Thursday 2 February 2012

Oh My Darling Clementine!

I had six small, slightly shrivelled, dry-looking clementines . A friend had been about to throw them away and I said “Don’t do that” – she was convinced they were past their best and so was happy to throw them in my direction. I decided to make Nigella’s Clementine Cake. It is the strangest recipe, but ridiculously easy. The boiling makes the fruit soft and juicy. It makes a great cake which freezes well.

js clementines

INGREDIENTS

  • 4-5 clementines (about 375g total weight)
  • 6 eggs
  • 225g sugar
  • 250g ground almonds
  • 1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

METHOD

Serves: 8-10

  1. Put the clementines in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 hours. Drain and, when cool, cut each clementine in half and remove the pips. Dump the clementines - skins, pith, fruit and all - and give a quick blitz in a food processor (or by hand, of course). Preheat the oven 190˚ C. Butter and line a 21cm Springform tin.
  2. You can then add all the other ingredients to the food processor and mix. Or, you can beat the eggs by hand adding the sugar, almonds and baking powder, mixing well, then finally adding the pulped oranges.
  3. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin, bake 60min

Here’s my ingredients- eggs, baked fruit, and all the rest, ready to blitz in the processor

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As you process it, you get a yellow, custardy-looking thick goop.

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Just a little too brown on top!I should have reduced the fan oven temperature a little more [I had already turned it down to 180˚ C]

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But inside, golden, moist and citrussy!

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It freezes beautifully – so once it was cool, I sliced it into 12  pieces, and wrapped them individually and placed them carefully in a flat plastic box for the freezer. That way I can monitor how quickly we eat it! Great on its own with a cuppa – and delicious as pudding with a splash of yogurt. I was given the fruit, all the other ingredients were in the cupboard [leftover from Christmas baking] But I bought the eggs this week. So that means I spent less than 8p a slice. Had I bought the lot, it would have cost about 35p a slice. I’m afraid that almonds are an expensive ingredient!

Thrift Notes- I have been menu planning extremely carefully and ‘eating up the cupboards’ and I’m pleased to report that food spending during January was just £20.10. February will not be so economical, as the Christmas leftovers are almost all gone now, and there are no more sachets of Gingerbread Porridge!

The Boxing Day woodcock and pheasant are still in the freezer, waiting to be casseroled, and there is also 500ml of turkey stock. I have allowed myself £30 for this month, and we will see how long that lasts.

9 comments:

  1. What an interesting recipe.
    I'm afraid that our clementines never seem to hang about, they get eaten quickly!

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  2. It looks beautifully moist inside....but does it taste at all 'almondy'? You know, marzipanny or Bakewell tartish? Husband loathes almonds with a passion and will not eat anything with them in, he swears he can taste them if I try to hide them in something!

    I've got a bagful of clementines in the freezer....they never got eaten after Christmas and I didn't want to waste them, didn't know what else to do with them at the time so just bunged them in the freezer, thinking I might make marmalade at some point. Would rather use them up in this cake though! (that's if I can persuade husband that it WILL NOT taste of almonds....although if he knows it contains them he won't even try it).

    Thanks Ang, regards, Sooze

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    Replies
    1. Trying in vain to check out the recipe that Jo mentions below- that has no almonds in it! It doesn't taste VERY almondy - mostly citrus.

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  3. Well done on your spend! I spent just over £30 on food but I have been reliant on other people bringing me in shopping as I could not go out. February might be a bit more expensive as it includes the half term holiday but I shall try hard. I love the sound of your cake and shall store the recipe away for a special occasion. Almond cake for the Almonds : ) Rhonda Jean of Down to Earth has a recipe for a cake that includes the whole orange blitzed. No almonds so it is a bit more economical. If you click on her book logo on her blog, it is one of the free recipes.

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    1. Thanks for this Jo. Still trying to get onto Rhonda's blog, keep being blocked with the message it is an inappropriate site!!

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  4. This looks interesting - we can get ground almonds pretty cheaply down here so it would be reasonably economical for me. And we just so happen to have a surplus of clementines, as Ben brought back a lot of fruit from work that was at risk of being thrown away... Thanks, Ang!

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  5. Your Clementine cake looks delicious, its making my mouth water. I don't have any clementines in the fruit bowl but I do have 2 oranges going soft from last week so I will pop them in the freezer until I have a couple more. Thank you for posting the recipe, I love these kind where you can use something up rather than throw it away.

    Well done with your January budget, thats an incredibly low spend. I thought I had done well keeping mine below £150 lol.We still have things in the cupboards and freezers from Christmas including the cake!! Maybe we will save that until Easter.

    Take Care
    Karenx

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    1. I think it is the WEIGHT of fruit rather than the NUMBER that is important- I used 6 clementines as mine were small and light, so I guess you'd use less if they were larger oranges.

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  6. I've posted the recipe on my blog for you. Hope you feel better soon!

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