Half-hour Cake - Blueberry Buttermilk Cake

There are some ingredients I buy where I only need a little bit and then the rest sits in the refrigerator. Like buttermilk - I don't cook a lot with buttermilk and, usually, when I buy it, it's because I need a tablespoon to start a batch of crème fraîche. So I'm on a quest... ok, another one... but it's a worthy one, and that is to collect recipes to help me use up sparsely used ingredients.

This blueberry cake is everywhere on recipe sites, and with good reason. It's good, it takes about a half hour to make and bake, making it an excellent fall-back recipe for last-minute events and unexpected guests you want to entertain properly. Oh, and although I haven't tried, I'm pretty sure that you can substitute the blueberries of lots of other kinds of soft fruits.

Oh, and it's really good with whipped cream (whipping cream, a bit of sugar and a splash of vanilla).

1 cup flour

1⁄2 tsp baking powder

1⁄2 tsp baking soda

1⁄4 tsp salt

1⁄4 cup butter, softened

2⁄3 cup plus 1½ Tbsps sugar, divided

1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 tsp lemon zest

1⁄2 cup well-shaken buttermilk (buttermilk is a culture so can last a long time in the refrigerator, but it does get thicker over time and tends to do so in lumps, hence the vigorous shaking)

1 cup blueberries

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease a 9" cake pan.
2. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together and set aside. In a larger bowl, cream together the butter and 2⁄3 cup sugar until fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and lemon zest, then the egg and beat well.
3. In three batches, add the flour, alternating with the buttermilk. Mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the cake pan. Scatter the blueberries on top, then scatter the 1 1⁄2 tbsp sugar on top.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Leeky Goat Quiche - Chèvre and Leek Quiche

One of my standard quiche recipes, I made this as a side-dish to my parent's catered 50th wedding anniversary, and was quite chuffed when it became the focus of the meal. I love it when people ask me for the recipe!

1 blind-baked pie crust

2 Tbsps (1oz/28gr) melted butter

2 to 3 scallions

1 leek

3 eggs

1 cup crème fraîche
pinch nutmeg

4 to 5 oz chèvre cheese

½ tsp salt

1⁄4 tsp pepper
Optional: 1 Tbsp tarragon

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°F and blind-bake the pie crust.
2. While crust is baking, fry leek in butter until soft; remove from pan. Fry scallions and set aside.
3. Whisk together egg, crème fraiche, nutmeg, salt and pepper (and tarragon, if using).
4. Spread cheese in bottom of pie shell. Sprinkle fried leeks on top.
5. Pour egg mix into shell; sprinkle fried scallions on top.
6. Bake for 30 minutes or until custard is set.