Gluten free honey cake

This was inspired by the kind gift of a jar of very local rapeseed honey and after I posted the pictures on Twitter, I've been asked to share the recipe.

I am not gluten intolerant myself, but have friends who are, so I like to come up with recipes that we can all share and enjoy, rather than marking them out as "different", or worst still getting them a gluten-free special from the supermarket.

This is a deliciously moist cake, which can either be eaten on its own, or served with a little extra something - see  below - as a dessert.

2 eggs
120g butter
120g runny honey
60g ground almonds
80g chestnut flour 
(You can also make this with 120g of self raising flour or a combination of 40g chestnut flour and 80g self raising flour)
30g pine nuts
Grated rind and juice of one orange

Pre heat the oven to 170ºC
Lightly toast the pine nuts - I've discovered that our blini pan is perfect for jobs like this.

Keep an eye on them - they burn in a instant :-)

Cream the butter and honey.

Add the orange rind and juice and beat in the eggs.

Fold in the almonds, chestnut flour and pine nuts.

Pour the mixture into a 22cm cake tin and bake for approx 30 mins, this will depend on your cooker.

If you want to serve this as an indulgent dessert, lightly toast a handful of chopped walnuts in a small pan , then add a couple of tablespoons of honey and the grated rind of an orange. Warm gently.

Serve the cake with a dollop of Ricotta cheese - the fresher the better and the honeyed walnuts poured over the top.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Lemon, lime and vodka ice cream - strictly for adults

This is a rather fine ice cream, enhanced with a slug of vodka, making it a special grown-up treat.
Of course, if you are feeling virtuous or want to share with the kids you can leave the vodka out.... or you could just feed them some vanilla!

                               


You will need.....
250 ml double cream
150ml full fat milk
Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon and 1 lime
100ml Greek yogurt
2 eggs
150g sugar - more or less according to taste
Slug of vodka

Measure out 100ml of cream and put into a milk pan with the milk.
Heat gently.
Whisk the eggs, sugar, rind and juices together.
When the milk and cream are just coming to the boil, pour over the egg mix and whisk well.
Return to the pan.

Cook gently, stirring continuously until the custard coats the back of the spoon.

Transfer to a bowl and cool quickly - I stood mine in a bowl of iced water.

                                               

When cold, add the vodka.

In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining cream until it just holds its shape and then stir in the yogurt.

Pour the lemon custard in and mix gently.

Pour into a plastic container and place in the freezer.

                                                   

Be patient until it has frozen.... you can always keep yourself distracted by making some shortbread to go with it..

50g crushed pistachios

50g sugar

100g butter, cubed

100g plain flour

4 heads of lavender

Pre-heat the oven to 140ºC

Place the pistachios and flour into a mixing bowl.

Rub the butter into the flour and pistachios.

Add the sugar and finely chopped lavender.

Knead together to form a ball of dough.

Roll out to approx, 10mm thick.

Cut into rounds and place on a baking tray

Place in the oven and cook for around 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Sweet treats

Sweet and simple, two desserts that you can make in a frying pan.

Pomelette

This is an apple omelette, which can be made in minutes.

2 dessert apples
25g butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
3 eggs, separated
Demerara sugar

Melt the butter and syrup in a frying pan, over a medium heat.  I used our 10" ovensafe pan for this, as you'll need to pop this under the grill.
Otherwise, remove the handles from your oak handled pan.

Peel and chop the apples and add to the pan.  Cook gently until soft.

Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks and whisk the whites.  Fold them together with a metal spoon - do not overmix.

Pour over the apples and cook for 3 minutes. Heat the grill on HIGH.

Sprinkle the top with Demerara sugar and put under a hot grill until the sugar starts to bubble.

Serve immediately.  As someone remarked on Twitter, the Demerara sparkles likes diamonds.

Poached peaches

I bought 4 peaches for £1 in the village shop and decided to make something a little special from my "bargain".

First, I raided the garden for some rose petals - although I could also have used lavender.

40g sugar

300ml water

Handful of rose petals - check for insects :-)

Or, 5 lavender heads

4 peaches

Put the sugar, water and petals in a deep frying pan

Bring to the boil and then simmer until the liquid is reduced by half.

Remove the petals.

Halve and stone the peaches and add to the syrup.

                                           

Poach gently for around 10 minutes.  Wait until the peaches are cool enough to handle and carefully peel off the skin - it should come away from the flesh easily.

Arrange in a serving dish, pour over the remaining syrup, which will have become concentrated and be sweet and glossy.

Decorate with fresh rose petals and serve at room temperature.

We had some home made lemon biscuits with ours, but brandy snaps would also be a great accompaniment, as would a glass of champagne.

Netherton Foundry 2014 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Asparagus and paneer curry

Yet another seasonal favourite - English asparagus.  This is one of my absolute favourite vegetables and I just can't get enough of it during its short season.

There are so many ways to enjoy this from simple melted butter, Hollandaise sauce, dipping it into a poached or boiled egg, soup, quiche, steamed, griddled, barbecued, but I have been experimenting and after having pasta sauces and risottos with asparagus, I decided to have a go at adding it to a curry.

I can hear some of you screaming in protest - but I have to say that it was a delicious combination of flavours and because I added the asparagus right at the end, none of its magic was lost, simply enhanced.

1 tsp mustard seeds
1 onion sliced
2 tblsp coriander seed
1 tblp cuminseeds
10 cloves, 
 2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 dried chill
1 tsp dill seed
1 onion, chopped
1" root ginger, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
600 ml water
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp amchoor (mango powder)
4 chopped fresh tomatoes
 2 tsp salt
 1 tsp sugar
2 tblsp double cream
1 bundle asparagus
1 block paneer, cubed

In a frying pan, dry fry the coriander, cumin, cloves, fenugreek, chilli and dill seed until lightly toasted.
Allow to cool and grind to a powder.

Combine the chopped onion, ginger and garlic with 100ml of water in a blender and process to a paste.

In a large pan  or casserole dish heat the oil and add the sliced onion and mustard seeds.

When the mustard seeds start to pop add the spice powder mix, turmeric and amchoor.
Fry for 2 minutes, stir from time to time.

Add the onion paste and cook for a further five minutes.
Add the chopped paneer and stir well to coat.  Then add 500ml water and simmer for 40 minutes.

Stir in the chopped tomatoes, salt, sugar and cream and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the asparagus and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Serve with boiled rice. 

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Pinakbet - bet this is a new one for you!

I think this has to take the prize for most distant and unlikely seeming Twitter connection yet and most exotic recipe contribution to date.  
Social media certainly makes the world a smaller place and whilst we hear daily of the trolling and bullying side of it, I have to say,  everyone we have met through Twitter and Facebook has been polite, supportive, entertaining, amusing, enthusiastic, kind and/or just plain bonkers - in a good way! @NethertonNews

Perhaps if more people followed the example of our great followers and treated others as they would want to be treated themselves, the world would be a better place.
Granted that we cannot always financially support every deserving cause, some virtual support via the web to spread the word, help someone feel better about themselves, highlight some injustice or just pass on a compliment or *hug* this can go along way to help people achieve their goals.  The goal might be to save the world or it may be to get out of bed in the morning and save themselves, but love and manners spread across the net cost you nothing and the rewards are immeasurable.

Let's see more #mutualsupport out there, please.

Anyway - enough of the lecture and more about the food.............

Following a rambling conversation about a salted caramel ice cream recipe, which took 7 tweets to explain, I asked Dan Zapanta , also known as @FoodieZap for all you Tweeters, to reciprocate with a local recipe from his native Philippines.

A true gentleman, Dan e-mailed this over immediately, complete with photo.

Hello, this is one of the local dishes here in the Philippines, it’s called Pinakbet. it’s a medley of veggies (usually locally sourced) and pork belly strips stewed in fermented fish sauce. Perfect with steaming rice. Hope you like it! 

Pinakbet (mixed vegetable stewed in fish sauce)

3 tbsp cooking oil

3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1 medium red onions, sliced

3 small tomatoes , sliced

100 ml fermented fish sauce (locally known as "bagoong")

1/2 kg pork strips (you can use pork belly)

2 medium eggplants (aubergines), sliced diagonally

2 medium bitter gourd, sliced diagonally

200 grams squash cut into squares

200 grams winged beans, cut into 2” strips....I looked these up, they are known as asparagus peas here and you can grow them yourself!

200 grams okra (ladies’ fingers), cut into 2”

500 ml water

salt and pepper to taste

1. In a medium heat, put oil in wok/pan, then sauté garlic and onions, until they’re transparent/soft
2. Saute tomatoes and crush them using the back of big wooden spoon, let it simmer of 1 minute
3. Put in pork strips, then mix well until they are well incorporated.
4. When the pork is slightly cooked, put in fish sauce, mix well. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes. cover.
5. Pour water onto wok/pan, bring to a boil then simmer for another 10-12 minutes or until pork is tender. cover.
6. Time to add in the veggies. First is put the squash.
7. When the squash is half cooked, put in winged beans, bitter gourd.
8. Lastly, put eggplants and okra.
9. Cook for another 5 minutes until veggies are soft and cooked.
10. Adjust the taste with salt, (be careful with it since the fish sauce is salty, this is for the slight adjustment of taste only.)
11. Transfer in a bowl, serve with hot steaming rice.

Looks delicious and I love the tablecloth too..........

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2014
www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Spaghetti with wild garlic and lemon sauce

Symond's Yat spaghetti

More wild garlic.......... a recipe named after the delightful location where we gathered a large bag full.

Yet another use for the glorious green stuff before it disappears again until next Spring.  This time I've mixed it with a refreshing lemon zing for a glorious Spring dish.
This can be served on its own or with a variety of extras including chicken, either poached or breadcrumbed and fried; poached salmon; green veg - especially in-season English asparagus or even some crispy pancetta

120ml white wine
Grated rind of 1 lemon
250ml double cream
400-500g spaghettit or tagliatelle - depending on your appetite and what you're serving it with
50g wild garlic
Salt and pepper

Put the wine in a pan, bring to the boil and turn down to a simmer. Reduce to half the original volume
Put the pasta on to cook, according to the pack instructions - the 8" saucepan is ideal.

Add the lemon rind to the wine and slowly pour in the cream.  Heat gently and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the pasta, reserving a ladleful of the cooking liquid.

Add this liquid to the cream sauce and then stir in the spaghetti.
Chuck in the chopped wild garlic and stir well to mix.

Here it is topped with broccoli and leeks for a "meatfree" Monday supper

Let me know if you've got any other ideas of what to serve with this - or if you have a wild garlic recipe we can publish.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Czech baked plum doughnuts

BUKHTY

We are fortunate enough to live in a part of the country that was once covered in orchards.  Although sadly, many of these are no longer commercially viable, a great many of the trees remain and are readily accessible.

On my way to work I pass egg plum, cherry plum, apple, damson and cherry trees and outside the workshops we have more plum trees, a hazel hedge and blackthorn by the yard.

This means that I spend each season foraging and, topped up by the fruit trees in the garden, and use of the freezer, this means that we have a wonderful selection of native and free fruit all year round.

This recipe is taken from Marguerite Patten's 1972 International Cookery in Colour recipe book, which is a great favourite of mine, not least because it demonstrates how far we have travelled in our culinary journey from the days when curry was considered exotic.

This is the illustration on the fly pages.

Whilst we may now have access to ingredients from all around the world and Eastern European food shops are popping up all over the place, I think that we are still not exploring this cuisine enough.

These Czech "doughnuts" are absolutely delicious and I am reproducing the recipe here after I posted photos of the last batch on Twitter, prompting someone to ask where they could get some.  By the way - I got it wrong on Twitter, describing them as Polish, they're not, they are Czech in origin.

No idea where/if you can buy them - but this is how you make them.

The recipe book I'm using was published in 1972, so you will have to accept the imperial measurements.

For 12-16 cakes

¾ oz fresh yeast
2oz sugar
approx 12 tablespoons milk
12oz plain flour
Pinch of salt
1½ oz butter
½ tsp vanilla extract
Grated rind of 1 lemon
1 egg
1 oz melted butter

Plum compote or jam

Cream the yeast with a teaspoon of sugar
Add approx 8 tablespoons of tepid milk and a sprinkling of flour.
Leave until the surface is covered with bubbles.
Sieve the flour and the salt into a bowl.  Rub in the butter and add the remaining sugar.
Blend the vanilla extract and lemon rind with the yeast mixture and add to the flour mix, with the egg.
Add the remaining milk gradually.
NOTE: you want to end up with a dough which you can knead - it should not be sloppy.
Knead lightly but firmly until it forms a smooth dough.
Cover the  bowl with a damp tea towel or oiled clingfilm and leave in a warm place.
Allow to prove until doubled in size - about an hour.
Knead again and divide into 12 - 16 equal pieces.
Flatten each portion and put a spoonful of compote or jam in the centre.
Pull up the corners and pinch to seal.
Place on a greased baking tray, leaving room for expansion.
Brush with melted butter and leave to prove again for 20 minutes
Bake at 200ºC / gas mark 5 for 15 minutes - until firm to the touch.
Sprinkle with caster or icing sugar while still warm.

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk