This week on Cooking the Books, Nicola Lamb, nominee for this year’s Jane Grigson Trust Award tells us all about her very first cook book, Sift.
Here she shares a sneak peek at the promo which hasn’t been released yet. We should all feel very honoured indeed - this woman is going to be HOT!
AND one of the recipes from the Substack which got her spotted in the first place by How to Cook a Book Zoom panel guest, agent Emily Sweet.
Marmalade brown butter cakes
Makes about 8 small cakes, perfect for tea time.
You can make your own marmalade, but a good quality shop bought one will do just as well. Be brave when browning the butter - there’s a whole world of flavour waiting for you (Gilly, it’s your favourite - the maillard reaction!) I choose to add toasted almonds on top afterwards, otherwise they tend to burn during baking
The recipe
Tangerine marmalade
This makes a chunky, sweet marmalade. Makes about 400g
Ingredients
180g tangerines
80g water
120g caster sugar
10g lemon juice
Financier batter
70g browned butter, warm (you need about 100g “to be safe”)
60g ground almonds
30g dark brown sugar
60g tangerine marmalade from above
60g egg whites (approx two)
25g wholemeal flour*
1g maldon salt
50g tangerine marmalade from above to decorate
Glaze
30g tangerine marmalade
20g water (or as much as you need to thin a little, depending on what you’re using)
Nuts
40g toasted flaked almonds
*can substitute for plain flour or a GF flour to make these GF
Tangerine marmalade method
Peel the tangerines and thinly slice it with a sharp knife, removing any thick stalk bits/eyes
Simmer the peels and any big bits of pith in the water til soft - we are also infusing the water with pectin. This takes around 10-15 minutes
Next goes in the tangerine flesh, (I like to slice my tangerines into thirds and then remove any seeds!), lemon juice and sugar. I like to leave mine in segments so you get a mixture of juicy jelly, confitted segments and peely bits. So fun to eat!
If you have a tea-ball / mesh ball infuser, you can put the seeds into here for extra pectin extraction action but you can make good marmalade with this recipe without it
Before you put your marmalade on for the final cook, put 2 small plates in the freezer for your setting tests
Now cook the marmalade over a high (!) heat, with lots of stirring, until it reaches 104.5 - 105c and looks ready on a digital thermometer (often more important than the temp)
The signs of readiness include - the bubbles slow down and it looks visibly thicker and glossier. When you lift your spatula out of the jam, it will cling to it. Once it starts to thicken, I suggest lowering the temp so you can get the set just right. The mixture will begin to look glassy and the bubbles will be and it passes one of these tests:
Put a teaspoon of jam onto a cold plate (keep a few in your freezer) and return to the freezer for 2-3 minutes. If it is set/wrinkles when pressed, it’s ready!
Alternatively, You can also swipe your finger through the middle of the marmalade and if it’s ready, the line won’t fill
Pour into a container and leave to set. If you’re planning to keep it for a while then I recommend following a tutorial on how to sterilise jars for long-term storage. I keep my jam in the fridge in a tupperware for several months
Brown butter marmalade cake method
First, brown the butter. Melt butter in a saucepan. It will be noisy whilst all the water evaporates. Once it gets quiet, it will be foamy and the butter will be browning quite fast at this stage. Use a spoon or spatula to scrape the milk solids as they will want to stick to the bottom of the pan. Do your best to clear the foam and check the colour of your brown butter. I like to go for a deep amber. As soon as it is the right colour, take it off the heat and pour into a heatsafe container. You want to use it whilst warm but not hot (don’t cook the eggs!)
Pre-heat oven to 170c fan
Mix almonds, dark brown sugar, flour and salt together. Mix in the egg whites with marmalade. Next, fold in the dry ingredients then stir well to emulsify in the butter
Your batter is now ready to use. You can bake it immediately or keep it in the fridge for 3 days
If you are baking immediately, fill your moulds ¾ full then spread ½-1tsp marmalade across the top
Bake for 18-20 minutes until deep golden
Meanwhile, warm 2 tbsp of marmalade with a little water
Leave to cool for 5 minutes then remove from moulds
Brush with the marmalade and stick a few toasted flaked almonds artfully on top. These keep well for a day or two, if kept in an airtight container