Back!

Can you guess where I've been?

Holland!

Well, it was a while ago, but that's my excuse for not having posted for so long.

So, here's some of the food that's been gracing our table, starting with the best cake I have ever made, a raspberry cream cheese crumble cake - three distinct textures in one cake. The first is a springy almost chewy sponge, then dense smooth baked cheesecake topped with a golden crumble punctuated with zingy raspberries. It really is very special.

(Please excuse Instagram photos, it's my new plaything - I will get back to the proper camera soon, and Instagram does what it says - creates instant pictures, that have allowed me some spontaneity and a sense of freedom and inspiration to get back to sharing recipes on this blog)

 

Next up is a Sicilian style pasta inspired by my main man Yotam Ottoloenghi with roasted cauliflower, tuna, pine-nuts, saffron and raisins that I served with a salad of wild rocket and the last of the summer figs. I love cauliflower cooked this way - with a dash of olive oil, some salt and pepper and roasted in a hot oven for about 15 minutes. I first had it at Mr Wolf, the fab pizza restaurant and bar in St Kilda, Melbourne. I also put it into paellas and cous-cous salads, it would be great as a mezze plate topped with a garlic, yoghurt and tahini dressing.

 

 

Raspberry and cream cheese crumble cake

2 1/4 C flour
3/4 C sugar
zest of one lemon
150g unsalted butter, cubed
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
small pinch of salt
3/4 C plain yoghurt
1 egg
1 1/2 C fresh or frozen raspberries plus 12 for topping

For the cream cheese:

220g cream cheese
1 egg
1/4 C sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 180 Celsius
Grease a 20cm cake tin with butter, line the base with greaseproof paper.
In a food processor, blitz the flour sugar and butter until crumbly, reserve one cup of mixture for the crumble top of the cake.
Put the rest of the mix in a large bowl and add the baking powder, baking soda, salt, yoghurt and egg. Mix with a spoon or spatula until well combined then fold in the raspberries.
Pour the mixture in the tin and smooth the surface to make even.
Beat the cream cheese with the egg, sugar and lemon juice, spread over the mix in the tin.
Sprinkle the reserved crumbs on top and dot with the extra 12 raspberries.
Cook for 1 hour until your cake tester comes out clean.


Tuna, saffron and cauliflower spaghetti
(serves 4)

1/2 a head of a medium cauliflower, cut into small florets
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
2 tbsp raisins or currants
pinch of saffron - powder or threads
splash white-wine vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1 red onion, finely diced
2 stalks celery cut on angle into 1.5cm slices plus leaves pick and reserved
2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
250g spaghetti
50g pine nuts toasted
1 tin tuna in olive oil, oil drained
Parmesan grated to serve

Method:

Get the oven hot, 220 Celsius.
Toss the cauli in one tablespoon of oil and season, put on a baking tray and cook till golden, about 10-15 minutes.
In a frypan, warm the rest of the oil and cook the onion and celery till soft, about 8 minutes.
Add the raisins or currants and the saffron, sugar and vinegar, let it sizzle and release the pungent vinegary smell, add the cauliflower and garlic and saute for a few minutes.
Meanwhile boil the pasta in salted water until al-dente. Drain and add to the sauce along with the pinenuts, tuna and celery leaves.
I serve it with Parmesan but some people turn their noses up at cheese on seafood pasta...