Parsnip and Walnut Cake/Salmon and broccoli with Lemon Butter
Yesterday I made a cake, but didn't publish for fear of giving away the 'secret ingredient' - parsnip. Now that the family have tried it and liked it, I can come clean, but I bet they wouldn't have tried it if they had known!
I came across the recipe in a magazine, and, a withering parsnip later, I was tempted to try it out. It sounded a bit carrot cake-y, but then they do come from the same family of root vegetables. Indeed, the Romans (yes, parsnips have been around that long) had trouble telling them apart, so no distinction was made between them at that time. All this bade well for a cake made with these sweet earthy roots.
Parsnip and Walnut loaf cake
150 ml sunflower oil
150 ml soft brown sugar (yes, this is ml, not g!)
1 large egg
1 ripe banana, mashed
150 g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
125 g parsnip, peeled and grated.
Handful of walnut pieces.
Topping:
60 g very soft butter
75 g icing sugar
75 g cream cheese
2 tsp maple syrup
Whisk together the oil, sugar and egg, until light and fluffy.
Mix all the dry ingredients with the parsnip.
Add the liquid mix and the banana, and fold together thoroughly before adding the walnuts.
Pour into a greased 1lb loaf tin and bake at 170 C for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
For the topping, I put all the ingredients together into a bowl (the recipe says to beat butter and sugar first before adding cheese gradually) and it worked ok. It needed a really good beat - I used the whisk in the end, but it turned out as I had expected it to. Add the maple syrup last.
Be careful taking the cake out of the tin. I tried to tap it out and disaster struck! The top half fell out and left the bottom half in the tin... I quickly popped it back together and managed to make it look like a loaf cake again. The cake is very crumbly, so be extra cautious at this stage. A photo will follow when I have made it next time... Despite all this the cake tastes goooood - just make sure you have spoons, forks, napkins and big plates for all the crumbles!
Salmon and broccoli with Lemon Butter
Salmon for dinner tonight, wrapped in Proscuitto again (see March). This time we had cubed potatoes (unpeeled), roasted in olive oil with slices of garlic (3 cloves), and I laid each bundled up salmon on a top to tail slice of seasoned fennel before drizzling with oil. I cooked broccoli simply, then made a lemon butter by grating lemon zest into 2 oz soft butter. When I served the salmon and fennel, I popped the butter into the dish with the juices of the fish and ham, and let it melt to make a rich buttery lemon sauce, which I poured over the broccoli and salmon. Delicious!
I came across the recipe in a magazine, and, a withering parsnip later, I was tempted to try it out. It sounded a bit carrot cake-y, but then they do come from the same family of root vegetables. Indeed, the Romans (yes, parsnips have been around that long) had trouble telling them apart, so no distinction was made between them at that time. All this bade well for a cake made with these sweet earthy roots.
Parsnip and Walnut loaf cake
150 ml sunflower oil
150 ml soft brown sugar (yes, this is ml, not g!)
1 large egg
1 ripe banana, mashed
150 g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
125 g parsnip, peeled and grated.
Handful of walnut pieces.
Topping:
60 g very soft butter
75 g icing sugar
75 g cream cheese
2 tsp maple syrup
Whisk together the oil, sugar and egg, until light and fluffy.
Mix all the dry ingredients with the parsnip.
Add the liquid mix and the banana, and fold together thoroughly before adding the walnuts.
Pour into a greased 1lb loaf tin and bake at 170 C for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the cake.
For the topping, I put all the ingredients together into a bowl (the recipe says to beat butter and sugar first before adding cheese gradually) and it worked ok. It needed a really good beat - I used the whisk in the end, but it turned out as I had expected it to. Add the maple syrup last.
Be careful taking the cake out of the tin. I tried to tap it out and disaster struck! The top half fell out and left the bottom half in the tin... I quickly popped it back together and managed to make it look like a loaf cake again. The cake is very crumbly, so be extra cautious at this stage. A photo will follow when I have made it next time... Despite all this the cake tastes goooood - just make sure you have spoons, forks, napkins and big plates for all the crumbles!
Salmon and broccoli with Lemon Butter
Salmon for dinner tonight, wrapped in Proscuitto again (see March). This time we had cubed potatoes (unpeeled), roasted in olive oil with slices of garlic (3 cloves), and I laid each bundled up salmon on a top to tail slice of seasoned fennel before drizzling with oil. I cooked broccoli simply, then made a lemon butter by grating lemon zest into 2 oz soft butter. When I served the salmon and fennel, I popped the butter into the dish with the juices of the fish and ham, and let it melt to make a rich buttery lemon sauce, which I poured over the broccoli and salmon. Delicious!
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| Salmon wrapped in Proscuitto |
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