MsMarmiteLover

Chocolate and violet cake

2019-04-01T10:00:00.000+01:00

When I started my supper club back in 2009, sparking a movement of home restaurants and pop-ups around the UK, I had to make some sacrifices. I gave up my living room, my TV and my comfy sofas to turn it into a 'restaurant'. Now I have 3 long tables down the centre, a side board with cutlery and glasses, the general paraphenalia of a restaurant. In the middle, a marble chimney place with a log fire adds a humming warmth to wintery events.

But this chef needs a comfortable seat at the end of a 16 hour day. I have ordered a purple 'Wilfred' sofa from Out and Out Original. which has a high back that is ideal for sitting in front of the log fire, keeping out the draughts. Its winged shape alludes to the Edwardian era, when my flat was built. I like a blend of vintage and vibrantly new, so this shade of lavender is just the ticket.

In baking I like to use floral flavours. This recipe combines violet, in the form of crystallised petals, sugar and sugared balls, with chocolate. Perfect for Easter! It's quite an adult cake in that I'm using dark chocolate, but use milk chocolate if you would like a sweeter confection.

Chocolate violet cake recipe

Serves 10

Equipment:

2 x 20cm round cake tins
Baking parchment or quick release spray

Ingredients:

For the cake:
250g dark chocolate, broken up into pieces
300g salted butter, room temperature
2tsp vanilla paste
325g light brown sugar
6 large eggs
250g plain flour

For the buttercream interior:
500g icing sugar
250g salted butter
1 or 2tbsp milk

For the ganache exterior:
300g dark chocolate
150ml double cream

Decoration:
4tbsp violet sugar
A handful of candied violet petals
A few Violet sugar balls/pearls

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160C.
Grease and line the cake sandwich tins.
Melt the chocolate in a microwave (only 30 seconds at a time, we don't want the chocolate to seize) or in a bowl over a pan of hot water (the bain marie method).
Combine the butter, sugar and vanilla in a stand mixer until fluffy.
Gradually add the 6 eggs one at a time, beating in between each addition.
Add the melted chocolate and continue to beat.
Pour in half the flour, combining lightly.
Add the rest of the flour.
Divide between the 2 tins, around 700g each.
Bake for 45 minutes.
Remove the cake tins from the oven and let them cool.

For the buttercream:
Beat the butter until fluffy, then add the icing sugar. Add a little milk to loosen.

For the ganache:
Melt the chocolate and cream together in the microwave (30 seconds at a time) or use the bain marie method. Stir until well combined.

Putting together the cake:
With a sharp serrated knife, thinly slice off the top of each cake so that they fit together. If the sides are uneven, use the knife to trim round.
Use a palette knife or butter knife to spread the buttercream to sandwich together the chocolate cakes.
Use a thin layer of the buttercream to spread a 'crumb coat' over the rest of the cake, doing the sides first so you can spin it around by holding the top. Add the 'crumb coat' to the top. A crumb coat is a very thin layer of icing or buttercream that allows the second coat to adhere.
Finally, using the palette knife, spread the ganache over the sides and top of the cake.
Leave the ganache to dry for a few minutes, then scatter the violet sugar over the top of the cake.
Add the crystallised violets around the cake.
Stud the sides with the violet pearls.
Optional: add a large purple flower to the middle of the cake.

5 ways to cook Brussels sprouts

2018-12-24T10:30:00.000+00:00

There are many different ways to cook sprouts, my favourite method is braising, that is par-boiling in salty water for five minutes then transferring them into a frying pan to sauté. This recipe is so delicious that I must confess to scoffing the lot, by myself, in one sitting. I do like to combine Brussels sprouts with some kind of nut, whether chestnuts, pine nuts or pistachios. Nuts add a creamy earthiness that works well with the sulphurously sweet green of sprouts.

I've been told there is a genetic component to whether you like Brussels sprouts or not. Fortunately I like them.

Braised Brussels Sprouts recipe

500g Brussels sprouts, trimmed
1tsp sea salt

40ml extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
Half a glass of white wine
A handful of pistachio nibs
Zest of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan on a medium heat, cover the Brussels Sprouts with boiling water and sea salt.
Boil for five minutes only then strain. Prepare a frying pan, on a low to medium heat. Tip in the sprouts, then add the garlic. Stir for a few minutes then add the wine.
Sauté for a few minutes, then add the pistachio nibs. Finally add the lemon zest and season to taste.
Can be prepared in advance and covered with foil or reheated. But this dish is at its best served hot immediately.

Roast Brussels Sprouts on a stem

In Norfolk you see Brussels sprouts 'walking sticks' sold at the roadside. Sometimes I just roast the sticks whole. Click on this link to see the recipe.

BBQ Brussels sprouts on a skewer

This is a good recipe for people down under who are having their Christmas dinner in the middle of summer. Australia is known for Christmas on the beach but in South Africa, even further south, they will spark up the braai (Afrikaans for BBQ). Hence a BBQ recipe for Brussels sprouts!

Depending on how fresh your Brussels sprouts are, you can pre-cook them in salty boiling water for five minutes or microwave them briefly, in order to soften them. If very fresh, you can BBQ or grill the sprouts directly.

6 bamboo skewers, soaked in cold water for at least half an hour before cooking

500g fresh Brussels sprouts, small size or if large, cut in half

3tbsp olive oil

1tbsp honey

1tbsp red wine vinegar

1 fresh red chilli, finely chopped or dried chilli flakes

Salt

While soaking the skewers, toss the sprouts in a large bowl with the olive oil, honey, vinegar, chilli and salt.

Leave for half an hour to marinate.

Place the sprouts on the soaked skewers and place on the BBQ, turning every few minutes to make sure they are evenly grilled and slightly charred all around.

Serve hot on the skewers.

Purple Brussels sprouts

You can reduce the cabbagey taste of sprouts by cooking them in wine. I do them in both white wine and red wine. I've used both purple and green Brussels sprouts, just to add colour and exoticism to a vegetable that is often regarded as a tad dull.

4 shallots, diced

50g salted butter

1 bay leaf

clove of garlic, minced

400g Brussels sprouts, bottoms trimmed, cut in half

A glass of white/red wine

3 tbsp of pine nuts or slivered almonds (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a medium saucepan, fry the shallots in the butter until soft, add the bay leaf and garlic then the sprouts. Add the wine, a glass or more cooking until the Brussels sprouts are tender.

Pasta with Brussels Sprouts tops

Don't forget the tops - the large cabbagey head at the top of the sticks. These can be cooked like cabbage or kale. Here I sautéed the finely chopped leaves with chilli, garlic, and almonds.

Serves 4 to 6

500g spaghetti
1 tbsp sea salt
3tbsp olive oil for frying
2 Brussels sprouts tops, sliced finely into ribbons
1 red chilli, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Handful of blanched almonds
Salt and pepper
Extra virgin olive oil for dressing

Cook the spaghetti in boiling salty water till al dente.
In the meantime, fry the Brussels sprouts tops, chilli and garlic in the olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper. At the end sling in the almonds.
Drain the pasta and toss with the vegetables, adding a little more olive oil to serve.

My next supper club is on New Year's Eve. The theme is Hogmanay and the Outlander books/TV programme. I plan to serve home cured and smoked salmon, Cullen Skink soup, oatcakes and various other First Footing goodies. Bring your own champagne and whisky. Price £75.

Tickets here.

British weekend trips: Durham and County Durham

2018-12-07T16:13:00.001+00:00

Since the Brexit vote and the resulting downturn in the value of the pound, I've been spending more time in the UK. This year I took acid for the first time in Cornwall (oh yeah forgot to mention that in the post), drank whisky in Oban, floated about on the Norfolk Broads, ate vegan in Stockport, ate puddings in Aberdeenshire, and walked around Winchester (to come). In early September I finally visited the city of Durham.

Durham is famous for the cathedral, the Hogwarts courtyard, Saint Cuthbert, The Venerable Bede (religious historian), the mines, the university, and the North Sea.

Durham Cathedral, the historic town and Miner's galas.

A tenth and eleventh century Anglo-Saxon church, Durham Cathedral has been used for both interior and exterior shots of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter film franchise. Behind the altar it houses the remains of Saint Cuthbert, a seventh century patron saint of Northern England. If you watched The Last Kingdom TV series, Cuthbert was one of the saints revered by Alfred The Great, and a symbol of a united England.

In the seventh and eight centuries, the 'Venerable' Bede wrote a history of the English which included St. Cuthbert. He taught and translated christian concepts to the Anglo-Saxons during the so-called 'Dark Ages'. It was Bede's idea to use the prefixes 'BC' (Before Christ) for dating history. His relics are also buried at the cathedral.

Practical tip: if you are driving to Durham, you need to park in one of the municipal carparks as the historic centre is paved. I know, I tried. There is no parking in the city.

The weather was drizzly in typical Northern England style. There are crooked streets, rain lashed cobbled paving, leaded glass windows distorted by time, little wooden shops and doorways. The cathedral and the castle are set upon a steep wooded peninsula, the river Wear coiled around the city. This is a characterful university town.

Once a year, in July, Durham hosts the Miner's Gala, a nod to the long tradition of mines and worker's unions in County Durham. You can see a colliery banner in the cathedral. Coal was mined from medieval times, but many were shut down after World War 2. The death of mining was hastened in the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher and last Durham mine closed in 1994.

Gardens and tearooms

On the outskirts of Durham, I visited the 13th century Crook Hall, a medieval house and gardens that has been refurbished by the Bell family. Despite the rain, the gardens were particularly beautiful, with outdoor 'rooms' displaying an apple orchard, a herb garden, statuary, wild sections and a maze you could actually get lost in.

The house was atmospherically spooky, real fires and candles were lit, and I'm sure I felt the prickling presence of a ghost. You can wander around the different rooms from the medieval hall, the Jacobean and Georgian rooms. At the bottom of the maze, I enjoyed a hefty afternoon tea with home-made cakes at the Garden Gate Café. That's the thing about the North, they don't muck about when it comes to portions.

Stotties and Seaham

The North Sea is rough, cold and wild. Seaham is one of those old-style British seaside resorts where you will need an anorak in the middle of summer. I ate a Durham 'stottie', a kind of bread roll with a vegetarian sausage for breakfast at the Seaton Lane Inn.

Sea Glass

Seaham is famous for 'sea glass', a legacy from housing Britain's largest bottle factory. The broken bottles are tumbled about in the rough seas, and end up as delicately coloured glass pebbles of varying sizes, usually in turquoise, jade green, blue, yellow and occasionally pink or red. Sea glass collecting is a world-wide hobby, and I saw quite a few families bent over and sifting through the gravel.

The Northern Powerhouse?

The parade of shops in Seaham seemed to date from the 1960s: ice cream parlours, old fashioned sweet shops - windows crammed with tall confectionary jars which you buy by weight - and all-purpose stores which sell both wool and newspapers, fruit and veg.

I did see poverty though, evident in people hanging around the streets and the run-down nature of local housing. This is a Brexit voting area and I could see why. People looked unemployed, many of the shops sold second-hand goods. Government spending has halved since 2010 and the transport budget for the North East of England is five times less than London.

Luxury hotels and gourmet food in County Durham

Rockcliffe Hall

But there is money in the North East, evident when I stayed at the rather grand Rockliffe Hall, a few kilometres south of Durham. There is a spa, a golf course and a very good restaurant L'Orangery, in a greenhouse-style dining room. I ate one of the best tasting menus I've ever had, despite the fact that, and believe me this is a rare accolade, it was vegetarian. The kitchen is headed by chef Richard Allen, much of the produce is picked from the kitchen garden at Rockcliffe Hall. Allen and his team are doing all the pickles and fermentations so influenced by current food trends, but, and this is the point, they are doing it very well.

A tasting menu costs £80 and the wine pairing costs £60. The food was accompanied by an original and interesting wine selection by charismatic Swedish sommelier Daniel Jonberger.

I increasingly think going for the wine pairing in posh restaurants is a good idea, even if only one of you has it. (I did this at The Ledbury, and shared my tasting glasses with the rest of my table, bit cheeky but they were fine with it). In this way you get to try a variety of interesting wines that you would never pick yourself - it expands your knowledge - the sommelier will explain them all- and costs you less in the end.

Seaham Hall

After my wild walk along the brisk sea front, I visit the elegant 18th century Seaham Hall, which has had a rather checkered history: it's been Lord Byron's family home, a military hospital, a whisky bottlers, a tuberculosis sanitarium and is now a five star spa and hotel. Sadly I didn't get a chance to stay there but I did have a delicious Pan-Asian lunch. I was surrounded by posh Mackem or Geordie women at the other tables, done up to the nines, while wearing white towelling bathrobes. Women from the North East of England are very beautiful: all chiselled features and silhouettes, influenced, I'm sure, by their Viking heritage.

I was hosted by Visit Durham.