Lemongrass Coconut Cake

Whilst I am quick to dismiss those who express surprise that I still manage to bake with a small baby in the house - I just enjoy it, I'm not Superwoman - I have to admit that I'm finding myself increasingly drawn towards a simpler style of cake nowadays.  I've never been one for overly-elaborate baking, I don't really have the patience for that, but right now my very favourite things to make have to be super-low-effort, super-tasty, and ideally keep super-well so I don't feel that I have to eat it all too quickly before it goes stale (one of the perils of being at home all day).

Nigella's Lemon Syrup Loaf Cake fits the bill very nicely and is one I make often (the link will take you to a nice write-up and the recipe on another blog).  The addition of the lemony syrup poured over the still-hot cake keeps it beautifully moist, and I can have the whole thing made, baked and mixing-bowl washed up within the hour.

But thanks to a cooking group that I am part of on Facebook, I have discovered a new favourite:  Lemongrass Coconut Cake.  When I saw the name I thought I'd like to try it, but when I saw how amazingly simple the recipe was I just knew I'd have to bake it.  This is a cake from Rachel Allen's latest series (and I assume an accompanying book?) 'Cake Diaries', but the recipe can be found online here. 

As you can see, it's one of those lovely bung-it-all-in-a-food-processor recipes - fabulous!  The smell of the lemongrass as it's blended into the sugar is incredible, and I have to say that the unbaked mix nearly didn't make it into the tin as it was so flipping delicious.

Once baked it looked plain, yet elegant, and when I'd doused it in the syrup I sprinkled over a little more dessiccated coconut; the recipe calls for 125g and I'd bought a 150g box of it so this seemed a good way to use up the annoyingly small amount left over. 

The recipe suggests serving this as a dessert, but the first few slices were simply eaten alongside cups of tea and coffee.  Last night however we did have some for pudding, accompanied by the creme fraiche indicated in the recipe, but also with some chunks of papaya spritzed with lime juice.  We ate papaya regularly when we lived in Brunei, so as well as being a perfect marriage of Asian flavours, this was a little trip down memory lane. 

Definitely a winning recipe, I think I'll be baking this one again and again.

Apple Rosemary Jelly

Yet another variation on the theme!

Rosemary is my favourite herb, so the idea of using it in a jelly really appealed.  Just imagine how gorgeous this will be with roast lamb.

I'm writing this recipe out as much to remind myself about it in years to come as I'm winging this one, just making it up based on my now-fairly-extensive jelly-making experience.

Apple Rosemary Jelly

3lb apples
1 1/2 pints water
1/2 pint white vinegar
lots of rosemary, finely chopped

Roughly chop the apples, no peeling or coring necessary (just watch out for bugs if your apples are foraged as ours are), and put in a pan with the water and the needles stripped from about 5 stalks of rosemary (no need to chop this).   This will infuse the jelly with a delicate rosemary flavour.

Simmer until soft and pulpy, then add the vinegar and continue to boil for 5 minutes.

Strain overnight using a jelly-bag or muslin.  This post explains how.   

Measure strained liquid and add 1lb of sugar for every pint.  Boil until setting point is reached then stir in lots of chopped rosemary. 

As with the chilli jelly, it's important to let this cool for 5-10 minutes before potting it, otherwise all the rosemary will rise to the top of the jars.  If this does start to happen (as it did with my first jar) simply screw the lid on tightly and turn the jar upside down for about a minute.  Then turn it the right way up again.  If the rosemary is still rising, repeat until it is suspended throughout the jelly.

This made 4 jars.

Labelled with Cath Kidston stickers - for that extra domestic-goddess feeling!

Apple Chilli Jelly - 2012

I've blogged about this jelly before, in Autumn 2009, but I realised that I had rather lazily just linked to a recipe which I had since adapted somewhat and failed to note my adaptations.  So in an attempt to record what I actually do, I thought it deserved reblogging.

This year we have a stunningly beautiful chilli plant which we bought from the Dorset Chilli Festival earlier this year, so we have no shortage of chillis to use.  Many have been harvested and stashed in the freezer, but this is a perfect way to use some straight from the plant.

I use this jelly as a condiment, particularly with roast chicken.  It's also perfect with any crumbly white cheese such as Wensleydale or Lancashire.

Apple Chilli Jelly

3lb cooking apples
2 pints water
white sugar
red chillis - to taste

Chop apples, don't peel or core, and place in a large pan with the water and 2 or 3 chopped chillis, seeds and all.

Simmer until soft and pulpy, then strain overnight (see previous post for photos).

Measure juice back into the pan, and for every pint add 1 lb of sugar.

Bring to the boil, stirring often, and boil rapidly until setting point is reached.  Again, refer to previous post fot description of how to do this.

Remove from the heat, but this time wait for 5 minutes before stirring in 3 or 4 (or more?  It's up to you - I used 9, but they're tiny) finely sliced chillis.  Then ladle into sterilised jars.  It's best to wait before you stir the chillis in because if the jelly is too liquid the chillis all float to the top of the jar, whereas when it's slightly cooler the chillis will be suspended throughout.

This only made 2 medium jars.  I must make another batch as I'm not sure this will see us through the coming year!

Apple and Mint Jelly

It's that time of year again, Autumn is approaching fast.  Whilst some may mourn the loss of Summer, I'm excited - after 2 years in the Tropics I can hardly wait for golden leaves, crisp cold days, misty mornings, hearty casseroles, lighting the woodburning stove, roasting chestnuts... and foraging! 

The season of free food is already here and we have a kitchen full of apples, collected from the local hedgerows.  Some, I was surprised to find, are good eaters, but others are more tart and fit only for cooking.  But that's fine by me because cooking was what I had in mind.

This week I will get though several pounds of sugar and the kitchen will be filled with a vinegary fug as I'm cooking up several batches of both chutney and jelly.  I love apple jellies and use them as a condiment for savoury foods, particularly roast meats, or with cheese and biscuits.  First up this week was apple and mint jelly.  As you might expect this is particularly good with lamb although I'm also partial to some alongside roast chicken.  Our mint plants are starting to bolt, getting very tall and straggly, so this was perfect timing to strip off all the leaves prior to cutting them back.

Anything that involves reaching a 'setting point' fills me with a certain amount of trepidation, but I remind myself not to panic, this is not difficult, the pectin in the apples means it sets well.  Nothing about the jelly-making process is difficult actually; it may be a little time-consuming, but I like the fact that you make it over 2 days as it spreads out the work.  To further allay any fears, know that there is no peeling and coring involved here, the apples are simply washed then roughly chopped and thrown into the pan, pips and all.  Wonderfully lazy.

Apple and Mint Jelly

3lb apples - the recipe I use (from the Alphington Church Restoration Fund cookbook, and thanks to Mrs M Bate of Alphington for contributing it) calls for 'green apples' but I use any foraged apples I can get my hands on.
1 1/8 pints water
small bunch fresh mint
1 1/2 pints white vinegar
granulated sugar
3 tbsp chopped fresh mint

Wash and roughly cut the apples into large chunks - quarters, or smaller I'd say, but this is no time to be precise.  Place them in a large pan with the water and the bunch of fresh mint, and simmer until soft and pulpy.

Add the vinegar and boil for 5 minutes.  I'd recommend opening the windows when you do this as the boiling vinegar produces some eye-watering fumes.

Strain the appley mixture through a muslin or jelly-bag overnight.  This might sound tricky, but it's not.  Just place a clean jelly-bag, muslin, or similar piece of fabric into a large bowl, then ladle in the apples.  The photo below is actually my apple-chilli jelly which I have started making today, hence the pieces of red chilli you can see, but all these apple jellies work on the same principle.

Gather up the corners (or the tags on the jelly-bag) and hang it above the bowl to drip.  I have constructed something using a coathanger and a chair!

The next day tip the apple sludge into the bin or onto your compost heap, and measure the juice back into your large pan.  For each pint of juice, add 1 lb of white sugar.

Bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Boil rapidly until setting point is reached.  This usually takes about 15 minutes, but can take a lot longer - just keep testing.  I test by dropping a scant teaspoon of the mixture onto a cold plate (keep one in the fridge) and once the mixture has cooled slightly push your finger through it.  If it wrinkles, then you're there, it will set.

Skim off any foam (this last batch had lots, but other batches have very little, not sure why), turn off the heat and stir in the chopped mint.

Ladle into sterilised jars and leave to cool.  I got 5 medium-sized jars from this batch.  The jelly is a beautiful pinkish-red, probably because the apples I used had reddish skins.  I like this effect!

Next blog-post:  Apple Chilli Jelly!

A Cup of Chai

When we were in India last Summer we drank Chai Masala, or spiced tea, several times a day.  On our return to Brunei I had several attempts at making it and always intended to blog about it.  But it just didn't happen.

Roadside Chai-Wallah in Udaipur.

Fast forward a year, and we find ourselves back in the UK with India a distant memory...  until we visited the Great Dorset Chilli Festival 2 weeks ago.  Feeling in need of refreshment we popped into Mr Tea's tea tent and when I spied Chai on the drinks list I had to try it.

On taking the first sip I was instantly transported back to Rajasthan.  It wasn't quite up to the standards of the Chai-Wallah - for a start it was made with a powdered mix - but the heady scent of cardamom was so evocative I left the festival absolutely determined to make this again at home - and NOT forget about it this time!

So over the last week or so I've been brewing myself a mug of Chai most mornings.  I doubt its authenticity, I feel sure that 'real' chai should have rather more ingredients, more spices, but I find it delicious and comforting.  As I type this I have a vague recollection of adding a piece of fresh ginger to the pan when I made this in Brunei...  I should try that again.  We're currently using some lovely Ceylon tea, in leaf-form, given to me by a Sri Lankan pupil at my Brunei school, but it works equally well with a regular teabag.

Cardamom Chai Masala

In a small pan, put:

1/2 mug of milk
1/2 mug of water
1 teabag, or 1 teaspoon of tea-leaves
4 or 5 cardamom pods, crushed with the back of a spoon
sugar - to taste (I use 1/2 a teaspoon)

Heat gently until boiling, stirring or whisking regularly, then strain into your mug.

And what better accompaniment to this than a square of locally-made  fudge, bought at the Chilli Festival.  Perfect!

Cherry Batter Pudding

Rob went back to work this week for the first time since Ted was born.  It's been fantastic to have him at home for so long, but it's time for me to start functioning again.  At this point 48 hours ago I was beginning to think that I would never ever be able to do things like write for my poor neglected blog, or not until Ted had gone to school at least!  He was feeding furiously and grizzling loudly if I dared to let him out of my arms, and it was as much as I could do to get us both out of bed and dressed.  In fact practically all I could do for most of the day was watch the Olympics on television, babe in my arms.

But today things are calmer.  Ted is sleeping and I am starting to feel like I might actually be able to get things done.  I've started thinking about planning meals and writing shopping lists... but I think it's probably still too soon to think about housework, don't you?!

And so it's back to the blog.  Whilst I haven't managed to cook anything much recently, I have managed to produce the occasional cake and pudding for various visitors, including one pudding that I feel that I need to make again very soon, just for us.  I say 'us', but maybe I really mean ME - I could eat an entire dish of this on my own without a second thought.  For me, it's the perfect pud - comforting, warming, egg-custardy and full of one of my favourite fruits, cherries.  Above all it's incredibly simple, and made even more so when you use a jar of ready pitted cherries.  I found these ones in Lidl, and now always make sure I have a jar in the house in order to make this dish:

Incidentally, for the breastfeeding mother, the juice from the cherries makes for a very convincing-looking red wine substitute if you strain it into a glass!

I think this pud is probably the English version of the French Clafoutis, although this has more of a custard texture than a batter, despite its name.  But whatever you call it, I call it my current favourite pudding - highly recommended!

Cherry Batter Pudding - From the Dairy Book of Family Cookery

3 level tbsp flour
pinch of salt
3 eggs, beaten
5 level tbsp caster sugar
450ml milk
15ml rum (optional - I didn't use this)
50g butter
675g black cherries, stoned and washed (or 1 jar of pitted cherries, strained, from Lidl!)

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl then blend in the eggs.  Add 3 tbsp of the sugar.

Stir the milk into the egg mixture, and the rum if using.  (NB the original recipe says the heat the milk until lukewarm before doing this, but I have never bothered).

Butter a shallow dish, put in the cherries, pour in the batter and dot with the remaining butter.

Bake in the oven at 220C (425F) for 25-30 mins (although I usually find that I have to give it an extra 10 minutes to make sure it's set in the middle), sprinkle with the remaining sugar and serve warm.

Welcome to the World Edward!

...or Ted.

So much for my maternity leave plans...  Ted surprised us, and confounded the 'first babies are always late' theorists, by making an appearance 2 and a half weeks before his due date.  I'm not sure I could say that we were 'ready' for him, but then are you ever?!

Lots of friends have asked me about the birth - so here goes.  Please feel free not to read if this kind of thing doesn't interest you - I'm sure I wouldn't have read about it before I was about 6 months pregnant (I spent that long being completely 'head in the sand' about the whole process!).  In fact, definitely don't read it if you're in any way squeamish or simply don't want to know.  I understand completely!

Last Wednesday, 13th June, we went to bed as usual, but the last thing I remember saying to Rob was 'I have a funny pain at the top of my bump'...  I thought no more of it and went to sleep.  At 12:40 I woke up needing the bathroom, and as I stood up there was literally a gush of liquid as my waters broke.  I remember standing there saying 'BLOODY HELL' to a comatose Rob, and then rushing off to the toilet.  It really was quite dramatic!  Of course, we then couldn't remember what we were meant to do - stay at home and wait?  Call the midwife?  So I rang Salisbury hospital who asked me to come in to be monitored as I was over 2 weeks early.  They put me on a foetal monitor for an hour or so and once they were satisfied that all was OK they sent me home 'to rest', telling me to come in to the day assessment unit the following morning to have a scan (I had one scheduled for the following week to check the position of my placenta and the size of the baby as my bump was so small).

So we came home and tried unsuccessfully to get back to sleep - me because I had begun to have contractions, and Rob because I kept asking him to massage my back!  It was at this point that the NCT massage techniques we had practised were really useful and soothing.  By 7am I started to time the contractions as I knew that once I got to 3 per 10 minutes, for a consistent length of time, labour was really beginning to be established, and by 9am that's exactly what had happened - I was finding it hard to talk through a contraction, and when I called the hospital again they said to come straight in to the labour ward.  Massage now fast became pretty useless!

I think we were the only people on the labour ward at that point so we were taken straight to the biggest delivery room that also had a birthing pool as I had said that I'd like to use water during labour.

The consultant came and told me she wanted to insert a drip into my hand as they were concerned that the baby was small and that the placenta was in the way of the cervix, but at this point I was able to put up a coherent argument for a lack of medical intervention and begged instead for her to find a portable scanner and check on the baby/placenta that way.  She agreed, saw the placenta was well out of the way and that the baby looked fine, and let me off without the drip.

A quick internal exam showed I was only 2cm dilated which made me cry as it really didn't seem much after 7 hours of labour, however 'mild', but the midwife was really encouraging and said it was all going well.  She said she'd examine me again in 4 hours time ('FOUR HOURS?!?' I was thinking... 'surely it'll all be over by then?!')  They said it was too early to run the water in the pool, but before long I decided that I wanted to be in a bath, so they ran one for me in the room's en-suite bathroom.  They also wheeled in the bottle of Entenox (gas and air) so I could carry on using that to help with the pain.  I wasn't really sure if the gas and air was doing much, but I do recall some nice 'trippy' moments in the bath whilst sucking on the Entenox and listening to a Sting CD!  Incidentally, I did find that music helped me get into the zone and focus on working through the contractions.  Nothing can really prepare you for the experience, but for me music helped, as did counting my breaths through each wave of pain.   It was about 10 breaths per contraction and I knew 6 and 7 were the worst, then it would subside.  I also managed to eat some tea and toast, and then later an egg and cress sandwich for lunch, which Rob fed to me as I was sitting in the bath.  Yes, that's right, no matter where I am and what I'm doing, I always have my appetite for food!

I've just re-read that and it does make it all seem rather calm and collected, whereas I was feeling anything but...  The pains just got so intense, I began to make some rather strange involuntary noises (like a cow, apparently!), and then I clearly remember deciding that SHOUTING would help, so I started yelling OWWWW!!!  and quite possibly some other, rather riper, phrases as well!  The labour ward is on the ground floor, and lots of the windows were open, so I dread to think what the people walking past were thinking...

When I was examined 4 hours later I was 5cm dilated, but at this point the 'natural birth-plan' was out of the window and I was asking if we could possibly consider some pain-relief options.  Well, they might not have been my exact words, but that was the gist of it!  They said they'd give me some pethadine which I had hoped to avoid (not wanting it to affect the baby) and they said they'd get me some.  With hindsight this should have been the time to fill the birthing pool but I guess as I'd just got out of the bath they didn't think there was any rush.  They also attached foetal monitors directly to the baby's head as the ones on my bump kept slipping off.

Time, in my memory, is rather distorted at this point, but I do know that they got back with the pethadine, did another internal exam and announced that I was - ta-da! - fully dilated so it was 'too late' to give me the drug.  Did I really finish dilating that quickly, or did they just take hours to get back to me?  No idea!  Whatever, this was a real mix of emotions.  Some real 'I did it!' feelings, that I had got that far on 'only' Entenox, and also the (sadly misguided) idea that I was 'nearly there'.  Surely it would now be only a few pushes and I'd meet my baby?!

Er, no.  That's when it all started to go wrong.  My contractions all but stopped.  In a way this was good as it did give me a chance to rest (and everyone else in the room got a break from my torrent of abuse!).  However, it soon became clear that this baby wasn't going anywhere without some help.  They tried the natural way first - I was offered a choice of essential oils for an aromatherapy massage (clary sage, jasmine and rose all apparently help to speed up contractions) and I chose jasmine.  I remember laughing because they made up some massage oil with it, and put it in a urine-sample pot!  Nice.  I enjoyed some massage with it, and it did help to bring the contractions back, but they weren't strong enough for me to push hard.  After a while (er, about 3 hours...) it was decided that the Doctor really needed to see me to 'make a plan'. He eventually arrived, a rather brusque chap, and had a rummage around (God, it's all so undignified).  He pronounced that the baby was lying back-to-back (as opposed to facing my back) and that I needed to go to theatre for an epidural and forceps, and failing that they would prep me for a C-Section.

From hereon in it became like a scene from ER as I was lifted onto a trolley and literally run through the corridors to the main operating theatre.  Suddenly I was surrounded by people in green scrubs - all of whom were the most wonderful kind, smiling, caring, lovely people who literally held my hand throughout the entire process.  Rob was left outside the theatre to change into scrubs while I was wheeled in, lifted onto another bed, rolled over and given an epidural in between contractions with me shouting 'PLEASE TAKE AWAY THE PAIN!!!'.  And from then on - wow!  I really started to almost enjoy the process!  My legs quickly went numb and the only way I knew I was having contractions was when the midwife told me, and I watched my stomach contort.  I was determined NOT to have a C-Section after a day of labour, so I knew I was going to push this baby out.  The doctor inserted the forceps and turned the baby round - this involved an epesiotomy, but I knew nothing about it by then.  The midwife told me when a contraction was starting and said 'Push like you're having a big poo!'  She said 'Your baby's head has been born!' and I asked 'has it got hair?' (meaning of course 'is it a ginger?!') to which she replied 'yes, a bit'.  Then another contraction apparently came, I was told to PUSH and suddenly there was my baby being held aloft.  They asked Rob to tell me what it was... and I heard him say 'It's a boy!' 

Put me back!

He was briefly taken to the side of the room to be wiped down (he was covered in blood and vernix) and then brought over to me wrapped in a blanket with a little woolly hat on.  In hindsight I wish I'd asked for the immediate skin-to-skin contact, but at the time it didn't matter.  He looked so scrawny and pale - and angry, poor little chap - but it was amazing how quickly he became pink and beautiful.  I think I was being 'sorted out down there' while this was all happening - I do remember seeing a bucket with the placenta in it (ick!) which was apparently huge, meaning I lost a whopping 800ml of blood during the delivery.  I must have been stitched, and I remember one of the staff whispering that they'd put a suppository in (while they were down there I guess...  should have asked for a bikini wax too!) but I was blissfully unaware of it all.

We were soon wheeled down to post-op recovery where we were the only mother and child, so got lots of attention from the cooing nurses.  Later still it was back to the post-natal ward where we finally got that famous post-birth tea and toast.  And yes, it was awesome!

That night is a blur - he was born at 7:30pm, weighing 6lb 8oz - but that's about all I can remember. He was very fractious all night (and who can blame him?!) but I recall just holding him and rocking him and smiling like a lunatic.

The next day I felt like I'd been run over by a truck.  I had to keep a drip in, and a catheter, so I was confined to bed, but Rob was back first thing to deal with the first meconium nappy, and supply me with constant cups of tea (and dried apricots - I was determined to keep things moving 'down there'!).  By the afternoon I was allowed to have the drip and catheter removed so was able to move around gradually, and my recovery in the week since then has been pronounced 'excellent' by the midwives. 

Before I finish, I'd just like to say that the midwifery and medical care I have received in Salisbury has been absolutely superb.  The midwifery team, both in the hospital and the community team, are incredible.  I have never met a more caring and supportive group of professional people.  I have had home-visits every day since I got home from hospital, and numerous offers of help and support from people such as breastfeeding counsellors (we've had a rocky start on that front).  I couldn't have asked for more.

So that's the story of Ted's entry into this world.  He's the most delightful baby, I feel very blessed to have him.