A cake to make me less narky: Barefoot Contessa's Apple Spice Cake

So, I am justifying the inclusion of this truly wonderful cake into my ‘do things better’ agenda for the following reasons: It has apple in it, so surely must be one of my five a day. It is made with vegetable oil and not butter so that has to make it a ‘better’ cake, whatever that is. It is packed with spices and of course they have oodles of medicinal qualities, and lastly, a bit of what you fancy does you good, and the opportunity to sit down with a slice of this with a cuppa turns a narky Stella into a less narky one. Only one slice mind…

If you want a really really reliable, decadent, frankly scrumptious cake, you open a Barefoot Contessa book and turn to the section marked ‘desserts’. There you will find cake heaven. And it was in her ‘Make it Ahead’ cookery book that I found this. Don’t be put off by the amount of spices; go buy them if you haven’t got them because you will be making this cake more than once. I promise.

I very rarely alter a Barefoot Contessa recipe because they are usually perfect. However, I have made a couple of alterations, mainly due to the fact that I didn’t have any golden raisins, but I did have some pretty jewel like sultanas which did the job just nicely. I also didn’t have the exact size pan as indicated in the recipe, so I split the mixture between two smaller pans.

If you don’t fancy my chosen way of eating this, with a cuppa, then serve some slightly warm with some ice cream. And swoon…

APPLE SPICE CAKE from ‘Make It Ahead’ by Ina Garten

serves 12

An American recipe, so uses cup measurements (which I quite like…)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup pecans, chopped

1/2 cup rum

1 cup golden raisins (I used sultanas)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup dark brown (Muscavado) sugar

3 large eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp grated orange zest

2 1/2 cup plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/8 tsp ground cloves

3 (large) to 4 (small) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and 1/4 inch diced

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9x13x2 inch baking pan, or a pan(s) that will take the amount of mixture.

Toast the pecans on a baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes. Watch the nuts like a hawk. They burn in the blink of an eye. Set aside.

Add the rum and raisins to a microwave-safe bowl and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap; microwave for 1 minute, then set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, vanilla, and orange zest on medium speed.

Once combined, add the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves; mix until smooth. The batter will be very thick.

Drain the raisins before adding them to the batter. Drink the rum.

Add the apples and pecans too, then use a rubber spatula to fold them all into the batter.

Spread this batter in your prepared pan, smoothing it out.

Bake the cake for 35 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Let the cake cool until it’s barely warm or room temperature before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!

The tart that makes you look pretty damn good when really you're just well read, resourceful and in a hurry: French Apple Tart (Tarte aux Pommes)

 

 

I know I would be a far better cook if I made my own puff pastry but the fact is, I am, essentially, lazy. And I buy loads of that lovely all butter French stuff when I go to France so why on earth would I bother? And, I wouldn't have been able to knock out this tart in the five minutes it took, if I had to spend God knows how long folding, rolling and resting, folding, rolling and resting....

 

I had a small two concerns: Is it wise to make a dessert that is more nuts than I am? I didn't think there was a major chance of anaphylaxis amongst our Sunday afternoon meal crowd (more like a Sunday soiree crowd in the end: note to self, don't open that wine you've been saving and drink two glasses of it without checking that you have actually put the oven on 'oven' instead of 'grill') and sometimes, people just don't like nuts, so I decided to have a reserve. And this was it. Once you've prepped the apples, five minutes will probably do it and with an apricot jam glaze, it looks like it's come straight out of a French patisserie window. And it tastes, and smells, sublime.

 

This was essentially sourced from Michel Roux Jnr's 'My Life in the Kitchen', which is current bedside reading, though there are a couple of little Lola and Finn's Mum twists, namely instead of creating an apple compote, I finished off a jar of apple sauce laced with calvados from Christmas that had been lurking at the back of the fridge by spreading it on the base of the tart. I then sprinkled a little sugar and cinnamon over the top of that before piling the apples neatly on top. With a bit of a flourish to adorn the surprisingly neat job I had made of the apples, I sprinkled a little more cinnamon over the top after I had brushed them with melted butter.

 

This was such a joyous dessert; and amazingly easy to assemble make. And apples, sugar and flaky pastry is never, ever wrong. If you find yourself in a bit of a dessert bind, free yourself with this beautiful thing...

 

French Apple Tart, adapted from 'My Life in the Kitchen' by Michel Roux Jnr

 

Serves Lola, Finn, Mum, Dad and four others

 

Ingredients:

 

1 box of ready rolled all butter puff pastry

2 to 3 tbsp. of apple compote/apple sauce

1/2 - 1tsp of sugar to taste.

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3 to 4 cox or Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced very thinly (put the slices into acidulated water whilst prepping the pastry to prevent the slices turning brown).

20g melted butter

1 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp cinnamon

beaten egg, to glaze before baking.

2 tbsp. of apricot jam, warmed, to glaze the tart

 

Method:

 

 

 

Unroll the pastry and cut a circle, using a dinner plate to cut around. Crimp the pastry to create an edge and then turn the pastry over. Apparently according to Michel Roux Jnr, this helps the layers to puff better, and let's face it, if anyone is going to know, it's him.

 

Dock the pastry with a fork.

 

 

 

Spoon the compote/sauce over the base of the pastry, leaving about a centimetre around the edge of the pastry.

 

Sprinkle over the sugar and the cinnamon over the compote.

 

 

 

Arrange the apples in neat circles on top of the compote, maintaining the centimetre around the edge of the tart.

 

 

 

Brush the apples with melted butter and sprinkle a little more sugar and cinnamon over the apples if desired. (I tasted the apples to see how they were sour they were; that determined my decision).

 

Brush the edge of the tart with the egg wash and place on the preheated tray. Bake in the oven for about 20/25 minutes until the pastry is puffed and golden, the apples yield easily to the tip of a knife and are starting to colour a little.

 

pre glaze!!

 

Leave to cool somewhat, then glaze with the warmed apricot jam.

 

 

 

I served this with homemade vanilla ice cream because I like to show off.

 

 

 

 

 

Pimp my flapjack... Apple Flapjacks

 

 

It's not like I have a box of apples anywhere or anything - you can decide, if you like, whether that is likely by reading my last blog post about scrumping and apple vodka, but putting grated apple into flapjacks is seriously tasty, especially if they are slightly tart like the apples from the scrumping mission. They act as an acidic foil to all that golden syrup that goes into making flapjacks. And on the subject of golden syrup, and sugar, and butter, I don't think I will ever tire of the gooey unctuousness that flapjacks are, especially if they are crispy and brittle at the edges. I know you can get allsorts of fancy tray bakes now, but this is the number one. Low faff, maximum impact. And somehow, as the nights get longer, it's these type of cakes that I like to turn to. I mean, something light and fluffy is fine and all, but I find myself craving more ballast with a cup of tea when there is a nip in the air and the leaves have started to turn...

 

Apple Flapjacks, adapted from Cegin Bryn by Bryn Williams (and it's in his book 'Bryn's Kitchen' too. Yes, by the way, I do know that 'Cegin Bryn' is Welsh for 'Bryn's Kitchen'. I am in touch with my Welsh roots....)

 

Makes 12

 

Ingredients:

 

150g butter

50g light brown sugar

3 heaped tbsp. golden syrup

100g peeled apple, grated

220g porridge oats

 

 

Method:

 

Pre heat the oven to 160c

 

 

 

Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Add the sugar and the golden syrup.

 

 

Add the apple and the oats. Stir the mixture until evenly combined.

 

 

 

Place the mixture into a greased baking tray that has greaseproof paper in the base.  Mine was 12 by 30cm.

 

Spread the mixture evenly, then bake until golden, probably about 15 minutes but keep checking.

 

 

 

Take out of the oven and allow to cool. Whilst still warm, cut the flapjacks into squares or rectangles. Then leave to cool completely.

 

 

 

Full time, Family and Flognarde. A tale about the lack of quality faff in my life.

 

 

 

It's official. Full time work and blogging don't mix, least not in this house where I remember vaguely coming back from France and then it's been a bit of a blur involving my kids, somebody else's kids, the 6am alarm, mountains of marking and very little in the way of what they call quality time. It's been pretty crap to be honest. But I should be pretty grateful for my lot and even though meals have been haphazard, sometimes 'Mum's gone to Iceland' stylee (truly I hate myself, and then I am okay because I have rediscovered my liking for oven chips, fish and beans, with a cup of tea, all is right with the world, even though it isn't a world I am used to) and occasionally I have rustled something up. If I were disciplined I would, at the weekend, be making vats of stews and pies and alsorts of those comfort food offerings which wrap you up like a blanket in about half an hour of bunging them in the oven or stove to heat through, but I haven't, and whilst I hate to get political on an apolitical blog like this, Mr Gove in his divine wisdom is determined to have me work myself into a puddle of green ink and then drown in a sea of what he terms 'outstanding progress' instead of spending quality time in the evening with my children, which, come to think of it might be the root of the problem in the first place. We're all too busy chasing our tails to inflate figures on some spreadsheet somewhere to line somebody else's pockets or to perpetuate some ideological point of view and as a result families become people who just happen to live in the same house because they are too exhausted to try to connect and encourage with each other. Family life can be really quite hard to get right.

Anyway, whilst I move my soap box, I decided to get back to my happy place for this blog entry, which unsurprisingly is French inspired. As well as my filling up of the motorhome with French goodies before crossing the channel, we also brought a couple of carrier bags of Bramleys home, picked straight off the tree from our friend Richard's Perigourdaine orchard.

 

 

 

Motorhome

 

 

 

Apples

 

 

 

Kids on hols!

 

 

 

So, after blanching and freezing some, apples have been the go to for any kind of dessert or pudding that I have tried to rustle up and I decided that something typical of the region would be appropriate. As is usual, I buy a French cookery magazine when I am there because of my insatiable appetite for mooching through recipes and my aim to try and make my French knowledge the best it can be.   I found a recipe for Flognarde, which I will be honest doesn't sound like the most appetising of desserts if you go on name alone, but it is easy to make, tastes lovely and is lacking a pastry crust for those who have fallen out with pastry (sadly, I haven't) So, apple pie and custard without the 'pie' is what I am trying to say, I think!

 

 

Gourmand!

 

The origin of the recipe is from the Perigord region of France, where we stayed for our second week, and I have translated this from the French recipe in this magazine.

 

Warm with a little cream, this was so like the comfort blanket food I have craved just lately. The only way this could have been better is if it had been made for me *leaves recipe on worktop to see if Phill takes the hint*...

 

 

Flognarde, translated and adapted from 'Gourmand' magazine

 

Ingredients:

 

125 g caster sugar, divided.
150 g plain flour
5 eggs
1/2 litre of milk
the seeds of a vanilla pod or a dash of vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon
4 apples (I used medium sized Bramleys)
butter for greasing the dish

 

Method

Preheat the oven to Gas 7 (210 ° C).

Reserve 3 tablespoons of sugar after weighing out the amount of sugar. You will need it for scattering over the finished dish.

In a bowl, work together the flour, sugar, milk and vanilla and then add the eggs, one at a time.

 

 

Butter the dish.

 

 

 

Peel the fruit and cut them into thin slices or little chunks. Put them into the base of the dish.

Pour the batter into the buttered pan. The apples will float to the top.

 

Sprinkle the top of the mixture with the reserved sugar.

Put to bake for about 40 minutes until the custard is set. You might have to cover with foil if the middle seems a bit runny but the top is getting too coloured.

 

 

 

Serve warm, with a little cream if you like. This is also pretty yum next morning for breakfast, even if I do say so myself!

Because I really want to go France: Normandy Pork

It has been too long actually. For someone who has visited France quite regularly it has been three years since I last took a little 'vacances' to a place that I really quite like. Anyway, come the end of the month, we will be wending our way south for a hop across the channel and a few days in Northern France, and whilst arrangements are not quite firmed up just yet, if we end up in Normandy then that will be just fine. Then I will have to brush the cobwebs off my A level French and see if I can get by without resorting to gesticulation and the horror of uttering "Parlez-vous anglais?" Hopefully, all will be well.

So, in premature celebration of our trip, I figured that something a little French might be in order. You will notice that much of my cooking of late has been Spanish or Italian in origin, and the country with the biggest gastronomic gravitas has been neglected somewhat. Here I aim to put it right.

I figure this dish is so called because of its apple content, and Normandy being the place of which I have memories of drinking the local cider and the glorious Calvados. I know that the region is famous for its use of butter and cream, the lush meadows and the happy cows producing the most beautiful dairy fare. Their use in this dish is what makes it so unctuous. In fact, 'unctuous' is the adjective I would use to describe Normandy, if I was being forced to.

Finn, the fussy one, loved this. Lola too, but Lola is easier to please. Getting Finn to eat a new dish without complaint doesn't happen often but in this case it did. I think he just 'got' the appley creaminess of the sauce and he ate the whole lot. He is my harshest critic, and to please him is a bonus!

The recipe is adapted slightly from the one in the brilliant 'Avoca Cafe Cookbook'. An Irish gem of a book...

Normandy Pork, adapted from 'Avoca Cafe Cookbook' by Hugo Arnold and Georgie Glynn Smith

Feeds Mum, Dad, Lola and Finn

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb diced pork (leg or shoulder)

1 tbsp of plain flour, seasoned generously with salt and pepper

2 tbsp butter

a splosh of vegetable oil

2 onions, peeled and diced

2 small to medium cooking apples, peeled and chopped

1/4 pint apple juice

1/2 pint strong chicken stock

1/4 pint of double cream

chopped parsley, to garnish

Method:

Toss the pork in the flour.

Melt the butter and the oil together in a large frying pan or casserole and add the pork in batches and saute until golden brown. Transfer to a plate. When all the pieces are browned, return the meat to the pan.

Add the onions and the apples to the pan and cook on a gentle heat for about 10 minutes or so until the onion is translucent but not coloured and the apple pieces have started to lose a little of their firmness.

Pour in the apple juice, scraping up any residue from the bottom of the pan. Add the stock, and then season up with salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, allowing the meat to cook gently for about an hour or until the meat is tender. If you want to reduce the sauce more at this stage then turn the heat up and boil the sauce to reduce a little.

Stir in the cream before serving and taste the sauce. Adjust the seasoning as required. Stir some parsley into the sauce if you like.

I served this with new potatoes and peas. Il était un excellent repas. J'espère que vous l'essayer!