Chocolate Zuchinni Cake

 
120g butter125ml sunflower oil

100g castor sugar

200g soft brown sugar

3 eggs

130ml milk

350g flour

2tsp baking powder

4 tablespoons cocoa

450g maranui zuchinni peeled and grated

1 tsp vanilla

 

Mix the butter, oil and sugar together until light and fluffy. Gradually add the eggs and milk. Sift the dry ingredients and fold into mixture.Stir in the zuchinni, vanilla and put in tin.

Bake at 190 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

 

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     Malaysian Fish Curry

 

1/2 cabbage

2 carrots

1 onion

500 grams fish

300 grams red curry paste

500 ml coconut milk

500 grams rice

sunflower oil

200 grams firm  tofu

Lightly fry the fish in sunflower oil, add onions, curry paste and carrot and cabbage. Cook fo 20 minutes on medium heat. Add water.

Cook rice in coconut milk, add some water to dilute if necessary.

Serve with a few tofu cubes on top.  

 

 

Pumpkin honey drizzle cake

 

A really moist and fragrant spice cake. It keeps quite well in an air tight tin for several days. Makes one loaf.

 

180g wholemeal self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

90g golden caster sugar

90g light muscovado sugar

Nutmeg

½ tsp cinnamon

1 pinch ground cloves

Finely grated zest of 1 orange

180g butter, melted and cooled slightly,

2 eggs, lightly beaten

300g Maranui pumpkin, peeled and grated

70g walnuts

4g sultanas (optional)

2 tbsp runny honey

5 tbsp orange juice

1 tbsp lemon juice

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin.  In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and orange zest.  Beat in the butter and eggs until smooth. Fold in the pumpkin, nuts and sultanas, if using. Pour into the tin and smooth with a spatula. Bake for 50-55 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

While the cake is cooking, heat the honey and citrus juices in a small pan, simmering for a few minutes until thickened slightly.  Remove the tin from the oven and place on a wire rack.  Pour over the honey and orange juice and leave to cool completely.

 

 

 

You can either grate or puree the cooked beetroot before adding to the mix – the latter gives a slightly more velvety texture.  They work just as well with or without walnuts. Makes 15 squares.

 

250g unsalted butter, cut into cubes, plus a little more for greasing

250g plain chocolate (about 70% cocoa solids), broken into squares

250g caster sugar

3 eggs

50g wholemeal self-raising flour

100g broken walnuts (optional)

250g cooked and peeled Maranui beetroot grated or pureed.

 

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3. Lightly grease a baking tin that’s roughly 20cm x 30cm in size and at least 2cm deep. Line the bottom with greaseproof paper and butter the paper, too.

 

Put the cubed butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl.  Place this on an oven tray lined with a baking sheet, and put in oven to warm up. After a few minutes, remove, stir, then return to the oven to melt completly.  (Alternatively, melt the chocolate and butter the conventional manner, in a bowl held over a pan of barely simmering water.)

 

In another bowl, whisk the sugar with the eggs until smooth and creamy. Stir in the chocolate mixture until well combined. Sift in the flour, stir, fold in the walnuts, if using and beetroot.  Pour into the prepared tin.

 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a knife or skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it – be careful not the overcook the brownies.  Remove from the oven, then stand the try on a wire rack until cool enough to cut into squares.

 

 

 
A very light and delicious tea bread – great as it is or toasted and spread with butter. Makes one loaf.

 

180g wholemeal self-raising flour

180 g golden caster sugar, plus some extra for dusting

1 tsp baking powder

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

100g mixed, dried fruit and candied peel (lemon works well)

3 eggs, lightly beaten

180g butter, melted and left to cool slightly

145g Maranui swede and carrots, washed peeled and grated.

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/as mark 4.  Grease and line a 900g loaf tin.  Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon zest and dried fruit.  Stir in the eggs and butter, then gently fold in the grated veg.

 

Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin, smooth the top with a spatula and bake for about 50 minutes, until risen and golden, and a skewer comes out clean.  Sprinkle a tablespoon of caster sugar over the top. Leave to cool in its tin for about 10 minutes, then turn our on to a cooling rack.

 

 

 

Perfect with cold meats and a green salad.  Serves 4 as a side dish.

 

750g – 1kg Maranui swede

75g butter

2 cloves of garlic

40g finely grated parmesan cheese

A few sprigs of rosemary

4 or 5 bushy sprigs of thyme.

 

Peel the swedes then slice them thinly by hand or with a mandolin or Megamix slicing attachment. The rounds should be so thin you can nearly see through them. Melt the butter in a small pan.  Peel the garlic, then crush it or chop it finely.

 

Smooth a little of the melted butter over the base of a shallow baking dish or small cast-iron frying pan and cover it with some of the swede slices, overlapping slightly.  Pour on a bit more butter then season with salt, garlic, black pepper, some of the herbs and a good dusting of parmesan.  Cover with layers of swede, more seasonings, garlic and parmesan until all the swede is used.  Finish with butter and a light dusting of parmesan.

 

Bake in a heated oven at 200C/gas mark 6, pressing the cake down very firmly once or twice with a large fish slice. After 45-50 minutes, you should have a deep-golden cake sizzling around its edges. Remove from the oven and lave it to calm down foe a few minutes before serving.

 

 Spanish tortilla

 

Delicious hot or cold, eaten on its own with a green salad perhaps or as an accompaniment to a main dish. Makes one large tortilla – could serve up to 8 depending on how greedy/hungry people are!

 

2 large onions

1 large Maranui swede

5 eggs

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Large knob of butter

 

Peel the swedes and onions then slice them thinly by hand or with a mandolin or Megamix slicing attachment. The swede rounds should be so thin you can nearly see through them.  Melt the butter with half the olive oil over a medium heat in a large, preferably non stick pan. 

 

Fry the onions until they start to caramelise and go golden brown.  Remove them from the pan, but leave the oily juices.  Add a tad more oil and then fry the swede rounds until golden brown.  Add salt and pepper as you go.  You will need to stir them around a bit to make sure that all have access to the caremelised buttery stuff at the bottom of the pan.  Once cooked, also remove.

                                                                                                                         

Smooth a little of the remaining olive oil over the base of the pan and cover it with some of the swede slices, overlapping slightly.  Add salt and pepper, then layer on some of the onions.  Keep layering the onions and the swede with seasoning until it is all gone.   Whisk the eggs in a separate bowl and pour them over the swede and onion.  Move the pan around s that the egg mixture seeps through the layers.  Turn down the heat a bit and cove the pan with a large plate.  Leave to cook for about en minutes depending on how deep your pan is.  The tricky bit is that you have to flip the tortilla half way (hence the non stick pan preference) so that the top gets set too, but you can stick the pan under a grill if the worst comes to the worst.  Once cooked, you should ease a spatua round the sides to loosen it, turn out of the pan (carefully!) and you should have a lovely golden brown mound of oniony, swedey, savoury, sticky deliciousness.

 

Roast swede, honey & thyme

 
Serve with a roast or sausages – something savoury.  Enough for 4 as a vegetable.

 

A large Maranui swede, or 2 smaller ones

A thick slice of butter

A little olive oil

2 tbsp honey

8 sprigs thyme

4 tsp honey

 

Set the oven at 200g\gas mark 6. Put a pan of lightly salted water on to boil.  Peel the swede and remove the tops.  Slice the flesh into thick chips.  Drop them into the water and leave for 10 minutes till almost tender.

 

Drain them and put them in a roasting tin or baking dish with a thick slice of butter and a spoonful of olive oil or beef dripping. Season with salt and black peer, the thyme leaves pulled from their stalks, and the honey.  Toss gently then roast for 35-40 minutes until the swede is crisp and pale golden.  The flesh should be soft and sweetly tender.

 

 

 
This is just the job with meatballs in gravy or a beef casserole.  Serves 4 as a side dish.

 

A large Maranui swede (about 650g peeled weight)

40g butter

2 medium onions, peeled and thinly sliced

A large sprig of rosemary

Chicken or vegetable stock to cover

 

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6.  Cut the swede into slices about as thick as a dollar coin.  It is easier and safer to do this by first cutting a slice from one side and using this to steady the swede as you cut.

Generously butter a baking dish or roasting tin.  Lay the slices of swede and onion in the dish, seasoning them with salt and black peer, and strewing over the rosemary leaves as you go.  Ladle over the stock so that it just about covers the vegetable – a matter of five or ladles – then dot on the rest of the butter.

Bake in a preheated oven for an hour or so, turning the swede in the stock from time to time, until the vegetable are tender enough to crush between your fingers.  Serve as a side dish, with some of the juices poured over.

 

 

Ginger root cake

 

You can make different versions of this – carrots are obvious, turnips give it a peppery taste for example and parsnips almost hazel-nutty.

 

2 eggs

100g dark brown sugar

100g black treacle

150ml grapeseed or sunflower oil

150g Maranui swede, or other root vegetable coarsely grated

4 nuggets of stem ginger, roughly chopped

175g wholemeal flour (plain)

2 tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

2 tsp ground ginger

For the lemon icing:

150g icing sugar

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Zest ½ lemon

 

Butter and dust with flour inside of a round 20cm spring-form or removable bottom cake tin.  Preheat the oven to 180C.  Separate one of the eggs then beat one whole egg plus one yolk with the sugar using the remaining white until later.  Beat for 5 minutes until thick and foamy, then add the treacle and oil and beat again until smooth.  Stir the grated swede and chopped ginger.  Mix the flour, baking powder, sod and ginger together then stir this through the mixture. Finally whisk the remaining white until it holds soft peaks then fold this through the batter gently and evenly.

 

Turn the batter into the tin and bake for 40- 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.  Remove from the tin when cool.  Beat the lemon juice and zest with the icing sugar and spoon this over the top of the cake.  Store in cake tin with ½ cut apple to keep moist.

 

  

 
Serves 10.  If you like carrot cake you should love the most subtlety of this easy courgette cake.

 

1 small Maranui courgette

75g butter, softened plus extra for greasing

75g runny honey

7g caster sugar

Seeds from ½ vanilla pod

2 medium eggs

Juice of ½ lemon

190g self raising flour

40g roasted almonds, finely chopped

2 tbsp low fat natural yoghurt

For the cream cheese icing:

25g butter, very soft

100g cream cheese

100g icing sugar

Some grated lime zest, plus

1 tbsp lime juice

 

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4.  Grease and line a 900g loaf tin.

 

Grate the courgette into a sieve and leave for 5 minutes.  Squeeze any excess moisture and set aside. Beat the butter, honey, sugar, vanilla and eggs until smooth. Fold in the lemon juice – it will curdle but don’t worry.  Combine the flour with the courgette and almonds.  Fold in the batter mixture and yoghurt.  If the batter is stiff, add a spoonful more of yoghurt.  Pour into the tin and bake for 50 minutes, or until golden.  Insert a skewer- if it comes out clean its done, if not, cook for a further 10-15 minutes.  Cool in the tin.

 

Meanwhile, make the icing. Beat the butter and cheese, then beat in the sugar and lime juice.  Chill.  Turn out the cooked cake and spread with the icing.  Sprinkle with some lime zest and cut into slices.