Food

Lemon Drizzle Cake

November 25, 2019 northlondonhousewife

Minimal effort, maximum results: step-by-step instructions for making a cake that always goes down a storm

Felicity Cloake’s lemon drizzle cake. — Felicity Cloake’s lemon drizzle cake

Prep 20 min
Cook 50-55 min
Makes 1 loaf cake

175g butter, softened, plus a little extra to grease
2 unwaxed lemons
175g caster sugar
Fine salt
3 eggs
100g self-raising flour
75g ground almonds
A little milk
100g demerara sugar

Grease a 2lb loaf tin (ie, one measuring about 23cm x 13cm x 7cm) with butter or oil, and line with greaseproof paper. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4.

Zest the lemons – if you haven’t got unwaxed (or organic) ones, give them a good scrub with hot water to remove some of the wax first, because this will give a better flavour.

Line and grease a loaf tin, then zest and juice three lemons. — Line and grease a loaf tin, then zest and juice two lemons.

If you’ve forgotten to take the butter out of the fridge, cut it into cubes and leave it near the warm oven or give it a few good whacks with a rolling pin to help it on its way. (Microwaving will just melt the outside, which isn’t ideal.) Put the cubed butter in a large bowl, or in the bowl of a food mixer, with the caster sugar, a pinch of fine salt and half the lemon zest.

Use electric beaters to beat the butter and sugar mix until it’s really light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary; this should take about five minutes. You can do this with a wooden spoon, but it will take a while, because you want to get as much air into the mix as possible.

Cream the butter, sugar, the rest of the zest and a pinch of salt; get as much air in the mix as you can. Then add eggs. — Cream the butter, sugar, half the zest and a pinch of salt; get as much air in the mix as you can. Then incorporate the eggs bit by bit.

Beat together the eggs in a jug, then beat them into the butter and sugar mixture a little at a time, making sure each addition is thoroughly incorporated before adding any more. If the mixture threatens to curdle at any point, add a little of the flour to bring it back to a smooth consistency.

Tip the flour into a sieve and sift it on top of the butter and sugar mixture – though this is not vital, it will help to give a lighter, fluffier result, so I’d recommend it. Use a large metal spoon gently to fold in the flour with a slow, figure-of-eight motion, being careful to knock as little air out of the mix as possible.

Sift in the flour, then gently fold it in, taking care to knock out as little air as possible, then pour into the tin.

Put the ground almonds in a bowl, give them a quick whisk to break up any lumps, then fold into the batter in the same way as the flour. Gradually mix in just enough milk to thin down the batter to a consistency that will reluctantly drop off a spoon.

Pour the batter into the prepared tin and gently level the top. Put in the hot oven and bake for about 50-55 minutes, or until the top is golden and risen, and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean, or at least without any wet batter clinging to it; a few crumbs are fine.

Felicity Cloake and the lemon drizzle cake. Number four: zest and juice three lemons. Mix the juice and half the zest with demerara sugar. — Mix lemon juice and the remaining zest with demerara sugar.

Juice both lemons and mix this with the demerara sugar and the remaining lemon zest. Leave the cake in the tin, and poke small holes evenly all over the top, then pour over the drizzle bit by bit, waiting for it be absorbed before adding any more. Leave the cake to cool in its tin before turning out.

Bake until risen and golden, then poke holes all over the top and pour over the juice, zest and sugar mixture.

This cake is an easy one to customise: swap lemon for other citrus fruits; or add a dash of gin or vodka to the drizzle; or make a spiced version by bringing the demerara sugar to a boil with 100ml water, the lemon zest and a tablespoon of squashed cardamom pods until the sugar dissolves, then turn off the heat and leave to infuse while the cake bakes.

Travel

Osaka to Hiroshima

November 22, 2019 northlondonhousewife

Moving west across Japan from Tokyo, we left Takayama and reached Osaka for a brief overnight stop. Later we were told the people of that city have a reputation for taking everything at a much faster pace and certainly it felt like a city that enjoyed a party.

Even so, it felt uniquely Japanese which is to say both polite and safe. Travelling through the country we saw countless people on bicycles, both rural and city, and not a single bicycle lock. People trusted each other enough not to steal their bikes.

On public transport, the public information announcements exhorted people to switch off their phones, to switch down their music etc so as not to inconvenience their fellow travellers with noise. Elsewhere people worry about much more egregious behaviour. It is a polite and safe country for tourists.

The only times we came close to getting lost were finding our way out of some of the larger stations. After standing puzzled for a few minutes, inevitably someone local would stop and in often very broken English, would do their best to help us find our way.

We visited Hiroshima passing through on our way to Miyajima, Shrine Island just south of the city. Having arrived at the station, we caught a tram from just outside to the Peace Memorial and Museum.

As you would expect it was a somewhat harrowing experience, almost made more so by the presence of so many very young children visiting with school groups.

It felt an essential part of the trip, and probably necessary to understand some of the internal conflict within Japan, the pull towards and push away from the military but it was also a huge relief to leave.

On the way back to the station we were stopped by a group of young teen students who had been tasked with chatting with tourists to try and understand the impact of the Peace Memorial.

Their teacher hovered protectively as they practiced their English and struggled with the speed of our responses.

They were a real delight after the intensity of the museum.

Food

Coffee Cake

November 10, 2019 northlondonhousewife

Sometimes you have to give the punters what they want, and when it comes to a local fete and a cake stall that means coffee cake. Not always, but often enough that a good recipe is worth filing away.

(serves 8)
2tbsp instant coffee
100g walnut halves
225g butter, at room temperature
225g soft, light-brown sugar
4 eggs, beaten together
225g plain flour
3tsp baking powder
1/4tsp salt
Milk, optional

For the icing:
2tbsp instant coffee
165g butter, at room temperature
425g icing sugar
1/4tsp salt
4tbsp double cream

Mix the coffee with 1tbsp boiling water, and then leave to cool. Meanwhile, toast the walnut halves in a dry pan until they smell toasted and nutty, then set a quarter of them aside and roughly chop the remainder.

Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan) and grease and line the bases of 2 x 20cm sandwich tins.

Beat the butter and sugar together until really light and fluffy.

With the mixer still running, pour in the egg mix very gradually, scraping down the sides of the mixer as necessary. Once incorporated, sift in the flour, baking powder and salt, and gently fold in with a large metal spoon, adding the coffee and chopped walnuts as you go.

The batter should fall, reluctantly, from a spoon; if not, add a little milk to loosen it. Divide between the 2 tins, and bake for about 25 minutes until well risen. Allow to cool for 10 minutes in the tins, then put on a wire rack to cool completely. Meanwhile, mix the 2tbsp coffee for the icing with 1tbsp boiling water and allow to cool.

Once the cakes have cooled, make the icing. Beat the butter until soft, then sift in the sugar and salt and add the cooled coffee and cream. Stir together until evenly combined. Top one cake with a little less than half the icing, spreading it more thickly in a ring around the edge, and then place the other cake on top. Spoon the remaining icing on the top, and arrange the walnuts in a pleasing pattern.

Travel

Takayama, Japan

November 7, 2019 northlondonhousewife

Takayama is a city in Japan’s mountainous Gifu Prefecture,

with narrow streets of its Sanmachi Suji historic district lined with wooden merchants’ houses dating to the Edo Period.

Takayama retains a traditional touch like few other Japanese cities, especially in its beautifully preserved old town.

It has become one of the prime candidates among travelers wishing to add a rural element into their itineraries.

Takayama gained importance as a source of high quality timber and highly skilled carpenters during the feudal ages.

The city was consequently put under direct control of the shogun and enjoyed quite a bit of prosperity considering its remote mountain location.

The city is now famed for its biannual Takayama Festival, going back to at least the mid-1600s, celebrating spring and fall with parades featuring ornate, gilded floats and puppet shows.

None of which we saw, visiting in the first week of September.

We did have our best meal of the entire trip though,

staying at a very traditional inn towards the outskirts of the city, in two rooms complete with tatami matting, comfortable futons on the floor and incredibly uncomfortably hard pillows.

There were shared toilets and sinks on our floor, and communal baths downstairs with an onsen for men and one for women.

My daughters assure me that the most traumatic event of the entire holiday was showering down in the public baths with a total stranger though I’m not sure whether getting naked in front of the stranger was more or less difficult than getting naked infant of their mum or sister.

Ho hum. Another example of where dad is held to an entirely lower standard.

Food

Vegetable Pajeon

October 30, 2019 northlondonhousewife

A recipe for Korean Scallion Pancakes With Vegetables with US measurements

Vegetable Pajeon (Korean Scallion Pancakes With Vegetables)

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE PANCAKES:

½ cup plain flour
½ cup potato starch (or 1/4 cup each white rice flour and cornstarch)
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more as needed
½ teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup ice water
1 large egg
¼ cup finely chopped kimchi
4 cups finely chopped or grated mixed vegetables (carrots, zucchini, bell peppers, kale, whatever you’ve got)
4 scallions, cut into 2-inch-long sections and thinly sliced lengthwise
2 tablespoons grapes oil, plus more as needed

FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE:

3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar, plus more to taste
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger or garlic (optional)
½ teaspoon sesame oil, plus more to taste
Pinch of granulated sugar

PREPARATION

Prepare the pancakes: In a large bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, potato starch, salt and baking powder.
In a medium bowl, combine water, egg and kimchi. Whisk kimchi mixture into flour mixture, and whisk until smooth. Fold in vegetables and about three-quarters of the scallions. (Save the rest for garnish.)
In a large nonstick skillet over medium heat, heat 2 tablespoons oil. Scoop 1/4 cup portions of batter into the skillet, as many as will fit while not touching, flatten, and fry until dark golden on the bottom, about 2 to 3 minutes. Flip and continue to fry until other side is browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and sprinkle with a little more salt. Continue with remaining batter.
When ready to serve, prepare the dipping sauce: In a small bowl, stir together soy sauce, vinegar, ginger or garlic (if using), sesame oil and sugar. Sprinkle sliced scallion over pancakes with dipping sauce on the side.

Travel

Museum Modern Art, Tokyo

October 28, 2019 northlondonhousewife

Since we’re a family entranced by Ghibli, it isn’t too surprising that we found ourselves at the Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo walking through an exhibition on the work of Takahata Isao, one of Ghibli’s founders.

There was an interesting pre-Ghibli history that walked though his TV work.

But it was the films we’ve loved that were most interesting such as PomPoko or Grave of the Fireflies

The films are all a little bittersweet, except maybe the Yamadas.

Culminating with his final film, bittersweet but beautiful animation.

And afterwards a rather strange walk around the main galleries and the realisation that whilst Van Gogh and his friends were being inspired by Japanese exotica arriving in Europe, artists in Japan were discovering watercolours.

Food

Black pepper tofu

October 23, 2019 northlondonhousewife

Still enamoured of Asian food, I decided to have a go at cooking tofu, always a bit hit and miss in my kitchen.

800g firm tofu (such as Tau Kwa brand)
cornflour to dust the tofu
vegetable oil for frying
150g butter
12 small shallots (350g in total), thinly sliced
8 fresh red chillies (fairly mild ones), thinly sliced
12 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tbsp chopped fresh root ginger
3 tbsp sweet soy sauce (kecap manis)
3 tbsp light soy sauce
4 tsp dark soy sauce 2
tbsp caster sugar
5 tbsp coarsely crushed black peppercorns (use a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder)
16 small and thin spring onions, cut into 3cm segments

This is an extremely tasty dish that’s quick and straightforward to make, but looks as if it’s been prepared at a top Chinese restaurant. It is fiery, both from the chillies and the black pepper; you can moderate this by reducing their quantity a little. However, the whole point is spiciness so don’t go too far.

If tofu seems a step too far, then try the recipe with aubergine!

Serves 4

Method

Start with the tofu. Either use a deep fat fryer, or pour enough oil into a large frying pan or wok to come 5mm up the sides and heat. Cut the tofu into large cubes, about 3 x 2cm. Toss them in some cornflour and shake off the excess, then add to the hot oil. (You’ll need to fry the tofu pieces in a few batches so they don’t stew in the pan.) Fry, turning them around as you go, until they are golden all over and have a thin crust. As they are cooked, transfer them onto kitchen paper.

Remove the oil and any sediment from the pan, then put the butter inside and melt it. Add the shallots, chillies, garlic and ginger. Sauté on low to medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the ingredients have turned shiny and are totally soft. Next, add the soy sauces and sugar and stir, then add the crushed black pepper.

Add the tofu to warm it up in the sauce for about a minute. Finally, stir in the spring onions. Serve hot, with steamed rice.

Travel

Tokyo

October 21, 2019 northlondonhousewife

Ghibli Tour completed on our first day, we had a half day tour of Tokyo followed by a day free.

I found a nifty metro map that summarised the city interesting for tourists. It’s undoubtedly over-simplistic but useful nevertheless.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_01.png — Tourist Metro map

Based in Ueno, our organised tour (just a half day) started with Asakusa and ended in Shibuya. It also allowed us to use our japanese guide’s experience to book seats for all of our planned rail journeys. Although it’s entirely possible to travel without reserving seats, it’s more comfortable to have everything arranged.

It was also really great to have someone to introduce us to the Tokyo metro system (which is as easy and efficient as you would expect, with announcements in English following every Japanese announcement.

The Temples of Asakusa lie within one of Tokyo’s few districts that still preserves an atmosphere Tokyo’s past.

Entrance to the temples is best through the impressive entrance gates, especially the 1000 year old Kaminarimon (Kaminari Gate) that leads straight on to Sensōji – Tokyo’s largest and oldest Buddhist temple built in the 7th century.

Visiting on the weekend meant everything was hugely busy but still great fun and an introduction to the difference between temples and shrines.

Contemplating the physical sprawl of Tokyo is daunting and we had nowhere near enough time to even pretend to discover it seriously.

It has no discernible center, and clusters of skyscrapers miles apart defy the idea of a downtown core. Tokyo actually feels like a city composed of 23 separate cities, or wards, that all have distinct names and local municipal systems.

So we took our guides advice, and travelled from Asakusa to the Meiji Jingu Shrine, by way of shopping districts.

For the girls, our guide suggested visiting Harujuku, renowned for colorful street art and youth fashion, with quirky vintage clothing stores and cosplay shops along Takeshita Street, and traditional, upmarket boutiques on leafy Omotesando Avenue.

It does’t quite compare to the oddities of Camden Market in London, more Oxford Circus maybe.

But the walk through the park to the shrine was a lovely way to break up the heat and humidity.

Time is limited, so we need to focus on visiting maybe just two diverse neighbourhoods on our free day, choosing from peaceful Nakameguro to eclectic, if we are to get a taste for the reality of Tokyo. For city views, the Metropolitan Government Building Observatory is free, and so tall your ears will pop in the lift to the top. There are views out to Mount Fuji, it has a cool gift shop and is just as beautiful by day as at night.

We missed out on Kappabashi, Tokyo’s kitchen capital, easily recognisable thanks to a giant chef statue peering from atop a low rise office building and surprisingly close to our apartment in Ueno, Tokyo

And we missed out on so many districts including Ginza, the major shopping district, Nakano for anime and cos-play shops, Tsukji Market, Aoyma Flower Market and niche boutique shops. We definitely need a re-vsiit.

After the shrine, we were left close to Shibuya with its incredibly busy five way pedestrian crossing, grabbed some lunch had a family squabble and headed back to our flat

Food

Zhug

October 19, 2019 northlondonhousewife

Long ago I visited the Yemen and this recently found recipe for zhug brought back some memories. Use it as you would a salsa or pesto, to add a bit of joy to other dishes or cold plates

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
½ teaspoon cardamom seeds, extracted from about 10 cardamom pods
6 garlic cloves, smashed
4 serrano chiles, cut into very thin coins
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3 tightly packed cups roughly chopped cilantro leaves and stems
1 ½ tightly packed cups roughly chopped parsley leaves
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

PREPARATION

In a small, dry pan, toast the peppercorns, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and cardamom seeds over medium heat, shaking the pan occasionally, until slightly toasted and fragrant, about 2 minutes.
Transfer the seeds to a large mortar and pestle, and pulverize into a coarse powder.
Add the garlic and chiles, and season evenly with kosher salt. Grind the mixture together until a tight paste forms, 4 to 5 minutes.
Add about 1/3 of the cilantro and parsley, and continue to pound together into a rough paste, another 4 to 5 minutes. Repeat two more times, adding the remaining cilantro and parsley in two batches, until the mixture is a slightly pulpy paste, 4 to 5 minutes.
Drizzle in the olive oil while constantly pounding and grinding together the herb mixture until you achieve a loose, homogeneous paste. Continue to mix until it has the consistency of applesauce, about 2 minutes. Let it stand 10 minutes before serving.

Travel

Tokyo Ghibli Museum

October 16, 2019 northlondonhousewife

Our first day in Tokyo was based around an organised tour on a Ghibli theme.

In large part this was because it is incredibly difficult to get hold of tickets for the museum and an organised tour made things much easier to coordinate.

Our first jet-lagged day worked well for being so structured, with a trip to the Edo Tokyo museum leading nicely to the Ghibli Museum itself in the Tokyo suburbs.

There is a no photograph policy within the museum, so pictures are typically limited to the outside of the museum and the roof garden.

It’s difficult to adequately describe this tiny museum. It has some rooms devoted to very lovely examples of the original artwork or cells that make up various Ghibli films, as well as to film making and animation itself.

There are interesting and new zoetropes that adults and children were fascinated by and a decent cafe at the top of the museum.

Best of all perhaps, there were various rooms set up as examples of the Ghibli team’s work in progress with pieces they took inspiration from, various initial sketches worked through to the final cells etc.

If you’re interested in Ghibli, the museum small but perfect, a “must-see”.

northlondonhousewife.com

Lemon Drizzle Cake

Osaka to Hiroshima

Coffee Cake

Takayama, Japan

Vegetable Pajeon

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE PANCAKES:

FOR THE DIPPING SAUCE:

PREPARATION

Museum Modern Art, Tokyo

Black pepper tofu

Method

Tokyo

Zhug

INGREDIENTS

PREPARATION

Tokyo Ghibli Museum

All about me!