Archive for June, 2009

Our new place in the country… we hope

Published on June 8, 2009 in Personal and photos. 2 Comments

Our New Home (I Hope)

(More photos here!)

The lease on our London flat is coming to an end so Tim and I have decided to go for something completely different and move to the countryside. After several weeks of mildly stressful house-hunting, I think our search is finally over. Today we found an awesomely cool converted barn in the middle of freakin’ nowhere (Oaksey, UK).

The place is a cool old barn with wood beams and a neat stone wall, but with lots of cool modern features like an open-plan living space and a big window opening out onto a massive south-facing garden (we think we’ll get a dog).

The pic above looks a bit suburban with its well-mown lawn, but up close it’s a nifty old barn made of Cotswold stone that looks out onto the country. Rumor has it we’ll even have some cows coming to visit us from time to time. I look forward to pimping out the garden with a bbq, table and chairs, an herb garden, and other good stuff.

The barn is located on Clattinger Farm, a 60.3 hectare enclave owned by the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust and a “Site of Special Scientific Interest”. It’s a little grassland oasis full of wildlife and pretty flowers. Plus, it’s on the outskirts of the Cotswolds, a range of hills in the south west of England and a designated “Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty”. I’m so excited to move. There will be lots of walking, cooking, working on our own thing, being free, and hopefully playing with our dog in the peaceful, English countryside.

Here’s a little snip about the farm from The Wiltshire Wildlife Trust:

Clattinger Farm is a precious remnant of a near-vanished type of grassland, the hay meadow. Its fabulous richness as a wildlife habitat is a tribute to the previous owners who farmed it traditionally, without artificial fertilisers. Acquired by the Trust in 1996, it is considered the finest remaining example of enclosed lowland grassland in the UK and is of international importance for its hay meadow wildflowers. It has legal protection as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, and is part of a Special Area of Conservation.

Clattinger Farm is breathtaking in June, when the wildflower meadows are at their most colourful. A walk around the nature reserve will offer a glimpse of plants that were once common, but some of which are now extremely rare. Several species of orchid, including the Southern Marsh-orchid (Dactylorhiza praetermissa), and the nationally rare Downy-fruited Sedge (Carex filiformis), are amongst its treasures.

Earlier in the season, in April, you can see the fragile, nodding heads of the Snakeshead Fritillary (Fritillaria meleagris), once common enough to pick by the armload, but now surviving only in a few protected spots.

And a few more pics of the place:

House Hunting - Barn Conversion - The One?

House Hunting - Barn Conversion - The One?

House Hunting - Barn Conversion - The One?

House Hunting - Barn Conversion - The One?

I shouldn’t get too excited. We still need to fill in the application and get all our references approved. But I’m excited.

Orange Polenta Birthday Cake

Published on June 1, 2009 in food and recipes. 1 Comment

Orange Polenta Cake

Happy birthday to Tim! And what’s a Tim’s birthday without a birthday cake? So today I made an orange polenta cake from a book Tim generously gave ME a few months ago: Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi, a London chef known for his particularly delicious and uncompromising vegetarian food.

This was my first foray into the cookbook, and my first polenta cake. Neither will be my last. We both loved the cake. It was a bit of a faff to make, only because I’ve never made caramel before and it took me three attempts to get it right (these instructions from Delia online and this video from Gordon Ramsay were particularly helpful).

My cake looks pretty close to the one in the book. And I’m pretty sure it tastes just as good. I’m happy. Tim, too.

My Cake Versus The Picture

Orange Polenta Cake

For Caramel Orange Layer

1/2 cup superfine granulated sugar
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into bits
2 navel oranges

For Cake

1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup superfine granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons orange-flower water
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups ground almonds (7 oz)
2/3 cup quick-cooking polenta

For Glaze

1/4 cup orange marmalade
1 tablespoon water

Make Caramel Orange Layer:

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Lightly butter a 9-inch round cake pan, then line bottom with a round of parchment paper and side with a strip of parchment.

Bring sugar and water to a boil in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved, then wash down any sugar crystals from side of pan with a pastry brush dipped in cold water. Boil, without stirring, swirling pan occasionally so caramel colors evenly, until dark amber.

Remove from heat and add butter, swirling pan until incorporated, then carefully but quickly pour caramel into cake pan, tilting it to coat evenly.

Grate zest from oranges and reserve for cake. Cut remaining peel, including white pith, from both oranges with a paring knife. Cut oranges crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Remove any seeds and arrange slices in 1 layer over caramel.

Make Cake:

Beat butter with sugar using an electric mixer until just combined. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in orange-flower water and reserved zest.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. With mixer at low speed, mix almonds, polenta, and flour mixture into egg mixture until just combined.Spread batter evenly over oranges (preferably with an offset spatula). Bake until a wooden pick inserted into center comes out clean, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Invert cake onto a cake plate and discard parchment.

Glaze Cake:

Heat marmalade with water in a small saucepan until melted. Strain through a sieve into a small bowl. Brush top of cake with some of glaze. Serve warm or at room temperature.