The U3A cookery group came round today. We have such fun, exploring recipes, stirring, tasting, baking and talking about flavours, options and possibilities. Not to mention the large amount of laughter and gossiping that goes on! This month, we made Peanut Butter Noodles, katjan sauce and used that to make Gado Gado, some Galaxy instant hot chocolate flavoured ice cream, and this savoury cake, flavoured with bacon, olive & cheese.
We actually used ham rather than bacon, but as I was writing this, it occured to me that cooking bacon would shave quite a few pence off, so I swapped it. Of course, use ham if you want to
We used a loaf tin as I wanted to see how it would slice, but I’ve ordered some silicone mini loaf tins as I will use those for lots of things and they would be perfect for this. There were other ones, but they seemed too small for a meat loaf or savoury cake portion. I’ve got 12 coming! I’m never going to need that many in one go, so I’ll pass on the extra ones
Bacon, Olive & Cheese Cake
Verdict
We all really loved this and most of it was eaten while still hot. Once we’d sliced off about a third, it was soft and crumbly, and difficult to slice. But it isn’t necessarily supposed to be eaten hot.
I couldn’t detect the thyme, so I’d use more next time.
This would be fab with a green salad and a coleslaw or remoulade.
Or make it in muffin tins, or small loaf shaped tins for beautiful individual portions. Or you could use a 20cm cake tin.
Once completely cold, the loaf can be thinly sliced if desired, maybe for entertaining. Fabulous for packed lunches too
Variations
If you want vegetarian, leave out the ham. Or change it completely, keeping the basic loaf proportions the same, use a total of 350g of flavour ingredients to replace any or all of the ham/cheese/olives, using the paprika, or not, as you please.
This would be perfect for using up odds and ends from the fridge.
- Lovely, garlicky roasted veg and the gnarly end of the cheese
- chop a total of 350g mixed veg and saute them, then add to the mix
- the pickings from a chicken carcass, a fried onion and half a tin of tomatoes in place of the milk
- crispy bacon shreds, black pudding and half a tin of baked beans for an all day breakfast type version
- replace the milk with coconut milk, use a tblsp Thai curry paste (mix into the dry ingredients and give it a good smell, add more paste if you think it needs it) and add some prawns or chicken, mange tout and bean sprouts
- Vegan versions can replace the eggs with aquafaba at the rate of 3 tblsps of aquafaba to each egg and use a plant milk. For this recipe, we use 4 eggs, so 12 tblsps of aquafaba.
- For vegan flavourings, lovely garlicky roasted vegetables
- grated carrot, walnuts and green olives
- grated parsnip, hazelnuts and black olives
- miso
- mushrooms (pre-fried) and sweetcorn
- maybe use some nutritional yeast for cheesiness
Let us all know on Twitter (@ThriftyLesley), Facebook or Instagram (@ThriftyLesley) if you try a version of your own, all ideas gratefully received!
Ingredients
- 150 ml olive oil Asda £1.50/litre,3p
- 250 g self raising flour 45p/1.5 kg, 7p
- 1 tsp baking powder 2p
- 3 tblsp sweet smoked paprika Rajah 50p/100g, 12p
- ½ tsp dried thyme 59p/17g, 1p
- 100 g cheddar £3.69/825g, 45p
- 150 g cooking bacon 600g/67p, 17p
- 100 g green olives 59p/310g, 30p
- ½ tsp black pepper 1p
- 4 eggs 53p
Instructions
- Priced at Asda April 2019Line a 1.5 litre loaf tin. I use a silicone liner like this one, which I can use over and over again. Or you can line it with baking parchment
- Grill the bacon until crispy, keeping all the juices. Leave to cool.
- In a bowl, sieve in the flour, baking powder and paprika. Add the olives, cheese, bacon and all the juices, thyme and pepper and mix well together.
- Use a jug to whisk together the eggs and oil.
- Now treat the mixture like a muffin and tip the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing just enough to combine. Lots of mixing will toughen the finished loaf. Transfer the mixture to the lined tin and bake at 200c/400f/gas mark 6 for 45-50 minutes until golden. Leave in the tin for a few minutes to firm up before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. click here to start a 45 minute timer
Equipment Needed
Notes
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Nutrition
Jo – that would make a good substitute for a vegetarian version
Substitute sun-dried tomatoes for bacon.
Eleanor – they freeze beautifully, and will re-crisp on heating in the oven or toaster
Late to the party, but made these with leeks, mushrooms, feta cheese and a few frozen peas, plus cheddar. Delicious but wondering if I can freeze some as it seems to have made quite a lot.
Deborah, the milk was from a previous version, no milk required in this version. Apologies, I’ve removed the reference to milk
Hi, I can’t see milk in the list of ingredients, but it is mentioned in the recipe. How much milk should I use?
Ooh, praise indeed! Much like when something goes down well at WI !
Hi Lesley, the savoury loaf is fab! I made it with smoked ham, caramelised onion and strong cheddar. It went down a storm. I live in France where everyone makes these on a regular basis for nibbles with drinks and even my French friends have been asking for the recipe. Bottoms up!
Sounds like a great day, the Galaxy instant hot chocolate flavoured ice cream sounds divine, I’d love to try this savoury loaf too xx