Apple & blackberry kuchen

Or cake for butchers. Where do I start where do I begin... It is important to have decent butchers locally. Never mind the usual stuff, but when you are in good relationship with you butchers, they can also supply you with some stuff that they do not normally sell such as pork fat or marrow bones for beef stock. My local butchers are decent lads and they do not charge me anything for some random orders and this is what I have made for them to thank them for their recent help.

This sort of yeast cake with not too sweet base is very popular in Poland (and in Germany as far as I am concerned - Kuchen = cake) all year round using different seasonal fruits. I was bit concerned using Nigella’s recipe, rather than my Granny’s but the outcome was very satisfying.



From "Nigella Bites", makes 20 x 30 Swiss roll tin

For the cake base:

350–400g strong white flour
half tsp salt
50g caster sugar
half packet easy-blend yeast (about 3g)
2 eggs
half tsp vanilla extract
zest of half a lemon
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
125ml lukewarm milk
50g butter, softened

I have placed all of the above in a bread machine and used "dough" programme. At first I used 350g of flour and was adding some more when I noticed that the dough is too sticky. You can use a stand mixer or you hands, adding mixed wet ingredients to dry ones and mixing until you have medium soft dough, then kneading with your hands. Next place the dough into a bowl, cover and leave in warm draft-free place until doubled in size. Or you can leave in a fridge overnight.

Then punch down to release the air and press to line a Swiss roll tin (I lined mine with baking paper) –it needs some stretching. Next leave it for about 15-20 minutes to rest and prove little bit.

Meanwhile prepare the fruits.


Fruits for topping:

1 small Bramley apple
300g blackberries
zest of half lemon

Peel, deseed and chop the apple and toss in a bowl with lemon zest and blackberries. Set aside and prepare the crumble toping.


Crumble topping:

50g self-raising flour
25g ground almonds
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
50g cold unsalted butter, diced
2 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp demerara sugar
25g flaked almonds


Put the flour, cinnamon and ground almonds in a bowl, stir to combine and add the cold, diced butter. Using your finger tips rub the butter into the dry ingredients, work quickly – you do not want the butter become too soft. Stop when mixture resembles clumpy porridge oats. Fork in the sugars and flaked almonds.

Now prepare mixture that will keep the juices from the fruits soaking into the dough when baking.

1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp of cream
pinch of ground cinnamon

Mix all of the above together and brush over the dough.

Next tumble the fruits over the egg washed dough and then sprinkle with crumble topping. Put in the preheated (200C) oven and bake for 15 minutes, then turn the heat down to 180C and cook for further 20 minutes or so, until the dough is swelling and golden and the crumble is set.

Remove from the oven and wait about 5 minutes before cutting into portions. Serve warm or cold.

Roast aubergine salad with goats cheese & toasted pita bread

You probably know that feeling when you look forward seeing somebody who is very important to you and you are so excited that you cannot sleep, counting down the hours too your journey and the meeting.

Although sometimes something unforeseen can happen that puts this moment away in time. You get more anxious and grab a mobile phone and ring to say you will be late. That important person on the other side of the phone switches the hob off. And waits patiently.

When you finally get there and give this person a biggest hug that you possibly can, talk as much as possible on our way home and next thing to do is to have a meal together. There is nothing better in this world than tasty meal after a tiring journey prepared by someone that you love or prepared by yourself for someone who was travelling to see you. It does not matter – both ways are simply great and satisfying! It is very comforting to sit on the sofa with that person, have a cup of homemade tomato soup, lovely salad and you favourite Chilean cabernet sauvignon.

This is how I felt on Friday and this is why I wanted this salad again and again when I came back home. Simply because I wanted to keep the feeling as long as possible even if that person is far away from me today. Thank you very much for this weekend, my dear Sister.



I have modified a recipe from "Good Food”, August 2010 issue
Serves 2 for dinner or 4 for appetizer

2 medium aubergines
3 tbsp olive oil
handful fresh mint, chopped
shallot, finely chopped
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
half tsp of agava syrup or honey
small red chilli, chopped
100g mixed leaves – I used spinach, watercress and rocket
3 tomatoes, each divided into eight pieces
125g goats cheese (I used Welsh goats cheese, quite soft and crumbly)
2 wholegrain pita breads, cut into bite size pieces
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oven to 180C.

Cut the aubergine in half lengthwise and slice each part. Place on a tray lined with baking paper, drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast for about 15-20 minutes turning halfway through. Remove from the oven and turn the temperature down to 150C.

Place tomatoes on the baking tray lined with some paper and roast until the skin becomes bit wrinkly. Turn them halfway through.

Grill pita bread under a hot grill until crisp.

For the dressing, in a bowl, mix the vinegar, mint, agava syrup, shallots, chilli, remaining oil and some salt and pepper.

Mix the salad leaves with roasted aubergine and arrange on the plates. Place tomatoes and pita bread on the top, crumble some cheese on top and pour over the dressing.

It is very nice when still warm, but cold taste good too.

Yorkshire Lavender - does it sound weird?

When you think “lavender” the next thing you would possibly think is “Tuscany” or “Provence”. Would you think “Yorkshire”? I doubt it.

I was rather surprised when I found a leaflet of “Yorkshire Lavender” spot and I knew I was going to visit it as soon as possible. I am little bit obsessed with a lavender - I have got lots of lavender bags all over the cottage, lavender oil in burner and obviously some candles. One of our rooms is painted lavender, I use lavender and camomile bedroom spray to relax before sleeping, I love lavender soaps and shower gels. Not mentioning lavender plants in the pots on our patio. There was no other option than visiting this place at our earliest convenience.

Yorkshire Lavender is situated in beautiful surroundings, outside Terrington, which is 3 miles west of Castle Howard, 14 miles north east of York and 8 miles west of Malton in North Yorkshire. It is not far away from charming Rievaulx Abbey - a former Cistercian abbey which is definitely worth visiting too.





Yorkshire Lavender is a family project and it has only started from few rows of lavender but now you can enjoy many different varieties of lavender, amazing array of different colours in the summer. If you fancy having some at home, you can buy plants in a specialist plant nursery, where you can also find all the usual culinary herbs of different varieties. Very tasty Moroccan mint and golden marjoram plants which I bough are now growing nicely on my patio and I am using them with many different dishes. Huge bushes of different herbs in the garden amazed me with their smell when I was passing by.







Also there is a award-winning tea room, restaurant and gift shop where you can buy lavender related items – oils, soaps, candles, lavender bags, scented sticks, lavender honey, biscuits, dried culinary lavender and many others. Obviously I bought some culinary lavender and I made my own shortbread inspired by latest Olive magazine recipe. It is scrumptious!

Another attraction is a sculpture park named “The Spirit of Yorkshire” where you can find eleven metal fielding cricketers taking a cricket match and you should also be able to see some deer that were only few steps away from the gardens.




It is definitely must see if you are a lavender lover. And do not forget when visiting the Yorkshire Lavender that you are very welcome to weed as it says a sign on the shop door into the garden.

Not bored with lavender yet? Try this recipe for the lavender shortbread. It is truly delicious.





Lavender shortbread


200g unsalted butter
300g plain flour
100g caster sugar and extra for dusting
1 cheaped tsp of dried lavender buds for culinary use
1 tbsp ice cold water

Mix the butter and the sieved flour in a bowl. Using peste and mortar or food processor, blend the lavender and sugar. When they are quite fine sieve and add to the bowl and mix. Discard any lavender left in the sieve. If the dough does not wanto to come together add tbsp of very cold water. Turn out the dough onto some baking paper, wrap and chill for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 140 C (fan). Roll out the dough and cut into rectangular biscuits or slice rolled dough into round ones. Sprinkle with little sugar and bake for about 12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes about 20 biscuits that keep for a week. I keep them in a biscuit tin, but they never last more than 3 days anyway because they are so delicious.

Sticky pork ribs

There are some recipes that I fall in love from the first sight. It is a picture that grabs my attention first, then just a quick look on the ingredients and I already know this is an ideal recipe really close to the culinary nirvana.

It was similar last Saturday when after a lazy breakfast I was flicking through the latest “Good Food” magazine, that I found in my post box. I could not stop thinking about these sticky ribs. Actually I am not a big ribs lover but my partner says I cook excellent pork ribs in sauerkraut (Polish dish). However I do not cook them very often and only if he wishes to eat some. But this time it was different. I knew I have to cook them as soon as possible.

I was right. It was culinary heaven and I have eaten all the meat leaving dry bones only not even thinking about my manicure that I have done an hour earlier. My fingers were red and sticky. It was a great eating experience. A real feast.

I think this is great recipe also because you can prepare it ahead and just roast it about 40 minutes before dinner, so it is ideal when you have friends coming for a dinner, or you want to prepare you dinner a day ahead.

I have changed the quantities of some sauce ingredients.

Sticky pork ribs

800g pork spare ribs
tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and finely diced
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsp smoked paprika
½ tsp hot chilli powder
250ml tomato passata
2 tbsp tomato puree
100ml cider vinegar or white wine vinegar (I used cider vinegar)
100g dark muscovado sugar


Preheat the oven to 130 C (fan). Place the ribs in an ovenproof dish, cover with water, cover with kitchen foil and bake for 1.5 hour. Remove from the oven, cool slightly and drain well. You can cover them and place in the fridge until you need them.

Fry the onion in the olive oil until soft, but not browned. Next add garlic, chilli powder and smoked paprika. Fry for another minute. Next add vinegar, tomato puree, passata, muscovado sugar, mix well and simmer over a low heat for about 10 minutes. You can use it straight away or keep it for later.

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Brush all the sauce all over the ribs and place on the baking tray. Roast for about 40 minutes, turning half way.

We had them with rosemary and olive roast new potatoes and spring cabbage cooked with tomato passata and fresh dill.

Tagliatelle with sun dried tomatoes pesto

I am back on-line! A week break from blogging actually made me realise how I like it. But lets get to the point, perhaps some of you are curious what is going on in my kitchen...

We both love quick pasta dishes, especially with various pestos. On Friday night, after work we do not need to spend lots of time in the kitchen cooking, we only need something quick, easy to make, tasty and comforting. Something that will accompaniment our usual Friday night bottle of wine. This is why we often choose pasta with various pestos.

This one is one of my favourite one and I like it as much as spinach and walnut pesto .


Serves 2

250g tagliatelle (or your favourite pasta)
145g sun dried tomatoes (drained 280g jar)
tbs of oil/olive oil from tomatoes
2-3 tbsp pine nuts
2-3 freshly grated parmesan
2 small garlic cloves
2 tbs dry red wine (I used cabernet sauvignon)
tbsp fresh oregano (sometimes I use different herbs such as fresh basil, marjoram or parsley)
freshly ground black pepper
salt

Put a big pan with some water on the hob and bring to boil, meantime prepare the pesto.

In a pan dry roast pine nuts, place 2 tbsp of them in a food processor and save the remaining for later. Add tomatoes, oil, garlic, oregano, wine, pepper and 2 tbsp of parmesan into the food processor and mix until smooth.

Boil the pasta al dente and drain saving about 2 espresso cups of water from the pasta. Add the water to the pesto and mix until smooth. Mix the drained pasta with the pesto, arrange in the pasta bowl, sprinkle with some pine nuts, parmesan and garnish with some fresh herbs. Serve immediately.