Council Member Recipes
YHFF Council Members would like to share their favourite recipes....
The Bishop of Pontefract, Tony Robinson recommends..... Spinach Soup
This has a dark green, earthy colour but it tastes wonderful (and even better with a bit of cream!).
A knob of butter or tablespoon of oil
1 large onion chopped
I tablespoon plain flour
900ml (1 pints) vegetable stock
Juice of half a lemon700g (1 lb) spinach
1 medium - large potato diced
150ml ( pint) milk
Salt and black pepper
Cook the onion slowly in the oil or butter in a saucepan with the lid on for a few minutes.
Before it starts to brown, stir in the flour and cook for a further two minutes.
Stir in the stock and lemon juice (slowly at first so that the flour doesn't go lumpy) and add the potato then the spinach.
Put the lid back on, bring to the boil and simmer for about five minutes or until the spinach has wilted.
Puree in a liquidiser.
Rinse out the saucepan, put the puree into it and add the milk and salt and black pepper to taste.
Reheat it gently but don't boil it.
For something a bit less healthy add a couple of tablespoons of single cream with the milk, and swirl some more in the bowls to serve.
John Davis would like to recommend his wife Linda's Simnel Cake!
6 oz butter or margarine
6 oz soft brown sugar
3 eggs
8 oz mixed dried fruit (currants/raisins/sultanas)
2 oz mixed peel
2 oz glace cherries (quartered)
8 oz plain flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons mixed spice
1 tablespoon milk
4 oz almond paste (marzipan)
Topping:
1 tablespoon apricot jam or syrup or honey – warmed
8 oz almond paste (marzipan)
Pre-heat oven to Gas Mark 3,160deg.C, 325deg.F)
Grease & line a deep 7inch cake tin with greaseproof paper or baking parchment
Cream butter & sugar together, gradually beat in the eggs, add the milk
Stir in the fruit
Sift in together the flour, baking powder & spice & stir till all ingredients are mixed
Place half the mixture into the greased & lined cake tin & smooth the top gently.
Roll out a piece of marzipan into slightly less than a 7inch circle (Hint: making it smaller avoids marzipan oozing out!)
Place this on top of mixture &smooth with back of a hot wet metal spoon. Add remaining cake mix.
Bake on middle shelf of oven for 2 – 2 1/2 hours until pale golden & when a skewer inserted into centre it comes out clean.
Leave cake to stand in tin for 15mins, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.
When cold, remove greaseproof paper/parchment & brush top of cake with warmed jam (or syrup or honey)
Roll out another piece of marzipan, this time to fit top of cake & press in position.
With rest of marzipan make 11 even sized balls, dab with jam, and press around outer edge of circle.
Place under a hot grill & allow to toast gently (Hint: leave plenty of space between cake & grill &keep a close eye on things to avoid burning!)
Tie a yellow ribbon round the cake & decorate top as liked, with sweet eggs, flowers etc
The origin of Simnel Cakes is unknown, but the story goes that a couple called Simon and Nell could not decide whether to have marzipan on the top or in the middle of their cake – so they compromised by having both, thus maintaining marital harmony!
Simnel cakes have associations with both Mothering Sunday and Easter.
In medieval times, Mothering Sunday was the day on which people visited their ‘mother’ church, the cathedral of their diocese. Only in the 17th century did it become a day for acknowledging human mothers, and it became practice to visit one’s own Mother & give her gifts of flowers & cake. People working away from home were usually given time off by their employers to do this.
Special children’s services are still held in many churches on Mothering Sunday, and it is considered a day of relaxation from the Lenten Fast.
If the cake is to be served at Easter, the commemoration of Christ’s death and New Life, Victorian tradition holds that the cake should be decorated with eleven marzipan balls to represent the apostles (first disciples of Jesus) – originally 12, but Judas, who betrayed the Lord, not being included.
There are variations in what ingredients are used in the cake mix, some including nuts or alcohol, but this is a basic recipe. Obviously, the cake is NOT suitable for those allergic to gluten or nuts.
Mike Cooney recommends two recipes to using vegatables he grows in his garden!
Pumpkin Soup
1 pumkin
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1/2lb carrots
1/2lb potatoes
2 medium onions
1 pint milk (or medium single cream)
Salt
Pepper
Herbs
2 vegetable stock cubes
Chop all vegetables.
Fry onions in oil/butter
Add pumkin flesh and simmer 10-15 minutes. Keep Stirring
Add vegetables
Add stock cubes
Add milk
Add salt, pepper and herbs to taste
Blend to thick smooth consistency
Add a little water if too thick.
Cook for aproximately 40 minutes.
Serve with warm crusty bread.
Rhubarb Fool
400g rhubarb stalks
60g caster sugar
Juice and grated rind of 1 orange
250ml whipping cream
Trim ends of rhubarb stalks. Cut the stalks into 1 inch chunks.
Put in a pan of sugar, orange juice and grated rind. Cover and simmer gently for 10-15 minutes, stirring regularly. The rhubarb should be soft but not mushy.
Taste the Rhubarb and add more sugar if needed.
Allow the rhubarb to cool completely.
When the rhubarb is cold, whip the cream until it forms soft peaks.
Fold the rhubarb mixture into the cream gently, so the cream does not lose its volume.
serve in individual glasses or bowls.
Satwant Rait and her husband celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in Venice; "a dream land and heaven on the earth under the blue sky" as described by Satwant. One of Venice’s attractions is the Harry Bar renowned for Bellini cocktail. It was created by Giuseppi Cipriani in 1943 to celebrate the exhibition of the Venetian artist Bellini.
The main ingredients for this cocktail are dry champagne and peach juice. Satwant has given it an oriental flavour and used mango juice or pomegranate juice. Take 6 ozs champagne and 3 ozs mango juice and teaspoon sugar syrup. Mix sugar syrup and mango juice and give a good shake. Pour into the champagne flute and top up with dry champagne. Satwant says she is sure you will enjoy it.