I was kindly asked to contribute a cake recipe for Caught by the River. It was flattering, and I realised I needed to do some research into the best picnic characters, as I’m not myself a fisher woman, just yet. But I do like baking so felt I had a good start. But, where to begin?

My research naturally led me to a famed corner of Soho where I bumped into some roguish fellows who, as it happened, knew a thing or two about fishing. I tapped their resources, and found that cakes were not always actually the best thing to take to the river. This is because that perfect cake, carefully wrapped in foil and sent off with the fishermen, as the day commences, becomes squashed, warm and miserably marred. (editors note; not entirely true. all previous recipes have stood up to the test though the same cannot always be said of the fishermen.)

So cakes were out. Then, thanks to further discussions with those Soho fellows, I struck gold. My old favourite, Flapjacks: so easy you could instruct your child to make them; firm and unmashable (especially in some lovely Tupperware) and full of slow releasing energy for that lull in the fisherman’s concentration. These should ward off any listlessness and mine are full of flower honey, scented like a John Constable landscape.

120g unsalted butter
4 tbsp flower honey
75g golden caster sugar
240g quaker oates
½ tsp Maldon sea salt

Preheat the oven to 200C and line a small baking tray with grease proof paper. In a large sauce pan melt the butter and honey and sugar so that it is just beginning to amalgamate and bubbling in a fizzing way. Now add the oats and salt, using a spatula and carefully working so that the oats are entirely coated in the syrup. Turn this out into the baking tray and press down with a bendy knife or the spatula. You want it to be pretty dense and tightly packed. Place the tray in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the edges are just beginning to turn golden and the main surface is slightly rising. Remove from the oven and slice with a large knife whilst it is still soft and malleable. If you leave the slicing until the flapjacks are cool, then it is much harder to separate them.

for more Rosie we highly reccomend a visit to ‘Rosie’s Deli‘ in Brixton Market, South London. But if that’s not so easy, read her blog and pick up a copy of her new book, ‘Spooning With Rosie’ here.

Gooseberry cake.

Gooseberries have been grown in Britain since the reign of Henry VIII but reached their peak of popularity in the 19th century. During this time England was mad for gooseberries along with all the pies, puddings and wines that could be made from this amazing, hairy fruit.

Gooseberries prefer a cool, northern climate and thanks to the passion of English gardeners have thrived in places like Lancashire, Cheshire and Scotland. The fruit was so popular in the early 1800’s that many societies were formed to celebrate the diversity of colour, flavour and size. They held shows and competitions to show off the biggest and most flavoursome berries.

Lancashire was renowned for its’ large varieties, the most notable being a red variety called ‘Top Sawyer’. In 1819, one of these enormous berries weighed in at 26dwts 17grs – the size of a hens’ egg! Some competitions are still held today using the same weighing method of pennyweights and grain.

These days, gooseberries (or goosegogs as my Dad calls them) are not so fashionable but are a big part of our English summer and shouldn’t be overlooked. They are just coming into season now and the first small, green fruits are best for cooking. Later in the summer the larger red, yellow or golden varieties will be sweet enough to be eaten raw.

Gooseberry cake

125g butter
200g unrefined caster sugar
3 good eggs
75g plain flour
75g ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
About 350g gooseberries topped and tailed
30g flaked almonds

Wait for the butter to come to room temperature and then beat together with about 180g of the caster sugar (you need to keep some aside for later). When the mixture is pale and fluffy, start to mix in the eggs one at a time and if it begins to curdle add a spoonful of the flour. Add the rest of the flour and then the baking powder and ground almonds. Don’t over mix.
Spoon into a buttered, round 20cm cake tin and level off with a knife. You will need a cake tin with a loose bottom or a springform one so that you don’t lose all your flaked almonds when you turn it out.
Next, toss the gooseberries in the sugar that you kept aside and spread them on top of the cake. They will sink during cooking. Bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes then take out of the oven and sprinkle on the ground almonds. Bake for a further 15 mins or until firm to the touch. If the top of the cake is getting too brown, cover with foil during the last 10 mins cooking time.
To be eaten in the afternoon with a nice cup of tea, or for pudding with cream, mixed with elderflower cordial.

Wendy Barrett

In London the elderflowers are out. I always take this as a sign we are moving from spring to summer – although they do come out here a couple of weeks before the rest of the country. I like to make cordial with them which is dead easy to do and tastes supercharged compared to the stuff you can buy in the shops. 

Elderflowers are easy to recognise – in cities you find them on every unpromising bit of land, in the countryside just look in hedges. All parks in London have them somewhere. The flowers are cream coloured and grouped together in little umbrella shaped bunches. The season lasts about two weeks before the blossom start turning yellow and dying.

If you fancy following the cordial recipe below the tricky bit is getting hold of Citric Acid which you buy from a chemist. It comes in powder form and not everywhere stocks it. Once you find it i recommend buying their whole stock. Small, independent, out of town outlets are the best places to successfully score. 

To make the cordial pick 20-30 bunches of flowers. Give them a quick wash and put them in a large bowl. Then heat a litre of water and dissolve a 2lb bag of sugar into it. Turn the heat off, add 75 grams of citric acid and then pour this over the elderflowers. Cut up a couple of lemons, squeeze in the juice and then add the lemons too. Put a tea towel over the bowl and leave it for 24 hours (don’t worry if you leave it for longer). Then, drain it through a sieve into an old plastic bottle. I half- heartedly sterilise the bottle by rinsing it with boiling water. If you are using plastic bottles you need to do it quickly as the heat makes the bottle go wonky.

If it doesn’t taste amazing you can still fix it. Great cordial is all about balancing the sweetness with the acidity. Taste it and you can easily work what needs to be added. If you have run out of citric acid try adding more lemon juice. If you need to add sugar, it helps to warm the mixture to dissolve it – but if you can’t be bothered to do that some sugar will get absorbed if you stir it enough when it is cold. 

Also in blossom at the moment is the blackthorn. The flowers look a little like elderflowers but don’t grow in the telltale umbrella bunches. They are no use now, but worth remembering where you saw them as this is where you will find sloes in the late Autumn.

Mathew Clayton

So there we were, me and Andrew, minding our own business, enjoying the first pint of the day (at The Cow in Westbourne Park, the perfect place to ease yourself gently into tomorrow’s hangover) when a bloke comes up and asks us how the beer is. We’d gone off-piste that morning when we each opted for a pint of Wandle, mainly due to the fact that Andrew lives near it and we’re soon to publish a fantastic piece on the clean up of the river for the Caught By The River book (out in June, just put to bed this week). The beer, we said, was truly excellent – the perfect mellow session starter (Christ, to think that we used to be Firestarters round here). The chap, it turns out, has brewed the beer – he’s one of the partner’s in the recently set up Sambrook’s Brewery.

Sambrooks have brought brewing back to Wandsworth – a rarer sight since the demise of the Young’s Ram Brewery there a few years back. We drank more of the brew and began singing it’s praises, probably to the point where said chap got a bit scared that he’d asked the question of the wrong people – two early morning CAMRA heads who he’d never manage to shake off, it would be all talk of casks and mash and can we have a free one please. Luckily for him, we scooted off to to another engagement. All we wanted to say was – David, your beer is superb, keep up the good work, it made our day yesterday.

Robin

from Butt’s Brewery, Barbus barbus, described as ‘a cask ale, hoppy and well balanced without being sweet (4.6%ABV)’

“This is where it all started to go pear shaped as far as branding goes. Barbel bitter was one of the original ideas in day one, after being told it would just sell to a few quirky fishermen (of which I am one) the idea was ditched. A landlord of a pub who’s car park doubled up for Kennet fishermen had suggested producing a beer to celebrate the opening of the course fishing season. His pub just so happened to be called the Butt! Thanks to another artistic friend who happened to work in a printers ­ Barbus barbus (the latin name) was released, but unfortunately this cost him his job”.

That said, a look at Butt’s site today (careful) and not only is it still in production but the bottle has had a make-over and it’s rated as a decent ale. The brewery is in Hungerford and a diversion will be taken on our next trip to Barton Court. I think I might have just stumbled on a way of getting Andrew back on the ‘bank.

And whilst we are on the subject, several weeks ago Jakub and I enjoyed a post-fishing Guinness in the garden of the recently re-opened ‘Perch’ by the Thames at Medley. Very handy (and with some discretion it’s a great short cut back to the car park. A short cut via a pub. Honest). JB with thanks to Roy W

pic by Jimi

Dorset Apple Cake

October 21st is ‘Apple Day’, which since 1990 has celebrated the great British apple. Events are held all over the country to recognise its’ diversity and significance to our culture and kitchens.

There are endless varieties, including Golden Ball, Buttery D’Or, Desse de Buff, Neild’s Drooper and the wonderfully named Devonshire cider apple – Slack-ma-Gurdle.

Sadly, since the 1950’s many orchards have been in decline and lots of varieties are in danger of being lost. So, when buying apples, try to buy local and seasonal, or beg, steal and scrump from allotments and gardens.

Different regions of the country produce different apple types – eating apples, cider apples and cookers. Dorset soil is notable for its’ cider and cooking varieties. Although there are many different recipes for Dorset Apple Cake, they all seem to use cooking apples, as the acidity in the fruit helps them to form a puree during cooking which produces a soft, moist cake.

225 g butter
225g unrefined caster sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
3 good eggs
225g self raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
25g ground almonds
2 large cooking apples, (I used an unidentified organic cooker from a friend’s London allotment)
1 tablespoon Demerara sugar

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the lemon zest and then add the eggs, one at a time. Gradually add the sifted flour, baking powder and almonds. Peel and chop one of the apples and add to the batter. Peel and coarsely grate the other one and add also.
Transfer to a buttered 24cm tin and sprinkle the demerara sugar on top. Bake in a medium oven (180c) for an hour, covering with foil after 45mins if it browns too much. Leave to cool in the tin for 15 mins then remove and let it cool on a wire rack.
Dredge with caster sugar and eat!

For lots of great apple info. see ‘The Apple Source Book’ by Sue Clifford and Angela King . (WB)

In 1994 the Dark Star Brewery began life in the basement of the Evening Star, a Brighton pub a stone’s throw away from the railway station. They quickly found they could not keep up with demand and moved up the A23 to larger premises on a farm just outside the village of Ansty.

On a beautiful summer afternoon at the end of August, the day before my wedding, I drove over there to pick up forty litres of Hophead destined for the reception. Hophead came on the recommendation of my friend Ben, a beer aficionado, who had first discovered it drinking in the Wenlock Arms just off Old Street.

A pale golden beer, flat and with a big hoppy taste it weighs in at 3.8% meaning you can put a fair few pints back without falling over – perfect for wedding guests. £100 lighter but approximately 100 pints better off I headed for home. Remarkably the weather held the next day and Hophead provided a suitably refreshing accompanient to the bar b q and assorted entertainments.

To order direct from the brewery you need to ring up a couple of days in advance they will then pour the beer into polypins (big plastic containers) and store it in the cold room.

Dark Star Brewery
01444 412311