Chocolate chip fruitcake

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In which we present a fruitcake you actually want to eat

Chocolate chip fruitcake

The poor fruitcake. It’s become a joke, hasn’t it? Well, I was thinking the other day that there’s no reason you couldn’t make a fruitcake that people actually want to eat. I’m not a big fan of candied fruit, so the first step, for me, was to get rid of that. I’ve substituted dried fruit – cranberries, cherries, apricots and golden raisins. All things that are delicious on their own, and which add a pleasant tartness to the dark, sweet, spicy cake. And then, of course, I added bittersweet chocolate chips. Because everything is better with chocolate chips!! And you know how lots of fruitcakes have brandy sprinkled on at the end? Well, this one has a coating of bittersweet ganache with rum in it.

You could bake these in regular cake pans, but for some reason (because I’m crazy!) I wanted them to be more unusual shapes. So I baked one in a casserole dish, and the other in a little straight-sided unusually shaped bowl that my friend Peter made. I wanted to cook them for a long time, because Mrs Beaton cooks her fruitcakes for, like, 3 hours! Mine only took a little over an hour. And if you use regular cake pans they’d probably be done in 1/2 an hour.

The smell of this cake is intoxicatingly christmas-y, so let’s dive right in with The Maytals’ Happy Christmas

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Empanadas with chipotle and butternut squash

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Red bean and butternut squash empanadas

These empanadas are like an evening in autumn – the leaves are all golden, red, and orange, and the smoke from somebody’s fireplace fills the air. Made with yellow corn, red beans, roasted butternut squash, and smoky paprika and chipotle puree, they’re pretty and delicious. They go well with artichoke heart salsa, which brings coolness to their smoky warmth. I baked mine, but you could fry them if you wanted.

Here’s Red Beans by Coleman Hawkins with the Red Garland Trio
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Artichoke Heart Salsa

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Artichoke heart salsa


Or further adventures in my search for the perfect tart/sweet/salty/spicy food. This combines the briny saltiness of artichoke hearts (from a can, I’m afraid, but there’s nowt wrong with canned artichokes, lad!), the tartness of lime, the sweetness of tomatoes and honey, and the peppery bite of cayenne. It’s very quick to make, and it goes well with emapanadas, chips, crackers…my son liked it so much he pulled the whole bowl over and practically ate it with a spoon.

Here’s Salsa by Johnny Pacheco.
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Supreme cinnamon buns with bittersweet chocolate

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Best cinnamon buns EVER

I LOVE cinnamon buns. Love and love and love them. Is there anything more fun to eat than a pastry that you can unfold to find more and more cinnamon-y goodness the farther you go?

But I have to tell you, I frequently find myself disappointed by the bun part of the cinnamon bun. Often it’s just white bread dough. It’s the thing you set aside to get to the tasty insides.

So I decided to make a cinnamon bun with a pastry element you’d like to eat by itself. And I decided to add bittersweet chocolate chips, because everything is better with chocolate chips. Especially on a cold and rainy day, such as we’ve had lately.

The sugar and cinnamon and chocolate got all melty together in the best possible way.

The reviews are in…little Isaac said he felt like it was so good that he would ask for another as soon as he had finished the first one. And my husband said that we could be nailed into our house the whole winter as long as we had supplies of these cinnamon buns. Malcolm liked them so much he helped me name them.

For the record, I think these would be good with some orange zest in the crust, but I haven’t tried that…yet.

Here’s the Stone Roses with Sally Cinnamon
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French Lentil Soup topped with caramelized mushrooms & shallots & sharp cheddar crisps

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French lentil soup

Mushrooms and shallots and crisps, oh my!

Beautiful, tasty french lentils don’t get mushy. If you cook them properly they retain a little crunch, so this isn’t the porridge-y lentil soup that you might expect. The lentils, carrots and potatoes float in a delicious, herb-infused broth. And I love mushrooms, especially in combination with french lentils, but I don’t love the way they get a bit slimy in soup – I like them crispy and flavorful. So I decided to roast them with shallots until they’re very crispy, and use them as a garnish. And to top it all off, I made little lacy crisps of sharp cheddar, which melt into your soup. Eat it with a good loaf of ciabatta and you’re all set!

Here’s the Rudies with Devil’s Lead Soup
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Spicy chickpeas with cauliflower, raisins & olives

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File under “C” – Chickpeas, cauliflower, chard, cumin, cayenne…

Everyone in my family has started on the winter cycle of sniffles, so I thought it would be nice to have something brothy and spicy – something that clears your head when you breathe in the vapors. We had this over pasta, but it would also be good with couscous or rice, or even with just a crusty loaf of bread. The seasoning is simple but slightly unusual – thyme, allspice, cumin, and as much cayenne as you like. “Raisins and olives?” you cry! In the same dish! Yes! They’re actually delicious together. The raisins impart a mysterious sweetness, and the olives lend their good old olive-y saltiness. Finished with a squeeze of lemon and topped with crumbled goat cheese, this easy, quick workaday dinner has a complex blend of spicy, sweet and tart that goes together perfectly, and makes it quite memorable.

Here’s Wild Mountain Thyme by the Tannahill Weavers. Bloomin’ heather!
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A bit of underdone potato v. banana water

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Remember that line in Christmas Carol when Scrooge accuses Jacob Marley of being “a bit of underdone potato?” Ebenezer ate some bad food and it gave him bad dreams, very lifelike bad dreams, or so he believed. And I remember watching a scary show that examined the theory that the madness of the Salem “witches” might have been caused by some sort of rye mold. It’s fascinating to me that food sometimes has the power to make us not just physically ill, but a little bit crazy, too. I’ve noticed that when I eat very spicy food, like curry, I have strange and vivid dreams. (Or am I just imagining it?)

And on the other side of the coin we have the foods that we believe make us well. When you were little was there a food or drink you would have when you felt ill? Does it still make you feel better to eat it today? I still feel comforted by saltine crackers and ginger ale. My son believes that water makes him feel better – I wonder if he’ll feel that way when he’s grown.

Do you have a comfort food you turn to when you’re not feeling well? Have you ever eaten anything that made you feel…odd?

Here’s the Mellotones Banana Water. I’m not sure what it is, but it seems to make them feel better. It’s a tonic!

And here’s Nina Simone’s Ooh Child, my musical version of a comforting tonic.

Broccoli & Garlic Sauce

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brocolli with garlic sauce

This is my version of the dish that’s on every take out Chinese food menu in America. I’ve always loved it, and I’ve been known to eat a quart of it all by myself. Lately, however, it’s seemed unpleasantly sweet and sticky. I don’t think the dish has changed, it’s probably just me getting sour in my old age, and wanting my food to keep pace with me. I decided to make a less sweet, brothier version. It’s simple as pie to make, takes no time at all, and is very tasty – retaining the appealing salty/sweet/hot dynamic without the heavy syrup.

Here’s Immortal Technique’s diatribe against preachy vegetarians Beef and Broccoli. (Don’t listen if you don’t like sweary music!!) I’ve been a vegetarian since I was twelve, but I’ve got a sense of humor about it, and I think this song is pretty funny (but it has a lot of curse words! You’ve been warned!)
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Millionaire Shortbread Cake

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Millionaire Shortbread Cake

When I was little we lived in England for a while, and I have vivid and fond memories of being out somewhere, a museum, maybe, and becoming very tired all of a sudden. We’d all decide to stop for “tea and a sweetie” as my dad called it. And we’d all be instantly restored, and I remember talking about how remarkable it was that we all felt more lively. The restorative powers of tea are not to be underestimated! On these occasions, as I recall, my mother used to love millionaire’s shortbread, which (as I recall it) was a perfect combination of shortbread, caramel, and chocolate. And then there were variations – some had a digestive crust, some had milk chocolate, some had dark, one (my mother’s favorite) had lemon curd and dark chocolate.

Yesterday when faced with the delightful conundrum of what kind of cake to make for my mother’s birthday, I decided to make a cakey version of millionaire’s shortbread – combining different elements of my memories of the sweetie. So I made a cake very loosely based on a digestive biscuit (well, it had a tiny bit of oats and whole wheat flour in it, and I used brown sugar), a lemon caramel coating (turned out really tasty! I ate it by the spoonful as I was cleaning up) and a bittersweet chocolate ganache on top of that. My mom said it was the best cake ever! Result!

Here’s Barbara Dane’s It isn’t Nice. A song my mom likes, and I love, too.
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Harissa-spiced roasted cauliflower

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This is easy peasy. Actually, this would have been good with a squeeze of lemon. I should have but I didn’t. Next time.

I like cauliflower roasted with various spice mixes, and this is my latest effort. It’s loosely-based on the Tunisian fiery pepper mix called “harissa.” (What a great word!) This is so easy I’m not even going to wait till after the jump to tell you how to make it. Here’s what you do…chop up your cauliflower into bite-sized pieces. In a bowl, mix the cauliflower with 2 minced cloves of garlic, as much cayenne as you like, cumin, caraway seeds, coriander, salt and black pepper. As much of each as you like, depending on how much cauliflower you have. Drizzle a tablespoonful or more of olive oil to lightly coat each piece and stir it all together. Turn it out onto a baking tray and cook in a hot oven 425ish, till it starts to get brown and crispy on the edges. (20 minutes, maybe?)

Here’s Dan le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip with Cauliflower (thanks, Shane!)