December recipe: Stollen

Stollen

Stollen is a fruit bread from Germany, traditionally associated with Christmas in the same sort of way as mince pies are associated with Christmas in Britain. My recipe is based on one given me by a friend of a friend some years ago, modified in various ways since. I particularly like the approach of filling the bread with a thin spiral layer of marzipan like a Swiss roll, rather than the more usual approach of inserting a cylinder of marzipan like a sausage roll.  I can’t claim credit for that inspired stroke of genius; someone else thought of it before the recipe came to me. Whoever they were, I salute them.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Apologies for the long absence of posts here during this year. I hope to be able to post more in the future.

Stollen (makes two)

3 Tablespoons (3 x 15 ml spoons) warm water

1 teaspoon (1 x 5 ml spoon) sugar

1 teaspoon (1 x 5 ml spoon) dried yeast

9 oz (approx 260 g) plain flour*

1 oz (approx 25 g) light brown soft sugar

4 oz (approx 100 g) butter

2 Tablespoons (2 x 15 ml spoons) dark rum, or other spirit of your choice**

4 oz (approx 100 g) sultanas

3 oz (approx 80 g) raisins

2 oz (approx 50 g) candied mixed peel

1 egg

Milk to mix (see method below for the quantity)

4 oz (approx 100 g) marzipan

Icing sugar to dredge

Method

Dissolve the teaspoon of sugar in the warm water.  Sprinkle the dried yeast on top and leave in a warm place for about 15 minutes until frothy.

Rub the butter into the plain flour and sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs.

Add the dried fruit, rum and beaten egg.

Stand the bowl on the scales and set the reading to zero. Add the yeast liquid and note the weight, then add enough milk to make the weight up to 110 g. If your mixing bowl won’t stand on your kitchen scales, this is generally about another 60 ml (about 4 Tablespoons) of milk – add it gradually, mixing as you go, and stop when you have a soft dough like a scone dough.

Mix well. It should form a soft dough, like a scone dough. If it is too wet, add a little more flour; if too dry, add a little more milk.

Leave to rise in a warm place for about 1-1.5 hours***.

Divide the dough in half. Flour the work surface, and roll out each half into a rectangle, roughly twice as long as wide.

Divide the marzipan in half and roll out each half into a rectangle a little smaller than the rectangles of dough.

Put a rectangle of marzipan on top of a rectangle of dough, and roll up like a Swiss roll. Damp the edge with water or milk to seal. Pinch the ends together so the marzipan is fully enclosed. Repeat with the other rectangle of dough and marzipan.

Put the two stollen rolls on a greased baking tray and brush with milk or beaten egg.

Leave to rise again in a warm place for about 45 minutes.

Bake in a hot oven at about 220 C for about 30 minutes until the rolls are golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. Dredge with icing sugar

Serve warm or cold, cut in thick slices.

If there is any left over, it will keep for a couple of days in an airtight tin.

The stollen can be frozen. Freeze before dredging with icing sugar.

* Yes, plain flour, not bread flour. Stollen should have a texture more like cake than bread

** If you are organised enough, soak the dried fruit in the rum for a couple of hours beforehand.  I never remember, so I don’t know if it makes any difference

*** If time is very short, you can cheat by omitting the first rise. It’s better if you can do the two rises, but not so much better that you should forego making stollen if there isn’t time for two rises

March recipe: Bakewell tart

Bakewell tart

Bakewell tart is a jam- or fruit-filled almond tart. It may be derived from the Bakewell pudding, a sort of almond custard pudding traditionally considered to have been invented by mistake in the early nineteenth century at a hotel in Bakewell*, Derbyshire.

There are many variations of Bakewell tart. Some recipes use puff pastry for the base, some insist on a specific type of jam for the filling, some use fruit instead of jam, some use breadcrumbs instead of flour in the almond sponge. The version I make uses shortcrust pastry and whatever jam I have to hand, which in turn usually depends on what soft fruit was most abundant the previous summer. The tart in the photograph is filled with blackcurrant jam. Here’s the recipe.

Bakewell tart

Pastry

4 oz (approx 100 g) plain flour

1 oz (approx 25 g) lard

1 oz (approx 25 g) butter

Filling

Approximately 3 generous Tablespoons (3 x 15 ml spoons) jam of your choice

2 oz (approx 50 g) butter

2 oz (approx 50 g) light brown soft sugar

2 eggs

2 oz (approx 50 g) plain flour

2 oz (approx 50 g) ground almonds

First make the pastry. Rub the butter and lard into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Mix with a little cold water to a soft dough. If it is flaky, add a little more water; if it is sticky add a little more flour.

Or you could use ready-made shortcrust pastry if you prefer.

Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface and use it to line a shallow tart dish about 7” (approx 18 cm) diameter.

Spread the jam over the pastry in an even layer.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg.

Stir in the flour and ground almonds.

Spread the mixture evenly over the jam and level the surface.

Bake the tart in a hot oven at approximately 200 C for about 25 - 30 minutes, until the filling is set and pale golden.

Serve warm or cold, with pouring cream, whipped cream or ice cream.

I expect to get about 6 slices out of a tart this size, but that depends on how large a slice you like.

The tart will keep in an airtight tin for several days, or can be frozen.

*Bakewell is a pretty small town in the beautiful Peak District National Park, and probably makes an appearance as Lambton in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice

December recipe: Winter chicken hotpot

Winter chicken hotpot

This casserole is warming, easy to make, and a versatile user-up of odds and ends of vegetables. In this version I’ve used chicken pieces, although you could also make it with leftover turkey if you have a lot of turkey to use up after the Big Day. It’s a complete meal cooked in one pan, so the washing up is minimal, and if you use tinned pulses it will take under an hour to make.

You can vary the vegetables as you choose, depending on what you like and what you happen to have available. Carrot, parsnip, turnip, swede* and cooking apple would all be quite at home. Similarly, you could use butter beans or haricot beans instead of chick peas.  It’s the sort of recipe that’s more of a general guide than a set of specific instructions, and will probably be different every time you cook it. Here’s the version I made the other day, in the middle of a busy week.

Winter chicken hotpot (serves 2)

2 oz (approx 50 g) dried chick peas, or twice the weight of tinned chick peas

Two chicken pieces (wings, drumsticks or thighs all work well)

8 oz (approx 250 g) butternut squash

4 oz (approx 125 g) leeks

Half a red pepper

2 oz (approx 50 g) mushrooms

1 small onion

1 clove garlic

Approximately 0.25 pint (approx 150 ml) water

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon medlar jelly** (optional)

1 lb (approx 450 g) potatoes

Soak the chick peas in cold water overnight. Rinse the soaked chick peas three or four times, then put them in a saucepan, cover with cold water, bring to the boil and then simmer for about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes until tender. If using tinned chick peas, follow the instructions on the tin.

If using chicken wings, halve them at the ‘elbow’ joint. This is quite easy with a sharp and strong cook’s knife. I find it easier to cut just on the lower side of the joint, where the wing has two small bones instead of the single thick bone in the upper part of the wing.

Peel the butternut squash, scoop out the seeds in the core, and cut the rest into chunks about 1.5 - 2 cm (0.5 - 1 inch) cubed.

Trim, wash and slice the leeks.

Remove the seeds from the red pepper and cut into pieces about 1.5 cm (about 0.5 inch) square.

Peel the mushrooms. Quarter them if small, or slice them if large.

Peel and chop the onion. Peel and crush the garlic.

Peel the potatoes and chop them into dice about 1 cm (about 0.5 inch) cubed.

Brown the chicken pieces in cooking oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat.

Add the chopped onion, squash, leeks, pepper and mushrooms. Fry until the vegetables are starting to colour. Stir in the crushed garlic.

Add the cooked chick peas and diced potatoes, along with the water, paprika and medlar jelly. Season with salt and black pepper.

Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes until the chicken and vegetables are all cooked. Stir from time to time, especially towards the end of the cooking time, as the potatoes tend to stick to the bottom of the pan when they are nearly cooked. If it starts to get dry, add a bit more water. 

*I believe previous discussions here established that the root vegetable that’s called ‘swede’ in the UK is called ‘rutabaga’ in the US

**Recipe for medlar jelly.  Crab-apple jelly or redcurrant jelly work equally well.

September recipe: Plum chutney

Plum chutney ingredients

Plums are abundant in August and September in most years.  They can be preserved in jam (recipe for plum jam here).  Plums also make an excellent chutney.  This recipe uses plums and windfall apples, and makes two large jars.

Plum chutney

1.5 lb (approx 700 g) plums, after removing the stones

12 oz (approx 350 g) apples, after preparing

8 oz (approx 250 g) onions

4 oz (approx 100 g) raisins

8 oz (approx 250 g) demerara sugar

0.5 pint (approx 300 ml) malt vinegar

0.5 teaspoon (0.5 x 5 ml spoon) ground cinnamon

0.5 teaspoon (0.5 x 5 ml spoon) ground ginger

0.5 teaspoon (0.5 x 5 ml spoon) ground mixed spice

0.5 teaspoon (0.5 x 5 ml spoon) salt

Wash the plums.  Remove the stones, and chop the plums into pieces of the size you would like to find in the finished chutney. I aim for pieces roughly 0.5 – 1 cm (0.25 – 0.5 inch) cubed.

Peel and core the apples.  If using windfalls, cut out any bruised areas.  Chop into pieces of the size you would like to find in the finished chutney.

Peel and chop the onions.

Put the chopped fruit and vegetables into a large saucepan, along with the raisins, sugar, vinegar, salt and spices.

Bring to the boil.

Simmer, stirring from time to time, until the fruit and vegetables are soft and the chutney has thickened.  I test for this by drawing a wooden spoon through the chutney. If the bottom of the pan is visible before the chutney flows back into the gap, I consider the chutney done.  This stage normally takes about 45 minutes for me; it may vary depending on your pan and cooker.

Remove the pan from the heat.

Pour the chutney into clean glass jars. I find the easiest way to do this is to pour the chutney into a heatproof jug first, then use the jug to fill the jars.

Seal the jars immediately. I use cling film and a screw-top lid, preferably a plastic lid as chutney will eventually corrode a metal lid.

Store in a cupboard for three months or so to allow the flavour to develop before eating.  The chutney will store for several years provided the seal stays intact.