Mr McGregor and I have had a great weekend catching up with family and very good friends. As usual when doing this we ate far too much, including some foods that remind us of our East Midlands origins. These treats included a Melton Mowbray pork pie, brawn and haslet. For those who are not familiar with these delicacies and with apologies to any vegetarians reading this, here are a few facts: Melton Mowbray pork pies are made within a small radius of Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire and the name is protected under European Law. The pie is made from uncured pork meat with a hand-formed crust and is baked free-standing with the result that the sides tend to bow outwards. A good pork pie really is a thing of beauty. Brawn on the other hand could never be described as beautiful, but I remember my grandmother making it when I was young. It is essentially a terrine made from a pig’s head – indeed, in Scotland it is known as ‘potted heid’. Finally, haslet is a pork meatloaf with herbs and lots of pepper – we occasionally had haslet sandwiches as children and I still think of it as a treat….
The weekend wasn’t a complete meat-fest, we also managed fish finger cobs (a cob is the Nottingham word for a bread roll and should be spoken in a Nottingham accent) and some delicious lemon curd cake. If you’re looking for Nottingham eateries, I can recommend The Larder on Goosegate in Nottingham, which serves good food and for added historical interest is housed in the building that was once home to Jesse Boot’s first shop (fore-runner of the world famous Boot’s the Chemists).
When we arrived home I wanted to bake something easy and comforting and this cardamom cake very much fits the bill. You can download the pdf here: Cardamom cake
Cardamom cake
20 green cardamom pods
250g Self Raising flour
½ teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
100g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
60g caster sugar
300ml natural yoghurt
20cm round tin, greased and bottom lined with baking parchment
- Preheat oven to 170°C
- Split the cardamom pods and crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar
- Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and ground cardamom seeds into large bowl
- Melt butter
- Put sugar in a large mixing bowl, add the melted butter and beat till well-mixed. Add the yoghurt and beat till you have a thick, creamy batter
- Add the flour in 3 lots, mixing carefully each time to make a thick mixture
- Spoon into baking tin and level out. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the top is golden brown and firm. Turn onto wire rack to cool
sweet enough bakes 