No, not all three at once - even I draw the bloody line! I don't think I've ever eaten real Simnel cake and for some reason woke up with "Simnel Cake" the first thing on my mind - I vaguely knew what went in it (it's a very light fruitcake and has marzipan in it, what more is there to know?!) - so when I went to Sainsbury's, I picked up some eggs, butter and so on such that I could make one! I was after some meat to make something for The Challenge but spotted some fillet steak on offer (a mere £7 - I'm allowed it every 2 months, maximum - the cost and the cholesterol ain't good for me!), so I treated myself. I was going to have it tomorrow but baking simnel cake ran me out of energy and steak is a quick meal for me, given I'm firmly in the "cut its head off, wipe its arse and get it on the plate" school of steak cookery! I did it with some sweet potato wedges, cooked with rosemary - it was a Covington this time - rose-coloured skin and bright orange flesh and a lovely sweet, warm flavour. And reading the variety name caused me to sing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" in the original 1976 key - which is a lot higher than the Paige/LuPone keys - or at least has bigger key change for "And as for fortune...".
I read several simnel cake recipes online and hybridised them and rejigged the measurements as I wanted to bake a loaf (slices fit into the freezer more easily etc). I took myself over to The Flavour Thesaurus to see what they had to say about almonds and guess what sits nicely with them?! Roses! Not really a surprise, given both belong to the Order Rosales. The recipe I found originally needed the juice of 2 oranges - something I didn't have - but a bit of Googling later, I managed to work out that that was 125mL of liquid that I needed to find. It was clear that rosewater would be involved and a quick raid of the booze cabinet gave me triple sec and amaretto and what goes well with orange fruit liqueur? Orange blossom water! Different flavour profile entirely but an obvious combination. As for fruit, I found every recipe online used different things, so I just used up a few things and ended up with quite a random combination but hey ho - that's why I love cooking so much - it's therapeutic in that there are no rules! As a scientist, every synthesis I perform or culture medium I make is reigned in by rules - so not having to follow a strict protocol at home is always a nice change!
The eggs I got reduced are worth a mention - they fell out of the Old Cotswold Legbar, which is a nasty horrible chicken (as all chickens obviously are) but their eggs are beautiful pale blue with almost red yolks.
Simnel Cake
(this would do an 8" round pan of the deep variety or, as I used, a 2-lb loaf tin)
450g dried fruit [for me, this was 150g raisins, 40g cranberries, 30g cherries, 15g apple-infused blueberries, 15g apple-infused strawberries, 50g apricots, 80g mixed candied peel, 20g crystallised stem ginger chips and 50g halved glacé cherries]
2 tbsp amaretto
2 tbsp triple sec
1 tbsp rosewater
1 tbsp orange flower water
4 tbsp hot water
200g unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
200g sugar (I used 50g unrefined molasses sugar and 150g white granulated sugar)
4 eggs (I used very pretty ones from Cotswold Legbars as they were reduced - blue eggs with almost red yolks!)
2 tbsp 1% fat milk (I used UHT as always)
350g self-raising flour
Icing sugar (about 2 tbsp)
2 tbsp pudding spice (I made my own: 1" cinnamon stick, 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp caraway seeds, 1 tsp ground nutmeg, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp allspice - mix together and grind as fine as you can - use immediately)
About 400g marzipan - I used the golden type because it's "traditional".
1 tbsp melted jam - traditionally apricot but bugger it, I used raspberry!
Pre-heat the oven to 160°C (or 140°C for fan ovens). Mix all of the dried fruit you are using in one bowl and add the liqueurs, flower waters and hot water and mix very thoroughly. Leave the fruit to 'marinade' for 15 minutes and then sprinkle with the pudding spice and mix again so that it's all well-coated. Meanwhile, roll out enough marzipan to make a 0.5cm-thick sheet that is big enough for your loaf tin (which must be buttered unless you're using silicone as I did) - use icing sugar to stop it sticking when rolling it out and once it's ready, coat both sides with icing sugar.
Put the butter, milk, eggs, flour and sugar into a bowl and mix using an electric mixer until well-combined and homogeneous. Add the soaked fruit along with their liquid and mix thoroughly.
Roll out another sheet of marzipan and whatever decorative touches you want and apply to the top of the cake using hot jam as 'glue' - I did a lattice instead of a solid sheet. Grill or blowtorch the surface until slightly toasted.
Steak and Sweet Potato Wedges
(Serves 1)
1 fillet steak
1 sweet potato (I used a Covington)
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
4 tbsp olive oil
1 sprig of rosemary
Salt and pepper
Unwrap the steak and leave it at room temperature for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 180°C (or 160°C for fan ovens) and peel the sweet potato and cut it into wedges. Pour 2 tbsp oil into a small oven-proof dish and add the wedges, rolling them so that they are coated. Sprinkle with freshly cracked pepper (I used Bristol blend but black is second best) and rosemary leaves and put into the oven. Bake for 45 minutes.
Heat the rest of the oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat and meanwhile cut the onion and garlic into slices. Cook them until they soften but don't darken in colour. Sprinkle pepper over both sides of the steak and push the onions to one edge of the pan to keep warm.
Seer both sides of the steak in the middle of the pan for 5 seconds on each side and then return to the first side and cook for 1m30 then flip and cook for 1m30. Meanwhile, put the sweet potato wedges onto a plate with the onions and garlic then add the steak, season and eat immediately for it is a feast!
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