Yak Yak Yak: What a Pud

So having branded myself something of a food obsessive and, dare I say it, food snob last week it seemed like time to redress the balance. I was down in Somerset visiting my remarkable mother. She may be 83 but she is refusing to give in to the concept of being an old lady, far from it, she’s as feisty as ever. The walking frame is a necessity now, but she uses it like a fashion accessory rather than a sign of infirmity.
On the Sunday she had invited two friends for lunch and I was to cook. Roast gammon, cauliflower cheese, Jersey royals, spinach and peas. Quite the feast and nice and traditional, not a moment of food snobbery in sight. Once everything was under control I suggested that I make a pudding. She thought this was a good idea so I went online and took a look for a simple jam sponge recipe.
There were many but I was drawn to one that took 15 minutes to make – in the MICROWAVE!!! Now most of my food loving friends will baulk at the idea of using such a device to cook but I thought I would give it a go. It was easy too, simple ingredients weighed and beaten together in less than five minutes and then layered on some good damson jam and popped into the microwave for six minutes. The recipe said three but I had doubled it so I guessed that it would take a little longer, which it did as I checked it on three.
We were amazed, it was as light as a feather, buttery and eggy and fresh and perfectly cooked, really it would have been hard to tell it apart from one that had been steamed for hours. In fact the only difference was that I was not exhausted and the kitchen was not dripping condensation.
If I chose to I would say I was experimenting with molecular gastronomy, but the truth was I was toying with ease and convenience – and I liked it, liked it so much that I made the Bird’s Custard in the microwave too!