Matoke, Uganda. Olympic Food Challenge

Boom, over half way. 10 countries down, 9 to go. 4 days to go.....damn.

Over the next few days you will see one of the following, a superhuman effort to blast through the remaining countries or me crying in a corner cursing the very existence of the blasted IOC and it's 204 countries, 204!! nobody needs that many countries.

Anyhoo, Uganda, a member of the IOC *curses under breath* since 1951 and with only a solitary Gold to their name waaay back in Munich 1972..

Like I've said before, the African countries are tricky to find an interesting recipe to attempt, however this one with the addition of Plantains, another ingredient I've yet to cook with, appealed to me.

Plantains are an interesting ingredient, similar to bananas in looks if you have never seen one but with a tough outer casing which takes some hacking into. The middle part, if you buy the green (unripe) ones, is exactly like a banana in appearance. It is however very tough and needs gentle simmering to soften it and is definitely not sweet, just very starchy.

The recipe I found was a Beef and plantain stew called Matoke which is the Ugandan national dish.

The recipe I used can be found here: Matoke Recipe

Verdict
Interesting. The plantains thicken the stew up very nicely and the combination of fresh tomatoes and vegetables gave a good flavour to the stew. The beef was not needed however, it was a bit tough and needed another hour to what the recipe stated to make it tender. Keeping the dish as a veggie one would work very well.

Comlek, Albania, Olympic Food Challenge

I didn't do the cooking for this one, I was on a train missing out on medal after medal after medal that our glorious nation have been winning. So instead I handed over this recipe tot he OH to get on with.
Albania a country in Southwest Europe and although not somewhere I would automatically think to go and visit, it did achieve number one destination in Lonely Planet's top ten countries to visit in 2011. A member of the IOC since 1958 and unfortunately do not have a single medal to their name.

The recipe I found for Albania, which is one of the first I found when the challenge was created, is Comlek or rabbit casserole with onions and wine vinegar and because I don't eat much rabbit, as tasty as it is, I decided to stick with this recipe. Apologies if you are squeamish about eating/cooking rabbit, they were food before they were pets you know.

Comlek
Ingredients 

1 rabbit 750g cut in pieces
4 medium-sized tomatoes or 2 tbsp tomato paste
2 bay leaves
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
150 ml olive oil
1 tsp sugar
4 cloves garlic, whole
300 ml hot water
small piece cinnamon stick
salt & black pepper
4 whole allspice berries
700 g small onions
1 sprig of rosemary
1 small glass of dry red wine

Method

1. Marinate rabbit in vinegar and bay leaves overnight in the fridge or a couple of hours before cooking it. 
2. Remove rabbit pieces from marinade, pat them dry and fry them in half the olive oil until golden-brown on both sides.
3. When all rabbit pieces have been fried, place them back in the saucepan. Add garlic cloves, bay leaves, spices, rosemary and wine. 
4. Then add the tomato puree or tomatoes, sugar and the hot water. Season, cover and cook for about 1 hour. 
5. In the meantime, heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan and gently fry the onions. Stir them occasionally, in order to make sure they turn golden all over, for about 15 minutes. 
6. Add the contents of the frying pan to the saucepan, and shake it so that the onions spread evenly. Then cover and simmer for a further 15 minutes.



Verdict
Oh so very delicious. Rabbit is very fiddly to eat but worth it when it just falls off the bone with this recipe. The sauce would be even better if it was slow cooked for another hour or so. The recipe did state to serve with rice and a green salad but sod it, I served it with fluffy mash which soaked up the sauce perfectly.

.

 

Veldt Bread, Namibia. Olympic Food Challenge

I was struggling for a decent recipe for Namibia, for the Olympic Food Challenge, as have a couple of other bloggers with smaller African nations, however after a determined search I stumble across this recipe for Veldt Bread or 'Bread of the Wild.

 

Veldt or Veld refers to the wild open spaces of Southern Africa covering South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Namibia. This bread was a creation of European settlers who wanted a quick bread recipe but didn't have any typical raising agent (yeast). This recipe is a blend of techniques from making scones to making bread, It uses baking powder and is quick to make. The recipe that I used gave a very wet dough but after a bit extra flour it sorted itself out, next time I'll add the milk a little at a time and not drop it all in at once.

 

Veldt Bread

Ingredients

50 g butter

450 g wholemeal flour

20 g baking powder 

50 g brown sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/3 tsp allspice

150 ml skim milk

1 egg, beaten 

1 tsp vegetable oil

Method
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and then rub in the butter until crumbly.

Make a well in the centre and add the egg and the milk until a soft dough is formed.

Knead well for 5 - 10 minutes

Grease a 900g loaf tin with the oil and shape the dough and place into the tin.

Bake for around 40 minutes at 180C until risen and brown.

Verdict

Slightly dry but very tasty quick bread. spicing is subtle and this stuff is excellent with plenty of butter or honey.

almost forgot....

If you haven't figured it out already Namibia is a southern African nation. A member of the IOC since 1991 and have yet to win a Gold, bagged themselves a few silvers though in 92 and 96.

Quetcheflued (Plum tart), Luxembourg. Olympic Food Challenge

Luxembourg was one of the awkward countries for the Olympic food Challenge, an initial search didn't turn up with anything particularly interesting, I did look at the Plum tart but it seemed fairly dull, well I was wrong there.

First the housekeeping.

Luxembourg or to give it it's full name: Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a European country bordered by France, Belgium and Germany. A member of the IOC since 1912, their Olympic record is poor with only one Gold and one silver since its recognition.

So, running out of options and time I went for the plum tart, it's a traditional dish after all, can't be that bad. Reading the recipe confused me for a minute, I was expecting a traditional pastry case but instead I got a recipe for a very slightly sweet bread base, there is no filling as such just as many plums that you can squish in.

Ingredients

250g plain flour,

1/2 satchet of dried yeast

40g sugar

125ml lukewarm milk

pinch of salt

50g butter,melted an cooled

1 egg

Method

Add the flour, salt, sugar and yeast to a bowl.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the egg, butter and milk.

Mix until a soft dough is formed, knead for a couple of minutes until smooth and stretchy.

Leave to rise for 40 or so minutes.

After 40 minutes, knock back the dough and press into a buttered large pie dish or tart dish.

Add the plums in a nice circle shape until you can't fit anymore in.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C until the outside edge is golden brown. 

Verdict

Very very good. It is very light meaning more slices can be consumed at once. The bread base is slightly sweet and soft and crisp round the edges, the plums are soft and sour. All it lacks is something a bit sweeter to counteract the sourness of the fruit, enter.......Custard!!!

Papaya & Pineapple Marmalade, Tuvalu. Olympic Food Challenge

Time to change it up a little bit, there is more to life than savoury dishes and this is the first of the global sweet ambassadors for the Olympic Food Challenge from the country of Tuvalu.

Tuvalu, formally known as Ellice islands is a little island nation in the Pacific ocean, midway between Hawaii and Australia. (what would we do without Wikipedia?). a relative newcomer to the Olympics, only being recognised in 2007, they did not pick up a medal in Beijing but lets hope that changes in London.

I barely looked for a recipe from this country before this delicious sounding beauty popped up allowing me to check out my mad jam making skillz. I say skillz, I haven't made jam since G.C.S.E but how hard could it be...

Ingredients

900g finely diced ripe pineapple
900g diced ripe papaya
500g caster sugar
1-1 / 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind or lemon zest
(½ lemon or more if you like it tart)
50ml lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons fresh grated ginger, if desired

Method

Mix pineapple and sugar in large shallow saucepan and let stand while
preparing the papaya.
Add papaya.
Add grated lemon rind and juice.
Bring slowly to boiling point and boil about 30 minutes until mixture sheets from spoon, or until temperature
reaches 224º degrees Fahrenheit on a thermometer.
Pour into sterilised jars and seal.

Verdict
Well not that difficult really, I didn't have the full amount of papaya and pineapple so i reduced the quantities slightly, hence why I only have two jars. I would cut up the pineapple a little more for next time, it was, however, lovely stuff, very sweet as you would expect but very fresh as well, like a little tropical sunshine in your mouth. Delicious

Curried Ox Cheeks, Jamaica. Olympic Food Challenge

Our Father, who art in Calgary, Bobsled be thy name. Thy kingdom come, gold medals won, on Earth as it is in Turn Seven. With Liberty and Justice for Jamaica and Haile Selassie. Amen.

Jamaica baby!!

The 5th largest island of the Caribbean Sea. Home of the fastest man on earth and the world famous bobsled team which I will stop going on about at some point. A member of the Commonwealth and under the rule of Our Liz. A member of IOC since 1936, they don't have the greatest medal record but would you put your money on them not leaving London 2012 with at least 2 golds this time?

This dish was easy to find, I was sent a recipe by Mr @joolscyprien ages ago for a Jamaican mutton curry, so what better time to give it ago. Instead of mutton I used Ox Cheeks as an approved substitute and look at the size of them, very cheap too, only cost me about 4-5 quid for the pair if I remember correctly.

Jamaican Ox cheek Curry
Ingredients
2k mutton or other meat such as Ox cheeks 
 2 x Large Onions finely diced
3-4 cloves of garlic crushed
1 x small thumb sized piece of ginger
3-4 spring onions finely sliced
1 - 2 teaspoons of all spice
A few sprigs of thyme leaves chopped
2-3 tbsp curry powder 
1 can of coconut milk
250ml chicken stock
1 tbsp curry powder
1 scotch bonnet chilli
Salt pepper to taste
Sprig of thyme 

Method
Combine the meat and all the ingredients down to the coconut milk in a large bowl and marinate for 24 hours.
Take a large casserole pan and place over a medium heat add a good glug of olive or rapeseed oil then add the tbsp of curry powder and gently fry until dark but not burned. 
Add the marinated meat and turn up the heat slightly make sure all the meat is browned.
Add the coconut milk and stock and stir to combine finally add the scotch bonnet and bring up to the boil. Turn down and gently cook over a low heat for 3-4 hours until meat is nice and tender the longer the better. Season to taste and remove scotch bonnet and thyme stalks.
Serve with steamed rice or rice and peas.

Verdict
Make that 3 Gold medals, sensational. Not the nicest looking food stuff in the world but what it lacks in appearance it more than makes up for in flavour. Cook for as long as possible, I simmered for four hours and the meat just melted, beautiful. Good luck with removing the scotch bonnet afterwards though, mine disintegrated and is equivalent to putting a nuclear rod in there, its all good though.

 

Kuku Paka & Ugali, Kenya. Olympic Food Challenge

So from one of the lesser known African countries to one of its best known, Kenya.
Member of the IOC since 1955, they usually do fairly well in the games, only failing to get a gold in 1964. They are the current World Record holders in the 800m since 2010.

The recipe I found for this country is a popular Kenyan-Indian Dish called Kuku (chicken) Paka (coconut) and a popular Kenyan side dish called Ugali which uses cornmeal/polenta something I've never used and was keen to give it a try.







Kuku Paku
Ingredients

8 Chicken thighs, skinned

1 Onion, chopped

2 - 3 Hot chile peppers, chopped 

2 tbsp Ginger, peeled and chopped

4 cloves of Garlic, chopped

good splash of Oil or ghee

1 tbsp Curry powder

2 tsp Cumin seeds

1 tin of Chopped tomatoes or tomato sauce

1 tin of Coconut milk

Salt and pepper

handful of Coriander, chopped 

 Method

Add the onion, chiles, ginger and garlic to a food processor or blender and process until smooth. Add a little water if necessary.

Heat the oil or ghee in a large pot or wok over medium flame. 

Add the onion puree, curry powder and cumin and fry, stirring frequently, for 5 to 8 minutes, or until cooked down.

Stir in the tomatoes and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes. 

Add the chicken, coconut milk, salt and pepper. 

Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until the chicken is cooked through and tender, anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. 

Add more water if needed.

Sprinkle over coriander and serve.

Ugali

Ingredients

300ml water

1 tsp salt

150ml fine cornmeal/polenta

Method

Bring the salt and water to the boil in a saucepan.

Sprinkle in the cornmeal and reduce the heat

Stir well, mashing out any lumps and heat until the mixture draws away from the sides.

Remove from heat and allow to cool a little bit.

Wet your hands and shape the cornmeal into a ball.

Serve

Verdict

Deeeeeeeeelicious. thick rich curry sauce, an excellent combination of slight sweetness, spice and chilli heat. soft tender chicken. A really superb curry. The ugali was an excellent accompiment with its soft texture, I will be using this stuff again. I served this also with the Eritrean flatbreads

Flatbreads, Eritrea, Olympic Food Challenge

One of the good things about this Olympic Food Challenge is the discovery of countries you didn't know existed. Eritrea, for me, is one of them

Eritrea is a little country located on the Horn of Africa. they have only been part of the IOC since 1999 and have one Olympic bronze medal to their name, although strangely for a country almost on the equator they have a Gold and a Bronze at the Winter Olympics.

Finding a recipe for this country was quite tricky, however I did stumble across this recipe for Traditional Eritrean Flatbreads.
The recipe stated to shape the dough into flatbreads big enough for a frying pan, I decided to just make little ones instead and reduced the stated cooking time


Traditional Eritrean Flatbreads.
Ingredients
300ml lukewarm water
25g fresh yeast (I used a packet of dried yeast)
1tsp ground fenugreek seeds
1/2tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cardamom seeds
1 garlic clove crushed
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tbsp oil
225g plain flour
225g wholemeal flour

Method
(if using) Dissolve the fresh yeast in the water and set aside.
Mix the egg, oil, spices and garlic together
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and  (if using) add the dried yeast.
Add the egg mixture and the water and mix together to form a dough
Knead for 5-10 minutes
Place in a bowl, cover and leave to rise until doubled.
Knock back and knead again for a few minutes
shape the dough into flatbreads so they will just fit in a frying pan.
Allow to rise again.
Fry gently for about 10 minutes then flip over and fry the other side for 5 minutes.
Brush with melted butter and serve.

Verdict
A very light and delicately spiced flatbread, a good alternative accompaniment to a curry or just eaten warm on its own with lots of butter

Caldo De Peixe, Cape Verde. Olympic Food Challenge

Here it is, the damp squib of the Olympics, the one that didn't quite make it.

Tonight's country of the Olympic Food Challenge was Cape Verde an archipelago of 10 islands of the west coast of Africa. member of the IOC since its recognition in 1993 and without a single medal to it's name so far.

The recipe I found for this country was an interesting sounding fish soup, Caldo De Peixe.

Unfortunately it's taste didn't quite meet up to it's expectation.

I halved the recipe (this version below, double for the original) because of the vast quantities it would make for the two of us, I also substituted Cod for the more environmentally friendly (and cheaper) Coley, other than that I went ahead with the recipe as stated:

Caldo De Peixe

Ingredients

 3 white potatoes, chopped

1.5 sweet potatoes, chopped

1/2 bunch fresh parsley, chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 medium tomato, chopped

2 spring onions, chopped

1.5 lbs saltwater fish (such as tautog, cod, bluefish or sea bass) I used Coley

Water

In a medium pan, boil both white and sweet potatoes, about 15 minutes.

In a large pan, gently saute chopped onions,red and green peppers and tomatoes in oil.

Next add fish cut into small pieces to the large pan and saute.

Add partly cooked white and sweet potatoes, along with enough cooking water to simmer the soup.

Simmer until potatoes and fish are done.

Add chopped parsley and chopped spring onions to the pan.

Verdict

There is no denying this dish would be good for those on a diet, plenty of veg, fish, and almost no fat. however it lacked flavour, a kick, something to make it bloody good. Why does my mind keep imagining cream? A shame really but never mind that's the joy of this challenge, to try a new something new from around the world. 17 to go.... 

Rougallie Poisson Sale, Mauritius - Olympic Food Challenge

 aaaaand we are off......

As London and Great Britain gears up for the greatest show on earth, 12 superhero bloggers are taking on the world....
From 204 countries over 19 days, 12 bloggers will eat a dish from all nations.

Tonight I kicked things off on my own little corner of the Internet with Mauritius, the home of the Dodo before it was scoffed to extinction.

Mauritius is a small island off the southeast coast of Africa in the southwest Indian Ocean. the Island was under UK Rule from 1810 when we pinched it off the French and remained so until 1968 when it gained independence. Its main export is Sugar.

They have only won one medal in the olympics, a bronze in Beijing 2008. 

There were a variety of recipes I found for this particular country but this one in particular stood out mainly because I had never cooked with Salt fish before and wanted to see what it was like.

The recipe calls for a lot of fresh tomatoes which is perfect for the time of year as its tomato season, don't go buying those tasteless salad tomatoes in the supermarket.

Rougallie Poisson Sale (Salt fish in Tomato Sauce)
Ingredients

200g salted fish cut into cubes (2-3 cm)

10 chopped tomatoes

1 green chilli 

1 tablespoon chopped thyme

2 tablespoon finely chopped curry leaves

1 finely chopped large onion

1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

1 teaspoon garlic paste

1 teaspoon ginger paste

4 tablespoon oil

Method

Soak the shredded salted fish in hot water forabout half n hour

After the soaking period, pat dry the fish with a paper towel

Heat oil in a non-stick pan and fry the fish on medium flame till golden brown

Remove the fish and set aside on a paper towel

In the remaining oil, add the onions and fry till it becomes light brown

Add thyme, curry leaves, parsley and green chilli and continue to fry for a further 2 minutes

Add the garlic and ginger pastes followed by the chopped tomatoes

Simmer until the tomatoes break down and create a nice sauce

Add the fried fish and let it simmer for a further 5 minutes

Sprinkle the coriander leaves and remove from the heat

Verdict 

Off to a flying start with this beauty. The perfect summer dish, Light and full of delicious tomato flavour, the salt fish provides a nice, slightly chewy texture and the salt compliments the tomato well. I served it simply with white rice but a nice crusty bread dunked in would be good as well.

Mars Bar Cake - A Tea Time Treat

 This months tea time treats challenge hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage (and also Kate at What Kate Baked on alternate months), is to make some variety of baked good suitable for a cake stall at a summer fete. Yes Summer, you know that season that is supposed to turn up around now so we can all get merry off Pimms and suffer from severe food poisoning from risking that 'last burger'. But no, instead I'm making a bake for a summer fete and its raining outside, RAINING!!! IN JULY!!!

*sighs*

anyway...what to make? well this was not a difficult challenge in the slightest for me and there was only one option.

Mars Bar cake

Oh yeah! Not technically a cake, more of a pimped up chocolate crispy thingy.

This was made for me way back when I was a youngster and we had to take something in for school bake sales, It usually sold out in minutes which was quite annoying, mainly because I wanted it. It is one of my personal favourites and takes me straight back to my younger days at the mere thought of it.

This recipe takes minutes to make and most of the time is spent waiting for it set in the fridge. The chocolate on top is optional and it works very well with or without...well I say optional, It's not really is it, put the chocolate on top you know you want to.

Mars Bar Cake
Ingredients
3 - 4 normal mars bars or 6-7 snacksize
100g butter
2 tbsp golden Syrup
200g Rice Crispies
150g Milk chocolate

Method
Chop up the mars bars and melt gently in a large pan with the syrup and butter.
Stir in the rice crispies about 50g at a time until well combined and coated.
Add to a lined container of your choice, I used a square cake tin but a baking tray about and inch deep will work fine.
Place in the fridge for about an hour to set
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.
Pour over the cake and place back in the fridge to set, about half an hour this time.

Slice up, serve and enjoy.

French Toast

I toyed with blogging this, I thought that there would be no need to blog something as simple as this but then some of the tastiest things are simple and can be made in a minute or two so why not.

This is the second breakfast post, see the first here. The reason for this is that my Year 11's are doing a breakfast module and this week they are cooking something a little different from the usual cereal or toast.

The joy of french toast is that it can switch from sweet or savoury depending on your mood. Drown it in beans, throw a few rashers of bacon and some good sausages on there or do like I did and chop up a banana and sprinkle with icing sugar. simple yet tasty.

Few tips:
Buy cheap thick white bread, forget your artisan sourdoughs, you need the cheap stuff to soak up all the eggy goodness.
Buy good eggs though, free range or you could half inch them from a friendly collegue like I did.

Ingredients
2 Slices of thick white bread
2 eggs
Splash of milk

Method
Beat the eggs in a bowl and soak the bread until nice and soggy.
Heat a frying pan with a little bit of butter, once sizzling add the egg soaked bread.
Cook for a minute or so on each side until it is done to your liking.

Cover with your toppings and enjoy.

Drop scones, Dropped scones, Scotch pancakes...

...whatever you like to call them they are very easy to make and very very simple. In honour of my impending visit to the scottish capital and with some tennis tournament finishing today, who's playing again? I decided to crack out the frying pan (sorry traditionalists, I don't have a griddle/girdle) and make a very tasty sunday breakfast (again sorry traditionalists, I'm hungry and not waiting until teatime) with some left over english strawberries and a delicious Scottish heather honey.

Ingredients (makes about 10)
80g SR Flour
20g Caster Sugar
1/2tsp Baking powder
1 small egg
100ml milk

Method
Weigh out the flour, sugar and baking powder into a bowl
Make a well in the centre and crack the egg into it.
Add half the milk and whisk well.
Add the remaining milk a bit at a time until it reseambles thick cream.
Heat a frying pan or griddle pan and lightly grease with oil.
Add a tablespoon of mix and spread gently around, not to thinly.
Once bubbles appear in the top then flip over and cook the other side for about 30 seconds.
Repeat until all mixture is used up.

Smother with toppings and enjoy.

Spanish style chicken thingy

Tonight tea was the result of a rummage around to see what I could find combined with the inherent laziness a Sunday evening brings on.
I think its something to do with that irritating beeping thing looming ever closer at stupid o clock the next morning. Well with this dish you can forget all that and lose yourself dreaming of sunny Spanish weather and relaxing with a glass of vino while pretending that the lashing rain and howling winds of a British summer is mealy the crashing waves of the beach ahhhh....

With this dish you basically chuck everything in a dish and roast it, I've suggested serving it with spuds and salad but throw the spuds in the dish with everything else to save even more time and effort if you like, don't put the salad in though.


Ingredients
2 chicken legs or 4 thighs
1 red pepper
4 onions
4 cloves of garlic
100g ish chorizo
sprinkling of olive oil
Salt and Pepper

Method
Peel and cut the onions into wedges.
Slice the peppers into strips
Peel and bash the garlic
Chop the chorizo into £1 sized pieces.
Throw everything into a roasting dish and drizzle with  a bit of a oil.
Wrap with foil and roast for an hour at 180C.
Remove the foil and stir the veg and chorizo so they are covered in juices.
Turn the oven up to 200C for about half an hour until the chicken skin gets brown and crispy.

Serve with spuds and a salad
Enjoy

Roasted Beetroot and Sour Cream Soup

I don't cook a lot with beetroot, not sure why. Its cheap, a kilo cost me £1.50 and i love the earthy sweet flavour of the stuff. I did make this stew with beetroot once but the flavour was masked slightly by everything else in there.

I spied this recipe in Sir Hugh's River Cottage Veg Everyday, a superb book which I have mentioned before and will mention again until you buy it and agree with me, and decided to give it ago.

The recipe itself is very simple it's basically scrub, roast, peel and blend. There are not many other ingredients which allows the beetroot to sing and sing it does especially after its been roasted for an hour..

The recipe calls for horseradish cream but I cannot stand horseradish and to put it on beef is a food crime so it was going nowhere near this soup, instead I opted for a good dollop of sour cream to cut through the sweetness.


Roasted Beetroot and Sour Cream Soup

Ingredients
1kg beetroot
2-3 sprigs of thyme
4 garlic cloves, unpeeled and bashed
1 bay leaf
3 tbsp rapeseed/olive oil
750ml veg stock

Sour cream and thyme sprigs to serve

Method
scrub the beetroot and place whole in a roasting dish.
Add the garlic, thyme and oil and mix around so they are well covered.
add a wineglass of water to the dish and cover tightly with foil.
roast at 200C (fan) for an hour until a skewer can be inserted without force.
Leave to cool.
Top and tail the beetroot and rub/peel the skins off. Slice and dice with a knife.
Stick into a blender with the roasting dish juices, the garlic squeezed out of it's skin and the veg stock.
Bleeeeeeeeend
Transfer to a pan and heat to required temperature, don't boil it.
Add a dollop of sour cream and a few sprigs of thyme.
Serve.

Verdict
Well I took one spoonful, abandoned the spoon and drank it out of the bowl so make your own judgements.

Enjoy

Vinegar Loaf

Before you click off and go look at something else, give me a second to explain and trust me on this one.

Recently I was given a cake from the OH Grandma who from what I can gather and from the evidence of this particular cake is an excellent baker of the traditional sense. The cake was a vinegar cake, sounds appetising doesn't it? However what the cake is in fact is a fruit loaf. The vinegar refers to the raising agent inside the cake which is an old war time standard when eggs were sparse and something was required to provide volume and make the cake rise. The vinegar reacts with the warm milk and soda causing the reaction needed to make the cake rise and trust me you cannot taste the vinegar at all.

I am entering this cake into this months AlphaBakes blogger challenge, hosted by Ros from The more than occasional baker (this months host) and Caroline from Caroline Makes, in which the main ingredient, technique or name of the bake must begin with that months chosen letter which this month is V.

Recipe courtesy of the OH's Grandma
Ingredients
1lb Plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp mixed spice
3oz lard
3oz butter
8oz caster sugar
1 lb mixed dried fruit
2 tsp bicarb
1/2 pint warm milk
2 tbsp malt vinegar

Method
Mix the flour with the spice and salt and then rub in the fats.
stir in the sugar and dried fruit
In a separate bowl add the bicarb and pour over the milk and then add the vinegar, watch it fluff up.
Stir in the dry ingredients until well combined.

Add to a lined and greased loaf tin of your choice, I decided to use 4 little ones.

Bake in a preheated oven at 160C(Fan) for about 40 minutes and a skewer comes out clean.
Serve with a brew

Verdict
Soft, moist, sweet with little tiny kicks of spice, all in all a bloody good and easy to make cake with no vinegar taste before you ask.
 

Victoria Sponge with Blueberry Jam and Blackberries

I was a little bored last bank holiday weekend. I didn't have much to do or places to go therefore I did what I usually do when I'm bored, I bake. I made two types of biscuit, Dark Chocolate & Ginger and  Cinnamon & Date. I also made this cake.
At a recent Appetite Sheff event I won a set of preserves from Just Preserves and they have been sat in my cupboards since then, mainly because I don't eat much Jam and when I usually have toast it's smothered in beans and cheese, so I wanted to put it to good use and you don't get much better than a quality Victoria Sponge.

If you have never made one then be ashamed because its very easy. 4 ingredients (not including fillings) a little effort, half an hour ish baking and voila you got yourself a cake.

Ingredients (for two 22cm cake tins)
250g soft Butter
250g Caster Sugar
250g Flour
5 medium eggs

Filling
100g blackberries
100ml double cream
50g blueberry jam

Icing sugar to dust

Method
OK you have yourself a choice here, you can use the all in one method, in which you throw every ingredient into a bowl (not filling ingredients) and mix together either by hand or electric mixer until a smooth batter is made.

Or you can take your time and do it properly

Cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy, using elbow power or an electric mixer.
Beat in the eggs one at a time.
Sift in the flour and fold in gently using a wooden spoon until all combined.

Then pour into two lined cake tins and bake in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes until golden and a skewer, when inserted, comes out clean.

Leave to cool

Filling
Whip the cream until it can hold its shape and can stay in the bowl when turned upside down, spread over one side of the cake. dot with black berries.
Spread the jam over the other side then sandwich the two together and dust with icing sugar to finish.

Enjoy

Chocolate Guinness Cake

Alright I'll admit it, I'm not the biggest fan of Nigella, in fact she irritates me (awaits to be lynched). However this recipe may go a small amount of the way to remove some of that irritation. I was shown this recipe the other day and after very little persuasion (it is cake after all) I decided to give it ago this weekend, having nothing yet on the baking agenda.

This cake is a bit different to what you would normally expect and can be unnerving if you have never used this method before to make a gingerbread for instance. It involves a lot of melting and stirring and you end up with a very liquidy cake batter, however follow the measurements exactly and it will turn out fine.

Recipe available here: chocolate guinness cake at Nigella.com

Verdict
Soft, squidgy, chocolaty, deliciously moist. It's like the recipe description says: gingerbread without the spices and is one of the nicest chocolate cakes I've eaten, the Guinness aspect is very subtle also. If you can't be bothered with the topping this cake would be fine without it. She stills annoys me though but slightly less than before this cake, There may be hope yet.