I am deep in the thick of winter cooking, where every meal owes its heart and soul to the grains and pulses in the cupboard and where sweet treats tend to come in the form of tobacco-brown cakes packed with dried fruit. I love this sort of cooking: brown rice pilaf and risotto, earthy, ochre-hued bean soups, and cakes spiced with black treacle, dried apricots and dates. Winter food for the coldest days of the year.
The store cupboard is working hard right now. The lentils and bulgur wheat, couscous and beans that sit quietly on the shelf all summer are getting their moment in the low winter sun. This week has seen a couple of bean soups on the table, a pilaf of brown rice and mushrooms. In the cake tin is an old-fashioned fruit loaf, heavy with brown sugar and sticky with dates. I kept it tightly wrapped, somewhat teasingly, for 24 hours before slicing, as you might a ginger or Dundee cake. It was worth the wait.
Mushroom pilaf, lemon and mint
The nutty quality of brown rice feels appropriate for a winter supper, but you can use white if you prefer, in which case you can forgo the 30-minute soaking and cut the cooking and resting times to 10 minutes. Use whatever mushrooms you have. I like to mix them, adding the larger, beefier varieties first, and the more delicate ones later. Serves 4
brown basmati rice 200g
onion 1, medium
groundnut oil 3 tbsp
garlic 2 cloves
dried chilli flakes 1/2 tsp
ground coriander 1 tsp
black peppercorns 6
green cardamom pods 6
cloves 4
For the mushrooms:
brown button mushrooms 200g
field mushrooms 150g
groundnut or vegetable oil 5 tbsp and
a little extra
small mushrooms 75g, such as shimeji
mint leaves a handful
lemon 1
Tip the rice into a deep bowl, generously cover with warm water, then gently swish the grains around in the water with your fingertips. Drain off the water and repeat twice more (there is something deeply soothing about this task). Now cover once more with warm water and set aside for 30 minutes.
Peel the onion, halve it, then slice thinly. Warm the oil in a shallow pan – I use a heavy 22cm-wide pan – over a low to moderate heat and add the onion. Cook, with the occasional stir, for about 15 minutes until soft and pale gold.
While the onion cooks, peel and crush the garlic to a coarse paste (use a garlic press or pestle and mortar), then stir into the onion. Continue cooking, stirring in the chilli, coriander and peppercorns. Break open the cardamom, remove the seeds and crush in a mill or with a pestle, then add to the onions. Drop in the cloves.
Drain the rice, add to the onions and aromatics, add ½ tsp of salt, then pour in enough water to cover the rice by 2cm (about 750ml). Bring to the boil, cover tightly with a lid, then lower the heat and leave to simmer for 15 minutes. Take off the heat and set aside without removing the lid.
Thickly slice the button mushrooms and slice the field mushrooms into finger-thick strips. In a frying pan, warm the oil over a moderately high heat, then add the sliced field mushrooms and fry for 5 to 6 minutes or so until they are starting to colour. Remove from the pan, then add the sliced buttons and a little more oil if necessary. Once they have started to colour, add the small, whole mushrooms and season lightly.
Roughly chop the mint and finely grate the zest of the lemon.
Remove the lid from the rice, check the seasoning, then stir in the mushrooms, mint and lemon.
Date cake with miso icing
A traditional, dark and densely packed fruit loaf. Serves 8
plain flour 250g
baking powder 1 tsp
salt a pinch
rolled oats 50g
soft dried apricots 100g
dates 200g
eggs 2
walnut halves 50g
malt extract 150g
light muscovado sugar 100g
black treacle 2 tbsp
espresso coffee 125ml, hot
For the miso glaze:
white miso paste 2 tbsp
boiling water 40ml
icing sugar 180g
dried apricots 3
dates 3, stoned
You will need a deep 20cm x 9cm cake tin lined with baking paper.
Preheat the oven to 160C/gas mark 3.
In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oats. Cut the apricots into thick strips, then cut the dates in half and discard their stones, then roughly chop and add to the flour. Break the eggs into a small bowl and beat lightly. Roughly chop the walnuts.
Put the malt extract, muscovado sugar and treacle in a small saucepan and warm over a moderate heat, without stirring, until the sugar has dissolved. Pour the warm malt and sugar mixture into the flour together with the coffee, chopped walnuts and the beaten eggs.
Pour the mixture into the lined baking tin – it should be a little runny. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes until risen and quite firm. Remove from the oven and leave, in its tin, to cool.
Put the miso paste into a small bowl. Pour in the water and stir to dissolve the miso, then stir in the icing sugar. Spoon the miso icing over the cake. Thinly slice the dried fruit and scatter over the cake.
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