Blackcurrant, Chocolate and Almond Cake

Last year, when we moved house i was particularly exited as we had several blackcurrant bushes, in the garden. I love blackcurrants, and will always pick them out of the frozen fruit mix, before anything else. My first proper taste of them cooked, without any other fruit,i owe to my aunt who also has several blackcurrant bushes, had cooked them up with a little sugar and served with cream. yum. and yep I'm drooling right now, just thinking about it. 

If your not lucky enough to possess a blackcurrant bush, then making this might be quite difficult.  I find it annoying that blackcurrants aren't sold separately either fresh or frozen, like most other berries. When in season a good market might have them, but your safest bet if you live in the UK it buying them from this website here, which sells frozen blackcurrants all year round, and fresh when in season.

The pairing of the chocolate and the blackcurrants, works well as the slight bitterness from the chocolate works well with the sharpness of the blackcurrants married happily with the nuttiness and sweetness from the almonds.Serve warm with a blob of thick cream or cool until firm, then serve as afternoon tea.

Ingredients

175g butter, plus extra for extra for greasing
175g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
1 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp natural vanilla extract
175g ground almonds
75g good quality dark chocolate, chocolate
100g blackcurrants (weighed without stalks)
icing sugar, to dust

1. preheat oven to 180 °c / gas 4. 
2. grease and line, the bottom and the sides, of large loose bottom cake tin
3. beat butter and sugar together, until light and fluffy
4. gradually beat in eggs, one at a time. (If it threatens to curdle, add the flour)
5. beat in the vanilla extract
6. fold in the almonds and flour (if you haven't already) 
7.stir in the chopped chocolate
8.pour the mixture in the tin
9. sprinkle on the blackcurrants, gently press into the mixture
10.bake for around 40 mins until the cake has puffed up slightly and is golden brown on top
11. leave to cool for 30 mins, remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar
12. serve either warm or cool.

Broad Bean Bruschetta

With the English weather being a pain like normal, i mean seriously just decide whether, its going to be summer for a bit longer, or autumn with the grey skies. I've decided to still think about summer for the moment, as i really dread the dark mornings, and it getting darker much quicker, although autumn fashion is probably the best. So, to hold onto summer, i made broad bean bruschetta.

With the last dregs of a truly french baguette left over, i made a first batch, then had to make some more as it was just so good. On a side note, how amazing is french bread, it just goes dry making it perfect for this, rather than mouldy like the English bread which is totally useless.

This dish made me feel particularly good, as the star ingredient, the broad beans, were from the veggie patch. The mint was also from the garden. The good quality ingredients in this dish, make it taste fresh, and to me 1000 times better as the beans were grown only around 50 meters away.

Unfortunately, as the ingredients were from the garden, i don't know the exact amount, but i recommend to keep tasting, to check how much mint and seasoning ,you want added. I also recommend ,adjusting the garlic on the bread, to how much garlic you like, as i like garlic quite a bit. Also, when i did it the second time i added peas as i didn't have enough broad beans.

ingredients

baguette

4 cloves of garlic

olive oil

broad beans

peas(optional)

lemon juice

mint

salt and pepper

grana padano

1. preheat oven to 180°

2. cut baguette into slices coat generously with oil and crushed garlic.

3. place in oven until golden brown and crisp

4. cook beans until tender

5. lightly mash the beans, stir in finely chopped mint

6. stir in little bit of lemon juice and olive oil

7. taste and season, add more mint if needed

8.place on cooled bruschetta

9.top with finely sliced grana padano

10. enjoy

Croutons

The summer in France has left me, 1. heavier than i left, and 2. craving bruschetta, as we had it most days, using leftover baguette. So, to help both of these issues, i have been eating more salads, than i did on holiday, and making loads of mini bruschettas in the form of croutons.

Its best if you use a sourdough, or baguette type of bread, but as i don't have it often in my house, i just use sliced bread. Plus my bread, has different grains in it, which makes it seem more healthy than it actually is.
I thought for this recipe i would, do it step by step, let me know if you like this style.

1. take sliced bread or baguette,if its dry it works better, but it doesn't really matter.

2. slice into cubes

3. spread evenly on a large baking tray

4. drizzle generously with olive oil, salt and pepper

5. toss until every thing is evenly coated

6. bake until golden and crisp

7. sprinkle on top of salads or soups

8. enjoy. (P.s. in my salad i had lettuce ,mushrooms ,celery, beetroot, peppers, tomatoes, topped with grand padano and a light vinaigrette.)

Whitstable

A bit of a different post from me today. A while back,  my mum decided that it would be a good idea, to to something special for her birthday, so she quickly reserved a place, at one of our favourite seafood restaurants.

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As its the oldest restaurant in the town, its very popular, and the queues for a spare table, often come out the door!

The fish is always delicious, and usually caught in the morning, before being cooked there.The menu also regularly changes depending on whats in season.If you want to view the current menu, check it out here. 

For starters my mum had Roasted scallops,sticky glazed pork belly, baby carrot puree, crackling and smoked apple sauce(excuse her hand she just couldn't wait!).

My dad, had the classic seaside starter of 1/2 dozen rocky oysters with lemon.

My sisters and i, all ordered the wheeleers mezee, Wheelers home smoked prawns with lime, chilli and garlic. Wheelers smoked and hand carved salmon with warm walnut bread, potted curried crab, slip sole goujons, crispy squid with chilli, spring onion and coriander with a sweet chilli dipping sauce.It was AMAZING. I can almost guarantee myself, ordering this again, if they didn't change their menu seasonally.

The restaurant is very small, and simply decorated with mismatched chairs, and sea related objects.

For her main, my sister ordered, Sea bass baked with a piquiu pepper purree and parma ham, chorizo and salt cod bon bons served with a roast pepper and gazpacho mayonnaise, smoked paprika crisps and textures of sweetcorn.

My mum and dad both ordered, pan fried sea trout, silky horseradish mash, sweet and sour beets, goats cheese and courgette flower tempura, tender stem broccoli, avocado and wasabi puree and breakfast radish salad.

I ordered the cod, roasted with a tomato and basil pesto crust, with a sweet pea, broad bean and goats cheese salad finished with tempura of stuffed courgette flower and drizzled with mint oil. Delicious, especially the courgette flower, and which was partly why i chose it, as i love courgette flowers, but can't do them myself, so always have to order them when i see them on the menu.

After lunch we wandered around (quite slowly as our bellies were so full). Whitstable has some very pretty independent shops, not to mention an independent old sweet shop, which unfortunately was closed this time, but when its open is usually filled with children and adults alike. 

We then headed down to the sea, and dipped our toes in the water and, admired the view and calmness of the whole area.

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Blackberry, Lime and Elderflower drizzle slice

For me the harvest of blackberries, usually signals the end of summer. As the the blue skies disappear, and the grey skies filled with rain, arrive.To be really honest, all i really feel like doing is snuggling into bed, but when there is a break in the weather i try to make the most of not being at school, or now college(man that sounds so weird!), and create something summery, to at least convince my taste buds that its still summer.

 

This was sooooo delicious, that i ate 6 slices in one day, and i never normally eat that much cake in one day. Its an interesting alternative to lemon drizzle, and doesn't dry out, due to the water content in the blackberries. Its a great edition to a picnic, as the sugar on top glistens in the sun, and is a lot easier to transport than a normal sized cake.

This recipe uses polenta, which gives it an interesting texture, that is quite crumbly, but moist at the same time,and lets the blackberries evenly disperse through the sponge. The drizzle part is the best, and marries everything together with the early spring flavours, from the elderflower, and the autumnal flavours, with the blackberries.

Ingredients
225g self-raising flour
75g polenta
250g butter
250g caster sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 limes, zest and juice
2 tbsp milk
150g blackberries
100ml elderflower cordial
6 tbsp granulated sugar

1.beat butter and sugar together 
2.beat in eggs one at a time, adding in flour if it starts to curdle
3.fold in dry ingredients alternatively with the liquids.
4.place in a pre lined tin
5.scatter with blackberries
6.place in pre-heated oven at 180°, for 30mins
7.mix together the elderflower cordial, granulated sugar,and the zest of a lime and juice of half of lime. spoon over hot cake, cool in tin before serving.

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