O Level English Literature update: the short story collection

Short stories are not as popular as they used to be... in fact I can think of just a couple of modern collections I have read in the last few years (by Ian McEwan and Sebastian Faulkes I think). For some reason we didn't study any poetry for O level (no Shakespeare either... more on that in due course), but instead read this collection of short stories compiled especially for the exam board in 1977.
I enjoyed rereading Notes For a Case History by Doris Lessing - a story of a young woman who aims to rise about her working class roots but doesn't quite succeed. And An Old Woman and her Cat is the timeless tale of an independent old woman who falls between the cracks of the welfare state. Her adopted cat fares slightly better... but not for long. Re-reading these stories reminded me that I used to love Doris Lessing's writing, especially her science fiction series Canopus in Argos... my copies have long since been taken to the charity shop alas.
I also loved re-familiarising myself with two Jazz Age stories from F Scott Fitzgerald. But why did it take me so long to read The Great Gatsby? I must have been 30 before I read it for the first time.
I enjoyed re-reading Winter Cruise by Somerset Maugham, a lively tale of a middle-aged woman who finds love on a cruise... I never progressed with any other of his novels as far as I can remember.
Interestingly, William Sansom is a writer I am planning to discover. He is best known now for his stories of WW2 London (he was a fireman during the Blitz) and featured in The Love Charm of Bombs, a fascinating account of writers in wartime London by Laura Feigel, which I greatly enjoyed

O level English Literature revisited...

Many Septembers ago I embarked on O level English literature. After seeing the wonderful production of Arthur Miller's The Crucible at the Old Vic last year, I thought it would be fun to revisit these books over the course of an academic year.

 

Some have remained great favourites of mine. I re-read The Old Wives' Tale every few years... and My Family and Other Animals has remained a firm favourite over the years.

 

Firstly I am re-reading the collection of short stories Four Modern Short Story Tellers, containing tales from F Scott Fitzgerald, William Sansom, Somerset Maugham and Doris Lessing. I will report on progress. Wish me luck!  

Two recent cakes that have gone down very well

I have been quite busy baking recently.  Here are two recipes that went down well with my testers: the St Mary’s Finedon choir and my ex- NCT working mums’ group. They are both extremely easy.  Enjoy!

Torta Caprese – a delicious Italian chocolate cake which is gluten free. The recipe is courtesy of Sophie Grigson – one of my favourite food writers (along with her mother Jane).

 

Line the base and sides of a 23 cm spring form cake tin with baking parchment and pre-heat the oven to 180 C (slightly lower for a fan oven like mine).

Process 200g of dark chocolate in a food processor until finely chopped. I used an Aldi version with 50% cocoa solids… no need to spend a fortune.

Separate four eggs. Beat the yolks with 175g caster sugar in a large bowl using a Kenwood Chef or electric mixer until the mixture is pale and thick. Fold in the chopped chocolate, 250g ground almonds and 200g of butter which has been melted and cooled somewhat and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Whisk the egg whites in a Kenwood Chef – or with a hand electric mixer until they form stiff peaks and fold into the chocolate mixture.

Spoon into the prepared cake tin and bake for about  50 minutes until just firm. Cool in the tin. Dust with icing sugar before serving with a blob of crème fraiche or single cream.

 

Banana and fruit cake

This recipe was torn out of a newspaper where it was entitled “a picnic cake”… I can’t credit the source. It is delicious.

 

Line a 20cm spring form cake tin or 1kg loaf tin with one of those clever baking parchment liners (from Lakeland or John Lewis). Preheat the oven to 180 C (slightly lower for a fan oven like mine).

Beat together in a Kenwood Chef three ripe bananas (mashed); 225g SR flour; 100g soft margarine (I swear by Stork); 2 eggs; and 150g caster sugar until very light. Then stir in a total of  225g of mixed dried fruit. I used 50g of cherries, 50g of mixed peel and the rest a mixture of cranberries, currents and sultanas… just use whatever you have.

Spooj into the prepared tin and bake for about an hour until a metal skewer poked into the middle comes out clean.

Remove from the tin and dust with icing sugar once cool.

 

Easy strawberry and mango jam - using frozen fruit

This is one of the best jams I have made so far. Simply defrost a 500g pack of Tesco frozen strawberries and a 500g pack of Tesco frozen mango chunks and add to a large pan. Heat gently then add 1kg of jam sugar (the kind with pectin added) and the juice and rind of two limes. Bring to the boil, stirring all the time and simmer until setting point is reached.

There are various ways of determining when this happens: the temperature will reach more than 105 degrees C if you like a more scientific approach. Alternatively add a spoonful of jam to a saucer that has been chilling in the freezer for a few minutes. If the jam surface wrinkles as it cools then it is set.

Once you have made jam a few times you will know when it is ready. The appearance of the jam transforms magically - looking glassy and mysterious, like church windows. Once ready add a slug of Cointreau (helps to preserve the jam and adds flavour too).

Pot the jam in the usual way. That is put six small clean jam jars and lids in a low oven for a few minutes. Lift them out carefully and put on layers of tea towel as they will be hot. Ladle in the jam - with the help of a jam funnel if you have one (available from Wilkinsons, Robert Dyas, Lakeland etc) until full to the top. Then put on the lid immediately and tighten. Allow to cool then store in a cool place. Once open store in the fridge.

Bubbling away...

Brownie pudding cake

This is by far the best of the all-in-one chocolate pudding recipes I have tried…. The sort that separates into a light sponge atop a gooey sauce on baking.

It is incredibly low in fat as it contains no eggs and just a little oil. You can use skimmed milk, of course. I am sure it will work with soya milk too, making this a lovely vegan or dairy-free treat.

This comes from my American cookbook “The  Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book” – so uses cup measures (240ml).

I have changed the recipe somewhat by adding a hint of coffee which accentuates the chocolate flavour.

Grease a deep 20cm round ovenproof dish with a little oil. Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C.

In a medium bowl mix 1 cup of SR flour; ¾ cup white sugar; and 2 tbsp cocoa. Stir in ½ cup milk; 2 tbsp corn oil; and 1tsp vanilla extract.  Stir in ½ cup chopped walnuts. The mixture will be very thick. Spoon into the prepared dish.

In a small bowl stir together ¾ cup soft brown sugar; ¼ cup cocoa powder; 1sp instant coffee; and 1 ½ cups of boiling water until well-blended. Pour over the cake mixture. It will look somewhat odd, but DON’T PANIC.

Bake for about 45 mins until risen and firm on top.

Serve with single cream and mini-eggs (as we did on Easter Sunday). It is also delicious with salted caramel ice cream.

A Good Northamptonshire Pudding

I was flicking through Florence White's Good Things in Britain (see Amazon link ) when I noticed a recipe for Northamptonshire pudding. Aha, I thought... this is a new one on me.

The recipe makes enough for a complete factory of clickers (local joke) so thought I would google for another variant. This one comes from the Northampton Museum's blog. Apparently they were given a Northamptonshire Federation of Women's Institutes' recipe book from 1933. This excellent pudding was contributed by the good ladies of Cogenhoe.

This is my modern variant...

Put 2oz stork margarine, 4 oz SR flour, 3 oz castor sugar and 2 eggs in the Kenwood Chef and whizz until light and fluffy. Stir in (by hand ) 1tbsp of raspberry jam.

Grease a 1pt pudding basin and put another 1tbsp of raspberry jam at the bottom. Add the pudding mixture and cover with a greaseproof circle and a foil cover secured with string.

Steam for 2 hours (I use a pasta pot), turn out carefully and serve with single cream. I do prefer this to custard on a hot pudding.

Spotted Dick for pudding

Have been quite under the weather. This cheered me up immeasurably... Spotted dick – from the Be-Ro recipe book 41st edition* 100 g (4 oz) Self Raising Flour pinch salt 50 g (2 oz) Atora shredded suet (I used veg version) 50 g (2 oz) caster sugar 50 g (2 oz) currants 50 g (2 oz) mixed peel 1 medium egg, beaten 4 x 15 ml spoon (4 tbsp) milk   1 Grease a 600 ml (1 pint) pudding basin. 2 Mix together the dry ingredients. 3 Add the egg and sufficient milk to produce a smooth dropping consistency. 4 Place the mixture into prepared pudding basin. 5 Cover with pleated greaseproof paper and foil and steam for about 1½ hours. 6 Turn out and serve hot with custard or syrup.

 

* Available via http://www.be-ro.co.uk/f_about.htm

Lemon drizzle thoughts ..

I am inordinately fond of lemon drizzle cake which I first encountered in the mid 1980s when it was known as luscious lemon cake. Here is the recipe I still use - cut from some nameless newspaper. I prefer this recipe which is based on a madeira cake ie with more flour than fat.

Pre-heat oven to 180 deg C.

Put 6oz SR flour, 6oz granulated sugar, 4oz soft margarine (eg Stork), 2 large eggs, the grated zest of a lemon and 2tbs milk in the mixer bowl  and whizz at a fast speed well until light and creamt.

Pour into a 2lb loaf tin lined with a greaseproof paper liner and bake until done - about 40 minutes.

Remove from the oven and keep in the tin. Pour over 3tsp of icing sugar mixed with the juice of the lemon and leave until cold in the tin.

Lovely!

Easy marmelade

This is as easy at it gets... I have adapted the recipe slightly from Midge Thomas's Jams, Pickles & Chutneys in the Best-kept Secrets of the Women's Institute series - now sadly out of print.

Put 1 can of commercially-prepared oranges for marmalade (from the jam aisle in Tesco) in a large pot with 1.8kg of granulated sugar. Drain a 240g can of chopped pineapple, reserving the juice, and add to the pot.

Put the reserved juice in a measuring jug and add 2 tbsp of Cointreau or similar, then top up with water to 420ml.

Bring to the boil over a gentle heat, then boil vigorously for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile put well-washed jars and lids in a low oven to sterilise and a couple of saucers in the freezer to get cold.

The marmalade is done when the contents of the pot look like orange stained glass... this is the alchemical part of jam-making. But to be on the safe side put a dribble of the marmalade on a cold saucer taken from the freezer. If it sets then the marmalade is done.

Remove the jars and lids from the oven and rest on a a heatproof surface. Pot the marmalade immediately using a jam funnel if you have one - filling each jar to the top. Twist on the lids tightly immediately (to stop germs getting in) then leave to cool. Store in a cold place (the fridge ideally).

Sweet thoughts for 2012

I have been neglecting my blog now I use Facebook and Twitter... but thought my friends who don’t use these networks may be interested in some of my recent baking.


This year I didn’t do a traditional Christmas cake, instead trying out a simple mincemeat –based cake from Mary Berry’s new book “100 cakes and bakes”. It is called – somewhat unimaginatively – Fast Mincemeat Christmas Cake. It is exactly that and is moist and delicious.

You need a deep 20cm round cake tin, lined and greased.

Simply beat together 150g Stork; 150g light soft brown sugar; 2 large eggs; 225g SR flour; 400g mincemeat (I used my home-made, fat-free version with lots of dried cranberries); 175g currents and 50g flaked almonds. That’s it. I used my lovely Kenwood mixer but a hand mixer would be fine.

Then bake at 160 deg C – 140 deg in a fan oven – until done. I found it took just over an hour.

Yesterday I needed to use up some eggs so made a double batch of a pumpkin-based cake based on the New Zealand Fruit Cake from Jill Norman’s “New Penguin Cookery Book”. I used Libby’s solid-pack tinned pumpkin which I can now buy once again thanks to Amazon. Waitrose and Sainsbury’s sadly stopped stocking it a while back.

This quantity makes two 2lb loaf cakes and one 1lb cake. I popped them in the freezer for when it is my turn to bring cake to the office.

Simply beat together 360g Stork; 360g caster sugar; 4 eggs; 500g SR flour; a whole 425g tin of pumpkin; 2 teaspoons of ground cardamom using a stand or hand electric mixer. Then add 450g mixed dried fruit. I used sultanas, raisons, cranberries, glace cherries and mixed peel.

Spoon into the prepared tins and bake at 160 deg C for an hour for the big cakes and a few minutes less for the smaller size.

These cakes should be eaten quickly as the pumpkin makes them quite soft and somewhat prone to go off.

Chocolate banana fruit loaf

This simple cake - my variation on the American Fanny Farmer classic - manages to be low-fat yet still have a reasonable chocolate kick.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 deg C.

Mash three ripe bananas in a large bowl. Add two well beaten eggs, half a cup of light cane (or 3/4 cup of real sugar if you must); a tbsp cocoa, and two cups of SR flour.

Mix well, adding a little milk if too dry.

Then add a handful of dried fruit and mix well. I used golden raisins and a few glace cherries.

Spoon into a 2lb loaf tin lined with a silicone liner and bake for about 45 mins until cooked through.

This variation went down well with colleagues at work: it was actually nicer the day after I first bought it in.

I think it would be good toasted and buttered too... but then it wouldn't be low fat, of course.

The best pancakes ever...

... even darling G agrees. The loose batter with added oil yields frilly pancakes which don't stick to the pan no matter how thin you make them.

This comes from the excellent Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book which I bought in the States the other year. The recipes - like all American ones- are all in cups which makes it easier.

Beat together 2 eggs, a 250ml cup of plain flour, a cup of skimmed milk, half a cup of water and 1 tablespoon of sunflower oil until completely mixed and very frothy. You don't need to let this "rest" unless you want to.

Heat a little butter in a good-quality non-stick small frying pan than add a little batter. Swirl around the pan - including up the sides (to get frilly bits). When cooked toss or turn over until done.

Serve with icing sugar (this is important) and a squeeze of lemon.

I also use this recipe to make Yorkshire pudding. I know this is a sacrilege but...

Quick chorizo pasta with courgettes

I came up with this at the weekend: it was quite delicious.

Cut as much cooking chorizo as you like into thin slices. Saute in a sturdy pot until browned (no oil is needed, of course).

Add one thickly sliced onion then continue cooking for a couple of minutes before adding two thickly sliced courgettes. Cook again for a couple of minutes before adding a tin of chopped tomatoes.

Bubble away on the stove while you cook as much pasta as you fancy: I served this with penne.

Yum.

More soon...

All is not forgotten... and the baking continues apace

With all this face book business and various distractions (especially my OU course) I have been very lax in updating my blog. However the baking has not stopped!

G made this lovely cake at the weekend. It is adapted from the Mary Berry 1980s classic Fast Cakes.

Pineapple and Raisin Cake

Pre heat oven to 160 deg C.

With an electric mixer beat together 200g SR flour, 150g soft stork, 115g soft brown sugar, 2 large eggs and 2 tbsp milk until light and creamy.

Then stir in 50g glace cherries, a 225g tin of crushed pineapple which has been very well drained (do something else with the juice eg make a mai tai or sex on the beach cocktail) and 350g raisins until well mixed.

Turn into two 500g loaf tins and bake for approx 45-50 minutes until cooked.

This is quite a moist and crumbly cake and should be kept in the fridge.

Not sure how long it will keep as we finished ours within a couple of days.

Enjoy!

Lucia

Fusion food: a delicious, though unorthodox chilli

I came up with this delicious chilli recipe this week - inspired by the need to substitute cannellini beans for the red kidney variety. It was surprisingly good.

Italian chilli

Dry fry 500g minced turkey in large non stick pan. Add one large chopped onion and cook until brown, Add 1 tin of chopped tomatoes, a large tin of cannellini beans, garlic (from a tube in my case), a tea spoon of mixed italian dried herbs and half a spoon of chilli powder (G doesn't like it too hot). Bring to the boil. Add  water and a generous squirt of tomato puree. Cook for 45 minutes or so, adding more water as necessary.

I served it with risoni pasta (little pasta shapes that look like rice), topped with (... and this is the Italian bit) a blob of creme fraiche, a little pesto and grated parmesan cheese.

Have a good week,
Lucia

Tomorrow is another day...

The snow has been melting today - thank goodness. Hopefully it will be gone before too long. I am now going to cheer myself up with a favourite cocktail, the Scarlett o'Hara. This is a Deep South take on a cosmo and always makes me want to lace up my corset and say "well frankly I don't give a damn!" to the rest of the world.

Enjoy!

Place one measure of Southern Comfort and half a measure of Cointreau in a cocktail shaker with one measure of cranberry juice and half a measure of Rose's lime cordial. Add ice cubes and shake. Shake again to be on the safe side. And again.

Pour into a martini glass and savour.

Back again... with a sense of snowy deja vu

Well... I am writing this post looking out of the window at four inches of snow. This morning my daughter bravely struggled into school eight miles away - only to be told that it was cancelled for the day. Other schools - of course - had notified Radio Northampton as they are supposed to. Oh well...

As Christmas will soon be upon us, here is a fruitcake recipe I particularly like. It is based on an ale fruit loaf recipe I picked up from the BBC website.

I made one to take down to the office yesterday and it went down very well. It is very moist, keeps well and is very low in fat indeed. It makes a rather good Christmas cake.

Guinness fruit cake

Put 780g of mixed dried fruit in a large saucepan. I like to use golden raisins and dried cranberries in the mix. Pour in a 500ml bottle of Guinness and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat immediately, give it a good stir and leave to stand overnight. The fruit will plump up nicely.

The next day pre-heat the oven to 140 C. Add 180g of sugar, 320g of SR flour, 3tsp of maxed spice and three beaten eggs to the soaked fruit. Mix well and then divide the mixture between three 500g lined loaf tins .

Bake for approx 1 hour until firm to the touch. Cover with a tea towel and leave to cool. Then wrap in cling film and leave to mature for at least a day.

Enjoy!

More before Christmas,

Lucia

Cat in bath and Ely cathedral

I have not blogged for an age so here is a modest contribution
Libby the cat has taken to sitting in the bath: she particularly enjoys having a little shower.

Also we visited Ely cathedral recently. I was particularly taken by this epitath. This child appears to be some sort of saint. Unfortunately I haven't sussed out how to rotate the picture, but I hope you get the gist of it.

More soon,

Lucia

More of the same

Today Libby decided it wasn't worth venturing out and spent a lot of time on the doorstep watching the (snowy) world go by (very slowly).

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Am somewhat hacked off by the continued bad weather, which makes travelling very difficult for G and I. It is enough to make you want to stay in bed with a Trollope novel, cup of tea and nice slice of fruit cake.

Saying that, it does look pretty.

I took these photos this morning while pondering whether or not to go to work. I did in the end.