After Work

At home on the sofa with bubbles. Because Thursday means it is almost the weekend.

Smoked Mackerel Pate with Chives

I have love smoked mackerel since I was a little girl when we used to buy them straight from the smoke house down in the harbour in the village where we spent the summers. The fish would hang from the ceiling in a dark room and the smell was just amazing. These days the smokehouse is no more, but instead I have my very own smoker.

Back then my favourite way to eat smoked mackerel was on a rye bread sandwich with thick slices of big, juicy tomato and lots of mayo. Although that is still hard to beat, I now prefer a bit of variety and the other day I finally tried making my own smoked mackerel pate. It took about 5 minutes and the result was pretty fantastic if I may say so myself. And although I would of course have the gorgeous whole smoked fish every time, this pate was made using the shrink wrapped supermarket variety and that worked just fine. Here is what I did:

250 gms Smoked Mackerel
100 ml Double Cream
A Handful of Finely Chopped Chives
A Handful of Chopped Spring Onions
Juice from 1 Lemon
Plenty of Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Take the skin of the fish and put it in a blender. Add the rest of the ingredients and blitz until you get a nice smooth consistency that still has some texture. Check for seasoning and serve with sourdough toast, watercress, rocket and apple for a sort of fishy Ploughman's Lunch.

Happy First of Advent

A crisp, cold, beautiful Sunday perfect for buying the first hyacinths of the season and going for a long walk with a pub lunch as a reward at the end.

It's beginning to look a bit like...

...Christmas. It has turned bitterly cold and last night I had a hot mulled cider spiced with strong with rum, standing outside with lovely company.

Every Wednesday in December the shops on Columbia Road are open in the evening, there is live music and mulled wine and altogether a really cosy Christmas shopping atmosphere - certainly beats rushing down Oxford Street in a mad panic together with a million other people.

Montgomery's Cauliflower Cheese

On a day after the night before recently my husband treated me to this amazing hangover curing comfort lunch. Cauliflower Cheese is always really yummy, but making it with Montgomery's Cheddar took this humble dish to new gourmet heights. Montgomery's is a wonderful very mature, slightly chalky, nutty cheese that added some extra tang to the mellow cauliflower and bechamel combo. One for the Christmas dinner maybe?

A Welcome Sight

Sunrise on Sunday morning - a lovely sight after rain for days on end.

Apple, Raisin and Cinnamon Cake

The wind is blowing and the rain is hitting the windows hard. Inside we have the fire going and the smell of a lovely cake working it's way through the house. Staying indoors really seems like the right thing to do.

This cake is moist and gorgeous and just hints at some Christmassy flavours. A bit like a warm up - next weekend it is the first of December and then we can all go for it with cinnamon and cloves, mulled wine and Bing Crosby and everything else. Although I still think it will be too early to get a tree - there is an ongoing debate about this in our house and I haven't quite made up my mind yet...

To make the cake you need:

3 Medium Sized Apples

180 gms Sugar

130 gms Butter

3 Eggs

230 gms Plain Flour

100 ml Milk

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tbsp Ground Cinnamon

2 Good Handfuls of Raisins

Start by preparing the apples. Wash them then cut them in half and carefully remove the cores. Slice the apples very thinly, ideally you want slices that are 1-2 mm thick. Keep one apple half behind and chop it up roughly together with any leftover apple bits or slices that are too thick or thin, these bits will go into the batter and add moisture to the cake.

Melt the butter and allow it to cool. Beat the butter and sugar together until it is pale and fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time. Pour in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and milk and stir until the batter is smooth and lump free. Stir in the chopped up apple bits and one handful of raisins. Pour the batter into a greased and breaded cake tin.

To decorate, start sticking the apple slices into the batter at an angle. Work your way from the outside towards the centre. As you get closer to the middle of the tin, you can bend the slices slightly as you push them down to give them that petal look. Scatter the rest of the raisins over the top and bake for 50 minutes at 200 degrees.

Perfect served on its own, but some custard on the side would take it to another level. Dig in!