Baking lemon poppy cake without an oven

Today's From Spade to Plate group saw how to use my 'Sand pan' as an oven.
This large pan has a layer of clean sand on the bottom (about 1cm thick) on top of that I placed a metal disc (from one of my loose bottomed baking tins) to make sure that anything in the 'oven' won't get covered in sand.



So we made some Lemon Poppy Cake, as we only had 2 eggs, we used Chia seeds as egg replacer for the other 2 eggs.

 This recipe did not call for baking powder but think it would be good to add 1 teaspoon to the selfraising flour. We made sure that after greasing and flouring the jars (Ball kilner jars as they have straight necks) we filled them half full with the batter. We then placed them (without lids) into the 'oven'. When the oven was hot, we turned down the gas to low and cooked it until risen and firm.   Once done, we removed the jars and added the lids so that when they cooled down, they would close in a vacuum and can be kept in the larder for weeks to use when unexpected guests arrive.  The one that was rather full, I let cool down and took out of the jar to cut into round slices with a cup of tea.


For Lunch we made Quorn Chicken pieces chasseur,

    

with leeks and mushrooms and red wine. For those who prefer chicken just replace the Quorn but follow the recipe. We also had the last of the brussels sprouts with the dish.  We halved the sprouts, chopped some onions and sautêed them sprinkled some zucchini 'bacon' over it and let it steam in a little water until done.

Together with some rice and some salad from the garden (various leaves, including, lambslettuce, rocket, chickweed, beetroot leaves, carrots, and  peppers) we turned these goodies into a delicious lunch.

First From Spade to Plate session of 2019

Today Asako, Sayaka, Simone, Lucy, Julie showed up for the first day in the new year for our from Spade to Plate session.

We started with a Gluten Free  meal.
The Carrot, Ginger and Butterbean soup was delicious with the Brasilian Cheese balls.

We prepared the butternut squash, red onions for a short roasting session finished off with roasted kale and quinoa and halloumi. A warm and tasty salad. Insead of Frekeeh we used Quinoa.

What a great and colourful start.

REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE AND RECYCLE.

We did a little for the reduce, reuse and recycle  campaign.
I reused my cashmere holely jumper, using one part of the arm as a can cover.
The Lemon shell after juicing has gone into the freezer so we can use it the future for lemon zest and after that it will be composted.
We saved the seeds of the Butternut Squash, dried them out to be sown in May

      

Our first book is now published and online!

For many hours in the last few weeks, I have been busy with cooking and making up a cooking book as a memento for the Visiting scholars who joined me in the previous year. It is called From Spade to Plate, bringing the world together around a kitchen table.
It has been frustrating at times but learned a lot in the meantime and am now excited to see the end result.

The Apple template was beautiful and to use, that does mean however that I can only publish it on Apple devices. So my apologies to those who are not able to access the information online.
Good news though is that all the recipes in the books (and pictures for that matter) are on this blog somewhere.

For those people who can pick up the hard copy up from me in Cambridge, they will be greeted with a  beautiful book printed by Minuteman Press on Victoria Road. Dario has been brilliant.

The first batch of 30 that was printed, was distributed within no time as Christmas is looming. Over the last couple of weeks, I had feedback to correct any errors we spotted so hopefully the online book is now without mistakes: fingers crossed.

I can now have a little pause before setting up the 2nd book with Spring and Summer experiences.

If you can, have a look online, go to the iBooks Store and in the search box type Karina Wells and the book should be popping up for you to download.  Enjoy!

What is in the fridge?

Before going on holiday we had our last From Spade to Plate of the year. We looked what was in the fridge and decided to use the mushrooms, leeks, soft cheese, and blue cheese to make ravioli and the



leftover salsa (from Friday's games evening's dips) to add to the tomato sauce that we made as a topping for the ravioli.




As a dessert, we made a puff pastry chocolate snowflake. It was easy to make and very tasty too.

We are looking forward to picking up the cooking book that should be ready at the printers and next Monday we shall have a book launch with the group. So watch this space.

A quick trip to the garden brought us: Broccoli, Leek and carrots

    Heavy rain was forecasted this morning, so I decided to nip out to the allotment to harvest vegetables for today's From Spade to Plate cooking sessions.

With the broccoli florets we adapted the leek and walnut orzotto recipe we have made in the past and used broccoli instead.  

“Ingredients
Oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 leeks, trimmed and finely sliced
160g orzo
500ml vegetable stock 
200ml white wine or 200ml additional stock
Handful of finely chopped parsley
85g crumbled Gorgonzola Dolce
Juice ½ lemon (tip: freeze left-over lemon shell for lemon zest)
Handful walnut pieces

Method
Put the walnuts in a frying pan and dry roast until fragrant - keep a close eye on them as they burn easily; chop, then set aside
Fry onion with some salt and cook for 5-6 minutes; add the leeks and cook until softened, then add the orzo and stir until coated in oil; turn up the heat, pour in the 200ml wine or stock and boil until almost completely evaporated
Pour in the hot stock, 2 ladles at a time; once the liquid is almost gone, add more -  keep adding the stock this way until finished; if the orzo needs more liquid to cook, add a couple of ladles of boiling water
Once the orzo is cooked and the sauce is creamy, stir in most of the walnuts and parsley, and all the Gorgonzola and lemon juice. 
Taste, season, divide among plates and top with the remaining nuts and parsley
”Excerpt From: “Karina's Cookbook v1.” iBooks. 


With the left over vegetables (onion, bits of leek leaf, potato, carrots, broccoli stalks and leaves and a handful of peas) we made a delicious (End of the week soup)

Ingredients

1 small onion

2 tablespoons oil

The last of your vegetables in the fridge; carrot, broccoli stems, celery, cabbage finely chopped

Some frozen peas if you have some

Vegetable stock

Salt and pepper

Parsley or Chives leaves for garnish

Method

Chop onion and sauté until transparent.

Add remaining ingredients, cover with stock and simmer for 30 minutes

Adjust seasoning to taste

Add parsley or chive leaves for garnish

Every Friday I empty my fridge, clean it out and use everything so I always know that nothing in the fridge is more than 1 week old.  Having a soup recipe like this helps a lot, as it is a great way to get rid of some bits and pieces that otherwise might have gone to waste. 

Nice with some freshly baked bread

The Carrot leaves and some of the broccoli leaves we used to make a pesto, for the group to take home and use in pasta.  

Pesto
Ingredients
1 cup carrot top greens, tough stems removed
1 cup spinach
1 large clove garlic, roughly chopped
½ cup roasted unsalted cashews, almonds, walnuts (whatever you have on hand)
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ cup rapeseed oil

Method
Prep the carrot tops greens: rinse to dislodge any dirt and discard tough stems
Place the carrot tops greens, baby spinach, chopped garlic, roasted cashews, salt and pepper in a food processor
Pulse several times, scraping the sides down with a rubber spatula
Slowly pour in the oil in a steady stream, pulsing until smooth”

Green tomato cake and Hot broccoli dip

 The cookery book is finished! Now it is time to show the group and get some feed back.

    

Looking in the food store, I have found the last crate of tomatoes, which were harvested back in October. Most of them have turned red and are turned into a tomato sauce, the green ones however, were just enough to make Thea's Green tomato cake with. Initially the cooks were rather apprehensive thinking it was going to be a savoury cake, but after the first taste, they were hooked and not much left at the end of the meal.

Green Tomato Cake

195g sugar

80g melted butter

2 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

175g self-raising flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon mixed spice

48g chopped walnuts

70g raisins

450g diced green tomatoes

Dessicated coconut to sprinkle on top

Line and grease a 2 inch deep roasting tin (5x7inc)

Beat sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth and creamy

Sift flour, salt, baking powder cinnamon and spice

Slowly beet into the gg mixture

Stir in the nuts and fruit

Spread in tin and sprinkle layer of coconut on top

Bake at 175C 50-55 minutes until skewer comes out clean when inserted

Leave to cool in tin

For our main meal we made a hot broccoli dish. A recipe I got from the Pampered Chef cooking demonstration. I have used it for years as a dip as well as a pasta topping. Will use it this time as a filling for the ravioli we have on Wednesday.

Broccoli Dip

Ingredients

340g chopped broccoli florets

1 small chopped onion

1 seeded and chopped red pepper

50g freshly grated parmesan cheese

2 cloves of pressed garlic

220g grated cheddar cheese

8 tablespoons of crème fraîche

8 tablespoons of mayonnaise

Freshly ground black pepper

Method

Chop broccoli, onion and red pepper and place in a bowl

Add 4 tablespoons of parmesan, grated cheddar and garlic to the vegetable mixture

Mix well

Spoon mixture into an oven proof dish, bake 25-30 minutes until heated through

This dish is lovely as a dip, using tortilla chips or crudités - any left over will go well the next day mixed into a bowl of tagliatelle pasta

It was Angeles' last cooking session and as a farewell present she brought some Tortilla. Delicious.

She sent me the following recipe, that we will try and make in the near future.

Ingredients:

2 potatoes, 

1 onion, 

5/ 6 eggs, 

olive oil  nd salt

Preparation_

Peel and cut the potatoes and onion into small pieces and put salt

Fry in olive oil.

Beat the eggs.

When the potatoes and the onion are mixed with the eggs and with little oil, curd the egg and brown it, giving him the bill with a plate.

Enjoy your meal!!!!

Ángeles

Chickweed is thriving

This amazing weather has caused the Chickweed to grow fast and healthily. Because of this, rather than weeding and putting it on the compost heap we made soup, salad and pakora's with it.

Chickweed or Stellaria grows virtually everywhere in the UK, in gardens, waste lands and aside of the roads. Best not pick the one near the roads as the chance of pollution (dogs,vehicles) is high.
Mine is growing in between my beetroot and lettuces as well near my garage.
    
The chickweed Soup  is easy to make and this delicate soup is tasty too. A little bit like Spinach soup.
        
As we are also making a vegetarian Kedgeree,
              I thought Chickweed pakora's would be in keeping.


    
Not sure if we have enough chickweed but if we do, we may even make a little side salad with beet and chickweed.

Testing out recipes Leek, Mushroom and spinach galette, apple crumblies, tomato and lentil soup

This weeks Monday was a busy one, as we planned a three course meal, testing them to go into the cookery book
All recipes were chosen by previous members of from Spade to Plate, so it was nice to try them out again.

Lu, told me that she tried out last week's Butternut Squash and 5 spice soup for 13 guests and they all loved it. Especially Lu, as it was so easy to do but made a big impression. She was very happy too with the tomato and lentil soup we made, a few more ingredients, but it went down very well.




The Leek, Mushroom and spinach galette  needed the same time in the oven as the apple crumblies, both easy to make and delicious nonetheless.


A shame June could not be there, as she would have loved it. Sayoka came for the first time though and got stuck in straight away.
 Between, Lu, Asako, Yumi, Sayoka, Simone and I we had a successful morning cooking and a lovely chat around the kitchen table, enjoying our meal.

Testing recipes for the up and coming cookery book

After a bit of pressure I had decided to make a compilation of our favourite recipes this year. As some of the recipes I had not done for a while, we tried them out again and they were STILL lovely.

So today we made the Easy Peasy soup, made some short crust pastry for our apple turnovers. Some elderberry icecream and as a main course the Leek, Walnut and Gorgonzola risotto.
Last Monday's orzotto was so lovely and when Lu asked if it could be made gluten free, I thought I'd try it out.

To be honest, I did not like the texture as much as the Orzotto, it was rather stogey, so with what was left I made some rice balls with a cube of cheese inside of it. I fried it up later (pressing it down into a burger shape) and they turned out quite nice. At least we did not waste all the lovely ingredients.

Thumbs up for Easy Peasy soup, the short crust pastry and the ice cream. Note to self. must do again.