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An Ode to ‘Drizzle’ – Blood Orange, Cardamom and Pomegranate
Published by Crumbs Magazine, to view published version, click here.
‘Drizzle’ is a word not commonly associated with joy; reminiscent of grey, damp and generally miserable days. However, when immediately followed with the holy grail of words – cake – we then find ourselves faced with one very benevolent exception: A bright, syrupy and sticky citrous loaf – a very honorable exception indeed!
So, in what follows is my own take on the delightful teatime treat, the humble drizzle cake. This recipe also serves as a fine celebration of the blood orange, which, every January, seems to burst onto our shelves just in the nick of time. Restoring some promise of sunshine into our lives. Combine this with cardamom and pomegranate and your onto a winner. A perfect ode to the much loved and sorely missed (come late April) Blood Orange which is now sadly entering into the dusk of its seasonality.
Blood Orange and Cardamom Drizzle Cake with a Pomegranate Glaze
INGREDIENTS
For the cake
200g of Butter – softened
200g of Self-Raising Flour
200g of Light Brown Muscovado Sugar
Zest and Juice of 1 Blood Orange
3 Eggs
6 Cardamom Pods – deseeded
2tbsp of Natural Yogurt
A Pinch of Salt
For the syrup
50g of Caster Sugar
Zest and Juice of 1 Blood Orange
3 Cardamom Pods – crushed
For the glaze
Juice of half and Pomegranate
250g Icing Sugar
METHOD
Begin by preheating your oven to 180°C and lining a loaf tin with baking paper or a liner.
Using an electric whisk, or a manual one, cream together the butter and sugar. For this recipe I like to use light brown Muscovado sugar as I think it works well with the blood orange and give a caramel twist to the cake. Caster sugar will also work though! Once creamed, add the eggs one by one whisking well after each addition.
After the eggs have been combines, sieve in the flour and salt and mix well. Following, grate in the zest and add the juice of the blood orange, add the seeds from the cardamom, the yogurt and whisk together.
Pour the mixture and place in the oven for around 45 minutes to bake, or until a skewer or knife comes out clean.
Whilst your loaf is baking, make the syrup. Simply, combine all the syrup ingredients in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. The sugar will melt and the juice will begin to bubble. Allow to simmer for around five minutes on a medium heat until the mixture has thickened and reduced by half. Set aside.
When your cake is ready, carefully remove from the tin once letting it sit for 5 minutes. You don’t want to let it cool fully as if it is allowed to do so the syrup will not seep right through. Once it is out of its tin, taking a skewer (or a chopstick, or knife) poke the cake all over – in rows of around 5 insertions. This is key as it will ensure the syrup goes right through the cake to leave you with the wet, sticky sponge you’re after!
Next, place the cake onto a chopping board or plate and pour the syrup over the top. Be very careful as your syrup will be hot! Now leave to cool.
To make the glaze, juice half a pomegranate and gradually add the icing sugar. It is important to slowly add the sugar to ensure your glaze is smooth.
Once your cake is cool, drizzle this mixture over the top allowing it to drip down the sides. Once the glaze has set slightly, very carefully transfer your drizzle cake to a preferred serving dish, or leave where it is and enjoy the run offs!
And voila! One sticky, gooey loaf of pure blood orange drizzle joy!
Ramen Love With You
I, like most people, am a huge ramen fan; it’s simple make up, warming qualities and intense Asian flavours just tick all the right boxes for me. It really is no wonder that since it’s invention in the early 1900s, that it has become one of the world’s most popular dishes. Indeed, in Japan each region has its own distinctive ramen variations rangeing from Northern Japan’s iconic pork bone broth variety to the South’s miso ramen.
While I really do appreciate the time and effort that goes into creating a traditional ramen, sometimes I simply can’t wait more than twenty-four hours for my broth to intensify! As a resolution, I have put the following recipe together for a quick and very simple pork-belly and egg noodle mid-week ramen supper. (I apologise in advance for all the ramen rules I’m breaking, and if this recipe even qualifies as a ramen – but I made it for a few friends a few weeks ago and they weren’t complaining!)
Pork Belly Ramen, Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
For the broth
2 tbsp Mirin
150 ml of Dark Soy Sauce
2 Garlic Cloves
1 thumb sized piece of Ginger
1 tbsp Muscovado Sugar
2 Litres of good quality Chicken Stock
4 Spring Onions
For the Ramen
750g Pork Belly
1 tsp Crushed Chilli Flakes
4 Eggs
250g Egg Noodles
A small handful of Coriander
METHOD
Begin by slicing the pork belly into quarters and bake in the oven at 180°C on a baking tray with a drizzle of soy sauce and sprinkling of crushed chilli flakes. This will need baking for about 30 minutes or until fully cooked through.
To make the broth, heat the mirin and soy sauce in wok and slowly bring to the boil. Once boiling grate in the ginger, add the garlic finely sliced and stir in the muscovado sugar so that it all dissolves. Leave the mixture simmering for a further 5 minutes. Next add the chicken stock and spring onions, finely sliced, and leave simmering.
While your broth is simmering away, place a large saucepan of water over some heat until boiling, to this pan add both your noodles and eggs. Remove both after four minutes exactly and place in a waiting bowl of cold water. Leave to cool. Once cooled, carefully peel your now soft-boiled eggs.
Taking four deep-dished bowls, evenly divide up the noodles between each. To this add an even amount of pork belly. Next top your bowl up with the broth, slice the eggs in half and float in the broth. Finish with a sprinkling of coriander, a drizzle of soy sauce and extra chilli flakes if you want to spice things up.
There you have it, my super easy but super tasty Ramen – and done in a flash!
Lemon and Raspberry Meringue Pie
They say when life gives you lemons make lemonade! And in my opinion, when life gives you January make lemon meringue pie! Continue reading “Lemon and Raspberry Meringue Pie”
Adieu To the Artichoke For Another Year: Recipe
With November marking the final month of the Globe Artichoke’s seasonality, I thought it only right to celebrate this mysterious yet fantastic vegetable with one of my favorite, yet perfectly simple recipes. Continue reading “Adieu To the Artichoke For Another Year: Recipe”
Munchkin, Squash and Chorizo Soup: Recipe
As the nights seem to have already completely drawn in and temperatures are plummeting by the day, I know I am not only speaking for myself when I say that the hunt is well and truly on to find those warmth sustaining recipes to see us through till spring.
Luckily for those still on the hunt, this is one such recipe.
I’ll be honest, up until very recently I was under the firm impression that a munchkin, was the name for a small jolly fellow living somewhere over the rainbow. It appears I’d be mistaken for believing that this is the sole meaning of the word. In fact, it turns out, a munchkin is also the term for a little pumpkin. I wasn’t that wrong then, both being small jolly fellows and all that!
Anyway, back to the food, this recipe drew inspiration from bonfire night where that post-halloween pumpkin soup and hot dogs seem to be a universally agreed menu at every November 5th Firework party. This got me thinking as being a self-confessed pig I am by my very nature terrible at choosing between foods, and instead much prefer ‘and’ to ‘or.’ In the same way, on bonfire night I can never make my mind up, soup or dogs, dogs or soup? But should I really have to choose?
Well my friends, no longer! I have seamlessly combined the two to make a cockle-warming, nose-clearing and dam right filling soup. Simple and tasty this works perfectly in all situations; firework displays, dinner parties, winter walks, those snuffly bed bound days and it even serves as the ideal partner to brighten any grim Monday desk lunch!
So here it for all to use – I’d love to hear your feedback on it, either here or on Twitter or Instagram.
INGREDIENTS
1 butternut squash – cored, peeled and chopped into squares
1 Munchkin – – cored, peeled and chopped into squares
1 Red pepper
1 red onion
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried sage
3 tsp of crushed chillies
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1.2 litres (2 pints) stock (either chicken or vegetable)
150ml double cream
Salt and black pepper
150g good-quality smoked chorizo
METHOD
Firstly Preheat your oven to 180°C. One you have peeled and deseeded the munchkin and squash and chopped both into rough chunks place them in a roasting dish. Next deseed and slice up the pepper and place this in too. Drizzle the tray in olive oil, a sprinkling of salt and pepper and add the sage and half the cumin. Cover with tin foil and place in the oven to roast for around 40 minutes or until soft.
Next, chop and fry the chorizo in a heavy based sauce pan. Once beginning to crisp, peel and chop the onion and garlic and add to the pan. After the onion has softened add the roasted squash, munchkin and pepper. To this, add the chillies and remaining cumin. Once combined, pour in the stock, and simmer for 25 minutes.
Once this time is up, blend the soup until smooth using a stick blender, then add in the cream and taste for seasoning.
When you are ready to serve the soup, sprinkle on roasted munchkin seeds that have been tossed in cumin and if you have any remaining chorizo, fry it off into little lardons – these make the perfect garnish!
The Seaside Boarding House, Burton Bradstock, Dorset
Last Friday, being Good Friday, I was lucky enough to have been taken for lunch at the idyllic Seaside Boarding House – for my boyfriend’s sister’s birthday if you were wondering!
Not only is the building itself serene but the location is utterly blissful. Being situated on the world heritage site of Dorset’s Jurassic coast overlooking the wide expanse of Lyme Bay and the sweeping eighteen miles of Chesil Beach, many would be surprised, especially on a day like Good Friday was with clear skies and beautiful sunshine, that you remain on old Blighty’s shores!
Continue reading “The Seaside Boarding House, Burton Bradstock, Dorset”
A little Tasty 