BOROUGH MARKET SECRETS FROM THE BOROUGH BELLES

Many of you may know that I am indeed part of the WI. The Borough Belles Women's Institute to precise and in recent months was made joint president. Not only does the Borough Belles give me so much fun and also contact with other like minded women, but it also makes me privy to inside information...

Each year the WI votes on a resolution, this year it is the "High Street SOS"  which you may have already seen in the press with faces such Mary Portus heading the campaign. Our very own President, Lara Clements, also became a face for this campaign by being interviewed on Channel 5 News. Read more about the campaign HERE. We were so proud of her and she'd only been given a few hours notice from WI HQ! Following the interview she headed straight to our August meeting with a talk from David Matchett, the market development manager at the famous Borough Market!

One point that was brought up during Lara's interview and also when discussing the local high street shops and markets, is the fact that it is more expensive than shopping in the big supermarkets! We put this point to David, during the Q&A, after his talk.

David agreed that Borough Market stall holders do not sell the cheapest of produce, but that it is of high quality and each stall holder could tell you where it came from and what day it was picked. Also making the point that it is only in recent years that you can buy chicken everyday due mass production and that when buying meat it would be savoured and only bought one day a week. Society has changed and people now expect & are looking for quantity rather than quality, which is what Borough Market stall holders are selling.

That said, David did inform us of how once a week a few stalls do 'food bargins' & '£1 bowls'. He has very kindly sent the Borough Belles insider info that the girls have allowed me to share with you here on Never Eat Wobbly Jelly!

For ease of location please use this link to locate the traders named below

http://www.boroughmarket.org.uk/market-map

Elsey and Bent have 1kg bowls of heritage tomatoes for £1! 
Get the chutney pan on. Gary will see you right here!!

Teds Veg also has a self serve £1 selection with other fruit and veg.

Sillfield Farm Shop  has wedges (up to 250gm)  of creamy lancanshire for £2 each and also big wild boar steaks at 2 for £6 each. Ask for Peter for any porcine advise.

Une Normande a Londres, will have their 5 fromage for £10 deals back  next week, these are selections of cow,  goat, and sheep,  hard, soft, washed rind and blue, and one of the best deals on the market. Uli  will guide you on his selection of cheese and charcuterie

Also if you need to stock up the spice cupboard Mags at Spice Mountain has got a 6pack of basics for £10; Mags also gives discounts for refilling if you bring your own storage jar.

Other £1 Fruit and Veg bowls are on offer from Jock Stark Thursday to Saturday; usually an interesting selection and good quality; and from Paul Crane on Friday and Saturday. Paul Crane is great for buying in bulk, ignore the prices on the flash and buy by the case; he wont refuse any interesting offer.

Game will be coming into full swing and as the harvest approaches the time of plenty should be easier on the pockets.

Do you have any ideas for how we can support our local high streets?

Is there any local business that you think we could feature on the blog and why? 

If you do post me a comment on the NEWJ blog or feel feel to drop the Borough Belles WI a line either via their FACEBOOK PAGE or by email: boroughbelleswi@gmail.com

Deep Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Courgette Cake

Another event another cake to bake!

This weekend was the FUSS craft market and considering I've been a bit slack with FUSS recently due to work commitments and also stretching myself thin - doing stuff for the WI, and DIY stuff in my flat, I decided I should make up by baking a load for the market...

Fortunately I have started baking on random nights I have free and freezing them straight away. Which has turned out to be a godsend for such situations! So I pulled out an Apple & Banana Bundt out of the freezer yesterday and last night baked a batch of my mum's famous flapjacks and also a chocolate courgette cake. Again something my mum used to make when I was a kid. Ironically we never really had carrot cake but instead had chic courgette cake, which I found out today was pretty unheard off!

I love recipes that have a story, a bit of history to them.. I ended up combining my mum's recipe with an american bundt recipe, thus the 'cup' measurements.

NOTE: This cake was devoured off the FUSS stand rather quickly!

1/2 cup Stork Margarine

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cup caster sugar
3 medium eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream
2 cups grated unpeeled Courgettes (about 2 smallish, or 1 large)
3/4 cup Plain chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180°C and oil a Bundt pan & lightly dust with flour. 

In a large bowl, beat the butter, oil and sugar on high speed with an electric mixer for 2-3 minutes, until thick and pale yellow. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

In a smaller bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add a third to the butter mixture and beat just until blended; add half the sour cream and do the same. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture, the rest of the sour cream, and the rest of the flour. Stir in the zucchini and the nuts and/or chocolate chips, if you’re using them, and pour the thick batter into the pan, smoothing the top.

Bake for an hour & 10mins, until the top is cracked and springy to the touch. 

Invert onto a rack and allow too cool or pop on a cake stand & serve with creme fraiche while still warm! 

Or you can make a Sour Cream Chocolate Ganache (as seen on the bundt below!)

Still working in cups....

1 Cup of chocolate (dark or milk or both, whatever you have to hand)
3/4 Cup of Sour Cream
1 tsp Vanilla Essence

Break up the chocolate into pieces into a heat-proof bowl.
Bring a pan of water to boil, pop a heat-proof boil over the top and turn off the heat.
Leave for a while (good point to look at the horrific mess you've created in the kitchen and potentially clean it up). Enough faffing...
Mix the vanilla essence into the sour cream and then pour into the melted chocolate. Beat until you get a smooth consistency and then pour over the cake and dust with cocoa powder.

Serves 8-16.

Harrison's Carrot cake

My friend Jo, who told me about the amazing Yorkshire pud recipe, gave birth on Wednesday 14th July to a lovely little boy - 'Harrison'. So in true fashion I decided to bake them a cake to celebrate!! :D

Carrot cake I decided on. Now I've done carrot cakes before and they're BEASTS! Three tiers to be precise. So for their version I tweaked the recipe slightly, made it a 2 tier with a slightly different version for the icing.
Because I've been seeing the bump grow and have now met wonderful Harrison, I had to make sure it would be up to his standards ;o)

Here is how I got on:

 

So here is how I made Harrison's Carrot Cake:

RECIPE

200g Light muscovado sugar

2 medium eggs - fresher the better!

200ml sunflower oil

200g Rice Flour (can use plain flour if you don't have rice flour)

1/2 tspn Bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tspn Baking powder

1/4 tspnground ginger

1/2 tspn ground cinnemon

1/4 tspn ground mixed spice

salt

200g grated carrots

75g whizzed up walnuts

35g unsalted butter

200g icing sugar

35g creamcheese

2 tbspn lime juice

METHOD

Mix up the sugar, oil and eggs until combined. Then sieve in the flour, bicarb soda, baking powder, spices and salt. Mix well. Then add grated carrots and whizzed up walnuts - mix.

Spoon into two sandwich tins and pop in a pre-heated oven at 170oc for 20-25mins until bouncy.

For the icing you'll unsalted butter, icing sugar, cream cheese and some lime juice.

Mix well and spread - volia!!

Chocolate Rose cake

After receiving such a fab teatowel off Lacey I decided to surprise her with a cake, to say thank you. 

It's a new recipe, I haven't tried before... One of the 'healthy cakes' that are made using vegetable instead off butter/oil. Can you imagine a healthy chocolate cake!! Yum

 

This is one of Harry Eastwood's recipes, I've made a couple of her cakes now and they've turned out rather good. I must say though it isn't half strange some on the veggies you use but HEY if it works it works! And following the response from Lacey's studio and can safely say I think it was a success!! :D

 

Chocolate Rose Cake

Recipe

3 Free-range eggs

160g Golden caster sugar

200g peeled & grated Butternut Squash

120g Rice flour (I use Doves)

3 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda

1/4 tsp Salt

125ml Buttermilk (you'll find this near the cream in the supermarket)

Chocolate Icing

50g Unsalted butter, softened

200g icing sugar, sieved

50g Mascarpone

4 tsp cocoa powder

Pre-heat the oven to 180oc . Line two 18inch sandwich tins with parchment and rub the sides with a bit of butter, so it doesn't stick.

Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large mixing bowl for 4 full minutes until pale and fluffy. Beat in the grated butternut squash, followed by the flour, cocoa powder, ground almonds, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Add the buttermilk before beating again one last time to make sure that all the ingredients are well introduced to one another.

Pour the mixture evenly into both tins, then place in the middle of the oven for 30minutes (Now don't open the oven before 20mins! but do check around 25mins, depends on your oven...)

Once cooked, remove the cakes from the oven, unmould, peel off the baking parchment and leave to cool down completely on a wire rack.

Whilst the cakes are cooling, start on making the icing (do not put the icing anywhere near the cake until it's stone cold). Beat the butter with 100g of the sugar in a large mixing bowl. You will need to work them together patiently, using a back of a spoon. It will seem like an impossible task at first, but they will eventually turn into a lovely paste.

Once you reach this stage, beat vigorously for 10 seconds to loosen the butter even further. Add mascarpone, cocoa powder and salt, as well as the remaining sugar. Beat once again to combine.

Spread half the icing on each sponge, placing one on top of another. Then cut the stems on several rose at around 2cm and place on the cake. Volia!

A light chocolate cake in more ways than one :D

Curried Sweet Potato & lentil Soup

This week I've been struggling eating anything other than soup, due to my wisdom teeth. Which has been a bit of a nightmare, however due to my new 'wisdom' I came across this soup recipe!! It delicious and perfect for the wet wintery days.

Curried Sweet Potato & lentil Soup

• 2 tsp medium curry powder
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions , grated
• 1 eating apple , peeled, cored and grated
• 3 garlic cloves , crushed
• 20g pack coriander , stalks chopped
• thumb-size piece fresh root ginger , grated
• 750g sweet potatoes
• 1l vegetable stock
• 100g red lentils
• 150ml milk

1. Put the curry powder into a large saucepan, then toast over a medium heat for 2 mins. Add the olive oil, stirring as the spice sizzles in the pan. Tip in the onions, apple, garlic, coriander stalks and ginger, season, then gently cook for 5 mins, stirring every so often.
2. Meanwhile, peel, then grate the sweet potatoes. Tip into the pan with the stock, lentils, milk and seasoning, then simmer, covered, for 20 mins. Blend until smooth using a stick blender. Check the seasoning and serve, topped with roughly-chopped coriander leaves.

Enjoy!