Winter Archives - Page 2 of 5 - I THINK THEREFORE I JAM

Whole orange, coconut and saffron cake

I have made Claudia Roden’s whole orange and almond cake in various guises and with many tweakings for years and years since I first eagerly bought her encyclopedic book “A new book of Middle Eastern Cookery” while at university – somehow the co0kery book section at “Dillons” was always more interesting than the engineering one! Glancing at the book now, I see my handwritten notes about adding in some polenta in Romania and some fine cornmeal with musky mastic while visiting the Greek island of Kefalonia for a reunion.

The recipe is a Sephardic Jewish recipe which they took from Spain and Portugal when they fled the peninsula in the Inquisition and were welcomed to Turkey and other countries of the region including Egypt, Claudia Roden’s country of birth. This inspired me to add some saffron which deepens the colour and imbues the cake with that subtle smoky sweet saffron type taste.

Orange and ginger marmalade (No Refined Sugar)

I make a batch of this every year for my friend Jeff. It is bright, it is sharp, it is bold, the ginger packs one hell of a punch and it is always comforting; Jeff’s special marmalade.

Marmalade making takes place in two stages – a boiling the fruit and macerating it in sugar syrup stage- and the actual boiling up into a set stage. Thus you can chop a longer process in two and make marmalade in the middle of the night, in the middle of summer and in the middle of a pandemic too.

I eat mine on toast, make upside down cakes with it and sneak it into the bottom of crème caramel moulds for a twist.

In this recipe I use fruit sugar, concentrated grape juice and more lemons to ensure a light marmalade and a perfect set. The amount of ginger is generous and roughly chopped as I generally find that there is no such thing as too much ginger but if you prefer things a little less head-on then grate the ginger and reduce the amount a little.

Golden Goddess Soup

Golden Goddess Soup/ Dahl

This is my go-to January/February blues tonic. It warms, revitalizes and gives me the central heating I crave – so I glow like a “goddess”! If you are want to cleanse after the season of excess, if you are doing “Veganuary”, if you are feeling the “SAD” then this is your liquor!

The method is simplicity itself and as it thickens it becomes “dahl” to serve as a nourising and cheap meal.

Ingredients: for 6-8 generous portions

500g red lentils
1 large onion chopped lazily
5 cloves of garlic chopped in half
2 tbsp olive oil,
50g-100g ginger, peeled with teaspoons – chopped roughly
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
3 tsp turmeric
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cardamom pods (remove before blitzing)
1.5 litres of organic vegetable stock
Optional: 300g boiled carrots, pumpkin, squash (use leftovers)
Salt to taste

How To

Lightly fry the onions and spices and garlic until just translucent. Do not brown. Add any veggies the stock and the lentils and the ginger.
Bring to the boil
Lower to a very gentle simmer and cook until the lentils and veggies are soft – approximately 30minutes
Take out the cardamom pods
Blitz until smooth. If it is thick – reserve a portion to eat as dahl with rice. Thin the remainder with water to serve as your soup.
I like to serve the soup garnished with olive oil and fresh coriander but thick yogurt is nice too. The dahl I serve with rice, a fresh chutney and slices of avocado.