest in Japan and East Asia led to the planting and development of the garden in an Oriental style. Besides the cherry blossom trees, there are different types of bamboo and magnolia trees grown here.

 

 

After lunch we visited Chastleton House. The house is 0ver 400 years old and is in a Jacobean style, which means it was built in the time of King James VI and I. See here for an explanation on why he had two titles.

 

Front and back view of the house, although it is more than what I would call a ‘house’!

 

Chastleton House was owned for 400 years by the same family until it was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1991. As the family fortune decreased and the cost of upkeep went up, the building, interior and furnishings of the house went into slow but steady decline. The National Trust made a decision to leave the house as it is, and to not restore it to how it was 400 years ago, to give visitors an idea of what it was like to live in the house. You will see original architectural features as well as things owned by the house’s last occupants.

Be prepared for some uncomfortable moments as parts of the house are really in a state of disrepair and there is even a layer of mould on the ceiling of the original basement kitchen. Walking around Chastleton, I told myself that a) it is better to live in a small house that can be managed more easily and b) I must do more decluttering and cleaning when I can.

 

 

The Juxon Bible was one of fifty commissioned by King Charles I in 1629 to be given to the Bishops and members of the senior clergy. William Juxon (1582 – 4 June 1663) was Bishop of London from 1633 to 1646 and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1660 until his death. The bible was passed from Bishop Juxon’s estate to the family at Chastleton in the 1700s after his descendants had to sell their estate.

 

 

Give us today our daily bread: the meals we had today…

Breakfast at the Hook restaurant (The Fish Hotel): toasted sourdough with poached eggs and avocado, lime, chilli and feta

 

Lunch was a traditional Sunday roast at The Howard Arms in Ilmington, where the vegetables were plentiful and served in bowls made by Winchcombe Pottery (see previous post)

 

Dinner of pizza at the Lounge (the Fish Hotel) where we caught up with the latest Spelling Bee

 

We did manage to sneak in some raspberry and pistachio gelato to share

 

The prediction is for the rain to return from tomorrow. We have had a very good run with the weather for the past three days. This has helped make our long weekend in the Cotswolds more enjoyable than it would have been if we had to do what we did in the rain. We return to London tomorrow, but hopefully not before seeing a little more of the Cotswolds before we leave.

 

The Cotswolds: Throughout the Ages

Posted on by gochugaru girl

 

Another sunny day with blue skies. I am getting a bit blasé about wearing a padded coat. Instead, I wear a thick jumper and put on a scarf and light rain jacket to keep the worst of the chill at bay.

The plan today was to visit a pottery and two National Trust properties, one a 16th century manor house and the other an open space which reveals the foundations of a grand Roman villa built in the 4th century. In detail: Broadway – Snowshill Manor – Winchcombe Pottery – Chedworth Roman Villa. Somehow we managed to fit in some ice cream.

We started the day with a visit to Broadway, which I think is one of the liveliest and loveliest towns in the Cotswolds. There is evidence of settlements here dating from 5,000 years ago. It’s possibly best to start looking first into the past few hundred years, through the displays and exhibitions in the Broadway Museum.

 

Some of the buildings of Broadway

 

I wanted to revisit Snowshill Manor as I have been there only once or twice, around 25 years ago. The earliest surviving part of the Manor was built around 1550, during the Tudor period. It was later extended, and you can see the differences in stone and window design in the photo below. A bit more of the manor’s history can be found here.

 

 

At the entrance I spotted this letterbox with the motto Nisi Dominus Frustra. This was, in fact, my school motto. It was explained to us that the Latin words meant ‘without God all is in vain’. A more accurate meaning is ‘Except the Lord in vain’, which is a shortened version of Psalm 127 verses 1 and 2: Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.

 

 

Nothing quite prepares you for the eclectic and eccentric collection amassed by Charles Paget Wade. As I get older I try to regularly go through the stuff I have owned over the years, keeping just what is useful and needed. Not so Mr Wade, who basically collected anything and everything that had been discarded when it was replaced by something more modern or newly designed. It did not matter that the item was now obsolete or non-functional, the point was that nothing should perish (i.e. be thrown into the junkyard). Then he had the ingenious idea to leave it all to the National Trust, thus entertaining generations to come.

 

Some of the collected items displayed in different rooms throughout the Snowshill Manor. Nothing is labelled so it’s quite fun to work out what some of the items are and how old they might be, also its country of origin

 

View of the house from the garden (top) and the entrance to an inner garden (bottom)

 

When I was at university I often ate in Cranks, the wholefood shop, in Covent Garden. I enjoyed what I ate immensely as it was healthy and nutritious, but the pleasure was also about eating from the plates and bowls the food was served in. I never lost my love for this type of pottery serveware, and have looked out for similar pieces since. I now buy them from David Mellor Design, who carry many items of craft pottery.

 

Pottery pieces similar to that used in Cranks (top and middle) and pieces with a dark brown glaze (bottom)

 

It was a slightly longer drive to see the remains of Chedworth Roman Villa, parts of which were unearthed in the 19th century. The distance of course was much, much, greater for the Romans (or it could be another nation under Roman rule at the time) who came to this part of England in the 4th century. Read more about its history and discovery here.

 

Details from the floor mosaics

 

Pillars for the underfloor heating system which heated the villa (top) and the remains of the villa’s foundations (bottom)

 

In the afternoon we made another visit to Alfonso Gelateria (The Square, Stow-on-the-Wold) where the owner Lewis was paddling out different flavours of gelato as fast as he could. He told us that yesterday was the first day of serving gelato in this new location. It seems that we were at the right place at the right time.

From the Specials menu we had Lemon and Hibiscus, Peanut Butter and Chocolate, Mascarpone and Profiteroles and Dark Chocolate and Almond. I am already wondering if we can nip in to the shop again before we leave the Cotswolds.

 

 

Dinner was at The Ebrington Arms. The food was good but not memorably so, the lighting was a bit harsh and we came home with our clothes smelling of fat. Life outside my own kitchen can be a bit of a hit and miss affair, but it is these little experiences here and there that keep me motivated to cook better meals when I am at home.