Peace sauce

I've been checking out the blog statistics, and am so thrilled that people are looking at recipes for food I love. In particular I notice that lots of people are looking the the gunpowder sauce recipe. It's a wonderful ingredient that can make stir fries taste fab, giving a real tang. I just hope that the people checking the page are actually looking for a sauce recipe. If not, perhaps it might give a little pause for peace. Here's hoping.

CHOCOLATE CAKE

any fan of chocolate wants to know how to make a marvellous chocolate cake...

I'm not that big on chocolate, however, since I feel I need some treats cake looms large on my cookery horizon. Wheat free flour is expensive and you run out all the time, it's also mostly rice flour as far as I can make out, so I keep rice flour around and mix it with other ingredients, making my own flour combinations. 

Gluten has some magic property that means it holds sugar and fat very well. It's a winning combination that most of us like the feel of, in the mouth. So, when you're making food without gluten you need to load up with something moisturising in another way - with cake that means icing, or syrups, or in this case a glorious ganache.

That's ganache that rhymes with panache - please don't start throwing in an accent at the end. Not that I'm pernickety.

That is ganache, not Ganesh. Ganache is a chocolate cream filling, Ganesh is an elephant faced Hindu god, not suitable as a cake filling, although I think he looks like he's enjoyed a few cakes.

RECIPE

chocolate cake

50g cornmeal

50g rice flour

100g ground almonds

heaped teaspoon baking powder

5 eggs

150g castor sugar

150g margarine or butter

50g dark chocolate (best use a chocolate with over 50% cocoa solids)

line cake tin - this is enough to make a sponge type sandwich cake using two 9" tins, or two 8" tins, if you want it to come out fatter

weigh out dry ingredients (cornmeal/flour/almonds) and set aside, stirring in the baking powder

melt marg (or butter) over low heat, adding chocolate broken into pieces into it, stir until chocolate and fat are mixed together and set aside to cool

whisk eggs using an electric whisk for one minute, slowly add sugar, making a thick frothy cream, which usually takes another minute

stir in the chocolate/marg mixture - use a spatula or metal spoon, and don't stir so much that you reduce the volume of the eggy froth

follow the chocolate mixture witht ej dry ingredeients, stirring in in the smae way, keeping the volume as high as possible

pour into the cake tins and cook at gas mark 6 for 20 minutes

the cake is cooked whe you stick a skewer in in, and it comes out clean

cool slowly on a rack in the tin - the cake is slightly delicate, so don't hurry to take it out of the tin

take one cake out of it's tin and put on a serving plate

spread the chocolate ganache liberally over this cake, so that it doesn't quite reach the edges

carefully place the other cake on top, lining the two cakes up, gently setlling it down, until the ganache spreads to the edges of the cake. dust the top of the cake with icing sugar

eat

for the chocolate cream ganache

tips:

make once the cake has cooled

don't be in a hurry

double cream

100g dark chocolate

small cup of milk

vanilla essence (optional)

break the chocolate into pieces and melt over boiling water

heat the milk to just under boiling point

pour the hot milk into the melted chocolate, beating while you poor. the chocolate may get stiff and grainy, keep beating and stirring until you get a glossy mixture. you can add a few drops of vanilla at any point - beating them in too

set to one side to cool - don't let chocolate mixture get cold

whip the cream until it makes soft peaks. I prefer to do this with a mechanised hand whisk. If you use an electric whisk keep checking the consistency, so it doesn't get too dry. Once it's whipped fold in the cooled chocolate mixture. keep folding it in until the cream is all the same chocolate-y colour.

if your ganache seems a little runny, put it in the fridge for a while

when you have a ganache you can spread with a knife you know it's ready to use...

alternatives and subsitutions

for this chocolate cake you could use cocoa powder in place of some of the flour, it'll flavour and colour the cake well too. 

I'll get back to this later

An easy supper: Cabbage and bacon

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to have a great meal. In this case that’s as long as you have a good head of cabbage. If you’re veggie, leave out the bacon, add more onion and some red pepper, for colour.

As a kid I was forced to try dishes, including those that I might have rejected in previous samplings. I never came around to tripe or sauerkraut, but hunger, sibling rivalry and the prospect of supper for breakfast meant I managed to choke most things down. This is one I got to love and is so good it also conquered daughter number two without the extreme measures I was subject to. In fact my wasted sensitivity earned me the reproach ‘why didn’t you tell me about this?’

So, let’s debate which type of cabbage to use. This recipe can be made with pretty much any cabbage, but I like Savoy cabbage best. It’s beautiful, with intricate lace-like veining, brain-like bumpiness and it’s leaves range from rich green to sunny yellow at the heart. It tastes great and, by the way it’s also the best cabbage to use if you want to make stuffed cabbage.

So, other than a good head of cabbage, to serve four hungry people you’ll need an onion, a packet of bacon, a knob of butter, a healthy pinch of salt (adjust the pinch if you’re using salted bacon) and some vigorous grindings of black pepper.

Cabbage and bacon Serves 4

What you need

* 1 cabbage
* 1 onion
* 1 packet bacon
* Knob of butter
* Pepper
* Salt

How you do it

1. Remove the core and any damaged outer leaves of the cabbage
2. Slice up the cabbage and leave to rinse in a bowl of cold water
3. Chop up the bacon
4. Put pan onto low heat, add chopped bacon and knob of butter
5. Peel the onion and chop up roughly, then add chopped onion to cook with the bacon, stirring occasionally
6. After about five minutes, or once the onion becomes soft, add the wet cabbage. Don’t shake off the water, that’s all the water needed to cook the cabbage
7. Add pinch of salt and black pepper
8. Cover with pan lid and cook for around 15 minutes, or until the cabbage is soft, and most of the water has cooked off. The cabbage should still be a good colour green.

Eat straight away, on its own, or top it with an egg or some cheese to make a substantial meal

Word of warning: keep the heat low, or you may end up with burnt cabbage

Any leftovers are great mixed with potato and fried up to make bubble and squeak, or as a tasty topping for shepherd’s pie, veggie or meat.