Stocking up?

Christmas is coming and this old goose is getting fat.Whether using Grandmother´s, mother´s or somebody else's recipe,It´s never tw'early to think about making the Christmas cake.  My mother's recipe has long since disappeared and I have always made this rich dark fruit cake, from the writings of the late Michael Smith.It should be left for at least a month for its flavours to fully mature.This cake is good at any time of the year. Got a wedding in 2011 anybody? Dare I suggest you try eating fingers of it, as they do in Yorkshire, with a sliver of Wensleydale or Cheshire. or any other crumbly cheese for that matter.

RICH DARK FRUIT CAKE
Preparation time30 minutes ( plus overnight optional)
Cooking - 3- 31/2 hours
serves 30-40 ( get you Martha Stewart!!!!)

12oz/ 340g self-raising flour
1 dessertspoon mixed spice ( mace, cinnamon and ground cloves )
1/4 teaspoon salt
8oz/230g currants
3oz / 85g sultanas
8oz/230g seedless muscatel raisins,chopped
6oz/ 170g glace cherries, halved
4oz/110g glace apricots, roughly chopped
4oz/ 110g  stoned prunes, soaked overnight in rum and chopped
6oz/170g blanched almonds roughly crushed
4oz/110g mixed candied peel
10oz/280g moist brown sugar
5 large eggs beaten
4 Tablespoons treacle
Juice and grated zest of 1 large lemon
Light rum or brandy 

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark3 ( 160ºC, 325ºF )
Sieve together the flour, spice and salt. In a large bowl mix together the fruits, nuts, peel and spiced flour coating all the fruits with the flour.In a second bowl cream the butter and sugar until quite light in colour. Beat in the eggs then the treacle, lemon juice and zest.
Combine the two mixtures in one bowl. Mix well, adding enough rum or brandy to arrive at a soft dropping consistency. 
Butter and line the bottom and sides of a 7-8lb ( 3.2 - 3.6 kg ) square or round cake tin ( about 9in/23cm  square or 10in/25.5 cm in diameter and 31/2in/9cm deep)with double buttered paper. Fill with mixture and level the top. bake for 1 hour, then reduce the temperature to gas mark 1 (140ºC, 275ºF ) for a further 2-21/2 hours.Test with a skewer to see when the cake is done. Leave to cool. Store for at least a month, spiking it with rum and or brandy once a week. 

Cover with home made almond paste and royal icing if you like.Decorate the top with a snowman, Father Christmas, reindeer, Christmas tree,baubles, whatever. Its extra work but its camp, its naff and so old fashioned,  I lurve it!!!
 

Life is a minestrone

Our last guests of the season  checked out this morning. The weather has turned cold and some rain showers have manifested themselves. Time to light the first fire of the year, turn the clock back to 1975 and get inspired by an old 10cc classic.

"Life is a minestrone

Served up with parmesan cheese

Death is a cold Lasagne

Suspended in deep freeze "

I make a hearty main course soup for lunch!!!

SOPA DE MINESTRONE,

1/4 cup olive oil

60g unsalted butter

4 carrots peeled and finely diced

4 celery stalks, finely diced

3 medium onions, finely minced

800g tin  Cirio chopped tomatoes or 12 large, ripe, fresh Roma or San Marzano tomatoes,

peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley

6 basil leaves (optional)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil and butter in a heavy nonreactive pan. Cook the carrots, celery, and onions for about 20 minutes, or until very tender. As a time saving device I chop these 3 ingredients 

in the food processor all together. Add the tomatoes, breaking them up a bit with a wooden spoon, and continue cooking over a moderate heat for a further 25 to 30 minutes. Stir in the parsley and basil, if using, and season with salt and pepper. Serve in bowls with grated parmesan and good crusty bread.

COOKING TIP
Please forgive the fact that I have posted this tip before on a previous blog, but it  is particularly relevant to this recipe.

When using tinned tomatoes ( Cirio only please ) and the recipe requires chopped tomatoes, but you only have the whole peeled variety on your larder shelf, don´t despair. Open the tin, insert a pair of long culinary scissors into the tin and cut the tomatoes vigorously.
Turn the contents out into your cooking vessel and Pronto - chopped tomatoes!!!
and you´ve saved money too. Tinned chopped tomatoes are dearer.

....AND ONE FOR THE PALATE

When making this soup, if you have a piece of parmesan rind in the fridge add this to the soup when you are cooking it and discard before serving....a taste sensation.

Port authority

SERVING PORT: 
 A solemn warning
At the dinner table port must always be served clockwise, from right to left.
Never pass the port to your right or across the table unless you make the circuit first. For them that´s superstitious say that the Devil himself lurks at your right shoulder and if you should forget, he will pass his hand over the port and then goodness knows what will happen to you, your family and your dependents.

SO BE WARNED!!!!!

An autumn windfall-part one

Yesterday our friend and neighbour, Jorge, dropped by with this bountiful harvest of seasonal organic vegetables. It was like receiving a box scheme delivery. "Let the battle begin" -the challenge of finding recipes to utilise the produce began.  Last night I started with some of the sweet potatoes and set about making a sweet potato and ginger soup. A starter item for the Casa Rosada guests who had booked in for dinner.

Sweet Potato and ginger soup
1kg sweet potato ( approx. 3 medium sized sweet potatoes)

1large onion

200g unsalted butter
thumb sized piece of fresh ginger finely chopped

1 litre of good quality vegetable stock ( marigold bouillon)

up to 700ml full fat milk

small bunch of coriander including stalks

salt and cayenne pepper

grating of nutmeg

Peel the potatoes and chop it into dice, halve the onion and slice thinly.
Take a heavy bottomed casserole large enough to hold all the ingredients and sweat the onion, coriander stalks and ginger in the butter, with a grating of nutmeg, for 10 minutes. Add seasoning, the sweet potato  and continue cooking for another 10 minutes. Turn up the heat and add the stock, bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are soft. Remove from the heat, add some extra coriander, liquidise and pass through a fine meshed sieve. This liquid will need thinning with the milk. Add enough slowly until you obtain  your desired consistency. Be sure that you are not diluting the flavour too much. Serve garnished with a coriander sprig in each bowl.

No trick nor treat

The old fashioned Halloween -society bobbing for apples

the contemporary idea

Happy Halloween - sweetie?

Halloween is one of the world’s oldest holidays, with origins stemming from centuries of both religious observance and superstition.As a child I was brought up on bobbing for apples, and the strangest custom where my father would get a piece of solid metal molten hot, then we would toss it into a bucket of cold water, withdraw it and read our fortune in the shapes the melted metal had formed. Superstition at its best I would say? The name itself is a derivative of “All Hallows Eve,” It´s roots were in the Celtic festival of Samhain,  and prior to that the Roman festival named after the goddess Pomona, hence the apple bobbing connection. Today Halloween has now become synonymous with commerce.

Today is Halloween and by now all the Halloween recipes have been posted -  For obvious reasons. People need to read them and make them for their celebration of All Hallows.Call me old fashioned but all the recipes I have been reading over the past few weeks on blogs and commercial websites, are just being themed to this particular night and if divorced from that they all stand up on their own for various occasions throughout the winter or even the whole year. 

So lets have some "Sympathy with the devil"..."That old devil called love"

Bloody Mary - perfect cocktail at any time of the year and great accompaniment to scrambled eggs for breakfast. Kick start to the day and perfect hangover cure.

Devilled eggs - perfect for Easter thanksgiving and summer picnics

Devils on horseback, a favourite canape from the Abigails Party era.Never has a prune been better dressed. Pushing the boundaries of culinary inventiveness, someone, probably in this country, once decided to combine the typically British delicacies of streaky bacon and prunes in one delicious snack, nowadays enhanced with some mango chutney. You stuff the chutney into the pitted prune, wrap it in bacon and secure it all with a toothpick. Grill for about three minutes on each side and a taste sensation will be ready for your expectant palate.Originally French "anges a cheval",angels on horseback, oysters wrapped in bacon.

These little devils are surely well overdue a comeback.

Devilled kidneys, a piquant Victorian British breakfast dish consisting of lamb's kidneys cooked in a mixture of Worcestershire sauce and mushroom ketchup, - what a perfect start to the day. This perfect dish should steady you and lift the spirits at the same time, not ward off the spirits!!!

Pumpkin pie -  a traditional North American sweet dessert, eaten during the fall and early winter especially for Thanksgiving and Christmas, not neccesarily on Halloween." An American classic we really should import, or something best left on the other side of the ocean?" -A bete noire of the foodista nationalist party - Guardian readers and writers you know who you are.

Devils food cake- an all time classic chocolate cake, this is a truly wicked treat for all chocolate worshipers, anywhere anytime!

and just to say i´m not an old killjoy

The ocozinheiro halloween awards 2010

Favourite halloween recipe-

Black and Orange Halloween Pasta

 http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Black-and-Orange-Halloween-Pasta-356169 

Most imaginative presentation

Spooky soup- Roast pumpkin and garlic

http://belleaukitchen.blogspot.com/

Posh Spice at top shop

Recently I have been bringing some Moroccan influences and ingredients into the dishes I have been producing here in the Al-Gharb, at Casa Rosada. Saffron, cous cous, pomegranates, dried apricots, chermoula, preserved lemons and ras el hanout.
Literally "top of the shop", ras el hanout is a Moroccan spice blend that can contain more than 30 ingredients.The spices I use are supplied by Algarvespice. Hartmut Meuschel and Ruth Bhuiyan have top quality spices and some that I have never even heard of. On a recent occasion buying spices from them at a local Autumn fair, I noticed their bagged up ras el hanout contained 26 ingredients!!!- I prefer to make my own blend. It is a streamlined version of the traditional mixture and includes most of the main spices.For the spice merchants in the Souks it is a point of honour to have the most sought after version of the blend. These spice merchants are reputed to have created custom blends of ras el hanout for prestigious clients,(Victoria whats your secret? ) including ingredients such as hashish and even Spanish fly. Our guests enjoy their dinners at Casa Rosada but I dont think we should be providing add-ons such as stimulants in the food!!!!-God help us we dont want a rude awakening of a night!!! Ras al hanout may sometimes contain floral scents such as lavender and rose buds.  A first class ras el hanout, when found, is one of the finest examples of how well a diverse variety of spices can be combined to to create an ingredient that is greater than its individual components. Ras el hanout is curry-like with a spicy kick, a sometimes floral fragrance and subtle nuances within an overall robust flavour. It is extremely versatile, adding a golden colour and an enticing aroma to a variety of dishes. A teaspoon stirred into rice or cous cous while cooking will lift  it to a higher level. It can be used as spice rub for lamb chops.
Here is my streamlined version:(11 components)

1 teaspoon ground cumin 
1teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

And while on the Moroccan spice trail....  
Coming up soon
Roast pork tenderloin with pears, dried apricots and ras el hanout
Preserved lemons
Mediterranean cous cous
Chermoula lamb leg steaks
Moroccan cooked tomato and green pepper chicken

Calling all pomegranate users

"I´m on the pomegranate, hello hello, you´re breaking up on me.Are you there Ga Ga?"
Did you know you can make coffee with your phone, that you can talk on the phone on the way to your hot date and shave at the same time, whip your phone out of your handbag and shave your legs in the office before going into a board meeting where you can liven up an editorial meeting by playing the harmonica to your colleagues on your phone. Hands free, coffee makin in just 30 seconds - Pomegranate phone.
But does it make real good Jelly - I think not.. so back to reality "Still there Ga Ga ?"


Pomegranate and Orange Jelly
Casa Rosada served this last night. It is labour intensive, but makes a very unusual and delicious desert.Pomegranates are now in season and with Christmas just around the corner, this would make a refreshing grand finale to the Christmas lunch.
Serves 6
 6 large juicy oranges ( 750ml juice)
100g caster sugar
3 pomegranates
1 unwaxed lemon
6 green cardamom pods
6 sheets gelatine


Squeeze the oranges. You will need about 750ml of juice.
Squeeze 2 of the pomegranates and the lemon.
remove 3 or 4 strips of zest from the orange and lemon with a sharp knife.
Pour the juices and peel into a stainless steel or enamelled saucepan and add the sugar.
Split open the cardamom pods, extract the seeds then add them to the juice and bring almost to a boil.
When the juice shows signs of bubbling, cover with a lid and turn off the heat. 
Leave to cool a little - 15 minutes should do it.
Slide the gelatine sheets, one or two at a time into cold water and let them soften for 5 minutes.
Remove the lid, then pour the juice through a sieve into a large clean jug.
Reserve the cardamom seeds. 
Lift the softened gelatine sheets from the water- they will be just short of dissolving
and stir them into the warm juice.The gelatine will dissolve in seconds. Stir thoroughly, making certain that all the gelatine has melted.. add the reserved cardamom pods. They will float around, but will subtly flavour the jelly as it sets. Pour into glasses and refrigerate overnight.

This is supposed to be a soft set jelly, so dont worry about "a bit of inner thigh wibble" Nigella!!!!


HOT TIP, NOT LEMSIP: Pomegranates are in season just when winter colds are taking hold.When juicing the pomegranates, save the bitter pith as it supposedly acts as a cold remedy, infuse in some warm pomegranate juice and take as needed.

 

Joe Gazzano 1940-2010 RIP

I read with great sadness today of the the passing of Joe Gazzano in Matthew Fort´s eloquent obituary, Guardian 25th October. Gazzano´s up until 2004 was such an important part of my life.Unfortunately I wasn´t around to witness the opening in 2006 of the newly re-built premises and the cafe in the Guardian Museum.Hardly a day went by without me popping in on my way to work to pick up fresh cheeses, salame, prosciutto, and the only non-Italian thing in the shop Pasteis de nata, Portuguese custard tarts.On most days I would probably pay a second visit to the shop in the afternoon.

Gazzano's is something of an institution around the Farringdon Road. Four generations of the same family have worked here since arriving from Italy's Amalfi coast just after the war.

The founder was originally an olive oil seller from Liguria and in the 30's he travelled abroad to sell his produce each year - this routine was abruptly interrupted by the onset of the second world war.Almost a century later Joe Gazzano continued the family tradition, running the shop supported by his sister, with her wonderful La Dolce Vita retro beehive and false eyelashes. From very young his children Joe and the lovely Lucia, were brought up in the family run salumeria and managed it in their fathers absence or day off.

The original shop felt like a little corner of Italy in Clerkenwell (which is, anyway, the area of London where Italian immigrants traditionally settled). I loved this place and have missed it so much since moving to Portugal. Gazzano’s still to this day sells all the fine quality Italian ingredients, dry pastas, cheeses,hams, salame, coffee, prepared foods, home made fresh pastas/ravioli/gnocchi,dried pastas and risotto rices stored in old fashioned grocers drawers, mozzarella,tins of olive oil, amaro, pane e cioccolata. The I want list is never ending and not so uncomfortable on the pocket. I defy anyone to find sausages equal to the Napolitan spicy ones I used to buy, weighing in at only £6 a kilo. I especially loved going there on a Sunday morning when all the old-school Italian families popped in for supplies after service at the Italian church in Clerkenwell Road.Joe Gazzano was a traditional shop owner, with a kind and sincere heart,and a strong poitical voice that witnessed the changing face of Little Italy, Clerkenwell. He always showed a strong interest in my then local business panini etc, and was ever supportive of it. I gleaned so many culinary tips from the man.

I thank him for this and will always remember not only shopping there, but our daily conversations, and putting the world to right.

God bless Joe Gazzano and all power to him for securing the future of an important and loved family business in the shadow of a changing environment,government and tough economic climate.

A day in the Sapal- "com pitada de sal"

 "com pitada de sal" -taken with a pinch of salt

Flor de Sal is the finest flower of sea salt. It appears as a thin layer floating on the surface of the brine. These first fragile crystals are carefully skimmed off every day in good weather conditions and only sun dried before packing. 

Click on the icon below - then sit back and follow the Marenotos ( salt harvesters ) going about their work on a hot sunny day, and perhaps you´ll get a taste for what they call the "White Gold" of the Algarve. Enjoy the sunshine!!!!

http://picasaweb.google.pt/agostinhomsgomes/SALMARIM#5380714062134228114

The creme of the Brûlé

Papoela,(Poppy ) never misses a trick and always has the last say, as she did today!!!!

WARNING: NON FOOD RELATED POST, IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR A RECIPE STOP READING NOW.

Today we had a visit from a photographer, Steve Stoer, sent down from Lisbon to photograph Casa Rosada, its enviroment and Mein hosts.
Steve Stoer was commissioned by Tyler Brûlé´s magazine, Monocle.

The feature is going to be part of a special edition featuring Dream Businesses. Steve was here for three hours and covered the entire house, inside and out, including the garden, finishing with some portrait shots of the proprietors themselves and Poppy dog had to stick her nose in too!!!!- I cant wait to see if she gets into print!!!?

Monocle is a direct competitor to many glossy Condé Nast titles, but has the cache of being printed on chic matt paper. Its coverage is business, fashion, travel,  and style-conscious urban pursuits such as shopping and fine dining. In a way it is about "everything that is around us", the term Brûlé used to describe Wallpaper, the style bible with which he captured the zeitgeist in 1996, selling it a year later to Time Warner for an alleged $1.7m.

Is this the icing on the cake? Casa Rosada always considered itself the poor cousin!!!!!