Skinny Lemon Drizzle

Suddenly Lemon Drizzle Cake was everywhere- perhaps something to do with spring and a desire for sharp, fresh flavours? With my recent copy of The Simple Things having a traditional, full fat version in it I knew there must be another way! I have mentioned before that due to my husband's chronic health condition, we try to eat low fat and to bake with olive oil or vegan spread where we can. So by happy accident I came across a recipe in the February Delicious magazine by Lorraine Pascale for a Lemon Yoghurt Pound Cake. Now I'm not one for faddy phrases, but if ever there was a different way to bake that emphasised the phrase 'game changer' then this is it!

I can't urge you to try this enough- it's easy to make, fragrant, delicious and it does not taste like a low fat traducement of a classic. Even if you make it with butter it is still on the low fat side of the equation- nothing to lose.....

Ingredients 

75g vegan spread or Butter, softened, plus extra to grease

100g Caster Sugar

2 Eggs, plus 1 egg white

2 Tbsp zero fat Greek Yoghurt

150g Self-Raising Flour

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp vanilla extract

Fine grated zest of 2 unwaxed lemons

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas Mark 4. Grease a loaf tin and then line it with parchment paper.

2. Beat together the butter and sugar until creamy, then add the eggs, egg white and Greek yoghurt. It will look a little bit curdled but carry on beating for a couple more minutes.

3. Add in the flour, baking powder, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Mix all together until combined and then spoon the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 30 -40 minutes (The recipe said 20-25 but the min needed longer. Just check with a skewer to make sure the mixture comes out clean).

4. When ready, leave the cake to cool down and start getting the icing ready and then put aside for later.

For the icing- 

50g Icing Sugar

2 Tbsp Lemon juice

Whisk together till combined and lump free.

5. Once it's cooled down, gently drizzle over the icing.

Wild Berries

Before we bought our house, when it was empty, we would park at the edge of the woods and walk along the path to peek in the open back door to the garden. I felt a prickle of magic then and don't think it has ever left me. Every day I'm thankful for that back door to the woods.

These last few days the children and I have been picking brambles and wild raspberries on every walk. I'm stowing away the brambles in bags in the freezer till I have enough for bramble jelly. 

Bramble jelly is the most wonderful of preserves, it's jewelled, almost black colour and amazing aromatic depth of flavour are like nothing else. Making my beloved jelly in the next few weeks will just about ease my sadness at Autumn's creeping fingers - I am not quite ready to give up summer yet!

Four Seasons Find

Monday's are never my favourite days. I try my best not to let them get me down and approach them with a 'let's get this over with' stance. One thing is for sure the week is so much sweeter when Monday is taken care of.

As its a work day for me I do my best to get out for a brisk stroll at lunchtime. More often than not my feet take me to a few Charity shops. Today was no different and
my luck was in as I found a perfect copy of Margaret Costa's 'Four Seasons Cookery Book'.

I have heard it mentioned by many of my favourite cookery writers in terribly reverential terms- Laurie Colwin, Nigel Slater, and Nigella Lawson to name but a few. An initial quick flick through confirms that it will be much in use very soon. In fact as I turn the pages I'm contemplating 'Hungarian Apple Pudding' for dessert tomorrow night (my MIL dinner night, she loves a good pudding!).

I will let you know how it goes! Hope your Mondays have been bearable and the rest of your week is bright and happy. Jo x

My Mum's Pizza

{Mum and I circa 1976}



We all have family and heritage recipes. We all cook things that are dear to us.  The act of cooking and eating much more than that, as the as memory, the remembering, the loss, happiness, regrets of our lives are all wrapped up in what we feed ourselves and our loved ones.

My Mum has always made a very simple, plain scone based pizza. In it's essence it is part of the culinary landscape of the 1960's, where those that were adventurous cooked spag bol with mince and Tom sauce, curry with left over chicken and madras powder- these were all derivatives of the original authentic dish and massively adventurous for 60's Britain. And it is so, so easy to make a 'proper' yeast based pizza dough, but somehow the scone based pizza took off- a real 60/70's home cooking trend. And you know what the fact that I still crave it, cook it and write about it here is testament to the fact that it is more than culinary nostalgia. It might not be a looker but man it tastes good.

A plain scone base and a simple homemade tomato sauce topping and sorry, wait for it -a Cheddar cheese. You know its not that strange, I happily read Giorgio Locatelli say that in fact Italians don't mind pizza with a stronger cheese than mozzarella, and in fact Italian immigrants to the UK positively love pizza with stronger UK cheese on top- so hello authentic permission I believe!

When I grew up I lived right next to the school gates of both my primary and secondary schools. Coming home for lunch was a regular thing and my Dad came back too as he worked nearby. My Mum had a fine range of 70's dishes to feed us- Tomato Cheeseburgers (more later!), Leeks wrapped in ham with cheese sauce, cheese souffle, homemade Quiche and this gorgeous pizza.

Mum and Dad vacated the house for my 18th party and I asked Mum to make me some trays of this pizza. Many an inebriated teenage lad scoffed at the pizza but to a man they wolfed it down. Taste it and you will be hooked and if I tell you that it is totally storecupboard ready I will tempt you even further!

Recipe

Base

225g/8 oz self raising flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

50g/2 oz butter

about 150ml/1/4 pint milk

Sift the flour with the baking powder into a large bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Using a fork add the milk slowly to make a soft but not sticky dough. Roll out into a rectangle on a floured surface and carefully lift to a greased and floured baking tray.

Topping

One tablespoon of olive oil

One onion finely chopped

One 400g tin of tomatoes

Pinch of celery salt

Teaspoon of Italian herbs

Teaspoon of oregano

Fry the onion till turning golden in the olive oil, Add the tinned tomatoes and herbs and seasoning. Cook for 20 minutes on a low simmer till the sauce has reduced. Don't be tempted to add any sugar to the tomato sauce as you would for a pasta sauce. You want a tart, tomatoey sauce here as the scone base is ever so slightly sweet and its the taste contrast that makes it so yummy!

To assemble;

Smooth the tomato sauce on top of the scone base, add whatever topping you want. Mostly we have this with just the tomato topping, cheese on top and some black olives. Top with grated cheese- you can use mozzarella or better still strong cheddar. The recipe is easily doubled up and I often do this.

Cook in a moderate over for 20 minutes until cheese is bubbling- serve with a lovely crispy salad and coleslaw. Yum

Thank you for reading, have a lovely weekend when it comes, Jo xx

Rainy Tuesday

I don't work Tuesdays, so its always a busy fun day with the bubbas. Today was so, so wet- so we were in most of the afternoon. We played, we cooked Estofado via Bluebird Vintage blog for tea, we made a collage for Finn's nursery of his favourite things, and we found homes for the kids new glass animals (found in a charity shop at the weekend). Its definitely changing seasons this week- I can see the leaves blowing around the garden as I write!

A Cuppa

Mmmmm this is just what we have had. A nice cup of tea, dark chocolate and tiny amaretto biscuits. Did I just take this pic- No as its pitch black and pouring with rain here! This is one evening a few weeks ago. Sadly it shows how the nights are drawing in. A wee bit more summer please.....