A greedy Christmas ahead: the tale of two cakes

It has been an eventful few days in the littlebitgreedy household involving a trip to A&E by ambulance and a night in the paediatric ward. Fortunately, all is now well and despite much coughing, sneezing and wheezing we are packing up the car to head off for Christmas with family.

With all the dashing about, festivities are a little bit behind yesterday and my cake icing timetable went out of the window. A frantic bit of rolling, moulding and cutting out and tah-dah: two very rushed Christmas cakes!

Why two, you may well ask? Well here at littlebitgreedy HQ, we take Christmas greediness to a whole new level. Tasked with providing 'the cake' for our family gathering in London, we were concerned that once we returned home on the 27th, there would be no cake to last us through the season of gluttony Goodwill. As such, it was decided that I would simply have to create a second cake to fulfil our needs upon return home.

I am very much a novice when it comes to decorating cakes (I leave it to my sister who does so professionally) but I have picked up a few tips along the way which stand me in good stead. I enjoy deciding how to ice my cake each year but must admit that doing two did challenge me somewhat. For the round cake (for home), I decided on a snowman theme as I thought it might appeal to my little boy. Not that he really knows what a snowman is really. But hey-ho. The men were easy to create out of fondant balls, secured with a trusty cocktail stick. The arms were a little fiddly - again the cocktail stick came in handy as I moulded the icing around one and secured in position. I dusted the top with 'edible snow' that I stumbled upon in a certain upmarket supermarket. You can't really tell in the very hastily snapped photos, but it does look rather nice.

The square cake proved more of a challenge. I am not a great one for precision, unlike Mr Greedy who was horrified that I placed the 'ribbon' on my parcel cake without the aid of a ruler. As such it is not central. Overall though, I am pleased with the overall effect and think it will go down well at the family gathering.

Time to dash now - the presents are loaded in the car (as are the million and three other items required when travelling with a small child) and it is time to load myself in too with the cake precariously balanced on my knee.

I wish everyone the happiest of Christmases. May your days be merry, your wine be sparkly and your cakes be tasty!

A hint of festive spice: Rhubarb and ginger crumble

The decorations are up, the cards are posted and the dining table is awash with wrapping paper, ribbon and tags. Christmas is well and truly here in the littlebitgreedy household. Although Mr Little Bit Greedy spends much of November (and a good part of December) Bah Humbug-ing, he does actually love Christmas and once we hit the home straight he gets suitably merry and jolly. I love Christmas too for so many reasons and it has to be said that the level of greediness goes up quite significantly around here at this time of year. The feasting angle is an important one to me - we feast together with immediate family, with extended family, with friends and with neighbours. Any excuse really!

I try not to indulge in festive foods too early - a month of non-stop mince pies tends to take the edge of this annual treat. But it does seem that as we creep ever-closer to 'the big day', my cooking does take on a little seasonal flavour. I got a little over-excited when I spied some of the first forced pink rhubarb in the supermarket last week. Not British yet, but from Holland which, for now, will have to do. Forced rhubarb is such a treat during the dark days of winter - it is lovely to feast on something so bright and vibrant in the months where we are otherwise weighed down with root vegetables and cabbages.

Forced rhubarb: a vision in pink

I love most rhubarb-based desserts but my favourite simply has to be a classic rhubarb crumble with thick vanilla-scented custard. On this occasion, I decided to spruce my crumble up with the addition of ginger (both stem and ground), cinnamon, a little orange zest and ground almonds. Ginger goes so well with rhubarb and the flavours here really lift this crumble without taking it too far from the traditional original (I can't bear a crumble with ideas above its station - no granola-topped fruit compote for me!).

The recipe is, essentially, one from Annie Bell's fantastic book 'Gorgeous Desserts'. This seems to be out of print in this country currently although second-hand copies are available. I have tweaked the recipe to include the orange zest and also the spices in the crumble itself. I have also halved the original recipe which makes enough for six.

Rhubarb and Ginger Crumble

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

350g forced rhubarb

1 knob stem ginger

finely grated zest from 1/2 orange

100g self-raising flour, plus 1 tbsp

1tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

100g demerara sugar

50g ground almonds

90g butter, chilled and diced

1. Pre-heat oven to 180C.

2. Wash rhubarb and chop into 3cm pieces and chop the stem ginger into small pieces. Toss both together in a bowl with orange zest, 1 tbsp of flour and half the sugar. Place in the bottom of a shallow ovenproof dish.

3. Mix together the remaining sugar and flour with the ground almonds, ground ginger and cinnamon and rub in the butter until you have large crumbs. Sprinkle over the top of the fruit and bake for approx 35 minutes until the crumble is golden and crisp.

4. Serve with lashings of custard or good vanilla ice-cream.

A taste of Summer on a cold evening: tapenade crusted salmon

I love living in a village. 

I loved living in the city too but I can't imagine going back. There are things that happen in rural England that simply can't be matched by the bright lights and sophistication of urban life. Much as a small dose of glitz and glamour is good for the soul, I adore the simpler pleasures of village fetes and fairs. Today was a case in point. I was summoned invited to attend the Christmas meeting of the village 'Coffee and Chat' at the church. Being somewhat younger than those likely to attend, I can't say that I was filled with delight although the promise of a mid-morning sherry did gladden the heart somewhat.

Black olives, capers, anchovies and garlic: tapenade

Upon arrival (small son in tow), I was greeted with all that is best about English village life. The church was festooned in festive displays of greenery from villagers' gardens arranged artfully by a group of amateur flower-arrangers. There was a sales table groaning with homemade chutneys and jams plus various gifts no doubt found at the back of donators' present drawers. The raffle table was piled high with prizes including a tin of tomato soup and a bottle of Blue Nun (!). Ladies wearing flashing antler hairbands made tea and coffee and handed round mince pies. After half an hour or so of chattering, carol sheets were handed out and we romped our way through verses of Hark the Herald, Good King Wenceslas, The Holly and the Ivy, The First Noel and others. Unaccompanied but all in good voice thanks to the 11.30 am glass of sherry! My son was cooed over by everyone, much to his delight, and his Christmas jumper was admired by all. The raffle tickets were drawn and a buzz of excitement and anticipation filled the air; Doris* had lost her tickets, Frank* didn't want the beautifully-iced Christmas cake and asked for another ticket to be drawn and Edith* was thrilled to win twice-over. Simple pleasures, as I said. But ones that can't help but raise a smile and warm the heart.

(*Names have been changed to protect the lucky winners!!)

All this has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with today's recipe. In fact, this recipe is about as far from seasonal as you can get. At this time of year, I tend towards the comfort of hearty casseroles and meaty pies but occasionally, I crave something suffused with the sunshine of warmer months. Last night was one such occasion. Salmon fillets feature regularly on our weeknight menus and I am always looking for new ways to serve them. This time, I created a delicious tangy tapenade to spread on top and then roasted the salmon to form a tasty crust. 

Tapenade is easy to prepare and relies mainly on storecupboard ingredients so it is a handy one for whipping up to serve alongside drinks when unexpected guests call at Christmas. Keep a couple of part-baked baguettes up your sleeve so that you can make some quick crostini and bingo; instant canapés to impress your visitors. There are lots of variations of this tasty snack but all include black olives, capers, garlic and anchovies. I like to add a few fresh herbs too - flat leaf parsley and a few fresh thyme leaves by preference. Obviously, the better the olives the better the tapenade but I just used a tin of regular supermarket pitted black olives here and it still tasted pretty good! Traditionally, this would be made with a pestle and mortar but I use a mini-processor on the pulse setting. You are not looking for something totally smooth here - a bit of texture is a good thing.

I served this with roasted courgettes and broccoli as that is what I had but in the past, I have made a sort of roasted vegetable ratatouille of courgette, red pepper and cherry tomatoes. The tapenade is also great with cod too!

The recipe here makes enough tapenade for 4 servings. If serving two, I would advise making the same quantity of tapenade (a smaller amount is tricky in a processor) and save the rest as a snack the next day.

Tapenade crusted salmon

Serves 4

Ingredients:

Tapenade:

150g black olives

1 tbsp capers, rinsed

1 large anchovy (or 2 small - mine were huge!)

1 small clove garlic

2tbsp lemon juice

2.5 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Salmon:

4 tbsp breadcrumbs

4 salmon fillets 

1. Place all the ingredients for the tapenade into the bowl of a small processor and pulse until blended but not smooth. Alternatively, pound with a pestle and mortar. If time, set aside for 30 mins or so for the flavours to mingle.

2. Pre-heat oven to 180C. Mix the breadcrumbs into the tapenade and spread the mixture onto each of the salmon fillets.

3. Roast for 20 minutes until salmon is cooked.

Weeknight only-fork-required supper: subtly spiced kedgeree

Kedgeree spiced with cardamom, cinnamon and curry powder

Kedgeree is one of my favourite weeknight suppers. It is comforting, full of flavour and can easily be eaten with just a fork in front of Masterchef. This is currently an important element of my cooking Monday-Thursday as the BBC have inconsiderately scheduled my favourite programme at a time which clashes with our evening meal. Next time, I hope they will consult me first!

I have been making kedgeree for years and have pretty much stuck with the same recipe, using long-grain rice, curry powder, undyed smoked haddock and hard boiled eggs. Recently, however, I have discovered a much more interesting recipe which uses a more complex combination of whole and ground spices and basmati rice for a more authentically exotic flavour. I have absolutely no idea why I have never thought to do this before! 

Colourful spices

The subtle flavours of cardamom and cinnamon and joined by curry powder, turmeric and a little kick of chilli. Chopped fresh coriander completes this delicious dish. Key to a good kedgeree is to use the poaching liquor to cook the rice. The milk is infused with the flavour of the fish and really adds to the depth of the kedgeree. 

I found this recipe in the Feel Good Food magazine produced quarterly by Woman and Home. I follow it pretty much to the letter so I won't republish it here. You can simply hop over here if you wish to try it out. I made a couple of very minor tweaks - I stirred in a tablespoon or so of half fat creme fraiche to add a little richness and sprinkled with a touch of cayenne pepper. I had also run out of peas and added some sweetcorn instead. A mistake. Stick with peas!

My proustian moment: simple rock cakes

A taste of childhood - the humble rock cake

Food can so often evoke powerful memories. Whether it be the aroma of freshly ground coffee, the sensation of biting into a soft, ripe peach or the taste of a homely apple crumble; what, when and where we eat food can transport us to another time or place in a moment.

The French author Marcel Proust was famously moved to reflect upon his childhood memories when taking a small bite from a madeleine. The madeleine is a pretty, delicate French cake, baked in a special mould. It is indeed a lovely treat but Proust can keep his madeleines. The treat which takes me on a nostalgic journey to my former years is slightly less elegant. In fact, elegance is nowhere to be seen. It is not even desirable here! You see, I have an inordinate fondness for the humble rock cake.

Rock cakes are craggy, ugly little cakes but beneath their rugged exterior, they are actually rather delicious. A rock cake is probably one of the first things that I baked and, as they are very forgiving, they are ideal for a kitchen project with small children on a rainy afternoon. 

We have had builders working on our house for the past week and, in need of some comfort amidst the chaos, I decided to take a jaunt down memory lane and recreate the cakes of my childhood. As I stirred the mixture together, I recalled helping my mother (and grandmother) make these treats standing on a stool in order to reach the mixing bowl and then dolloping the blobs of mixture onto the baking tray.

A rock cake is part cake, part scone. The exterior should be slightly crusty and crunchy with sugar and the interior delicately spiced, generously fruited and have a fairly robust texture (you are not aiming for 'light and airy' here!). You can choose dried fruit and spice to suit but I favour currants and mixed peel only as this is how I remember them from my childhood. Other plausible additions include dried cranberries, chopped glace cherries, lemon or orange zest. The cakes are at their best when eaten warm from the oven or on the day of baking but you can store in an airtight tin for a couple of days. Warming them for a few minutes in the oven does revive them somewhat!

My son gets very little sugar in his diet but I have to admit that I couldn't resist giving him a rock cake to sample. No surprise that he absolutely loved it and I look forward to making these with him when he is a little older.

Rock Cakes

Makes approx 9

Ingredients

200g self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

1 tsp mixed spice

75g demerara sugar, plus extra for dusting

100g butter, diced

1 egg, beaten

2-3 tbsp milk

100g currants

50g mixed peel

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C and butter or line a couple of baking trays (I use reusable silicone sheets).

2. In a food processor, whizz together the butter with the flour, baking powder and mixed spice until it resembles fine crumbs and tip into a mixing bowl. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour mixture by hand. Stir in the sugar and fruit.

3. Mix in the egg and just enough milk to make a thick, firm and sticky dough. Try not to over mix.

4. Dollop heaped tablespoonfuls of the mixture onto the baking sheet, leaving room between each one as they will spread a little. Do not worry about shape - they should be rustic-looking! Sprinkle the top of each with demerara sugar.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

I am entering my rock cakes into the Tea Time Treats Challenge hosted by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at What Kate Baked.  Karen is hosting this month's challenge and has chosen the theme of dried fruit - a great way to use up some of the fruits left over from making Christmas cakes and puddings. There is already a most fantastic list of entries and I am looking forward to browsing through and getting inspired. Being greedy, we love teatime in this household and always feel slightly bereft when the cake tin in empty!

Speedy toddler lunch: roast chicken quesadillas

When we moved house a few years ago, we were delighted to be leaving behind the freezing and falling apart mess that was our rented home for the year that we spent making sure that a 'move to the country' was indeed for us. We were excited about our new home but very sad to be leaving behind the ancient, solid-fuel fired Aga that we had come to love. We were both new to Aga cooking and, after a few disasters, soon learnt to love its versatility. Our favourite Aga treat was the fabled 'Aga toastie'. For those not lucky enough to have been acquainted with the culinary sensation that is the 'Aga toastie', it is essentially a toasted cheese sandwich. It is better though. I cannot explain why really. It just is.

To make an Aga toastie, you simply make a cheese sandwich according to your tastes (Cheddar and onion marmalade for me please). Grab some of that clever silicon baking sheet stuff and pop it on the hot plate. Pop your sandwich on top and lower the lid over the whole thing. Moments later, open the lid and flip the sandwich over and repeat. In just a couple of minutes flat, you have the fluffiest, toastiest toastie you have ever eaten. No need for butter on the outside so you could almost argue it is healthy.... Well, perhaps not. Maybe just 'less bad for you'.

Anyway, no more Aga toasties for us. Instead, we have discovered the joy of the quesadilla. Almost as speedy (you have to preheat the pan rather than having the instant heat of the Aga, but needs must!), and equally versatile and tasty. We all love them and I found them to be an instant hit with my son which is handy as I am always in need of a speedy lunch that can be whipped up in moments after a hectic morning of singing, clapping and waving at Jo Jingles. Yes, my life really is that glamorous!

My son could eat little mini-wedges of these at around 10 months but they would probably suit baby-led-weaners earlier than this.

Being a creature of habit, I like the cheese and onion marmalade or chutney combination best. Sometimes I throw in a slice of two of ham for added excitement. But you can fill your quesadilla with almost anything, though cheese is a fairly essential element (queso meaning cheese, after all). For my son, I sometimes do cheese and grated apple or tuna, sweetcorn and cheese (think 'tuna melt'). Today I used shredded leftover roast chicken, chopped tomatoes and Cheddar. Mushrooms and onions work well if they are fried off a little to soften before adding to the filling. My husband likes a few jalapenos for the authentic Mexican kick. The fillings really are as diverse as your imagination. Vary the cheese according to the fillings - I once tried an Italian perversion of this Mexican snack with pesto, grated courgette, tomatoes and mozzarella. It worked a treat!

Here is how to make one...

Quesadilla

Serves 1

1 flour tortilla

Fillings of choice (e.g. shredded chicken, tuna, ham, mushrooms, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, spring onions, pesto with grated courgette and mozzarella etc...)

Handful grated cheese - Cheddar, Gruyere, Mozzarella (match the style of cheese to your filling)

1. Take a griddle pan or even a large non-stick frying pan and set it on the hob to heat up to a medium heat.

2. Lay your tortilla on a chopping board and add your fillings to one side of the tortilla only. Sprinkle with the cheese. Fold the 'empty' half of the tortilla over the fillings (don't overfill) so that you have a semi-circle.

3. Fry the filled tortilla in the dry pan on a medium heat for a minute or so on one side before flipping over and cooking the other side. You are aiming for a nice crisp tortilla and melty cheese goodness on the inside. Watch closely as they do burn easily!

A taste of Florida: (Key) Lime Pie

I am a pudding person. No meal is really complete for me without a little sweet something-or-other at the end. It can be as simple as a square of good chocolate or as elaborate as the finest of French gateaux but I simply must finish with sugar.

This is a terrible habit which, no doubt, explains my somewhat well-cushioned girth but it is not one that I feel able to do without. I try to keep my weeknight indulgences in check: a simple yoghurt or a small slice of plain-ish cake. But at the weekend, I do like to create something a little more indulgent. 

Ask me to pick a favourite pud and I'm stumped. It is hard to narrow it down but, overall, I'd say I lean fairly heavily towards the traditional British genre. Treacle tart, apple crumble, sticky toffee pudding, bakewell tart, bread and butter pudding - all are my idea of pudding heaven. I'm pretty happy in France too with a tarte tatin, fondant au chocolat or clafoutis. 

I think though, if really pushed, that my absolute favourite hails from across the pond. I have an aunt who lives in Florida and, over the years, have fallen for the Floridian classic that is Key Lime Pie. The number of Key Lime Pies I have sampled is frankly embarrassing. I am on a never-ending quest to discover the 'perfect' Key Lime Pie and take my search pretty seriously when holidaying Stateside. Key Lime Pie graces menus throughout the USA but the 'real deal' has to be made with Key Limes which are quite different to regular limes. They are smaller and taste different and, some would argue, that there is simply no point in making a pie without these fruits. I've tried many a pie in my quest for perfection. So far, my favourite can be found here. But this is a little far to go (unless you happen to live  in South-West Florida). So, why not make your own instead?

Ok. We can't get Key limes in the UK. I know it is controversial, but you can make a pretty good pie with regular limes and I'd rather use those than the bottled Key Lime Juice that you can buy if you search high enough. 

This hurdle overcome, the rest of the ingredients are pretty simple. Unctuous condensed milk and egg yolks for the filling and biscuits with butter and sugar for the crisp tart base. A traditional KLP would have a Graham Cracker Crust and I do have to admit that no British biscuit is the perfect substitute. Digestives will do. Hobnobs might be better. Delia suggests adding some Grape Nuts for added crunch, though I have tried this and am not convinced. I was lucky enough to receive some Graham's Crackers from a friend who was working in the US after I complained that my KLP wasn't quite up to scratch due to my use of digestives. I have been eeking them out and was down to my last mini-packet so for this pie I used a combination of these along with digestives. It worked pretty well. As did the addition of a little sugar in the pie crust. Not something I would usually typically do but I noticed that this seemed to be the norm stateside. 

I usually make this in a fluted tart tin with removable base but the base on mine has mysteriously vanished. As such, I opted for a loose bottom cake tin and made a deeper pie. Different, but rather pleasing as it happens!

Last weekend saw a lovely lunch with friends and I took along my latest incarnation of this tangy, creamy dessert.

After years of tinkering, I can finally say that I am happy with my (Key) Lime Pie recipe. Here it is...

Key Lime Pie

Serves 6-8

Crust:

250g Graham's Crackers, Digestives or Hob Nobs (you can get Graham's Crackers in the UK here.)

75g melted butter

50g caster sugar

Filling:

Zest of 4 and juice of approx 6 limes (150ml or thereabouts)

1 tin (397g) condensed milk

3 egg yolks

1. Pre-heat oven to 160 C. Blitz the crackers or biscuits until you have fine crumbs - you can do this in a food processor or in a zip-lock bag with a rolling pin. Pour into a bowl with the sugar and melted butter and stir to combine. Press into a 20 cm cake tin or 22cm tart tin with removable base.

2. Bake the base in the oven for 10-15 minutes until slightly golden and firm. Set aside to cool.

3. Meanwhile, get squeezing those limes. Rolling stubbornly solid limes on a work surface can help loosen them up prior to squeezing! It took six rather hard limes for me to get enough juice but you may only need four.

4. With an electric whisk, beat the egg yolks for a minute before adding the condensed milk and whisking for a couple of minutes until well combined. Add lime zest and juice and whisk together until thick, creamy and nicely combined.

5. Pour into the prepared base and bake for 15 minutes until just set but still ever-so-slightly wobbly in the middle.

6. Chill for at least four hours or, preferably, overnight.

Serve with whipped cream on the side. Never on top. Resist all temptation to top with meringue.