Clemengold and Cranberry Cake

ClemenGolds are most likened to Clementines and Mandarins. They are a delicious and refreshing soft citrus fruit with a deep sunset orange, smooth rind. The fruit is soft and juicy, fresh and fragrant. ClemenGolds are seedless and easy peeling and has an incredible honey-sweet taste. The season is short and I made the most of my ClemenGolds by preserving some of the juice in my freezer, and by using it in my cooking and baking.  ClemenGolds ripen naturally in the orchard before they are picked and packed by hand. And it was by hand that a bag full of this goodness was delivered to my door. I adapted a recipe from my friend’s mother to make this delightful cake but there is one thing you have to do – if you are going to bake this cake you will need a square tin – it will not work otherwise. And please trust me on this, as the first one I baked had to be cut up and turned in to ‘rusks’.

© clemengold and cranberry cake

© clemengold and cranberry cake

CLEMENGOLD AND CRANBERRY CAKE

ingredients:

1 medium clemengold

150g dried cranberries

2 cups flour

5mls bicarbonate of soda

5mls salt

1 cup sugar, I used fructose

120g butter

250mls milk

2 eggs

75mls chopped pecan nuts

5mls cinnamon

15mls brown sugar – I used fructose

method:

preheat the oven to 180° Celsius

squeeze the juice from the clemengold and set aside

mince the skin in a food processor together with the cranberries

sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and salt together

add the sugar and mix well

add the butter and 175mls of the milk and beat for 2 minutes

add the eggs one at a time

add the remaining milk

mix well and then add the minced clemengolds and cranberries and the nuts

place in a square baking tin and bake for 40 minutes

remove from the oven and pour the clemengold juice over the cake

mix together the cinnamon and brown sugar and sprinkle over the cake

this is best left for 24 hours before serving and will taste even better 2 days later

Printable Version

Tandy

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Far Breton

My friend Jamie who blogs on over at Life’s a Feast did a post on Far Breton a few months ago and I told her that I too had a recipe. My far breton  has a story and a picture!

In 2008 Dave and I decided we would go to the Indianapolis 500. I went onto the airlines website, and as soon as I told Dave just how many hours we would be spending on an plane, he decided this was not an option. At the same time, a friend of ours was the chief mechanic at BAR so we decided to go to the Spanish Formula 1 race. But, as soon as we saw where the RCI resorts were and how much the tickets cost to watch the race (€185) we decided on another holiday. So, we went to explore Brittany. We stayed at an amazing B&B for our first three nights. Our hosts, Jean-Claude and Brigitte invited us for dinner on our last evening with them. We started with aperitifs and moved on to eating the bigournoux we had bought that day when choosing some wine to take to dinner. Jean-Claude explained that it was best to cook them when there was snow on the ground. You add them to boiling salted water and as soon as the water comes back to the boil, you take the entire pot outside and allow it to cool by placing it in the snow. We then had grilled oysters which was a first for Dave and I, and something I would repeat at home. Our dessert was Far Breton and after our meal, we went and had digestifs in the lounge. All in all, we had a great and memorable evening.

On our return Dave and Jean-Claude exchanged emails, using mostly a translation service, and one of the emails included the recipe for Far Breton:

This is our secret recipe. That is the reason why you have to protect it : if not, may be we’ll find far breton to sell everywhere in South-Afrika next time we fly to Cape Town ! What a pity ! Better to drink Spier wine …

The only South African wine we could find at the local supermarket was from Spier – and so we took a bottle (or two) with us for dinner. So, this is my story, and here is my picture, but sadly no recipe :)

© far breton

© far breton

Tandy

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I Got The Berries Dessert

A summer dinner party was on the cards, and I wanted to make a simple dessert using the amazing fresh berries I had found at Woolworths. I had planned on buying little casings for them, but could not find any. And so, I went home and used my silicone cup cake holders to make a chocolate casing. As you can tell from the pictures, it was not too bad an effort. And they were simple to do. I just melted some sugar free chocolate in a bowl over some simmering water and then poured the chocolate into the mould. I twirled the chocolate all around and poured out the excess and then put the moulds into the freezer to set. We carefully removed the silicone from the chocolate casings (well, as carefully as one can after a few glasses of wine) and placed some berries that I had mixed with some cream into each casing. Taylor started singing ♪♪♪ I got the berries, ♪♪♪ I got the berries ♪♪♪ and so the name was decided upon. This is a winner as the casings can be done days ahead of your party!

© i got the berries

© i got the berries

Tandy

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Secret Santa

I would like to do a Secret Santa for this Christmas with the food bloggers. Here are my thoughts (and please add to them).

  • each blogger who is willing to send a secret gift to another blogger (in the same country) will send me their name and address
  • I will compile a list and randomly assign bloggers to each other
  • a ceiling price will be set (I will need help with this from each country so that the benchmark is the same)
  • each blogger who participates can ‘advertise’ the concept on their blog – the more the merrier

It would be great if we all put the widget on our blogs:

[<a href="http://tandysinclair.com" target="_blank"><img title="" src="http://tandysinclair.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/c2a9-secret-santa.jpg?w=150" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>]

Tandy

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Piccalilli

As I am sucrose intolerant I have a lot of bottles of things in my fridge that I have made from scratch. You will find sweet chilli sauce in there among all the other bottles of lovely goodies, including harissa and pesto and tomato and chilli chutney. What you won’t find is marmalade as for some strange reason fructose does not work the same as sugar at this temperature. I will one day get myself some sugar free jam sugar and have a go at making my own jam. But, in the meantime St. Dalfour do a more than respectable sugar free jam (or six) which I love to slather on my home made bread. Another perfect addition to a bread lunch is piccalilli. These pickled vegetable take on a lovely yellow hue from the turmeric and are easy to make. I keep the crunch in them as I like the texture. Do give it a go, and make sure to set aside enough glass jars to start – this makes 6 small jars, or have one large jar to hand. I like to give my ‘canning experiments’ away as gifts so I always make use of smaller glass jars.

© piccalilli

© piccalilli

PICCALILLI

ingredients:

1 whole cauliflower, florets only

5 courgettes, thickly sliced

10 small pickling onions, peeled

100g beans, trimmed and cut in half

1 small cucumber, cut in half and thickly sliced

4 large carrots, thickly sliced

coarse salt for sprinkling

300mls cider vinegar

300mls white malt vinegar

250g sugar – I used fructose

1/8 teaspoon curry powder

2 teaspoons mustard powder

25g fresh root ginger, sliced

6 black peppercorns

1 red chilli, cut in half

1 tablespoon mustard seeds

2 cloves garlic, sliced

1 tablespoon vinegar

2 tablespoons flour

6 teaspoons turmeric

method:

layer the vegetables in a glass bowl, and sprinkle each layer with coarse salt

cover and leave overnight

rinse thoroughly and leave to drain in a colander

in a heavy bottomed large pan heat 600mls of vinegar

add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved

add the curry powder, mustard powder, ginger, peppercorns, chilli, mustard seeds and garlic

bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes

make a paste with the 1 tablespoon vinegar, the flour and the turmeric

remove the chilli from the bottling sauce

add the paste and stir well to ensure you have no lumps

add the vegetables

bring to the boil and cook for 5 minutes

add the vegetables to your sterilized glass jars

top with the sauce and seal tightly with the lids

Printable Version

I am submitting this recipe to JamieAnne and Allie’s Canning Posts

Tandy

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Home Made Pasta Nero: Product Review Kitchen Aid Pasta Maker

I love anything home made! I get immense satisfaction from making something from scratch. However, any ‘help’ I can get in the way of an appliance makes the experience much better. In December Dave and I got a Kitchen Aid Mixer for Christmas and for my birthday I got this attachment:

© kitchen aid pasta attachment

© kitchen aid pasta attachment

Everything from Kitchen Aid is easy to attach. It is a simple matter of removing the protective cover off the motor, inserting the drive and tightening the screw. Once that is done it is A for AWAY. All you have to do is make the pasta dough (recipe to follow). The dough is then put through the rollers with the motor at a speed you can cope with – not too fast however. This needs to be done several times on the thickest roller setting until the dough has developed its gluten properly and is nicely shaped and perfectly shiny. Once you have achieved this, put the dough the decreasing roller sizes until you get the thickness you desire – not too thin for ravioli and as thin as possible for spaghetti. I leave my spaghetti to dry on a stand before cooking it. The great thing about home made pasta is that you can make it any flavour / colour you desire, it takes only 3 minutes to cook in boiling, salted water, and it tastes superior to any shop bought product.

© pasta nero

© pasta nero

PASTA NERO – HOME MADE PASTA

ingredients:

200g pasta 00 flour

2 whole eggs

pinch of salt

2 sachet’s squid ink

flour for dusting

method:

you can do this by hand, or in a food processor or in the Kitchen Aid!

bring together all the ingredients until a dough is formed

knead on a floured surface for 5 minutes

you need to make sure the dough is not too wet – add flour if it is

or too dry – I add an egg yolk, but you can add water – trust your instinct here

wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 minutes

divide into two and roll through the pasta machine

this is enough pasta for 2 people

Printable Version

I am submitting this recipe to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted this week by Gay, A Scientist in the Kitchen

Tandy

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Friday’s Food Quiz Number 63

Once again, here is Pink’s (nearly) weekly quiz, and my answers:

1. What is schmaltz?

commercial schmaltz may be produced from rendered chicken or goose fat. Home made schmaltz is made holsum and vegetables. 

2. What is the difference between evaporated milk and condensed milk?

evaporated milk has had most of the water removed from the milk and is therefore a dehydrated milk. condensed milk also has the water removed, but is sweetened with sugar. both are canned and stable for leaving on the shelf for many years.

3. What is heliculture?

snail farming

4. What does the term “papillote” refer to?

en papillote is the French term for ‘in parchment’ and refers to placing food into a piece of parchment paper, sealing it and then baking it

5. What is the difference between ham and gammon?

ham is the thigh meat of a pig, and is sold cured or cooked. gammon is the same cut of meat, but is smoked

6. What is a “foodie”?

a person knowledgeable in both food and drink

7. What is a liaison in culinary terms?

a mixture of three parts egg yolks to one part cream

8. What is the most common way to drink Japanese rice wine, sake?

usually it is served warm, in small cups, but high grade sake needs to be served chilled, or at room temperature

9. Is there a difference between schnitzel and scallopine?

a schnitzel is a breaded escalope of boneless meat. scaloppine is also an escalope of boneless meat but it is dredged with flour before cooking.

10. Is curry a dish or a spice?

both

Tandy

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The Versatile Blogger Award – take two

Saswan who blogs as the Chef in Disguise has awarded me The Versatile Blogger award.

Rita awarded this to me in her post here, so I am going to share with you a few more things about me you may not know.

  1. I had a professional photo shoot done yesterday which has made me grateful for not being a model
  2. I have a very bad scar on my leg from a motor car accident
  3. I have never made a panna cotta
  4. I went overseas for the first time by myself when I was 8 years old
  5. I will try and cook anything!
  6. I have a tortoise named Stanley – who is a girl. Livingstone, our other tortoise has gone wandering.
  7. I am a motor sport fanatic.

I have already passed this on to 16 blogs! Here are a few more deserving bloggers.

  1. A Dash of Domestic
  2. Back Road Journal
  3. Chica Anzaluza
  4. Fig Jam and Lime Cordial
  5. Honey Kids
  6. PinkPolkaDotFood
  7. Sous Chef
  8. thekitchensgarden

Tandy

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Something Sweet

The biggest challenge for me is to bake something new. I have my trusted cake recipe and so I tend to stick to that once a week for our post dinner treat. So, to challenge myself I have taken the first recipe out of my file.

To challenge you, you are to bake something using almonds.

Remember, if you take part in the challenge you must link back to my blog, and leave a comment here for me to let me know you have done the challenge.

PREVIOUS CHALLENGE ROUND UP

Mandy from The Complete Cook Book has preserved peppadews. Pretty Little Thing has added a marmalade with infused vodka to the challenge.

Tandy

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Presto Pasta Nights Round Up

This is my second time at hosting Presto Pasta Nights and I am hoping that my second attempt at getting all the posts listed will look a little bit better.

Janet who blogs on over at The Taste Space started the challenge off with her recipe for Sea Weeds and Greens Salad (Kelp Noodles with Wakame and Radish Sprouts). I have tried radish sprouts but have never come across Kelp Noodles and so will have to keep my eyes peeled.
Stash of The Spamwise Chronicles has cooked Penne With Olives, Heirloom Tomatoes and Herbs. His minimalistic approach to cooking means you can have this meal on the table in less that half an hour.
Johanna from the Green Gourmet Giraffe has made a Meaty Cauliflower and Walnut Lasagne. This is a great vegetarian meal perfect for Meatless Mondays.
Joanne from Eats Well With Others made Pasta with Creamy Avocado Sauce. I love anything with avocado and this dish I am told will give you superpowers!
Gay, who is hosting next week, blogs as A Scientist in the Kitchen. She has made Quick and Easy Bell Peppers and Squid Stirfry With Spaghetti. This is a dish I could tuck in to with ease.
Graziana who hails from Sicilyblogs over at Erbe in Cucina (Cooking with Herbs) has made Spaghetti with Sorrel and Basil Pesto. I have some blood sorrel growing in my garden so this is great inspiration, grazie tante.
Elly, from elly says opa! Made Pumpkin Penne with Arugula, Mushrooms and Romano. Elly prefers her pumpkin sweet, but says this is a great savoury way to enjoy this vegetable.
Ruth, the founder of Presto Pasta Nights, blogs over at Once Upon A Feast. She made Tangy, Spicy Shrimp and Chorizo Pasta. These are two ingredients that I think marry very well together.
I submitted two recipes to this week’s presto pasta nights – one for my 500th post! Take a look at my duck egg ravioli with exotic mushroom sauce

© duck egg ravioli with exotic mushroom sauce

© duck egg ravioli with exotic mushroom sauce

 

 and my chicken sesame noodles

© chicken and sesame noodles

© chicken and sesame noodles

Thank you to everyone who took part this week and I wish you all a great weekend!

Tandy

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