Monday 21 August 2023

Tarte aux Quetches

 This tarte is popular from  the Alsace ( Tarte au quetches) to Germany (Quetschekuche) 

 I know about it as my grandfather grew up in Belgium.

Quetche plums are small dark purple plums. I have Victoria plums from the garden so use those instead.


 


 

My version     (scroll down for a Bavarian version)

Victoria Plums halved and stones removed

 For the base, blend these ingredients by hand or in a food processor.

8oz self raising flour ( altenative option for more texture, replace 2 oz of the flour with  2oz ground almonds or semolina)

4 oz butter

2 oz sugar

1 egg

vanilla extract to taste  (alternatives almond essence or cinnamon)

Roll out like pastry or press onto a cake tin or baking dish. 

I used a rectangular non stick cake tin 8x12 in

Arrange the plums on top overlapping so that you get plenty on as they shrink during cooking.

Bake at gas 6 for 45-50 min

Enjoy with cream or Greek yogurt.

Can be frozen.



The base can vary from a yeasted dough to a shortcrust pastry and the plums are sometimes sprinkled with streusel. you can find a Bavarian recipe here

Tuesday 14 February 2023

Chocolate Brownies with Pecans and Morello Cherries

 

Ingredients

Optional

Cream the butter and sugar then add the eggs.

Fold in the flour and cocoa then mix in the chocolate nuts and cherries.

Cook at gas 4 for 30-40min.

 

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.

Wednesday 24 August 2022

Traudl's Apple Cake



 
This recipe came from my good friend Traudl who lived near us for many years. She originally came from Bavaria. I always enjoyed a slice of this at her house usually with cream or ice cream.
 
 

 

 

I also do several of my own variations of this recipe. 

Sprinkle cinnamon and flaked almonds on before cooking. 

Swap the plain flour with self raising flour and just press into the tin so skip rolling it out. The base turns out more cakey. 

I don't always peel the apples.

Add either vanilla or almond essence to the base.

Frozen Bramley slices or Granny Smith slices work well too


Plum with almond cake  

 

This is a variation of the apple cake. I used SR flour instead of plain, almond essence instead of vanilla and cooking plums instead of apple. I added 2 tsp milk to the batter mixture.

I cooked it at gas 6 for 40 minutes. as ovens vary check it after 30 min.


Friday 26 March 2021

Beetroot and Barley with Mackerel

 

Whole barley cooked with garlic and ras al hanout, cooked beetroot, peas and runner beans served with fried mackerel.


Sunday 29 November 2020

Veggie Haggis aka The Wee Green Beastie

 


 

 

I went to a St Andrew's day online concert party given by Elsa Jean McTaggart and Gary Lister from the Isle of Lewis    details here

To get in the mood I looked at several veggie haggis recipes online and read Felicity Cloake's survey of recipes for the Guardian online. She quotes a recipe for the traditional meaty haggis which says “Leave the windpipe out of the pan to disgorge the phlegm.” Her response was call me squeamish, but I do not deal in culinary phlegm.

The one I liked the best was from Graham Campbell at Great British Chefs  

I didn't have all the ingredients for his recipe so took some cues from what was in stock and what the other recipes included.

The recipe didn't specify what sort of lentil to use. I had red lentils and Puy lentils , either would do. I chose red lentils.

For spices I used nutmeg. I didn't have allspice or cinnamon so I used a Spice Mountain Lebanese 7 spice mix.

Instead of Borlotti beans I used kidney beans with their juice and roughly chopped in a Thermomix

Instead of stock and salt I water and added plenty of soy sauce.

Instaed of 2 egg yolks I used egg. For a vegan version just leave the egg out.

The recipe said to wrap the haggis rolls in cling film and poach for 30 min. I thought that was too much faff for me. Instead I arranged them in a casserole dish added a tablespoon of water, covered with the lid and microwaved them for 10 min and that worked well.

They were delish and were followed with a wee dram of Glenmorangie Whisky,


My Version Vegetarian haggis
  • 300g of kidney beans, rinsed, roughly chopped
  • 30g of butter
  •   1 large onion, finely chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
  • 80g of shitake mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 3 carrots peeled and grated
  • 80g of red lentils
  • 1 lemon, juice and zest
  • 500ml of vegetable stock
  • 50g of porridge oats
  • Ground nutmeg and Lebanese 7 spice mix (add to taste) 
  • Rosemary
  • Thyme

 Fry the onion, garlic and mushrooms in the butter.

Add the carrot, lemon zest, rosemary, thyme and lentils cover with stock and simmer for 15 min,,

Add the oats and cook for a further 2-3 min

Add the lemon juice, salt and spices to taste.

Leave to cool while you prep the cabbage leaves. Par boil approx 8 whole leaves for 4 min.

Drain and cool them with cold water.

Add the egg to the filling and mix well.

Take a generous spoonful of mix and wrap it in a cabbage leaf. If the mix looks a bit wet for stuffing the cabbage leaves with add a bit more oatmeal.

Put the stuffed leaves into a casserole dish with I tbs water. Cover and microwave for 10 min. 

Or instead of stuffing the leaves you could assemble it lasagne style in the casserole dish  and alternate layers of mix and cabbage leaf.

Can be frozen for use later.

 


Sunday 1 September 2019

Sweet Potato, Cheese and Sweet Pepper Muffins






1/2 medium sized sweet potato (or equivalent amount of butternut squash)
1 1/2 cups white SR flour
1/2 cup wholemeal flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 large onion
2 eggs
A handful of chopped peppers, red, yellow and green
A handful of chopped parsley
1-2 oz cheddar
1/2 tsp chilli powder
2-3 tbs milk, the amount of milk to add depends on the flour, the mix should be slightly wetter than soft dropping consistency,
1/2 tsp salt or to taste

Cook the sweet potato, I microwaved it for 6 min. When cooked remove the skin.
Blitz the onion in a food processor or Thermomix, Add the sweet potato and blitz again.
Add the egg, peppers and parsley and blitz again.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly.
 Divide the mixture between 12 paper cases or use a well oiled/greased muffin tray.

Cook at gas 6, 200C for 35-40 min.

These are delicious eaten hot, the outer is almost like a choux bun and are moist and soft inside.

Next time I will try adding some chopped pecans or walnuts.






Wednesday 12 June 2019

Orange Polenta cake



Ingredients

Cake

250g butter
250g sugar
4 eggs beaten with 1 tbs milk
2 oranges
215g SR flour
125g polenta
2 tsp baking powder
greased tin 7x10 in or round 9 in

Syrup
Juice of 2 oranges plus (2 tsp lemon juice optional)  approx 100 ml
golden castor sugar 100 g
1/2 tsp cardamom seeds (optional) either grind with a pestle and mortar or buy ready ground  (1/2 tsp wasn't enough to notice so will try more another time)
A piece of orange rind (about 2in) and one of lemon rind
2 tbs water
Put these ingredients in a pan and boil and stir for 5 min. Strain before pouring over the cake. 

Chop the zest finely and put on the middle of the cake for decoration.


Cake
Cut the 2 oranges into quarters, put into a lidded dish with 2 tbs water and microwave for 7 min (power  800 )
Blitz the cooked oranges in a Thermomix or food processor
Add the butter and sugar and blitz again then the beaten eggs and another blitz.
Fold in the flour, polenta and baking powder. The mixture should look quite loose but don't be tempted to add more flour.

Cook at gas 3. Check after 45 min.  Mine needed another 10 min. when I did half quantity it only took 30min.
Remove from the tin after about 15 min. Carefully as its a bit fragile.
Place on a plate. Prick some holes in the top of the cake and pour the syrup over.

My recipe is based on this one from BBC Food 

I made some changes. In the comments section a couple of people thought the cake was a bit dry and one of them suggested boiling the oranges and using the whole fruits.
I added the lemon juice, zests and cardamom to the syrup. The cardamom idea came from a Jamie Oliver recipe.
The cake came out lovely and moist.