Caramelised Pear, Ginger and Rosewater Cake

This cake is perfect for a special occasion or to round off a delicious meal. We had it as the dessert for our Rosh Hashanah dinner. The sponge is moist and rich and the caramelised pears on top are wonderfully sticky and sweet. The rosewater and edible rose petals give it a slight floral flavour which compliments the ginger perfectly.

Ingredients

For the caramelised pears:

2 large conference pears, cut into slices around 1cm thick

60g soft dark brown sugar

50g unsalted butter

For the cake:

220g self raising flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp Rosewater 

100g caster sugar

50g soft dark brown sugar

80g honey

100ml whole milk

100ml sunflower oil

2 large eggs

Pinch of salt

Butter, for greasing

(You will need a 20cm cake tin)

To decorate:

1 tbsp edible rose petals

Icing sugar, to dust

Method

1. Firstly, caramelise your pears. Melt the butter and the sugar in a frying pan until they are toffee coloured and add the pears, turning them so they are evenly coated. Allow the pears to cook over a medium heat until they are soft and golden in colour. Set aside whilst you bake the cake.

2. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees and grease your cake tin with some butter. Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and sugars together with an electric hand mixer until pale and thick. This will take a few minutes.

3. Mix together the milk, oil, honey and Rosewater together and add this to the egg mixture, whisking on low until well combined. Add in the flour mixture, around a quarter at a time until you have a smooth batter. Pour this batter into your greased cake tin. 

4. Bake the cake in the oven until dark golden brown and well risen. This should take around 45-50 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then transfer to a serving plate to cool completely. Top with the pears- they look pretty in concentric circles. Dust with some icing sugar and sprinkle over the rose petals. 

Serve with a chantilly cream or vanilla ice cream. The cake will keep well in an airtight container for up to three days. 

Bulgogi Beef Bibambap

Bibambap is officially my new favourite meal. It's a popular Korean dish and basically translates to "mixed vegetables with rice and meat". It's packed full of goodness and is tasty too. Be careful though- it's addictive!

Ingredients (Serves 2, generously)

2 medium carrots, julienned 

1 red onion, sliced thinly 

150g mushrooms, sliced

1 large courgette, julienned

200g beansprouts 

200g short grain rice (I used arborio rice! which worked well)

2 large eggs

300g beef sirloin, sliced as thinly as possible

100ml bulgogi marinade 

Sesame oil, to fry

Salt and Pepper

For the sauce

4 tbsp gochulang (a Korean chilli paste, available at Oriental supermarkets)

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp vinegar (I used cider vinegar, but any one will do)

1 tbsp sesame seeds

p.s, if you have difficulty finding the gochulang, just buy a hot chilli sauce and use this instead of making your own. I did this the first time and it still tasted great.

Method

1. Marinade your beef for as long as you possibly can. Place it in a bowl with the bulgogi marinade and massage it in with your hands until it is evenly coated. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 30 mins.

2.Preheat the oven to 160 degrees and have two large serving bowls nearby. Heat a few tablespoons of the sesame oil in a frying pan and start cooking your vegetables separately. They should only take a few minutes each. After cooking each batch of vegetables, divide them up between the two bowls and place in the oven to keep warm whilst you cook the others.

3. Cook your rice by placing it in saucepan and adding 700ml of water. When the water has evaporated take the pan off the heat and place a lid on it, leaving it for at least 15 minutes to make sure the rice is nice and fluffy.

4. Make the sauce by combining all the ingredients in a bowl. Keep it at room temperature.

5. Add more sesame oil to your pan and fry the beef. It should be rare and tender so should only take a few minutes. Take the bowls out of the oven, and add the rice and the beef.

6. Fry the eggs until soft- try not to let the yolks harden too much. Season with salt and pepper if you wish. Place the eggs in the bowl.

When eating, mix the Bibambap thoroughly with a spoon, enabling the egg to coat the rest of the ingredients. Add the sauce generously and enjoy. 

Meal Plan w/c 29th September 2014

Monday: We have a Guinea fowl carcass left over from last night and some leg meat, so I'm going to make a game soup and serve it with some wheaten bread. I'll also be making some yummy juice using beetroot, celery, ginger and apples.

Tuesday: My Bibambap was a resounding success on Saturday night (recipe up soon) and I've been craving it ever since I finished the last mouthful, so I'm going to make it again, but this time with a homemade sauce as I stumbled upon a Korean supermarket on Sunday that's just round the corner from me.

Wednesday: I feel like having smoked mackerel, but I'm not yet sure of how I'm going to incorporate into a dish. Might make a green salad to go with it and serve it with some quinoa or baby potatoes.

Thursday: Now that autumn is finally upon us, I can start making tagines again. Dates are in season and looking fabulous so they'll go in there along with some lamb and giant cous cous.

Friday: We'll probably go to the cinema tonight, so will stop off for a Vietnamese on the way. We allllways order the same thing, so maybe we'll try something different (though I doubt it).

Saturday: I quite fancy trying a different fish this weekend. We usually have trout or mackerel, but might try halibut or red mullet.

Sunday: We're embracing game season at the moment, so I'll pop down to Borough Market this weekend and see what looks good. While I'm there, I'll pick up some juicy figs to make a chocolate a fig tart which I'll serve with a raspberry coulis and Chantilly cream. Love this time of year!

Butternut Squash and Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Butter

Homemade ravioli looks really impressive and isn't that difficult to make, however it is time consuming so make sure you give yourself plenty of time to do it. I've used two types of squash as my filling because I thought it would be a nice way to make these slightly inelegant vegetables look a bit more refined. This ravioli is the perfect autumnal dinner- not too heavy, but tasty and comforting at the same time. I served mine with a simple sage butter garnish and some roasted vine tomatoes- delish!

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, around 600g, cut into inch long cubes

1 small pumpkin, around 300g, cut into inch long cubes

1 red onion, finely sliced

1 bunch of sage, chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 

Salt and pepper

3 tbsp olive oil

300g fresh pasta

100g butter

Roasted vine tomatoes, to serve

Method

1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place the butternut squash, pumpkin, red onion and half the sage into an oven tray and drizzle over the olive oil. Place in the oven and bake for around thirty minutes, or until the squash has softened.

2.When the veg has cooked, transfer into a large bowl and using a hand blender, blitz until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and allow to cool completely whilst you prepare the pasta.

3. Divide the pasta dough into three, and using a pasta maker, roll it out until you get to the thinnest setting. Using a pasta stamp or any other cutter, press out the desired shape of your ravioli.

4. The amount of filling you place in the ravioli will depend on the size of your shapes. It's best to start off with a teaspoon so you can gauge the amount of filling your pasta will take as you go along. Place the filling in the centre of your pasta and dip your finger into a cup of cold water, running it along the edge of the pasta shape. Place another shape on top and crimp this using the back of a fork to seal the ravioli, making sure it is tight enough that the filling won't leak out. Place the ravioli onto a well floured plate to prevent sticking.

5. Repeat this until you have used up all your pasta. There may be some filling left- this can be frozen until you want to use it up.

6. To cook the pasta, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, and add the ravioli, cooking for around four minutes. Keep a watchful eye on them- if they boil for too long they may burst.

7. For the sage butter garnish, simple melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the sage along with a chopped garlic clove. Season to taste.

8.Carefully remove the ravioli from the pan using a slotted spoon, drizzle over the sage butter and serve immediately with the roasted tomatoes.

Salt Baked Sea Bass

Salt baking is a great way to cook fish. It involves making a mixture of salt and egg whites (basically a salty meringue) and coating it over the fish before baking in the oven.

Baking, as opposed to roasting, keeps the fish really moist and succulent. Also, if you're going to stuff the fish with any flavourings it really helps them to penetrate the flesh. 

Once in the oven, the salt will harden, insulating the fish and ensuring it cooks gently and evenly. 

Jamie Oliver *rolls eyes* recommends using rock salt, but plain table salt is a lot cheaper and better at moulding around the fish. Don't worry about the fish tasting salty- once the fish is cooked the meringue is chiseled off, and any remaining flakes removed with a pastry brush. The salt doesn't penetrate the skin, so the actual meat will not taste salty.

Ingredients

For the salt mixture

750g table salt

3 egg whites

For the fish

1 large sea bass, around 600-800g, cleaned and scaled

1 lemon, cut into thick slices

A few rosemary sprigs

Method

1. To make the salt mixture, place the salt in a bowl and add the egg whites, one at a time, stirring with a spatula. You may not need all the egg whites. When the mixture starts to come together, use your hand to gauge the consistency. It should be slightly sticky and mouldable. 

2. Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Lay the fish on a large baking tray (I line mine with baking parchment to help minimise mess) and stuff the belly with flavours of your choice. I used lemon and rosemary which are simple, but delicious. 

3. Cover the whole of your fish with the salt mixture, making sure that it is evenly distributed and there are no gaps. Mould it over the fish, pressing it with your hands so that it sticks together and insulates the fish.

4. Bake in the oven for around 35 minutes. The salt will turn a golden brown colour. When cooked, remove the meringue by hitting it swiftly with a blunt object such as a rolling pin. It should come off in large chunks. Go over the fish with a pastry brush to remove any stray bits of salt.

5. Transfer the fish to a serving dish and enjoy!

Meal Plan w/c 22nd September

Monday: Tonight is soup night, and we're having my favourite soup- country vegetable. This will be served with some rye bread and parsnip crisps.

Tuesday: We haven't had a stir fry in ages so I'm going to make one to have with some hoisin salmon and coriander rice.

Wednesday: Tonight is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, so I'll be trying out some traditional Jewish recipes. According to tradition, having fish on the table is an omen for blessings in the year to come. The fish should also be served with the head on, based on the Deuteronomy verse "May we be heads not tails" or in other words, leaders not followers. So, fish will be on the menu, most likely a salt baked sea bass. I also want to have a go at making challah- a sweet, yeasty bread which looks quite laborious but delicious. 

Thursday: I haven't used my pasta machine in a while, which is a shame as I've finally cracked the pasta making. I'm thinking of making some ravioli. Butternut squash is in season, so I'm going to use this as the filling with some pine nuts and a rosemary sauce.

Friday: I keep saying that I'm going to make my own Bibambap and tonight I'm definitely going to do it. There are so many components of the dish to get right- the beef needs to be well marinated and tender, and the rice needs to be sticky but not stodgy. If all goes wrong we can just go back to our local Korean restaurant!

Saturday: We've been having mackerel for a while, so I'm going to try and get some rainbow trout this weekend. I'm going to serve it with a beurre blanc (we had some in Normany and it was delicious) samphire, and garlic potatoes. 

Sunday: Game is finally trickling down into the shops. Last week we had a delicious venison casserole and I'm going to go to Borough Market to see if I can get some guinea fowl. I'm loving all the seasonal veg at the moment, so we'll have lots of that with some goose fat roast potatoes. We're also making the most of the wonderful fruit at the moment in out desserts. So far we've had plum, pears and figs. Apples are great this time of year, so I'm going to make a dessert based on them- maybe an apple and clove pie with custard... Mmmm!

Seasonal Cooking- Plum Cobbler

Last weekend I was seduced by a stunning display of plums at Borough Market. British plums are currently in season, and are delicious when used in baking. The flavours in this cobbler are kept very simple to allow the natural flavours of the fruit to be the star of the dish. The "cobbles" are a bit like a sweet dumpling and absorb the yummy plum juices that are omitted whilst cooking. Seeing the filling peeking through makes this dessert all the more appetising. I served mine with custard, but some double cream drizzled over would work well too.

Ingredients

For the fruit filling 

1kg British plums

2 heaped teaspoons plain flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

40g Demerara sugar

Zest and juice of one orange

For the Cobbles

150g self raising flour

50g caster sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp baking powder

50 ml milk

30g flaked almonds

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree. Cut the plums in half and remove the stones. Place on a baking tray and sprinkle over the flour, sugar and cinnamon. Grate the orange zest over the top and squeeze over the juice. Bake the fruit for around 30 minutes or until soft.

2. To make the cobbles, place the flour and baking powder into a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingers until it resembles bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar and add the milk and egg. Mix thoroughly- the mixture should be stiff but spoonable. 

3. When the fruit is cooked, transfer into an ovenproof serving dish. Seperate the cobble mix into about six pieces and roll up into dumpling like balls. Place these over the fruit, leaving gaps so that the fruit can be seen. Sprinkle over the flaked almonds and bake for 25-30 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling and the cobbles are golden brown

Serve immediately with cream or custard. 

Meal Plan w/c Monday 15th September 2014

Monday: After a week of over indulgence in Normandy, we are starting the week with a simple dinner of ham and lentil soup with wheaten bread. I'm also going to bake an orange and almond loaf cake for Leo to have with his afternoon tea at work.

Tuesday: Having been on a three week hiatus, we are back to the quiz tonight. Dinner will have to be something simple that can be heated when we get home. Maybe a lamb jalfrezi... 

Wednesday: Figs are back in season so I'm thinking of buying some to make into a savoury tart with caramelised red onion and goats cheese and some peppery rocket on the side. Leftovers will be ideal for lunch boxes as it keeps well for a few days and is delicious eaten cold.

Thursday: Scottish Referendum day! To celebrate we are going to have a traditional Scottish dinner of ham and haddock pie with rhubarb Cranachan for dessert. Plenty of whiskey will be on standby for watching the results into the "wee hours".

Friday: I keep fantasising about getting a rack of pork ribs, marinating them in something delicious and then slow cooking them for hours until they are soft and succulent. This to me seems like the perfect Friday night dinner, but Leo seems unconvinced... I shall have to talk him round. 

Saturday: Oily fish night- mackerel or trout with some samphire and baby potatoes. If I have time I might try and salt bake them, as it's totally delicious.

Sunday: With the nights getting cooler, it is a great excuse to make comforting pies and casseroles. Some types of venison should be available now, and if I can get my hands on some, I'm going to make a venison casserole with truffle mash and braised red cabbage. Pears are lovely this time of year, so for dessert we're going to have a pear tarte tatin with chantilly cream.

Lamb Kebabs with Red Cabbage Salad

 

 These kebabs are great to have after a Meze and are perfect alongside a tangy red cabbage salad. Packed full of herbs and spices, they are a welcome addition to any barbecue, but can be cooked under a grill if the weather is bleak. 

Ingredients 

 For the kebabs

500g lamb mice

1 red chilli, finely chopped

3 garlic cloves, chopped

Small bunch of coriander, chopped

1 tsp ground cumin 

1 tsp ground allspice

Half tsp black pepper

Pinch of salt

 

For the salad

One red cabbage, shredded 

Juice of one lemon

Glug of olive oil

1tbsp sumac

2 gherkins sliced (optional) 

Method

1.Using your hands, combine all the ingredient in a large bowl and mix until well combined.

2. Take a palm sized amount of the mixture and roll into a sausage shape around six inches long.

3. Place in the fridge to firm up and allow the flavours to develop for sound thirty minutes.

4. To make the salad, place the cabbage in a colander, sprinkle over the salt and scrunch it into the cabbage with your hands. Leave to soften for thirty minutes.

5. Rinse the cabbage under a cold tap to wash the salt off, and let the water drain out. Transfer the salad to a bowl, stir in the olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkle the sumac over the top. Add the gherkins if using.

6. To cook the kebabs, place under a hot grill for fifteen minutes, turning the kebabs occasionally until evenly browned. Eat immediately.

Meal Plan w/c 1st September 2014

Monday- We have some beef fillet left over from last nights carpaccio, so I'm going to turn it into a tasty Mulligatawny soup which we will have with sourdough bread.

Tuesday: I fancy making smoked haddock fishcakes tonight with homemade tartare sauce on the side. Light but filling and a perfect dish for this awkward stage in the season.


Wednesday: I haven't made ravioli in a while (mainly because I've never quite gotten it right) so I'm going to give it a go for our vegetarian night. For the filling, I'm thinking either wild mushroom or spinach and ricotta. I may even make both if I'm feeling ambitious!


Thursday: Tonight we are having a celebratory dinner, so I'm going to cook something luxurious (perhaps shellfish linguine) and we'll wash it done with a fine champagne.

Friday: The plan is to fly off on a spontaneous holiday to Spain today. Airline food being what it is, I'm going to make us a nice lunch that can be easily transported and that will sustain us for a day of travelling.

Saturday: Fingers crossed we will be in the sun by this stage, so dinner will most likely be a yummy barbecue on the roof. I'm going to make a jerk chicken marinade to take over with us and pray that it gets through border control!