Yesterday I decided to make poppy seed cake. The cake is a favourite of Clare Hills the protagonist of The Hungerbourne. Clare normally eats her cake in a tea shop as her talents don’t extend to the kitchen. The recipe has American measures in brackets to encourage her friend and colleague Californian human bone specialist Jo Granski to bake it for her!



Clare’s Lime Poppy Seed Cake


2 oz. Black poppy seeds (4 tbsp)
4 oz. Self-raising flour (c.1/2 cup regular flour + 3/4 tsp baking powder)
3.5 oz. Butter (7 tbsp)
3.5 oz. Caster sugar (c.1/2 cup)
2 Large eggs
Grated zest 1 lime
Juice of 2 limes
2 tbsp Warm water
2 oz. Sugar (4 tbsp)


Preheat oven to 180C (350F)
Beat the butter and caster sugar until light and creamy.
Add beaten eggs gradually, adding a little flour with the last of the eggs.
Stir in the lime zest. Fold in the flour, water and poppy seeds.
Bake in a greased 1lb loaf tin for about 30 min.


Ten minutes before the cake comes out the oven, make the syrup as follows:
Dissolve the sugar with the lime juice in a pan over a gentle heat.
When the cake is baked, stab with a skewer or knife and pour the lime syrup over the cake.



I think it would have looked better if it had been baked in a 1lb loaf tin, but I only had a 2lb tin, so it’s a bit thin-looking.





It tasted very good with a spoonful of Greek yoghurt.






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Although we have a veggie Christmas meal in our house I do enjoy a main course that can be eaten with lots of the ‘traditional’ vegetables and trimmings. As things can get a bit frantic, and even a bit boozey on Christmas Day I’ve decided to cook and freeze our Carrot & Nut Roast today. Whilst twittering about this and how really I should be writing Carolyn ( @c_a_theriault ) asked for the recipe.

Well the original recipe was cooked by Carol Anderson at the Crickley Hill Archaeological Dig. It would have been made to serve about 30 of the vast army of Crickley diggers so I’ve down-sized the recipe some what, and for Christmas I’ve also ‘nutted it up’!




Carrot and mushroom nut roast
Ingredients:

100g onion, finely chopped
450g carrot, grated
225g mushrooms, finely chopped
2 sticks celery, finely chopped
80g fresh breadcrumbs
50g ground almonds
30g pinenuts, finely chopped
60g hard cheese, grated
2 cloves garlic
2 eggs
25g butter
fresh chopped herbs – 2tsp each of oregano, rosemary, thyme (or choose your own savoury combo)

1. Saute the onions and garlic in the butter. Add the mushrooms and cook to soften them and remove moisture.
2. Add carrot, celery and herbs and cook for about 5 minutes.
3. Add ground almonds and pinenuts, stir well and remove from heat.
4. Mix together the grated cheese and breadcrumbs.
5. Allow the loaf mix to cool slightly before stirring in half of the grated cheese and breadcrumbs mix, and then the eggs (save the other half of the cheese and breadcrumbs for a topping). Mix well.
6. Place in a silicon, or buttered, 2lb loaf tin. Top with the remaining cheese and breadcrumb mix.
7. Cook in a pre-heated oven (180C/160C fan) for about 60 minutes. Check it about 45 minutes in and if the topping is getting too brown cover with a piece of tin foil. Test it’s cooked with a skewer, which should come out clean.


Freeze when cold and cook after defrosting covered with tin foil, at same temperature as above for maybe 40 minutes.



Here it is pre-topping and cooking…





When the loaf is fully cold I’ll take it from the loaf mould and wrap it in foil then freeze it…
Here’s the finished article, looking very scrummy indeed even if I do say so myself!
Forgot to mention they’re my own home-grown carrots, onion and garlic. Oh and the eggs are from the neighbour across the roads chooks.






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