Date slices (Jeromy's recipe)

Ingredients:

A Cake mixture

• 6 oz self raising flour (Jeromy says "I use 10 oz")
• 6 oz semolina
• 6 oz butter
• 3 oz demerara sugar (Jeromy says "I use mostly white and a bit of brown)

B Date mixture

• 1/2 lb dates, stoned and chopped
• 4 tablespoons of water
• 1 tablespoon of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Grease a tin, 8" x 12"

Method

1. Mix the B ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently stirring occasionally.
2. Boil it until smooth (2 minutes. Allow to cool.
3. Now do the A ingredients. Heat the butter in another pan with the sugar.
4. When it is melted add the flour and semolina, and mix.
   
5. Press half the A mixture into the tin.
6. Spread the date mixture over.
7. Add the remainder of the A mixture.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes (NB what temperature?)
9. Cool and cut into bars.

Queen Mother's Favourite Cake

I found a tattered copy of this recipe in Grandma's handwriting on the floor of the study.

8 oz chopped dates

Add one breakfast cup of boiling water and 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Allow to stand

8 ozs sugar
3 ozs butter
10 ozs plain flour
1 egg beaten
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 ozs chopped walnuts

Mix all the above.
Add this mixture to the date mixture.

Put in a greased tin, 9" x 12"

Bake at 350º F for 35 minutes

Topping

5 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp cream from top of milk

Mix the above and boil for 3 minutes
Spread on cooked cake.
Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

No flour chocolate cake

250 g bitter/plain chocolate
2 tbsp milk
6 tbsp sugar
6 eggs separated
240 g ground almonds

(For some reason the hand written version of this recipe also has [butter & flour) written on the bottom of the left column of ingredients... possibly it means butter and flour the tin before you pour the stuff in)

Preheat oven, 180ºC.

1. Melt the chocolate with the milk in a bain marie vel sim.
2. Mix melted chocolate with almonds, sugar and egg yolks and beat well.
3. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites and pour into cake tin, preferably with removable base. [no size given...]
4. Bake in preheated oven for 3/4 to one hour.
5. When cool, turn out and sprinkle with caster sugar/icing sugar to decorate.

Icing:

125 g plain chocolate
50g unsalted butter
1 egg, beaten
175 g sifted icing sugar

1. Melt chocolate and butter in bain marie
2. Mix with wooden spoon
3. Add egg and beat until smooth
4. Remove mixture from heat.
5. Stir in icing sugar and beat until smooth and glossy.
6. Pour straight on for smooth thin icing or leave to cool for thicker icing (recommended)
   

Cottage Cheese Griddle Cakes

Ingredients:

1 tbsp melted butter
4 oz (100 g) cottage cheese
2 eggs
2 oz (50 g) Self raising flour
1 tbsp milk

1. Add the melted butter to the cottage cheese and gradually whisk in the eggs (a hand whisk or fork is fine for this).
2. Stir in the flour and milk, and mix to a smooth thick batter.
3. Grease the griddle or frying pan.
   
4. Heat the griddle or frying pan.
5. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the griddle. Turn them over with a wooden spatula or with a knife and wooden spoon. They should be golden on both sides by the end.
6. Serve freshly cooked with crisp hot bacon, honey, jam or jelly.

"These scones are very light and digestible, and particularly good for anyone who does not want much starch in his diet."

Roast potatoes

Potatoes, at the rate of about 6oz per person.
Goose fat, a dob or two.

1. Heat the oven to medium or hot.
   
2. Peel the potatoes (or leave the skins on if you like). Cut them into even sized pieces.
3. Put the fat in a roasting tin, and put the tin in the oven to get hot. If you haven't got goose fat, you can use the fat collected from any other roast joint, or roast them round a joint you're roasting for dinner.
4. Take the tin of fat out of the oven and place the potatoes into the hot fat carefully. Use cooking tongs to turn them over a few times so all sides are coated in fat. If there isn't enough fat to do this you may need to add a bit more, but don't overdo it!
5. Put the tin in the oven and keep the heat as before, medium to hot.
   
6. After about 20 minutes take it out and turn the potatoes with the tongs. You can do this again once more later in the cooking if you like.
7. The potatoes should be cooked in about 45 minutes to an hour.
8. Garlic cloves or pine nuts and other root vegetables can be roasted along with the potatoes.
   

English Muffins

1 lb flour
1 tsp salt

half an ounce of fresh yeast
1 tsp sugar

1 oz butter
1 egg at room temperature
8 fl oz milk

1. Put the yeast into a cup and add the sugar. Stir them together a bit and then leave them to get excited.
   
2. Weigh up the flour into a large bowl and add the salt.
3. Rub the butter into the flour.
4. Measure up the milk in a measuring jug and warm it in the microwave to a bit more than lukewarm.
5. Add the egg to the warm milk and beat them. If the liquid now measures less than half a pint add a little more milk to make it half a pint.
6. Add this liquid, together with the now excited and liquified yeast mixture, to the flour and mix well together. Get your hands in and knead it to a soft and smooth dough.
7. Leave the ball of dough in the bowl and put the whole bowl in a plastic bag. Leave it somewhere warm to prove for an hour.
8. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to about half an inch thick. Cut out muffin sized rounds with the largest pastry cutter or a large tumbler.
9. Heat the griddle to a good heat and bake the muffins on the griddle for at least 10 minutes each side. NB they are horrid if undercooked! Make sure the griddle is hot before you start.
   

Serve hot, or cool them on a wire rack and then split them and toast them to serve hot with butter and cheese or jam.

Borsch

Borsch
Serves 6 to 8 people.

Ingredients

1 lb uncooked beetroot, leaves and stalks removed.
2 1/2 pints of stock
1 small carrot
1 medium onion
6 oz cabbage
1 bouquet garni
salt and pepper
Juice of half a lemon
sour cream (one tablespoon per person)

Wash the beetroots carefully (this time you need to get all the mud off but don't peel them yet).
Put them in a large saucepan with the stock.

Peel and dice the carrot and onion. Wash and finely shred the cabbage. Add all the vegetables to the saucepan with the bouquet garni and the salt and pepper.

Cover the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for two hours until the beetroots are cooked.

Remove the beetroots from the soup and leave them to cool slightly. Remove the bouquet garni from the soup and discard it.

Top and tail the beetroot and peel off the skins. Dice the flesh and add three quarters of it to the soup. Purée the soup (e.g. in a liquidiser or through a seive).

Add the lemon juice to the puréed soup. Throw in the remaining diced beetroot.

Just before serving, bring the soup back to the boil (make sure it is well heated through if it has been left for a while). Serve hot in bowls, with a spoonful of sour cream dropped gently into the centre of each bowl.