If you’re located in the city, it can be hard to reconcile romantic ideas of autumn (a time of plenty, harvest festival) with the reality of ever shorter, darker days. This cake puts two ingredients together that make the season worth celebrating: apples and blackberries. Paired with warming spices, they make the most delicious treat…
Desserts
Quince Crumble Tart with a Hazelnut Crust
Knobbly pears or misshapen apples? Nope. Quince may look like a cross between the two but infact it is a fruit in its own right. In it’s raw form, the skin is rough and woolly, and the flesh is hard and unpalatable, with an astringent, acidulous taste because they are high in tannins, however sufficient…
Liquorice Ice Cream and Homemade Cones
Quite why the Nordic countries are so obsessed with liquorice is a mystery to me but what I do find is that there are the lovers and the haters, there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. The Finns love really strong salty lakritsi or salmiakki, in Iceland they seem to favour chocolate-liquorice combinations, whether it’s lakris, lakrids…
White Peach, Raspberry and Greek Yogurt Cake
I’m taking full advantage firstly of the slightly cooler temperatures this week by testing some new cake recipes and secondly to utilise the wonderful summer fruits we have available to us at the moment. Yellow and white peaches are determined by their skin colour – deep, golden yellow with a red or pink blush for…
Midsummer Strawberry & Elderflower Cake
Today is the National day of Sweden (Sveriges nationaldag), the tradition of celebrating 6th June as Flag Day began in the 1890s, when Artur Hazelius held such celebrations at his Stockholm-based open-air museum named “Skansen.” In 1916, the tradition gained yet more steam when it was honoured at the Stockholm Olympics. Every year, the King…
Strasberry & Mint Sundae, Prosecco Sabayon, Oat & Almond Clusters
If you’ve ever been strawberry picking, you know how incredible strawberry fields smell. On a hot, early summer’s day, you could get drunk off the sweet scent. Sometimes you can mimic the experience by sticking your nose into a punnet of strawberries, but it’s not really recommended. My kids were fortunate when they were growing…
Rhubarb and Blood Orange Curd
This past couple of weeks, the weather has been frustrating here in Buckinghamshire. Shifting quickly from low double figures to below freezing, with wind chills feeling minus degrees. Snow one day, and warm sunshine the next day; it seems that my outfit changes every hour. I am definitely and totally ready for spring weather…
Sicilian Blood Orange Cake
At this time of year, we have our pick of the citrus, they are the sunshine in a season otherwise filled with vegetables grown underground, citrus is also worthy of our appreciation because it’s incredibly versatile. Last summer my partner and I travelled to one of our favourite places, Italy, the region of choice, Sicily….
Heavenly Swedish Lent Buns (Semlor)
The merest hint of cardamom or cinnamon instantly triggers memories of my childhood. The smell of meatballs sizzling in butter and the comforting feeling when the air is scented with pepparkakor fresh from the oven. How smell can evoke such happy, mouthwatering memories. My mother and Grandmother always had buns of differing flavours in the freezer,…
Ris à la Malta (Swedish Rice Pudding)
It wouldn’t be Christmas in my house without ‘Ris à la Malta’ A lightly sweetened rice pudding, infused with vanilla and cinnamon served with fruit. My Mother and Grandmother always used to serve it with a cherry compote, an appealing festive red next to the pure white of the rice looked so pretty. It’s traditionally served after the…
