Archive | October, 2011

Madeira Cake with Chocolate Sauce

By Ozlem Warren on October 26, 2011 in Cakes and Desserts, Uncategorised 4

It was our cake bake to raise funds for my son’s class a couple of weeks ago, and I baked the Madeira cake with a little twist. Madeira cake is a lovely simple sponge cake, and it was used to be served with a glass of Madeira wine – today it makes an excellent accompaniment served with tea or coffee. It is best to eat the cake fresh, when it is soft and light.

My little twist to this cake was the addition of a little chocolate sauce over the top – to tempt children (and adults!) for the cake bake. The result was delicious, and the cake disappeared pretty quickly! I hope you could have a go sometime, children enjoy decorating with the cake with the chocolate sauce too.

Serves 6-8
Preparation time: 20 minutes Cooking time: 1 hour

225 gr/8oz plain flour, sifted (and extra 2 tablespoons of flour with the eggs)
5ml/1teaspoon baking powder
175gr/6oz butter, softened
175gr/6oz caster sugar
Grated rind of half a lemon
3 eggs
30ml/2 tablespoons milk

For the chocolate sauce:
100gr/4 oz good quality milk or dark chocolate
10ml/2 teaspoons cocoa powder

Makes 1x7in (17.5cm) round cake

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Grease and line a 17.5cm (7in) round tin. Mix together the flour and baking powder. Beat together the butter, sugar and lemon rind until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, adding 2 tablespoons of flour with the last two. Fold in the remaining flour, and then gently mix in the milk. Turn into the prepared tin and bake for about 1 hour until a skewer comes out clean. Remove from the oven and turn out on the wire rack to cool.

One of the best and easiest ways of melting chocolate is to melt it either in a bain marie or in a bowl over a pan of hot water. Make sure the bowl fits securely over. Break the chocolate into chunks and place them and the cocoa powder in a bowl, sitting over a pan of hot water. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Set aside to cool.

Pour the sauce over the top of the cake and make a pattern with prongs of a fork and leave to set.

Afiyet Olsun,

And a here is a photo from Devon, from the lovely seaside town, Sidmouth. We were there at the weekend; the English coastline is beautiful and it was very relaxing and peaceful.

Special Note: My heartfelt thanks to you all, who expressed their concerns and good wishes for the devastating earthquake at the eastern part of Turkey. It is heartbreaking, and one would hope no more casualties. Prayers and good wishes go for all the folks there, to have the strength to keep going and keep the hope alive.

Turkish meatballs wrapped in eggplant (aubergine) slices – Patlican Dilimli Uskup Kofte

By Ozlem Warren on October 20, 2011 in Casseroles and Stews, Roasts and Kebaps 13

Turkish meatballs wrapped in eggplant slices – Patlican Dilimli Uskup Kofte

How wonderful it is to be able to post recipes again; my laptop was broken and I couldn’t post for quite a while, sincere apologies for that. So lovely to share food and recipes again!

This is a very special dish that I make when I have a little extra time; it is very delicious and looks lovely, so it’s worth every effort. You can bake ahead of time and the leftovers can be frozen successfully. The succulent slices of eggplant around the meatballs are just heavenly. Served with plain rice and cucumber&yoghurt; dip, it makes a very special dinner to share.

Patlican, (eggplant or aubergine) is our national vegetable – it is actually fruit, as it has seeds- and one can argue we Turks have over 200 recipes featuring the beloved eggplant! They have high water content (and very low in fat), so the trick is to generously salt the eggplant slices and drain all the bitter juices before cooking, otherwise the eggplant gets soggy.

I hope you give this special dish a try sometime and could share with family and friends.

Serves 4-6
Preparation time: 50 minutes Cooking time: 40-45 minutes

For the meatballs:
450gr/1lb lean ground beef, lamb or mixture
1 medium onion, grated
1 bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
2 medium eggs
3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
5ml/1teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

3-4 medium eggplants
1 medium potato, skinned and sliced
Green or red pointy (or bell) peppers, coarsely sliced
1 onion, coarsely chopped
400gr/14oz can of chopped tomatoes
5m/1 teaspoon Turkish red pepper flakes (or chili flakes)
Salt and ground black pepper to taste
8fl oz/1 cup water

Preheat the oven to 180C/350 F

Sunflower or canola oil for shallow frying of eggplants

In order to make the meatballs, combine all the items in a large bowl and knead with your hands until all combined well. Grease a baking tray with a little olive oil (or sunflower oil). Take a walnut size of the meatball mixture and roll like an oval shape, carry on with making the meatballs until all the mixture is finished, and place them on the greased tray. Bake the meatballs for about 15-20 minutes, until they are partially cooked and firm enough to be wrapped with the eggplant slices.

Using a vegetable peeler, peel the eggplants (aubergines) lengthways in stripes like a zebra. Slice the eggplants lengthways, about ½ inch thick. Sprinkle some salt over them and leave for about 15 minutes. Squeeze out their moisture with paper towel. Then shallow fry them in the canola oil for 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on the paper towel to absorb the excess oil.

On a board, put an eggplant slice and place one meatball the middle and roll like a cigar. Repeat with the rest of the eggplant slices. Place the eggplant&meatball; roll seamide down, in a baking tray.

Place the sliced potatoes, onions and peppers amongst the eggplant rolls in the tray. Add the canned tomatoes and water, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle the red pepper flakes. Bake the dish in the oven for about 35-40 minutes. Please check towards the end if more water is needed and add some to the baking tray.

Serve the eggplant &meatball; rolls and the vegetables hot with plain rice by the side. Cucumber, garlic and yoghurt (Cacik, under Mezes and Appetizers in this blog) meze also would complement this delicious dish well.

Afiyet Olsun!

Autumn Heatwave in England!

By Ozlem Warren on October 3, 2011 in A Slice of England, Uncategorised 0

We have been enjoying a glorious Indian summer here in England over the last 10 days or so. In the last few days, the temperature reached its peak to 30 C (86F), breaking the records! So we are back into shorts and sandals, fantastic!It is quite surreal to see the beautiful autumn colors on the trees and kicking the leaves at the unsually warm weather, enjoying while its here!:)