Perfect Fruit Cake

It's easy to make a perfect, moist fruit cake. This cake can be made with or without alcohol and you can choose the types of dried fruit you prefer. I like to use a semi dried fruit rather than something that has been too dessicated. It makes for a much tastier, moist cake. Also, I always use butter not artificial spreads and use less flour and sugar than most recipies would tell you to use.
For this cake (pictured) I marinated the dried fruit in whisky for 2 weeks before using.

Ingredients
170g butter
140g brown sugar
75g chopped walnuts
440g mixed dried cherries and dates
50g sultanas
1tsp baking powder
200-225g plain flour
3 large eggs - beaten
whisky to personal taste

Method

Preheat your oven to 170C, do not use fan assist for cake baking. Line a 16cm springform cake tin and set aside.

If you have one, use an electric whisk to cream your butter and sugar together, if not put effort into creaming them together as the more you beat them the lighter your finished cake. Slowly add the beaten eggs to the butter/sugar mix and incorporate well. Don't worry too much if the mix seems to curdle, you can add a spoonful of flour and mix that in. 

Now add the walnuts and all the dried fruits and mix them well into the butter, sugar, egg mix.

Add the tsp of baking powder and using a metal spoon, fold in the plain flour. Keep folding until all the flour is fully mixed into the wet mix.

Put the mix into your cake tin and bake for one hour without opening the oven. Check the cake with a metal skewer, if the skewer comes out clean the cake is done (depending on your oven, it may be cooked or may need between 5 and 20 minutes more).  After the first hour keep checking the cake every 5 minutes if it seems nearly cooked or after 15 minutes if the skewer is still quite covered in mix. Many recipies give a cook time of 2 hours or more, this is usually far too long and creates a dry cake.

Once the cake is cooked, leave it for a few minutes in the tin then turn out onto a cooling rack and if you are using alcohol, pour 2 tblsp of whisky over your cake while it is hot. Once it's completely cold wrap it in foil and set aside (if you can bear to not eat it!) for 2 or more weeks.

Enjoy

Focaccia

This is my simple, pretty much foolproof recipe for a perfect focaccia. It's a very easy to create different flavours of focaccia so you can easily use more garlic, or no garlic, sun-dried tomatoes or thyme instead of rosemary.. the choices are endless. You can use wholemeal flour instead of plain white but the texture will be different.
For this recipe I've used the garlic, rosemary and rock salt purely as toppings and not included them in the dough. If you want, increase the amount of garlic and rosemary, chop them finely and add to the dry ingredients before adding your water to make the dough.

Recipe
225g plain white flour (no need to use strong white flour)
1/2 tsp salt
1 sachet dried yeast
150ml warm water
1 tbsp good olive oil
Topping
5 or 6 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
several sprigs of rosemary
large grain sea salt
good extra virgin olive oil

Method
Put all of the dry ingredients into a bowl then add the tablespoon of olive oil, add the water and bring together into a rough dough. If you want to add garlic, rosemary and black olives to the dough do that before you add the water, then mix together. Make sure any additions are well chopped and not in too large pieces.

Once you have brought the ingredients together your dough should look something like this.
Using only a small amount of flour on a board or work surface knead the dough for 10 minutes or until it looks smooth and shiny.

Put the kneaded dough into a clean and lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a hot damp tea towel and leave in a warm place for 30-40 minutes. The time you need to rise the dough will depend on the temperature of the place you leave the dough. It will double in size and look slightly spongy when it's ready for a second light knead.

Once the dough has gone through the first rise, take it out of the bowl and on a lightly floured surface knead for a minute or two only. Roll out the dough to roughly 1cm thick. I like to bake my breads on an oven tray covered in parchment (baking) paper. That way I find you don't need to oil anything and the bread never sticks.
Traditionally focaccia is tear drop shaped but that's just a matter of aesthetics. Whatever shape yours ends up won't affect the taste!

I like to make my indentations (use knuckles) on the dough now, it's traditional to do it after the second rise and before you add any toppings. Cover the dough with lightly oiled clingfilm and allow it to rise a second time. At this stage I slice my garlic and wash the rosemary and pre-heat the oven to 200C, 400F or gas mark 6. By the time the oven is heated the bread will be ready for topping.

In the indentations (make them now if you didn't do them before) place the garlic slices, the sprigs of rosemary and a good sprinkling of extra virgin olive oil.
Bake in a heated oven for 25-28 minutes until golden brown. The bread is done when if you tap the underneath and it sounds hollow.
Put the bread on a cooling rack, pour some more olive oil over it and sprinkle a generous amount of sea salt over the focaccia.

Focaccia is best eaten straight away and is yummy with all kinds of dishes.

You can replace the garlic and rosemary with an equal amount of sun-dried tomatoes and thyme.

Lemon & Lime Pickle with Ginger & Chilli

Making pickle is very easy, just time consuming in terms of chopping the fruit and waiting for the pickle to mature. It's much cheaper to make your own and once you do you'll never go back to store bought. The beauty of doing your own is you can control the spice strength and the overall flavour. This recipe is one of my favourites from many trials.
Start with roughly the same overall amount of lemons to limes. I like it slightly more lime flavoured so have added one extra lime to this batch.
Ingredients
6 or 7 limes (unwaxed or washed and scrubbed)
3 lemons (unwaxed or washed and scrubbed)
1 tblsp chopped fresh ginger
3 fresh red chillies, chopped
1 tsp dried chopped chillies
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds
2 tbsp vinegar (any kind)
4 tbsp salt
1/2 tsp asafoetida (hing) for sterilising your jar
Method

Begin by gently roasting the dried chillies, coriander, cumin, mustard and nigella seeds until hot to the touch. Make sure you don't burn the mix or your final pickle will have a bitter flavour. Once the seeds become hot to the touch put the mix into a mortar and leave to cool.




While your spices are cooling, start chopping the lemons and limes retaining as much juice as possible. I like to cut the ends off the lemons and limes plus make sure there are no pips included. I know people who use the whole fruit, ends, pips and all so I leave that up to you. Put the retained juice with the vinegar into a jug and set aside. I like to cut each piece of fruit into at least 24 pieces. You'll find that once the pickle is ready to eat the pieces will be larger than when you first cut them and if you start with large pieces you'll end up with a pickle that's not as easy to eat. This is of course down to personal preference.

 In the pestle and mortar, grind your now cool masala mix. It's up to you how finely you grind your mix. I like a slightly coarse texture so don't grind the mix to a fine powder. Once the mix is to the texture you want, add the turmeric and mix in.

Chop the fresh chillies and the fresh ginger and set aside with the 4 tbsp of salt. Keep these ingredients separate.

Sterilise your clean jar by putting a small amount of asafoetida (hing) into a small frying pan and heating until the powder smokes. Place your jar over the smoke and let the jar fill with the asafoetida smoke, leave for one to two minutes. This is a very traditional Indian method of sterilising.

You are now ready to start layering all your ingredients. Begin with a layer of your masala mix, then add a layer of the fruit mix, add a few pieces of ginger and a few pieces of chilli, then a layer of salt. Continue in this way until all the mixes are used up. Finally add the retained juice/vinegar mix then seal the jar and leave it alone for 3 days.

On day 4 give your mix a good stir with the handle of a wooden spoon. Stir the mix every other day for 25 to 30 days after which time all the peel should be lovely and soft and all the flavours well developed. Any juices will also have thickened. If you are lucky enough to live somewhere with sunshine you can speed up the maturing process by placing the jar in sunlight for a couple of hours a day, make sure the jar is covered with a muslin cloth or a tea towel. Be patient, the end result will be worth the wait and the finished pickle can last for a very long time. It doesn't in my house as we eat it pretty quickly.
This is my fresh batch of pickle, made today so there's no photo of the final product. In 25 days or so I'll post a photo of the end result.

Perfect Lime Pickle

This is my recipe for lime pickle and even though it takes about a month before the pickle is ready for eating, it's worth the wait. This recipe makes a decent quantity which should last a while, unless you're like my friend Steve who eats it with everything. The last batch I made I decanted some from my large jar into smaller jars for gifts and gave away 5 jars of pickle and I still have plenty left for me. Use a glass screw top or lever top jar for storage. This pickle can last for a year or more but I guarantee you'll just keep eating it.

Ingredients
12 limes, preferably unwaxed

4 tblsp salt

10 small dried chillies, any heat you prefer

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 tsp nigella seeds

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

asafoetida - a pea sized amount

2 tblsp white vinegar (can use any other you like)

2 hot type fresh red chillies (optional)

zest of one unwaxed lemon (optional and not needed until pickle has 'proved')

Method

Finely chop the dried chillies and put them with the fenugreek seeds, nigella seeds and asafoetida into a heavy bottomed frying pan. Dry roast over a gentle heat until the chillies and seeds are hot to the touch. Do not over roast or they will become bitter. Set aside to cool. 

You need to retain as much juice from the limes as possible and the help release juice from each lime, roll the lime firmly on a wooden board before chopping it into small pieces. I would cut each lime into at least 16 pieces. Once all your limes are cut up, put the retained juice into a jar with the vinegar.

After washing your jar in hot water, sterilise your pickle jar by placing a small amount of asafoetida in a dry pan, heat up until smoking and place the jar upside down over the asafoetida and allow the jar to fill with smoke. Leave it for 2 minutes and your jar is ready for use.

Grind your now cool chillies and seeds in a mortar and pestle to a fine powder, add the turmeric powder, this is your masala mix. If you want to use the fresh chillies, finely chop them (include seeds) but keep separate from the dry mix.

Sprinkle a layer of masala mix over the bottom of the jar, add a layer of limes, a few fresh chillies and add a good 1/2 tsp of salt, keep layering in this way until all the masala, lime, fresh chillies and salt are used up. Finish by pouring in the juice and vinegar mix. 

Seal the jar and set aside for 3 days. On day 4, stir well with the handle of a wooden spoon, do not use metal. Stir the mix every other day for 25 - 30 days after which the limes should be beautifully soft and the pickle delicious. 

If you have good weather you can speed up the process by placing the jar in sunlight for a few hours, cover the jar with a muslin cloth or tea towel. To add a little extra zing and summer freshness, once the pickle has proved add the zest of a lemon.

Tomato and Basil Soup

This soup is easy to make, delicious and a very good way to use the glut of tomatoes we get at this time of year in Spain. I make two versions, one where I roast the tomatoes, onion and garlic and one where I don't roast. 
This recipe will make a generous portion for 4 people or enough for 6 as a starter. Use the best quality tomatoes you can find. Also, it freezes really well and it's simple to make larger quantities.
I always use skinned tomatoes but you can keep the skins on if you prefer. To skin just put the whole tomato in boiling water for a minute then take out and put into cold water to cool enough to handle, the skin will slide off. If you've roasted the tomatoes the skin will fall off easily once cooled enough to handle.
Non-Roasted Version
1 kg tomatoes (skinned)
1 medium onion finely chopped
3-6 cloves of garlic finely chopped (I like lots of garlic but use as much or as little as you like)
knob of butter 
1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1 good quality vegetable stock cube made up to 1 litre of stock
1/2 tub natural yoghurt
1 heaped tsp sambal badjak
1 tsp fresh lightly ground cumin
1/2 tsp fresh ground mixed pepper 
small handful fresh basil, chopped
salt to taste
Method
put butter and oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan on a medium heat. Finely chop the onion and garlic, add to the pan, stir to coat with oil and butter and cook until soft (around 7-10 minutes), after skinning the tomatoes, chop them retaining as much juice as possible then add tomatoes and juice to the pan, add the sambal, cumin and pepper, stir and after 2 minutes or so add the vegetable stock. Let everything simmer for 10-15 minutes, take off the heat and blend, put the soup back into the pan and taste, add salt if you think it needs it, add the yoghurt and basil and cook for 2 minutes on a low heat. Serve with crusty bread.

Al Andalus Trail 2011

Helen, Annick and I would like to wish all participants of this years Al Andalus Trail Ultra Marathon the best of luck.
We hope you all have a safe run and for those of you who are returning that you best last years times.

New Class Times

From Tuesday 21st June 2011 our summer class times will change to:

Tuesday - 18.00 to 19.30
Saturday - 16.00 to 17.30

Prices haven't changed so each class is 7.50euros if you pay per class or 25euros if you pay for 4 classes upfront. That covers any 4 consecutive classes.

Yoga Mat Bags SOLD OUT

Our yoga mat bags are now sold out. I'm not sure when more of these great bags will come into stock, but if you'd like one, email me and I'll add your details to a pre-order list.

Free Yoga + Picnic

Join us on Sunday 22nd May at Bermejales for a free hour long yoga session followed by a picnic. We'll meet at 12.30pm outside Meson Diego in Alhama de Granada and then head off to the lake taking as few cars as possible. Please bring your own drinks and something yummy for everyone to share at the picnic as well as a blanket or fold up chair, but don't worry if you haven't got your own yoga mat as I'll have some with me. If you'd like to make your own way to the lake we'll be on the campsite side just past the dolmen, I'm sure you'll see us. 

Please email or phone to confirm you'd like to join us.

News 2

Finally worked out the problem with photo upload so here is the photo of the new winter rugs. They certainly make floor work and meditation much more relaxing.

I was hoping this year that we could do some alfresco yoga followed by a picnic at lake Bermajeles, but the water is so high the area I wanted to use is now underwater! I'll search out another location and blog details asap.

News

It's been ages since I last had a chance to write on my blog. How people who update loads everyday manage to have a life as well I don't know! After a busy end of year I've been having a few weeks off but now we're back to normal with classes and retreats. 

Tiled floors are fantastic in the heat of summer but can be too cold for extensive floor work in winter. So the yoga room has a new addition of some large thick rugs for winter. The rugs were generously donated to us by Rani & Steve Saward.  Am having some trouble uploading photos to my blog, once I resolve this issue I'll upload photos of the winter layout.

The new year for us didn't start too well as two dear friends died. One after a long illness and the other very suddenly aged only 40. It does bring home the fact that we should try to live every moment as well as we can and to appreciate and love family and friends and show them this perhaps a little more often than we do.

Time is flying by and it's hard to believe that it's already February 8th.Life now goes past so fast that it's easy to let slide things that should be of more importance than just working and striving for more money. Don't get me wrong, money is great and when you have it opens up worlds of possibilities. But, the pursuit of material possessions doesn't make for happiness, just a need for more stuff. I've been trying to make more time to appreciate our wonderful countryside and just enjoying walking and sitting looking a the view. We are lucky here in that the weather is more often good than not and wherever you look there's something beautiful to see.

I wish everyone a happy and healthy 2011.