Monthly Archives: February 2016

Rhubarb Syrup Crumb Cake

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Rhubarb grows like a weed in our garden, so I’m constantly looking for new ways to cook it and giving away what we can’t eat.

This recipe by Annabel Crabb is so good you simply have to try it. I’ve adjusted the method slightly and cut down a bit on the sugar in the rhubarb. The cake would go well with other poached fruit, such as quinces, pears or figs and instead of almonds you could use walnuts or other nuts.

If you don’t like the acidity of sour cream or crème fraîche, serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, but I think sour cream provides a perfect contrast to the sweetness of the cake.Rhubarb Syrup Crumb Cake

Cake:
100g almond meal (or make from whole or slivered blanched almonds)
1 heaped cup stale coarse breadcrumbs (preferably sourdough but any kind will do)
75g whole un-blanched almonds
1 cup caster sugar
4 eggs
¾ cup vegetable oil
½ tsp baking powder
Rhubarb:
400g rhubarb (as red/pink as possible)
½ cup water
3-4 Tbs sugar
To serve:
Sour cream or crème fraîche

Preheat oven to 170°C and grease a 20cm cake tin. If tin is metal line with baking paper, but if it’s silicone just spray with oil.

If you don’t have almond meal make your own: place blanched almonds in food processor and process till fairly fine, then tip into a bowl. Blitz bread in the processor until you have coarse crumbs then tip onto a baking tray. Add whole un-blanched almonds to the processor and chop coarsely, leaving some bits the size of a pea. Add to the breadcrumbs on the baking tray and spread out evenly. Place in the oven for about 5 mins or until golden then remove and cool. Watch carefully as they burn easily.

Place eggs and caster sugar in a large mixing bowl and whip with electric beaters until thick. Continue to whip while gradually adding the oil. With a spatula, fold in the almond meal, toasted breadcrumbs/almonds and baking powder, sifted. Tip into cake tin and bake for 45 mins or until golden, risen and firm to touch. Remove from the oven and when cool remove from tin. If cake has puffed up leaving a big air pocket underneath (mine did) just flatten it down gently with your hand.

Wash and trim rhubarb and cut into 4cm lengths. Place in a bowl with the water, mix to wet them all, then tip into a baking dish with the water and spread out in a single layer. Sprinkle evenly with sugar then bake for 10-15 mins or until tender but still holding its shape.

An hour or so before serving, drain rhubarb and keep the syrup. Pierce cake all over with a skewer and drizzle with the syrup. Serve each slice of cake with a pile of poached rhubarb and some crème fraîche or sour cream.

Serves 10

Useful Tip: don’t throw stale bread away. Make breadcrumbs in the food processor and store them in the freezer to make this cake or to use in a stuffing for roast chicken.

Gluten-Free Lasagne

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When I told No. 2 son I was making a lasagne without pasta he was skeptical. You’ll be trying to get rid of the leftovers all week, he said. But it was a great success. Different to a traditional lasagne, but still delicious.

It comes from a new book called Simplicious which is all about using things up. It uses rice paper sheets instead of lasagne sheets and the sauce is thickened with cauliflower instead of flour, making it gluten-free and low in carbohydrates. But if you don’t have any rice paper sheets use any kind of pasta you have in your pantry – cooked in boiling water, unless it’s instant lasagne.

I’m not gluten intolerant, but you don’t need to be gluten intolerant to enjoy this recipe. It simply caught my eye because I had some rice paper sheets and nori (seaweed) sheets which had been sitting in the pantry forever and needed using up! I added cumin and sugar to the sauce and used mushrooms instead of grated pumpkin. Below I’ve offered a few other suggestions for varying the recipe to suit what you have on hand. It’s that kind of recipe – very adaptable!

Gluten-Free LasagneMeat Sauce:
1 Tbs oil
1 onion, finely chopped
500g minced beef or lamb
2 cups chopped mushrooms
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp cayenne pepper or chilli powder
½ tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 can diced tomatoes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp sugar (optional)
1 cup water
Cheese and Cauliflower Sauce:
1 cauliflower cut into florets
40g butter
½ cup milk
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
To assemble:
9 rice paper sheets
2 nori (seaweed) sheets, torn into pieces
2 cups baby spinach leaves
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a large frying pan and cook onion, mince, mushrooms and garlic for 5-7 mins, stirring often and breaking up the mince. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 15-20 mins until thickened.

Meanwhile pre-heat oven to 180°C. Cook cauliflower in boiling salted water until tender then place in food processor with butter, milk and Parmesan. Whiz till smooth.

Grease a 22cm springform cake pan and line the bottom with baking paper. Spread a third of the meat sauce over the bottom, then 3 rice paper sheets, then a third of the cauliflower sauce. Next goes half the spinach leaves and half the nori. Repeat this again then finish with remaining meat sauce, rice papers and cauliflower sauce. Top with grated Parmesan. Bake 40 mins or until browned. Stand 10 mins then remove sides of pan. Serve with a mixed salad.

Serves 6

Variations and Substitutions:

  • Use a baking dish instead of a springform pan,
  • Use grated cheddar instead of Parmesan.
  • The original recipe uses 2 cups of grated pumpkin – I used mushrooms instead – you could also substitute grated carrot or zucchini (courgette).
  • To make a vegetarian version use 500g eggplants (aubergines) cut into small cubes instead of the mince.
  • If you don’t have any nori (seaweed) sheets just leave them out.

Glazed Cinnamon Rolls

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This delicious recipe is adapted from one which appeared recently on the New York Times Cooking site.

The original version used two cups of brown sugar and one cup of icing sugar which seemed an awful lot, so I’ve cut it down to one cup of brown sugar and a quarter of a cup of icing sugar. The result is sweet enough for most people’s tastes, but if you have a sweet tooth make double the amount of glaze.

I left the bourbon whisky out of the glaze and made 12 slightly larger rolls instead of 18. If you like, add a tablespoonful of any whisky to the glaze. I made the dough in a food processor rather than a mixmaster because I do pretty much everything in my Magimix.

Glazed Cinnamon Rolls

1 cup milk
75g butter
3 cus plain flour
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp salt
¾ tsp ground cardamom (or cinnamon)
1 egg
Filling:
50g butter
½ cup brown sugar
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
Glaze:
¼ cup brown sugar
2 Tbs water
25g butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
¼ cup icing sugar, sifted

Heat milk for a minute in the microwave then add the butter and allow to melt. Place flour, sugar, yeast, salt and cardamom or cinnamon in a food processor. Process for a minute then gradually add the warm milk and butter and the egg through the feed chute with the motor running. When mixture forms a sticky ball stop the motor and tip dough onto a floured surface and knead for 3-4 minutes until smooth. Form into a ball and place in an oiled bowl. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 2-3 hours.

Meanwhile for the filling, heat butter in a small saucepan, swirling the pan from time to time, until it turns nut brown. Watch carefully as it won’t take long. Cool. Mix the brown sugar with the spices.

When dough has doubled in size tip onto a floured surface and roll into a 30×40 cm rectangle with a rolling pin. Brush with the brown butter leaving about a centimetre all round. Drizzle with any remaining butter, so you use it all. Sprinkle sugar and spice mixture all over then roll up from the long side. Cut into 12 even slices. Arrange slices evenly in a buttered 20x30cm rectangular roasting pan or baking tray – 3 one way and 4 the other – they will expand to fill the gaps. Leave to stand for 45 mins or until doubled in size.

Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Bake rolls for 20-25 mins then remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 mins. Meanwhile for the glaze heat brown sugar, water and butter in a small saucepan for 2-3 mins, or until thickening. Add vanilla and icing sugar and continue to cook, stirring, until you have a nice thickish icing. Leave to cool until rolls are ready.

Drizzle glaze all over the rolls, then cool a bit so the icing firms up. Serve warm. Any leftover buns can be frozen or refrigerated for up to 3 days. Reheat in the oven before serving.

Makes 12 rolls

Lemon Slice

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Having offered to take a dessert to a family picnic for more than twenty people I decided that a slice, which could be cut into 20 or 30 squares, was the answer.

For some time I’ve been wanting to create a lemon version of Galaktoboureku, the traditional Greek Custard Slice. I thought I would make a lemon-flavoured custard instead of the usual vanilla one, sandwich it between layers of crispy fillo pastry and drizzle it with lemon syrup, rather than a plain syrup which the Greek version uses.

Well here is the result. Matthew enjoyed the leftovers which I called Lemon Slice for his benefit. Any mention of custard would have put him off. For a smaller version just halve the recipe and make it in a standard 22cm cake tin.

Lemon Slice

125g butter, melted
About half a packet of Fillo pastry, thawed if frozen (about 16 sheets)
2½ cups milk
2 cups cream
1 cup sugar
1¼ cups (200g) semolina
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups Lemon Curd (preferably home-made)
Syrup:
Juice of 1 large or 2 smaller lemons
¾ cup sugar
To serve:
Whipped or pouring cream (optional)

Line a buttered 20x30cm roasting pan or deep baking tin with about 8 layers of fillo pastry, brushing each sheet with melted butter and cutting or overlapping the sheets as necessary. If the pan is non-stick you don’t need to line it with baking paper, but if in doubt you’re better off doing so.

Preheat oven to 160°C. Heat milk, cream and sugar until simmering point, then add semolina and cook, stirring, until thickened. Add lemon curd and beaten eggs and mix thoroughly. Pour into the pan and spread evenly. Cover with another 8 layers or so of fillo pastry, brushing each one with melted butter.

Bake for 45 mins or until set and lightly golden. Meanwhile heat lemon juice and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer the syrup for a minute then cool a bit.

Remove slice from the oven and drizzle the warm lemon syrup evenly over the top. Cool then cut into squares. Serve warm or cold, with or without whipped cream or pouring cream.

Cuts into about 20 or more small squares