Tuesday 29 October 2013

SPOOKY COOKS AND PUMPKIN SOUPS

Hallowe’en is in the air!  In fact since about August it’s been everywhere!  The barbecue may have just gasped its last but that’s not the point; we can’t go head first into Christmas without giving Hallowe’en a good seeing to.  And here’s what makes Hallowe’en great:  

Food and dressing up!  Hooray!  Anything that involves food, face paints and fancy dress is a Local Sauce Happy Place.  Never mind the real reasons behind Hallowe’en (Celtic festival for the end of harvest, anyone? Warding off fairies and spirits?  Honouring the dead?  All of the above?) it’s an annual excuse to feast on the last of the summer fruit and veg and eat your own body weight in sugar.  Double hooray!  Apparently in days of yore it was a particularly good time for spirits to cross into our world and wreak a bit of havoc round the house, although it would be even easier now with that extra hour when the clocks move back...

(...and that, ladies and gentlemen, was the sad sound of a joke, dying)

For our little Hallowe’en table of treats, we took advantage of the abundance of pumpkins on offer and whipped up a couple of little soups, a spicy and a not so spicy one, to ward off the early winter chill, adding a generous swirl of cream to both for balance and body.   They are super little bowls of savoury respite in a festival saturated in sweeties: 


A table of fun for everyone!
If you’re into a bit of spice, a teaspoon or two of curry powder in a winter vegetable soup almost never fails to draw out the flavours and warm you from top to toe.  We also threw in some ginger and garlic for an extra boost to our spicy one, although not enough to fend off vampires, you have been warned, and a slick of balsamic to our more simple version for a little bit of bite.  It may not be ideal for handing out to little people on a confectionary crusade, but equally could make their night if, like me, they were palmed off with monkey nuts and walnuts.  In their shells.  Oh for bowl of soup!


Oh Pumpkito!  
While the spirits may have ceased flowing through our houses (although not down the throats of a Friday night Hallowe’en crowd!  Another terrible joke! It lives!) they are courteous enough to knock now, before asking for sugary treats.  Some call it trick or treating, but the best of us call it Guising, because that’s its name.  The golden rules of guising are: wear a disguise, preferably ghoulish, carry a suitable swag bag, and always, always have a party piece, because as we all know: no party piece equals no sweets.  Even a really bad joke will do. 
Oh, and stop doing it after the age of about 12 because by then you’re just threatening.  

R.


Spicy Pumpkin soup - serves 6

2 tbs olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp minced ginger
1 to 1+half tsp mild curry powder
1kg peeled pumpkin, diced

1 large potato, peeled and diced
1L chicken or vegetable stock
125ml single cream, plus a little extra to serve 

Salt and freshly ground black pepper for seasoning
Chopped coriander or parsley to serve
+ some optional Dried chili flakes for extra kick!

Method

  1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over low heat, add the onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, until softened. 
  2. Add the garlic, ginger and curry powder and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds.
  3. Add the pumpkin, potato and stock and bring to the boil. Turn heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.
  4. Leave to cool slightly, then blend the mixture in batches.  For a super smooth soup, pass the blended mixture through a sieve and back into the saucepan, using a wooden spoon to move the mixture through.
  5. Stir through 125ml of the cream and gently reheat the soup, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.    
  6. To finish, serve up the hot soup and add a final swirl of cream, and sprinkle on some fresh coriander or parsley.  For an extra bit of zing, add a pinch of dried chili.

Notes on a Pumpkin Soup:
We recommend a teaspoon of curry powder as it really helps bring out the flavour of the vegetables, but have added an extra optional half a teaspoon for the more adventurous spicy soup people out there, and chili flakes for the pioneers!  If you feel your soup is too thick, add a little water loosen it up again, remembering to season as you go so as not to lose flavour.  If you’re after a slightly healthier soup, go easy on the cream...


Simple Pumpkin Soup - Serves 5-6

750g pumpkin, peeled and diced
1 medium potato, peeled and diced 
2 medium onions, finely chopped 
875 ml chicken (or vegetable) stock 
250 ml cream 
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Method


  1. Place the pumpkin, potato, onion and stock in a large saucepan and bring to the boil.
  2. Turn the heat to low, and simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.
  3. Remove the mixture from heat and allow to cool slightly before blending until smooth.
  4. If needed, return the mixture to the saucepan and reheat slightly, before stirring through the cream (do not boil after adding cream).
  5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Wednesday 9 October 2013

RAINBOWSAURUS CAKE

Imagine how fun cake is. Septuple it and add smarties and dinosaurs.... oooh now we’re talking.  This is a veritable playground of a cake, a kaleidoscopic feast for the eyes, the mind and the mouth, and one we made in honour of a very special friend’s birthday.  Let’s call her Rach, because that’s her name.  She likes colour in abundance....  

We wanted to do something bright with an element of surprise, and the most obvious contender was cake’s answer to world peace: the rainbow cake.  And a rainbow cake disguised by smarties?  That’s basically disarmament on plate.  We can’t claim the rainbow cake is a LS original though, in fact it’s definitely not.  There’s probably a chapter in the old testament about the time when it came to be that John brought forth the rainbow cake and there was much joy, and lo he cut it and there was much mirth, and lo (again) they ate the cake and bounceth off the walls with the e-numbers.  You know the one. Hilarious.  But even if it’s not biblical, it’s certainly been done a lot, so for an extra bit of excitement we made it gluten free; fun for everyone!

The recipe for a gluten free Victoria sponge (listed below) is so straightforward and tasty you wonder there aren’t more of them about.  For our spongy delight, we trebled the quantities and after combining all the ingredients, divided it into seven bowls ready for their dye jobs.   Given that the real trump card of this cake is the carnival hiding inside, we needed our food colouring to make it vibrant and punchy.  In the gel vs liquid colouring debate, gel wins every time; liquid just leads to a wet mixture and weak colours... in fact, they pale into insignificance against their gel counterparts (fun AND puns?!  We spoil you).


Mixing it up...
We then opted for buttercream to hold the layers together, bypassing the classic Vic-sponge-and-jam system to avoid any unnecessary sliding. Buttercream is not only extra fun (butter + sugar) with your fun (see the first fun, add flour and eggs), but is a superb cement and can take the pressure of the next six layers of resplendent sponge on top, provided you wait for the cakes to cool of course... otherwise it melts, obviously, and we all feel a little sad...  It also allows for the sort of humourless accuracy that Cake Bitch of Local Sauce revels in, along with such gems as levelling the top of each sponge with a bread knife so they’re flat, and using a spirit level.  But then precision is so pleasing... and we’re right back to fun!    

Work in progress... Gave Battle In Vain

He's arrived! Richard of York Gave Battle In Vain

While this cake already requires a certain amount of time and patience, the application of the smartie cloak really does take the biscuit, but if you’ve committed thus far you may as well take it to town.  It’s time consuming and a little fiddly, but nobody said world peace would be easy....  So go forth and arrange those smarties in lines, in the order of the rainbow, in the name of fun, all the way over, round and down to the bottom; show the UN how it’s really done!  And if you’re worrying about the calorific impact of a slice, let us reassure you: it’s a cake, it’s packed, it is proper naughty and meant to bad, and is therefore GREAT.  So eat!  Enjoy!  Be merry!  And if you’re still worried, go for a run.   

R x

Elevation and plan views of the UN Building.  Dinosaur security not always present
The slice that got away, and travelled half way across London wrapped in tissues.
What a trooper.
Rainbowsaurus Cake.



GLUTEN FREE Victoria Sponge
(to make two 8” sponge layers)

150 g Butter 
150 g Caster Sugar
2 drops Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
150 g Gluten Free Plain White Flour + 1 tsp Baking Powder OR 150g Gluten free self raising flour
3 tbsps Milk

Method:
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C(Fan170°C)/375°F/Gas 5
  2. Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together until light and fluffy.
  3. Beat in the eggs one at a time.
  4. Beat in the baking powder and flour (or self raising flour without baking powder), and add the milk
  5. Divide the mixture between 2 oiled and lined 20cm/8" round baking tins, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 15/20 minutes.  When the cakes are browning round the edge and on top, and have come away from the sides, they should be done.
  6. Turn the cakes out on to a wire rack and leave to cool.
  7. Once the cakes have cooled thoroughly, level the top of one with a knife and spread buttercream or jam over it, before placing the other on top.*
  8. To finish, dust with icing sugar. 
* for a more traditional filling, use jam followed by a layer of whipped cream.  Add fresh fruit for an extra bit of flavour!


Buttercream filling:
140g/5oz butter, softened
280g/10oz icing sugar
1-2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
  1. Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
  2. Add the remaining icing sugar and vanilla essence, plus one tablespoon of the milk and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Beat in the remaining milk, if necessary, to loosen the mixture.

Notes on a Gluten Free rainbow cake:
The process is much the same as a regular cake except your gluten free version won’t rise as much.  It is still wonderfully spongy and moist, and most people barely or don't notice that it's gluten free; it also keeps well and retains its moisture.
For our rainbow cake we used Doves Farm gluten free self-raising flour, and trebled the quantities.  With your mixture being divided seven ways, the cakes may be shallow and will not require so long in the oven:  15 minutes should be fine, but you can tell if they need to come out when they have come away from the edges and are brown on top.  
Once the cakes have cooled, you can level the top of each one with a bread knife so that each one is flat and they are consistent in height.  As mentioned before, for a cake with many layers that’s held with buttercream, they’re best put together cool, and on the board or plate that you’re serving on as it gets pretty heavy!  Rather than dust the top with icing sugar, carry on with your buttercream all over the top and sides - it gives a great base for sticking on decorations.  Good luck!