Category Archives: Recipes

Basically I love food and I love cooking so the idea behind the blog was to write down recipes that I had tried and those we’d liked and would want to eat again. As John began producing more and more food on the huerta, I wanted to make keep a record of recipes for certain foods that we could cook again in the years to come.

Lemon Sponge

Posted on by

We’ve recently bought a mini electric oven so I’ve been experimenting with making cakes in small-sized tins. This one was a modification of Helena’s mum’s lemon drizzle cake recipe. I’d heard about the method of weighing an egg in its shell and then using the same weight of sugar, flour and butter.

My 2 eggs weighed 140g in total so I weighed out equal amounts of flour, sugar and butter. This was the perfect amount for a 220cm x 160cm x 5cm rectangular cake tin.

I’d got some icing left over from making a carrot cake so I spread this on top of the cake after pouring over the lemon drizzle.

 

LEMON SPONGE

This recipe is quick and easy to make and deliciously moist and lemony.

Lemon Sponge

CAKE INGREDIENTS

  • 2 eggs (weigh them with their shells)
  • (weight of eggs)g self-raising flour
  • (weight of eggs)g sugar
  • (weight of eggs)g butter, softened
  • 1 lemon, zested and juiced (use the half the zest for the cake and the other half for the drizzle level teaspoon baking powder)
  • 4 tablespoons milk

TOPPING INGREDIENTS

  • 115g granulated sugar
  • juice of the lemon

METHOD

  1. Grease and line the cake tin.
  2. Cream together the butter and sugar.
  3. Add the eggs and mix well.
  4. Add the other cake ingredients and 1 or 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and half the lemon zest and beat for a minute or so.
  5. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for 35 minutes (or until cooked).
  6. For the topping, gently heat the sugar and the lemon juice until the sugar dissolves.
  7. When the cake has cooked, prick the top of the cake with a skewer and pour over the lemon topping.
  8. Serve with cream.

 

1-tin Orange Cake

Posted on by

Note: reduce amount of flour and quantities
P1010514

INGREDIENTS:
2 large eggs
160g brown sugar
65g vegetable oil (almond oil, sunflower oil, etc.)
180g self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
1/4 cup orange juice
zest from 1 orange
1 orange, thinly sliced
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
2 tablespoons orange marmalade (optional)

METHOD:
Butter the tin and then sprinkle over some brown sugar and shake to completely coat the bottom and sides of the tin. Arrange the orange slices on the bottom of the tin so that they overlap slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until thick and creamy.

Gradually beat in the oil.

Stir in the flour and salt and then mix in the orange juice, marmalade and vanilla extract.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake in an over at around 180ºC for 40 minutes or until cooked.

Shepherd’s Pie

Posted on by

SHEPHERD’S PIE

Once again, I’ve been experimenting with the idea of using the breadmaker as an oven. This time, I cooked all the separate parts of the dish on the hob and then used the breadmaker to heat the dish through before eating. I used a blowtorch to try and make the top crispier.

shepherd's pie

Shepherd’s Pie

These amounts make a small-sized shepherd’s pie for 2 people.

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 300g potato, cut into quarters and boiled until cooked
  • 250g minced beef
  • 1 medium-sized onion, finely chopped
  • 2 large carrots, finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon flour
  • 1 tablespoon fried tomato sauce
  • 1 teaspoon beef seasoning or 1 stock cube
  • 1 cup water
  • splash of Lea and Perrin’s
  • splash of soy sauce
  • salt and pepper
  • extra virgin olive oil

METHOD

  1. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan.
  2. Add the onion and fry gently until soft and beginning to colour.
  3. Add the carrots, stir and continue frying on a low heat for 20 minutes.
  4. Raise the heat, add the mince and brown for a couple of minutes.
  5. Turn down the heat and cook on a gentle heat for another 15 minutes.
  6. Sprinkle over the flour and mix well.
  7. Add the water, stock, tomato sauce, Lea and Perrins sauce and soy sauce, turn down the heat and cook for another 15 minutes or so.
  8. While the meat is cooking, boil the potatoes until cooked.
  9. Drain the potatoes.
  10. Season with salt and pepper and mash well, adding butters and milk.
  11. Spoon the meat mixture into a small glass casserole dish.
  12. Gently spoon the mashed potato onto the top and decorate with a fork.
  13. Bake in the breadmaker for 40 minutes, or until heated through.

1-tin Carrot Cake

Posted on by
cortijoblog carrot cake

CARROT CAKE

These are the proportions for a 1-tin carrot cake.

carrot cake

INGREDIENTS for the cake

  • 45g walnuts, roughly chopped
  • 1/2 orange, zested and juiced
  • 115g self-raising flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 85g brown sugar
  • 85ml sunflower oil
  • 1/2 heaped teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 eggs
  • 140g carrots, roughly grated

INGREDIENTS for the ICING

  • 25g icing sugar
  • 25g butter, softened
  • 50g cream cheese
  • 1/2 orange, zested and juiced
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

METHOD

  1. Oil and line the cake tins
  2. Measure out the flour, baking powder and salt.
  3. Add the sugar and oil to a bowl and whisk well.
  4. Break in the eggs and continue mixing.
  5. Gradually tip in the dry ingredients and beat well.
  6. Stir in the juice of 1/2 orange, the orange zest, cinnamon, carrot and nuts, and mix well.
  7. Divide the cake mixture between the two tins and cook each one for 35 minutes (or until cooked) on the breadmaker BAKE setting.
  8. Leave to cool for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a baking rack.
  9. To make the icing, cream the butter and icing sugar together until smooth.
  10. Beat in the cream cheese.
  11. Add the lemon juice, and mix well. Stir in the orange juice a little at a time so that the icing is still quite stiff. It might not be necessary to add all the orange juice.
  12. Spread the icing out over the top of the cake..

1-tin Coffee and Walnut Cake

Posted on by

 

COFFEE AND WALNUT CAKE

Coffee and Walnut Cake

These are the proportions for a smaller cake that is baked in 1 tin in the breadmaker on the BAKE setting.

 

CAKE INGREDIENTS

  • 65g walnut halves, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon coffee
  • 100g self-raising flour
  • 1 teaspoons baking powder
  • a pinch salt
  • 115g butter, softened
  • 115g brown sugar
  • 2 medium eggs

TOPPING INGREDIENTS

  • 2 teaspoons coffee
  • 100g icing sugar
  • 12 walnut halves

METHOD

  1. Heat a frying pan and gently roast the chopped walnuts and the walnut halves.
  2. Prepare some strong coffee. You will need 1 tablespoon for the cake and 2 teaspoons for the icing.
  3. Grease and line the cake tin.
  4. Dissolve the instant coffee in 1 tablespoon boiling water.
  5. Coarsely grind 30g of the chopped walnuts in a food processor.
  6. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
  7. Beat in the eggs.
  8. Gently fold in the ground walnuts, chopped walnuts, flour, baking powder and salt.
  9. Pour the mixture into the cake tin.
  10. Bake in the breadmaker for 25-30 minutes on the BAKE cycle until cooked.
  11. When the cake has cooked, leave to cool for 5 minutes.
  12. Turn out the cake.
  13. Prepare the topping by dissolving the instant coffee in 2 tablespoons of boiling water and stirring in the icing sugar.
  14. Ice the cake with the topping and decorate with the walnuts halves.