Leek and Mushroom Rice with Fried Egg, Garlic, and Ginger

Ingredients

One mug of rice

3 Leeks

200g Mushrooms

2 Eggs

4 cloves of garlic sliced finely

2 cm of peeled and sliced ginger

2 tbsp soy sauce

Method

Cook the rice and allow it to cool - I bet you know how to do that without an explanation here.

While the rice is cooling, gently fry the garlic and ginger in a little oil using a small frying pan that will also be suitable for frying the eggs. Cook for around 10 minutes on a gentle heat until crispy and fragrant and then remove with a slotted spoon to drain on some kitchen paper. Leave the oil in the pan so that you can fry the eggs in it.

Saute the leeks in some oil and add the sliced mushrooms and the soy sauce. Once the leeks and mushrooms are cooked you can add the rice and stir well to heat up the rice.

Fry the eggs sunny side up or down as you prefer and then serve the rice in a bowl topped with the egg and a sprinkling of the garlic and ginger.

This is an easy and cheap mid-week supper that is delicious and quick to cook. In December we are harvesting our leeks and they have lots of flavour when they have been dug on the same day that they are cooked. Our white ranger hen is still laying eggs so we can also use fresh eggs.

Carrot and Cardamom cake

Carrot and cardamom cake decorated with cream cheese frosting, carrot, borage flowers and chopped pistachio.

Ingredients

100g plain flour

50g wholemeal flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp ground cardamom seeds

pinch of salt

50 ml olive oil

2 eggs

50g caster sugar

60g brown sugar

50g plain yoghurt

200g carrot (grated)

For the frosting

100g cream cheese

100g icing sugar

Method

Sift together the flours, cardamom, bicarbonate of soda and the salt.

In a separate bowl whisk the eggs together lightly and add the oil, sugar and yoghurt and mix well (I use an electric hand beater).

Gently combine the dry ingredients with the egg mixture and then stir in the grated carrot. Pour this batter into a greased and lined 20cm round cake tin (ideally with a loose bottom).

Cook in a moderate oven (180 deg C) for about 40-45 minutes until a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake. When the cake is not quite cooked it will sing to you - this is the bubbles of air in the cake bursting. When this singing is much quieter the cake is cooked.

Leave the cake in its tin for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting beat up the cream cheese with the icing sugar until really smooth and then spread on the top of the cake allowing some to drizzle over the sides. decorate with grated carrot, edible flowers and some chopped pistachios if you have some.

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This recipe is adapted from a carrot and cardamom cake in the book ‘Grow, Cook, Nourish’ by Darina Allen. We prefer a cream cheese frosting, and substituting some of the plain flour for wholemeal flour and reducing the sugar slightly makes this a healthier cake with a little more fibre - but it’s still delicious!

Raspberry Trifle

Autumn raspberries growing in November at St Olaves

Ingredients

6 trifle sponges

Half a raspberry jelly block

200g frozen raspberries (plus fresh for decoration)

250g mascarapone cheese

1 egg plus an extra yolk

2 tablespoons of caster sugar

A few drops Vanilla essence

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Method

Break up the jelly into small squares and stir to dissolve in about 250 ml boiling water, and allow to cool.

Place the trifle sponges into a fairly deep serving bowl, break some of them in half if you like and add the defrosted raspberries to fill in all the nooks and crannies around the sponges. You can also drizzle on some marsala, brandy or sweet sherry if you want a boozy trifle.

Pour the cooled raspberry jelly mix over the sponges and raspberries and allow to cool completely and set in the fridge for a few hours or overnight.

In a large mixing bowl whisk up the mascarpone, egg and egg yolk, the sugar and the vanilla essence. It is worth whisking with an electric hand whisk for 5-10 minutes so it gets nice and thick.

Spoon the mascarpone custard mixture evenly over the raspberry sponge base and then use your imagination to decorate the top.