Grandpa Beard's upside-down ginger cake

I don't know who Grandpa Beard is, but his cake is absolutely delicious...

125g plain flour, half tsp bicarbonate of soda, 1tsp ground cinnamon, 1tsp ground ginger, quarter tsp grated nutmeg, pinch of ground cloves, 1 egg, 125g light brown sugar, 90g black treacle, 125ml soured milk (to create soured milk, add a few drops of lemon juice to fresh milk), 50g melted butter, clotted cream, to serve
Topping: 50g unsalted butter, 100g light brown sugar, 400g pear halves, walnut halves, to decorate

Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. To make the topping, gently melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the sugar and stir for 1-2 minutes. Smooth over the base of a 20cm cake tin with a removable base, 7cm deep. Arrange the pears on top, cut-side down, with a few walnuts around the outside, flat-side down.
To make the cake, sift the flour, bicarb and spices into a bowl, and add a quarter teaspoon of fine sea salt. Blend the egg, sugar, treacle, soured milk and butter in a separate large bowl, and fold in the flour mixture. Beat with a wooden spoon for 1 minute, and the pour the mixture over the fruit in the tin. Put on a baking tray and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean (try to skewer a patch with cake rather than a pear....like, doh!). Remove from the oven, run a knife around the edge and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.
To serve, remove the collar and invert the cake onto a plate or cake stand. Enjoy warm or at room temperature (but avoid chilling), with a dollop of clotted cream on the side if you wish.

Zucchini Baba Ganoush

It's summer, there are zucchini and courgettes everywhere.

If you had enough aubergine baba ganoush, you shoud try this one.

I tried it once, made another one one week later with some modifications

Here is where I found the recipe: http://www.manuskitchen.com/2015/02/ottolenghitamimi-inspired-zucchini-baba.html

So it goes like this:

3-4 zucchini or courgettes, 1 clove crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper

For the chilli butter: 2 tablespoons butter, 1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice, 2 tablespoons pine nuts

For dressing: 1/4 greek yoghurt, handful of chopped fresh parsley, 1 tablespoon of za'atar

Start by putting the oven on grill mode. Place the whole zucchini on a baking tray and grill for 40-45 minutes until crisp and blackened out the outside, turning half way through cooking. 

While the zucchini is in the oven, make the chilli butter. Melt the butter in a pan, add the pine nuts and cook for 2-3 minutes. Do not let the pine nuts brown too much or they will become bitter. Add the chilli flakes and lemon juice and let sit until needed. 

Once the zucchini is cooked and cooled, remove their skins. (They should peel off very easily). Scoop out the insides of the zucchini into a colander to discard all of the excess liquid. 

Mash the garlic and zucchini together with a pinch of salt and pepper. 

Put the zucchini mixture on a plate and top with the greek yoghurt, the za'atar, the chilli pine nut butter and sprinkle with the parsley.