Apple Cake

Apple and Cinnamon cake

I have a glut of apples on the allotment this year, especially the cookers, so I'm going through recipes trying to use them up. I came across this on the Internet, made a few alterations, and it has turned out well -so I though that I'd share.

Ingredients

• 500g of apples -peeled cored and chopped
• 125 ml sunflower oil
• 275g plain flour 
• 2 eggs
• 200g of soft brown sugar
• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tsp bicarb
• 2tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt

Cooking time ~50 min

 Method
  
Grease and flour a 20 * 20 c.m. tin, put the oven on at 180 C. Peel core and dice the apples. Beat the eggs and oil together until a bit frothy, they aren't going to foam. Add the rest of the ingredients, bar the apple, to the mixer and combine together until smooth (ish). The mixture will be pretty stiff at this point. Add the apples, I had the Kenwood going at 1 for this -some of the apples get squashed which loosens up the mixture. Turn out into the tin, levelling off the top and working the mixture into the corners.

Bake for 30 mins, try it with a skewer (you could try it with a Skua, but it will be noisy and the RSPB will hate you). I found that it needed more time so I knocked the heat down to 160 C and it needed 15 - 20 mins, but I got a cake that was just right in texture and not burnt on top.

Variations
Mixed spice, might be nice, or some ginger -perhaps the syrup from stem ginger?
You could add sultanas.
It would probably stand some treacle.
Change the apples -my cookers aren't Bramleys, they are Monarchs -which aren't as sharp as a Bramley and they hold their shape better -hence the chunks in the cake. I would recommend them as a tree for anyone wanting a cooker as you can buy Bramleys anywhere. Mine came from Adams Apples.

Pumpkin Soup

I normally try and grow a few pumpkins on the allotment for Halloween, and any spares can be made into soup for Guy Fawkes, and frozen for the rest of the winter. This year I was able to use the stock from boiling up a gammon (sometimes it's too salty) -I generally make this with apple juice as well as water and it made a good soup great.

Recipe :
1.5 lbs (675g) pumpkin flesh
2 large onions
8oz carrots
1 can chopped tomatoes
juice of a lemon
4oz red lentils
3.5 pints stock
pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste
0.5 pint milk (optional)

chop and fry the onions and carrots until the onions are soft, add the rest of the ingredients (except the milk), bring to the boil and then turn down the heat, put the lid on the pan and simmer for half an hour or so until the veg and lentils are soft. I then blend it using in the pan using one of those wand blenders. If you are planning to eat the soup straight away then you can add the milk now (if wanted, it makes the sooup taste smoother) and reheat, otherwise you can leave it until you are ready to eat it -a dash in a microwaved mug full works just as well.

Cooking Stock.

I'm tight, so I really like making stock as a by product from cooking other things. Generally I make it from the remains of chicken, turkey at Christmas and you can sometimes get away with ham too, although it can be too salty. Anything with bones will do though, except maybe lamb (soon after I wrote this I came across a recipe needing lamb stock).

Stock recipe make around 1 litr/2 pints :

• Chicken carcass
• 1 Carrot, cut into 2 or 3 pieces.
• 1 onion, quartered. (Or leek tops if you've been cooking leeks)
• 3 cloves
• 4 -6 peppercorns
• 3 cardamon pods (optional)
• herbs -parsley, thyme, bay rosemary, anything that you've got. (Parsley stalks are good too)

Break up the carcass, place in a pan -it should be a snug fit, add the above and then water to cover. Bring the stock up to a simmer on a low heat and keep it on a slow simmer for a couple of hours. I stick the oven gloves on the pan lid as a bit of insulation. Turn the ring off and leave to cool. I decant the stock into jugs and chill it so that any fat solidifies on the top and can be scraped off.

That's it, either use it or freeze until ready, great for soups, casseroles, risottos &c.

Making Yoghurt

How easy is this! 

Recipe :
1 pt milk (I use semi-skimmed)
1 tbsp milk powder
1 tbsp yoghurt (Natural yoghurt either saved from the last batch or bought new. Must be 'live')

Put milk into a pan, stir in milk powder, bring to boil. Once it has come to the boil let the milk cool down to body temperature (it should feel slightly warm) and stir in the yoghurt. Leave in a warm place overnight and it should be set in the morning.

I have been using the piece of culinary archaeology above, you can put warm water in the base to help things along, but you can just use a jug or get a fancy yoghurt maker. Since it's been really cold I have been thinking of using a plant propagator, as even our airing cupboard doesn't get warm enough.