Category: Speedy

Lemon Sour Cream Cake

This is a cake inspired by the Italian teacake “Ciambellone” which is made with yoghurt,mascarpone and olive oil and so I used what was to hand and good: lush sour cream and sunflower oil. The beauty of this cake lies in its audacious simplicity: a few local ingredients mixed with a fork together in one bowl; no special equipment or elbow grease needed. If you ever need a cake in a hurry, this may be it.

I give two quantities – 4 eggs if you want to go for the “Ta da” bundt tin number, or two eggs for a standard sandwich tin or loaf tin.

In the cake pictured I used half plain flour and half wholemeal flour – no reason only that I had forgotten to buy white flour!

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Wild Garlic (“leurda”) Pesto

This is a pesto that screams out that Spring is sprunging. It also packs a mighty punch of chlorphyll, vits and all things immune system boosting which is welcome relief after a long winter.

Its vibrant and warming with “Urda gnocchi”  excellent as a pasta sauce with young green beans and a personal fave…use as a sauce for grilled halloumi. But pungent it is – eat with those you love or those who love garlic!

In strange times it guarantees “social distancing” and aids social isolation greatly.

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No knead multiseed bread

One bowl, no kneading and a heavenly, nutty, crunchy, loaf that is lighter than you expect . It packs quite the protein punch too!

Ingredients

  • 370g (faina integrala) a mix of organic wholemeal flour and spelt flour (and in these pictured some rye too)
  • 200g (faina normala) strong white organic bread flour
  • 300g of seeds: 100g (Seminte de In) Flaxseeds, 100g (Seminte de Dovleac) Pumpkin seeds and 100g (Seminte de Floarea Soarelui) Sunflower seeds or 100g (susam) sesame seeds or 100g (Mac) poppy seeds
  • 2 tsp (sare) salt
  • 25g  (drojdie) fresh yeast (or dried and use according to the packet)
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil or flaxseed oil or or cold pressed sunflower oil or best of all hemp oil
  • 1 tablespoon treacle, carob molasses (sirop de roscova) or pomegranate molasses (sirop de rodie) – something sweet to speed the yeast up
  • 450 ml (apa)  warm “jammy water” (the temperature of a bath)

How To

  • Make the “Zero Waste” jammy water. Find an almost empty jam or honey jar (in this case marmalade) where you can’t actually get at the last bits of jam and fill with water and shake. Use the jammy water for the bread.
  • If you are using bread tins then oil well or paper and oil. This recipe is very good for free form loaves, in which case just oil your trays or flour and polenta your trays as I often do.
  • Put all the flours in the bowl
  • Pour on the yeast and jammy water mixture and mix together with a large spoon. Add the oil. The mixture will look unappetising and uninspiring – akin to very very thick glue. Fear not.
  • Leave to rise until double in volume. Put a damp tea towel over the top so it just touches the dough…when I notice the tea towel rising above the bowl rim it reminds me the dough is risen! #Plasticfree
  • Push the dough down and add the seeds and the salt. Work in the seeds and divide into three or four depending on how big you want your loaves. Shape the dough into balls if free forming or oblongs if baking in tins. Allow to double again in volume.
  • Bake at 250C for 18-25 mins.  Now if your domestic oven doesn’t go up to 250C put it at its maximum setting and bake a little longer.  When you take them out knock them on the bottom and they must sound hollow.  If its the first time and you are nervous then cut through and check – better to sacrifice aesthetics and have cooked bread.  If you have space put a bowl of water at the bottom of the oven – my oven is usually too crowded with loaves jammed in!

This bread lasts a good 3 to 4 days and is great with sweet stuff and savoury. It also toasts well too – as the seeds then become all “nutty” in flavour. On the nutrition front this packs a hefty protein level of 20%.