Christmas cake

I missed last Sunday - the stir-up Sunday, because I was still in Poland. I honestly doubt if I would have made traditional Christmas pudding, however I was really keen to make my own Christmas cake this year. There are hundreds of recipes in internet, cookery books and websites but I decided to use a recipe from "How to be a Domestic Goddess" by Nigella Lawson. I used the basic idea but I have changed the quantities of dried fruits. Click here , for the original recipe. I have made two cakes - one in round 20 cm tin and other in bread tin, based on the third column of quantities.

Today I am going to show baked cake that you have to store in airtight container and feed with brandy every 2-3 days. Traditionally it would be covered with some apricot jam, marzipan and icing just before Christmas, but I am not a big fan of icing so I think I will leave it on its own. Perhaps I will make some icing and decoration for one of them if I decide to give it away. Click here for the decoration ideas.

This cake goes amazingly well with some Real Wensleydale cheese.



500g raisins
600g sultanas
250g mixed peel
200g glace cherries
250g dried cranberries
5-6 pieces of stem ginger, chopped
200ml brandy (or sherry)
300g butter
250g brown sugar
zest of one orange
zest of one lemon
6 big eggs
3 tbsp orange marmalade (I used one with ginger by Tiptree)
500g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp salt
more brandy to feed the cake over next few weeks

Place all of the fruit in a large bowl and add the brandy. Leave to soak overnight.

Next day preheat the oven to 150C and line baking tin with brown paper.

Cream the butter and sugar, then beat in the orange and lemon zest. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each one and then add the marmalade and almond extract.

Sift the dry ingredients together.

Then mix the fruit alternately with the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture.

Put the cake mix into the prepared tin and bake for about 2 hours.

When the cake is cooked, brush with a couple of tablespoons of extra brandy. Cover immediately in a tin foil – this will trap the heat and form steam, which in turn will keep the cake soft on top. Remove the cake from the tin when it is completety cold. Wrap in a paper, secure with some elastic and if needed and store in airtight container, for at least 3 weeks. Remember to feed it with some more brandy every 2-3 days.

Winter in Dales

Winter has come on last Wednesday. Today we just managed to come back from a walk before it started to snow again. Welcome to Semerwater lake and Aysgarth waterfalls.

(click the photos to enlarge)

Pancotto - Italian bread soup

Probably every nation have their own way to use a stale bread. In Poland the region I come from have it's own - a soup made with bread cubes, garlic, some lard and hot water. It is very poor and not my favourite unless it is made in more expensive version - with stock and croutons fried in butter.

However my mate who spends quite a lot time in her house in Italy (in Sabina) gave me this recipe for bread soup that I fell in love immediately. It is fantastic as you can use different cheese each time and end up with completely different taste. Also it is up to you if you want to add more bread crumbs to make it thicker.

It is great for autumn and winter, served hot, this amount of garlic, chilli and fresh parsley will keep any colds away from you, but it tastes great when tepid when the temperature outside is little bit higher.


Makes 2-3

piece of stale, good quality bread (I used sourdough baguette, it is important to have good quality bread otherwise it will become mash like when cooked), about 6-8 1cm slices
generous splash of good quality olive oil (bread should be easily covered with it)
4 large garlic cloves, peeled
big handful of fresh parsley
1 finger length red chilli
2-3 tbsp grated parmesan, grana padano or pecorino cheese
about 1l vegetable stock

Heat the oil in a pan.

Process the bread until you have coarse bread crumbs.

Finely chop the garlic, chilli and most of the parsley.

In the pan fry the bread crumbs for few minutes, stirring then add garlic, chilli and parsley and fry for another 2 minutes. Bread crumbs should be golden and crispy.

Add hot stock and simmer over a low heat for about 5 minutes.

Serve in the bowls sprinkled with some cheese and the remaining chopped parsley.


P.S. Thank you for your patience - I have come back from my short break in Poland and hope to publish on more regular basis now.

Upcoming review!

Another exciting opportunity with CSN Stores where you can find everything from unique lighting, to modern bedroom furniture, or great cookware (i.e. great Le Creuset range!). Stay tuned as I will be testing some more kitchen equipment soon.

Squash & turnip crumble

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has an excellent kitchen with AGA oven, huge fireplace and obviously lovely wooden dining table. I have a big wooden dinning table myself but I am little bit jealous of his kitchen. And his lifestyle. I wish I could have this nice upper class country lifestyle, have lots of time to maintain my own veg garden, fruit trees and go fishing. Unfortunately I have to work 8 hours a day, I don’t have my own cottage or even a greenhouse. So one thing that I can do similar to Hugh is cooking lovely stuff inspired by his recipes. At least the jealousy can mobilise to make good things sometimes…

When I first time saw root veg crumble on his TV show I could not stop thinking about it. I thought that I make my own inspired by his recipe. Squash was quite natural choice because it is in season now. So I made the most beautiful crumble I ever had, and because roasted veg are quite sweet I cannot tell that it was 100% savoury. Very interesting! You have to try it.

Serves 2

half medium butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into bite size chunks
medium turnip, peeled and cut into bite size chunks
large carrot, peeled and cut in four lengthwise and then into about inch pieces
medium onion, peeled, halved and sliced
garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
half tsp honey
half tsp wholegrain mustard
few springs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
salt (I used
sea salt with lemon peel and thyme)
freshly ground black pepper

For the topping

piece of stale bread (I used piece of ciabatta about one bread roll size), roughly diced
50g walnuts
handful of oats (I used Scottish porridge oats)
tbsp freshly grated parmesan


Heat the oven to 180 C.

Mix the olive, garlic, honey, thyme and mustard together.

In an ovenproof dish arrange all vegetables and pour the olive mixture over them. Season with salt and pepper, mix well with a spoon, cover with piece of tin foil and place in the oven, for about 20 minutes.

Process the bread and walnuts in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Mix with the oats and parmesan.

Uncover the vegetables and increase the temperature to 200 C. Roast for about 8-10 minutes, then cover with topping and roast until golden and crispy.

Perfect on its own, but also I am going to serve it with roast lamb in the future.