Orange flower cake and garden corners in December.

This is a very easy, very delicious, seasonal dessert.

  • 280 g ground almonds
  • 220 g sugar
  • 200 g soft butter
  • 100 g all purpose flour
  • 5 eggs
  • 2 oranges
  • 1 lemon
  • 2 tsp orange flower water
  • 2 tbsp honey
  1. Preheat the oven to 160degr C.
  2. Grease a pan of 35x24cm.
  3. Zest the one orange and lemon . Bueat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the zest.
  4. Add the eggs one by one alternating with the ground almonds.
  5. Add the flour.
  6. Pour the preparation into the greased pan and even out the top.
  7. Bake at 160 degr C for 30 minute or until a skewer comes out clean when piercing the cake.
  8. Prepare the syrup: Mix the juice of the two oranges, the lemon and two tsp of orange flower water and 2 tsp of honey unntil the sugar has completely dissolved. Baste the cake with the syrup until all the syrup is absorbed by the cake.
  9. Zest the an orange and sprinkle over the cake.
  10. Serve with some whipped cream on the side.

How time has flown by. We are at the end of 2019 with a few weeks left before we start the new year. My garden also realizes that we are in December.

A few chicks made their appearance late in the season and now they have to grow fast to outrun the cold coming.

Some garden lantens not yet packed away, a broken pot with water and a forgotten garden bistro chair.

An ever so proud rooster on the garden table.

Seedlings to be covered soon, a wire basket to be filled with butternut from the potager and a garden lamp.

In the potager, late tomatoes , butternuts and rhubarb await action.

The geese are ever present in every corner of the garden.

And the horses are amused by what’s happening around them.

Wood forthe fireplace on the chilly evenings.

Courgette, feta and walnut tart

Courgettes, zucchini for the Américains, are so versatile, easy to prepare and I think a vegetable eaten and enjoyed by almost everyone. It is a safe food to start introducing vegetables to babies and children generally prefer courgettes to peas. What’s not to like about courgettes. So, cheers to courgettes!

courgette filo tart-2

courgette filo tart

courgette filo tart recipe

Pincée de fleur de sel:

  • Add  some cumin grains to the courgettes
  • Spread some mustard on the base of the tart before adding the filling.
  • Use puff pastry instead of the phylo.
  • Replace the feta cheese with rounds of goats cheese and drizzle with honey.

Enjoy!

courgette filo tart-3

Just as I think all the chicks are almost grown up, a hen shows up with a little new born chick fluttering around her. The buzzards are also informed by their secret sources that a newborn is availabe and they do take their chances. Unfortunately for them, there is nothing more fierce than a mother hen.

mother and chick

hen and chick

Danger in the sky

hen and chick-2 - Copie

Just checking

hen and chick-3

Á bientôt

Ronell