Norwegian Apple Pie

This blog is turning into a real life version of Apple Pigs. Still, I’m enjoying all the apple-y goodness, even if you’re getting bored and if you are getting bored, I apologise, but I was given 15 immense apples and have two more apple recipes planned. When I was pondering what next to do, I remembered that Scandinavian Cooking (Beryl Frank 1976) had several recipes for apple cake. (In fact it has three apple cakes and three apple puddings. The book was obviously written before Scandinavian governments decided to intervene in the health of their citizens by cutting beef and dairy subsidies and raising berry farming subsidies.) This one appealed to me because it’s simple, it includes lots of nuts (yum) and it doesn’t require butter, which is great for when you want to bake something, but don’t want to use up all your butter and then have to get properly dressed and go out and buy some more.

Uncooked Cake

This is another from Cassell’s Country Cookbooks – The Cotswolds (1975). Undeterred by the complete failure that was the Savoury Omelette I decided to make a cake from this book. It’s very similar to a cake that I used to make as a child which I remember being called Kunzle Cake, and I although I’ve come across this type of cake as an adult, I’ve never heard anyone else call it a Kunzle Cake. Kunzle cakes do seem to be a thing, but what you see on that site is a whole other type of cake. God only knows what was going on there. Anyhow, in my head, this type of cake is called a Kunzle cake, and I used to make them a lot. They were pretty much my favourite foodstuff as a child – really easy to make, no cooking required, simple ingredients, and tasty. Very tasty.

Mamaliga fripte (cornmeal fritters) and Balkan nut and garlic sauce

It’s National Vegetarian Week, so find a vegetarian and eat them! Mmmm – corn-fed!

Ahem. I was a vegetarian in my mid to late teens (around the time I started cooking) and eat meat a two or maybe three times a week currently (and no, I don‘t refer to myself as a ‘flexitarian‘, a ‘vegan until 6pm‘ or any such precious, guilt-addled nonsense). We have lots of vegetarian recipes on the blog (as you can see from the index), several of which have become things I eat  regularly – particularly fasolakia, porotos granados and artichoke dip.

First off however, is a simple recipe which I remember my mother teaching me to cook as a young ‘un, though I haven’t made it for years. (Mamaliga is the Romanian term for this dish, incidentally.)

Salade Alice

Another recipe I have been waiting for an excuse to make and which I hoped might provide a some variety to the selection at our party, as it’s base ingredients weren’t butter, cheese or white flour.

I feel, however, that Escoffier is probably spinning in his grave. This comes from the Salade Composées (Compound Salads) section of Ma Cuisine (Paul Hamlyn, 1934).