Flapjacks

One of the underrated aspects of British food culture is our tradition of home baking. These flapjacks are really easy to make, and taste delicious. If you want, you can jazz them up a bit with some ginger or dried fruits.

Ingredients

200g unsalted butter

200g demerara sugar

200g honey

400g porridge oats

Method

1. Line and grease a swiss roll tine and set the oven to 180oC.
2. Put the butter, sugar and honey in a medium saucepan and heat gently until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved.
3. Add the porridge oats, mix well, and transfer to the prepared tin.
4. Bake for 20 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out and cut into squares.

Moist chocolate cake

This has been our standard chocolate cake for a few years now, but I decided to revisit it and add a couple of notes about the tin and the cooking time, together with posting some new photos. This cake should be really moist - not just in the middle but almost out to the edge. There's no point doing the skewer test on it - that will simply tell you that you should have taken it out of the oven 15 minutes ago! Also, it is important to use a small tin for this, so that the cake is quite high. I bake this in a tin which originally contained a Glenfiddich Christmas cake, and which is 16cm in diameter.

Ingredients
150g butter
250g dark chocolate (>70% cocoa solids)
150g demerara sugar
5 medium eggs
100g plain flour

Method

1. Set the oven to 180oC and line your cake tin with greased baking paper.
2. Break the chocolate into small pieces, place in a large bowl with the butter and sugar, and heat in a bain marie until melted.
3. Separate the eggs. Add the yolk and flour to the chocolate mixture, and beat thoroughly.
4. Whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Mix a couple of spoonfuls into the chocolate mixture, then fold the rest in gently but thoroughly.
5. Pour into the tin and bake for 25 minutes.

Oriental coleslaw

This is another recipe from Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg every day! I have tweaked it a little, including the addition of some fish sauce, which would have violated Hugh's strict "veg only" rule.

Ingredients
2 carrots
1 small white cabbage (proportions should be about 1 part carrot to 2 parts cabbage)
2 tbsps light soy sauce
2 tbsps fish sauce
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsps minced ginger
2 tbsps rice vinegar
2 tbsps sesame oil
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsps chopped fresh coriander

Method

1. Julienne the carrots and slice the cabbage very fine, and put into a large bowl.
2. Mix together the soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, vinegar, sesame oil and lime juice. Pour over the carrot and cabbage, toss thoroughly and leave to sit for at least 30 minutes.
3. Before serving, sprinkle with the fresh coriander. 

Mild egg curry

If I'm making an Indian meal with a couple of spicy dishes, I generally try to make something really mild for my kids so that they aren't left just eating plain white rice. The spicing in this is so mild that I hesitate to call it a curry at all, but it makes a great foil for hotter food.

Ingredients

12 eggs

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 tsps minced ginger

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tablespoon mild curry powder

1 tsp salt

1 tin coconut milk

small bunch of fresh coriander, chopped

juice of 1 lemon

Method

1. Steam the eggs for 10 minutes, then allow to cool. Peel and cut in half lengthwise.
2. In a large frying pan, fry the onion gently in plenty of oil. When it is cooked but not brown, add the ginger and garlic and fry for another minute. Add the curry powder and salt, fry for another 30 seconds or so, then add the coconut milk.
3. Simmer for about 5 minutes, add the chopped coriander and lemon juice, stir to mix, then add the eggs, yolk side up. Spoon the sauce over the eggs and simmer very gently for another 5 minutes.

Carrot and lentil soup

Carrots and lentils are a great combination, but I often find that carrot and lentil soup is either a little bland or suffers from unsubtle spicing (usually due to a heavy hand with the cumin). I made this soup with great care and was really happy with the outcome - the celery gave it a little spiciness, the peppers added sweetness and depth, while the smoky paprika and the dried mushroom stock provided an earthy kick. Unfortunately I didn't measure anything so the quantities are somewhat approximate.

Ingredients
olive oil
half a head of celery
1 red pepper
2 tsps smoked paprika
4 large carrots
handful of dried mushrooms
1 vegetable stock cube
1 litre of boiled water
2 handfuls of lentils
1 tsp salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in the boiled water, and add the vegetable stock cube.
2. Finely chop the celery and red pepper and fry gently in plenty of olive oil in a large saucepan. Add the peeled chopped carrots, continue to fry for a few more minutes before adding the paprika.
3. Strain the stock into the pot, add the lentils, bring to the boil and simmer gently until lentils and carrots are cooked, then add the salt.
4. Allow the soup to cool a little, liquidise with a stick blender, check the salt and season with some freshly ground black pepper.

Chanukah Christmas doughnuts

This year Chanukah and Christmas have overlapped, so we have had our menorah and our advent candle burning at the same time. But why stop there? In the spirit of cultural fusion, I decided to fill some of my traditional Chanukah doughnuts with mincemeat to make a deep-fried Jewish alternative to mince pies. You could, of course, use jam or even just pop a square of dark chocolate into the middle.

Ingredients

for the dough

7g instant yeast

250ml warm milk

20g sugar

2 eggs

15g vegetable oil

500g plain flour

for the filling

mincemeat or jam or half a square of dark chocolate

for frying

vegetable oil

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix the dough ingredients thoroughly, and knead briefly (still in the bowl) until you have a smooth dough.
2. Cover the bowl and leave dough to rise for about 1 hour.
3. Divide the dough into 12 balls, and flatten into discs.
4. Place a teaspoon of mincemeat or jam in the centre of the disc, bring the edges up to form a ball, and press together to seal.
5. Transfer to a well-floured tray and leave to rise for about 30 minutes.
6. Heat plenty of oil in a deep fat fryer or large saucepan until it is medium hot (about 170oC), and fry the doughnuts in batches for 3 minutes, before turning them over and frying for a further minute.
7. Drain, sprinkle with caster sugar and serve.

Kosher dilemma

My original plan had been to make jam doughnuts and mince pies, before I realised that the lard I use in my mince pie pastry with is made from pig fat and therefore not eligible for being served to my grandma. I did briefly consider going on a hunt for a kosher alternative before I hit upon the idea of combining the two in a sweet festive smorgasbord of Judeo-Christian cultural mestizaje. Needless to say, my grandma would have nothing to do with my carefully concocted mincemeat donuts, and insisted on jam.

Parsnip and ginger soup

Santa brought me the new River Cottage Veg every day! cookbook. I haven't seen the TV programmes yet, but the book looks great and I'm hoping it will inspire me to find new ways of turning my veggie box into delicious meals.

The first thing I cooked from it was this delicious parsnip and ginger soup. I've toned it down a bit as the version in the book was a little zingy, and left out the milk because the soup already seemed thick enough at that stage.

Ingredients

olive oil

1 onion

2 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon of finely chopped fresh ginger

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp chilli powder

500g parsnips

800ml vegetable stock

salt

pepper

2 tablespoons of flaked almonds

Method

1. Finely chop the onion, and gently sautee in plenty of olive oil. When it is just about done, add the finely chopped garlic and ginger and fry for another minute or so.
2. Add the cardamom, cumin and chilli, fry for 30 seconds, then add the parsnips.
3. Fry for a few seconds more, add the stock, bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat to minimum and simmer for 20 minutes until the parsnips are cooked.
4. Allow to cool, then liquidise with a stick blender. Test for seasoning and add salt if necessary.
5. Reheat, and serve with a sprinkling of the toasted almond flakes and some freshly ground black pepper.