The Cheating Truffled Madeira Sauce
1/2 oz butter
1 long shallot or a small onion, peeled and chopped fine
1 small carrot, ditto
1 stick celery, ditto
3 - 4 brown mushrooms - about 1 1/2 ozs, sliced fine
A splash of oil (walnut or truffle are good)
small teaspoon of plain flour
about a wineglass full of Madeira (not dry)
half a glass red wine
dried thyme or oregano
1 dessertspoon dried porcini
1 tin beef or chicken consomme (Waitrose is very good)
less than 1" squeeze of tomato puree - or, better, sundried tom puree
2 teaspoons truffle paste
Cook the shallot, carrot and celery with the butter, oil and black pepper in a smallish pan till beginning to brown a little. Be careful about salt at this stage - better to do it at the end. Add the sliced mushrooms, cook three minutes or so and add the flour, stirring it in well. Cook the flour for three minutes or so. Add the Madeira and wine and boil fast for 3 or four minutes till all the alcohol has gone and the liquid has reduced by about 1/3rd. Add the dried porcini, a good pinch of dried herb and the consomme. Adjust the heat to a rolling simmer - no bubbles but plenty of movement - and leave to reduce by 2/3rds. It should be thick enough to coat a spoon. Pour through a conical sieve into a bowl and stir in the truffle paste, taste, add salt and you are done. Sometimes I fry a few sliced mushrooms and add them back at this stage, sometimes add double cream or creme fraiche, or both. Occasionally if I want quite a rich sauce, I cut 1/2 oz butter into thin (3/8"?) slices, cube them, put them in the freezer on a plate at an early stage. Reheat the sauce in a clean small pan and whisk in the frozen butter till it melts and the sauce goes glossy.
Very good over steaks or chops.
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Parkin
I had been given Delia Smith's recipe, but, as usual with something I've not made before, looked at several others before starting. Mine finished up as mostly Mary Berry's, but using Ed Kimber's idea of draught Guiness instead of milk. MB uses a 7" square tin - mine is 9" so I upped the quantities. It looks a bit thicker than I expected.
10oz Black Treacle (or 2/3 treacle and 1/3 Golden Syrup)
8oz Unsalted butter
6 1/2 oz dark muscovado sugar
10oz Plain Flour (I used self-raising)
3 good teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 level teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
16oz Medium oatmeal
2 medium eggs
8fl oz Guiness - I used a tin of draught - creamier and not as sour as bottled Guiness
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
Set a deep roasting tin on a medium heat. When hot but not simmering, sit the treacle tin in it for 5 minutes - this makes it much easier to handle. Put the oven on to 160C Fan and grease and line the cake tin.
Put a medium saucepan on your scales and set to 0. Pour in the treacle. Add the butter and sugar and set onto a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Beat the eggs. Sieve the flour into a large bowl with the bicarbonate and mix the oatmeal with it. Pour in the treacle/butter/sugar mixture, the eggs and the Guiness. The mixture should be just about pourable - pour it into the tin and bake. I was a little surprised that it was done in 45 minutes, most recipes suggest much longer. Cool in the tin and turn out. Wrap in greaseproof paper and store for at least 3 days before eating. In between the turning out and the wrapping, i wentinto the cellar for another bottle of cooks refreshment, and found a bottle of Black Seal rum with a couple of inches left. It seemed like a good idea to pour this all over the Parkin before the wrapping. We shall see!
A traditional pudding is apparently Parkin served smothered with stewed apples, so I wonder whether it would be good (and a bit lighter) with cubes of peeled, cored apple folded int the mixture. It would make the cut slices look better too, I expect.
This was rather dry and crumbly. I'd love to hear of improvement ideas!
I had been given Delia Smith's recipe, but, as usual with something I've not made before, looked at several others before starting. Mine finished up as mostly Mary Berry's, but using Ed Kimber's idea of draught Guiness instead of milk. MB uses a 7" square tin - mine is 9" so I upped the quantities. It looks a bit thicker than I expected.
10oz Black Treacle (or 2/3 treacle and 1/3 Golden Syrup)
8oz Unsalted butter
6 1/2 oz dark muscovado sugar
10oz Plain Flour (I used self-raising)
3 good teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 level teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
16oz Medium oatmeal
2 medium eggs
8fl oz Guiness - I used a tin of draught - creamier and not as sour as bottled Guiness
1 teaspoon Bicarbonate of Soda
Set a deep roasting tin on a medium heat. When hot but not simmering, sit the treacle tin in it for 5 minutes - this makes it much easier to handle. Put the oven on to 160C Fan and grease and line the cake tin.
Put a medium saucepan on your scales and set to 0. Pour in the treacle. Add the butter and sugar and set onto a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Beat the eggs. Sieve the flour into a large bowl with the bicarbonate and mix the oatmeal with it. Pour in the treacle/butter/sugar mixture, the eggs and the Guiness. The mixture should be just about pourable - pour it into the tin and bake. I was a little surprised that it was done in 45 minutes, most recipes suggest much longer. Cool in the tin and turn out. Wrap in greaseproof paper and store for at least 3 days before eating. In between the turning out and the wrapping, i wentinto the cellar for another bottle of cooks refreshment, and found a bottle of Black Seal rum with a couple of inches left. It seemed like a good idea to pour this all over the Parkin before the wrapping. We shall see!
A traditional pudding is apparently Parkin served smothered with stewed apples, so I wonder whether it would be good (and a bit lighter) with cubes of peeled, cored apple folded int the mixture. It would make the cut slices look better too, I expect.
This was rather dry and crumbly. I'd love to hear of improvement ideas!
Orange Cake
I have made this many times with lots of variations. The recipe started from Diana Henry's in Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, though I think that the original source is Claudia Roden. The Roden version is just 2 boiled oranges, 8oz each of ground almonds and sugar and 6 eggs. I've not yet tried it. Here is mine, for a 34cm rectangular loaf tin. This will make about 16 slices
2 medium oranges, boiled for an hour or so
2 medium oranges for zest and juice
8oz blanched almonds, ground in a food processor (much better than shop bought ground almonds)
3oz self raising flour
1 level teaspoon of baking powder
4 eggs at room temperature
12oz golden caster sugar
1 1/2 oz semolina (or use more almonds)
a pack of dried cranberries (optional)
butter to grease the tin
For the filling - a 250gm tub of Marscapone, 2 tablespoons good honey, I like to use Acacia, 1 or 2 tablespoons of good, full fat yoghurt and either a teaspoon of ground cardamom or 8 or so crushed amaretti biscuits.
Take the eggs out of the refrigerator to bring them to room temperature. Boil 2 oranges for an hour or so and if possible allow to cool. If using the cardamom filling, make it now as it improves if it is allowed time for the cardamom to permeate. If using the amaretti - last minute to keep the crunch of the biscuits. Grind the almonds in the food processor, and put them in a bowl. Remove the green stalk end of the oranges, split into 1/4s, remove seeds and central pith and whizz in the food processor.
Put the oven on to 160C fan. Grease and line the baking tin. In a large bowl (mine is about 18" diameter) beat the eggs and sugar till pale and thick. Add the zest of another orange. Sieve the flour and baking powder. Delia Smith says to do this from a good height to get plenty of air into it - this leaves my kitchen with a thin flour coating everywhere. I prefer to sieve it two or three times as Dan Lepard suggests.
Fold the almonds, orange pulp, semolina and cranberries if using them, into the eggs and sugar. Lastly, quickly, lightly and thoroughly fold in the flour. Pour into the tin and put it in the oven for about 45 minutes, until softly springy. I let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out.
Last time I made it the day before which seemed to help the texture which became pleasantly chewy rather than crumbly.
As close as possible to serving time, split the cake horizontally and fill with the marscapone. I usually ice it as well with the juice of rather less than 1/2 an orange and the zest of the last one.
This cake also works well as a pud, in which case I'd serve the marscapone cream on the side
Zesting - if you don't have one, buy a microplane. Useful for all sorts of jobs around the kitchen.
I have made this many times with lots of variations. The recipe started from Diana Henry's in Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, though I think that the original source is Claudia Roden. The Roden version is just 2 boiled oranges, 8oz each of ground almonds and sugar and 6 eggs. I've not yet tried it. Here is mine, for a 34cm rectangular loaf tin. This will make about 16 slices
2 medium oranges, boiled for an hour or so
2 medium oranges for zest and juice
8oz blanched almonds, ground in a food processor (much better than shop bought ground almonds)
3oz self raising flour
1 level teaspoon of baking powder
4 eggs at room temperature
12oz golden caster sugar
1 1/2 oz semolina (or use more almonds)
a pack of dried cranberries (optional)
butter to grease the tin
For the filling - a 250gm tub of Marscapone, 2 tablespoons good honey, I like to use Acacia, 1 or 2 tablespoons of good, full fat yoghurt and either a teaspoon of ground cardamom or 8 or so crushed amaretti biscuits.
Take the eggs out of the refrigerator to bring them to room temperature. Boil 2 oranges for an hour or so and if possible allow to cool. If using the cardamom filling, make it now as it improves if it is allowed time for the cardamom to permeate. If using the amaretti - last minute to keep the crunch of the biscuits. Grind the almonds in the food processor, and put them in a bowl. Remove the green stalk end of the oranges, split into 1/4s, remove seeds and central pith and whizz in the food processor.
Put the oven on to 160C fan. Grease and line the baking tin. In a large bowl (mine is about 18" diameter) beat the eggs and sugar till pale and thick. Add the zest of another orange. Sieve the flour and baking powder. Delia Smith says to do this from a good height to get plenty of air into it - this leaves my kitchen with a thin flour coating everywhere. I prefer to sieve it two or three times as Dan Lepard suggests.
Fold the almonds, orange pulp, semolina and cranberries if using them, into the eggs and sugar. Lastly, quickly, lightly and thoroughly fold in the flour. Pour into the tin and put it in the oven for about 45 minutes, until softly springy. I let it cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning it out.
Last time I made it the day before which seemed to help the texture which became pleasantly chewy rather than crumbly.
As close as possible to serving time, split the cake horizontally and fill with the marscapone. I usually ice it as well with the juice of rather less than 1/2 an orange and the zest of the last one.
This cake also works well as a pud, in which case I'd serve the marscapone cream on the side
Zesting - if you don't have one, buy a microplane. Useful for all sorts of jobs around the kitchen.
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