When I was first married, my mum and dad were invited for their first meal with us. For some strange reason I made gazpacho (a Spanish cold soup) which I am afraid did not go down very well at all. You have to understand, we were in a little flat, in Carlisle, in winter, not in sunny Spain. ‘An acquired taste!’ I remember my Dad saying. I also remember finding a recipe that required ‘middle neck of lamb’, so off I went to the butcher to purchase some.
On getting there I asked for the ‘middle of a lamb’ to which the butcher replied ‘the middle what of a lamb’ and for the life of me I could not remember.
But this day and age we have no excuse. The other day when I was in a supermarket I heard a young woman ask her partner to look up what kind of rice goes into a paella, on which he took out his phone and got the answer for her.
Unfortunately mobile phones were not on the go at the time of my lamb debacle! Today however we can find recipes for all kinds. Take pumpkins for example. From the flesh, you can make things such as soup, risotto and of course pumpkin pie. But how about making a cake, after all we use carrots in cakes. Did you know that pumpkins are a fruit. Why not try the following cake.
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees/Gas 4. In a large bowl combine 110g margarine, 220g dark brown soft sugar, 140g SR flour, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ½ tsp ground ginger, ½ tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 175g pumpkin puree and 2 beaten eggs.
Mix well until smooth. Pour into lined 8” cake tin and bake for 25/30 minutes.
Leave to cool. For the icing beat 100g butter until soft and then add 300g cream cheese, 100g icing sugar and 1 tsp vanilla essence and beat until smooth.
Using a palette knife swirl on top of your cake. You could also make individual muffin cakes if you prefer.
Author: JANE FERGUSON
Jane Ferguson worked in the food industry and ran her own successful business for six years called ‘Pink Leaf Catering’. She loves trying new recipes, and believes that delicious healthy food need not be complicated or take hours to make.
