Blackberry and apple cake

Everything is open now, and time has started to fly. We've had a beautiful patch of warm, sunny weather lately, but it feels like the prelude to autumn nonetheless - a touch of chill underneath. We made a couple of blackberry picking forays while still on holidays a few weeks ago... I realized now the season was drawing to a close already... I dreamed of blackberry and apple cake, and this one fitted my dream perfectly. So I went blackberry picking once more. 

 

I joined a new bee group, and there is a patch of brambles around the beehives, and you need a key to access where they are, so it's a good picking spot. The key wasn't where it was supposed to be, so I had to sneak in the back way - and the brambles were almost done. But I picked half a box. Turned out when I got back, I'd picked almost exactly the right amount for the cake. I'd also picked up the apples from a box outside someone's house.

 

for the cake: 

2 small dessert apples 

half a lemon 

150 g blackberries 

150 g butter 

150 g golden caster sugar (or half caster, half muscovado) 

3 eggs 

85 g plain flour 

1.5 tsp baking powder 

100 g ground hazelnuts (whole ones, ground)

 

for the crumble: 

50 g butter

50 g plain flour 

60 g golden caster sugar 

2 heaped tbsp rolled oats 

pinch of cinnamon (optional)

 

Heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a big loaf tin. 

 

Peel and quarter the apples, core them and then slice them thinly. Squeeze lemon juice over them, and then mix with the blackberries. 

 

Beat the sugar and butter together until light and smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time. 

 

Put the flour and baking powder together in a small bowl, add the ground hazelnuts, and mix well with a fork. Stir in to the mixture in two or three lots. 

 

Transfer the batter to the tin, smooth, and scatter the apple and blackberry mixture over the top, pushing some of the fruit lightly down into it. 

 

Make the crumble by rubbing the flour and butter together, and stirring in the sugar, oats and cinnamon. 

 

Scatter the crumble on top of the cake and bake for about an hour until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out moist but fairly clean.  Check after 30 and 45 min, and if the crumble browns on top too quickly, then cover with a piece of foil while the cake finishes cooking through.

 

Remove from the oven when done and let cool completely on a baking rack before removing from the tin and taking off the paper.

Mine took about 65 min to bake. The fruit dripped a little bit over the edge (my loaf tin was rather full) - might be worth lining the oven shelf underneath to catch sugary drips.

 

It was really really good though. The hazelnuts in the base are genius - they add so much depth of flavour and texture, and go really well with the blackberry and apple. I made a similar cake not long ago without the blackberries and hazelnuts - this one is superior (and didn't overflow my loaf tin quite as much).

Oatcakes

Gosh, I can't believe it's taken me this long to discover how easy it is to make oatcakes... They are one of the few British / Scottish foods I love and have missed - so much so I've been known to buy a few packets in Orkney and cart them all the way back to Boston. It honestly never occurred to me that I could make them! Nor that they are pretty much vegan and gluten free, without any adjustments. And super simple: they're basically just oats and a bit of fat! I referred to these two recipes.

(makes about 20 small ones)

200g oats (use gluten-free oats if making gluten free)
1/2 tsp sea salt, crushed in a pestle and mortar
1/2 tsp black peppercorns, crushed in a pestle and mortar
50 ml olive oil*
1-2 tbsp boiling water

Heat the oven to 180C / 350F. Grind about half the oats in a blender or food processor, then put in a bowl with the rest of the oats, salt and pepper. Mix, make a well in the middle and add the oil. Combine until the dough sticks together in a ball, adding boiling water until this happens - don't add so much water to make it sticky, but use enough that it binds together well. Let rest for ~30 min.

Roll out the dough to about 5 mm thick, and cut rounds of the size you desire, using a cutter or the top of a glass (used smaller, transparent water glass). Sprinkle a baking tray with flour (use GF flour if making GF), arrange the oatcakes on it, and bake in the oven for about 20 min. Take out, carefully turn over the oatcakes and bake for another 5-10 min. They should not really colour, and they will harden a bit but will finish hardening out of the oven. When done, transfer to a wire rack to cool.

*another (perhaps more traditional) oil or fat could be used instead


I took some to a picnic at ECO and they were good. I thought they'd be dippable, so took them with hummus, but they weren't really: too crumbly. Think I was a little cautious with the hot water - should have used a little more, think that'd have helped stick them together. They were good though. Was kind of funny: most people brought some version of chips and dips. Mostly tortillas - with salsa, with black bean... Realised oatcakes are pretty much like Scottish tortillas.

Christmas: Filo mince pies with marzipan

I haven't been making anything much new in the last couple of weeks. I cut my finger pretty bad preparing chestnuts (which were delicious but perhaps not worth it?), so chopping etc was a bit of a pain for a while, and I was feeling a bit silly and not very inspired. Since I got back in the kitchen I seem to have been sticking to comforting old favourites (some several times / variations) - tapioca 'cheese' rolls, carrot and mung bean salad, lentil and onion salad, ful medammes, freekeh, chickpea curry...

But tomorrow is Christmas Day, so I have stirred myself and am just about feeling ready to cook new things again. I feel much better for it - I've realised cooking comprises much of my relaxation, creative stimulation and fun these days - without it I feel a bit flat.

It doesn't feel like Christmas until I eat my first mince pie, but mince pies don't seem to have made the transition across the ocean. So the only way I get to eat them is by making them myself. Luckily I had some mincemeat left that I made earlier. I was thinking of making my favourite mince pie pastry, but then I realised I also had filo on my mental list of things I wanted to make / to use up / that could be fancy for Christmas. So I used filo as the pastry (added bonus of keeping it simple by not needing to make pastry). Similarly, I had a huge hunk of marzipan* that we'd bought from Polcari's in Little Italy with Christmas in mind. I guess I was thinking of Christmas cake but it seemed daft to make more cake with so much birthday cake still hanging around; and Christmas cake AND mince pies seemed like overkill besides. So I thought I'd combine the two and put some marzipan inside the mince pies.

(makes 12 mince pies)
(move the filo from freezer to fridge to defrost 3-24 hours in advance)

half a large package of thickish (#7 - #10) filo pastry (you need 48 ~4 in squares) (used the rest of the filo for this)
1 400g jar of mincemeat
~100g marzipan*, approx 2 mm dice

Heat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease a 12 cup muffin tin. Taking one square at a time, line each muffin cup with three squares of filo (you should wind up with 12 squares left; be careful not to let them dry out - keep under a clean, damp cloth). Add in the mincemeat (~2 tbsp per cup), and sprinkle some diced marzipan over the top of the mincemeat. Scrunch one of the remaining filo sheets and place on top of the mincemeat in each cup. Brush with a little almond milk if you like. Bake for approx 10 min, until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and lift out of the cups to cool on a baking rack.


Once I'd done the maths of how many pieces of filo I needed, how big, how much mincemeat, etc, these were incredibly simple (thanks to having pre-made the mincemeat). Seriously, a three ingredient recipe - you can't get much easier than that. The crispy filo is very different from the usual crumbly shortcrust but I actually really like it: it looks really pretty and fancy, and crucially is not sweet - I think it's really important to have savoury pastry in mince pies as a counterpoint to the crazy intense sweet-spiciness of the mincemeat.

*actually, it is labelled almond paste and I think marzipan and almond paste might technically be slightly different things. If they are I prefer almond paste for most things - think it is less sweet and has a more pronounced almond flavour. Found full truth here.

National Trust Biscuits

My Mum used to make these - they were a regular request from my sisters and me - we loved them. I guess she got the recipe from the National Trust somehow or other: they were always National Trust biscuits, never any other or more descriptive name. I started making them myself as a teenager - they were easy enough for me to manage with limited skills, and always went down well... Despite my not knowing what a 'cup' measure was - I'd just pick a cup or mug from the cupboard and use that, so every time I made them they were different, depending on the cup I'd chosen. I still need to figure out my favourite interpretation of the 'cup' volume - sometimes they were slightly bendy and chewy when cooled; sometimes they'd spread out massively and all run into one another. The version I made yesterday (because I felt like it, because I wanted biscuits for journal club, because they seemed seasonal with all that warming ginger and treacle) came out fairly crispy and didn't spread that much - perhaps not my favourite - this recipe may be updated...

Mix in a bowl:
1 cup SR flour (1 cup plain flour plus 2 tsp baking powder)
1 cup sugar
1 cup oats
1 tsp ground ginger

Heat in a pan:
4 oz margarine (or coconut oil)*
1/2 tbsp black treacle (or molasses)

Mix in a mug:
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tbsp boiling water.

Heat oven to 300F / 150C. Grease a couple of baking sheets. Add the contents of the pan and the mug together to the bowl and mix until combined into a dough. Roll into balls, flatten slightly and space out on the baking sheets. Bake for 10-15 min, until golden brown and slightly spread. Let cool for 10 min or so on the baking sheet before transferring to a rack to finish cooling (they will be floppy when you first take them out; you want to transfer them at the sweet spot when they are slightly bendy and not completely hardened and crisp yet).

*tried using 3 oz sunflower oil, felt like would need a bit more?

My version of Cranachan for Burns Night

It was Burns Night yesterday. I didn't get my act together to have people round this time, but S and I went out and bought some whisky today and I made haggis (following last year's recipe as I liked it surprisingly much) and this: my version of cranachan. Cranachan has long been a highlight of Scottish cuisine for me - toasted oats, raspberries, honey and whisky are lovely together. I have never really liked cream though. It dawned on me that I really didn't have to use cream - so long as there was something bland and creamy - why not yoghurt? I've always loved yoghurt. With this substitution, I think cranachan becomes truly delicious. Although if you like cream you may as well stick with whipped cream where I've used yoghurt.

(makes two)

~300ml of the best plain non-dairy yoghurt around (coconut is my fave, soy an easier to find substitute... note if you can't find a plain version then vanilla, raspberry or peach would all be OK but reduce the amount of honey you add as they will be sweeter... nb oat yoghurt would be great for this)
3-4 tbsp of rolled oats
1/2 tbsp honey mixed with 1-2 tbsp (to taste) good whisky (not too peaty)
3-4 tbsp fresh or frozen raspberries - if frozen defrost in advance

Spread the oats on a baking sheet and put in a 350F oven to toast until they smell nutty and start to brown (prob 5-10 min) - alternatively you can toast them in a dry frying pan. Take out and allow to cool. Mix the yoghurt with the whisky-honey mixture. Once everything is cooled and ready, take two clear glasses and layer the yoghurt mixture followed by oats followed by raspberries until you've used everything up - finish with a layer of yoghurt and a sprinkling of oats. Eat straight away so the oats don't soften.


Predictably, I love this even more than the real thing. I made one last night before we got the whisky using ginger wine instead of whisky (and no honey since it's already really sweet) and that was good too.

Earl Grey Marmalade and Dark Marmalade

Left: Dark marmalade; Right: Earl Grey marmalade

Realised it is marmalade orange season. It's such a short season, and they are hard to find - I guess not many people here are making marmalade. I don't know what else you can make with them - they are too bitter for most things. As soon as I realised it is time (season is basically January and that's it) I wanted to hunt for them.

We found them in Arax Market in Watertown today. So then I had to make marmalade. I had nearly 3 lb of oranges, so decided to try two variants. One (the dark marmalade) is direct from my AFRC Institute of Food Research 'Home Preservation of Fruits and Vegetables' book (first published in 1929; basically the preserving Bible; it's out of print but Grandma found me a copy when I first started jamming). The other (the tea marmalade) just occurred to me as I was assembling the ingredients: it seemed like it should work.

Below is the basic marmalade recipe. You can make it pure without additions for the traditional deal, or add either tea or molasses for my two variants.

Note: if you can't get hold of Seville oranges; lemons, limes and grapefruit (or some combination of citrus fruit) all make good marmalade - but don't use sweet oranges alone, they lack the sharpness you need.

(makes 4 jars)

600g Seville oranges (approx. 4 medium ones)
1/2 tsp citric acid (or add one lemon along with the oranges)
~1.3 litres water
1.2 kg sugar
for dark marmalade: 2-3 tsp molasses
for tea marmalade: 1 Earl Grey teabag (if doing again, use 2 or more teabags: the flavour was lost with only one)

Wash the oranges thoroughly. Chop into quarters. Cut out the pulp. Squeeze the juice into the pan. Put the remaining pulp and seeds into a muslin square in a colander over a bowl. Repeat for all the quarters of all the oranges. Then thinly slice the rind pieces (do not remove pith) and add them to the pan. Tie up the muslin with all the pulp and seeds in it into a tight bundle, then add it to the pan. Add the water and citric acid (and teabag if using). Bring to the boil and simmer, covered, for 2 hours or until the rind pieces are soft.

Remove the muslin bag and squeeze it between two plates to get as much liquid back into the pan as you can, then discard the contents. Also remove the teabag if using. Add the sugar (and molasses if using) and stir while dissolving / coming to the boil. Boil hard (taking care to check it is not sticking to the bottom of the pan) until setting point is reached.

Let stand for ~30 min before putting in sterilised jars. If you jar it too soon the rind pieces will rise towards the tops of the jars and there will be an inch or two of rindless jelly at the bottom - not the end of the world, but not as pretty as if it is evenly dispersed. I am often too impatient so I know exactly what this looks like.


Both set beautifully. The dark one is especially beautiful and delicious. You can't really taste the tea - should have used more teabags (or used strong brewed tea instead of water)... Although it is still lovely as plain Seville marmalade.

This year's parkin (+Bonfire Night)

Shane's photo

It's nearly Bonfire Night, and I suddenly realised what that meant as I walked home from work in the wild winds on Monday...  Time to make parkin! I made one last year which was quite successful, this time I decided to go with an old recipe I cut out of the newspaper years ago, and which dates from even longer ago: October 1907, apparently. Interestingly, it is eggless. Other differences include addition of nutmeg, lemon zest and mixed peel. Parkin is generally recommended to be aged - up to a month is good I think - to allow the oats to soak up the treacle and syrup and so forth. I was not that organised, but this one got 5 days.

225g plain flour
3½ tsp ground ginger
¾ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
a pinch of salt
125g medium oatmeal (used steel cut oats)
100g unsalted butter, softened (used fake butter)
125g light soft brown sugar
zest of ½ lemon
100g treacle (used a mixture of blackstrap molasses and carob molasses)
75g golden syrup
50ml milk (used fake milk)
50g mixed peel, finely chopped

Grease a deep, 20cm square cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4. Sift the flour, spices, soda and salt into a bowl, then stir in the oatmeal. In another bowl beat the butter, sugar and zest until light and fluffy. Add the treacle and syrup, beat again until creamy and smooth, then add the milk and the dry ingredients, and beat quickly until smooth once more. Fold in the mixed peel, then spoon the mixture into the tin. Cover the top with foil, bake for 40 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for a further 20 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean.


It came out well enough: the citrus was interesting and good. But a little dry: perhaps I left it in the oven a little too long? It was very brick-like, as ever with my parkins. We celebrated last night, with a bonfire and lots of sparklers at Andrea's, and people seemed to like it.

Burns Supper: Scotch Broth, Bannock, Vegetarian Haggis, Clapshot

veggie haggis, all tied up and ready to cook

No one seemed to know who Burns was, and January is always a good time for random events to distract you from the dark days, so I decided it could be funny to host a Burns Supper. Obviously I am not authentic: I grew up in East Lothian but my parents are English and I never picked up an accent.

Oh, and the small matter of vegetarianism - I have never tasted real haggis. But still, I thought it might be funny.


Scotch Broth

I made this once before when S brought home Scotch Broth mix from Lidl, then decided he didn't like it very much...  Thought it was worth another try.  I adapted this recipe.

250g/8oz carrots, peeled, diced
250g/8oz turnips, diced (couldn't find turnips, used parsnips instead)
2 onions, peeled, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 leek, white part only, sliced
75-125g/3-4oz pearl barley
125g/4oz dried peas, soaked in water for 4-5 hours, drained (used yellow split peas instead, poured boiling water over and left for about 2 hours)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2.3litres/4 pints veg stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat all of the ingredients in a large saucepan until boiling.  Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 2-3 hours, until the peas and pearl barley are soft (nearer 2 is better I think).  Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve with pieces of bannock.


Bannock

Was daydreaming about days spent on Orkney, and how much I like bere bannocks.  No chance of finding beremeal, but I did have pearl barley...  I liked this authentically Orcadian-sounding recipe.

8 oz pearl barley, ground into meal with my spice grinder
8 oz plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
water (about 100ml), to make a soft dough

Mix the flours, salt and baking powder in a bowl.  Working quickly, add the water and mix to make a soft dough.  Divide into two, and roll out (use a rolling pin) into a circle about 1/2 inch thick.

Heat a girdle or heavy frying pan over a medium-high heat.  Put one round onto it.  Cook about 5 min on one side, then turn over and cook about 5 min on the other side.  Allow to cool a bit, then cut up, before eating.


Vegetarian (/vegan) haggis

I wanted to make a haggis-shaped haggis - felt like the ceremony of having a big fat thingy to cut open was a big part of it.  Wasn't sure what could be used as casing instead of a sheep's stomach, then stumbled upon this recipe and I had an answer: yuba (beancurd sheet).  I found some frozen in Super 88.  I mainly referred to that recipe and to this one from the Guardian, adapting it a little to my own thoughts on how a veg haggis should taste.

1 1/2 tbsp fake butter
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 cup chopped mushrooms
good pinch cayenne pepper
~1/2 tsp ground allspice
~1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
3 carrots, peeled and grated
3/4 cup red lentils
~500 ml veg stock
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped rosemary leaves
1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbsp chopped sage leaves
1 1/2 cups cooked red kidney beans, mushed up with a fork 
1 cup pinhead oatmeal or steelcut oats (I hoped the latter would be the same as the former, they weren't, but they were what I had so I used them anyway and it was fine)
salt+pepper
optional splash of whisky

2 large circular sheets of yuba (beancurd sheet)
kitchen string

Heat the oil and butter in a large, lidded saucepan.  Add the onions and garlic and sweat, covered, until soft.  Add the mushrooms and cook until browned and wet.  Add the spices and cook for a few more minutes.  Add the carrot, lentils, vinegar, soy sauce and stock (enough stock to just cover the other stuff).  Simmer until the lentils are cooked (about 15 min).  Add the mashed kidney beans, oatmeal, rosemary, thyme and half the parsley.  Cook until the oatmeal has softened and puffed up, and most of the liquid has been absorbed (about 15-20 min).  Add the chopped sage and the rest of the parsley  (and whisky if using) just before the end.  Taste to check seasoning - add salt and pepper, and more vinegar or soy sauce if it needs it.

Allow the mixture to cool completely, then divide in two and shape the mixture (which should be thick and malleable) into haggis shapes.  Open out one sheet of yuba on a board, then place one of the blobs of haggis mixture in the middle.  Roll it up into a sausage shape, then twist around the ends (in the style of a boiled sweet wrapper), and secure with string.  Trim the ends to give a neater, more haggis like appearance (see picture).  Repeat with the other yuba sheet and the other half of the haggis mixture.

Lightly oil the inside of a lidded baking dish.  Heat the oven to 350F.  Put the haggises inside the baking dish, put the lid on, and put them in the oven for about 30 min (really just to heat through).

Serve piping hot, with ceremonial address to the haggis, and clapshot.


Clapshot

5 large tatties (potatoes), peeled
equivalent volume of neeps (= turnip in Scotland, swede in England, rutabaga in America), peeled and chopped into large chunks (couldn't find turnip so used butternut squash instead)
salt+pepper
nutmeg
fake butter
fake milk
1 1/2 spring onions, finely chopped (or chives, if you have)

Put the potatoes in a pan of salted water and bring to the boil.  Boil until they are easily pierced with a fork (~20 min).  Do the same with the turnip / squash - I did them in a separate pan as I suspected the cooking times were different, with practice could do them together.  When done, put in the same pan and mash, adding butter, milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg to give the desired consistency and taste.  Finally, add the spring onions, and reheat gently.


Everything was eaten!  So I guess it must have tasted OK (I think it did: I was especially pleased with the haggis - it looked the part and was tasty).  I hope there was enough food...  I was thinking of making ginger shortbread too, but S decided to make deep-fried Mars bars (Milky Ways in American), so I thought that would be enough.  He also deep fried kit kats, snickers and, towards the end of the night, shortbread and bannock, on the balcony using our Belgian friend Ward's deep fat fryer (originally bought for making perfect Belgian fries - you can't buy them anywhere here, W says, and it's a precise process involving frying at two different temperatures consecutively).  And we had plenty of whisky, including a nice bottle of single malt that H+O brought.  Perhaps new food experiences, for a cross section of the great people we've met over these last few years: Hannah, Orion, Angela, Brian, Alvin, Carly, Jason, Anna, Remy, Nick, Nate, Meghan, Greg.  Now I can feel myself start to think about pancake day...

Bonfire Night = parkin

It's nearly Bonfire Night.  Growing up in little villages it was always one of the big community events of the year - farmers stacking unwanted burnables in the field next to the primary school; the pile growing and growing as Nov 5th approached; learning firework safety and to check bonfires for hedgehogs; the local firemen setting off the firework display...  Excitement was probably heightened by the occasional near-bad-accidents - the burning tyre that rolled out of the bonfire once, the time Dad's leg took a mis-aimed firework so our faces didn't have to...

In my memories, food is tangled up with the sparklers and the hats+gloves and the cold feet and the thrilling fire - bonfire toffee, toffee apples, baked potatoes, parkin - all warm / gingery / treacly...

My Mum's family come from Yorkshire.  So parkin (a dense, treacly gingerbread made with oatmeal, originating from Yorkshire, and traditionally eaten on Bonfire Night) is something I feel pretty close to (once a year).  I made it once as a teenager, it came out a lot like a brick.  But still tasted decent.  Last year I went to a Boston Brits bonfire night party, this year I think it's time to introduce Americans to the good stuff (no fireworks though, they're illegal in MA - lame).

Key features of parkin, I decided, are inclusion of oatmeal (meaning the rounded, lumpy type of oatmeal, not just rolled oats), golden syrup and treacle, and ginger as the sole spice.  I went with Delia as a basic recipe, adapted to what I had available / my taste.  Then realised it needed time to mature, so I made it last night before heading out to SBTRKT - it has a couple of days to get ready (not 2 weeks, but better than nothing).


Parkin

8 oz (225 g) medium oatmeal (used a fine-ground bulghur wheat I bought by accident a while ago - figured it should be equivalent in texture)
4 oz (110 g) self-raising flour (only had plain, added 1 1/2 tsp baking powder)
a pinch of salt
5 oz (150 g) dark syrup or golden syrup (hard to find golden syrup here outside of the 'British and Irish' section of Shaws, so used a mixture of maple syrup and honey instead)
3 oz (75 g) black treacle (used molasses)
4 oz (110 g) margarine
4 oz (110 g) soft brown sugar
2 level teaspoons ground ginger
1 tbsp ground linseed, mixed with 3 tbsp boiling water
1 tablespoon fake milk

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 1, 275°F (140°C).

Weigh a saucepan on the scales, and weigh the syrup and treacle into it.

Then add the margarine and the sugar to the saucepan and place it over a gentle heat until the margarine has melted down – don't go away and leave it unattended, because for this you don't want it to boil.

Meanwhile, measure the oatmeal, flour and ginger into a mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt, then gradually stir in the warmed syrup mixture till the mixture is all thoroughly blended.

Next add the linseed mixture, and lastly the fake milk. Now pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake on the centre shelf of the oven for 1¾-2 hours.

Then cool the parkin in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out.  The parkin may sink slightly in the middle (mine did).


It's wrapped in clingfilm now, but the bits I scraped off the lining papers were pretty darn wonderful - sticky, gingery, treacly loveliness.  May have overegged the treacle a bit - but I like it!  And yes, once again it looks just like a brick.

Royal wedding afternoon tea

We decided to have an afternoon teaparty to celebrate the Royal Wedding (William and Catherine). It was kind-of Nick's idea, then I ran with it, with Seb's encouragement. I made loads of Union Jack bunting of all sizes, and a ridiculous collage - all from scrap paper and a few print-outs. We bought six teacups and saucers and a teapot and 2 tablecloths all from thrift stores (about $15 total). And then made lots and lots of food and drink...

Green tea buns (L); cucumber+mint sandwiches (top), savoury scones (middle), tomato+basil sandwiches (bottom)

Savoury:

Cucumber and mint sandwiches (on light wholewheat bread that I thought would be white)
Tomato and basil sandwiches (on wholewheat bread)
Tomato, olive and rosemary scones (GF)
Pretzels (Seb's)

Sweet:

Tealoaf
Green tea buns
Orange, semolina and orange blossom cake
Raisin scones with strawberry jam / lemon 'curd'
Peanut butter cookies (GF)
Whole, fresh strawberries

Drinks:

Mint tea (from Bella's watering can)
Various black teas (mostly Earl Grey) - thanks to Nick and Alvin for lending teapots
Pimms (with lemonade, fizzy grapefruit juice, mint, strawberries, oranges and cucumber)
Lemon slices, sugar, almond milk to go with

Other people brought:

Scones (Beth + Per)
Blueberry and Apricot pies (Luis and Ana)
Hummus, falafel and pitta from Rami's (Kishore, Suzanne and Ramil)
Gingersnaps (Andrea)
Digestive biscuits, cake stand, teapot, tea and milk (Nick)
GF chocolate cookies, teapot and tea (Alvin)
Mini cupcakes and lemon sugar cookies (Katy)
Prep and washing-up skills (Andy)


Tealoaf

2 Earl Grey teabags
125g golden caster sugar
300g mixed dried fruit (raisins, golden raisins, currants and candied peel)
225g plain flour, sifted
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
Zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
2 tbsp clear honey, to glaze

Place the tea bags in a heat-proof bowl and add 300ml boiling water. Leave to steep for 5 minutes. Remove the tea bags, add the sugar and stir to dissolve. Add the fruit and leave in a cool place to stand for between 4-12 hours, depending on how much time you have.

When ready to cook the tealoaf, preheat the oven to 180°C / 356F / gas mark 4. Line a 1kg loaf tin with baking parchment.

Drain the fruit and mix in some flour (to coat raisins and stop them sinking). Add the flour and the zest and juice of the lemon to the tea mixture and beat well. Add the fruit back in and beat some more. Pour into the lined tin and bake for 1-1¼ hours, or until golden on top / a skewer comes out clean. Allow the loaf to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. While it’s cooling, warm the honey slightly in a small pan or microwave then brush the honey over the top of the loaf with a pastry brush. Serve thinly sliced, with tea.


Green tea buns

1 1/4 cups plain flour
3/4 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3-4 tsp green tea powder (I just ground up some dried leaves)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup rice milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
juice of 1 small lime (~2 tbsp)

For icing:
~1 tbsp margarine
1 cup icing sugar
1/8-1/4 tsp green tea powder
1 drop green food colouring
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
~1 tbsp rice milk

Flaked almonds to decorate

Heat oven to 350F. Mix the dry ingredients with a fork. Add the wet ingredients and mix til just combined. Fill cups 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 min.

For the icing, beat the margarine then add the sugar and tea powder. Add the vanilla, food colouring and enough rice milk to make a good pouring (but not too runny) texture.

When buns are completely cool, cover tops with icing (it's OK if it runs a little), and decorate each with flaked almonds (I tried to arrange these to look a bit like a heart).


Semolina, orange and orange blossom cake

Followed this recipe (veganized).

For the cake
300g/11oz semolina
175g/6oz soft brown sugar
175g/6oz plain flour
40g/1½oz ground almonds
1½ tsp baking powder
1 orange, zest only
75g/3oz fake butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
225ml/8fl oz fake milk
16 blanched almonds / almond flakes

For the syrup
150g/5fl oz acacia honey
110ml/4fl oz water
1 tbsp orange blossom water

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and grease a 20cm/8in
loose-bottomed square baking tin (used 2 x 8in cake tins lined with foil).
2. For the cake, mix the semolina, sugar, flour, ground almonds, baking
powder and orange zest together in a bowl until well combined.
3. Gradually stir in the melted butter and milk until you have a smooth
batter.
4. Pour the batter into the greased tin and carefully arrange the
almonds on top in 4 rows.
5. Transfer to the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the cake is
golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into the middle comes
out clean.
6. Meanwhile, for the syrup, heat the honey, water and orange blossom
water in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring constantly, for 2-3
minutes, or until the mixture is smooth and has thickened slightly.
7. When the cake is cooked, remove it from oven, prick the surface
several times with a toohpick, and slowly pour the syrup over the
surface of the cake. Set the cake aside to cool and absorb the syrup.
8. To serve, cut the cake into 16, so that there is an almond in
the middle of each piece.  Serving suggestion with whipped cream (or greek yoghurt) if not vegan.


Scones

From this recipe.

Ingredients
225g/8oz self raising flour
pinch of salt
55g/2oz fake butter
25g/1oz caster sugar
150ml/5fl oz fake milk
1-2 oz raisins
~ 2 tbsp fake milk to brush on top

1. Heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. Mix together the flour and salt and rub in the butter.  Mix in the raisins.
3. Stir in the sugar and then the milk to get a soft dough.
4. Turn on to a floured work surface and knead very lightly. Pat out to a
round 2cm/¾in thick. Use a 5cm/2in cutter to stamp out rounds and
place on a baking sheet. Lightly knead together the rest of the dough
and stamp out more scones to use it all up.
5. Brush the tops of the scones with fake milk. Bake for 12-15
minutes until well risen and golden.
6. Cool on a wire rack and serve with fake butter and jam.

I also made a GF / savoury version leaving out the sugar, using gram flour instead of normal flour, adding tomato paste to the milk mix, and adding chopped olives and fresh rosemary.

For both sets of sandwiches, took sliced bread, removed crusts (made these into breadcrumbs for future use), then lightly (fake) buttered one side, then added veg + herb filling, seasoned with salt and pepper, closed sandwich and sliced into quarters.


The tealoaf was excellent - really simple and really moist / excellent flavour.  Definitely a keeper.

I was really pleased with the green tea cupcakes / buns too - when I opened what I thought was a packet of green tea powder I found it was actually leaves, so decided to risk grinding them in my spice grinder to make powder.  It worked quite well, to my surprise, and I think the amount of green tea was about right - definite taste and colour without being too much.  The frosting was pretty good too - colour was a bit icky without the food colouring, but with it was fine.  And they looked pretty cute in the end I thought.

The semolina cake was alright.  I liked the semolina and orange / orange blossom, but it was a very dense, almost rubbery texture.  The syrup was really a lot when I added it - it was drowning in it.  But after I left it to cool there didn't seem to be any problems with that.  Perhaps using the wrong container to cook it didn't help?  I was relieved that it came out of the container quite easily though.  I kind of like this as a vegan cake recipe, and like the use of semolina - worth playing around with?

The scones were awful.  The sweet ones were edible with the addition of jam or curd, but didn't rise or colour properly.  Was the oven temp too high?  The savoury ones were overpowered by the gram flavour and texture (better to use half and half gram and cornmeal?)...  Beth's were much better!

The sandwiches were surprisingly good, esp the cucumber and mint.  Seb had a pretzel embarrassment - he was very disappointed.

Tattie scones

I looked these up because of it being St Patrick's Day last week - they are one of my favourite Irish / Scottish foods.  I made about twice as much mashed potato as I needed for the chard package, so the scones were a very quick and easy thing to make...

500g mashed potato (mashed with some salt and pepper, fake milk and olive oil)
100g plain flour

Mix flour and mashed potato thoroughly into a dough.  Divide into four and roll the first piece into an approximate circle 3-5mm thick (I found it easiest to just kinda squash the dough between my hands - was a bit sticky for rolling).  Heat a nonstick frying pan and then put the flattened potato scone on it.  Flip with a fish slice after about 3 minutes, and then cook for approx another 3 minutes on the other side.  Repeat for the other three pieces of dough.  Cut into pieces if desired, and eat em while they're hot!  Or keep til wanted and then heat up in the toaster.


These were really easy and tasted good / like the real thing.  Dough was a bit sticky - maybe I didn't put in enough flour?  Could make a batch and freeze / keep in the fridge to reheat in toaster later.  A good reason to make extra mashed potato!