Apple and Cinnamon Cake

We have a ton of apples again this year at the allotment, part of one of our trees has collapsed due to the weight of apples and our trees sag across the path blocking people's way with apples. I am pretty sure everyone at the allotment thinks we are useless, we haven't been as much as I'd like this year, but I still love it.

Our allotment is 'wild' in style. I'm very tidy in the rest of my life, constantly picking things up, cleaning, reordering, stacking, straightening... I think you need to be like that to run an efficient kitchen... but it's nice to have a place in my life that is just a bit messy and free and still beautiful at the same time. I don't care if you can't get down some of the paths, or that you have to crawl under the apple trees to get in. It is overgrown with apple boughs, flowers, vines, blackberries, honeysuckle, creeping nasturtiums, huge fennel plants that have gone to seed, but I personally think that that is the beauty of it. It's not like it's a big patch of nettles; but I'll await my next warning email because I don't think the allotment committee agree...

I think I've been asked for this recipe more than any other recently, pretty much everyone who has ordered it at Cook House wants to know how to make it so I thought I'd better get on with writing it up.

Incidentally it is the cake that a woman once described on Facebook as 'so dry it was impossible to swallow'. She laid into me in front of lots of customers at Cook House when I had just opened, I'll never forget it. She said she would never be back, thankfully. I'd also like to add that she ate every last (dry) crumb of her cake. Thankfully everyone else seems to like it a lot. I suggest you try it and see for yourself...

Get your cake tin ready and lined and preheat the oven to 160˚C.

Peel one large cooking apple... I'm going to have to make a lot of cakes to get through all the allotment apples! and cut it into thick slices.

Melt 150g of butter in a pan on a gentle heat. Then add 225g of self raising flour to a bowl, followed by 225g of caster sugar, a teaspoon of baking powder and 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. Give all the dry stuff a good mix and make sure there are no clumps. Beat 2 eggs in another bowl and add a dash of almond essence, about 1/4 teaspoon.

Then add the eggs and the melted butter to the dry mix and quickly bring it together using a spatula, it is almost like a batter when it is fully mixed.

Add 3/4 of the mix to a lined cake tin and spread it out. It might seem like there's not much of the mixture to you, but don't worry, that's how it is meant to be. Then add a layer of apples to the top of the mix, covering the whole lot. Then add the remaining 1/4 of the mix to the middle, on top of the apples. Then quickly pop it in the oven and bake for 50 minutes.

Sprinkle the top with a tiny bit of sugar when it comes out, it will smell amazing, all being well. The batter like mix means you almost get a buttery crust to the edges of the cake, with the middle staying warm and crumbly with soft layers of sweet apple. It is very good still warm from the oven with a dollop of cream, and will keep well for a couple of days in an airtight tin if you're feeling restrained and don't eat it all at once...

Spiced Apple Chutney

I think perhaps I forgot I had a blog, or at least I haven’t really had time to have one recently. I've been cooking easy 'go to' recipes like kedgeree or meatballs or things on toast, that I have told you about before. New things I have cooked have either been bad; apple, pancetta and sage risotto, don't go there... Or delicious, but I didn’t take any photos; celeriac and truffle dauphinoise and braised venison in red wine with orange and juniper, my god that was good. I also suffer at this time of year with the dark evenings; I just have a little automatic camera which has seen me very well for the past few years taking some beautiful pictures, but at this time of year in the low light everything just looks blurred and orange. I might just take the plunge and get the fancy pants camera I've had book marked for the past 6 months, or perhaps I should buy some Christmas presents...

I always make some Christmas presents, a few years ago I went to extreme lengths with potted duck, white chocolate and cranberry biscuits, chocolate truffles, chutneys, pickled grapes, florentines, the whole lot... I think a few jars of chutney and some chocolates might be my limit this Christmas, it's been a busy year! This Spiced Apple Chutney, which I have made a few times before, is perfect if you're thinking of making foodie presents for Christmas this year this is a winner. I've made it before in little jars with tiny parcel tags and it went down pretty well I think. Delicious with cheese, or lush Christmas ham with that sugary mustard crust, in sandwiches, with cold meats or potted game, any excuse really...

This isn't a recipe that has to be followed exactly to the letter, how sweet it is will depend on your apples, some recipes add cinnamon or nutmeg too, paprika, allspice or malt vinegar, you can play around with it, the following recipe is what I've settled on as one of my favourites...

Peel and dice 900g of cooking apples, I've used a mix of cooking and eating before too. Then combine 550g of caster sugar, 200g of brown sugar and 900ml of cider vinegar. Heat the mixture through to dissolve the sugar and add a tablespoon of ground ginger, 2 tablespoons of mustard seeds, a large pinch of salt followed by two large diced onions, 2 cloves of garlic crushed and chopped and 250g of raisins. Finally add all of the diced apples and stir it well. Then simmer for about an hour, it is difficult to say exactly as it depends on the amount of water in your apples. I have cooked it for 45 minutes before, and also 2 hours... You want it to turn quite dark and to begin to take on the consistency of warm thick jam. Then pot into warm sterile jars.

Finally leave it to sit, for it to do its stuff. Be patient, I'd say 3 weeks minimum, in a cool dark place, some people say 6 weeks. I've never managed to wait that long but it's perfect timing for Christmas presents... It is my favourite chutney I think, sweet, thick tangy and spiced, SO good with some ham, bread and butter or a piece of cheese. I was so disappointed when my last batch ran out, I'm hoping the next one will be just as good!! It keeps for ages, recipes say to eat chutneys within a month, but generally they last a lot longer, if you can manage to not eat them for some odd reason...

Apple and Blackberry Cobbler

Last year my apple trees produced six apples, six, and I made a few jars of a lovely spiced apple pickle and a delicious apple and cardamom tart. This year is a different story, there are literally hundreds of apples, it's all the apple trees can do to stay upright they are so weighed down by their crop. It's been a bumper year for apples I understand, perfect apple weather all year; it's definitely nothing I have done, they have just multiplied, a lot... I'm still not quite sure what I'm going to do with them all; but I began with a cobbler...

We spent the morning frantically tidying the allotment after an incoming warning email expressing concerns over the standard of care that my allotment is receiving ... oh dear... We've even been better this year, grown more, been there more, made paths and new beds, but a few weeks of neglect whilst on holiday and general life stuff has seen the grass grow about two feet, the beans fall over in the wind, every weed go wild, so you can't even see most of the plants. We have made a vague fight back with a strimmer and lots of weeding, but it's quite a task.

  

I love an apple and blackberry crumble, my granny was famous for them, I think she made them for every family get together for about twenty years, until someone dared to say they might like something different and she went on crumble strike for ever more, we ate lemon syllabub for every meal from then on, and no one made any more comments... A cobbler is a kind of crumble that came about in the Second World War as they use lots of filling but less butter and topping than a traditional crumble, they are essentially lots of little biscuits joined together to form a crust. Delicious little lemony biscuits...

This is a St John recipe, from their book Beyond Nose to Tail, and it serves 6. If you start with the pastry so it can chill in the fridge for a while. Use a big bowl and combine 225g of self raising flour and 100g of unsalted butter cut into little cubes, rub the butter into the flour until it is like breadcrumbs. Then add 50g of caster sugar, the juice and zest of half a lemon and a lightly beaten egg. Mix it all together into a dough and add a little milk to make a soft dough, I only needed a tablespoon or so. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 3-4 hours.

 

Then the apples, 6 cooking apples; peel, core and dice into small pieces and add to a pan with 50g of unsalted butter, 75g of brown sugar, the juice and zest of a lemon and cook on a gentle heat until soft. Remove them from the heat and stir in about 250g of blackberries. Put the fruit into a pie dish, and top with circles of the chilled pastry, either cut with a pastry cutter or rolled into balls and flattened. Finally brush the top with a beaten egg, sprinkle with brown sugar and bake at 180°C for 30 minutes.

The pastry 'biscuits' are delicious sweet and lemony, with soft stewed fruit melting into them, sweet apple and tangy ripe black berries. Serve with cream, crème fraiche or custard. A dead tasty autumn pudding.

Apple and Cardamom Tart and a Pop-up Feast

I'm really excited to be starting a new project, a pop-up feast, that will hopefully become a regular feature. It will be at Ouse Street Arts Club, a new artist led venue that I have been working on as part of my day job with xsite architecture, our very own venue to host all kinds of events...

The Ouse Street Arts Club (click for a link) is two converted ISO shipping containers situated in the lower Ouseburn Valley, on Ouse Street, immediately behind Hotel du Vin. We have been working hard for months, could be years, to get them ready and they are finally nearly there, painted, lined out, electricity, doors, windows, water... It's taken a long time but has come together in a perfect little space that I love going to, hopefully you will too!

My first pop-up will be a Joe Beef inspired bonfire night speakeasy type affair on Saturday November 3^rd. Think smorgesbords full of Grazer made salami, pickled herrings, beer cheese, pickles, toasts, gin cured salmon; followed by pulled pork, apple chips, secret beans and a scattering of pudding pots. For more details or to book a place please email annahedworth@hotmail.com subject 'The Grazer's Joe Beef inspired bonfire pop up'.

Over in allotment land, my apple tree is laden with apples, more than ever before, I'm going to be using them as much as possible at my pop up feast for apple chips and pickles, but these were the first two fellas to be ready this year. What better way to use them than an apple tart, buttery pastry, sugar, apples, what's not to love... This is an Elizabeth David recipe for a basic apple tart that I have adapted into this spiced cardamom version, that adds perfume and spice to a traditional tart recipe.

I made my own pastry, buy it if you want, I often do, but this shortcrust is pretty simple and delicious. Mix 225g of plain flour with 120g of soft butter until it is like fine breadcrumbs, then add a beaten egg, a pinch of salt and a splash of water, about a tablespoon and bring it all together into a ball, knead it a little then leave to rest while you deal with the filling.

Finely crush the seeds of 3 cardamom pods and mix with 100g of caster sugar. Peel 2 large cooking apples, keeping the peel, and slice into thin segments. Then roll out the pastry and line a tart tin about 30cm wide. Arrange the apples in neat concentric circles and sprinkle over the cardamom sugar evenly. Then bake it in the oven at 160°C for 30 minutes.

Finally I made a glaze that you brush over the finished tart, melt 2-3 tablespoons of caster sugar in a small pan with all the left over apple peel and a piece of lemon rind, until you get a sugary syrup. Use a brush to paint it over the top of the tart when it is ready and cooled.

The home made pastry is rich and buttery and warm, soft sweet apples in thick sugary syrup perfumed with deep cardamom spice. I can't think of anything better for pudding on a cold autumnal day, just add a dollop of cream...

Apple Crumble Cake

This cake is pretty special. Three layers in total; cake, fruit, then crumble. What's not to like? It's a pudding and a cake all in one. Soft lovely sponge, sweet sticky apple with tangy orange zest and then crunchy nutty golden crumble. This is going to be my cake of choice to make for quite a while. The recipe is from Beyond Nose to Tail from the clever people at St. John who write that you can also use rhubarb, apricots, nectarines, gooseberries, pears and ginger, plums or damsons. Plenty of scope to roll this one out a few times then...

Start with the fruit layer. First peel the apples, I used 3 Cox eating apples. Core them and cut them into cubes about 1-2cm squares. Put them in a bowl and add 50g of caster sugar, 50g of demerara sugar and the zest of an orange. Mix it all up and leave while you move onto the next layer.

Next for the cake. Cream 125g of unsalted butter together with 125g of caster sugar until it is light and fluffy. I loath this bit, it is hard work, much harder work than I think baking should be... Then gradually add 3 lightly beaten large eggs. Just add them a tiny bit at a time to avoid it curdling, I think mine did curdle slightly, maybe why my cake layer wasn't so light and fluffy at the end perhaps... but it still tasted damn good. When all the eggs are beaten in fold in 160g of sifted self raising flour, followed by 50ml of full fat milk. Put the cake mix to one side.

Now the crumble. Sift 125g of plain flour into a bowl and add 95g of unsalted butter cut into small cubes. Rub them together with your fingers until they are like large bread crumbs. Add 60g of demerara sugar, 30g ground almond, 30g of flaked almonds and a pinch of salt and mix it all up.

So now you have the three layers ready to assemble... Butter a cake tin and heat the oven to 180°C. Add the cake mix to the base of the tin and spread it out evenly, it seemed like I didn’t have that much cake mixture but it turned out fine. Then spread the apple mix on top of the cake mix, I poured over the sweet sugary orangey juices that had formed also. Finally cover everything with a thick layer of nutty crumble mix and bake in the oven for 1½ hours. If the top starts to get too brown cover it with tin foil for the rest of its baking time. You can serve it warm with cream or it is just as good cold. Cake? Pudding? Who knows, who cares, it's delicious...

Warm Roast Squash and Apple Salad with Toasted Seeds and Honey Dressing

Pop-up Kitchens are tiring but very tasty I have discovered yet again... I've been running my Pop- up Kitchen at xsite architecture this weekend as part of the Ouseburn Open Studios. The whole building was turned into a series of little exhibitions, beautiful illustrations, amazing taxidermy, photography, fine art, architectural projection rooms, the Ouseburn Coffee Company and my little kitchen...

There were soups and stews bubbling away all weekend to keep people warm wandering round the Ouseburn on a chilly weekend. I made the Smokey Spinach, Chickpea and Pancetta stew, but this time I used chorizo, which worked very well, and there was buttery Leek, Potato and Parsley soup and lots of Onion and Gruyere Tarts. The whole of xsite set about baking mountains of cakes, scones, cheese straws and biscuits. Everyone went away very well fed...

This little salad is something I have made a few times in the past few weeks, partly to use up the mountains of apples I have hanging around the house, and also because it is quick and pretty much effort free. Cold dark evenings late in from work require meals that are warming but ready quickly with very little effort. This is my current favourite...

You can use any type of squash for this salad, butternut, onion or pumpkin. This was a little munchkin squash that I cut into small wedges and scooped out the seeds. Just leave the skin on with these little ones, it is so soft you can just eat it when it is roasted, or easily peel away. Preheat your oven to 220°C and put the squash into a roasting tray with a big glug of olive oil and some flaked sea salt. Now quarter 2 small apples, scoop out the core and seeds and add them to the tray with the squash.

Put them all in the oven for 15 minutes, after 15 minutes add 4 cloves of garlic still in their skins and some sprigs of rosemary and cook for a further 15 minutes.

I made a little dressing with a few tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, a teaspoon of honey and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar all whisked together. Then toast a handful of pine nuts and pumpkin seeds in a dry pan for a few minutes until they start to turn golden.

When the munchkin squash and the apples are ready take them out, squish the garlic out of its skins into the tray and toss the roasted squash and apple around in it. Then place them on top of a plate of leaves, whatever type you fancy, scatter over the seeds and the dressing. I finished with a crumble of manchego, any excuse to add a bit of cheese to something... The warm roasted garlicky apple and squash are delicious with the tangy dressing and crunchy seeds...

Toffee Apple Muffins

When I took on my allotment last year it already had two lovely little apples trees in blossom on it, I think that's what swayed me to choose it over the others I was offered. In hindsight the ones that already had raised flower beds and no weeds may have been a wiser choice... I have definitely been on the loosing end of my battle with the weeds this year. To add to that I have hardly been in the past few months and am suffering from a severe case of allotment guilt... But I have grown more than ever this year and have produced a small crop of lovely juicy cooking apples. It just looks a state...

So to welcome Halloween I thought I'd show you these muffins. I'm much more one for a celebration through food than a fancy dress outfit... This makes about 6 to 8 muffins...

Pre heat your oven to 190°C before you begin with the muffin mix, and line your muffin tin with paper cases or squares of greaseproof paper tucked into each. Then peel and dice a large cooking apple into small cubes.

In a large bowl mix together a beaten egg, 50g caster sugar, 120ml of milk and 50g of melted butter, when everything is mixed together add in 150g of plain flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of cinnamon. Mix everything together, but be careful not to over mix it, muffins don't like too much fuss...

Finally stir in the apple, a handful of chopped toffee and a handful of chopped fudge pieces. Now simply fill your muffin cases about three quarters full and place them in the oven. They will need to bake for about 30 minutes, keep an eye on them towards the end. They are ready when they are a lovely golden colour, you can check the centre with a knife or a skewer, if it comes out clean they are cooked through, if it has cake mix still attached they will need a little longer.

They are delicious warm, full of sweet cooked apple and melted toffee, but they are also just as good cold when all the flavours have mingled together, with a dollop of crème fraiche or cream.

Apple and Celery Salad with Walnuts and Mustard Dressing

I don't know what has happened to summer, one minute it is warm and sunny, the next we're in the middle of a monsoon. As I walked to work this morning it even felt a bit frosty, it was lovely and sunny but there was definitely a hint of autumn in the air...

This autumn will see the start of an exciting project for me, I am organising a seasonal market for small North East producers, growers and makers. 'Autumn Graze' will be taking place at Northumberland Tennis Club, Jesmond, on Sunday 2^nd October.

I have had a brilliant response and have lots of exciting people lined up to take part. The list is building, full of cakes, bread, flowers, wine, local breweries, cheese, pies, charcuterie, pickles, jams, tea, coffee, cookware, handmade chocolates. It will be a beautiful feast of a day, full of talented local people and lots of things to eat and buy, I'm looking forward to it a lot.

I will keep the blog updated with all the details, and please do get in touch if you are interested in taking part. Hopefully it will be the start of many more events to come.

In between planning markets, weeding and the day job I have still found time to slot in some time in my little kitchen. I made this salad last week for some friends and I. It is quick, fresh, healthy and delicious, a healthy take on a Waldorf Salad. The Waldorf Salad was first created in the Waldorf Hotel, New York, so perhaps this could become known as the Maybury Salad, after my little house... Or is that delusions of grandeur? I'll perhaps just stick to Apple and Celery Salad with Walnuts and Mustard Dressing.

Firstly chop 4 celery sticks into 1cm wide slices, make sure you keep all of the leaves and put both to one side. In a dry pan toast two handfuls of walnuts until they are toasty and browning, then add these to a bowl to cool down.

In a large salad bowl start to make the dressing. Start with the juice of half a lemon and add a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and a teaspoon of English mustard. In a pestle and mortar crush a clove of garlic with half a teaspoon of salt until it is a smooth paste and add this to the dressing. Finally add 2 teaspoons of honey and some black pepper, and whisk everything together with about 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. It will thicken and emulsify as you do so.

Peel and core 3 Granny Smith apples and cut them into bite sized chunks. Add them to the dressing, at the same time adding the celery, roughly chopped celery leaves and toasted walnuts. At this stage I also added some crumbled Manchego cheese. I have made it with and without the cheese and like both versions, so it is up to you at this stage.

The dressing is delicious, sweet, zingy, garlicky and works very well with the sweet apple, toasty nuts, fresh celery and creamy cheese. I will make this again and again I know already.