Wren's Recipies

Hi everyone, here we are again. This month's newsletter is all about the sun, so I pondered for a while about what sort of recipes to give you. Hopefully these will be just the ticket.

Thinking of the summer solstice put me in mind of the foods traditionally used to celebrate it. Mead is first and foremost the drink associated with the solstice, but having a look around, it seems there are many, many foods that are linked to midsummer.

I have chosen to pass on a recipe for sun dried tomato soup, which can be eaten hot or cold, and one for honey cakes.

The first recipe is taken from 'Grandma's Best Recipes', Paragon Books, 2007.

Sun Dried Tomato Soup

For 4 people
With tomatoes coming into season you can substitute the dried ones with 9oz of chopped fresh tomatoes to give the soup a summery, seasonal feel! If your tomatoes aren't yet ripe, this is a great way to use up the sun dried ones in your store cupboard.

50g/2oz butter
150-200g/6-8 oz sun dried tomatoes (or 9oz fresh tomatoes or a tin of chopped tomatoes)
1 onion, finely chopped
I pint vegetable or chicken stock
2tbsp shredded basil leaves
Pinch of sugar, salt and pepper

If you are using the sun dried tomatoes, place them in the warm stock for a minimum of half an hour to rehydrate them, then drain them before cooking.

Melt half the butter in a heavy-based saucepan and gently fry the onion until softened. Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and cook for approximately 5 minutes. Add the stock, bring back to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

Push the mixture through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon to remove the pips and skins. Return to the heat, add a pinch of sugar and the shredded basil. That's it, done! You can serve it hot or leave it to cool and then pop it into the fridge to chill before serving, it's just as nice either way.

Honey Cake

150g/6oz clear honey
125g/5oz butter
75g/3oz light muscovado sugar
2 eggs, beaten
175g/7oz self-raising flour, sieved
water

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 3 and butter and line the bottom of a 7inch/18cm cake tin.

Put the honey, butter and sugar into a large pan. Add a tablespoon of water and heat gently until melted.

Remove from the heat and gently mix in the eggs and flour. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and shrinking slightly from the sides. Cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.

While the cake is still warm, make the icing by mixing the sugar and honey together with 2-3 teaspoons of hot water. Trickle over the cake.

You can also split the mixture evenly into cake cases and make small cakes, adjusting the cooking time to around 15-20 minutes. They are done when well risen and golden, and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cakes comes out clean.

So there you have a perfect way to watch the solstice sunrise or sunset! Maybe toast the sun with some mead and most importantly enjoy whatever the return of the sun brings you. See you next time!

Wren

© Karen Dobbin 2009

If you want to make some mead for next year's summer solstice, click here for Andy's recipe from last month's newsletter.

Tomato photo (c)  Hagit 2008, Honey photo (c) hilaryaq - everystockphoto.com 2009