Tuesday 11 December 2012

Cauliflower Soup & Ginger Cake~from the archive


Left to my own devices this week with the jolly, fat man off at some tasting or other. Decided on the Ginger Cake for the first week of Xmas cooking.  Turned  to the 2012 Holiday edition of the Food & Drink.
 
For the uninitiated, a ginger cake batter performs a little differently than your typical mix. It doesn't flow out of the bowl into the cake pans; you have to drag it out, kicking and screaming. A ginger batter will not self-distribute in the pan. You have to do it for it. Finally smacking the tins on the counter five or six times to cancel air pockets. How do you now if this has been successful? You don't. It's a matter of faith. This is a well seasoned cake-ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, black pepper, cloves and is great for a miserable rainy day, like Sunday.


 
 
The frosting was a dismal failure and I'm sure with time, I'll come to understand what went wrong. It's butter and icing sugar-how difficult could it be? The icing has separated from the buttery mass and remains to this day, a sticky pool in the bottom of the bowl.

Soup was successful and I recommend this if for no other reason than the garnish. Lemon juice, garlic, paprika, olive oil. Dress the soup with a generous amount of cheese, garnish and parsley. See below for recipes.

 
 
 
Ginger Cake

3 cups flour
1 TBSP baking powder
½ TSP baking soda
2 TBSP ginger
2 TSP cinnamon
1 TSP allspice, nutmeg, black pepper
½ tsp ground cloves & salt

1 C butter
½ cups brown sugar
3 eggs
½ cup fancy molasses
1 C milk

Blend first ten ingredients.
Beat butter, adding sugar until well combined; add egg; add molasses.
Add ¼ flour mix, followed by ¼ milk until all combined.
Coax the batter into pans. Smooth surfaces.   Bang pans on counter to remove air pockets.
Bake 40 mins at 325C.

 

Cauliflower & Potato Soup

Recipe not terribly essential here. Go with your instincts. This is soup, afterall.

1 diced onion
1 stalk celery
1 head cauliflower
3 potatoes (any)
1 TBSP butter and oil of choice
1 clove gariic
1 litre chicken stock 

Garnish

2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 clove garlic
1 ½ TSP paprika

1 C cheese grated (any)
2 TBSP parsley

Dice vegetables; sautee a few minutes; add stock; boil and then simmer ‘til tender.
Stir garnish ingredients.
Add  cheese to soup bowl, drizzle with oil mixture; tope with parsley sprinkle.
Hearty soup and a very tasty drizzle.