Persimmon and Feta Salad

A small salad can be just the treat if you’re a bit peckish and fancy a small treat. Or it can be a delicious lunch or dinner if made a bit bigger. I never use exact measurements when making a salad, I don’t think they need it, and measuring everything just makes more work. It also means that every salad is slightly different even if using the same ingredients. This salad is quite fruity, but the saltiness of the cheese balances the flavours.

Serves 1 as a snack

a handful of lettuce leaves

5 thin slices of persimmon fruit

a handful of mango slices

7 cherry tomatoes

some feta cheese

a drizzle of olive oil

a drizzle of passion fruit vinegar

freshly ground black pepper

Tear the lettuce into bite-size pieces, and place in a small bowl or on a plate. Thinly slice the persimmon fruit and place over the lettuce. Chop the mango into small pieces, half the tomatoes, and place both with the lettuce. Crumble the feta cheese over the salad, and drizzle a bit each of the oil and vinegar over it. Finally grind some black pepper over the salad. 

English Christmas Cake

This is a recipe I have used several times now, and it has worked every time. It comes from Delia Smith, and is very simple to make. I have omitted the almonds that she adds to the cake, and I’ve used gluten free flour for the first time this year, which has worked very well.

English Christmas Cakes should be made in good time before Christmas, so that they have plenty of time to be soaked in brandy before being eaten. They should be ‘fed’ once a week for up to three months, I like to do this for about a month and a half to two months, so I was a little bit late making Christmas cake this year. My cake is now resting, waiting to be fed more brandy every week until I decorate it just before it is eaten.

425g currants

250g sultanas

250g raisins

250g glace cherries

75g mixed candid peel

4 tablespoons brandy +extra for soaking

300g plain flour (I used Dove’s Farm Gluten Free Plain White Flour Blend)

1 tablespoon ground mixed spice

½ tablespoon grated nutmeg

300g butter + extra for greasing the tin

300g dark muscovado sugar

5 eggs

1 tablespoon black treacle

zest of 1 orange

zest of 1 lemon

apricot jam
marzipan

icing

You’ll need a 23cm round tin or 20cm square tin.

Combine the fruit and candid peel in a bowl, and add brandy. Stir well, cover, and leave over night.

Place the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, and mix gently in a food processor or with an electric mixer. Add the soaked fruit to this mix and stir well.

Grease the cake tin with butter, and line the bottom and side with a double layer of grease proof paper. Spoon the cake mixture into the tin. Level the surface, and cover with greaseproof paper.

Bake the cake at 140^oC for 4 ¾ to 5 hours, until the cake is firm to the touch, and a skewer inserted into the middle of it comes out clean. Cool the cake in the tin.

When the cake is cool, pierce it in several places, and pour a little brandy into the holes. Remove the cake from the tin, but leave the grease proof paper on. Wrap the cake in more paper, and also wrap it in kitchen foil.

Add more brandy (about a tablespoon or two) each week until Christmas by gently pouring it over the top. Keep the cake in a cool place until eating.

Decorate the cake with a thin layer of marzipan and icing sugar. You can use ready-made icing to get a smooth surface. The easiest way to make the marzipan stick to the cake is by gently warming some apricot jam and brushing this onto the cake. The icing will stick to the marzipan quite well. 

A good trick for rolling marzipan and icing is to roll them on a silicone rolling mat or any other sturdy soft plastic surface. You can then lift the whole thing onto the cake and peel off the plastic once the marzipan/icing is in place. It makes it easier to transfer thin layers of icing withouth breaking it, and you get a very smooth surface. 


You can use coloured icing, or ribbons, or dried fruit, or anything else that you can think of, to decorate the cake. I've split mine into three this year, and used two of the parts as presents. This also meant I got to decorate three cakes, which was fun. 

Broccoli and Red Pepper Pâté

This pâté is brilliantly easy to make, and also rather delicious. I found the recipe in a magazine I read many many years ago, and it’s been on my list of things to make ever since. I finally got round to making it this weekend, and really enjoyed it, served with steamed vegetables and a sour cream dip.

Serves 4

300g broccoli

4 small red peppers (about 300 to 350g)

4 medium sized eggs

100ml sour cream

2 tablespoons fresh thyme

1 tablespoon fresh chives

freshly ground salt and pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 175^OC. Place

Divide the broccoli into small florets and stream until soft.

Place the peppers under a hot grill until they are black, and skin them.

Grease 6 portion size ramekins.

Place the broccoli, 2 eggs, 50ml sour cream, 1 tablespoon fresh thyme and ½ tablespoon chives and a pinch each of salt and pepper in a food processor. Whizz until you have a smooth mixture, and pour into the ramekins.  

Place the peppers, 2 eggs, 50ml sour cream, 1 tablespoon fresh thyme and ½ tablespoon chives and a pinch each of salt and pepper in a food processor. Whizz until you have a smooth mixture, and pour into the ramekins, on top of the broccoli mixture.

Place the ramekins in a bain-marie and bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, until firm. 

Crème Fraîche and Chilli Dip

I based this recipe on one that I found in a magazine many years ago, but which I never got round to making until now. It’s refreshing and hot at the same time, and works very well both with crisps and food.

150ml crème fraîche

50ml sour cream

½ tablespoon French mustard

½ tablespoon chives

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

zest of 1 lime

¼ red chilli

¼ agave nectar

freshly ground salt and pepper to taste

Add the crème fraîche, sour cream and mustard to a small bowl. Finely chop the chives and thyme and add to the bowl. Use a microplane or fine grater to grate the lime into the bowl. Finely chop the chilli, removing any seeds, and add to the bowl. Add the agave nectar, and finely add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir well, and leave to stand for at least 30 minutes to let the flavours develop.   

Bean and Chilli Pâté

A bit of chilli can kick-start your morning, and beans are full of energy to keep you going until lunch time. I like this pâté on some crisp bread as breakfast, but it works very well as a dip with crisps or crackers as well. If you can’t get hold of Red Hot Dutch Cheese, you can use any other chilli cheese, or you can use a gouda or cheddar cheese and add some chilli flakes. 

1 egg

30g leek

100g cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

175g black eye beans (1 x 300g tin - dreained)

4 sundried tomatoes

40g Red Hot Dutch Cheese (or any other chilli cheese)

1 tablespoon fresh parsley

Boil the egg for about 7 minutes until hard boiled. Rinse in cool water to make it easier to take the shell off. Remove shell, and place in a food processor.

Finely chop the leek and slice the tomatoes in half, and sauté in the oil until soft. Place in the food processor along with the egg.

Add the drained beans, sun dried tomatoes, cheese and parsley to the food processor and whizz until you have a smooth-ish mixture. Leave a few lumps to make the pâté more interesting. Serve with a few sprigs of parsley. 

Sweetcorn Fritters

I was going to make pancakes, but then I realised that I really fancied something savoury instead. Having already laid out the ingredients for pancakes, and feeling very lazy, I decided to just modify my selection rather than think of something completely different. I found some tinned sweetcorn, and so savoury fritters it was.

I had these for my dinner, with steamed vegetables and a sweet thai chilli dipping sauce. But I think they would also work very well as part of a Full English Breakfast; with scrambled eggs, baked beans and fried mushrooms. Yum.

Makes 12 fritters

100g soya flour

1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum

¼ teaspoon baking powder

⅛ teaspoon turmeric

1 ½ teaspoon oregano

100g tinned sweetcorn

40g leeks

30g red romano pepper

50ml double cream

150ml whole milk

2 teaspoons garlic infused olive oil

2 eggs

1 mild chilli

a pinch of salt

oil for frying

Mix the flour, xanthan gum, baking powder and turmeric, and sift these into a large bowl. Add the oregano and stir. Add the sweetcorn, finely slice the leek and pepper, and add these to the mixture as well. Mix the cream, milk, oil and eggs in a separate jug, and pour them into the mixture. Finely chop the chilli and add to the mixture, and finally add a pinch of salt.

The mixture should now be a gooey batter. Add oil to your frying pan and warm it up. Use a tablespoon to add little dollops of batter and fry them on medium to low heat. As when you make small pancakes, turn them over after a few minutes, to fry the other side once they look like the bottom side is done. Do a few at a time, as many as your frying pan will allow. 

Saffron and Courgette Cupcakes

I’ve had a small container of saffron hanging about in my kitchen for quite a while, and I’ve never really known what to do with it. So I was excited to find this recipe which sounded lovely. It is taken from Phil Vickery’s book ‘Gluten-Free Baking’. I’ve stuck to the recipe almost all the way, which is quite unusual for me, but it looked so tasty I thought I’d give it a go. And I’m glad I did, as it is very nice indeed.

Makes 12 cupcakes

1 pinch saffron threads

2 tablespoons boiling water

2 medium sized eggs

180g caster sugar

200g flour (I used Doves Farm Gluten Free White Bread Mix)

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon xanthan gum

1 teaspoon honey

250g courgette

icing sugar and water to decorate

Pre-heat the oven to 180^OC.

Place the saffron threads in a small cup and add the boiling water. Cover and leave it to cool.

Whisk the eggs and sugar in a food mixer until they are thick and creamy. This will take about 5 minutes. Add the saffron water when the mixture is has thickened. Then add the honey and mix well.

Sieve the flour, baking powder and xanthan gum together in a separate bowl. Slowly add the flour mix to the egg mix, taking care not to over-whisk, as the dough will get rubbery.  Grate the courgette and add to the mix, fold well until you have a smooth and quite soft mix.

Spoon the mixture into paper muffin cases that are placed in a muffin tray, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the cupcakes have risen and are golden. When you insert a skewer this should come out clean.

Leave the cupcakes to cool on a wire rack before glazing them with the icing.

To make the icing; sieve the icing sugar into a small bowl, and add a few drops water until you have a smooth but not too runny paste. Use a butter knife to place a dollop of icing on each cupcake. 

Asia Gourmet in York – Sunday 30 October 2011

Fancying some Asian food, and having just had Asia Gourmet recommended by some friends, my friend and I headed to Gillygate to find out if it was as good as we had been told. It didn’t look promising from the outside; plastic food in the window, and photos on the menu is usually not a good sign, but because the place had been recommended to us we still went in. The interior did not do anything to instil any more confidence, the entrance was a bit like a storage room, and the restaurant area was painted bright orange and furnished with uncomfortable looking sparse tables and chairs. The acoustics exaggerated any noise – all in all not such a good first impression.

 The extensive menu comprised both Japanese, Korean and other East Asian cuisine, and as we scrutinised it we found that it had lots of vegetarian and gluten free choices. The price was reasonable, and with a huge selection of differently sized dishes there should be something for everyone. I decided on some sushi with avocado, tempura vegetables, and stir fry noodles with vegetables.

The friendly waitress took our orders, and brought us our food in no time at all. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it both smelled and looked delicious. And it didn’t stop there, it tasted great as well. The tempura was perhaps a little bit bland, but overall the food was lovely. 

My friend and I enjoyed our meal at Asian Gourmet, and we are very likely to go back to try something else. Unlike the decor, the food was good, and well worth a try. 

Cake time at Kafeneion in York - Sunday 30 October 2011

This was not my first visit to Kafeneion in York. I'd been there once before, and quite liked it, so when my friend suggested it for our Sunday mid-morning treat, I was more than happy to go along. The café looks quite small from the outside, but opens up when you look past the counter. If you can actually tear yourself away from the counter long enough to look for a place to sit, that is. There are delicious-looking cakes that make your mouth water, and a good selection of both warm and cold drinks. Once you have made up your mind you can choose if you want to sit in the small section by the street window, or in the more secluded section in the back, where there are comfortable sofas as well as tables and chairs. One of my friends commented that the place has a spa-like feel to it, with calming pictures on the wall, and some green plants in a large open and airy space. I’m not completely sure about the spa-thing, but it is definitely a calming and cosy space.

I settled down onto the sofa, and soon my cake and hot chocolate were brought over by a lovely waiter. That is another thing I like about Kafeneion; the staff are lovely and friendly and not at all afraid to go out of their way to make your stay even better. The floor and tables are cleaned regularly, adding to the comfort of the guests.

This particular day I had chosen the rocky road cake, which was moist and rich and chocolaty. My friend opted for the oreo cake, which of course I had to test – and it was deliciously smooth and creamy, and also chocolaty. I could very happily have both of them again. There were also cakes suitable for coeliacs on offer.

Sadly I eventually had to leave the café, not because I was in any way rushed, but because I had things to do before the shops closed. But I had enjoyed my break, and so had my friends.