Magical Sugar Plum Crunch Cake

When I say that this is a good one, I mean, this is a seriously good one. I’m not allowed to carry many cook books with me on the boat due to the weight and size of them. Circa 90 odd cook books on a racing yacht would be ridiculous, there’d be no room for the crew and we wouldn’t win anything. However, the joy of this recipe is that it hails from one of those little ‘Good Food’ mini books that I won’t be keel-hauled for. It’s the BBC Good Food 101 Cakes and Bakes book. It's about 12cm by 12cm and when it comes to good cakes; it’s a little gem of a book. I know; ‘Good Food’, It’s not exactly cool or writen by some groovy, fashionable ‘Nottinghill-type' patisserie, recently published and going large. Or something I found in some back-street dusty book shop in Marseille. It was £4.99 from WHSmiths I think; can’t remember now. But Since making this cake, I’ve never let it out of my sight.

France has almost as many plums at the markets as you guys in the UK. The early cold snap last Christmas in England followed by the warm spring and then wet summer has been great for the fruit and berry produce and this recipe is a must for using up some of those excess plums you might still have.

It’s soft, it’s moist and so moreish, it’s indulgent, it’s almost better than chocolate and believe me, I’m a chocolate cake kind ‘a gal. I will always go chocolate ice cream over berry ice cream. I will always go for chocolate fondant over an apple tart in a good French restaurant but this cake and the best chocolate brownie in the world would go neck and neck for me in a cake-off.

If you dread the rainy, cloudy days of autumn, really, this cake could turn it all around for you. Have I gone too far? I don’t care. Here it is;

For Sugar Plum Crunch Cake you will need

2 eggs, plus 1 extra egg yolk

140g/5oz butter, softened

140g/5oz golden castor sugar

140g/5oz self-raising flour

Grated zest and juice of 1 orange

200g/8oz plums, stoned, half roughly chopped into pieces and half cut into wedges. (I always add a few more plums if I have to and it doesn’t affect the final result)

For the topping

1 ½ tbsp fresh lemon juice

200g/8oz golden castor sugar

25g/1oz rough sugar pieces or sugar cubes roughly crushed

Method

• Preheat your oven to 160ºC/Gas mark 3/fan oven 140ºC. Grease and line a 1kg/2lb loaf tin.. Lightly beat the eggs and extra egg yolk with a pinch of salt and a few drops of vanilla extract.

• Beat the butter and sugar in a bowl with a handwhisk until light and fluffy. Really, try not to skimp on this part; you really need the butter and sugar to lighten considerably for a good cake. Then, pour in the eggs a little at a time beating well between each addition. If it looks like it’s curdling, add a tbsp of the flour to help bind it. Fold in the flour and orange zest and 2 tbsp of the juice and then fold in the chopped plums.

• Spoon into your prepared tin and scatter the plum wedges over the top and pop into your oven for 50 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

• When it has cooked let it cool for a few moments before turning out onto a wire rack. Mix the lemon juice and castor sugar with the remaining orange juice and pour over the cake. Sprinkle over the roughly crushed sugar cubes and set aside.

The roughly crushed sugar cube pieces soak up the lemony, orangey juices and give the cake that magical sugar crunch. Best served still slightly warm with a cup of tea after a long walk kicking leaves in the woods…

Oh stop it.

It’s all starting to happen here in Provence. A few doors down the Renault garage are selling chestnuts as a culinary aside to changing tyres and fixing my habitually returning Clio. They sell them by the kilo in newspaper for a couple of Euros, raw or roasted. The smell is wafting up the road and could be a plan for my lazy Sunday. If I buy enough of them, monsieur Renault might go easy on the bill when I next take my car in. Maybe I should take him some cake.

Thanks for reading

Cheers!

Celeriac, Bacon and Sage Soup and a Mistral

As I write a Mistral is belting the back of the crew house with a force that could smooth out the knobbles on a celeriac. It’s been blowing since yesterday and was fully expected because my lips and hair began to dry and crack up, the approaching wind sucking up any moisture that originally had me looking slightly less shrivelled. I’m going to need to order some more face cream.

If you have experienced this regional wind in the South of France you’ll understand when I say that you really can tell when a Mistral is due; you can feel it in your bones. It is a strong, dry wind that hurtles through the Rhone valley, accelerating as it heads for the coast and the back of the crew house which faces smack-bang in the middle of its path. It can go on for 2 to 3 days and quite happily reach speeds of up to 90 kilometres an hour. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s what it is doing right now. I’m a little concerned the windows might not hold out.

But back to my handsome little celeriac and his knobbles. Apart from the fact that this is great root-vegetable season, the crew needs large doses of soothing, healing food at the moment. Most of us have suffered or are still suffering from the end of season St Tropez man-flu/cold. Also our bodies have suffered from the excesses of classic yacht sailing and classic yacht drinking and socialising for far too long. 

We need healing food; we need soup.

I made this soup yesterday for lunch on the boat and it was just what the Doctor ordered. I am a little obsessed with celeriac and so was hugely excited when I pulled it out of the fridge and discovered a perfect little bunch of sage I’d bought and forgotten about, sitting underneath him. What a great little team was formed when bacon lardons were added to the mélange. The sweet, gentle notes of celeriac team perfectly with salty bacon, both accompanied beautifully by the masculine flavour of sage. Be careful with your seasoning, a small amount of salt to start and build quietly as you go and just before you serve. A bit like leek and potato soup, it’s easy to get to the wrong side of seasoned and the subtle balance of flavours will be lost to salt.

I kept the soup nice and chunky, it’s not one to puree due mostly to the lardons and besides who doesn’t prefer a big bowl of chunky soup when one is in need? 

For celeriac, bacon and sage soup you will need;

1 celeriac peeled and chunked into bite sized pieces

1 medium brown onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, crushed

200g bacon lardons, unsmoked

2 heaped tbsp finely chopped fresh sage

1.5 to 2 litre’s of chicken or vegetable stock

Method;

• Heat some sunflower oil in a large pan and then add the onions. Gently fry for a few minutes until starting to soften but not colour. Then add the garlic and continue to sauté for another few minutes.

• Put all of the chopped celeriac in with the onions and stir well to coat all of the celeriac in the onion and garlic mixture. Leave this to sauté, stirring occasionally for about 5-8 minutes. Add a good tablespoon of the chopped sage, a good pinch of salt and a teaspoon of sugar and stir well before turning the heat right down to low and covering with a lid.

• After about 5 minutes remove the lid and add the bacon lardons, stir well then pour in the stock. Bring to a boil then turn the heat to low and let simmer for about 15 minutes until the celeriac is lovely and soft and starting to break down a little.

• Mash the soup with a potato masher and stir through the remaining chopped sage. Season to taste with salt and a good grinding of black pepper.

I served this with a Waldorf type salad and garlic bread, the walnuts and apple in the Waldorf marrying so well with the soup. And garlic bread always pleases a hungry crew.

I do hope the St Tropez cold hasn’t broken its boundaries and that you are all sniffle free. Apologies if you too are suffering. I suggest the soup.

I’m wondering whether I should go for a walk. It is beautiful here and it’s been too long since I was able to go for a good long walk. The Mistral brings such clear, fresh weather but I’m a wee bit worried I might get blown off the side of a hill. I’ll put the kettle on and think about it.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers!

Cannes to St Tropez. And Stop.

I’m very excited for many reasons. The first reason is that I am writing this at all. I have a whole day, internet and plenty to write about and if I’m perfectly honest I’ve missed you. So ‘Hi’, it’s good to be back.

My second reason is that yesterday myself and the other weary crew members of Mariquita moved into our winter accommodation, ‘The Crew House’ in La Garde Freinet, Cogolin, France. And we’re here for a while folks.

3^rd reason is I cleaned my computer screen so I can actually see what I’m writing. I didn’t realise it had got so bad. But moving on;

Last night I slept in an actual double bed. In fact right now I am propped up, sitting cross legged with my lap top actually here on my lap, on said double bed. I am no longer sleeping in a fold-down boat cot. If I chose to I could star-fish in it (minus boyfriend). I have a wardrobe, space to swing a cat, an actual dresser to put my mini ‘Boots’ store on display. I have a great view the other side of two large windows in the room and real outside light flinging itself in here willy-nilly like it just don’t care.

I have space and privacy. To be frank I am in heaven.

Mariquita’s race season has ended and before I go any further I’ll just let you know that as well as winning the Monaco classic yacht regatta, we also won the Voile De St Tropez too!  Mariquita does alright for a hundred year old lady. But I would like to mention that the reason that I haven’t sent a blog in ages is because I have been incredibly busy with the Cannes and St Tropez regattas, sandwich making, guests and owners staying onboard, cooking for crew and guests, sailing and maybe a small amount of important socialising. And then I went and caught a cold on top of everything which made all of the above twice as hard. Oh woeth me...

We did do well and it has been a lot of fun with some great sailing. The first two days of Cannes were real nail bighting, howling wind days. We were all harnessed on with the rail fully under the water which threatened regularly to take our legs from under us whilst hauling on the staysail jigger. After the second day of it I was absolutely exhausted. But we needn’t have worried because from then on and all the way through St Tropez, we had nothing. Nadda. No wind what-so-ever. 

As we were the cup holders of the ‘Le Club 55 Challenge’ which falls on the ‘rest’ day of the regatta in St Tropez, we challenged the beautiful schooner Altair to race us to lunch at the famous 55 restaurant. I know, what a bummer eh?

Inevitably and fashionably there was no wind so after bobbing in the right direction a bit faster then Altair we decided to abandon the race and with the help of our engines head straight for lunch and plenty of chilled rosé. What a feast the restaurant had put on for us in such an idyllic setting. Of course, lots of sailors mixed with lots of free rosé is a brave commitment and a guarantee of noise and unruly behaviour. However both boats had owners present so we were forced to behave with a modicum of control and all food fights were subdued and carried out under the table instead.

On our way to Le Club 55 in one of the boats provided

Winning St Tropez regatta was a fitting end to Mariquita’s 100^th year and we are proud of ourselves and of the boat. We couldn’t have sailed her any better then we did. It is sad to be at the end of the racing season but have plenty to look back on over the 8 regattas we’ve undertaken since May.

Thats me there checking on the trim.

What now? Well we will begin the task of stripping Mariquita down for the winter. This is her period of maintenance and repair and why she still looks so beautiful at such a grand old age. We will sand and varnish, paint and mend, inside and out. Sails will be washed, rigging dismantled and the crew will go to physiotherapy.

I honestly couldn’t do any more regattas. I am tired and my shoulder is buggered. I have lived on the boat for 6 months with a poky cabin, tiny bunk sharing one small bathroom with 7 others and I’m more than ready to be here in our crew house in my room with a view.

So that’s not the end of 33 Degrees. It’s just another phase of my year on board Mariquita. And believe me, there is plenty to look forward to. If I said; Wild boar, chestnut festivals and mushroom foraging I’m sure you’ll understand why I’m so excited about being here. And of course I will still be cooking lunch everyday on the boat for the crew.

Thanks for staying with me and coping with such a long-winded blog. I promise many recipes and adventures on and off the boat and it’ll all begin tomorrow.

Hungry for the next phase and keen as mustard.

Cheers!

Chris Tibbs, our weather guru explaining about thermals and sea breezes...or just wondering where the wind has gone.

Big boats, little boats, St Tropez.

It might look like we're going quite fast here. But we're not.

Le Club 55

It takes most of the crew to lift the jackyard to be stowed at the shrouds.

Mariquita Won Monaco Regatta!

We won Monaco regatta! Our first regatta win of the year. We, the crew are feeling pretty pleased about it. It’s good when the hard work pays off and you come 1^st and win prizes. We do try to tell ourselves that we don’t race this beautiful boat to win, we do it to be a part of something great; keeping these beautiful classic boats alive along with the skills needed to sail them as they were once sailed.

But it is bloody great when we win.

We almost won Cannes regatta too! However the last race was cancelled and the points remaining didn’t go in our favour. We did achieve a 3^rd overall though, which is a highly respectable position on the podium.

Cannes regatta has been tough on our bodies. The first two days were full on, powerful breeze days. We had all the gear on, harnesses and wet weather gear. I have a great new rope burn on my wrist and I’m looking forward to booking in with my physio. It’s hard to describe how for two days I was hauling on lines whilst great waves of fast moving sea were trying very hard to take my feet from under me. Trying to climb back up to the high side of a boat that is well healed over is exciting and challenging. My back has seen better days.

We’re off to St Tropez tomorrow! The next and last regatta.. The Voile De St Tropez marks the end of the classic yacht racing circuit and the atmosphere is always amazing. It will be hard work as we have owners and guests on board. I have bought the Fois Gras and fresh figs, the Moet and smoked salmon ready for some evening entertaining. Cushty.

I can’t quite believe it’s almost over. Till next year that is. At least I’ll be able to blog more often and will have the kitchen in the crew house to invent more exciting recipes. We’ll still be working on the boat over the winter. She needs the maintenance as much as we will need it.

Time for rest and repair.

Wish us luck for St Tropez regatta. I’ll let you know how it all goes and will keep taking the photos.

Thanks for reading.

Cheers!

Monaco Regatta Update.

Tell you what, if we do well today, we'll win this regatta. But lets keep that quiet for now so as not to tempt fate. It would be good though wouldn't it...
Monaco has been a great regatta, hot, not much wind but great social events, great rosé and royalty on board. Sian and I are up at 7 am to start the day and last night I finished at 10 30 pm with a little yacht race in between. Pretty tired now but must keep going!
We're heading straight for Cannes tonight after the race because a Mistral is due to blow. I'll let you know how the race goes.
Wish us luck!

Robin Knox Johnston enjoying the views!

Sage and Walnut Pesto before the Storm

So there I was telling you about how the next few weeks are going to be so astonishingly busy until about October and as it turns out I’ve actually had time to write and send a blog.

The calm before the storm,

I say ‘send’, lets not get carried away. This could be a little like how I swell with pride for writing postcards when I’m on holiday and then fail pathetically to manage the well known ‘hefty’ task of sending the things in the post. A hand delivered postcard is rubbish. Shame on me.

We’re here in Monaco amongst many other classic yachts, I’ve done my huge supermarket shop for the week and cooked dinner, prepped tomorrow’s sandwiches and chatted with great friends. There are disturbing rumours of very little wind this week and the temperature is back up there. I’m sure you’re all pretty bored of my talking about the temperature so I’ll move right along.

(31 degrees in the galley)

I made this pesto on our little trip here from St Tropez. The journey started out well. Thankfully at about the time I was cooking lunch. An hour or so later and I suspect I would have felt differently about the whole thing as the swell grew to a couple of meters.

The sage was from my Captain’s garden. Jim’s little sage plant had also grown to a few meters over the summer so he generously donated some to a very good cause. Lunch. And this pesto recipe is a bit of a favourite amongst the crew. It makes a nice change from the well known basil version. It’s very, very healthy being full of walnuts and fresh garlic, lemon juice etc. I could go as far as to say it’s practically like eating one of those overly- healthy green smoothies in a tasty form with some pasta. Okay, I lie. It tastes a lot better than that.

I think sage is up there on my favourite herb list. It’s so…..manly? Robust, savoury, grown-up…  I should do this for a living. Anyway, try it. You’ll love it.

For Sage pesto you will need;

A good bunch of fresh sage, leaves picked off the stalks

3 cloves of garlic

40g shelled walnuts

400g pinenuts

30g Parmesan cheese

Juice and zest of 3 lemons

½ tsp sugar

300ml Olive oil

Method;

• The flavour of walnuts is much improved by a little toasting in a hot pan, as is pinenuts. So begin by dry frying the walnuts and pinenuts in a hot frying pan. Keep them moving around over a high heat and fry for about 4-5 minutes keeping an eye on the pinenuts.

• To take the surprising element out of the raw cloves of garlic, I added these whole in their skins to the nuts in the hot frying pan. It acts as a little ‘sweetener’ to the cloves to give them a little cook first.

• Tip the toasted nuts into a mixing bowl. Peel and slice the garlic and add to the nuts. Then rip the leaves of sage off of any stalks and add to the nut and garlic mixture.

• Pour in the oil and lemon juice and season with the sugar and salt and pepper. Blend well but not so it’s too smooth. Keep a little texture.

• Now add the lemon zest, parmesan and any more oil if it’s a bit thick. Check the seasoning and mix well.

• Hey Pesto! 

If your mixing this with pasta then make sure you reserve at least a large ladleful of the pasta water to mix in with the pasta and pesto. It helps to make a great sauce. A tablespoon of crème fraiche is no bother either. As you wish.

It’s a great recipe in that it is easy, tangy and zesty, nutty and punchy. A bowl of penne, a rocket or watercress salad, something good and peppery with some nutty brown bread and a cold glass of something a little bit pink perhaps. Love it.

We’re race training tomorrow with our recently arrived regatta crew and the racing starts on Thursday. It’s all pretty exciting really. That and we have the one and only Sir Robin Knox Johnston racing with us this week! What an honour. I hope he likes my sandwiches.

I’ll keep you as up to date as I can with the gossip from Monaco. Take care and speak very soon.

Thanks for reading!

Cheers.