Upside-down apple tart

I’m rather annoyed I missed apple day to post this one on! http://www.commonground.org.uk being a big fan of English Apples, and any excuse them. This recipe does just that, and being homemade, it can easily be made egg-free, dairy free- and lets face it there are not many egg-free, dairy free puddings around. Cooking puddings yourself also saves money, and is very satisfying!

This one is a vegan adaptation of the Upside-down apple tart, with orange and oatmeal pastry, from ‘The Almost Vegetarian Cookbook’ (sums me up nicely) by Josceline Dimbleby

The tart can be made in advance, kept in the tin and reheated (good for parties then) The cardamom, honey and orange give a lovely flavour…

Ingredients

125g (4oz) plain flour
50g (2oz) fine oatmeal
75g (3oz) caster sugar
half tsp salt
125g (4oz) dairy free marg
finely grated zest of 1 orange
1-2 tbs freshly squeezed orange juice
750g (1 and half 1lb) apples
4tbs lemon juice
2 tbs fine-cut orange marmalade
2 tbs clear honey
seeds of 4-5 cardamon pods, ground finely

method

to make pastry, put the flour, oatmeal, caster sugar and salt into a food processor and whiz just once to mix. Add the marg to the flour mixture to the food processor and whiz again briefly, just until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs. Add the finely grated orange zest and with the motor running, pour in enough orange juice, whizzing very briefly, for the dough to begin to stick together. Pat the pastry into a ball, cover it with clingfilm and leave in the fridge to chill whilst you prepare the apples..

Smear the base and sides of a 19-20cm (7 and half to 8 inc sandwich tin with a little marg (don’t use a tin with a loose base) and preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200oC/400oF. Peel the apples and. Slice the apples in half and using a very sharp knife, cut out the cores. Slice the apples thinly in half moon slices, putting the slices into a bowl and sprinkling them immediately with lemon juice as you cut them to prevent them discolouring. Put the marmalade and honey into a bowl with the ground cardamon seeds, stir together and spread the mixture over the bottom of the buttered sandwich tin. Next arrange the apple slices neatly overlapping in the tin.

Take the pastry from the fridge and using a well floured rolling pin, roll it out very lightly on a floured board the size of the cake tin.
Carefully roll back the pastry over the rolling pin and place it on top of the apples in the tin. If pastry should break at all, don’t worry, simply press it together. Press the overlapping pastry edge down into the sides of the tin and pierce two holes in the top to allow the steam to escape.

Cook the tart in the centre of the preheated oven for 25mins, then turn down to gas mark 3/160oC/325oF for 30mins. Finally, turn off the oven, open the door slightly and leave the tart in the oven for a further 10-15 mins.

To serve: slide a knife around the edges of the tin and carefully turn the tart out on a flat serving plate. Serve tart warm with dairy free custard or cream…

Today’s illustration © Lois Blackburn www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Girdle scones (egg, dairy free)

Sunday morning, if I have time, I do like to rustle up some goodies to eat. This week I was experimenting making a vegan version of the classic girdle scone. It went down very easily, especially with a good coating of jam or honey. (If you want the traditional ingredients, just swap dairy free ingredients to butter and milk)

Ingredients
10oz/275g self-raising flour
1-2 oz/ 25g-50g dairy free marg
half tsp salt
soya milk

method

sift flour and salt, rub in marg. Add milk and mix to a soft dough. Place on a floured surface, kneed very lightly and roll out to quarter inch thickness. Cut into triangles and place on a greased and floured moderately hot girdle or heavy based frying pan. When scones are risen slightly and brown, turn them and cook on the other side. Roll on Sunday.

Illustration © Lois Blackburn 2008 www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Kofta Curry

More delicious ‘ways with mince’... this is a lovely alternative to a Friday night take away curry. Spicy as you want it, depending on the strength of your chilli. We served it with rice, which worked well. You could equally have it with nan or chapatti, and left overs in a sandwich!

Ingredients

3 onions, sliced
2 gloves garlic
2 green chillies (more or less depending on your taste)
3.5 cm (1 and half inch) piece root ginger
25g (1oz) each coriander and mint leaves
2 tsp salt
500g (1lb) minced beef
4 tbs oil
1 tsp each of chilli powder and ground cumin
1 tbs ground coriander
1 tbs water
25g (1oz) tomato puree, diluted in 300ml (half pint) water
mint leaves to garnish

method

put 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic, 2 chillies, 1 cm piece ginger, herbs and half the salt into a food processor and work into a paste.

Mix with the minced beef, roll into walnut size balls and fry lightly in 3 tbs oil. Drain on kitchen paper and set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in the pan, add the remaining onions and fry until golden. Crush the remaining garlic and chop the remaining ginger.. Add to the pan with the chilli powder, cumin, ground coriander and the water. Fry stirring for 2 minutes, for 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato puree and remaining salt. Simmer for 10 mins. Gently add the meat balls in to the pan and simmer for 30 mins. Garnish with mint to serve.

Illustration © Lois Blackburn 2008 www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Half a lamb

On Friday my little boy and I picked up our ‘half a lamb’ from our local farm, ‘Cold Harbour Farm’ We feasted on the liver for Saturday lunch, and had curry on Sunday. The rest has gone in the freezer. If you have an opportunity to buy a half or whole (if you have a big freezer and family) I can highly recommend it. The taste is wonderful, quality meat, couldn’t be more local (no air miles) and very economical. Our half was £40, (a whole would have cost £70) and will keep us going for ages…

If your in the area, contact the very friendly and helpful Jenny Hallam tel 07890 889830 Cold Harbour Farm, New Mills, High Peak.

Today’s illustration, Lamb © 2008 Lois Blackburn www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Crab-apple Jelly

Next to the Quince Tree (see Quince Chutney) was a small bag full of crab-apple windfalls, fantastic free food! I brought a jelly strainer last week, what a difference it makes, just load it up, then let it drip through over night- simple!
This Jelly is from Jimmy Doherty’s book ‘A Taste of the Country’ It’s the first time I’ve made it, very sharp and sweet at the same time… should go well on toast or with pork…

Ingredients

About 2kg/4 and half lb crab apples
granulated or preserving sugar

method

Wash and chop the crab apples. Put them into a preserving pan with just enough water to cover (about 1 litre/1 and three quarter pints) Bring to the boil slowly, then reduce the heat and simmer for about an hour. Stir occasionally, breaking up the fruit to release the pectin.

After an hour, pour or ladle the fruit and juice into a scalded jelly-bag and allow the juice to drip through for several hours. Measure the strained juice and our it back into a clean preserving pan. For each 565ml or 1 pint of juice add 450g or 1lb of sugar. Stir over a low heat until all the sugar has dissolved, then bring to the boil. Boil until setting point is reached – about 10 to 15 mins. When the jelly is ready, take the pan off the heat, remove the scum from the surface, and quickly pour into sterilized jars –this jelly sets very fast.

Today’s illustration © Lois Blackburn 2008 www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Quince chutney

Last week on a walk I found a quince tree, with loads of windfalls, so with a rucksack full I ambled home. I first cooked with quinces a couple of years ago, and didn’t have much luck with them, they where just to hard. So this time, I placed them on the window sill for a week to turn from light green to the riper yellow colour. Then cut them into smaller chunks, time-consuming but worth it, as the resulting chutney is delicious, and no problems this time with hard quince.

I used the following recipe, from www.hungrybrowser.com

8 cups peeled, cored diced quinces
3 oranges thinly sliced
3 cups of brown sugar
1 and half cups honeymead or white wine vinegar (I used a combination of white wine vinegar and malt, and its worked very well)
1 cup sultanas
quarter cup finely chopped preserved ginger (I only had fresh in, which worked very well)
1 cup of raisins
1 medium onion finely chopped
quarter cup yellow mustard seeds
1 tsp ground ginger
half tsp ground cloves
half tsp ground cinnamon
2 cloves garlic crushed
juice and zest of 1 lemon

method

combine all ingredients, except ginger with 1 and half cups of water in a large non-reactive saucepan. Simmer for 45 mins. Add ginger, cool five mins, spoon into hot sterilised jars and seal while hot. Keeps 12 months in a cool dark place (the last lot of Quince chutney I made, I kept for 2 years… and was fine when I opened it!) Refrigerate after opening.

Today’s illustration © Lois Blackburn 2008 www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Egg free chocolate cake

An absolute delight this one, its rich, dark and very chocolaty. You would never guess that its egg free and dairy free! Just a bit more washing up to do, but always worth it…

ingredients
650ml (22fl oz) boiling water
115g (4oz) creamed coconut
50g (2oz) cocoa powder
400g (14oz) self-raising flour
1 x tsp baking powder
large pinch of salt
225g (8oz) light soft brown sugar
200ml (7 fl oz) sunflower oil
a couple of handfuls of desiccated coconut (optional)
dark chocolate broken into chunks (optional)


method
Pour the boiling water over the coconut and stir until it dissolves. Cool
Sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and mix with the sugar. Make a well in the middle, then pour the oil and coconut mix. Beat everything together to make a smooth batter. Add a handful of desiccated coconut if you like it, and break up a handful of dark chocolate and add chunks. mix.

Pour the mix into a greased and lined 3 pint loaf tin, and if you like coconut, sprinkle another handful of desiccated coconut over the top.. and bake at 180o/350oF/gas mark 4 for 1 and a quarter hours (unless you have a really knackered oven like me, in which case it maybe half an hour longer!) You will know its ready when its well risen and just firm to the touch. (the first time I baked this it was slightly underdone, and was more like a hot pudding, it was delicious with custard/cream/icecream!) Leave to cool in the tin, for 10 mins, then turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool completely.

An ancient illustration, found in an old sketch book © Lois Blackburn www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Leek and Potato soup

A delicious soup, rich and creamy, a real comforter. This one is a ‘Tom Norrington-Davies, from his great book ‘cupboard love’. I swapped all the dairy ingredients for soya equivalents, which worked very well, the milk curdles a bit (but it is prone to in the dairy version to) but mix it all in and problem resolved.

Ingredients (for 4-6 people you need)

3-4 leeks (about 400g untrimmed weight)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
200ml milk
2 large, floury potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp salk
300ml water
2 springs of tarragon, stripped from the stalk and chopped, or half tsp of dried version

method

use as much of the leeks as you can. Trim away only the very roughest part of the green top and the little beard of the root and outermost layer if necessary. Leeks can be muddy, and the easiest way to wash them is after you have sliced them up. Just put the slices in a colander and run them under a tap. It doesn’t matter if they break up a bit.

The soup is very straightforward. Braise the leeks and garlic in the milk over a gentle heat until soft, then add the potatoes. Don’t worry if the leeks appear to curdle the milk, the soup will come back together. Add the salt and about half the water. Simmer gently until the potatoes are about to fall apart, then add the remaining water. Bring to the simmering point and mash gently. If you want to use the tarragon, add it just before serving. If the soup seems thick, loosen it with more milk or water, then check the seasoning.

Today’s illustration © Lois Blackburn 2008 www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Rice pudding

A taste of childhood… but actually better than I remember! It’s so easy to make, lovely with cows milk or soya milk. Try different flavourings and extra’s such as adding raisons, or almonds, or using it as a bed for poached fruit. There are many variations on the rice pudding recipes, but this is a great one to start with…

Ingredients

200g (7oz) Italian risotto or pudding rice or sticky rice
350ml (12oz) water
up to 1 litre (1 three quarter pints) milk (or soya)
175g (6oz) sugar or to taste
zest of half a lemon (optional)
vanilla essence (optional)

method

put the rice in a large pot with the water. Bring to the boil and simmer, covered for about 5-6mins, or until the water is absorbed. Keep an eye on it, and stir so that the rice doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add half to three quarters of the milk, bring to the boil and simmer on a very low heat for 30-40 mins, or until the rice is very soft and the milk almost absorbed (if this happens to quickly add the rest of the milk) stirring occasionally so the rice doesn’t stick. Stir in the sugar and the lemon zest and a vanilla essence to taste. Cook for a few mins longer. Serve hot or cold.

Illustration © Lois Blackburn please visit www.loisblackburn.co.uk for more.

Pork sausage with lentils

My other half made this variation of an Italian recipe tonight and I have to add it here, its delicious and cheap and cheerful! Its inspired by Gennaro Contaldo’s recipe Zampone con lenticchie, but replaced Italian sausage with locally produced pork sausages..

Ingredients

350g puy lentils
2 carrots, finely chopped
1 courgette, finely chopped
1 large potato, finely chopped
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2 tbs finely chopped parsley
3 whole garlic gloves, crushed
4 tbs olive oil
about 1.5 litres veg stock
pork sausages (we used 6 from our fantastic local butcher)

method

wash the lentils. Drain and place in large pan with carrots, courgette, potato, celery, parsley, garlic and olive oil. Pour in enough stock to cover and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 40 mins, or until the lentils are soft and the dish has a stew like consistency.

Meanwhile, fry the sausage until coloured, chop it up, and add to the stew for the last 10mins or so of cooking. This way the sausage gives even more flavour to the stew.

Remove from the heat, and serve with seasonal green veg. (we used steamed cabbage which was lovely)

Illustration © Lois Blackburn www.loisblackburn.co.uk

Sloe gin season

I made my first batch last year, delicious stuff…(once I was sure that I was picking proper sloe berries, and not some poisonous berry) It’s a sweet drink and seems quite strong, you can drink it neat or with some tonic and ice. I’ve heard about recipes with almonds, which sounds lovely, maybe I’ll try that this year....

Ingredients

450g/1lb sloes
170g/6oz sugar
1 bottle of gin
2 empty bottles (recycle your own, or buy from supplier such as Lakeland Ltd)


method

Choose ripe sloes and wash, dry and prick them. The best ones are supposed to be picked after the first frost- If you can’t wait, stick them in the freezer for a few days…
Fill the bottles halfway up with fruit and sugar and top up with the gin. Cork well and store for 3 months or much longer. (so if you do now, in time for Christmas) shake it occasionally. When your ready to drink it, strain the gin through muslin into a clean bottle.

Illustration © Lois Blackburn, www.loisblackburn.co.uk for more.

Spiced Brandy

A new challenge for me, a egg free Christmas Cake.. well I’ve made a start, I found this recipe for Spiced Brandy on http://piginthekitchen.blogspot.com/ which I will be feeding the cake with.. Ok, maybe Brandy isn’t the most economical item in my shopping list, but I think its worth every penny, a Christmas Cake without booze is a sorry thing.. and the cake will last and feed lots of hungry people.. trouble is it tastes so good, it might not last long enough for the cake!

ingredients

500ml Brandy
3-4 star anise
2-3 mace blades
2 cinnamon sticks
1 vanilla pod
1-2 tsps of sugar

method

To make the spiced brandy, put 500ml of brandy into a saucepan. Add the star anise, the mace blades, the cinnamon sticks. Split the vanilla pod, scrape the seeds into the brandy and then add the split pod. Heat it slowly and let it bubble for about a minute. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool. When completely cold pour it into a bottle / preserving jar and push all the spices in as well. You may have to cut the star anise in half to get it through the neck of a bottle, but not to worry. You now have brandy to make the cake, feed the cake and to swig at stressful moments of the Yuletide Season. You can remove the spices after about a month, or leave them in for a very spicy drink.

Today’s illustration © Lois Blackburn. www.loisblackburn.co.uk for more.

Fruit pie

Pies = a little bit of heaven


And at this time of the year, can cost next to nothing. With blackberries to pick and apples in season to scrumpy (or ask nicely for from a friendly neighbour)
Here’s a recipe for you to play with what ever fruit is in session… blackberry and apple like me, or apple, raisins and cinnamon or rhubarb and lemon…. The list goes on..

Ingredients

6oz short crust pastry (make your own for economy, or cheat like me and get it out of the freezer)
1 and half lb of fresh fruit
4 oz sugar

method

place the fruit in a pie dish with sugar spread on each layer, finish with a layer of fruit piled high in the middle, add a little water, cover with pastry.
Bake just above centre in a hot oven (425o-450oF) gas mark 6-7 for 15 mins, then lower the temp a little for about 20mins until the fruit is cooked. Dredge with sugar and serve hot or cold… with custard, with icecream, with cream, with a cup of tea, the choose is yours.

Today’s illustration © Lois Blackburn. www.loisblackburn.co.uk for more.

Boston Baked Beans

Love my beans, this is a delicious, tasty mix with bacon/pork slices… this is when I wish I had an old fashioned stove to cook it slowly all day…

Ingredients

1 lb haricot beans, washed and soaked overnight
8oz sliced pork (or thick sliced bacon)
2 tsp salt
1 tbs brown sugar
quarter cup of dark molasses or treacle
half tsp dry mustard
half tsp Worcestershire sauce

method

Drain the beans, cover with fresh water and cook covered with a lid until beans are tender. Turn beans into pot, press the pork on top of the beans. Mix the salt, brown sugar, molasses or treacle, mustard, Worcestershire sauce. Add 1 cup of boiling water and pour over the beans. Add additional water and cover beans. Cover and bake in slow oven (250o-300oF, Gas Mark 1-2) for 6 – 8 hours adding additional water to keep beans just covered. Uncover during the last 30 mins to brown pork and beans.