Blueberry Cake

I'm still not sure whether a slice of blueberry cake counts as one of your five a day - A quick search on the internet reveals some dubious sources claiming both ways - but regardless, it's deliciously moist and tasty! I scaled down and slightly adapted the recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, so that I could make it with one 250g block of butter. And also so that I wouldn't be eating it until Christmas - That book makes enormous cakes!

Serves 12-16

For the cake

• 250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 250g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 tsp vanilla essence
• 320g plain flour
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 200ml soured cream
• 200g blueberries

To serve

• More blueberries (optional)

Preheat the oven to 170°C.

Beat the butter and sugar together, then beat in the eggs one at a time, and then the vanilla essence, flour, and baking powder. Add the soured cream and beat until light and fluffy.

Mix in the blueberries by hand. Then pour the mixture into a greased, 25cm ring mould and smooth over with a spoon. Put it in the oven for 45 mins until golden brown and the sponge bounces back when touched.

Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool a little in the tin. Then turn it onto a drying rack.

We didn't bother icing it - Blueberry cakes are moist enough without. We served it with blueberries (until we ran out). Then it's definitely one of your five a day!

d'Arry's, King Street, Cambridge

We were greeted at d'Arry's by a wonderfully friendly and accommodating waitress. The atmosphere was set perfectly by candlelight emanating from cleverly refurbished wine bottles. Wanting to choose our food and drink, the waitress left us peacefully as we made our decision, and offered superb advice on wine when we asked for it.

We started with bread and olives. The bread was perfectly toasted and the olives were delicious. D'Arry - whoever he is - was off to a good start!

Bread and Olives - A highlight

The mains menu is pretty limited to quite standard (but very good) restaurant dishes, but this is complemented by a good selection of specials. Natalie was seduced by the seafood elements of the risotto dish. Sea bass, crispy squid and a white wine and squid ink sauce - what more could a girl ask for?! The presentation certainly did not disappoint! A gigantic mound of glistening caviar grains of Arborio rice complete with buried squid treasure provided the base for three dainty seabass morels and lightly squid tempura rings.

And taste-wise, it was indeed something different. But it suffered from heavy handed seasoning and overall it was too rich for both our palates. This was a dish with all the right elements but a critical imbalance in proportions. The fashionable micro cress and the summer peas added welcome bursts of freshness but the dish needed more citrus, more lightness, more balance to truly sing. The waitress had recommended The Broken Fishplate to accompany the risotto, but having never come across a Sauvignon Blanc worth drinking, Natalie decided to plump for The Stump Jump. Delicate and floral, this Riesling was a delicious choice, though unfortunately thoroughly overpowered by the risotto.

The Squid Risotto - A little too rich and salty

I went for the pork belly (apparently not on the website, but it was on the main menu). The very generous portion was beautifully cooked and the Swiss chard was done to perfection. The only down side was the crackling - 2/3 of it were melt-in-mouth perfect. Unfortunately, the final third was a little soggy. But, all in all, a very impressive meal. The waitress' advice of The Love Grass - a Shiraz - was well placed and complemented the pork perfectly.

The Slow-Cooked Pork Belly - A highlight

Service: 9

Atmosphere: 8

Food: 7

Price: Bread, two mains, and two small glasses of wine came to £45

Overall: 7 - Because food is the most important thing!

Haggis-Stuffed Marrow with a Parmesan Crust

With the first of the big juicy summer marrows gracing local supermarket shelves, I was inspired to create my own hodgepodge recipe which combines the season's best vegetables with a forgotten haggis rescued from the freezer. Traditionally, sausagemeat provides the core meaty depth to stuffed marrows, but I was surprised at how well my peppery haggis variation turned out. The parmesan crust is not essential but the little extra effort is worth it for an additional textural dimension.



Oven time: 2 hours 20 mins

Prep time: approx 30 mins
For the marrow:

• 1 marrow (any size - we used one approx 30cm in length) 
• 1 haggis (500g) 
• 2 ripe tomatoes 
• 1 potato 
• 1 carrot 
• 1 large onion 
• 4 cloves of garlic 
• 1 large egg 
• 3 tbsp of plain flour 
• 3 tbsp olive oil 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 2 tsp black pepper 
• 1 tsp dried sage 
• 1 tsp dried rosemary 
• 1 tsp dried oregano 
• 1 tsp dried parsley 
• 2 tsp dried basil 

For the Parmesan Crust:

• 4 slices of stale bread 
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan 
• Pinch of salt 
• Pinch of sugar 
• 4 tbsp sunflower oil 

Served with:

Pan fried peppers in garlic with garden peas.

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C.

Slice the marrow longitudinally and, with a spoon, hollow out the seeds and discard. Carefully remove some more of the marrow flesh so that a 2 cm marrow case remains.

Chop this up and place in a large mixing bowl. Add the chopped onion, carrot, garlic, potato, tomatoes. Season with salt, pepper and the dried herbs. Add a beaten egg, the olive oil and half of the haggis. Mix well. Up to 5 tbsp of plain flour can be added to thicken if necessary. The consistency to aim for is like that of a yoghurt smoothie.

Split the remaining 250g of haggis into two and press a layer into the hollowed out marrow. This requires some patience but does not need to be perfect. Then fill the marrow with the vegetable and haggis mixture to the brim. Any remaining mixture can be frozen (to be added to soups, casseroles, lasagne) or use it to stuff some peppers alongside the marrow.

Bake at 170°C for 2 hours.

In the meantime, prepare your breadcrumbs using four slices of stale bread. We used a mixture of white and brown. Grate the parmesan and season with salt and sugar. Add the sunflower oil and mix thoroughly into the breadcrumbs. Hand mixing is best for this.

After the marrow is cooked all the way through and steaming (2 hours at 170°C) carefully spoon a generous layer of breadcrumbs evenly onto the marrow surface. Pat down to hold it in place, but careful - it's very hot. Another 15 - 20 mins in the oven and it's ready to serve!

Coffee Cake

I was always taught not to eat anything bigger than my face. But when it's a friends birthday, and they love coffee cake, then I'm not sure what alternative there is beyond showing up with the most enormous coffee cake you've ever seen. (Admittedly, if you're sensible, the individual slices of cake are a great deal smaller than my face - So maybe the rule doesn't apply as strictly...)

Adapted from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook

Serves 16-20 (or even 32 if you're very modest with servings!)

For the cake

• 2 tbsp instant coffee granules 
• 170ml boiling water 
• 420g unsalted butter (at room temperature) 
• 30g margarine 
• 450g caster sugar 
• 8 medium eggs 
• 450g plain flour 
• 2 tbsp baking powder 
• 2 tsp cocoa powder 

For the icing

• 250g icing sugar 
• 80g unsalted butter (at room temperature) 
• 25ml milk (we use semi-skimmed) 
• 4 drops of vanilla extract 
• 40g dark chocolate

First, make the coffee essence - Put the coffee granules into a saucepan, and pour over the boiling water. Simmer until reduced by half - this should take 10-15minutes. Remove from the heat and cool completely. Set aside a tablespoon for the icing.

Preheat the oven to 160°C.

Beat together the butter, margarine (the original recipe suggested 450g unsalted butter, but we modified the recipe so that 2x250g packs of butter do nicely), caster sugar and coffee essence in a large (at least 3L) bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well. Then beat in the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder until everything is combined and the mixture is light and fluffy.

Pour the mixture into a 25cm cake ring. Be careful not to overfill the cake ring - Don't fill it more than 2/3 full. We have a pretty deep cake ring and it very nearly overflowed! Using a spoon, smooth over the top of the cake mixture. Put it in the oven and leave the oven closed until the cake is done. After 40 minutes, turn up the temperature to 170°C and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the cake feels firm to tough.

Take the cake out of the oven and leave to cool a little in the tin. Then turn it onto a drying rack.

Once cooled, make the icing: Carefully beat together the icing sugar and butter. Still beating, slowly add the milk, a little bit at a time. Finally, beat in the vanilla extract, and the tablespoon of coffee essence left over from before.

Spoon the icing on the cake. Use a peeler or grater to make chocolate flakes to decorate. You might even want to decorate with a few coffee beans if you've got some - We didn't.

Slow Roasted Shoulder of Lamb with Mashed Veg, Peas and Caper and Mint Sauce

Lamb is almost certainly my favorite meat. So it brings me great pleasure to open this blog with the most tender, delicious lamb I've ever cooked! We adapted and scaled down Jamie Oliver's recipe, Incredible Roasted Shoulder of Lamb with Smashed Veg and Greens. This will serve four, or a romantic meal for two and some left overs for a few lunches!

For the lamb

• 800g boneless shoulder of lamb 
• 2tsp dried rosemary 
• 1 bulb of garlic, broken into cloves and peeled 
• Olive oil 
• Salt and pepper 

For the mashed veg

• 500g potatoes, cut into large chunks 
• 4 carrots, cut into small chunks 
• 1 medium swede, cut into small chunks 
• 50g butter 

For the sauce

• 1/2 tbsp plain flour 
• 250ml veg stock 
• 1tbsp capers 
• A large bunch of fresh mint, chopped 
• 1tbsp balsamic vinegar 

For the peas

• Frozen Peas (However much you want!) 

Preheat the oven to 220°C

Place half of the garlic, and 1tsp of rosemary in the bottom of a roasting dish.

With a sharp knife, score the fat of the lamb, trying not to cut the string. If the string comes lose, don't worry - The lamb will fall apart when cooking anyway. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and olive oil and rub all over the lamb with your hands. Place the lamb on top of the garlic and rosemary in the roasting dish. Push the remaining garlic into the top of the lamb, then sprinkle the other tsp of rosemary on top.

Wrap the roasting dish tightly in tinfoil, and then place in the oven. Immediately turn down the oven to 170°C, and leave for 3 hours.

With 20 minutes remaining (i.e. once the lamb has been in the oven for 2hrs 50), place the potatoes, carrots and swede into boiling water with salt, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Take the roasting dish out of the oven. The lamb is done when you can tear it apart with two forks. If it isn't done, stick it in for a little longer. If it is, wrap it in tin foil and leave it to cool for 10 minutes. For the sauce, pour the lamb juices into a saucepan, add flour and vegetable stock, and simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes.

In a separate saucepan, pour the frozen peas in the boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes.

Drain the vegetables, add the butter and mash.

Add the capers, mint and vinegar to the sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes.

Serve the mashed vegetables first. Carving the lamb should be easy - just serve it in nice lumps of meat on top of the mash. Drain the peas and serve around the side, then pour the sauce on top of the lamb.

We served it with a 2006 Rioja Reserva, which worked nicely with the lamb.