Pear, Almond and Tahini Cake

This is The Haggis and Herrings first food post since the passing of my brother Daniel who quite proudly ran this blog.  Meredith and I really never knew when we would post again about food... until now.  So here I am, mainly on behalf of Meredith the baker and me (Abisaac) the taster.

So why now?  Before Daniel passed away he pre ordered for Meredith's birthday the recipe book "Saved by Cake, over 80 ways to bake yourself happy" by Marian Keyes.  The book arrived after Daniel passed away, but before her birthday.  At the time, he ordered it knowing how much Meredith loves to bake.  After all Meredith's finger prints are all over this blog when it comes to baking.  Looking back the title of the recipe book was fitting to the situation that unfolded.  I'm not sure if Meredith looked at the book much before this weekend or not because I didn't ask, but when I tasted the cake and she told me why she baked this particular cake, I knew this was something to post.

I said "Tahini in a cake? Seriously? " She explained "This would have been the first cake Dan would have made me make and he would have said exactly that!". So she made it and shared it with others.  Without knowing what was in the cake, I really wouldn't have known tahini was in it.  I got the pear right away, although I thought it was apple (I guess I don't have the most refined palette).  The cake reminded me of a crumble cake because it was very moist inside.

I hope we can do more of this within time!  It certainly felt good to blog here!  Check out the recipe below.

So here is the recipe with a few adaptions by Meredith:

Ingredients:
240 g tahini
260g date syrup (Meredith used maple syrup)
1 teaspoon baking soda
220g flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g almonds, chopped roughly
150g pears, peeled and diced into 2cm cubes (Meredith used canned pears as a substitute listed in the recipe book)
250ml apple juice (if you used canned pears, just use the juice in the can)

Directions:
Grease 23 cm cake tin and line the base with baking paper.  Preheat oven to 325F

Give the tahini a quick stir while it's still in the jar.  This is because tahini usually separates itself when standing.  Pour into a mixing bowl and beat with syrup.  Add the baking soda and mix again.

In a separate bowl, combine the sieved flour, cinnamon, almonds and diced pears.  Add a third of the flour nut mix to the tahini and mix.  Add half the pear juice and mix.

Add another third of the flour and the other half of the juice.  Finish with the remaining flour and mix until combined.

Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 45 minutes.  After 30 minutes drop the over temp to 325F and cover the cake loosely with tinfoil for the final 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.  The recipe book doesn't recommend any toppings, but we decorated it with some extra almonds.

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New at the Haggis and Herring

Please welcome J3

Jonathan Morgan Saraga

Born Dec 29

Everyone is great now that Mom is over the shock of having three sons!!!  I was seriously thinking girl.  My apologies to Jonathan for calling him Stella for the last 9 months.

 J1 is thrilled to have another brother.  J2 had no idea what to make of things but kept pointing at him saying "baby" so that seems fine.

Thank you all for all the love and support!

M and the J's


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Rickard's Cardigan Beer-braised Ribs

NOTE: This post was scheduled by Daniel Saraga of Haggis and Herring before he suddenly passed away.  We have decided to ensure his scheduled posts continue.  Daniel's wife Meredith posted her eulogy to him.  Please read more about our wonderful Daniel.

When I was at the Rickard's Cardigan launch, Brewmaster Matthews was telling me about beer-braised ribs that his wife had made. Although I wasn't able to get my hands on the recipe, I still wanted to give it a try myself.

My main problem was that I've never made ribs before. Ever. Mostly because I've been a little intimidated by ribs culture. It's very competitive and very secretive. I worked myself up to buying some ribs - so I was committed. Now to find a recipe.

I realized that finding the right recipe for me was going to be a big challenge. Many recipes took hours and hours. Some used slow cookers. I didn't have time for that - this meal was being made on a weekday. I eventually found one - beer braised ribs at Serious Eats. That recipe gave me a method that I could work with, as well as a set of ingredients that I could adapt.

It smelled great when it was in the oven and the ribs tasted great. They were tender, but not fall-off-the-bone soft. The cayenne added a nice kick as well, and the garam masala complemented the spices in the beer.

Rickard's Cardigan Beer-braised Ribs

1 rack pork ribs, membrane removed and split into three separate parts
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp garam masala
2 or 3 cinnamon sticks
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cayenne
5 cloves garlic, crushed with the flat edge of a knife
1 bottle Rickard's Cardigan
1 tbsp flour
1/4 cup water

1. Preheat oven to 300-degrees and season ribs with salt and pepper.
2. In a Dutch oven, heat oil on medium-high and sear ribs on both sides once piece at a time and set aside.
3. Add garam masala, cinnamon, ginger, cayenne, garlic, beer, and stir.
4. Add back ribs, bring to a boil and cover. Transfer to oven and let cook for 75 minutes - until meat is tender.
5. Transfer meat to a foil-lined pan and preheat broiler. You can add additional salt and pepper if you prefer. Broil on both sides until brown and crisp (1-2 minutes).
6. Skim cooking liquid of fat, strain using a sieve and bring to a boil. Mix the flour and water together and add to liquid. Stir until thickened and pour on top of ribs.

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