Birthday cake

    Yesterday was Jakob birthday. I made a cake for my darling. Same recipe than this but I added some raw chocolate and I did some icing.  

Comfort stew

    It's cold and dark. December is a beautiful month but I had forgotten how it feels having only a few  hours of light and last Sunday I needed some comfort in my food.

Now, in the vegetable box I always have loads of roots. I love them and by the way, I have learnt new English words for roots that I'm not sure knew in Spanish...

Last Sunday I cooked some simple. Something that it's no complicated but takes time, a stew. I used very local lamb meat, from a friend of us who has own sheep, and, roots, parsnip, carrot, beet and turnip. Roots, herbs, red wine and lamb. These flavors means december to me now.

Borough Market

  After a few busy weeks, my reward came. Some days to rest and to relax. I have spent a couple days in London: a lot of walking, a glorious concert, a nice dinner and cocktails and a visit to the Borough Market on last Saturday.

It started with a breakfast at Tapas Brandisa, where Jakob and I were able to eat some very good tortilla de patatas and huevos estrellados. Better than expected. Then, we started to walk around the market.

An incredible variety of very nice products. A heaven where trying not to buy anything was a difficult task (we were spending the day in London and it would have been difficult to carry groceries all day long). However, I enjoyed the experience very much and I'm looking forward to go there another day only to go crazy buying.

Herbs

I love cooking with herbs. Winter is coming and herb drying is a brilliant idea to preserve herbs during the cool seasons. Do you want some inspiration? Check this out.

Australian bread, green tomatoes muffins and blackberry jam

   He stayed in bed while I baked. It made me feel good, especially because it turned out acceptable. My first trial hadn't been so good. The day before I had also made some specials muffins. Our last green tomatoes were waiting to be used before it was too late. Food from Southern US inspired me.  Green tomatoes muffins with a twist of whisky.

And we also had that fabulous jam that Jakob made last week after having gathered blackberries.

Tomatoes muffins recipe

250 g self-raising flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

150 g soft brown sugar

2 eggs

200 g green tomatoes

100g sultanas

100 ml vegetable oil

50 ml scotch whisky 

Sift the flour, the baking power and stir in the sugar. Add the sultanas and the tomatoes in small pieces (the tomatoes must be left with salt 10 minutes and then well rinsed). Beat the oil, the whiskey and the eggs together and add it. Combine well.

Spoon the mixture between the muffin cases and bake in an 160 ºC for 1 hour and fifteen minutes aprox.

The australian bread follows a recipe by Lorraine Pascal. You can watch the video here.

Outdoor breakfast

This time of the year is unique. I knew that today would be cold and sunny so I planned a very early walk and an outdoor breakfast. I must admit that it wasn't easy getting out of bed. Jakob and I woke up at 06.30, made and packed the breakfast and drove to the beginning of the walk. It was cold and beautiful. A frozen morning.

We walked from Horningsea to Anglesey Abbey following a muddy public footpath. When we arrived to the Lode Mill was time for our breakfast: coffee, scones and some fruit.

   

Kinfolk

I discovered Kinfolk magazine more than a year ago and I fell in love with it. I've been following it online since then and all I can say is that it's a beauty. Describing it is difficult because is about a lot of things and nothing at the same time. I would say it's about gatherings, moments, food, small pleasures, nature and so on. You can read here its manifesto and watch it.

The magazine is stunning. The articles and the photographies are inspiring. Well...finally I have the latest issue in my hands and the rest in its way (tack älskling!).

By the way, I've taken these pictures today at the Cambridge University Botanic Garden.

Saturday in Cambridgeshire

    Searching the light, the sunshine, the colours and some rest, we've spent saturday morning and afternoon. First, we walked in Wimpole gardens. Later we headed to Granchester and for the very first time we didn't eat scones; we did ate a salad and a quiche. Jakob almost fell sleep after that.

Wanting something sweet, we went to Cambridge city centre and got a chelsea bun at Fitzbillies. Then one more walk along the river Cam. I think I've done enough publicity! Family, Friends... please, come and visit!!

Beetroot cake

In the past I didn't how to use beetroot. With a little help, I started to discover it and finally I'm starting to love it.  I've even baked a cake with beetroot.

Beetroot in a cake? I saw there were a lot of recipes and they seemed pretty attractive. Why not try it? And yes, it's very tasty. Not too sweet, moist and very rewarding for an Autumn day. It has been our little treat on a long evening walk.

Next time I'll make it with chocolate. I've heard it's a fabulous combination.

250 g self-raising flour
2 teaspoon baking powder
150 g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
200 g beetroots, grated
100g sultanas
150 ml vegetable oil

Sift the flour, the baking power and stir in the sugar. Add the sultanas and the grated beetroots. Beat the oil and the eggs together and add it. Combine well.

Spoon the mixture into a greased springform cake and bake in an 160 ºC for 1 hour and fifteen minutes apron.

Pumpkin and spinach pie

I like Autumn flavours. The is my first Autumn in England and I have to say that it has been being full of flavors so far. 

There are plenty of great local vegetables that I love and even some wild mushrooms. I have also started to receive an organic seasonal vegetable box every week. After having had that kind of delivery in Barcelona I missed it. It's a great form to start cooking seasonal and being a bit more creative because you have to cook, sometimes, vegetables that you aren't used to cook.

The pie Jakob made the other day had also bit of Autumn itself.

JAKOB'S RECIPE

Pre-hot the oven to 200 degrees centigrades.

Pastry:
3dl of flour (I use normally a mix of wheat and whole and sometimes 1 dl of rye flour to give it that nice country-side feeling)
125 g of cold butter
3 tablespoon of cold water

Mix in a food processor the butter and the flour until you don't have any big butter pieces left. Add the water and mix it to a pastry quickly. Extend it in the mould and chill it for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile you can do the vegetables. I fried pumpkin and onions and added spinach and fresh herbs. Be creative here: vegetables, cheese, salmon...

After that, make small holes in the pastry with a fork and put it in the oven for 10 minutes or until it looks nice and golden.

Put the vegetables in the mould and add a mix of e/4 eggs and 3dl of milk. Then, 30-40 minutes in the oven  to 200 or when the mix is dry.

Black trumpet mushroom and fennel risotto

I remember making risotto when I lived in Sweden and Jakob moved to Barcelona before me. It was     my Friday treat. I served it to myself with loads of parmesan cheese and a glass of wine. It made me feel happy. 

On Friday I also made risotto here in Cambridge. I missed it. This risotto is clearly autumn inspired.

RECIPE for two

1 cup risotto rice or medium-grain rice

3 cups vegetable broth

1/4 kg assorted wild mushrooms (in this case black trumpet)

1 fennel bulb

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

Fresh thyme

As you know, risotto is a traditional Italian rice dish and involves stirring small amounts of broth into the rice a little time at a time. So, you have to be patient.

Fry the chopped fennel in olive oil with and add some salt. When the the fennel is soft, take some away for the final presentation. Add the mushrooms. After five minutes you can add the rice and in two minutes it will look slightly translucent. Now the risotto method starts: keep adding the broth bit by bit and stirring until the rice is soft but with a slight bite.

Remove from the heat, add the butter and leave it rest 2 minutes with a lid. Then serve with the parmesan, the thyme and the rest of the fennel and some more mushrooms if you want to.

An Autumn refreshment

     Simple like that. A toast with some cottage cheese, figs, pears, nuts and honey. Don't forget a cup of tea.

Rainbow coloured carrots

I saw them and I couldn't resist. I just took them home, rainbow colored carrots. The multicolored carrots (white, orange and yellow in this case) have been grown from old varieties and they are slightly sweeter. Today I roasted them together with some fennel and beetroot. Delicious.

Cashew corn soup

It's getting colder and it's nice to have some warm soup around. I do like corn especially fresh and I made a soup with it. It's a recipe from My News Roots which I highly recommend. It s a rich and very tasty soup which has been a success.

Here you have the News Roots recipe.

Avocado cream

This is a summer recipe which comes a bit late but...who cares...we're having a glorious weather right now in September.

It has influence from the smoothie that Ruth describes in Food and me, this from My News Roots and the last and no less important, the one that my father in law made when I was in Sweden. Mine is creamier rather than a smoothie.

I will try different combinations but so far I'm happy with this recipe:

2 avocados
Mint (lots)
1 lime
Half cup of apple juice
1 spoon of honey

Mix all in a blender until smooth. Taste and adjust. Cool before serving!

Deep fried zucchini flowers

Zucchini flowers. My first time. I had seen them before in the gorgeous blogs which I follow but in Spain wasn't so easy to find them.

They are just beautiful, sweet and herbal. I ate them in Sweden and they were from my father in laws garden. I can't complain!!