Time for tea
This month is the start of what I call "winter proper", and usually heralds a long spell of cold weather. It's the time for steaming soups, made from cheap fresh root vegetables, and hot, hearty fruit pies and puddings served with sweet, warm sauces.
Seasonal fruits are all citrus and, traditionally, winter is the time for making marmalades when the bitter Seville oranges arrive. Early rhubarb comes in this month, and poaching the delicate pink stalks in sugar, with a little water, is delicious to eat on its own for dessert. My kitchen is filled with the aroma of cooking and baking at this time of the year - definitely the best place to be - in the dark cold days of January.
It's especially good too, at this time of the year, to settle in for a warming afternoon tea – preferably by a roaring fire; so this month let's take time for tea and indulge in some real tea-time food recipes.
GINGER CAKE
This is one of my favourite versions of ginger cake. Best eaten with a proper tea on a freezing cold day to ward off those winter chills.
Serves 6.
Ingredients: 225g self-raising flour. teaspoon bicarbonate of soda. teaspoon ground cinnamon. 150ml milk. 2 tablespoons golden syrup. 110g brown sugar. 2 teaspoons ground ginger. 110g butter. 2 tablespoons black treacle. 2 eggs.
Method: Preheat oven to 160/180C, 325-350F, Gas Mark 3-4. and grease a 20cm round cake tin. Mix all the dry ingredients together and sieve into a mixing bowl. In a pan heat the butter, milk, treacle and syrup, stirring until all combined. Beat the eggs into the dry ingredients until well mixed and smooth. Then beat in treacle and syrup. Pour mixture into cake tin and bake for about 45 minutes until the top springs back when pressed. Cool in tin, turn out and then place in an airtight tin for a few days to become moist. Or serve as a hot pudding with fromage frais or cream.
CIDER AND FRUIT CAKE
This cake disappears very quickly in my family, but if you have some left in your cake tin and find it's a bit stale, then cut into thin slices, buttered, it still tastes delicious with a hint of cider.
Ingredients: 175g wholemeal self-raising flour. 175g hard butter or margarine. Rind and juice of half a lemon. 180ml-225ml dry cider. 175g self-raising flour. 175g soft light brown sugar. 2 tablespoons thick cut marmalade. 175g mixed dried fruit.
Method: Rub butter or margarine into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and lemon rind and mix well, then add marmalade and fruit, mixing thoroughly. Add lemon juice until mixture is a soft consistency. Turn the mixture into a greased and lined 900g (2lb) loaf tin and bake in preheated oven 180C, 350F, Gas Mark 4 for at least an hour, testing with a skewer to see the cake is cooked right through the middle. Cool in tin. Freezes well.
MARMALADE SLICES
These slices keep well stored in an airtight tin for at least a week and, if you've some freshly made Seville orange marmalade in your store cupboard, do use it in this recipe, the sharp tangy taste is irresistible.
Ingredients: 75g butter or margarine. 110g porridge oats. 25g semolina or ground almonds. 75g soft brown sugar. 1 tablespoon marmalade.
Method: Melt butter or margarine, sugar, marmalade, semolina or ground almonds in a saucepan. Take off the heat and stir in the porridge oats. Spoon into a greased Swiss roll or sandwich tin and bake in a preheated oven 190C, 375F, Gas Mark 5 for 25-30 minutes. Mark into slices while hot and leave in tin until cold.
RHUBARB CAKE
Forced rhubarb will now start to appear on our market stalls and in our shops. Those delicate pink stalks make a delicious warm cake or pudding to serve on a cold winter's day. Keeps well in an airtight tin for 3-4 days.
Serves 6-8.
Ingredients: 560g (1 lb) rhubarb. 150g caster sugar. Pinch of salt. 200g plain flour. 75g cornflour. 200g butter. Few drops of vanilla essence. 2 medium eggs. 1 teaspoon baking powder. 75g ground almonds. Icing sugar for dusting.
Method: Preheat oven to 180C, 350F, Gas Mark 4. Cut rhubarb into 2.5 cm (l inch) chunks. Cream 110g butter with two thirds of the sugar, vanilla essence and salt until fluffy. Gently stir in beaten eggs. Mix the flour with the baking powder and half the cornflour and fold into creamed mixture. Add half the ground almonds. Grease a 23cm (9 inch) spring form cake tin. Put cake mixture in tin, smooth over and arrange the rhubarb on top. Rub together remaining sugar, butter, almonds and cornflour. Spread crumble mixture over the rhubarb. Bake on the lowest shelf for about 75 minutes until firm and golden. Cool and dust with icing sugar before serving.
HERBY CHEESE SCONES
These scones can be made in no time at all and adding some herbs makes a change from the usual cheese scones. I sometimes make a double batch and freeze them until required.
Ingredients: 50g soft margarine. 1 rounded teaspoon baking powder. 75g Cheddar cheese, grated. 225g self-raising flour. teaspoon salt and teaspoon dry mustard sieved together. 1 small egg. teaspoon mixed dried herbs. 5 tablespoons milk. Milk to glaze.
Method: Put all the ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix thoroughly to form a scone round. Turn onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out to 1 cm ( inch) thickness. Cut into rounds with a 5cm cutter. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle a little grated cheese on top, put onto a baking sheet and bake in preheated oven 220C, 425F, Gas Mark 7 for 12-15 minutes.
All these recipes came from my cookbook 'Step into my Kitchen through the Year'.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
ENJOY SEASONAL CITRUS THIS MONTH.
Blood oranges have an intense flavour and make a great juice.
Clementines, small and seedless, are ideal for snacks and children's lunchboxes.
Grapefruit are now available all the year round but they are usually sweeter in January.
Mineolas are easy to peel and have a sharp flavour.
Satsumas with their loose, baggy skins will be in season until the end of the month.
Seville oranges really do have a short season, unlike so much fruit and vegetables these days, lasting no more than three weeks from the end of January. If you don't have time to make as much marmalade as you would like, buy extra quantities of Sevilles while they're in the shops and freeze them, so you can replenish your marmalade supplies later in the year.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sudbury
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
