Gingerbread Cake drizzled with orange glaze

Another swathe of rainy and overcast weather has set in for the day here in Cape Town. Downstairs the under floor heating has provided a nice toasty warmth, a good day for making some comfort food. Gingerbread with its warming spices is just the thing and with oranges being in season, I think they will be perfect choice to use in the glaze for the topping of this delicious cake.

Rich and treacly this gingerbread is addictively good. I think this recipe could also be a good alternative to a traditional Christmas cake.

Recipe

Ingredients

For the cake

225g/8oz butter, softened

225g/8oz light muscovado sugar

225g/8oz golden syrup

225g/8oz black treacle

225g/8oz self-raising flour, sifted

225g/8oz wholemeal self-raising flour, sifted

4 tsp. ground ginger

2 tbsp. stem ginger (from a jar), chopped

2 free-range eggs, beaten

300ml/10½fl oz. milk

For the orange icing

150g/5oz icing sugar

1 orange, juice and zest

Method

Line a 23cm/9in square cake tin at least 4cm/1½in deep with baking parchment.

Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3.

Place the butter, sugar, golden syrup and black treacle into a pan and heat gently until the mixture has melted evenly. Set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flours, ground ginger and stem ginger into a large mixing bowl and mix gently. Pour the cooled butter mixture into the flour. Add the eggs and milk and beat with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Pour the cake batter into the tin and level the surface with a palette knife or the back of a spoon. Bake for 50 minutes, or until the cake has risen and is golden-brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Set aside to cool slightly in the tin, then transfer the cake to a wire rack and set aside to cool completely.

Meanwhile, for the orange icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add about two tablespoons of the orange juice and mix to a smooth paste. Add more orange juice, as necessary, until you get a smooth icing of the consistency you desire.

Pour the icing over the cooled cake and spread lightly, allowing it to ooze over the edges. Sprinkle over chopped orange zest and set the cake aside until the icing has set.

Lunch For One–Lightly Poached Salmon Served With Fig & Raisin Chutney

Steel grey in colour the choppy waves capped with white foam, heave and churn wildly below my garden deck, it is as always quite an awesome site. It’s raining too and I am pleased that I shopped for food yesterday.

Tomatoes cut in half lightly drizzled with olive oil, topped with a smidge of Demerara sugar, a light sprinkle of Greek oregano and salt and pepper, are roasting off in the oven. It should take about an hour and half at 180C to reduce them to a concentrated richness. When done I put them in a pot, add some chicken stock, correct the seasoning and simmer for about 5 minutes then blend the lot together. Sometimes I will strain the soup, most times I prefer not to. By roasting the tomatoes you get a rich unctuous creamy textured soup yet it has no cream, served with some crusty homemade bread and a good bottle of wine it makes a perfect light dinner or a starter.

But for lunch; a nice piece of fresh farmed salmon seasoned and gently poached in about two table spoons of the fat, skimmed off the top of the stock from last night’s coq au vin, it adds another layer of subtle flavour. I serve the salmon with some fig and raisin chutney which compliments the fish beautifully.

The Cape Winter, A Tart & and Guests For Dinner

There are four of us for supper tonight and the weather is icy and blowing, so good comfort food is in order. Shopping is usually slipped into other jobs and journeys: a dash into the green grocer’s whilst on my way to a meeting; a trip to the fishmonger on my way home. But today’s shopping is thought out, with a list, a big bag and a planned shopping experience for my guests.

One of the advantages of the free range birds from the butcher is that their bones are heavy and strong; to be expected as they have had a lot of opportunity to exercise; so one of these birds it is. Their fat, sauce-enriching bones make a delicious stew. Cooked slowly, with stock, herbs and aromatics, the result is mild but meaty, which is just what one wants when the cold weather and wind is enough to make your eyes water.

As I am well stocked with limes, I had planned on making a lime tart but now seeing the fresh Cape gooseberries I find myself in a quandary; gooseberry crumble, or the lime tart? A quick rethink of the dinner plan for tonight and tomorrow, scrambles through my head. I will do both, the lime tart for today and the gooseberry crumble tomorrow.

I pick up a nice country loaf of bread, organic cream, milk and eggs and head for home, my guests plod off to explore Cape Town. Considering the gale force winds blowing outside I think there could be better days for exploring than today.

The wind almost rips the door from my grasp as I make my way into the kitchen from outside, while hugging my purchases tightly to prevent them from being blown in all directions, I’m pleased that I passed on the opportunity to buy fresh flowers as they would have come off second best in these conditions.

The kitchen is lovely and toasty, a perfect day to be inside baking and preparing food. After a quick warming cup of tea I check on my cannellini beans which have been soaking for a few hours, all is looking good and now it’s time to start preparing the lime tart. I enjoy making this particular pastry, each time adding as much butter as I dare, just to see how crisp and fragile I can get the crust.

I have prepared all the ingredients for the filling; all that is needed is the final mixing of all the items together. The crust is pre-baked, looks great and is ready to receive the filling which I proceed to do. All goes smoothly with the mixing of the ingredients when suddenly the wind tears several branches from the palm trees, heaving them across the courtyard with a vengeance, and in my direction.

Somewhat distracted at this point, I put the tart and it’s filling into the oven, as I am about to close the oven door I realize I have forgotten one important ingredient, the lime juice. I quickly pour the juice gently into the liquid filling already in the tart, stir and distribute it as best I can while trying not to disturb the pastry base. Fingers crossed I close the oven door and hope for the best.

A little flustered I think of plan B, not to mention think about clearing the debris from the courtyard, it is going to be a long 45 minutes.

It’s time to check the tart. I give it a little shake to test if it is sufficiently set, there should still be a slight wobble to the custard; it is set just the way I like it and it looks perfect. The quick thinking and unorthodox approach to the lime custard filling actually worked. The tart was saved.

With the tart baked and the chicken slowly cooking and doing what it should, I have time to catch up on chores, get through a bit of my work backlog and I find time to relax before dinner is ready to serve.

Recipe for the well-deserved lime tart

Lime Tart

Serves 8

Ingredients

For the filling

180ml lime juice

6 large eggs

250g castor sugar

175ml double cream

For the pastry

175g plain flour

40g icing sugar

90g cold butter, diced

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon cold water

Method

To make the pastry, put the flour and icing sugar into a food processor, add the butter and blitz for a few seconds until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix in the egg yolks and the water. Blitz for a few more seconds until the dough comes together. Gently shape into a log, wrap in greaseproof paper and pop into the fridge for half an hour. If you skip this bit the pastry will shrink.

Next, cut thin rounds from the pastry and press into a loose-bottom 23-24cm tart tin, pressing the pastry gently up the sides and over the base. Make sure that there are no holes or cracks; otherwise you will lose your filling. Prick lightly with a fork and refrigerate for half an hour.

Set oven to 200∘C. Place a sheet of greaseproof paper in the tart tin case, fill with baking beans and bake for ten minute. Remove the beans and bake for a further five, until the pastry is dry to the touch.

Turn the oven down to 150∘C; finely grate the zest from two limes. Squeeze enough limes to give 180ml juice; this could be anything from 6 to 8 limes depending on the size and ripeness.

Mix the eggs and sugar together, beating lightly for a few seconds, it should not be frothy, and then stir in the lime juice and cream.

Pour the mixture through a sieve, stir in the lime zest and pour into the baked pastry case. Bake for about 45-50 minutes. Remove the tart while the filling is still slightly wobbly and leave to cool.

Winter Food in Season

Brighten a winter’s day with yellow and ruby grapefruit, or warm up with the earthy flavours of potatoes and beetroot. June – July, fruit and veg in season.

It’s June and the icy bite of the Cape winter is setting in; even so it is impossible to remain unmoved by the sight and sound of the local farmers markets. As I arrive shoppers approach and pass by hugging brown paper bags brimming with choice produce, and other treasures of the day, at times their faces obscured by bunches of long-stemmed flowers. The market stalls are groaning with fat roots, purple cabbage and an array of mushrooms, fresh and beautifully displayed. The temptation to buy all the eye can see is overwhelming.

Cape Gooseberries are in season and are a real treat, brightly displayed in their little punnets. The season will last from now until the end of September. Early in the season I tend to get gooseberry fever, first poaching the fruit with sugar and serving with either a jug of fresh organic cream or custard, or I bake it under a crumble topping the butter, flour and sugar sometimes flecked with shredded almonds. Then toward the end of the season I might stir the raw fruit into a cake, the warm tartness flatters the sweet crumbs.

Moving along the stalls I spot some witlof, part of the chicory family, it is just coming into season. I love its shape and taste, a long and bulging white spear with pale golden tips, crisp and slightly bitter. I have to say it is one of my favourites at this time of the year. It goes well with roasted walnuts or hazelnuts, young goats’ cheese and watercress or radicchio. But witlof is also beautiful cooked. Cut it in half and lay it in a shallow casserole dish, dot with butter and season with salt and pepper. Pour in just enough stock or water to come halfway up the sides, cover with a lid and cook for about 20 minutes. Remove the lid, turn over and cook until golden brown and lightly caramelized.

Next stall up I find some excellent looking beetroot. The best time for eating is now through to October. I buy a bunch of six, each the size of a plum with a lovely rich ruby wine colour. The stalks are young and translucent, a vivid magenta purple, the roots have coarse, dusty, curly whiskers. They are so easy to cook; after washing, I cut off the stalks, leaving a short tuft behind, then put the beats in a roasting pan with a splash of water and cover with tin foil. An hour in the oven and they are done; the skin slides off effortlessly to reveal sweet, ruby flesh. They need no oil, just a splash of vinegar, red, white or tarragon and a crumbling of salt. It’s best to dress the beats as soon as they are cut into segments, while their flesh is still warm. The vinegar sets the colour and the warm roots take up the flavour. The beet leaves are an added bonus. I drop the leaves and stems, into a shallow pan with about a glass of water, bring to a boil for about two minutes, drained and toss through the sliced beets and sprinkle with goats’ cheese; makes a delicious dish on its own served with a slice of thickly buttered cottage loaf bread.

I need some potatoes. The humble potato is a very versatile vegetable, one for which I have a weak spot. I love creamy mashed potato and I adore cubes of potato crisped in duck fat with roast beef, or pommes boulangère with lamb. Potatoes are harvested year round and cold stored for many months. Now though is a great time for eating them. Many varieties are at their peak and the chilly weather especially calls for it.

For the best result when cooking with potatoes it is best to choose the right potato for the job. Floury potatoes are high in starch and low in moisture and sugar, making them perfect for mashing, baking, roasting and frying. Their waxy counter parts have higher moisture content and are low in starch, meaning they hold their shape when boiled or added raw to casseroles, they are best for salads, or simply tossed in butter and sprinkled with salt.

Wanting something sweet with which to make a desert I head for the fruit stand. In season at the moment are grapefruit, oranges and mandarins and that is just what I want. A tip when selecting grapefruit; they do not ripen once they are off the tree, so be sure you buy ones that are actually ripe. What I love about grapefruit is their season ranges from late summer to the end of winter, bringing a little sunshine into the kitchen.

My favourite way of serving citrus at the moment is to arrange slices of pink and yellow grapefruit, oranges and mandarins on a platter, pour over hot caramel and immediately drizzle the lot with Cointreau. The caramel will dissolve, becoming a delicious sauce. This simple, bright, colourful desert is great with custard or a dollop of thick natural yoghurt.

There is something deep and unshakably right about eating food in season, knowing where it comes from and knowing that the seasonal produce is at its best. Learning to eat with the ebb and flow of the seasons is the essence that makes eating enjoyable for me.

Also in season are:

Vegetables: Asian greens, avocado, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, fennel, ginger, horseradish, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, okra, olives, onions, parsnips, pumpkins shallots, spinach, swede, sweet potatoes, turnips.

Fruit: apples, lemons, limes, papaya, pears, persimmons, pomelos, rhubarb, tangelos

Kate Abbott 08/06/2011©

Lemons everywhere I look

Almost everywhere I look I see lemons in abundance; either ripening on trees, the fruit piled high on counter tops in Delis or in crate loads in our local supermarkets. It is a time when I am sure many cooks’ thoughts are turning to ways of taking advantage of this wonderful little fruit. I love lemons and for me they are the most versatile of kitchen ingredients. You can use them in almost anything, from cakes to pates, the list is extensive.

This beautiful sometimes lumpy, sometimes smooth skinned fruit also makes a lovely table decoration, its shiny skin ranging in tones of sunshine yellow colour. The rich, yellowy essential oil situated in the skin of the lemon, when finely grated with a zester, is wonderfully fragrant, mind clearing, and uplifting too.

My lemon tree is groaning under the weight of its fruit and will provide more fresh lemons than I can use, which is why when in abundance, I like to preserve my own lemons. For anyone who has not tried preserved lemon, once you do I am sure you will become a convert. Preserved lemons are just gorgeous and so versatile, a possible ingredient to be considered whenever you’re making anything savoury. Use some blended to enhance a savoury sauce, chop it into a vegetable dish, add to a stuffing for roasted chicken, or blend into a paste with olives and garlic, or sprinkle some finely diced bits into a salad dressing. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

It is not that difficult to keep a good supply of preserved lemons in your store cupboard. You can do it the traditional Moroccan way, where the preserving agents are salt and the lemons’ own juices, with or without added spices. The other is to pickle the lemons in salty brine including their own juices. I prefer to use the latter; however both ways produce good results.

My method tends to vary according to mood, spice preference or whatever spices are in my pantry. Most often used are whole cinnamon, peppercorns and bay leaf. Another excellent addition, only to be added once the brine mixture has entirely cooled, would be lemon leaves, freshly plucked from the tree and pushed down into the jar. I have also used kaffir lime leaves which add another fragrant dimension.

The lemons you use do need to be ripe for maximum flavour and if you have bought your lemons it is important to wash and dry them first as they may have been sprayed and or waxed. So wash and dry your lemons, cut into quarters almost all the way through, they should still be joined at the tip. Rub a good tablespoon of salt into the flesh; pack them down into a sterilised glass jar, pushing each lemon down firmly as you do so, this will help release some of the juices. Put in two or three fresh bay leaves, some peppercorns, a few cloves, and a whole stick of cinnamon. Sprinkle in some more salt, about 2 more table spoons, pour in boiled water to fill the jar, and to cover the lemons. Using a sterilised spoon or ladle, push the lemons down firmly to release more juice into the brine. If you are adding fresh lemon leaves remember to wait for the brine to cool before doing so. Seal container and leave the lemons to infuse for at least two weeks before use.

I Just Love This Law

I thought I should share this interesting article about a law “Law of Mother Earth” soon to be passed by Bolivia.

Bolivia is set to pass the world’s first laws granting all nature equal rights to humans. The Law of Mother Earth, now agreed by politicians and grassroots social groups, redefines the country’s rich mineral deposits as “blessings” and is expected to lead to radical new conservation and social measures to reduce pollution and control industry.

The country, which has been pilloried by the US and Britain in the UN climate talks for demanding steep carbon emission cuts, will establish 11 new rights for nature. They include: the right to life and to exist; the right to continue vital cycles and processes free from human alteration; the right to pure water and clean air; the right to balance; the right not to be polluted; and the right to not have cellular structure modified or genetically altered.

Controversially, it will also enshrine the right of nature “to not be affected by mega-infrastructure and development projects that affect the balance of ecosystems and the local inhabitant communities”.

“It makes world history. Earth is the mother of all”, said Vice-President Alvaro García Linera. “It establishes a new relationship between man and nature, the harmony of which must be preserved as a guarantee of its regeneration.”

The law, which is part of a complete restructuring of the Bolivian legal system following a change of constitution in 2009, has been heavily influenced by a resurgent indigenous Andean spiritual world view which places the environment and the earth deity known as the Pachamama at the centre of all life. Humans are considered equal to all other entities.

But the abstract new laws are not expected to stop industry in its tracks. While it is not clear yet what actual protection the new rights will give in court to bugs, insects and ecosystems, the government is expected to establish a ministry of mother earth and to appoint an ombudsman. It is also committed to giving communities new legal powers to monitor and control polluting industries.

Bolivia has long suffered from serious environmental problems from the mining of tin, silver, gold and other raw materials. “Existing laws are not strong enough,” said Undarico Pinto, leader of the 3.5m-strong Confederación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Campesinos de Bolivia, the biggest social movement, who helped draft the law. “It will make industry more transparent. It will allow people to regulate industry at national, regional and local levels.”

Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said Bolivia’s traditional indigenous respect for the Pachamama was vital to prevent climate change. “Our grandparents taught us that we belong to a big family of plants and animals. We believe that everything in the planet forms part of a big family. We indigenous people can contribute to solving the energy, climate, food and financial crises with our values,” he said.

Little opposition is expected to the law being passed because President Evo Morales’s ruling party, the Movement Towards Socialism, enjoys a comfortable majority in both houses of parliament.

However, the government must tread a fine line between increased regulation of companies and giving way to the powerful social movements who have pressed for the law. Bolivia earns $500m (£305m) a year from mining companies which provides nearly one third of the country’s foreign currency.

In the indigenous philosophy, the Pachamama is a living being.

The draft of the new law states: “She is sacred, fertile and the source of life that feeds and cares for all living beings in her womb. She is in permanent balance, harmony and communication with the cosmos. She is comprised of all ecosystems and living beings, and their self-organisation.”

Ecuador, which also has powerful indigenous groups, has changed its constitution to give nature “the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution”. However, the abstract rights have not led to new laws or stopped oil companies from destroying some of the most biologically rich areas of the Amazon.

Bolivia is struggling to cope with rising temperatures, melting glaciers and more extreme weather events including more frequent floods, droughts, frosts and mudslides.

Research by glaciologist Edson Ramirez of San Andres University in the capital city, La Paz, suggests temperatures have been rising steadily for 60 years and started to accelerate in 1979. They are now on course to rise a further 3.5-4C over the next 100 years. This would turn much of Bolivia into a desert.

Most glaciers below 5,000m are expected to disappear completely within 20 years, leaving Bolivia with a much smaller ice cap. Scientists say this will lead to a crisis in farming and water shortages in cities such as La Paz and El Alto.

Evo Morales, Latin America’s first indigenous president, has become an outspoken critic in the UN of industrialised countries which are not prepared to hold temperatures to a 1C rise.

source: Guardian UK

Few can fail to be enchanted or charmed

Little Farren: a beautiful child and indeed a gem of a pearl; so young and yet so aware of so many things including truth, love, beauty, caring, sharing and goodness.

Once again this little person leaves me gob smacked and impressed. Let me explain.

It is her birthday soon, to be exact on the 7^th of May. When discussing her birthday party, friends she may want to invite, place, theme and what may be on her wish list for her birthday, there was recognisable moment of inward reflection and pondering, followed by a long pause before she answered ….”I would like to have a party, but instead of friends and all my family bringing me presents, I would like them to rather make a donation to the SPCA” (SPCA -Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).

What’s more, she meant every word of it, to the extent that she became deeply distressed when last week she heard that her Grandfather was making her a dolls house, she once again expressed that she had asked for people to rather donate money to the SPCA than to give her presents. Her mother needed to explain that her Grandfather had been making this dolls house for a long, long time, to be ready for her birthday and that he would be very hurt if she did not accept it. This too she pondered, then nodding like a wise old sage said she understood.

For someone still so little, to be so wise and so caring makes one want to burst forth with song of hope for the future of humanity.

Any one, where ever you are, should you want to join in celebrating Farren’s Birthday and her good cause on the 7^th of May by donating to the SPCA in your area, feel free to do so and perhaps even let Farren know that you have, it would make her so very happy. You may send your emails to this effect to info@talenco.co.za Attention Farren. You can do this today or closer to her birthday. You choose.