vegetarian

Let there be cake…

~ hannahmontana1978 ~ 2 Comments

I’ll be honest, I’ve never really been a cake genius, it’s something that has always sort of scared me. I’m much more of a savoury kind of girl anyway. Give me a choice between a bar of dairy milk or a packet of Quavers, I’m Quavers all the way. You’re one or the other don’t you think?

Anyway, I have a couple of friends who are seriously brilliant cake makers. You know who you are ladies. Decorating and everything – the full works. Their brilliance never ceases to amaze me. So whenever they bring cake, I’m always the one trundling behind with my home-made quiche. But nobody really raves much about quiche do they? Although to be fair mine is pretty good (modest), I’ve had a bit of practice. Even my mum likes it and she doesn’t like eggs. Hmmmm maybe I’ll have to do a little blog-ette about quiche. But for now:

Let there be cake!

So I went to quite an old-fashioned school where we were taught how to make a skirt in textiles class and we could all cook a three course meal by the age of 11 but when I left there, I didn’t even know how to turn on a computer and I don’t remember anything much about actual cake.

My nan was always a bread pudding and fairy cake baker but I don’t remember her making layered cakes. But I am obsessed by bake off (aren’t we all) and it led me to think I really ought to master the basics. Turns out I’m not the only one who finds proper baking just a little bit daunting. See the thing is, I’m more of an ‘intuitive’ cook shall we say. A maker-upper. I’m not really one for getting out a book and measuring a quarter of a teaspoon here and five grams there. But when you bake, it’s all about the science and that’s important.

I remember when I was a child going to the lady next door who I used to call Auntie Phyllis. She was so lovely and one of those ladies who always seemed to smell of cake whenever you saw her. I remember her showing me that the best way to make a sponge was always to weigh your eggs then go from there. Then it was just the same in SR flour, sugar and butter. See, that’s my kind of recipe.

So last year I decided I really ought to master the whole cake thing again at the ripe old age of 36. There are a few little tricks I’ve been shown by different people along the way so here is my totally foolproof way to make a sponge. It’s then easy to modify if you want to do a different flavour of any kind.

So:

Start with three big eggs, or four smaller ones. Weigh them in their shells… These btw are Jimmy eggs. Hubby has a friend called Jim with chooks and they’re laying lots right now – the fresher the better without a doubt. And I cannot hold in my unending love for an egg that doesn’t come with a date stamped on it.

Once you know your egg weight, weigh out exactly the same in SR flour and sugar and butter. If I don’t have enough butter, I use a bit of olive spread, it’s absolutely fine to do that. The butter needs to be soft (the total opposite of pastry grrrrr) so either leave it out of the fridge for an hour before you start or you can do a sneaky cheeky and pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften.

Whip your butter and sugar together thoroughly, I have a KitchenAid mixer but you can do it by hand if you like. Then break your eggs into a jug and whip them well. Add a spoonful of self raising flour from your weighed out amount to stop the egg curdling and mix it all for a minute. Then sieve your flour in and mix that in with a metal spoon. That’s it. Nothing more to it. No jiggery pokery, no magic spells.

I use cake tins with loose bottoms as they have sides which go straight up and make better looking sponge cakes. If you use the fixed based ones then the sides go up at an angle and your Victoria sponge will look a bit like a flying saucer. (I was so proud of my very first Victoria sponge last year and then one of my friends said it looked like a flying saucer. I was utterly mortified and bought new tins the same day.) Line your base with grease proof paper and grease the paper and the sides of both tins.

Question: Do you put the tins on your greaseproof paper, draw around them and then cut them out? Want an easier and much more fun way to do it? See below… Just measure one whole width by eye so you have a square that’s the correct diameter, then fold, fold and fold again. Then cut the gentlest of curves at the top and unravel the origami and you will have a circle. I find this so quick and it makes me chuckle. It’s tempting to make a snowflake though I’ll warn you so rein yourself in peeps.


        

Drumroll….

Just like that!! (Tommy Cooper voice)

So pop your sponge mix in your tins, I use a plastic spatula to get everything out of the bowl. I quickly pop each tin on the scales to see I’ve got roughly the same amount of mix in each. Then give each one a gentle bang on the worktop to get any air bubbles out. Stick them in a pre heated oven about 180 for about 25 mins but as with anything all ovens are a bit different so just watch them and when they’re done, they’re done. Should be a nice golden even colour and if you stick a skewer it should come out clean.

Then let them cool. That’s the hard part.

This one is going to get some homemade lemon curd a patient brought me and some whipped double cream as its a bank holiday treat.  I most often just put a generous layer of homemade raspberry jam in though. That’s your traditional village fete style Victoria sponge. And then icing sugar of course, hovvering over with my teeny tiny sieve. Which. Hides. A. Multitude. Of. Cake. Sins.

Drumroll. Taaaaaa-daaaaah! (I say that a lot) She’s a thing of great beauty, I’m not going to be bashful about it.


Go on, have a go. Don’t be shy. It’s nothing to be scared of. Unlike spiders. They are to be terrified of. But cakes, they’re just pussycats.

Happy cake-ing one and all.

So I’m a bit of a maker-upper…

~ hannahmontana1978 ~ Leave a comment

Do you remember green peppers and red tomatoes on the TV show called Ready, Steady, Cook? Simply brilliant. I loved it because it taught you how to use what ever you had in the cupboards and the fridge to make a delightful meal. Then when I went to work in the kitchens at the first pub I worked in at 18 years old, the chef there changed the menu every day entirely dependent on the ingredients he had. Great lessons indeed.

So then moving to halls of residence at university, by the end of the week nobody had any food left except for a few scraps here and there and I’d take great pleasure in cobbling together something from whatever people had left and making a meal for everybody.

Have you seen the episode of friends where Rachel accidentally puts mince in a trifle? And Joey devours the lot? I love that because it is entirely my ethos on cooking. If you like every raw ingredient in your meal, then what’s not to like in the final article?

What’s not to like? – Joey Tribiani

There are no ready meals in this house, and I only ever buy raw ingredients so sometimes yes there are some very odd combinations, but sometimes they really are the best discoveries and become regulars at the supper table. Last night was no exception.

So you know what it is like when you are on your way home after a full day at work and you have an idea of what you will make for dinner? Always nice to have an idea so you can just crack on. You open the cupboard and the one main ingredient you thought you had (my butternut squash) you realise you’ve used on Sunday. Back to square one and you have a rather old mother Hubbard situation going on right now until the Ocado Man comes on Friday. Oh, and only an hour to prepare, cook and eat before you have to be out to crochet class.

So. Cue music maestro.

She’s a bit of a maker-upper 🎶

So I raid the fridge and come up with two sweet potatoes and two onions (staples that last forever so these are great for meals like this) so chop them up and stick them in a big pan and start to cook them off. Then onto the cupboards and I find a tin of tomatoes and some kidney beans. Hang on, did I see some left over sweetcorn in the fridge? Right, in you all go as well. So it’s a chilli-esque type affair. Ok. Raid herb cupboard. Cumin, coriander, chilli and smoked paprika. Pinch of salt. Ooh and a squeeze of ketchup, that’s one of my super secrets. I was taught that by an Indian chef once. And that’s it. No recipe. No measuring. No take away. All things we like to eat. Let it bubble! Taste it, hmmm I spy garlic on the side, chuck a couple of cloves in.


No time to cook rice, I know, couscous will work! A great tip I learnt while out in San Francisco is to always make it with stock not just boiling water, totally gives you a better flavour and after years of eating it really quite blandly, this was a total revelation.  Ok so then I quite randomly find a couple of tortilla wraps at the bottom of the breadbin which appear to still be alive and I realise that one of my recent Amazon purchases is sat waiting for me to try it out. Total impulse buy but it was only a few pounds and after last night I’ve no idea how I lived without these in my life before.


Little tins you can put a tortilla wrap into and bake…

So if this doesn’t work then I am pretty stuffed as I need to leave the house in around 10 minutes now… So, into the oven goes the wrap while I quickly get changed. I come downstairs and abracadabra, magic has been a happening in my oven.

So onto the plate goes the baked wrap, a little bit of couscous inside, some sweet potato chilli and then a little grated chilli cheese on top.

I cannot put into words how deliciously triumphant this was. Husband absolutely loved it too. Totally made up. Totally veggie, in fact vegan if you leave off the cheese. Totally hearty, filling and made from store cupboard staples in half an hour flat.

If all you ever do is buy raw ingredients that you know you enjoy, what’s not to like?!!!

Go on, have a go. You don’t even need a recipe.

Can she have wafer thin ham Barbara? 

~ hannahmontana1978 ~ Leave a comment

Seriously the phrase of the century from Nanna in the Royle family. As a vegetarian for almost thirty years now, it’s my experience that this does still epitomise many people’s vision of a veggie… My own darling Nanna once presented me with a quiche Lorraine and said she’d left the ham nice and chunky so I could pick it out if I wanted.

But the seas are now changing. More people are coming around to either being a full time ‘vegetable-arian’ as my best friend calls me, or indeed a part time one, eating veggie a few nights a week. The health benefits are well documented and even Jamie Oliver is championing it now, which I was overjoyed to see this week.

What I desperately want people to realise is that eating veggie is not boring, it’s not dull, and you absolutely don’t need to be scared when you accidentally invite one to your dinner party. I’ve had several panicked phone calls over the years from people saying ‘I’ve invited The Jones’ for dinner and it turns out she’s a blasted vegetarian? What on earth am I going to give her? Salad??!!!’ It’s very easy and simple to make a veggie version of many family favourites.

My darling hairdresser became a veggie last year and no joke, he told me he’s eaten pasta every day for the last twelve months as he doesn’t know what else to do… I’m forever writing out my own cobbled together recipes for people, I’ve been told I need to write a book. That’s on the back burner for now, or my to-do list as it’s also known.

It is possible to be a vegetarian foodie you know…

Why oh why do I still see restaurants with a non existent vegetarian offering? You might lose a booking of ten people if one is a veggie and there’s nothing they can eat, they’ll book somewhere else for everyone. Come on people, get with the program here. And something more than a mushroom stroganoff thank you please. Oh and no I absolutely don’t want tagliatelle on a Sunday when everyone else is eating roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding.

So over the coming months I am going to share with you some of my most favourite veggie recipes. Ones that even my carnivorous comrades request over and over when they visit. And things that you can make in no time at all. This is fast food at its best and ready in less time than it takes for you to go and pick up a take away.

Eat veggie one, or two, or every day of the week, the choice is yours. Try it, you might like it 😉