Monthly Archives: March 2018

My Favourite Easter Recipes

Easter is finally with us and we have a four day bank holiday weekend   Yippee!   It’s a time when amongst all the chocolate there is usually some room left for other food and the recipes in this post are some of my favourites for the Easter weekend. Some are traditional, some aren’t.    But there should be one or two that will appeal to you.  Many can be made in advance and it can be nice to have some time to potter about in the kitchen preparing food to share with family and friends, particularly with the radio on.

Let’s hope for good weather despite the forecasts but we if not there is always the prospect of a lie in and another Easter Egg! Continue reading →

Simnel Cake

As a country we seem to love fruit cakes for celebrations.  Christmas cake and wedding cake and then this Simnel Cake for Easter.  There are signs that times are a changing of course with Meghan Markle and Prince Harry choosing a lighter Elderflower and Lemon Cake for their wedding but I do hope we keep the Simnel Cake as part of our Easter traditions just as it has been for centuries.

Simnel cake has a layer of marzipan running through the middle and with yet more marzipan, this time toasted, on top.  It seems to be a particular favourite with everyone I know.  Not as rich as Christmas it is traditionally  nowadays made for Easter with the eleven marzipan balls on top representing the apostles minus Judas.

The marzipan centre makes the cake very moist as it kind of melts into the cake.  The marzipan on the top is toasted with a blow torch which gives the whole cake another dimension.  I can’t resist adding chocolate mini eggs to the centre but they really aren’t necessary. Just cute! Continue reading →

Trout with Tomato, Chorizo and Mussels

I don’t know about you but with the weather we’ve been having lately it’s been difficult to know what to expect.  One moment we’ve had snow and shivering temperatures and the next spring sunshine and flowers.  So what do we cook?  I don’t about you but I don’t want a hearty stew if I am enjoying the blue sky and admiring the daffodils,  nor do I want lighter spring-like meals if I an shivering away with snow outside.

A couple of weeks ago I watched the brilliant Spanish cook, Jose Pizarro, cook this dish.  It’s full of colour, big flavour and warmth and seems to perfectly fit whatever weather we have thrown at us: light enough for spring, warm enough for winter.  With my New Year Resolution to try and cook more fish this year it was my perfect answer.

Mussels cooked with white wine

Continue reading →

Rhubarb and Orange Streusel Cake

Soft buttery cake flecked with orange, topped with soft, tart rhubarb and crunchy sweet streusel crumble.  Absolutely delicious, pretty as a picture and can be served as a pudding or a cake.   How much better can things get?

Forced pink rhubarb is a thing of joy particularly When shown off on its bed of golden sponge.  In truth, as long as the rhubarb is young and not stringy,  new season stalks would do just as well though they would like the jewel like bright pink colour of forced rhubarb.  There is something very British about this cake as it brings to mind all the elements of a rhubarb crumble only better.  I love “pudding cakes” – as I call them – they are so versatile, though if you are going to serve this for pudding it’s nicest served warm with lots of sweetened (use the rhubarb syrup that will have been created from macerating the rhubarb) whipped cream.

Continue reading →

Potato and Leek Al Forno

Creamy potatoes and leeks topped with crunchy breadcrumbs and baked in the oven   A fantastic accompaniment to chops or as a less rich alternative to pommes dauphinois

i can guess though what a lot of you are going to think as you cast your eye down the list of ingredients.  Ugh! Anchovies! I’m not going to cook that or, if I do, I am going to leave those out!  Fine, leave them out if you are vegetarian, but if you aren’t give it a go   They add a lovely savoury Unami taste to the finished dish and melt into the sauce so well you won’t be able to indentify them as a specific taste or see them   If you are vegetarian I’d add a couple of teaspoons of nutritional yeast flakes or a teaspoon of marigold vegetable bouillon powder instead of the anchovies.

E462D531-1A9D-4F95-8806-7A4A917BA82C

Potatoes, leeks and Anchovies

Continue reading →

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

We used to call this dark and luscious chocolate cake Tiffin, others called it Refrigerator Cake.  Ever since Prince William used it as his Groom Cake at his wedding it is now more commonly known as Chocolate Biscuit Cake. Apparently the Princes William and Harry used to have it (and even helped make it) when they were very young.

Chopped pistachios
Ready to stir in biscuits and figs

There are lots of variations to this, the authentic “Royal version” as made by Carolyn Robb so don’t worry if you prefer dried cherries, sultanas or apricots to the figs, or shortbread or rich tea biscuits to the digestives.  You can also use pecans, almonds or macadamia nuts instead of pistachios or if nut allergic just use more biscuit.  Talking of allergies if you are gluten intolerant there are really good gluten free stem ginger cookies that go really well with this – particularly when you use soft dried apricots as the fruit element.  You can also dress this cake up by decorating it with a thin layer of melted dark/milk/white chocolate after the cake has set and then embellish it with maltesers or even chocolate mini eggs! Or do as I have here and crush the mini eggs and lightly roll in.  If you are in the USA and find golden syrup difficult to get you can use corn syrup though this makes the cake slightly softer

Continue reading →

Blog at WordPress.com.