Eat ...Nigel Slater's little book of fast food

"Cooking should, surely, be a light hearted, spirited affair, alive with invention, experimentation, appetite and a sense of adventure."  Nigel Slater 

I like to think of the English chefs Nigel Slater and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall as my "cooking boyfriends".  They are often with me in the kitchen whether it be following a recipe from one of Hugh's River Cottage cookbooks or an inspirational idea from one of  Nigel's columns on The Guardian website.

Left Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall at River Cottage and Right Nigel Slater
in his London garden

Both Nigel and Hugh give me great recipes but best of all I like the way they write about food.

Looking at the photos above I realise they do look alike.  They are alike in that they each encourage home cooking using fresh and often home grown produce.

They are different because Hugh lives a country life at River Cottage farm and has actively participated in campaigns to improve the tragic lives of egg laying hens and the chickens who never get to leave a cage, protested at the dumping of fish in the sea and the price of milk in the UK (sounds familiar!).

Whereas Nigel appeals to those of us living in an urban landscape.  How encouraging it is to see the range of vegetables and fruit he can produce in his compact back garden in London.

Nigel's descriptive writing style clearly conveys his passion for food and its infectious. He makes me laugh, especially in his book "Eating for England".

"A beautiful, mysterious thing when seen on the stalk in a foggy field in January, the Brussels sprout has a fairytale look to it...  A pity then that the vegetable shares so many of its attributes with a fart... "

I haven't until now owned a Nigel Slater book. "Eat" was an impulse purchase, sight unseen, simply based on the reviews.  From the moment I opened the package I knew I had a different sort of cookbook in my possession.  It's the size of a novel, with a stunningly simple black title printed onto a rich pumpkin fabric cover.

Who says you can't judge a book by it's cover!   Open "Eat" and you are rewarded with clean, modern design and layout that allows you to easily and quickly read the recipes.

Nigel tells me the book I have in my hand is,
"A little book of straightforward, contemporary recipes, quick or particularly easy to get to the table.  A collection of recipes that are fast, simple and, I hope, fun. " 

The book is divided into 10 chapters with dishes grouped together based on the method of cooking.

In the hand

In a bowl

In the frying pan

On the grill

On the hob

Little stews

In the oven

Under a crust

In a wok

On a plate

And ends with a chapter simply called Puddings.

Each chapter has an intro in a large font, followed by a list of his favourite
dishes for that style of cooking.

Nigel himself best describes the layout,

"The form of the recipes is new.  Written in the style of an extended tweet, they are no dogged '1-2-3' sets of instructions.  The ingredients lists are next to a picture of the finished dish, both at the top of the method so you can see, at a glance what you will need and then, in more detail, within the method"

 The first recipe I tried from "Eat" was rather rich but simply delicious.

 I would normally steer away from this amount of butter and cream...but I was curious and the tag line he puts at the bottom of the recipe intrigued me. "Soft, white, supremely citrus fish"

To give you an idea of how the recipes are presented I copied the recipe just as it is laid out in "Eat".

We enjoyed this creamy fish dish with the new potatoes
gathered from our community garden.  You can follow our
gardening exploits on my other blog Sanctuary Garden Diary

Cod with Lemon, Tarragon and Creme Fraiche

cod, lemons, tarragon, creme fraiche, capers, bay, butter, black peppercorns

Put 350g cod fillet, cut from the thick end of the fish, into a large shallow pan with the juice of 2 lemons and 40g butter.  Chop half a small bunch of tarragon and add to the pan with a bay leaf and 6 black peppercorns.  Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover with a lid and simmer for about 10 minutes, till the fish is opaque.  Remove the fish with a fish slice and keep warm.

Chop the rest of the bunch of tarragon and add it to the pan with a teaspoon of capers and  3 tablespoons of creme fraiche. The creme fraiche will turn a little grainywhere it meets the lemon juice.  

No matter.  Coarsely flake the fish and spoon the sauce over it.

   For 2: Soft, white, supremely citrus fish.

The butter contributes to the rich flavour of the sauce

This dish would be really good with southern blue cod but as it's not a locally available fish in Auckland I chose Tarakihi,  NZ Seafood's Fish of the Month: January 

The lemon juice and the herb Tarragon is the secret to the success of this dish.  And true to his word it takes only a few minutes to make.

French Tarragon

The not so well known herb French Tarragon gave the dish a subtle hint of aniseed.  I made this recipe in early December when my tarragon was starting to take off.  It was a great way to show how a little tarragon adds to the flavours of fish, lemon and cream. 

This tarragon I took with us from Dunedin in a small pot and it has thankfully
continued to grow in a pot.  Use the younger new leaves to avoid any bitterness.

French Tarragon is a delicate herb to grow.  It hides underground all winter and in early spring small green shoots appear and is ready to harvest early summer.  Tomatoes , eggs, chicken and fish all benefit from the addition of tarragon but it is most commonly used to flavour vinegar and mustards.  Tarragon hates wet feet and enjoys a sandy soil. It requires good drainage so I have had the most success growing it in a pot where I can control the conditions.

The taller growing Russian hasn't the flavour of  French Tarragon.  To test whether you have the right nationality of tarragon simply bite a leaf and keep to the front of your tongue.  A true French Tarragon will numb the tip of your tongue.

I will leave the last word on tarragon to the boys:

"The crowning glory, the whole point of this herb, is as the principal flavour in sauce Béarnaise, the unctuous, egg-yolk rich emollient for steak. (Even though it's the chips I really make it for.) ... But it is with chicken that tarragon reigns supreme. The leaves, especially larger ones, will stand up to the cooking time and gently impart their aniseed notes to the sauce. "  Nigel Slater

"With its aniseedy, liquoricey punch, its slight pepperiness and its hints of pine, tarragon is not something to use with a heavy hand, but in the right quantities and the right company, it can be sublime."  Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

One great feature of "Eat" is what Nigel calls "little extras",
"Opposite many of the recipes are ideas that have bounced off them, a scattering of notes, suggestions and narrative recipes that might also interest you".

After returning home rather late from work I was hungry and wanted something fast.  I tried one of his suggested off-shoot ideas, A salsa scramble from the featured recipe Spiced Scrambled Eggs. 

A salsa scramble

Sizzle a finely chopped tomato, a little finely chopped chilli and some chopped spring onion in a little butter, then stir in half a chopped avocado, a squeeze of lime juice and a little coriander.  Use half as the base of the scramble, adding the eggs to it once it is hot.  Serve the other half as a salsa on the side.

We grew this wonderful tomato and its companions basil, tarragon and
spring onion.

This meal took 10 minutes at the most to make.  I started by collecting what ingredients I had to match Nigel's recipe.  Darn only one egg left and the scrambled egg recipe used 5 eggs.  The recipe was made for two though so I knew one egg would work to create a slightly different version of the salsa scramble.   Half an avocado and half a green chilli, although not shown in the photo, I also used.

I didn't have any coriander on hand but have heaps of basil and as tarragon goes well with egg I added a little of that as well.

Another change to Nigel's recipe was to use lime infused olive oil instead of butter as I love olive oil and felt that would better suit the salsa.

As it is cooked very quickly you need to do all the cutting up before you start cooking.  

Only just cook the tomatoes and other vegetables before dividing the salsa into two as you want the salsa portion to be like a salsa, not a sauce.

Drop the egg or eggs into the pot and stir immediately.   Now I knew that this would taste delicious but mix red tomato with yellow egg and the resulting the peach colour looked like something regurgitated.  With more eggs it would look better... but I had a plan.   In another pot I quickly cooked a few summer beans as the colour green does wonders.

Nigel suggests using the remaining salsa as a side.  I decided to top my hot scramble with the lovely red and green salsa.  My resulting dish was more of a scrambled soup because I only used one egg but it didn't matter...it was truly delicious.  I could taste the basil and tarragon, then get a hit of chilli and enjoy the texture of the avocado.  Tomato and egg is a heavenly combination anyway, and it was created in ten minutes!    

Nigel has created this book to reflect the times - we are often time poor.  How easy it is to grab something ready prepared from a takeaway but Nigel is right when he says,

"Making yourself and others something good to eat can be so little trouble and so much pleasure.  And much more satisfying than coming home to a meal in a box".

Thank you Nigel for all the good fast food meals I will make from your little book "EAT".

A Fool and a Mess

Christmas and the holidays is a wonderful time for gooseberries, currants, berries and stone fruits.  I have just experienced ten glorious days with Peter's family in Hawkes Bay where you can go and pick your own berries or visit orchards that sell tree ripened stonefruit.

Monica, Beau and Tansy all helping to Pick Your Own Berries for my raspberry jam producton
from Ruby Glen off Meeanee Road,  and the juiciest stone fruits from Seamans on
Basil Road off Meeanee Road, Napier

My sister in law Monica is the one who gathers all the family around her table. I was only too happy to relieve her of some of the cooking duties and to try out desserts that are naughtily creamy but work so well with summer fruits.

A Fool fits in with holiday routine as you can prepare it ahead of time, or cheat and purchase the custard and meringues, and put together with little effort. The same can be said about an Eton Mess!!

My revived fascination with Fool was sparked just before Christmas when I received from my sister Kerry in Dunedin a beautifully packaged parcel of her gooseberries.

Murray is Kerry's cat.

Up here in the sub tropical north, I miss the southern gooseberry season .  These well travelled gooseberries were like gold so I quickly froze half for later use in my favourite gooseberry recipe, see "Gooseberry Shortcake and Sweet Cicely" (Sept 2012) and the other half I used to make the classic English dessert, Gooseberry Fool.

I previously made the fool with 50/50 cream and yoghurt in "Five Good Things with Gooseberries" (December 2012) but this time I made the fool using a mix of custard and cream.  You can use yoghurt instead of cream.

Gooseberry Fool dates back to 17th Century England, but the origin of its quirky name is not agreed upon.   Some suggest it comes from the French word foule ( translated means milled, mashed, pressed).  I discovered on the The Historic Foodie Blog  foulè de groscilles is the French version of Gooseberry Fool. The original trifle recipe dates nearly as far back as Gooseberry Fool and reads a lot like my recipe with custard, fruit and cream mixed together. The addition of sponge cake in trifle came later.

Gooseberry Fool

First step is to make a rich custard:

4 egg yolkes
500 ml of full cream milk (or 50/50 milk and cream but I felt there was enough cream in this Fool recipe)
100 g castor sugar
1 vanilla pod split lengthways ( you can use 1tsp vanilla essence instead)
1 Tbsp cornflour

I make this custard in a pyrex bowl over top of a pot of boiling water (keep the water level just beneath of the glass bowl)... you can make this custard in a pot on the stove but you have to keep an eagle eye on it so that it doesnt catch and burn on the bottom.

First heat the milk with the split vanilla pod until really hot but not boiling.
In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks, add sugar and beat; then mix in the cornflour.
Now pour and stir the egg mix into the milk.

Cooking custard in doubleboiler set up take longer but avoids sticking on the bottom.

Stir regularly until the custard thickens enough to coat the wooden spoon and remains.

Cover the top of the custard with kitchen paper and gently
press to make a seal with the paper.  This will avoid the custard
forming a skin as it cools.

Allow to cool, then once at room temperature put the custard into the fridge.

Next step, cook up your gooseberries - I had 400g and added 75 gm of sugar...  (if you have more gooseberries then use the same ratio of berries/ sugar).  Next, melt a knob of butter then add fruit and sugar - no water necessary as the water comes out of the berries as they cook. If making this at the beginning of the gooseberry season while Elderflowers are around, add in a head of blooms.  Alternatively,  a slurp of elderflower cordial will add that extra dimension to your fool.

Once the fruit and custard are cooled, beat the cream - I used approx 200ml of cream.  You could replace the cream with a thick Greek style yoghurt.  Once mixed, chill well before serving.

At Christmas, I made another Fool, this time using cooked apricots.  It's a great use for apricot seconds that don't look or taste perfect enough for eating raw.   When cooked, they have a far better flavour.

If you have apricots that are not very tasty when eaten raw, you should cook them... but
if you have good eating apricots on hand then simply puree with a little lemon juice
and sugar to taste.   If you need more liquid, add some apple juice.

On tasting the fool I realised that there was not enough of the apricot flavour pushing its way through the custard and cream.  To improve the flavour, I quickly pureed about half a dozen raw ripe apricots with a little caster sugar and apple juice and gently mixed it through as a ripple. I served the apricot fool with fresh raspberries.  The raspberries were macerated in caster sugar.

Macerating fruit is just like marinating savoury dishes.  For fruit, use fine sugar or syrups, adding lemon juice or liqueur if desired. Allowing the fruit to sit in sugar for an hour sweetens the tartness, heightening the flavour and creating a delicious sauce. This also gives an appetizing gloss to the fruit.

At it's simplest, Fool is stewed or crushed fresh fruit, folded into whipped cream. I have discovered the custard component adds a richer flavour to the Fool. While my Apricot fool was a little runnier than I had wanted (for the custard I used 3 egg yolks leftover from Pavlova making instead of 4 in the recipe I had previously used).  However, it was eagerly lapped up by the family and pronounced delicious.

Eton Mess

This dessert has a more modern origin that many a busy mum can identify with.  On the way to an Eton College sports day an anxious mother discovered to her horror that the pavlova she had made for the boys had been squashed and broken in transit.
As so often happens in the kitchen, out of disaster sometimes a new dish is created.  She mixed up the broken pavlova with the fresh fruit and cream creating what is now called, 'Eton Mess'.

Actually, it does look a complete mess, but you can make it look a lot tidier and prettier by doing what I did and keep some of the berry fruit aside and placing on top along with some small lemon balm leaves for a touch of contrasting green. It may look a mess but it tastes delicious. These days, Eton Mess tends to be made with meringues instead of pavlova.

The crystal bowl that belonged to Peter and Monica's Mum gave
the Fool that extra "glam" presentation

I had about 500g of blackberries that I allowed to macerate in lemon juice, 2 big tablespoons of caster sugar and a splash of apple juice.  I wanted to add some sweetness to the blackberries because they were quite tart.  Separate out as many fruits as you think will help to decorate the top.

Crush 8-10 meringues - making sure there are some big pieces as well as crushed meringue.
Add to the fruit but don't stir yet. Keep one meringue for the top

Next, beat a 250 ml bottle of cream until stiff but still soft.  Do not over beat.

Add the cream and softly fold rather than mix.

Scatter the fruit and crush the last meringue on top.  Use mint leaves or lemon balm, as I have, to contrast.  If using yellow fruits in the Mess then some orange, red or yellow nasturiums or blue borage are decorative options.

My niece Francie said this is one of her favourite desserts and gave me 4 out of 5 for my Eton Mess.
She said if I had used homemade meringues I would have got 5 out of 5.  Francie knows about good meringues and treasures her grandmother Molly's meringue recipes. Molly had more than one recipe ... and a reputation for producing great meringues.  Francie has been trying to find that crunchy yet chewy meringue recipe that Molly used to make for her when she was a small child.  She thinks she has found it, and if it's the right one, she will share it with us at a later date.

This is one of the best things I love about cooking; the sharing of recipes especially those foods that generate memories of childhood treats.

Yes, you can have too much cream... so no more Eton Mess or Fool for me now that Christmas festivities are over and I'm back at work, sitting on my bum all day in an office.

Raspberry Jam and Christmas

When we women in the Mackay family decided to de-commercialise Christmas and make home made gifts my Mum was stuck on just what to give my brothers.  Then she remembered how much they loved her raspberry jam so out came the retired preserving pan.  She made them a six pack each and my brothers would be slightly dissappointed if their gift every year wasn't raspberry jam.

Photographs of raspberry jam production by Lynn Dunn, beside  the southern Christmas Tree,
the Pohutakawa, no doubt grown in their Ribbonwood Nursery, Dunedin.

My cousin Lynn makes the same delicious, pure raspberry red, runny jam that Mum used to make.  When we lived in Dunedin she would deliver us a jar every Christmas.

My Mum Claire and Lynn's Mum Coline were  first cousins and life long friends so naturally they visited each other whenever they could.  Lynn and sister Heather were our city cousins and we their country cousins.  They would enjoy the freedom of life on the farm and we would love the experience of city life.  

From left to righty:  Heather, Me holding my brother Jamie, Lynn and my sister Kerry
in the backyard at our farm in Riversdale.

While I watched my mother make lots of raspberry jam, I have not actually made the jam myself.  To let us all into the secret of how to make a good raspberry jam I have enlisted the help of Lynn who lives in Dunedin.


"I always like to make this jam at Christmas time as the new season's berries are just becoming available. We often take a drive out to McArthurs on the Taieri Plain to buy their delicious local raspberries. It's a good excuse too, to pick up a fresh fruit icecream - another of our family traditions!

It's such an easy jam to make as it only requires a short cooking time and is self-setting - no setting agents needed. Fresh raspberries seem to deliver a better flavour and a glossier appearance.
This traditional recipe simply uses equal weights of berries and sugar.     

The fruit is cooked on a low heat for a few minutes until the berry structure has started to break down. The heat is then turned up and the sugar added slowly while maintaining a good boil.

After 3 or 4 minutes I test the consistency by putting a bit onto a cold saucer and then remove from the heat as soon as it forms a slight skin. 

We prefer the jam to be a bit runny and not too stiff.

Pour into sterilised jars and seal. It takes a couple of days to set fully."
Thank you Lynn.

I can remember the excitement when the local store called to say the raspberry order had arrived from Central Otago.  Mum would get the raspberries in a large tin pail. We knew that night we would be eating lots of raspberries sprinkled with icing sugar and accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream.   Some of the raspberries would go into the freezer but the rest was used to make the year's supply of raspberry jam.  I don't remember what happened to the tin pails but I'd like to think they were returned to the growers as it was a time before throw away packaging.

Coline (left) and Claire (right)  the best of friends
and its thanks to our dear Mums that gifts of  raspberry jam have
 become a tradition at Christmas 

I am more of a marmalade and jelly maker from fruit I get for next to nothing or for free.  Lynn tells me that for 2 kilos of raspberries costing $18.50 she can make 10 jars of raspberry jam.

 If you haven't the desire to make your own jam or don't have a jam maker in the family, then the next best thing is to buy a good quality jam.  My favourites are Butlers Berries Raspberry and Redcurrant jam from Waimate, South Canterbury and Te Horo Raspberry jam from Otaki just north of Wellington. 

Humidity is not at all kind to jam makers. You need a clear sunny day.  I am inspired by Lynn's raspberry jam recipe to give it a go while in sunny Hawkes Bay over the Christmas break.  Close to good supplies of fresh raspberries and the clear air will be perfect for making jam.

Sadly, jam has far too much sugar to be a health food.  But you can eat as many fresh raspberries as you like... in fact gorge yourself on raspberries to lose weight (minus the cream mind).  There are many health benefits of this low calorie highly nutritious fruit.   Native Americans recognised the importance of berry fruit in their diet and used raspberries to remove tartar from their teeth.   

Raspberry can relieve morning sickness and if the tea is regularly consumed an easier labour could be on the cards.  If a baby is on the way in your circle of friends and family, I would recommend Artemis Pregnancy Tea that contains raspberry leaf and other herbs good for pregnancy. Sandra Claire from Artemis learnt the secrets of the beneficial plants from a Catholic nun who looked after young pregnant women in the Swiss mountains.  In Switzerland she tells me every pregnant woman gets a free prescription of this herbal tea to build uterine strength.

The only problem with raspberries is that they don't keep as long as other berries.  How to Store Raspberries gives you some really good tips on how to make them last which could be helpful for those buying berries ahead of time for Christmas Day.

Berries collected from my sister Kerry's garden
set against one of her many nativity scenes around the cottage

For my readers in the southern hemisphere here's wishing you all a very merry berry Christmas.

And for those in the northern hemisphere, perhaps you can recall the flavour of summer berries through a jar of raspberry jam.  Merry Christmas and happy holidays wherever you may be.

A Farewell Dinner to a Villa on River Road

Some of you will have experienced an emotional good-bye to a home that you have loved, that holds the memories of your children growing up and the pain of renovation.  Usually the move is made easier by the thought of another family taking over the house to create a new set of memories.  How much harder it is to have to leave knowing that a demolition squad will erase that house forever.

In Christchurch this is just what our dear friends Jan and Wal have had to face.  A month ago Peter and I spent a special weekend in celebration of a fine old lady sitting on the banks of the Avon on River Road.  It was to be her farewell weekend.

Jan is a wonderful cook who will mark any occasion with a special meal.  Wal is the modern day hunter and gatherer, sourcing the fish, meats, vegetables and wine. On this occasion the gathering included a whole duck and a whole Moki.  What a wonderful team they are.   How many couples do you know that catered their own wedding?  Well Jan and Wal did.

A long table was set up in a spacious elegant room that reminds us of the style and craftmanship that went into quality villas after the turn of last century.  The most stunning feature is the ornate plaster ceiling with sunflowers.

Outside the real flowers on show were Sweet Peas. While Jan has given up gardening around the River Road property, the sweet peas were the one flower she grew and picked. I don't know of anyone who doesn't love these dainty, sweet perfumed pea flowers that herald the approach of summer.

While out smelling the sweet peas, another delicious smell took my attention.  Wal was smoking the fish that was to be the entree for our special dinner.  

As Wal is a keen fisherman, he finds it worthwhile to invest in a good stainless steel smoker.  Trout and salmon are the usual guests in the smoker but today he went to his favourite fish monger and purchased a whole Moki.

The architect of the meal is Jan who could have had a career in a commercial kitchen. She's not just a good cook, she's strategic and organised. Jan plans a menu that can be prepared ahead of time.  When the guests arrive she has everything ready resulting in minimal time away from guests.   And I don't know how she does it, but she manages to have a cleared bench at the time of serving a meal.

Wal's smoked fish was presented on a large platter with water biscuits as the entree - simple and delicious.

Smoked Moki - simple and delicious!

The main course also appeared to be a simple dish ... but looks are deceptive.

Jan took four evenings after work to produce a dish called Cassoulet featuring a whole duck cooked three ways, beans, lamb and sausage.

Mark Bittman who writes for the New York Times describes this dish beautifully and gives you the recipe if you want to give it go. How to Conquer the Cassoulet   It involves boning the duck to remove the breasts, making a stock out of the carcass and keeping the duck fat to produce a Duck Confit.
Next you cook the lamb and beans, followed by the sausage and seared duck breasts Whole Duck Cassoulet.

Dinner guest Matt is giving the Cassoulet the smell test - verdict...
smells fantastic!

The final touch requires heating up cassoulet, covering with breadcrumbs and parsley, then bake in the oven until golden brown.

Jan served the cassoulet with a big pile of fresh asparagus and a crusty bread baton from the superb bakery on Victoria Street called Vics.

Jan used baby green lima beans in the cassoulet.

I wanted to taste the sauce first so I dipped the bread into the juice and what a rich flavour I was rewarded with.

Cassoulet comes from France. It's humble origin as a traditional peasant bean stew has been claimed by different cities in the south west.  While other traditional dishes have disappeared, Cassoulet has an almost iconic status in France.   Each region, city or home has it's own particular recipe ... but they all contain beans, meat and usually a duck confit.  Chefs debate the importance of keeping to the traditional Cassoulet versus making a version that better suits the current time, i.e. lighter, and less time consuming.

Carcassonne chef Jean-Claude Rodriguez writes "Cassoulet lives on, because it requires patience, respect, and it requires a lot of love.”

Yes all of us around that table that night knew just how well loved we were ...but wait there was more.  A large wooden board made from the top of a wine barrel was brought to the table carrying dessert.

Jackie's Rustic Semolina Lemon and Rosemary cake in the foreground.

Jan has an appreciation of good cakes and is an excellent cake maker.  She is famous in our household for her Simnel Cake (a dark fruitcake with marsipan running through the centre like a rich vein of gold.)

On this occasion she decided to outsource the dessert and asked Jackie who was well qualified for the task. Jackie used to own and bake for her local cafe until the earthquakes destroyed their building and business.

A great way of presenting crackers or biscuits on a platter - a layer of kitchen
paper and brown paper tied up with twine.

  
The presentation was as lovely as the selection of edibles.   There were two cakes with home made Mascarpone, three cheeses with walnut oatcakes and a bowl of dried figs marinated in orange syrup.

Rustic Semolina Lemon and Rosemary Cake

The  lemon cake was truly delicious - lemony with a great texture.  Both Jan and I thought it worthwhile to hunt out the recipe.   It's Italian in origin and they sometimes slice it and have with coffee for breakfast.    

This cake would also be delicious with lemon curd 

My first attempt at making this cake was a bit of a disaster due to a combination of my oven "Mr Ferocious" and a limited time frame.  So, second time round, I thought I would halve the recipe and put it into a tin that would cook the centre before it burns on the outside.  I have given the ingredients for the loaf sized cake, but if you want to make an impressive small but tall cake like the one Jackie created in the picture above, just double the mix below.

Ingredients
1/2 cup Semolina
1 cup plain flour
1/4 cup coarsely ground cornmeal (I used polenta)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
grated zest of one lemon
3 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp finely chopped Rosemary
1/2 cup olive oil
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp lemon extract (I used 1tsp Lemoncello liqueur but I think the lemon extract would make it more lemony like Jackie's cake)
1/2 cup thick Greek yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 175C.

Line and grease a large loaf tin.

Put the three flours together with baking powder, soda and salt in one bowl.

In a mixer or bowl mix together the sugar lemon zest and rosemary.

Add the oil to the sugar and mix on medium speed.
 Add the eggs one at a time, then the extract or lemon liquor and lemon juice, and beat until well mixed.


With a metal spoon, fold in half the flour mixture into the eggs, then half the yogurt until mixed.

Then add the rest of the flour mixture and yogurt and mix just until blended.
 

Pour the batter into the loaf tin, and spread evenly with the back of a spoon, then bake for about 1 hour, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
 Cool the cake for 10 minutes, then carefully run a knife around the pan and turn it over onto a plate.
 Cool to room temperature before slicing.

 I presented the cake as a dessert with marinated strawberries, lemon curd and mascarpone with Lemoncello liqueur.

The heart of the city of Christchurch has been flattened but there are early signs of the city's revival.  It's heartening to see some of the cleared land that once housed businesses being given over to wildflower plantings.  This is organised by Greening the Rubble Trust - a group a of people wanting to create a better place for the people of Christchurch now. 

In other regions of New Zealand we can all too easily forget the plight of the people of Christchurch.  A visit to that city is a big reminder and you leave feeling an admiration for the spirit and courage of it's people.

Signs of a community working together with a
Community garden on Fitzgerald Avenue

Our weekend's final stop was a visit to Pomeroys Historic Brewery on Kilmore Street for a taste of boutique brewery beers from the south.  Pomeroys has managed to stay operating after the earthquakes and it's an important meeting place for locals.  

Peter giving a toast to Wal (centre) and Jan( right).

Jan and Wal have now moved into their new home across the river where land is stable.  It's not as grand as the well loved villa on River Road but it has what both of them want - a safe and cosy home in a welcoming local community.

One thing I know for sure is that no matter where Jan and Wal are living we will be treated to great  company, good craic and wonderful new food experiences around their dining table.