Gluten free chocolate joy - Queen of Sheba cake, Reine de Saba

So chocolate lovers, this cake is for you.
Intense chocolate flavour
in a gluten free cake and a brilliant name. Give it a go

You may have noticed that there isn't a lot of flour on the shelves in many supermarkets. Is everyone baking? Since I'm not walking around the whole area I can't smell the results, and there's no biscuits baking smell wafting over from the McVities factory at the moment either.

I finally got some flour actually, at the Co-op in Cricklewood, thank you Co-op. And I got a bar of basic dark chocolate (43% for those who want detail). And it's my lovely daughter's birthday.. and she loves chocolate. At the same time I found a recipe in Elizabeth David was being shared by a BBC London Radio listener on facebook and since it's called the Queen of Sheba and my daughter is a special person, definitely got some regal stuff going on, I decided to give it a go.

Queen of Sheba cake

Ingredients

the cake dusted
with icing sugar

125g butter

125g sugar

125g dark chocolate

100 g ground almonds 

3 eggs, separated
1 tbsp coffee and spirit if you like

Set your oven to 160C

Method

• separate the eggs, into yolks and whites 
• melt chocolate (in bain marie, microwave or oven)
• add butter to melted chocolate, beating it until smooth
• add in the egg yolks one by one, beating to combine, following with the sugar and ground almonds, beating until everything is properly combined
• whip the egg whites until they form soft peaks
• fold the fluffy egg whites through the chocolate mixture, in cutting motions to keep as much air as possible
• pour mixture into prepared 8"/20cm lined tin
• bake for 45m

allow to cool before removing from the tin - be careful, it's fragile cake, dust with cocoa or icing sugar to servev.

You need a strong arm or an electric whisk or equivalent. I use an old fashioned hand held electric whisk. I don't have a big machine, just a lot of bowls. I realised that I would need a gadget garage to fit one in the kitchen, or it would have to sit on the side and I don't find it very attractive, so I got the hand held whisk. There's no flour or baking powder, the raising agent is beaten egg whites. 

20cm tin prepped
with butter and cocoa

melt the chocolate

stir the butter into the melted chocolate
 then stir in the yolks, sugar and ground almonds

beat together and leave to cool

whisk the egg whites
until they make soft peaks

stir the whites through the chocolate
mixture until combined

you can see a bit of unstirred
egg white

reverse crumble chocolate dessert

Raymond Blanc’s reverse crumble chocolate dessert is something I've come across while cruising the interweb for chocolate cake recipes, because who doesn't? It looks pretty good. Overnight chill needed, and not much flour, so the current shortage of the stuff might not put you off, so long as you can get cream, butter, milk and eggs.

If you substitute gluten free flour in the crumble, you have a gluten free dessert. 

Method

Grease an 8”/20cm cake ring, line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and sit the ring on it

Set the oven to 160 fan oven 170 normal oven

For crumble

35g butter unsalted, cold

35g sugar demerera

pinch of salt

30g flour (gf if you like)

1/5 tsp cocoa powder

Combine to a breadcrumb texture to make a crumble and bake in oven 170 for 10-12m

for choc cream

90ml whipping cream

150ml full fat milk

155g 70% choc broken into pieces

1 egg

• heat the milk and cream together to almost boiling
• start beating the egg gently then slowly pour hot milk into the beaten egg continue beating to combine.
• add the chocolate to the hot egg/milk mixture and keep beating slowly until the chocolate has melted completely, which may take a few minutes.
• allow the mixture to cool then pour over the crumble base and leave to chill in the fridge overnight

Just before serving

• slip the cake onto a plate
• loosen the edge of the cake with a hot knife and remove the ring before serving

Lively coleslaw to add colour, vitamins and flavour

Make this fresh coleslaw to give a boost to a grey day, or to top up on vitamin C and fibre, or just to have something delicious on its own, with rice or as a side dish with a more substantial main course.

Recipe - enough for four as a side dish. Or for one greedy person.



Ingredients

SALAD

• 1/2 small white or red cabbage
• 2 large carrots
• 1/2 onion
• 1 fresh red chilli (or substitute/combine with sweet chilli sauce
• big handful fresh coriander
• small handful fresh mint
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tbsp thai fish sauce (replace with soy if vegan)
• juice of 1 lime (enough for at least 5 tbsp)
• 1 tsp sugar

METHOD

• finely shred the cabbage
• peel and grate the carrots
• finely dice the onion
• crush and peel the garlic and chop finely
• deseed the chilli and chop finely
• finely chop the stems of the washed coriander and shred the leaves
• take the mint leaves off the stems and shred finely
• put everything in a bowl and add the fish sauce, lime juice and tsp of sugar
• stir, mixing thoroughly

shredded lettuce is added to this version

Update on jam fail, marmalade fail, kitchen sorrow

Having intended to make marmalade, with a bag of Seville oranges at the ready, I wasn't and I didn't. Cooking does need attention, and I failed to give it the time and space required for jam. 

Note to self: get on with it, don't just let everything sit and imagine you're cooking.

Apart from my lack of follow-through, I don't think the Seville oranges I got were very good. In previous years I've bought them from the local grocer and they were a lot bigger, juicier and more perfumed. I did get to the first stage of marmalade, squeezing the fruit and cutting the peel, which in itself is very therapeutic and makes your hands smell wonderful. I'd like to blame the quality of the oranges, but it was the quality of the cook that was the clincher. 

So, as my husband pithily puts it, the oranges ended up being expensive compost. The shame.

Dan Lepard's Marmalade

I'm going to try this recipe - just bought some Seville oranges. This Christmas I gave away the last of the marmalade I made three years ago. It was a bit runny and also the dark variety made with muscovado sugar, not so popular. That's why it took so long to find takers...

small Seville oranges big lemon

Ingredients

• 500g/1lb 2 oz Seville oranges
• 50ml/2 fl oz lemon juice
• 1kg/2lb 4 oz white sugar: regular, not with added pectin
• soft dark brown sugar, optional

Method

1. Weigh the oranges and make a note of the weight, as this will tell you how much of the other ingredients you’ll need, to ensure the marmalade sets well. My basic ratio is: both the sugar and the strained liquid from the sliced and simmered oranges should roughly equal twice the weight of the uncooked whole oranges. So if you start with 500g/1lb 2 oz whole oranges, after cooking you want to be left with a litre/1¾ pint of liquid once the peels have been strained out, and you need 1kg/2lb 4 oz of sugar.
2. Cut the oranges in half and squeeze out the juice, as this makes chopping the peel less messy. Remove any pips from the juice, spoon any remaining pips out of the peel, place them in a tea cup and cover with water. Then chop the peel into shreds about 0.25cm/⅛in across and place these in a bowl with the juice and cover with water. Leave both overnight, as this will help the marmalade set well.
3. The next day, place the peel and water in a saucepan. Sieve the pips, place their soaking water (which will have jellied slightly) into the saucepan, then tie the pips in muslin and drop this into the pot. Bring to the boil then simmer for 2-3 hours, topping up with water so that the fruit stays well covered, until the peel is soft when squished between your fingers. Alternatively, cook in a pressure cooker for about 30 minutes.
4. Strain the juice from the peel and measure it. Whatever the original weight of fruit was at the beginning, you want about double that in cooking liquid. So if you started with 500g/1lb 2 oz fruit, then try and have roughly a litre/1¾ pint (in other words 1000ml or 1000g) of cooking liquid left. If you have more, boil it down in a saucepan to intensify it. If you have less, top it up with water to dilute it.
5. Then add the sugar (double the weight of the oranges), plus 1-2 tbsp brown sugar if you like to make the colour darker. Add the strained peel, plus 50ml/2 fl oz of lemon juice for every 500g/1lb 2 oz uncooked whole oranges used. Bring to the boil, skim off any white froth and pips that rise to the surface, and then boil until the temperature reaches 105C/220F.
6. Meanwhile sterilise enough jars in the oven and have the lids washed and ready. When the marmalade reaches 105C/220F, turn the heat off and leave for 10 minutes. Ladle the marmalade into a jug then pour this carefully into the jars, leaving just a bare 0.5cm/¼in gap at the top. Screw the lid on tightly and leave undisturbed until completely cold.

Salad dressings - take your pick

Hot or cold salads are a standard go-to and sometimes you want to find a new twist or return to an old flavour. So I'm making a list of dressings. Slowly

Mustard vinaigrette

Large teaspoon Dijon mustard

Large pinch salt

Generous grindings of black pepper

I tbsp wine vinegar

2 tbsp light oil (sunflower or similar)

• mix salt, pepper and mustard
• stir in the vinegar until it is well combined
• stir in oil until dressing looks like a loose mayonnaise

Family vinaigrette

1 clove garlic (peeled)
salt (preferably maldon) hearty pinch
pepper several good grindings
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 to 4 tbsp best olive oil

method 1

with pestle and mortar
pound the garlic, pepper and salt together to make a fine puree, don't stint, really mash it up
add the vinegar
mix to a uniform paste
add olive oil and mix well

without pestle and mortar

finely chop the garlic (as small as you can, crushing it with the side of a knife first will release the delicious juices,and help get the skin off)

method 2
mix chopped garlic, pepper and salt together

add the vinegar
mix well
add olive oil and stir

Asian salad dressing

• 1 fresh red chilli
• big handful fresh coriander
• small handful fresh mint
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 tbsp thai fish sauce
• juice of 1 lime (enough for at least 5 tbsp)
• 1 tsp sugar

finely chop washed stems of coriander (making 1 heaped tbsp)

finely chop  chilli, mint and garlic

mix all the ingredients together

Vegan nut roast

-->

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 

-->

Gluten free Yorkshire puddings

Your Yorkshire puddings will look like this

I've just cooked this batch of Yorkshire puddings to freeze for when we have our family gathering - not on Christmas Day this year. Although once my Christmas lunch guests know about them I may need them for the Christmas Day meal as well.

Since one daughter has been gluten free for a long time and another has recently found it helps her deal with some health problems, we will be eating GF. It's much more sociable. So it's gluten free stuffing/pate etc. Another daughter is now a vegetarian, so a nut loaf will also be served.

Anyway, Yorkshire puddings are the holy grail for those who like them, and I'm feeling lucky. I've found a recipe with three ingredients: cornflour, eggs and milk. You can add seasoning, however since the puds are really a receptacle for gravy, do you need to?

No electric whisk btw, save the splatters and use a large hand whisk. Let's go.

YORKSHIRE PUDDING RECIPE

Set oven to hot, 220 c

generously oil a 12 hole muffin tin or similar, including the top and edges of each hole

put the oiled muffin tin into the oven to get to sizzling point

Ingredients

200g cornflour
6 eggs
300 ml milk or nut milk/soya milk

salt and white pepper to taste

Method

• put cornflour in largish bowl adding salt and white pepper if you like
• whisk cornflour gently
• add the eggs and beat until smooth 
• slowly add the milk beating all the time
• when batter is silky like cream transfer it to a jug
• get the hot oiled muffin tin out of the oven and pour the batter into each hole - you should have enough to get nearly to the top of each one
• put the filled tin back into the hot oven and leave the puds for at least 20 minutes - it'll take 20-25 minutes for them to cook through. Checking on them by opening the oven door will ruin the rise, so don't open that door