Winter 2020

RECIPES FROM MRS B’s KITCHEN

I f you are dreaming of a lovely stress-free Christmas – one of the secrets is to get ahead with the things you can do in advance. This is exactly what we have to do here in the café, as all those ‘little jobs’ actually take up quite a lot of time if you leave them to the last minute. Here are some of the things you can make in advance, and a few little tips thrown into the mix to help you enjoy Christmas, without the fluster. • Mince pies – make your own mincemeat or doctor some shop bought mincemeat** • Cranberry sauce – there are plenty of frozen and fresh cranberries about now and making your cranberry sauce is so easy and so much nicer than the super-sweet jellies you find in the shops. Simply combine cranberries, sugar to taste, rind of a lemon and cook for about 20 minutes until the sugar dissolves and the cranberries start to burst. Season with a little salt and pepper, pour into a jar and keep in the fridge, or freeze. • Something simple but delicious for Christmas Eve –

perhaps a nice tagine or a chicken and leek pie? For a pie, our recommendation is to make the filling now and freeze it – add the pastry on the day, just before you bake it. • Cookies, ready to bake – make dough for the freezer. • Gravy – this can be made now and frozen ready for the day. • Slow-cooked red cabbage – always handy for Christmas Eve or Boxing Day, it’s so delicious and freezes brilliantly – we love Delia Smith’s recipe – you can’t go wrong. • Brandy butter can be made now and either kept in the fridge – to use now – or put it the freezer. Again, consult Delia, who has a super and reliable recipe. • Patés and terrines are very useful and can be made now, wrapped up and frozen – perfect for Boxing day. • Meringues – any egg white left from your pastry making can be made into little meringues. These keep for ages and are always a useful last-minute pudding. For true seasonal sophistication, why not team with whipped cream and chestnut purée for a quickly whipped up Mont Blanc??

Torte Aquitaine Makes 1 x 10-inch cake Preparation time 15 minutes, cooking time 40 minutes

This meringue style walnut cake is named after the southwest region of Aquitaine in France where nuts grow in abundance. Here the ground walnuts are the predominant ingredient and when they are mixed with the whisked egg whites it creates a delicious and lusciously light cake which makes a welcome change to many of the heavier cakes around at this time. Delicious with a cup of coffee. Ingredients

4 eggs, separated 200 g caster sugar 350 g walnuts, roughly ground 1 tsp baking powder Method 1 Preheat oven to 160°C or gas mark 3. Prepare and line a10-inch springform baking tin. 2 Whisk the egg whites with 50 g of the caster sugar until stiff peaks form. 3 In a separate bowl whisk the remaining sugar with the egg yolks until you reach ribbon stage where the mixture slightly thickens and lightens. 4 Fold the egg yolk mixture gently into the egg white peaks. 5 Finally add the ground walnuts and baking powder and gently fold to evenly combine all the ingredients together being careful to retain as much air as possible in the mixture. 6 Transfer into your lined tin and cook for 40 minutes. We have topped our cake with coffee icing and pieces of walnut – but it’s equally delicious without.

TOP TIP from Mrs B's Kitchen We like to freshly grind whole quality walnuts using a food processor until they are just slightly courser than granulated sugar, keeping them a good size really adds to the texture of the cake

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O&A WINTER 2020