My sister keeps her cookbooks on a shelf above the kitchen door. The average weight for a hardback cookbook is apparently 0.91kg and, while there are a few paperbacks and outliers up there, most of these 34 books look of pretty average build. It’s hardly surprising, then, that the slim shelf is more than gently sagging. As a demanding older sister, I make it known how glad I am that my cookbooks are not only up there, too, but have also clearly been pulled out relatively recently. As a food writer who has given my sister books over the years, I am interested to see which ones are there; which books belonging to a working mum of three, who describes herself as “an utterly average, functional cook who is easily annoyed by cookbooks but needs them, and likes to eat good things”, have made it on to the shelf. And of those that are there, which are used most.
Prashad, Kaushy Patel’s 2012 book of vegetarian Indian cooking, is right in the middle of the shelf, its spine showing signs of a hard-working life. As are the spines of Nigella’s How to Eat, Delia’s Complete Cookery Course and a book of British baking, which has also spent some time in a sunny spot and is suitably faded. Bee Wilson’s The Secret of Cooking is the newest arrival on the shelf and already looking a bit knocked about (my sister first picked it up at my house, sat at the table reading for ages before looking up and saying, “I don’t hate this”. Then went off and bought herself a copy). Rukmini Iyer’s bright-green The Quick Roasting Tin is also used weekly. Then there are two books by Anna Del Conte, the very sight of which are reassuring: Cooking with Coco, which she wrote about cooking with her granddaughter, and a 2012 compendium called Italian Kitchen, which has a pan of golden sweet-and-sour onions on the cotton cover. Italian Kitchen is the book I pulled off the shelf to read while I drank my coffee the other morning. And this week’s recipe is a variation of Anna’s straightforward and good torta di noci, or walnut cake, with added hazelnuts.
The nuts not only lend the cake flavour, but their natural oils mean its crumb is soft and tender. While this cake is perfectly good alone, it is complemented by seasonal fruit, both uncooked or cooked briefly into a compote. I suggest figs: two per person. If you want to serve them fresh, simply slice or quarter the fruit. If you would like to turn them into a just-cooked compote, however, quarter eight figs, put them in a pan with 50g soft brown sugar, a spoonful of honey, a strip of orange zest and two tablespoons of water. Put the pan on a low heat and leave everything to bubble gently for a few minutes, or until the figs collapse slightly. To serve, dredge the cake with icing sugar, then cut into slices and serve with the sliced fresh figs or compote and a generous spoonful of mascarpone.
Hazelnut and walnut cake with fig compote
Makes 1 cake
120g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the tin
1 small handful dry breadcrumbs
180g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
3 large eggs, separated
75g walnut pieces, crumbled into rough crumbs
75g hazelnuts, ground into almost flour
130g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
Salt
Finely grated zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
For the compote
8 ripe figs
50g soft brown sugar
A spoonful of honey
1 finely pared strip of orange zest
Icing sugar, to sprinkle
Mascarpone, to serve
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4, and butter and breadcrumb a 20cm springform cake tin.
Working in a bowl or food processor, beat the butter and icing sugar until they form a pale, thick cream. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks, then whisk them bit by bit into the cream, until everything is incorporated.
Mix the nuts, flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt and the lemon zest into the butter and egg mixture.
Next, whisk the three egg whites to stiff peaks, then fold them into the mixture, too. Scrape everything into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the cake is cooked through and a piece of spaghetti inserted into the centre pulls out clean.
Unclip the cake tin, carefully lift the cake on to a rack and leave to cool.
Meanwhile, make a fig compote. Quarter the figs and put them in a pan with the sugar, orange zest and two tablespoons of water. Put the pan on a low heat and leave it to bubble gently for a few minutes, until the figs collapse slightly. To serve, dredge the cake with icing sugar, then cut into slices and serve with the compote and a generous spoonful of mascarpone.
