Cookbook Challenge 2013 - Week 11

This week turned out to be more of a baking week, with only one new recipe being an evening meal. Mothering Sunday is always an opportunity to do something a bit different, I mean of course there are always the obligatory flowers, but this time I thought I’d put together an afternoon tea. To make the most of the forced rhubarb season I decided to make some Rhubarb & Ginger Jam and serve it on Ginger & Buttermilk Scones (both recipes from BBC Good Food). So cue the 7am baking session on, I mean no one likes a stale scone now do they! Having made an abundance of jam and scones I was able to pack my husband off to his Mum’s with a little selection of goodies too – which he may or may not have taken full credit for.

 

Having given up chocolate for lent I wanted to find something tasty to bake that would satisfy my craving for something sweet and not ruin my resolution – so after consulting with my husband I chose Sticky Ginger Loaf from Annie Bell’s Baking Bible. This was an incredibly easy recipe, and I always like a recipe where you melt the butter, as the cold weather doesn’t exactly make it easy to ‘soften’ it (in the summer I can just leave it on the kitchen windowsill for half an hour). The cake does need ‘maturing’ for 24 hours before eating so I did have to hide it away until it was ready for consumption. When he finally got to try some hubby gave it two very enthusiastic thumbs up so I shall definitely be making this one again.

And on a none-baking note I made Rigatoni with Aubergines, Garlic & Cherry Tomatoes from Gino’s Pasta. Being a huge fan of the aubergine this was always fairly likely to impress me and it did. It took a little longer than specified to cook it down but I’d rather take the time to do it properly than be faced with a plate of rubbery aubergine.

Recipe Count: 36
Target: 52