Cape Malay Chicken Curry

Cape Malay Chicken Curry

Makes 4-6 portions

2 medium or large onions chopped
4 cloves garlic chopped
I kg chicken portions
4 carrots chopped
400ml stock
2 tbs tomato puree
2 handfuls raisins
2 tbs Cape Malay spice mix from Spice Mountain

2 bay leaves
3-4 in ginger grated (I used ready prepared frozen ginger)
3 tbs cider vinegar
2 tbs apricot jam
2 tbs natural yoghurt

I used a large Le Creuset so the frying and oven cooking can be done in the same pot.

Fry the chopped onion and garlic in the oil for a few minutes.
Add the spices, bay leaves and chicken and brown for a few more minutes.
Add the stock, tomato puree, cider vinegar, ginger, raisins and carrots.
Put the lid on and cook at gas 5 for I 1/4 hours.
Before serving, mix in the apricot jam and yoghurt.
I served this with rice and broccoli.
Delicious!

I based my recipe on the one on the Spice Mountain website adjusting it to use what I had available.

Lunch at La Barbe

La Barbe is a French restaurant in Reigate. We went there just before Christmas for their December menu. Outside was snowy and cold and the restaurant filled up as people seemed to be taking the opportunity to come out having been snowed in for a few days. It was nice to come in out of the cold to a friendly welcome and sit down to a meal cooked by someone else.

Terrine de Confit de Canard à l’Andouillette Duck confit and andouillette terrine

Andouillette is a type of sausage and not as I imagined a kind of bird!

Coussin de Saumon Fumé aux Baies Roses et Aneth

Smoked salmon filled with roasted salmon, cream cheese and dill mousse with pink peppercorns.

This was very good.

Bourguignon de Venaison aux Champignons et Lardons

Venison and mushroom casserole with lardons and boiled potatoes

Suprême de Canard aux Poires Sauce Bigarade

Roasted duck breast served with caramelized pears and orange sauce

No vegetables came with this dish so some had to be ordered extra. I had spinach and plenty of french bread. The bread was excellent, light and with a crisp crust.

Bûche de Noël au Praliné

Praline flavoured Christmas log

Bûche de Noël is a traditional French dessert served near Christmas. It is a sweet roulade that is usually decorated to look like a log with chocolate buttercream icing. I chose it because of the praline flavouring and it looked stunning. I would have prefered the cake and the buttercream to be lighter.

Overall it was a lovely meal beautifully presented.

Christmas Cake

Mixed dried fruit ( sultanas, raisins, currants candied peel, chopped dates ) 22 oz
cherries or chopped dried apricots 3 oz
chopped pecans 2oz
5 eggs
4 oz Muscavado sugar
8oz butter
10oz SR flour
3 tsp mixed spice
Booze, 5fl oz or half a mug. I used Beaume de Venise, have been known to use sherry, Madeira, brandy or whiskey. One at a time!
Flaked almonds

Soak the fruit and spices in the booze overnight.
Use the butter at room temperature and cut into cubes, add the sugar and eggs and beat till fluffy. Add the fruit mixture and mix using a wooden spoon then add the flour and mix. If the mix drops easily off the spoon it is ready to cook. If not add up to 5 fl oz cold tea to make the mixture looser.
Put into a well buttered 8in square cake tin and sprinkle flaked almonds over the top.
Bake in a pre heated oven at gas 2 for 2 hours. After this time check to see if the cake is ready by prodding it with a skewer or knife. If it comes out with sticky cake mix on it give the cake another half hour and check it again.
This improves with keeping if it doesn't get eaten in the meantime.
I usually make an almond paste topping covered by lemon icing instead of the flaked almonds.
We have the first slice on Christmas Eve in the afternoon.

Sausage and Red Cabbage Casserole

This winter warmer is a one pot dish. While it cooks slowly in the oven the flavours meld together and makes a sweet and tasty liquor and the house fills with inviting aromas.
Veggie sausages could be used instead.

for 4-6 servings

I red cabbage

4 onions peeled and sliced

3 cloves garlic chopped

12 sausages (I used Waitrose Gourmet sausages, they are not fatty and have a good flavour, or Toulouse sausages would be great)

6 medium sized potatoes sliced, no need to peel.

1 handful raisins

I tbs Branston Pickle

Large glass of red wine

teaspoon French mustard

2 Bramley apples cored and sliced

1 tsp Seasoned Pioneers cardamom masala spice mix

a drizzle of olive oil

Fry the onions and garlic in the oil. I used a Le Creuset casserole dish.

Add the sausages and brown.

Add the wine, mustard, raisins, pickle, apple slices and spice.

Cover with a layer of red cabbage and finish with a layer of potato slices.

Put the lid on the casserole and cook at gas 3 for 2 1/2 -3 hours

Autumn Raspberries

We are well into November now, some of the trees have shed their leaves while others, like the silver birch in the background of these photos, still hold onto their golden leaves. The raspberries are still are still producing fruit at the rate of a small bowlful a day. I originally planted 2 varieties, one of them called Autumn Bliss, and one year they were fruiting right up till Christmas. Just about the only care these raspberry canes get is a pruning followed by a thick layer of home made compost once a year. The Autumn crop is more flavourful and less sharp than the Summer crop.

Cinnamon Bun Day

Cinnamon Rolls, Nordic Bakery, London.

It's Cinnamon Bun day today in Sweden. Also known as cinnamon rolls these delicious treats are made by spreading a mix of cinnamon, butter and sugar onto a sheet of dough then rolling it up.

They are served in several Northern European countries including Finland and Iceland. The first time I tried one was on a whale watching trip in the north of Iceland. It came with a mug of hot chocolate. The Finnish version is larger and is called korvapuusti which means 'a slap on the ear'!

I have also baked them using the recipe on Annes Food blog

You can buy them frozen from Ikea. They are good but the ones from the Nordic bakery pip them at the post.

Borough Market, Southwark London.

Borough Market is London's oldest food market. Near Southwark Cathedral on the Thames at London Bridge, much of it is tucked away among the railway arches under the viaduct. By night it is a wholesale fruit and veg market, by day a foodie's delight.
The only other time I have been here was years ago as part of a painting course. The night time market had long finished and at that time there was no daytime market so the brighly coloured fruits and vegetables had gone. We had the challenge of painting this empty place in different colours that were to be all the same tone. It was a useful lesson.
I looked forward to seeing the place buzzing and alive with colour and smells of food.
As I wove my way around this gourmet maze I was offered all sorts of goodies to taste. Olives from Greece, wafer thin Jamon from Spain, Turkish meze and Turkish delight, a spoonful of green Thai chicken or Carribean chicken curry, a thimbleful of mulled wine, little cubes of cheeses from England, France, Italy, Spain, Holland..... and chocolate brownies. Trains rumbled overhead and as lunchtime approached the market became more crowded.
My Italian lunch came from Gastronomica, ciabatta with Mozarella, Parma ham and rocket. To take home we bought some duck confit and a very heavy bag of cheeses, Remeker from Boerkaas and Mayfield from E Sussex and a big hole in the pocket!
Then time to leave for lunchtime jazz at the Southbank Centre.
Flickr group

Mulled wine with lavender


or time for some Pimms or Sangria







cheeses from the Dutch Frisian Isles




From Flour Power City bakery there are artisan breads and cakes. Their luscious chocolate brownies are made with 30% Caillebout chocolate and butter and eggs


giant meringues flavoured with raspberry, strawberry or chocolate sit next to Portuguese custard tarts ( Pastel de Nata)


Outside some of the stall holders and shoppers brave the wet weather