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Chocolate Fruit Cake

Preparation time 30 mins to 1 hour
Cooking time over 2 hours

Ingredients
 
350g/12oz dried soft prunes, chopped
250g/8oz raisins
125g/4oz currants
175g/6oz unsalted butter, softened
175g/6oz dark muscovado sugar
175ml/6fl oz honey
125ml/4fl oz coffee liqueur
2 oranges, juice and zest only
1 tsp mixed spice
2 tbsp good quality cocoa
3 free-range eggs, beaten
150g/5ýoz plain flour
75g/2ýoz ground almonds
ý tsp baking powder
ý tsp bicarbonate of soda

For decoration

25g/1oz dark chocolate-covered coffee beans
edible glitter
gold mini balls
about 10 edible gold stars

Method
 
1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2.
2. Line the sides and bottom of a 20cm/8in, 9cm/3ýin deep, round loose-bottomed cake tin with a layer of reusable silicon baking parchment. When lining the tin with the parchment, cut the material into strips that are twice as high as the tin itself (it is easier to use two shorter strips of parchment, than one long strip); the height of the strips protects the cake from catching on the outside of the cake tin.
3. Place the fruit, butter, sugar, honey, coffee liqueur, orange juice and zest, mixed spice and cocoa into a large wide saucepan. Heat the mixture until it reaches a gentle boil, stirring the mixture as the butter melts. Let the mixture simmer for ten minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat and leave to stand for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, the mixture will have cooled a little. Add the eggs, flour, ground almonds, baking powder and bicarbonate soda, and mix well with a wooden spoon or spatula until the ingredients have combined.
5. Carefully pour the fruitcake mixture into the lined cake tin. Transfer the cake tin to the oven and bake for 1ý-2 hours, or until the top of the cake is firm but will has a shiny and sticky look. At this point, if you insert a sharp knife into the middle of the cake, the cake should still be a little uncooked in the middle.
6. Place the cake on a cooling rack. Once the cake has cooled, remove it from the tin.
7. To decorate, place the chocolate-covered coffee beans in the centre of the cake and arrange the gold stars around the perimeter of the top of the cake. Then sprinkle some gold mini-balls over the whole of the cake. Sprinkle the edible glitter over the top of the cake.

Recipe taken from FEAST  by Nigella Lawson, published by Chatto & Windus

Crab cakes

Makes 40
Preparation time less than 30 mins
Cooking time 10 to 30 mins

Ingredients
4 spring onions, chopped
1 garlic clove
500g/1lb 2oz white crabmeat
3 tsp Japanese wasabi
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp tamari or Japanese soy sauce
100g/4oz brown rice flour
groundnut or other vegetable oil for frying
limes sliced into segments, to garnish

Method
1. Place the garlic and the spring onions into the bowl of a food processor and blend until they become finely chopped.
2. Add the crabmeat, wasabi, rice vinegar, tamari or soy sauce and the rice flour to the bowl. Blend the mixture again until it has combined to form a rough paste.
3. In a large frying pan, add enough oil to fill the panto a depth of 0.5cm/ýin. Heat the oil until a breadcrumb sizzles and turns golden-brown when added (CAUTION: Hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended).
4. Roll teaspoonfuls of crab mixture into balls with your hands. Flatten the balls slightly and carefully place them into the hot oil. Fry the crab cakes until they turn golden-brown on both sides and are cooked through (only cook 8-10 crab cakes in the pan at one time so that they can be turned quickly and the oil temperature doesn't drop too much). Drain the crab cakes on kitchen paper.
5. To serve place the crab cakes on a clean plate and place the lime segments around the plate.

Recipe taken from FEAST  by Nigella Lawson, published by Chatto & Windus

Spiced and super-juicy roast turkey

Serves 12
Preparation time overnight
Cooking time 1 to 2 hours

Ingredients

For the turkey
4-5kg/9-11lb turkey
6 litres/10 pints 11fl oz water
125g/4oz packet table salt
3 tbsp black peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp caraway seeds
4 cloves
2 tbsp allspice berries
4 star anise
2 tbsp white mustard seeds
200g/7oz caster sugar
2 onions, quartered
1 x 6cm/3in piece of ginger, cut into 6 slices
1 orange, quartered
4 tbsp maple syrup
4 tbsp clear honey
handful fresh parsley, optional (only if you've got some parsley hanging around)
For the basting glaze
75g/2oz butter
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Method
1. For the turkey, place the water into your largest cooking pot or bucket/plastic bin and add all the turkey ingredients, stirring to dissolve the salt, sugar, syrup and honey. (Squeeze the juice of the orange quarters into the brine before you chuck the pieces in.)
2. Untie and remove any string or trussing attached to the turkey, shake it free and add it to the liquid. Add more water if the turkey is not completely submerged. Keep the mixture in a cold place, even outside overnight or for up to a day or two before you cook it, remembering to take it out of its liquid (and wiping it dry with kitchen-towel) a good 40 or 50 minutes before it has to go into the oven. Turkeys - indeed this is the case for all meat - should be at room temperature before being put in the preheated oven. If you're at all concerned - the cold water in the brine will really chill this bird - then just cook the turkey for longer than its actual weight requires.
3. For the basting glaze, place the butter and syrup into a saucepan and cook over a low heat, while stirring, until the ingredients have melted and combined.
4. Brush the turkey with the glaze before roasting, and baste periodically through out the turkey roasting time.
5. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Cook the turkey for half an hour at this relatively high temperature, then turn the oven down to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and continue cooking, turning the oven back up to 220C/425F/Gas 7 for the last quarter of an hour or so if you want to give a final, browning boost to the skin. For a 4-5kg turkey, allow two-and-a-half to three hours in total. But remember that ovens vary enormously, so just check by piercing the flesh between leg and body with a small sharp knife: when the juices run clear, the turkey's cooked.
6. Just as it's crucial to let the turkey come to room temperature before it goes in to the oven, so it's important to let it stand out of the oven for a good 20 minutes before you actually carve it.

Recipe taken from FEAST  by Nigella Lawson, published by Chatto & Windus

 

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