Brown Betty

This Brown Betty is a delightful, warming apple pudding and easy to make. The combined taste of the cloves, apple, treacle and sherry is hard to beat and they combine to make a smell make that's heavenly. It’s a dish that can be eaten hot or cold, my preference is for hot, but it’s unlikely I’d turn down a helping of it cold - the flavours seem to grow that longer it's kept.

In our house this was a standard Sunday pudding, my father developed a liking for it cold, cooked in a charlotte tin and turned out, which seems like an unecessary complication. With lots of cream. You could liken it to an Apple Charlotte, a deconstructed one that tastes much better. Unlike a Charlotte that uses melted butter brushed into place, the dobs of butter sit alongside the morsels of apple and make their own way through the crumbs while it cooks. You might imagine, reading the recipe, that it might seem to be a bit dry: it isn’t.

When I was trying to remember the recipe I read quite a lot of American versions, which aren't the same and seem more complicated. I found a reference to 'old fashioned Brown Betty' in a Pan Dowdy recipe, and perhaps our family version takes its molasses (black treacle) from there. You can see that here, and I'll include the version that my father wrote, although I never saw him make it… I've written it out the way I remember making it with my mother.

The quantities are a guide - you’ll probably manage to get everything in the dish. Give it a go. And use Bramley apples if you can.

Dad's write up

Brown Betty Recipe

Ingredients

2lb/scant 1kg apples

1/2lb/250g fresh breadcrumbs

¼ kb/125g unsalted butter

Brown sugar - more than a cupful

Black treacle - about two tablespoons

½ mug/1 wine glass sherry

Several pinches of ground cloves

Pinch Cinnamon 

Method

Set the oven to 170C/Gas Mark 3/325F

Use a deep pie dish

• Peel and core the apple and cut it into bit sized piece

• Generously butter around a deep pie dish

• Scatter a layer of breadcrumbs, then some apple pieces, pinches of butter alongside dustings of cloves and some cinnamon, sprinkle over with sugar and repeat until you’ve used up all the apple - then add one last layer of breadcrumbs

• Drizzle the treacle over in a random way - if you warm the spoon in boiling water and then dry it the treacle will flow more easily

• Pour the sherry over, covering as much as possible 

• Bake for around an hour, or until the apple is completely cooked (test with a skewer)

The cooked dish has a lovely crust - eat with cream, yoghurt, ice cream, or on its own.

Vegan nut roast

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Vegan nut roast

this is all that was left...

I like nut roast and I especially like it with texture and some nuts that crunch. 

I made a vegan version this year, which was also gluten free, so no-one had any excuse for not eating it. In fact a lot of family had it alongside roast beef. We're a broad church - I'm not a vegetarian

Vegan nut roast

Equipment

large mixing bowl

knife and board

saucepan

2lb bread tin

Set oven to 180 degrees

INGREDIENTS 

Most of a butternut squash (I used the seeded end)

1 carrot

2 medium onions

1 heaped cup of mixed nuts (150g)

2 small cloves garlic

Salt and pepper

1/2 tsp sage

1/2 tsp mixed herbs

1 cup cooked lentils

1 cup breadcrumbs

1 cup whole chestnuts chopped

2 eggs/egg replacement mix

METHOD 

Scoop out the seeds if necessary, peel and dice the squash, peel the carrots and finely dice onion

Fry all the veg gently in large pan, in one spoonful of olive oil until translucent - I put them on a low heat, put a lid on and let them stew

While veg are frying, chop nuts coarsely make sure you leave some whole

In a large bowl stir together chopped herbs, cooked lentils and breadcrumbs along with chopped chestnuts, chopped nuts and stir to mix

add your egg/egg replacement mix and stir until well combined

put into lined bread tin and pat down to compress

bake for 45 minutes uncovered -  the top will be golden brown

let your nut roast sit for a moment, turn out carefully, don’t tap it, and peel off the lining paper, use a very sharp knife to cut into slices

Serve with onion gravy or other veggie gravy

Onion gravy

ingredients

Two large onions, sliced

blob of butter or other fat

low salt veggie stock

pepper and salt to taste

equipment

saucepan

stick blender

wooden spoon

METHOD

fry onions over low heat until rich golden brown, stirring as you go

add vegetable stock

blend to a very smooth liquid, like single cream 

tip: if it isn't as dark as you want add soy sauce or marmite, checking salt level, or use very strong breakfast tea to make the veggie stock

serve with nut roast 

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