Have you ever craved cake? I do . . . and I shouldn't because I really don't need to be eating cake, but every now and then I just got to have one. I normally only bake goodies at the weekend.
That keeps me from over-indulging if they are only weekend treats. I have spent the week salivating over a variety of Lemon and Elderflower cakes, a flavour which is tipped to be the choice for Meghan and Harry's wedding cake for their impending nuptials.
I had in mind to do a version of one myself. I might still do, not having made up my mind yet, or I may not. In the meantime I am still wanting cake and so . . .
I turned to my trusty copy of the BHG New Cook Book, which was published originally in 1982, to find a recipe. My copy is lovingly well-worn, having been used often over these past 36 years or so.
In fact it is just about falling apart and many of the pages are spattered and splodged . . . the mark of a really good cookbook! I think this was one of the first cookbooks I ever spend dosh on . . .
I never ever thought that one day I would have written one of my own . . . and be working on a second one. Yes, I still pinch myself.
Back to the cake. I didn't want anything too faffy or complicated. I wanted a simple cake. A family cake.
I decided to bake the Chocolate Marble Cake from the book. Its a simple family cake, not too large, not too small and the perfect mix of white and chocolate butter cakes. You cannot beat a chocolate and vanilla cake!
It is one of my favourites and there is just enough white cake in it (2/3) that I knew my husband wouldn't complain too overly much about the chocolate cake bits . . . .
He is not a huge fan of chocolate cake, but, in fact . . . . he thinks this one is just nice. So that makes it perfect.
I can never get the marbling quite right when I do a marble cake. I have tried everything under the sun . . .
They never end up looking quite like the pictures in the book, but no mind . . . its the flavour that counts, right?
And the flavour of this cake is spot on, with just the right mix of both vanilla and chocolate . . .
It gets baked in a loaf tin, so it is very easy to cut and very homely looking. Its a sturdy cake, not flimsy cake and goes really well with drinks . . .
Be they hot cups of tea or coffee, or . . . cold glasses of milk. My favourite.
This ought to keep us contented over the weekend I am sure.
You could put an icing/glaze on it if you wanted to, but I never bother. I just keep it plain and we are quite happy with that. ♥
*Chocolate Marble Cake*
Makes 1 9X5X3 loaf
This fabulous loaf cake is adapted from a recipe which comes from my well-worn copy of the BHG new Cookbook, published in 1982.
245g plain flour (1 3/4 cup)
2 TBS HOT water
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Preheat
the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 9 X 5 X 3 inch baking
tin and line it with baking paper. Butter the paper. Set aside.
Cream
together the sugar and butter with the vanilla until light and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating for one minute after each.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the creamed
mixture, alternately with the milk, beating well after each addition.
Combine the melted chocolate, hot water and soda. Separate 1/3 of the
cake batter from the rest and stir the chocolate mixture into this.
Spoon
the batters, alternately into the prepared cake tin. I do a thin layer
on the bottom of the loaf tin of plain, and then put in three blobs of
white leaving space to put in 3 blobs of chocolate in between, then I
reverse that on the next layer, putting white batter on top of the
chocolate blobs and chocolate on the white, repeating until I have used
all of both batters. Run a thin spatula through the batter in a zigzag
shape to marbelize, without overdoing it.
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minuts. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes on a wire rack before removing from the pan to finish cooling. Ice or not as desired. Cut into slices to serve.
Its the May Bank Holiday here this weekend, with Monday being a bank holiday and the weather s tipped to be one of the warmest and nicest on record. We will see about that! For now the sun is shining and all is well in our little corner of the world. Bonne Weekend! ☺
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Mexican food was not something I ever had when I was a child, and I dare say, unless you lives in the American South West or California, it wasn't something you had either. It was just not very common at all. I think this was largely due to the fact that none of us really travelled very far from where we lived. We lived in a much much smaller world. When I was a girl, Chinese food was about as exotic as it got! And maybe Spaghetti or pizza. We are all very well travelled these days and most of us have been on foreign holidays and tasted the world. I think that is a wonderful thing!
I was sitting here trying to think what my first experience with Mexican or Tex Mex food might have been, and I think it was when I got this Sunset Cookbook magazine back in the late 1970's. There was a recipe in it for Chicken Enchiladas (that I still make and love) and I made them after Thanksgiving one year, using some of our leftover turkey. I think we were living in London Ontario at the time. They were really, really good.
Suffice it to say, I absolutely adore Mexican/Tex Mex flavours. It can be somewhat of a challenge over here to cook them, because not all of the ingredients are available, but somehow I cope. For instance you cannot get green enchilada sauce, masa harina, tamale fixings, tomatillas or the canned green chillies . . . although they do have mexi-corn. (Go figure!)
I can usually get by somewhat however, by adapting things a bit. For instance, I tend now to buy green jalapenos and roast my own, which works fine, or in a recipe like this one today, I just finely mince them and throw them in raw, with no problem.
Tortillas are a very common ingredient here, they use them a lot for wraps. You can get wheat and corn ones and there is a variety that is a coconut and black pepper type, which are very nice. I like the corn ones. You can also buy jarred enchilada sauce, but I like to make my own. I have a great recipe that works out very well and is delicious. I have included this below also. Its very easy, and you can use whole wheat flour in it, which is much better for you than the plain flour. More protein, and in a vegetarian dish like this, a bit more protein is a very good thing.
These are delicious. The filling is very simple, just corn and beans, cheese and enchilada sauce . . . not much of a fiddle faddle. They go together in a jiffy, even the sauce. I think you are going to love them. I know we do.
*Black Bean & Corn Enchiladas*
Makes 4 servings
240g grated Monterey Jack cheese (2 cups)
480ml enchilada sauce (2 cups)
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Have ready a 13
by 9 inch glass baking dish which you have lightly buttered. Pour 120ml
(1/2 cup) of the enchilada sauce onto the bottom of the dish and spread
it out.
Mix together the beans, corn, green chili, 120g of the cheese (1 cup) and 60ml (1/4 cup) of the enchilada sauce in a bowl.
Spoon 1/8th (1/2 cup) of the bean mixture down the centre of each
tortilla. Roll up tightly and place, seam-side down into the dish. Spoon
the remaining enchilada sauce over top and sprinkle the remaining
cheese over all. Butter a sheet of aluminium foil and cover the dish
(butter side down) with this, sealing it tightly.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until heated through completely and the cheese in the filling has melted thorougly. Let stand a few minutes prior to serving.
Serve garnished with lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, sour cream,
spring onions or salsa if desired.
*Enchilada Sauce*
Makes 480ml (2 cups)
480ml hot vegetable stock
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
By the way, May the Fourth be with you! haha. Yes. I did wait 364 days just to be able to say that. Bon Appetit!
My mother always said I was the master of creating something tasty to eat out of nothing. I am not sure where that skill comes from.
My first MIL had it. She was a great cook, a farmer's wife. Everything she cooked was fabulously tasty. I learned a lot from her. Actually, I think that so long as you are knowledgeable about how flavours and textures work together, anyone can be a good cook.
One of the first meals I had at their house was simple fried potatoes . . . just cold leftover potatoes which she had cubed with some onion and then fried in rendered salt pork.
I have never forgotten it. The flavour was amazing . . . and there were little bits of pork scrunchions mixed in with the potato. Soooo good. Something from nothing . . .
We eat a lot of chicken in this house, and I have a bazillion ways of making it tasty. This dish is soft of like an oven baked pilaf.
Nice and garlicky and filled with lots of bits of chicken . . . . and don't hate me . . . cheese. Yes, I DO love my cheese, and so does Todd. I will not apologise for that.
I always have bags of frozen chicken breast meat in the freezer. So quick and easy to use. I simpy pop them into a saucepan, cover with water and some seasoning, boil then simmer until tender.
At that point it is quite easy to shred it into bits, ready to use in lots of things. Easy peasy.
For this dish you just stir together cooked chicken with some raw rice, garlic powder, seasonings, cheese and chicken stock, and pour it into a buttered casserole dish and bake.
Its as simple as that. No trouble at all. Cover and bake until the rice is tender, then uncover and top with some buttered crumbs and yes . . . a bit more cheese.
Pop it back into the oven until golden brown and Bob's your uncle.
Dinner's ready. Baking the rice gives it a little bit of a nutty flavour. We quite like it.
All you need on the side is a selection of fresh veg. Today it was baby peas and carrot/swede mash. (You buy it frozen and its lovely) It was a lovely meal. Simple. Easy. Delicious.
*Garlic & Cheddar Chicken Rice*
Serves 4
I love meals like this on weeknights when my days tend to be busy. I can just slap them together and everyone's happy. Another nice thing about this is there is only one dish to clean up when its done. Bonus!
This content (written and photography) is the sole property of The English Kitchen. Any reposting or misuse is not permitted. If you are reading this elsewhere, please know that it is stolen content and you may report it to me at: mariealicejoan at aol dot com Thanks so much for visiting. Do come again!
A Frittata has to be one of the easiest and tastiest of weeknight supper dishes. Basically they are just a large omelette or crustless quiche and let me tell you, they have saved my bacon on more than one occasion. When all else fails and you are feeling uninspired, so long as you have a few veg and/or bits of meat at the ready, you are never very far from being able to put a delicious meal on the table!
Italian in origin, the name "Frittata" basically translates to "fried." The main base for a frittata will be beaten eggs, and perhaps some cream, some seasoning and maybe some cheese. Not much different than an omelet, except for in the case of a Frittata the filling is incorporated right into the egg prior to cooking, instead of filling the already cooked eggs.
They are quick and they are delicious. Today I decided to incorporate some roasted vegetables, which meant that it did take a bit longer, but if you knew ahead of time you were going to make this, you could always have your vegetables roasted ahead of time.
I roasted two kinds of potatoes . . . sweet potatoes (which I love) peeled and cut into chunk, and baby new potatoes, cut into wedges.
I also roasted some red bell pepper and courgettes (zucchini). You could also do some wedges on onion, if you wanted to, but today I decided not to. I had plenty enough vegetables as it were.
There is something really lovely and rich about roasted vegetables . . . you get some caramelization which almost lends a sweetness to them . . . perfectly beautiful flavours . . .
If you don't want to use cream, you can use low fat evaporated milk. It will work fine, and there are enough other flavours going on that you won't notice any "tinned" milk flavour. This is what I did because I am watching my fat and calories, but if you aren't bothered about these things, go for the cream!
I chose to use Parmesan cheese, basically because I love it, and you get more flavour bang for your buck, ie. you don't need to use as much of it as you would other cheese, which further cut down on the fat and calories. I love Parmesan. Half goes into the egg mixture and I scatter the rest on when I go to grill it and finish it off.
I scattered minced chives over top to really finish it off just prior to serving and they were lovely, adding just a hit of onion flavour without it being overpowering. Some nice green colour as well. This went down a real treat!!
*Roast Vegetable Fritatta*
Serves 4
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line a large
rimmed baking tray with some baking paper. Scatter the prepared
vegetables in a single layer on the baking sheet. Drizzle with some
olive oil, and then season with salt and black pepper. Roast in the
preheated oven for 40 minutes, until soft and golden, with some
caramelized edges.
Have ready a large (12 inch) non-stick skillet. Scrape the roasted vegetables off the tray into the skillet. Place the skillet over medium heat. Beat together the eggs and cream, 1/2 of the cheese and 1 TBS of the chives. Pour this around the vegetables in the pan. Reduce the heat to low. Cook over low heat for eight to tn minutes, until the frittata begins to set.
Heat the grill to medium high. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over top of the frittata and cook for a further two to three minutes until golden. Let stand for about five minutes. Scatter the remaining chives over top and serve. Cut into wedges to serve.
This is a really delicious frittata. Filled with colour and flavour, you really don't need anything on th side other than a salad! Bon Appetit!
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