Category Archives: The Ordinary Cook

I know I haven’t been here for ages and for that I am very sorry.  I haven’t dropped off the end of the world or anything even mildly dramatic.  I have been baking and cooking, but whatever it has been it has been posted here already or it has been a disaster.  My baking skills have deserted me, hopefully temporarily.

I have been dressmaking too! I know, who would have thought it? I have wanted to make my own clothes for many a year.  My gran was a wonderful dressmaker and milliner and I have always aspired to be more like her.  So this year I set myself a challenge to make a dress and with a bit of trial and error I will get there.

In the meantime I will try to make time to visit your blogs and try to find where I left my own cooking inspiration.  It is around here somewhere, perhaps under the piles of fabric and dress patterns.

Kath x

Ten days ago my friend Sarah handed me a tupperware box and a sheet of instructions. In the tupperware box was a living and breathing Herman. Let me explain, Herman is a starter for a cake, a bit like a sourdough starter. You sit him on the sideboard in a large bowl and stir him daily, (talking to him is optional), and feed him occasionally.  After ten days of love, care and chatting you add more delicious things to him, pour him into a cake tin, put him in a hot oven and then eat him. Poor old Herman.  There is still some of the original starter though for you and two of your friends, so don’t feel too bad for Herman, he lives on.

I love the concept of Herman and I wonder how old my starter is and where it originated and how many people have lovingly tended to him in their kitchens and enjoyed his cakey loveliness.

My spare Hermans are going to my friend Nichola and my niece (the latter doesn’t know about it yet, so I hope she is ready for some Herman love).

If you would like to start your very own Herman so that you can spread cake happiness this is how:

460g plain white (all purpose flour)
500ml warm milk
230g sugar
90ml warm water
2 tbsp easy bake yeast

Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl, cover loosely with a clean tea towel (it will need the wild yeasts in the air to stay alive), and place in a warm place.

Once you have your starter, either your own or one from a kind friend then you need to follow these instructions.

Day One
Make sure Herman is in a large bowl, loosely covered with a clean cloth and in a warm place
Day two and three
Give Herman a good stir with a wooden spoon
Day Four
Herman needs feeding.  Add the following ingredients:
1 cup (120g) plain (all purpose) flour
1 cup (225g) caster sugar
1 cup (225ml) milk
Stir Herman well and cover again with his cloth.
Day five, six, seven and eight
Each day give Herman a good stir with a wooden spoon
Day nine
Herman needs to be fed again so repeat the ingredients from day four and give him a good stir.

Divide the mixture into four portions, save one portion for making the cake on Day 10, give two portions away to friends and save one portion so you can make Herman again in ten days time.

Day 10
Make Herman into a delicious cake.

You will need to add:

1 cup (225g) caster sugar
2 cups (240g) plain (all purpose) flour
2 eggs
two-thirds cup (150ml) cooking oil (I used groundnut)
2 heaped tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped

Then you can add any of the following:

2 tsp cinnamon (I did)
2 tsp mixed spice
¼ cup (40g) nuts (I added hazelnuts)
1 cup (150g) raisins or sultanas
½ cup (60g) chopped chocolate (I did but won’t next time, it just isn’t to my taste with the apples and the cinnamon)
pineapple chunks, cherries, or anything else that takes your fancy.

Mix everything together well, pour into a large greased tin (my instructions say a large roasting tin, I used my cake tin that measures 26cm x 26cm)

Sprinkle ¼ cup (80g) melted butter and ¼ cup (3 tbsp) soft brown sugar over the top of the cake and place in a preheated oven at 180°c, gas mark 4 of the middle shelf of the baking oven of the Aga for 35-45 mins until it feels springy to the touch.

Leave to cool in the tin for ten minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack.  Taste the love in every bite.

Thank you Sarah for giving me Herman.

I have been handed Herman!

Herman is a friendship cake – well actually it’s the starter for a cake. A bit like a sour dough starter but sweet.

Herman was handed to me at the school gates today by my friend Sarah.  When she sent me a text last week asking if I would like to try doing a Herman Friendship Cake I wondered if she had spent the afternoon drinking and whether I should pick her children up from school for her. But then I googled it and it turns out that this is a cake with its origins in the Amish community when a starter would be handed around the community to feed others (and Sarah hadn’t been drinking).

I love the idea of the starter making its way through the community, friend by friend by friend.

My Herman has been decanted from his lunch box and is sitting in a large bowl covered with a tea towel.  I have to stir him and feed him a couple of times in the next ten days and then I get to make the cake and spread the love that is Herman.

I will keep you posted.

Wishing all my lovely readers a very happy Christmas. I hope that you all get to share some lovely time with friends and family, or some lovely peaceful time, whichever you are lucky enough to get this year.

Merry Christmas,

lots of love,

Kath

(Image of holly from karenswhimsy.com)

This cake was born during a night out with friends.  It was one of those nights when we threw caution to the wind and drank cocktails!  Crazy, I know! (We don’t get out much these days).

I indulged in an Amaretto and Ginger Ale.  Goodness, it was good.  My friend, let’s call her Tallulah, (that’s the name she wanted to be known by if I ever wrote this post) said it would make a good cake.  Ginger topped with a layer of marzipan.

I got to it that very week. The ginger cake topped with marzipan was good but not great.  A couple of weeks later and I felt inspired enough to try again.  Adding the marzipan into the batter makes for a deliciously moist cake and the combination of pieces of chewy, zingy crystallised ginger and soft, comforting marzipan is a winner.

This cake is perfect for this time of year because it just shouts Christmas to you. It’s also a good way to use up your marzipan trimmings from the Christmas cake.   This cake will last at least a week.  So it’s a good cake to have around at Christmas to share with visitors. Thank you Tallulah, for the inspiration (and for a great night out).

150g butter
125g dark muscovado sugar
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
200g black treacle
200g golden syrup
250ml milk
2 eggs
2 tsp baking powder
300g plain flour
60g crystallised ginger, chopped into small chunks
150g marzipan (made like the recipe here with 1 tbsp Amaretto added in place of the lemon juice and almond extract, or shop bought), chopped into chunks

Method
Preheat the oven to 170°c, gas mark 3 or use the baking oven of the Aga. Line a tray that measures 30cm x 20cm x 5 cm (the Aga half roaster) with foil or silicon liner. If you are using foil, butter well.

Place the butter, sugar, spices, syrup and treacle in a pan and heat until melted.  Take off the heat and stir to combine.  Beat the eggs lightly.  Add the eggs and the milk to the syrup mixture and stir well to combine. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and add the liquid to the flour. Mix well.  Add the chopped crystallised ginger and the marzipan and pour the mixture into the tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour until lightly springy to the touch.  Be careful not to overcook it. Leave to cool in the tin.  Wrap in fresh foil and eat a slice whenever you feel the need to indulge.

This is based on a recipe from the book I reviewed recently, Molly Stevens’ All About Roasting.  I have been intrigued by roasted grapes since I saw them on Michele’s blog back in April.  Then I saw them in Molly Stevens’ book  and then again on Michele’s blog just last week.  I knew I had to try them.

There is a recipe in Stevens’ book which calls for slow roasting of grapes for a couple of hours.  I really want to try these but haven’t had the organisational ability needed for this yet. The combination of squash and grapes grabbed me though.  I made them last week with pumpkin, apple and grape and it was delicious, but we had tucked in before I remembered to take a photograph. So I made it again last night, this time with a butternut squash we had grown in the garden and some apples off one of the trees. We had it with roast chicken both times. But it would be good with anything, especially pork. Mr OC has taken the left-overs to enjoy at work today.

Molly Stevens’ suggests that you use either grapes or apple with the squash but I really like using both.  The tartness of the apple works well with the sweetness of the grapes and the squash.

Stevens’ suggests that you could use marjoram, rosemary, thyme or sage.  But my herb of choice would always be sage, as it is my favourite and it works well with the grapes and apple.

This makes enough for 3-4 as a side dish

20g butter, melted
1 tablespoon olive oil
5-6 sage leaves chopped finely
1-2 tablespoon of maple syrup
½ butternut squash
1 green apple
3-4 handfuls of grapes
salt and pepper

Method

Chop the butternut squash into cubes and the apple into 8 slices. Place the squash, apple and grapes into a bowl and toss with the butter, oil, maple syrup, sage and salt and pepper. Spread into a single layer on a roasting tray and place in a preheated oven at 200°c, gas mark 6, or in the middle of the roasting oven of the Aga. Roast for about 40 minutes until the squash, apples and grapes are nicely caramelised and tender. Serve hot or at room temperature.

Please try it, it is delicious. Michele’s recipe for grapes and sausages looks worth a try too.  That is next on my list now I know how lovely roasted grapes are.