Foodie heaven

I was watching a documentary recently about the life of Myrtle Allen, the doyenne of fabulous Irish food and the matriarch of Ballymaloe House. It was a fascinating story of one woman's determination to source and cook good, wholesome, seasonal Irish food, be it for family, friends or paying customers in her restaurant. Myrtle Allen - and the Ballymaloe restaurant and cookery school - has had an incredible effect on the food scene in Ireland over the last 50 years. There is certainly much to be grateful for, with the increasing availability of Irish artisanal foods, farmer's markets and wonderful places to eat and browse (hello Avoca!). I ate in a cafe / deli last weekend in Killarney (Wholesome Fayre), after a long walk in the National Park, which was wonderful from its delicious food (a chocolate cake to rival my own), right down to its Irish craft beer menu. It makes me so happy to find places like that, but then of course, it only increases the gloom that descends when you come across a bad eatery.

In spite of the progress that's been made, it can still be incredibly hard to get really fabulous food in the various towns and villages around the country. As an archaeologist who has wandered the length and breadth of Ireland for work, I can safely say that Foodie Heaven it is not. Granted, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool city girl who loves her coffee and I get very grumpy when I can't get a decent cup of the stuff everywhere I go (apologies to all you tea-drinkers out there, but tea is no good - makes me nauseous). I'm also, admittedly, rather fussy about my food (in case you hadn't noticed). Now don't get me wrong, when I say 'fabulous food', I don't mean haute cuisine or anything too clever or fussy, I simply mean good, seasonal ingredients that are cooked well. I'd be quite happy with a toasted sandwich for lunch, if it's on fresh, non-factory-made bread, with some Irish cheese and maybe some baked ham and chutney (without an 'anything that was in the fridge' salad and the ubiquitous raw red onion on the side, thank you very much). Fabulous doesn't have to mean complicated and using local, seasonal and Irish artisanal products can only be a good thing for everyone involved.


It was with these thoughts that I sat down with all of my baking books to search for something lovely to make for Mam's birthday a couple of weeks ago. I knew that luscious and decadent cakes or desserts would not be on the menu - Mam might nibble on the odd piece of chocolate cake if it's offered (albeit after scraping most of the icing off - I know!!), but as I've mentioned before, it's really not her cup of tea (so to speak - though she does like tea, by the way). So I went back to basics and thought about something seasonal, using fruit - yummy crumble, warm from the oven? - that you could also serve on a pretty platter and stick in a candle or two for the birthday celebration (not fruit crumble then). Happily, I came across a promising recipe for a fruit crumble cake, from a book called 'Weekend Baking' by Sarah Randall (if you'd like to try it, the recipe is below). It was only after I'd made the cake (perfect recipe and result) that I read her bio at the back and discovered that she has worked with Delia Smith for years, developing recipes for her books and TV programmes.

It's a very moreish cake, with a sponge base, topped with blackcurrant jam, raspberries and a lovely, nutty crumble. The sponge base stays very moist and light, thanks to the mix of flour and polenta and the addition of Greek yoghurt, and although both sponge and crumble are sweet, this is off-set by the tart jam and berries. In fact, the cake proved such a success that I had a phone call from her yesterday, looking for the recipe so that she could make it (she had a rare yearning for something sweet). Fortunately for me, I'm heading up there this evening and (hopefully) there should be some left-over. If all goes to plan, I'll be working off a big slice of crumble cake tomorrow, when I'm out field-walking once more (with perhaps a slice to nibble on as I go!).
Blackcurrant, berry and hazelnut crumble cake
Sponge base:
150g butter, softened
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
125g self-raising flour
50g polenta (cornmeal)
1 tsp baking powder
finely grated zest of 1 small lemon
50g Greek yoghurt

175g blackcurrant jam (this works well because of its tartness, but blackberry or damson would do nicely)
175g raspberries (or other berries) - I happened to have extra raspberries, maybe 25g-50g and threw those in too, so the cake was extra fruity, to no ill effect.

Crumble topping:
100g chopped hazelnuts (almonds or mixed nuts would work too) - I roasted the nuts for about 5 mins in a hot oven to bring out their flavour, before adding them into the crumble mix.
75g Demerara sugar (I didn't have any so substituted soft brown sugar)
75g butter, chilled and cubed
100g self-raising flour.

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and grease a 23cm springform tin (c. 6cm deep), lining the base with baking parchment. Make the crumble topping first by mixing the sugar, butter and flour in the food processor until combined, then add 2 dessertspoons of cold water and briefly whizz again until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the nuts. If you like, you could do this the old-fashioned way, rubbing the butter into the flour by hand, then adding the sugar, water and nuts.

To make the sponge, put the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, polenta, baking powder, lemon zest and Greek yoghurt in an electric mixer and mix until combined. Spoon the mixture into the base of the tin, spreading it evenly. Loosen the jam by stirring it briskly in a bowl, then dollop it over the cake mixture with a spoon. Gently spread the jam over the top of the cake mixture by swirling it with a round-headed knife. Sprinkle a third of the crumble over the jam, then scatter the berries on top. Finally, add the rest of the crumble topping, put the tin on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour 5 mins - 1 hour 10 mins (until just set in the middle). Leave it to cool in the tin before releasing it.