Favourite Recipes from PineFlatPlace March 2013

Favourite Recipes from Pine Flat Place

 

This month I have had a request for a summer recipe with strawberries and also one which children can make. This is a Pippi Longstocking type recipe for a cake to be eaten on Midsummer’s Day from a book I found in the National Trust Shop called Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer by Jane Brocket.

 

Children: Health & Safety dictates that anything choppy/slicey/heaty/burny should be carried out by your RESPONSIBLE ADULT (R/A) whoever that may be on the day. So now we have established that here’s the recipe.

SWEDISH STRAWBERRY CAKE

Makes 1 large cake.

INGREDIENTS
380g caster sugar
230g soft butter
4 eggs
250 ml buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of unwaxed lemon
425g self-raising flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
750ml whipping cream
500g strawberries
1 red sweet (optional)
24 cm round cake or spring-form tin greased with butter and lined with baking parchment.

 

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/Gas Mark 4
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter together until pale and fluffy using a whisk either by hand (tiring) or an electric whisk (much easier)
3. Beat in the eggs one at a time
4. Add the buttermilk, vanilla extract and lemon zest and stir to mix. Sift in the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and fold in gently using a cutting motion until all the ingredients are combined.
5. Spoon the mixture into the lined tin and bake (R/A) for 55-60 minutes in the middle of the oven until the cake is well risen and a skewer or sharp knife inserted onto the middle comes out clean.
6. LEAVE the cake in its tin on a wire rack to cool COMPLETELY then turn out onto the rack.
7. Cut the cake (R/A) in half horizontally with a sharp knife. Whip the cream until nice and thick but still spreadable. Spread a third of this on the bottom layer of your cake. Reserve one really good strawberry and scatter the remaining (whole) on top of the cream. Gently replace the top layer of cake.
8. Spread the remaining cream generously over the top and sides of the cake and place the single strawberry (or your red sweet if you prefer) in the centre and serve immediately.

 

This next recipe is iconic, a one-off classic from Momofuku Milk Bar in New York, made by Christina Tosi one of the pastry chefs. Anyone who has taken a bite of this Milk Bar best seller immediately knows the reason for the sassy name. Once you start eating this rich, salty-sweet pie with its oat cookie crust, you won’t be able to stop.

http://milkbarstore.com/main/

MOMOFUKU’S CRACK PIE

pic: Kirk McCoy/Los Angeles

Oat Cookie Crust

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
9 tablespoons (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
5 1/2 tablespoons (packed) golden brown sugar, divided
2 tablespoons sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon (generous) salt

 

Filling

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon nonfat dry milk powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
6 1/2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
4 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (for dusting)

 

Oat Cookie Crust

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan with parchment paper; coat with nonstick spray. Combine 6 tablespoons butter, 4 tablespoons brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat mixture until light and fluffy, occasionally scraping down sides of bowl, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until pale and fluffy. Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Turn oat mixture out onto prepared baking pan; press out evenly to edges of pan. Bake until light golden on top, 17 to 18 minutes. Transfer baking pan to rack and cool cookie completely.

Using hands, crumble oat cookie into large bowl; add 3 tablespoons butter and 1 1/2 tablespoons brown sugar. Rub in with fingertips until mixture is moist enough to stick together. Transfer cookie crust mixture to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Using fingers, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie dish. Place pie dish with crust on rimmed baking sheet.

 

Filling

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Whisk both sugars, milk powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add melted butter and whisk until blended. Add cream, then egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well blended. Pour filling into crust. Bake pie 30 minutes (filling may begin to bubble). Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. Continue to bake pie until filling is brown in spots and set around edges but center still moves slightly when pie dish is gently shaken, about 20 minutes longer. Cool pie 2 hours in pie dish on rack. Chill uncovered overnight. Sift powdered/icing sugar lightly over top of pie. Cut pie into wedges and serve cold.

 

This next recipe is one for the Chileans among us and any veggie loving people too, it’s from another old book of mine Food out of Chile by Maria Figueroa, a refugee from Pinochet’s Fascist Chile, who ended up in Newcastle and became a huge part of the Red Herring Workers Co-operative in Arthur’s Hill, a very popular vegetarian whole food café.

LENTEJAS GRATINDAS

(Lentil and Cheese Bake)

400g (14oz.) Green Lentils
450g (1lb) onions finely sliced
500g (18 oz.) fresh tomatoes (or 4oog tin tomatoes and 1 tbsp tomato purée)
400g (14oz.) potatoes peeled and diced
100g (2oz.) Cheddar cheese, grated
50g (2oz.) Parmesan cheese, grated
3 tbsp oil
Corn oil for frying
75g (3 oz.) breadcrumbs
5 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp fresh parsley or basil
½ tsp oregano
½ tsp white pepper
Salt

Method

Put the lentils to cook in cold water with the cumin seeds and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, adding a little salt half way through.

In another pan heat the oil until very hot, add the onions and crushed garlic and fry for about 3 minutes. Then add the finely chopped tomatoes and basil or parsley. After 5 minutes, add the oregano, pinch of salt and white pepper.

 

Mix together the lentils, the fried ingredients, parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs, arriving at a thick but not dry consistency.

 

Deep fry the potatoes until golden.

 

Fill an oven dish ¾ full with the cooked lentils, then add a layer of diced fried potatoes with a generous sprinkling of the grated cheeses and pop it into a hot oven for 5 to 10 minutes until bubbling. Serve this with any light salad.