The Homemade Heart

Cookery Calendar Challenge- January

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for January, and Happy New Year! I hope that 2017 is joyful, peaceful, and healthy for you.

If you would like to know more about Cookery Calendar Challenge project, or would like to join me, please pop over to the Cookery Calendar Challenge page where you will find all the details.
As I mentioned in my last Cookery Calendar Challenge post, I did not try any new recipes in December; instead this post will be a reflection on the project, and the changes it has brought to my planning, shopping, cooking, and family meal times since I started back in January 2016.
Selecting two new recipes every month from a chosen recipe book and blogging about them is of course only a small part of the challenge for me. My original goals were to take control of meal planning, and food shopping, and to guarantee my family at least two new recipes every month. I also wanted to reconnect with my large collection of recipe books, some of which had never been used.

In terms of planning, I have realised that I actually only need to plan four or five evening meals per week. Friday night is often a ready-made meal, or occasionally a take-away  (everyone deserves one night a week where they don't have to cook and clean up, right?), and usually I whisk something (home made) out of the freezer if the evening is going to be a busy one, or I am going to be out, thus providing a home made meal with little stress. 
I use a diary to note the planned meals, with each entry identifying the planned meal, and the recipe book (and page) it is from. I have a basic key for variations, where a planned meal doesn't come from a specific book.
N/R - no recipe (I can make spag bol in my sleep)
F/F - from freezer
L/O - left overs
R/M- ready made
I sometimes struggle to make time to sit down and plan the meals for the week ahead. It can feel a bit like homework, sitting with a blank piece of paper in front of me, and my recipe books piled around; however it is an essential component of the challenge. This year I should further improve the process by identifying a specific day and time to do my meal planning. 

Food shopping is, of course, infinitely easier and quicker with a detailed list, and the challenge has considerably reduced the amount of time I spend in the supermarket every week for the main shop, and has all but obliterated the 5 o'clock dash to our local Marks and Spencer 'Simply Food' which was such a frequent and stressful component of my food shopping before this year. My aim for the challenge was to have one supermarket shop every week with only an occasional top up, and this has largely been the case.

Family meal times have improved, with less moaning about the (ahem) over-familiarity of certain dishes which were produced on an all too regular basis, and the family have been willing, and indeed eager, to express their approval, or otherwise, of any new dishes. In the diary mentioned above, we have a tick system: a green tick for 'Ok, would eat again', and a double green tick for 'Yum, new favourite', and of course a big red cross for 'Epic Fail'.

Personally, my stress levels regarding family meal planning, shopping and cooking, have reduced hugely, and the daily relief of knowing what I am going to cook for dinner never gets old. I am cooking more interesting dishes, using more herbs and spices, and my cookery books now work hard for me. I feel more in control, and generally more capable (at least where family meals are concerned!). I am also using, and improving, my cookery skills on a daily basis, which feels good.

After a year of improved family meal planning, shopping and cooking, I would like to announce my favourite author, book, and recipe for 2016. 
My author of the year is Mary Berry. Her recipes are so reliable, tasty, and family friendly, without being boring, and they are often quick to make.
My recipe book of the year is 'Stirring Slowly' by Georgina Hayden. The recipes are wonderful, and Georgina's writing style is delightful.
My recipe of the year is Mary Berry's Malay Fried Rice which has become a firm family favourite (double green tick); not too spicey, quick to make, and delicious. I remove one portion of the rice and veg before adding the chicken, thus pleasing the vegetarian (me) and leave the button mushrooms whole, so that Isaac can eat round them, thus pleasing the mushroom hater (Isaac), and make the dish with plenty of chicken pieces, thus pleasing the carnivores (Derek and Jacob). A meal our whole family can enjoy with no long faces; thank you Mary!

My chosen recipe book for January is 'The Oxo Cookbook'. This was given to me by Jacob for Christmas, and looks so homely and comforting, just the sort of food I always want to cook in January after the excesses of the festive season.

I intend to continue the Cookery Calendar Challenge  in 2017. There will be a Linky at the end of every monthly Cookery Calendar Challenge post, to make it easy to add your blog, however a link back to my my post in your post is also appreciated. I will be delighted to pop over and read about your recipes and adventures in the kitchen.
The Cookery Challenge badge will remain on my sidebar, to be used as wished by anyone participating, and my Cookery Calendar Challenge post will continue to be scheduled for the 1st of every month.
If you joined in any month of the Cookery Calendar Challenge in 2016, thank you, I really appreciate it. If you would like to join me at any time this year, please do. This is an ongoing challenge, it is never too late to get involved, and everybody is very welcome.
 

Cookery Calendar Challenge- December

 

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for December. If you would like to join the challenge this month, please take a quick look at the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, which will tell you everything you need to know.
 

My chosen recipe book for November was 'France The Cookbook' by Phaidon; an impulse buy from Costco, the generous price reduction too tempting to resist. However, this book intimidated me from the start. It is so large, so encyclopaedic, and I felt its presence looming large in my kitchen all month. It seemed to dominate my bookshelf, radiating disapproval towards all my other chubby, friendly, cosy recipe books that I love. It felt like a new girl at school who looks down her nose at everyone. 

It is hugely comprehensive, which is of course a good thing, and if you want to learn all about French cookery, starting from the basic building block recipes and building up that knowledge to more complex meals, then this is the book for you. It just wasn't the book for me. Many of the recipes use other recipes as part of the ingredients, so short recipes of a few ingredients suddenly become much longer and more involved.
I delayed cooking from it until last week. If it hadn't been for the Cookery Calendar Challenge I wouldn't have cooked from it atall. However, I eventually pulled myself together and looked through its 800+ pages for a couple of simple recipes.

My first dish was Spinach soup, which involved making a white sauce base, adding stock (I used ready made, a small act of defiance) and then simmering the spinach, for thirty minutes. Usually I cook spinach very quickly, so this was a change. It tasted quite pleasant, but I felt it was way too much effort for a simple lunchtime soup. I had a friend over for lunch, who politely said she thought it was delicious, but I'm not sure if that was completely true.
My second recipe was Ratatouille; another easy dish, which I am very familiar with, and had the advantage of not having any ingredients being another recipe. Chopped aubergine, courgette, onions , sweet peppers, were simmered with fresh tomatoes and a little water, garlic, and seasoning. This was tasty, and the fresh tomatoes were an improvement on tinned (I also liked the illustration for the recipe too; a nice fat aubergine). I served this as part of a family dinner; I had the ratatouille, and the rest of the family had the ratatouille with some roast chicken. Derek pushed most of his to the side of his plate, poor Jacob dislikes 'sludgy' vegetables so only ate a token mouthful. Oh dear.

So, overall, this book was not a happy book for me. Technically, it is very detailed, very correct, very informative, and very complete, but it was a little too authoritative for me. If you wish a course in French cookery however, this would be an excellent book.

I am not selecting a book for December; I don't think that finding new recipes to cook should be part of the run up to Christmas, so instead my next Cookery Calendar Challenge will be a review of the project and the changes it has brought to my meal planning and cooking over the year.

If you joined me last month, thank you. If you would like to join the challenge this month, this is what to do:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf, and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome. Don't worry about photographs; if you haven't taken a photograph of the dish, post a photograph of the recipe book you used. Similarly, you are welcome to share a recipe if you wish, but there is no pressure to do so. This project is more about the process of reconnecting with your cookery book collection, than about recipe sharing or food photography.

I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too, if you like (just copy and paste the code on to your dashboard to display). You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart ).

An InLinkz Link-up

 

The Cookery Calendar Challenge- November

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for November. If you would like to join the challenge this month, please take a quick look at the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, which will tell you everything you need to know.

My chosen book for October was 'Simple' by Diana Hendry; a lovely, chunky recipe book with a tactile cover and brown grosgrain ribbon for a recipe marker. It felt good in the hand, and it lived up to its early promise in the kitchen too. In fact I can't improve upon the by-line on the cover 'effortless food, big flavours'. This really describes the book perfectly.

My first selected recipe was roast citrus, ginger and honey chicken. This was one of those rare occasions when the dish turns out exactly like the photograph in the book, and I was rather pleased with my efforts, particularly on for a week night dinner. The chicken sits snuggly in a roasting dish, and a citrus based sauce is poured over and in to the bird, comprising orange juice, honey, garlic, ginger and hot sauce. Thin skinned, segmented oranges are roasted alongside, sprinkled with olive oil, ground ginger and soft brown sugar.

Jacob thoroughly enjoyed this dish; Derek less so, which was a shame, as I had hoped to add it to my repertoire of regular dishes. However, when you ask for honest feedback in my house, you get it with no holds barred, so although a perfect success in many ways, it is sadly unlikely to be made again.
My second selected dish was baked sweet potato with chorizo, mushrooms and egg. This was so easy, and (I was told by Jacob) extremely delicious. In fact I have made it for him again since. Sweet potatoes are roasted, diced chorizo is fried off, mushrooms are fried off in the chorizo oil, and an egg is then fried in the remaining oil and plonked on top. Very simple, yet, as the front cover says, lots of big flavours.

This is such a straightforward book, and feels very professionally written. Diana writes extremely well, and doesn't come over as at all needy (we all know cookery writes who do come over as needy, don't we, or is that just me?). A recipe-book-loving friend expressed amazement that this was the first Diana Hendry book I had ever owned, and now that I have cooked from it, I can understand her surprise. I am sure it wont be the last book of Diana's that finds it way in to my kitchen, and 'Simple' has earned a permanent place on my cookery book shelf.

My selected book for November is 'France, The Cookbook', a very recent acquisition, and a weighty tome. This is the sort of cook book that both intrigues and intimidates me (lots of recipes, very few photographs).

If you joined me last month, thank you. If you would like to join the challenge this month, this is what to do:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf, and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome. Don't worry about photographs; if you haven't taken a photograph of the dish, post a photograph of the recipe book you used. Similarly, you are welcome to share a recipe if you wish, but there is no pressure to do so. This project is more about the process of reconnecting with your cookery book collection, than about recipe sharing or food photography.

I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too, if you like (just copy and paste the code on to your dashboard to display). You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart ).

An InLinkz Link-up

 

Cookery Calendar Challenge- October

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for October. If you would like to join the challenge this month, please take a quick look at the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, which will tell you everything you need to know.

My chosen recipe book for September was 'Stirring Slowly', by Georgina Hayden. I loved the title of this book; stirring slowly is just what I want to do in the kitchen, and when I reached this paragraph in the introduction......

"The current trend for healthy eating is great, and I'm sure it has made many of us more aware of what we put in our bodies.
But for me any meal that is made from scratch, lovingly, is good and clean"

..I mentally jumped for joy!  Georgina divides her book into chapters such as 'A Sunny Start to The Day'; 'Bowl Food', 'Quick and Light', 'Long, Slow and Hearty'. There are lots of modern tasting recipes here, and a good mixture of very quick snacks and meals, and dishes that take longer to make. The recipes are well written, and I am convinced that Georgina has cooked every one of these recipes in her kitchen before putting them in her book. This book reeks of integrity.

For this month's challenge I made Georgina's 'Chicken soup for the Soul' This involved poaching a whole chicken with fresh herbs and aromatics, then making a broth with the strained cooking liquid, and meat shredded off the chicken carcase, then returning everything to the pan to cook through. Fresh dumplings are poached in the broth during the last five minutes of the cooking time. This recipe felt quite involved, and as the resident vegetarian I had to steel myself to shred the chicken off the hot chicken bones, but my highland resolve and a pair of disposable gloves helped. The carnivores reported that the soup was truly delicious, it had a depth of flavour that the simple 'thrown together' soups I usually make don't have (thanks guys). 
Although the recipe was simple, it did take a while to cook (I seemed to spend a lot of time hovering over the poaching chicken), but it was perfect for a Sunday morning pottering about in the kitchen, and I would definitely make it again. Next time I would poach the dumplings separately in a little of the broth, as they broke up slightly and made the broth somewhat cloudy.

My second selected dish was Wholemeal Nasi Goreng with Spinach. A simple but very full flavoured savoury rice with chilli, ginger, turmeric and various other spices, topped off with a fried egg. Georgina recommends this for breakfast, but we had it on a weeknight teatime. I did make a slight adaptation; Jacob was so aghast at the thought of a vegetarian dinner that I relented and stirred some prawns in to the rice. A very quick, easy, spicy, nicey weeknight dinner.

Overall, I loved this book, and Georgina's writing is very sincere;  she has a light touch with prose, but you feel that her life is rooted in family and food, which for me is perfect. In a world of glossy celebrity volumes with as much soul as a white sliced supermarket loaf, it is reassuring to find a book full of good, tasty, cookable, but exciting food. I am so glad I found this book.

My book choice for October is 'Simple' by Diana Henry.

 I have never owned a Diana Henry recipe book before, and know very little about her. I had pre-ordered this book and then forgotten all about it, so it was a delightful surprise when it dropped through the letterbox a couple of weeks ago.

If you joined me last month, thank you. If you would like to join the challenge this month, this is what to do:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf, and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome. Don't worry about photographs; if you haven't taken a photograph of the dish, post a photograph of the recipe book you used. Similarly, you are welcome to share a recipe if you wish, but there is no pressure to do so. This project is more about the process of reconnecting with your cookery book collection, than about recipe sharing or food photography.

I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too, if you like (just copy and paste the code on to your dashboard to display). You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart ).

An InLinkz Link-up

 

Dalmally Show 2016

The first Saturday in September is a significant one for our family; it is the day of the Dalmally Show, which I have written about before here. We travel up to Argyll for the weekend, attend the show during the day, and in the evening, have a multi-generational ceilidh at my uncle's house, or more specifically in an enormous wind and watertight gazebo in his garden, specially erected for the occasion. Wonderful food, lots of wine, and good scots whisky (and of course non alcoholic drinks for the under 18's and drivers!), stories, songs and music. Everyone who can, sings (and one or two who probably shouldn't do too!). This year Jacob sang and Isaac accompanied him on the guitar, singing their version of 'Time of Your Life' by Green Day; a proud moment for me. 
My nana, 96 and still going strong, loves the Show and ceilidh. She is such a sociable person, and every person present loves and respects her quite intensely.

When I was growing up, we were a highly mobile family, who moved frequently, yet in many ways I still regard Dalmally as my true home. The family connections are strong, and so many of my maternal relations still live there. I also have a dream of living once more in our old home, which still exerts a strong pull on my heart. I believe that our family would have had a good life in this house, which we lived in for a few years when I was young. I have so many memories attached to this house, which sits beside the river, on a quiet, single track road that forms a winding loop away from the main village of Dalmally, eventually re-joining the main road some two miles later. This house was originally the general store and bakery for the people living along this beautiful stretch of countryside, and at the front of the house, there are still the huge, wooden double doors leading in to what was the shop. They are never opened now.

I dream daily of living here again. In my imagination I regularly mentally renovate, restore, furnish and decorate this house. I reinstate the scullery off the big kitchen; I once again access the back stairs which lead to what would have been servants' quarters; I rebuild the big fireplace in the sitting room, and renovate to full functional glory those massive oak double doors at the front of the house. I imagine knocking through walls to create beautiful  bathrooms leading off the large front bedrooms. I visualise a snug self-contained suite of rooms for house guests comprising bedrooms, a sitting room under the eaves, and a pretty shower room (I would want lots of visitors, this is a house made for company). Our old sitting room becomes my office/sewing room, just between the kitchen and the back door. The huge front room (once the shop) becomes a massive multi-purpose room; there is space there for all sorts of wonderful activities and events to take place.
This is the home I imagine my boys eventually bringing their families to, where their children could run wild in the garden, or take the short path down the garden to the river, to play on the pebbly spit, throw stones, or just sit and watch the water. In short, this is the house I want to live in again. However, in reality, it would take a great deal more money than I am ever likely to have to buy it, and renovate it to the standard it deserves, nor is it currently for sale. I can't shake the dream though. 

Combine the house of my dreams, with views like this, and it is little wonder I feel so pulled to the north.
Apart from stirring up memories and daydreams, the purpose of our annual trip to Dalmally is of course to attend the Dalmally Show. Much of the fun is entering our jams, bakes, makes and crafts in to the competitions in the Home Industries tent. For Mum and me, this is the highlight of our crafting year, and something we love to discuss and plan for in great detail (much to the amusement of my 'townie' husband). The lists of the various competitions are sent out in April each year, and can also be found on line here (pages 14, 15 and 16 are those which interest Mum and me).
The schedule generates much discussion about which competitions or 'classes' to enter; Mum and I both love to make jams and preserves, so lots of ticks on that page. The knitting/sewing/crafting page has several fixed items which appear every year, such as a knitted baby garment, also a cross stitch picture, and piece of embroidery. This is where we diverge slightly, as Mum is a marvellous knitter (she can whip up kilt stockings with cables and complicated tops with ease), whereas I am not, though I do attempt an occasional knit for the Show. Then on to the all important Baking classes; it is difficult to enter bakes which are best eaten 'same day' like scones and pancakes, as of course our bakes are by necessity made in advance and transported north with care the night before the Show, so we tend to stick to larger cakes and bakes, or items which will still taste good a day or two after baking. 
After the decisions regarding classes comes the preparation. Crafts first, in April and May, all completed items carefully wrapped in tissue and put away, then preserves are made in June and July, and then in the days prior to the Show, baking is completed.
This year was a particularly good year for us both, with quite a few prizes, and even a Trophy for mum (the Tullich Trophy, for most points in the Preserves section) as well as a Special Prize for her fruit tart (a particularly delicious apricot and almond one, which was devoured at the family ceilidh in the evening).
I was also very lucky with my entries this year, and won quite a few prizes.
In the Preserves section, I won a 1st for my Fruits of the Forest jelly; a 1st for my Lemon Curd, a 3rd for my Raspberry jam, and a Highly Commended for my Strawberry Jam.


In the Home Baking section, a 1st for my Meat Loaf, a 1st for my Tear and Share Loaf, a 2nd for my Jar of Pasta Sauce (not pictured), a 2nd for my Empire Biscuits, and a 2nd for my Rocky Road Squares.

In the Home Industries Section, a 1st for my Advent Calendar (I entered a box of numbered, decorated gingerbread biscuits, each one threaded with string, to hang on the christmas tree; I may replicate this 'for real' at Christmas!), a 1st and Special Prize for Isaac's quilt (Any Other Handcraft) a 2nd for my Machine Sewn Shopping Bag, a 2nd for my Crochet Purse (Best Use 50g yarn. (not pictured), and a Highly Commended for my Patchwork Cushion Cover.

Not all my entries were winners however; no prizes for my chocolate cake; coffee and walnut loaf, crocheted brooch, banana loaf, or my ladies knitted scarf. However, I was delighted with my prizes and Mum and I are already looking forward to next year's competitions.
The whole Damally Show weekend is a very happy one for our family. It provides a touchstone for collective family memories. When family sands eventually shift, and when the generations and people of the current times are no longer here, I dearly hope my boys will say, in years to come 'Do you remember those great weekends at the Dalmally Show....?' 
As for my dream of living in my old home, it will undoubtedly persist, and be once again stirred up to the point of painful longing when we return to Dalmally next year, and I see it once again, but that is the price I am prepared to pay for my beautiful, comforting day dream.
  

Cookery Calendar Challenge- September

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for September. If you are interested in joining me this month, please have a quick look at the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, which tells you everything you need to know.

My chosen recipe book this month was 'The Vicar's Wife Cookbook' by Elisa Beynon.  Elisa's warm, chirpy personality shines through the introductions to the recipes, and the book has an endearing quality which means it will stay firmly on my kitchen shelf. I liked this book enormously, however August  was an exceptionally busy month in our household, and I felt I rather rushed the selection of recipes and did not take the time to concentrate fully on the writing (though I hope to remedy that in the future) however the two recipes I chose were very successful. 
The first was Shepherd's Pie (or Berger Lamb as Elisa called it). I didn't have particularly high hopes; how good can a shepherd's pie be, after all? Turns out it can be quite exceptionally delicious, according to the lamb-loving carnivores of the family, who ate theirs with gusto. I did remember to take a photograph, but at the time of writing I can't find it. If I do, I will insert it and edit this text accordingly.
My second dish was the charmingly named Butternut Buttercup Soup. I made this one evening when the carnivores were having something from the deep freeze (home made of course!) and I decided to use the time I would usually cook for them, to make myself something vegetarian friendly. This is a butternut soup, with the addition of roasted yellow (or orange) peppers, blended to a smooth consistency.  There is the slight fiddle of blackening the peppers under the grill to aid removal of the skin, but I have done this many times before so this extra step didn't bother me. Elisa also finished off the soup with some crumbled goat's cheese.  I used parmesan, as I no longer eat goat's cheese. I used always to enjoy it until one memorable day some years ago, when visiting a 'Pat-a-Pet' farm in Yorkshire with the boys, when they were small. As we approached a particularly baleful looking nanny goat, I became aware of a pungent aroma, and with a horrible stab of recognition, realised that goat's cheese smells exactly like goats (and vice versa). I have never eaten it since. 
Overall, I liked this book very much, and am so glad I decided to use it for my cookery challenge this month. I wondered if Elisa had written any other cookery books, however, after a brief search on the internet, found that very sadly, Elisa had died suddenly at home in 2015. A bright and beautiful voice silenced for ever.

My chosen book for September is Stirring Slowly, by Georgina Hayden. This book is new to me, I have read through some of the recipes but not yet cooked from it. I am very excited by what I have seen so far and am looking forward to using it in September.
If you joined me last month, thank you. If you would like to join this month, or at any time in the future, this is what you need to know.

How it works:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf, and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome.
I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too, if you like (just copy and paste the code on to your dashboard to display). You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart ).

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Cookery Calendar Challenge- August

 

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for August.

If you would like to take part (and it would be very nice if you did) please take a quick look at the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, which gives you all the information you need.

My chosen book for July was A Year at Avoca.  This book is visually very beautiful . It is a pleasure to browse through. The food photography is exquisite; the overall design is warm, inviting, suggestive of good company, good food, and gorgeous interiors (I am assuming that the images are from the various Avoca Cafes in Ireland)
Initially I wondered if the café recipes would translate well to a domestic kitchen, however this was not a problem. The book is not too 'chef-y', and with very little kitchen know-how, can be easily used by the domestic cook.
The book is divided seasonally, so it is easy to find recipes that suit the month, or just the mood.
My two chosen recipes for the Cookery Calendar Challenge were Pappardelle Salad (augmented with chicken breasts fried off in olive oil and butter for the carnivores in the family), and Pork Meatballs.
The Pappardelle Salad comprised summer vegetables, chargrilled on a griddle pan, served with fresh pappardelle pasta, toasted pine nuts, and shavings of parmesan cheese. There was also some sundried tomato pesto stirred through to sharpen up the flavour. As our house is burdened with highly sensitive smoke alarms (it's disastrous if I ever burn the toast), I did not chargrill the vegetables, but instead tossed them in a tiny quantity of olive oil and quickly cooked them in a thick bottomed saute pan over a high heat. This lent them a smoky, charred flavour, without the need to throw open doors and windows, reassure our dog, our children, and our neighbours that our house was not, in fact, alight, or call off the local fire brigade (see what I mean about the toast?)

It may be summer, and this may have been a salad, but cold pasta never does much for my family (except Isaac, who occasionally has cold pasta pesto for lunch), so I served this dish hot, and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it, including me (sans le poulet). It is always helpful to find a recipe which, with a few tweaks/ommissions/additions, will suit the whole family.

My second selected recipe was Pork Meatballs. I love making meatballs; they are savoury, delicious (for non veggies) and freeze well, so I am always on the lookout for variations on my well worn beef meatball recipe. The list of ingredients for the pork meatballs was shorter than any I have seen before, just 800g minced pork, 75g breadcrumbs, 1 egg, 1 crushed clove of garlic, and 2 tbsp. finely chopped parsley, and seasoning. These were a speedy make (further helped by the fact that I keep a few bags of ready whizzed breadcrumbs in the freezer). The sauce was a standard tomato sauce, but with the addition of smoked paprika (1/2 tsp), a diced red pepper, and 100g diced chorizo sausage. It also called for butterbeans, but as I am the lone butterbean fan in the family, I omitted them.
I fried the meatballs off to seal them, then finished cooking them in the sauce. This dish was a big hit with the meat eaters, and I was pleased that I had made a large quantity, as I was able to stash a few portions in the freezer.
The Avoca book surprised me, I didn't expect the recipes to be as good as they are, but I am very pleased that I took the time to investigate this book further, and I suspect it will become a favourite.

My chosen book for August is The Vicar's Wife Cookbook. This is a charming cookbook, written by Elisa Baynon, who, in 2007, entered a competition to write a cookery book, and won. ( Here is a excerpt from her introduction to the book). I have skimmed through this book many times, but have never cooked anything from it. I suspect I will like this book a lot.

Many thanks to those who joined the link up last month, I hope you enjoyed it and will continue the challenge with me. If you haven't joined before, and would like to, here's how to take part.

How it works:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf, and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome.
I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too, if you like (just copy and paste the code on to your dashboard to display). You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart ).

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Cookery Calendar Challenge- July

 

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for July.

If you would like to take part, have a quick look at the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, which gives you all the information you need.

My chosen book for June was 'In My Kitchen' by Annie Bell. I felt in safe hands using this book; Annie Bell is a pro. The book is organised in chapters such as 'Grazing', 'Weekday Suppers', 'Sunday Lunch', 'The Main Event' (Christmas and Easter) which is easy to use. The recipes are introduced in easy going, unaffected prose which meets with my approval, and I am sure I am not alone in enjoying a recipe book which includes a chapter on Christmas (I love reading about Christmas out-of-season).

My first dish was a simple Chicken and Red Pepper Roast. Not a startlingly original recipe, but on busy week nights, this is just the sort of dish I enjoy making. 

Red peppers and onions are roasted along with garlic, fresh thyme and seasoning. The chicken breasts are fried off in olive oil until golden, then added to the veg and roasted again until done. Simple, delicious, and a good family dinner when served with crusty bread and butter.
Being vegetarian, I removed some of the roasted veg prior to adding the chicken breasts, and finished cooking them in a separate oven tray. An easy dinner for me.

My second dish was Stuffed Tomatoes Campagnardes. I can hear the collective groan in blogland; surely life is too short to stuff a tomato (to paraphrase Shirley Conran), but really this is a very simple recipe. Beefsteak tomatoes are scooped out and stuffed with sausagemeat, shallots, breadcrumbs, seasoning, plus the scooped out insides of the tomatoes. 
They are fried off, filling side down, until the suasagemeat  top is brown, after which they are flipped right side up and cooked over a low heat until fully cooked through. These are very savoury, and look colourful on the plate. They can be used as an accompaniment, or served alone as a simple supper. They can be served hot, warm or cold, so would be good picnic fodder too.

The family enjoyed these recipes, and I will use both again.

My chosen book for July is 'A Year at Avoca'. I picked up my  copy in a charity shop a year or two ago, and have looked through it several times, but have never got round to cooking from it, so am looking forward to remedying that.

Many thanks to those who joined the link up last month, I hope you enjoyed it and will continue the challenge with me. If you haven't joined before, and would like to, here's how to take part.

How it works:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf, and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome.
I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too, if you like (just copy and paste the code on to your dashboard to display). You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart ).

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Cookery Calendar Challenge- June

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for June.

If you would like to play along, click here for the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, which has all the information you need.

My book for May was 'How to Cook' by Annie Bell.

I am a big fan of Annie Bell, her Baking Bible is one of my top three baking books (and the one I take on holiday with me every year). I have several of her other books too. All are practical, but never dull. The recipes work; a fact which can't be taken for granted with every cookery book. Annie lives part time in France, and some Gallic elegance creeps into even the most simple dishes.

'How to Cook' is divided into sections, 'Meat', 'Fish', 'Pasta' etc, which I found helpful and straightforward. The recipes are well written, and easy to follow. This would be an ideal book to give to a novice cook, as it explains the principles of cooking, but is also an excellent book to have in any kitchen, with a wide range of recipes from simple to more complex. I really enjoyed using this book and am sure it will become a favourite.

The first dish I made for my challenge was Lamb Chop Supper with Pea and Potato Crush. Easy, quick and simple, perfect for  a busy week night dinner. As a vegetarian, I did not partake, but the family assured me it tasted good!

My second dish was a simple smoked salmon frittata with mascarpone and a little lemon zest.  Served with crusty bread and salad, it was a delicious weeknight family dinner. I have made frittata many times, but tend to use a variety of vegetables, and always include small new potatoes, boiled in salted water until tender, and quartered. Annie's frittata was delicious in its simplicity. I made this for a second time later in the month, omitting the mascarpone, and substituting parmesan, which we all enjoyed. This was a good recipe choice as the whole family could enjoy it, not just the carnivores!

In my quest for organisation and good eating, I also planted up a small herb garden during the month, with basil, thyme, parsley and chives. I also planted up some mint in a separate pot, with the intention of using it in jugs of  Pimms on summer evenings (every cook must have her reward). My herb container is a large pot I used to use for boiling jam; commonly known as a 'jeely pot' in Scotland ('jeely' being 'jam'!). This was my old jeely pot, recently replaced with a slightly better version. Both were charity shop finds, and my initial intention was to re-donate this old one, however the idea of it planted up with herbs popped in to my mind and so the plan changed. (A kind friend drilled holes in the bottom for drainage).

My cookery book for June is another by Annie Bell. This time I am using 'In My Kitchen'. I have had this book for a couple of years, and have made several dishes from it, but I have by no means exhausted the possibilities, and am looking forward to another month in Annie's calming company.

Many thanks to those who joined the link up last month, I hope you enjoyed it and will continue the challenge with me. If you haven't joined before, and would like to, here's how to take part.

How it works:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf, and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome.
I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too, if you like (just copy and paste the code on to your dashboard to display). You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart )

 

An InLinkz Link-up

sometimes plain cake is just right

 

May is one of my favourite months; Mother Nature is clearing her throat and tuning up for the full blown song of summer, new life is established in field, woods and garden. A late spring favourite in my own garden is a beautiful, blowsy peony rose, which faithfully bursts into glorious bloom for a few weeks at this time of year. 
It is also the birthday month of my younger brother. He was born when I was 13, in the year of the Queen's Silver Jubilee. One of his birth gifts, from a generous friend of the family, was a pair of  silver (or 'solid silver' as my 10 year old sister and I said in awestruck tones) commemorative cufflinks, from Hamilton and Inches, 'the Queen's jeweller', a fact still referred to semi-frequently by my mother. As we were living in the far north of Scotland at the time, and our retail needs were met by a row of scruffy shops twenty one miles away in one direction, and a lone 'Mace' store seventeen miles in the other, the mere existence of a shop sufficiently luxurious to supply such elegant trifles seemed impossibly romantic to us. The uselessness of silver cufflinks for a new born baby was also impressive.
I had given my new brother a crochet blanket of wobbly granny squares, made over many painstaking weeks, in purple and cream wool. My sister, seeing this effort and fearing that she would be left behind, had started knitting him a toy, which proved, unsurprisingly, too complicated, and my Mum quietly completed it for her to give to the baby. The cufflinks were in a stratosphere far beyond these humble offerings.
The baby in question is now 6'3", lives and works in London, and is grown up enough to wear his solid silver commemorative cufflinks any time he wishes. He comes home frequently to see family and friends, and it is always wonderful to see him when he does.
Last year, I wrote about his birthday brunch here. This year he just wanted tea and cake, which I was happy to supply.

I made a simple vanilla sponge, increasing the proportions of the ingredients to fit the size of the Bundt tin. I am always apprehensive about turning out a Bundt cake, for obvious reasons, however careful brushing with melted butter, and a light dusting of flour usually ensures success. This time, a simple shake of icing sugar and some strawberries finished the cake in a manner sufficiently celebratory for a birthday, but plain enough to be eaten at 11am with tea. Sometimes plain cake is just right, and this was one of those times. (I only managed a phone shot before the cake was cut, hence the slightly squashed proportions of the image above.)
It was delicious, here is the recipe. If you have a Bundt tin languishing at the back of a cupboard, do dust it off and use it. The high proportion of cake crust to soft inside is what makes it taste so good.

Ingredients.

340g butter at room temp (and approx. 50g for preparing the tin)
330g caster sugar
310 g self raising flour (and small amount for preparing the tin)
35g cornflour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
5 large free range eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3-4 tablespoons semi skimmed milk

Method.

Preheat oven to 180c/Gas 4. Melt approx. 30g butter and brush it over the inside of the tin lightly but thoroughly. Dust the inside of the tin with self raising flour, ensuring all inside contours are covered. Thoroughly shake the excess flour out of the tin. Set aside until needed.
Beat butter and sugar together in Kitchenaid mixer or with a hand held electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Sift together the dry ingredients. Break the eggs into a bowl and add the vanilla extract.
Alternately add the eggs and flour, mixing well with each addition, but not over-mixing, or the cake will be tough.
Start to add the milk until a consistency on the firm side of dropping is achieved, you are likely to need 3 tablespoons but may not need as much as 4.
Scrape carefully into Bundt tin, and smooth the mixture.
Bake for 45-55 mins depending on your oven. The cake should be golden and no crumbs should adhere to a cocktail sick inserted in to the middle of the cake. Set aside in tin to cool until the tin can be handled comfortably.
When the cake has cooled and started to settle in the tin (about 20 minutes), invert onto a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before decorating as desired.

Cookery calendar Challenge- May

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for May.

Click here for the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, which has all the information about the challenge.

My cookery book for April was 'French Leave' by John Bourton Race.

I have owned this recipe book for a long time (I talked about it here), but have not cooked many recipes from it. It is not what I would consider an everyday or family recipe book, as many of the dishes use expensive ingredients, however the recipes are interesting, and inspiring, and the book feels very much like the work of one man who knows exactly what he is talking about. It is a genuine cook book, built on the strength of the recipes and writing, not a 'celebrity chef'  pumping out a meaningless volume for the sake of it (though it was originally written to accompany a television series, so perhaps without that project it would never have been written). In addition the recipes, though sometimes involving many steps, are reliable, and easy to follow. John Bourton Race is a chef, and it is clear when reading the recipes that he is used to having someone else in the kitchen washing up after him; he is keen on a multi-pot approach! With a little kitchen know-how, however, some of the steps in his recipes can be simplified. Probably not a book for a novice for this reason.

The two new recipes I tried from this book were Daube de Boeuf, and Warm Chocolate Tart.

The Daube de Boeuf was a big success, and was simple to make. The flavour (as I was reliably informed by the meat eaters of the family) was excellent, very rich and delicious. John Bourton Race advocates home made beef stock, but I can honestly say I will never in my life make beef stock, I used a Knorr stock pot, and it seemed perfectly adequate. It didn't look particularly pretty on the plate, being essentially brown meat; no doubt a  handful of finely chopped parsley would have lifted the appearance, but these small finishing touches can elude me on busy week nights. I served it with roast onions and small new potatoes. Here is the recipe, which I simplified very slightly by making in one pot rather than the plethora of pots and casserole dishes advised by the book (with apologies to Mr Bourton Race).

Daube de Boeuf.

2kg braising

500g smoked bacon lardons

50 ml vegetable oil

1 litre beef stock

salt and pepper

For the marinade:

1 bottle red wine

2 garlic cloves peeled and chopped

1 bay leaf

2 sprigs fresh thyme

2 strips orange rind

Method

Place the beef; lardons, garlic, herbs and orange peel in a large bowl. Pour over the bottle of wine. Stir to ensure everything is well combined. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave in a cool place, or in the fridge, overnight.

Next day, strain the marinade and reserve. Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed, oven proof pot and fry off the beef in batches, removing to a plate or bowl until all meat is browned.

Pour the marinade into the pot; bring to the boil and reduce by half.  Add the beef back into the pot, along with the orange peel, herbs and lardons. Add the beef stock and bring to the boil. Cover with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for two hours or until the meat is tender. Check the pot; if there is still a lot of liquid round the meat, simmer gently on the stove top with the lid off, checking frequently. Remove from the heat when the meat is still very moist, and there is only a small amount of liquid in the bottom of the pot.

Eat same day with veg and carbohydrate of your choice, or even better, cool quickly, store overnight in the fridge, and gently reheat until piping hot next day.

My second recipe from 'French Leave' was Warm Chocolate Tart. Due to time constraints, I did not make the sweet shortcrust pastry specified; instead I used filo, which looked pretty, and was easy to use. The filling in this tart was, unusually, a light chocolate sponge.

 I had a slice, and thought it had a delicate flavour; the chocolate cake was light, and not too rich, and the filo gave a pleasant contrasting texture. As ever, my dear family were tripping over themselves to give me their opinions; and this received a universal thumbs down. Everyone felt it was neither cake nor tart, but a strange combination of both. Can you hear my resigned sigh from where you sit?

My cookery book choice for May is ' How to Cook' by Annie Bell. Annie Bell is one of my favourite cookery writers; her recipes are simple, elegant, and totally reliable. This is her most recent book, I have already made a few recipes from it, and am looking forward to getting to know it even better during May.

Many thanks to those who joined the link up last month, I hope you enjoyed it and will continue the challenge with me. If you haven't joined before, and would like to, here's how to take part.

How it works:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf, and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome.
I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too, if you like (just copy and paste the code on to your dashboard to display). You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart )

An InLinkz Link-up

Cookery Calendar Challenge- April

 

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for April.
Click here for the Cookery Calendar Challenge page, which has all the information about the challenge.

My recipe book of choice for March was 'Simply Nigella', the latest offering from Nigella Lawson.  Nigella's first book,  'How to Eat', published in 1998, remains one of my favourite recipe books, and I fully respect and acknowledge her role in presenting an unfussy, relaxed cooking and eating style to home cooks. However, I found 'Simply Nigella' very hard to get to grips with; not many recipes jumped out at me, and the two I made for the Cookery Calendar Challenge were judged 'ok' by the family, but neither will be added to my repertoire of family recipes.

'Thai Turkey Meatballs' was my first recipe (though as Nigella herself acknowledges, turkeys do not exactly roam free in Thailand). The recipe itself uses a high proportion of grated courgette (wet) with the turkey mince (wet). Various other ingredients are added and then lightly mixed together to form meatballs. Though the courgette is squeezed in kitchen roll to remove some of the moisture, the meatball mixture is very slack. I didn't feel confident the meatballs would stay intact in the broth and ended up adding some breadcrumbs to bind and stabilise the mixture. Not difficult to make, but a fair bit of fiddling about, and the dish didn't receive a rave review from the family.

My second recipe was 'Chicken Shawarma' which I was quite excited about making, as it had lots of different spices in it, yet was simple to prepare. I thought it looked and smelled good when it came out the oven, but it received a lukewarm review from the carnivores in the family and I am unlikely to make it again.

Overall a disappointing start with 'Simply Nigella'. When two out of two dishes have been tolerated rather than enjoyed, it takes a leap of faith to try many more from the book. I appreciate that much of Nigella's writing is about a lifestyle, and a general vibe of on-trend recipes and ingredients channelled via her image for use by us less stylish mortals, but this time round I felt slightly wearied by it all. Positive things about the book.... attractive cover; what looks like some interesting baking recipes at the back, and make-ahead and storage notes for all the recipes.

My cookery book choice for April is 'French Leave' by John Burton Race. I talked a little about this book in my last post, it has been on my shelf for a long time; time for a good look through it again to find two new dishes to make.

Many thanks to those who joined the link up last month, I hope you enjoyed it and will continue the challenge with me. If you haven't joined before, and would like to, here's how to take part.

How it works:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome.
I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too if you like. (Just copy and paste the code into your blog dashboard to display) You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart).

An InLinkz Link-up

 

chocolate bunnies in abundance

In my last post I was mulling over pudding options for our Easter feast. In the end I made tarte tatin, a classic pudding that I thought suitable for a still-chilly early-Spring Easter such as we have had this year. I didn't make anything chocolate based; there were chocolate eggs, chocolate chicks and chocolate bunnies in abundance, I couldn't in all conscience add to the chocolate load.

I have never (to my own mild surprise) made tarte tatin before, and used a recipe from 'French Leave' by chef John Bourton Race. This is his memoir of a year spent in the south of France with his family, and is full of recpies, and stories of the people he met in his quest to discover new foods and techniques. It was written to accompany a series on television, which I never saw, having picked up the book in a charity shop some years ago, long after the series had aired. It has earned space on my kitchen shelf by virtue of a recipe for cauliflower soup which is truly delicious, and a sentence which I love, describing a particular cake as 'good to eat with a glass of champagne if you have some friends coming round for afternoon tea'. When I bought the book, this suggestion struck me as ludicrously bourgeois, but with the passage of years I now regard as a very nice idea. Thus are our lives and attitudes measured in recipes. Reasons for keeping the book are now further bolstered by this excellent Tarte Tatin which was easy to make yet looked celebratory and appetising, and disappeared very quickly on the day.

Tarte Tatin

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter

125g caster sugar

6 dessert apples

3 tablespoons Calvados

plain flour for dusting

200g shop bought puff pastry

Method:

Preheat oven to Gas 6/200c

With 100g of the butter, grease a heavy, circular ovenproof pan measuring 20cm across.

Peel and core the apples and cut them in half. Lay them cut side up in the pan, packing them tightly, as they will shrink on cooking.

Put the pan on the stove over a medium heat. As the butter and sugar start to caramelise pour on the Calvados and set fire to it.

Sprinkle the remaining sugar over the apples and dot the remaining butter in little pieces round the pan.

Turn down the heat a little and allow the apples to cook and caramelise to a golden colour; this takes 5-10 minutes.

Put the pan in the preheated oven and cook for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool a little.

Once the pan is cool enough to touch safely, roll out the puff pastry into a circle about 1cm thick and slightly larger than the base of the pan. Lay the pastry over the cooked apples and tuck inside the edge of the pan to encase the fruit.

Put the tart back in the oven for about 15 minutes until the pastry is pale golden and puffed up.

Remove the tart from the oven, allow to rest for about 5 minutes. Place a serving dish over the tart, and quickly invert the pan onto the plate, pastry side down.

Serve immediately with generous helpings of double cream.

I used home made plum brandy left over from Christmas as we didn't have any Calvados. It worked very well, imparting a delicious flavour to the apples. I did not, however, flambe . I can steel myself to set fire to the Christmas pudding once a year, but adding further flambes to the cookery calendar seems an unnecessary fuss.

No photographs of the tarte tatin, but a few of the posies from the Easter table. The vases are SylvaC pottery. My Nana had a large SylvaC jug in her house when we were children which I always loved, predisposing me to gather these over a few years from charity shops and eBay. They are now brought out annually with the Easter decorations.

 

 

Cookery Calendar Challenge- March

Welcome to the Cookery Calendar Challenge for March. For the Cookery Calendar Challenge page click here; and to read all previous Cookery Calendar Challenge posts, click on the Cookery Calendar Challenge category in the sidebar.

My recipe book of choice for February was 'A Love for Food: Recipes and Notes for Eating well from Daylesford' . This book felt like a 'single source' cookery book, if I can put it that way. It explained the vision of the Daylesford founders to run an organic farm, and café, and the recipes within are wholesome, varied and genuine. I really enjoyed handling, reading, and using this book, and I think it will become a favourite. Although I had previously glanced through it admiringly, I hadn't cooked from it. The Cookery Calendar Challenge encouraged me to read it in a systematic manner, and I am happy about that.

The two recipes I chose from the book were 'Corned Beef Hash' and 'Chicken and Apricot Curry'

The corned beef hash was an unexpected favourite with the family (being vegetarian, I didn't eat it, though I did taste some of the crispy potato, which was delicious). The recipe suggests home made corned brisket, instructions for which are elsewhere in the book, but I took the lazy cook's shortcut and used good quality tinned corned beef.
Having committed to following the recipes for the Cookery Calendar Challenge to the letter, I must here confess my sins, as I slightly altered the recipe from individual patty cakes, to one large patty, frittata style, with crushed potatoes, not mashed as the recipe states. I cooked it first on the hob, then browned under the grill. I scribbled a note in the recipe book to remind myself of these changes next time I make it. (Do you scribble in your recipe books too?) The corned beef hash was served with a fried egg on top. Jacob couldn't believe his luck; I always reject his requests for fried eggs on every other occasion. This was a very tasty, savoury, family style dinner.

My second choice was Chicken and Apricot curry. This was a very easy dish, and tasted delicious; another recipe I will add to my repertoire. As I am now cooking a greater variety of family meals, I have refreshed my spices cupboard, and am enjoying the colours and aromas of different spices as I cook.

My book choice for March is 'Simply Nigella'. This was a Christmas gift from Jacob, and I have been looking forward to cooking from it.

Thanks to those who joined the link up last month, I hope you enjoyed it and will continue the challenge with me. If you haven't joined before, and would like to, here's how to take part.

How it works:

The challenge is simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf and cook two new recipes from it. The recipes can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, blog about the recipes you have used, and announce your chosen cookery book for the month ahead. This is an ongoing project, it's never too late to get involved, and everyone is very welcome.
I would appreciate a link back to this Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. Grab the Cookery Calendar Challenge badge to display on your blog too if you like. (Just copy and paste the code into your blog dashboard to display) You can also join via Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge (you will find me on Instagram @penny.homemadeheart).

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

The Cookery Calendar Challenge- February

Welcome to The Cookery Calendar Challenge for February. For  the Cookery Calendar Challenge page click here; and to read all previous Cookery Calendar challenge posts, click on Cookery Calendar Challenge category in the sidebar . 

My recipe book choice for January was 'Mary Berry Cooks', which accompanied the 2014 television series of the same name. Everyone who has ever held a wooden spoon knows Mary Berry, and I know I am not alone in my immense respect for her and her work. I find her books excellent; the recipes are clearly laid out, easy to follow, with each stage explained and any trickier steps detailed carefully, to instil confidence in the cook.

 

The two recipes I chose from the book were 'Lamb Dhansak', and '15 minute pasta'.

Although by nature a careful person , I can be slapdash when it comes to making savoury dishes, so one of my personal commitments to The Cookery Calendar Challenge is to follow the recipes with care, and use all the ingredients listed. The Lamb Dhansak recipe listed several different spices, which in turn necessitated a general purge of the spices cupboard (4 half empty jars of cinnamon anyone?), and a swift cleaning and reorganisation exercise, as well as a bit of stocking up, all of which I regard as very positive, and in keeping with the general ethos of trying to be more organised and prepared for family cooking.

The Lamb Dhansak tasted very authentic (as a vegetarian, I had to take Derek and Jacobs' word on it). The particular blend of spices didn't suit Jacob's taste unfortunately, so although the recipe turned out perfectly, I am unlikely to make it a second time.

My second recipe was Mary's 15 Minute pasta. This is a simple pasta dish, where penne pasta is served with a sauce of crispy (fried) parma ham and small chestnut mushrooms with crème fraiche. This is the sort of recipe that I would not have used prior to the challenge, as it is so simple (and anyone can throw some pasta in a pot after all). However, following the recipe carefully, using the chestnut mushrooms specified in the recipe, and taking the time to finely chop parsley to add to the sauce, and scatter over the top gave a very specific flavour and appearance to the dish, and this time, everyone enjoyed it. This one will be added to the family meals repertoire.

My recipe nook choice for the coming month is 'A Love For Food: Recipes and Notes for Eating well from Daylesford' 

For anyone wishing to join The Cookery Calendar Challenge  (and you are most welcome to do so),  here is a quick reminder of how it works.

The rules are simple: the first week of every month, select a cookery book from your shelf and over the course of the month, cook a minimum of two new recipes from it. The recipes should be broadly seasonal, and can be for any meal. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the following month, report back on the recipes you have used, along with any thoughts you'd like to share about the recipes, the book etc, and announce your cookery book choice for the following month (no need to announce your recipe choices at this point, unless you are uber-organised of course, in which case, go ahead!)

Please remember to link back to this post on your blog when you write about the challenge. Use the Linky below to add your blog.

An InLinkz Link-up

The Cookery Calendar Challenge '16- January

I tend to cook the same recipes for family meals, and hardly ever plan ahead. My family (dear to me as they are in every way) isn't the easiest to feed, and I have found family cooking has become a stressor in my life, rather than a pleasure. I have lots of recipe books, some well used and loved, some never used, though all bought with the very best of intentions.
My new year's resolution is to regain control and confidence in the kitchen by meal planning; shopping and cooking in a more organised, systematic fashion. In the name of accountability, I have also decided to blog about it, and set myself a monthly cookery challenge: The Cookery Calendar Challenge. 

The first week of each month I will select a cookery book from my shelf and cook a minimum of two new recipes from it. The book may be one that has been long-neglected, or one from which I cook the same things repeatedly, neglecting many of the recipes within. The recipes will be for any meal, though I suspect it will be mainly family dinner recipes, as that is my main stressor. Cakes and bakes are excluded, but puddings are included. At the beginning of the every month I will report back on the recipes, give a short review of the book, and announce my cookery book choice for the following month.  My goals for this challenge are:

1) to reinvigorate my repertoire of family meals

2) to revisit my cookery book collection in a systematic manner

3) to encourage me to plan and shop for family meals in an organised way 

If you would like to join with the Cookery Calendar Challenge, please do! It would be fun to do this with others. Start at any time; this will be an ongoing project, open to all, free to join, leave, or return whenever you like. If you blog about it, please link back to my Cookery Calendar Challenge post in your post. There's a grab badge in the side bar for you to display on your blog too if you like. (Just copy and paste the code into your blog dashboard to display) I will also be posting on Instagram using hashtag #cookerycalendarchallenge. (You'll find me @penny.homemadeheart). There is also the Cookery Calendar Challenge page here, with all the information you need.

My cookery book for January 2016 is 'Mary Berry Cooks' published in 2014 by BBC Books.

 

Firstly, sugared pecans

In the dying hours of the old year, I want to share a couple of baking recipes, whilst I can still write a post respectably labelled 'festive'. Firstly, sugared pecans. These are an annual fixture on my baking calendar, and when that first, cinnamon laden tray starts to bake in the oven, and the house smells of spice and rain (sometimes snow), I know Christmas is here. This sort of recipe is very holiday orientated, as it is low on effort, but requires you to be around the kitchen as it cooks, and if you are making many tray-fuls (as I tend to do) a whole afternoon can easily slip by in a sugary haze. The original recipe comes from a cheerful American publication called 'Sweet Christmas' by Sharon Bowers, which has lots of fantastic festive baking in it. My copy now falls open on the sugar-speckled page containing the recipe for these lovely nuts.

Ingredients

1 egg white (from L egg)

2 teaspoons cold water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

400g pecan halves

200g caster sugar

1 teaspoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Method

Preheat oven to Gas 2/150 c

In a large bowl, vigorously whisk the egg white, water and vanilla extract until light and foamy.

Add the pecans and stir thoroughly so they are well coated with the mixture.

Working quickly, add the sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and turn the pecans in the mixture to ensure each is well coated. (You want to work briskly to avoid the sugar completely dissolving in the egg white.) Incidentally, don't be tempted to miss out the salt, as it is essential to round out the delicious spicy, sweet flavour of the coating.

Spread onto baking tin and bake for 30-40 minutes, setting the timer for 10 minute intervals to stir the pecans round, break up any clumps, and move those at the edges into the middle of the tray to ensure even baking. When ready, they should be totally dry,  lightly brown and toasted, with no traces of damp egg white on them.

Tip into a large clean bowl to cool down, and when completely cold, divide into bags and tie with a ribbon, or empty into pretty jars and label. Small bags slipped in a parcel really cheer up a shop bought gift, and they are also lovely to hand out to friends and neighbours with Christmas cards. 

My second seasonal offering is for gingerbread biscuits. These are not exclusively Christmassy; I often make them at Easter too. They are delightfully traditional, and ideal for decorative icing. The recipe comes from Peggy Porschen's  'Boutique Baking'  The quantities given make a substantial amount of biscuits, so could theoretically be halved, but a large batch of gingerbread biscuits is never a bad thing to have around for nibbling with a cup of tea, or to be iced and hung on the Christmas tree, or threaded on narrow ribbon across a window. This year I used some as place markers on the Christmas table.

Ingredients

5 tbsp. water

210g light brown sugar

3 tbsp. treacle

3 tbsp. ground ginger

3 tbsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

250g slated butter, cold, diced

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

560g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

Method

Place the water, brown sugar,treacle, golden syrup, ground ginger, cinnamon, and mixed spice into a deep saucepan.

Bring to the boil over a medium heat, stirring continuously.

Remove from the heat, gradually add the cold, diced butter, and stir until butter is melted and all is well combined.

Add the bicarbonate of soda and mix well.

Leave to cool to room temp.

Once cool, sift in the flour and mix slowly until all the flour is combined and a soft, slightly sticky dough is achieved.

Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 2 hours approx., or until dough is cool and firm.

Roll out the dough on a lightly dusted surface to a thickness of 5-6mm. Cut out shapes as desired, ensuring that the cookies are all of similar size, to ensure even baking.  If the biscuits are going to be hung on a ribbon, make a hole near the top with a skewer at this stage. Once on the tray, chill again for 30 mins. (Tempting though it may be to dodge this step, it is  very important;  it helps the cookies keep their shape and definition when baked.)

Bake for 8-12 minutes, depending on your oven. These bake quickly, so be alert to the edges turning from golden to singed. The cookies are ready when they are slightly darker than when uncooked, particularly round the edges, and feel firm to the touch. Remove to wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

To decorate....

Mix up some royal icing. To do this, I separate an egg, allowing approximately half the egg white to drop in the bowl, setting the rest aside for other use. Start sifting in icing sugar. It is astonishing how much sugar an egg white can hold  (hence only using half), keep adding and mixing until the mixture is smooth and is resisting the spoon a little. It should be quite firm, but still with flexibility and movement, rather like a stiffish, glossy toothpaste.

Use a disposable icing bag. It can be helpful to stand the icing bag in a mug or jug, with a cuff turned over the top, this leaves both hands free to fill the bag. Fill about 1/3 full, and carefully twist the bag closed expelling as much air from the bag as possible. Then, either snip off the point, and pipe directly on to the biscuits, or, prior to filling the bag, slip a piping nozzle into the snipped off point (I use a number 2 nozzle), and proceed as before. Set the cookies aside until the icing is fully dry.

Plum Brandy and writing in the cracks

Home made plum brandy is a gorgeous drink, perfect at Christmas, being rich, aromatic and sweet without being cloying. Just right for sipping in the evening in front of the fire, or to pour into the bottom of a glass before topping up with champagne on Christmas morning. It makes an excellent gift too. I give away bottles of it to those kind souls who drop in around Christmas for a cup of tea or to hand in Christmas cards. Sending someone away with a small bottle of something warming and home-made tucked in their coat pocket feels like the essence of the festive hospitality to me.

Although I have made plum brandy this Christmas, the alcohol and fruit elements are interchangeable, lending themselves to many variations. In recent years I have made bramble brandy and redcurrant gin (particularly delicious!). Home made liqueurs are not a last-minute option, as they have to be started in the late summer. Making the liqueur is the earliest Christmas preparation of every year, and tucking the newly filled Kilner  jars into the dresser cupboard in late August engenders a delightful sensation of preparedness that is sadly lacking elsewhere in my life. We must take our comfort where we can, and jars of plum or bramble brandy do it for me. 

So whilst time may be against you for making and enjoying plum brandy this Christmas, please consider it next summer (I will try to remember to put a reminder on the blog for those who are interested!). This is how it's done:

Plum Brandy

 325g fruit of choice

200g caster sugar

600ml spirit of choice

Check over the fruit, discard (or eat!) any that is over ripe. Stone fruits, or those fruits with a slightly thicker skin, such as plums or sloes, should be  pricked with a sharp knife or skewer; soft fruits such as brambles or redcurrants should be left whole, though any stalks should be removed.

Sterilize 1litre Kilner or other jars with an airtight lid (I put jars and lids through a hot wash in the dishwasher, then place in a low oven to dry out).

Pour the sugar into the bottom of the jar, followed by the fruit, then pour over the spirit. Fill to the top and screw the lid on tightly. Invert the jar a few times to encourage the sugar to dissolve and disperse throughout the jar. Wipe the jar/s down with a wet cloth and place them in a cool, dark cupboard. Every few days for the first couple of weeks, take the jars out and give them a gentle shake. Leave for a minimum of three months.

When ready to bottle up, sterilize some pretty bottles and leave in a low oven to dry out. Pour the brandy through a sieve lined with clean muslin or a thin dish towel into a large jug, decant into bottles, wipe down and label.

Next, a brief nod to the fact that I have been absent from my desk for some weeks. No sinister reasons for this, just an increase in family commitments, combined with a particularly hectic November, meant that suddenly it was four weeks since I had sat down to write, then it was five, then six...

I missed writing here, and reading, and generally enjoying the sensation of belonging to a blogging community that embraces its members yet constantly reaches out with welcoming arms. It is a creative, supportive, and kindly community, and I have missed it. I  have realised (once again) that keeping this blog is important to me. It is in part a loose journal of events: when I read an old post (usually whilst looking vainly for a recipe and then suddenly thinking 'Oh, it's on the blog, I'll get it from there') I am very effectively reminded of time and place, the atmosphere of the moment when I was writing. The writing and photographs become an aide memoir and a (slightly haphazard) history of  family life. It is also an exercise in creating short written pieces that others may enjoy reading, and when someone does enjoy something I have written, I am deeply gratified. Gratification is not available by the spadeful, so a little sprinkle of it from blogging friends is warmly welcomed.

I also realised that my writing is done in the cracks; in the little slivers of time between other commitments; writing and photography is something that makes me feel fulfilled, yet it is the first thing to drop when life speeds up. I treasure it, but I don't value it. Having time to write feels like a luxury, not a right. How do you feel about your writing? Do you do it no matter what, or do you constantly push it to the bottom of the 'to do' list?

All being well (and it is) I should be back with another seasonal post pre Christmas. 

serves 6

My brother lives in London, and it is always a complete joy to see him when he visits, as he did last weekend. I saw him on Saturday, and he visited for brunch on Monday. The boys were off school for half term, so I knew by 11am I would have some very hungry stomachs to fill. As well as bacon, sausages, black pudding and roast cherry tomatoes, all of which could be cooked slightly in advance and kept warm, I found a recipe for savoury bread and butter pudding in 'Dorset Cereals the breakfast book', which looked delicious, and as though it would provide the required ballast for three hungry men.

I approve of dishes made using bread, they make me feel thrifty and efficient (a most welcome and unusual sensation).We are a very bread-hungry household; breakfast toast, lunchtime sandwiches, after school snacks, supper time bread and jam, we get through a huge amount of bread, and there is often an elderly loaf languishing at the back of the bread bin. This recipe is perfect for using up slightly stale ends of loaves. I adapted it very slightly by substituting 100ml of the milk with double cream for added richness, but that aside it is lifted straight from the book.  Serves 6 (or one visiting uncle and two ravenous nephews).

Ingredients

30g butter

1 onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh parsley plus extra for garnish

1 tbsp. finely snipped fresh chives plus extra for garnish

6 large free range eggs

650ml milk

100ml double cream

200g day old good quality bread, cut into smallish chunks

125g cheddar cheese, grated

salt and pepper

Method

Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and fry off the onion, stirring occasionally, until very soft and translucent but not browned.

Whisk together the eggs, milk and cream in a bowl or large jug, stir in the parsley and chives, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Butter a 3 litre baking dish. Place half the bread chunks in the dish and sprinkle with half the fried onion and half the grated cheddar. Gently pour over approx. half the egg and milk mixture. Repeat with the remaining ingredients. Gently press down any dry peaks with the back of a wooden spoon to ensure all the bread is in contact with the liquid. Cover with a dish, or cling film, and leave to one side for 30-60 minutes to allow the egg and milk to fully soak into the bread.

Preheat oven to Gas5/190c and bake for 45-50 minutes until puffed and golden on top, and cooked through. Scatter reserved parsley and chives on top before serving.

Serve with bacon, sausages, roasted cherry tomatoes, a jug of maple syrup, and fresh orange juice.

keeping it neat

Isaac turned 13 a couple of weeks ago, and half-jokingly requested 'a cake made of chocolate cookies'. Although there was nothing to stop me making a heap of chocolate cookies and sticking them together with icing, I felt slightly at a loss as to exactly how to proceed. Fortunately, I found a recipe in April Carter's 'Decorated' that fitted the bill perfectly.

The cake turns out quite small, about 6"/15 cm diameter, but is very dense, so the given quantity yields about 10 slices. It has a high novelty factor, and went down well with the birthday boy and  friends.

Ingredients

125g butter

85g caster sugar

1 medium egg, lightly beaten

175g dark chocolate, roughly chopped

225g plain flour

1 level teaspoon bicarb of soda

1/2 level teaspoon salt

Method

Beat the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.

Add the beaten egg, ensuring all is well combined, then add the chopped chocolate.

Sift all the dry ingredients together and add, beating until all ingredients are well combined, but don't mix beyond that point.

The dough will be quite soft. Place the dough in a clean bowl and cover with clingfilm, or pop into a freezer bag, and chill for a minimum of two hours, or overnight. This step helps the dough keep its shape when it is baked, and should not be skipped.

After chilling, preheat the oven to Gas 3/ 170c.

Weigh the dough, and divide evenly by 8. Roll each eighth into a ball between your palms, and then pat firmly into a flattish disc, about 4"/10 cm across. Place apart on a baking tray, they will spread.

Bake for approx. 10 minutes until just cooked through, golden at the edges, but still slightly soft in the middle. leave the cookies to cool slightly and firm up on the baking tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Icing

200g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

160g very soft butter

180g icing sugar, sifted

Melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of barely simmering water, ensuring the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Remove from the heat as soon as the chocolate has fully melted.

Beat the butter and icing sugar together until fully combined, and a creamy consistency. Gently stir in the chocolate; do not beat or the chocolate may seize.

To assemble the cookie cake

Anchor the first cookie onto your chosen serving plate with a dab of icing. Gently spread icing on the cookie to give a thin layer, keeping it neat. Place the next cookie on top and continue to build the cake, taking care not to dislodge the underneath layers as you proceed.

This cake lasts surprisingly well; the cookies acquiring a slightly soft texture due to the layers of icing, which is rather decadent.

Happy Easter

 

a ribbon can be added

At Easter, I like to make food gifts for family, friends and neighbours. This year I decided to make small Simnel cakes. At 4" in diameter, they are small enough to be cute (without venturing into dinky territory), and large enough to provide four or five respectable slices.

Presentation and transportability are important when giving food gifts. I save pretty glass jars from jams and jellies, tin trays from pre packaged meals, plastic tubs that held fruit, all of which can be pressed into service when giving gifts of baking or preserves. These can of course be bought from shops and many worthy websites, but I like to be resourceful, and cupboards full of empty jam jars and small cardboard trays waiting to be used bring me peculiar pleasure.

For the Simnel cakes, I first wrapped a small square of cling film round the bottom of the cakes, so that they could be carried without sticking to the fingers. I wrapped a collar of greaseproof paper round the cake, folded over and snipped at regular intervals to lend a festive air. This was secured at the back with a clean dressmakers pin. Over this, I wrapped a strip of bright tissue paper, holding it in place at the back until I whipped out the pin from the greaseproof paper, and re-pinned through both layers. Then a length of broad ribbon, followed by raffia or baker's string to finish off. Any cakes going a distance in the car will have a further loose enclosure of cling film, or cellophane. A ribbon can be added, and a small pretty label. ( I have found that lowering decorated cakes into cellophane bags is terribly difficult to manage neatly without damage to the cake, so now cut a square and sit the cake on top, bringing up the corners to a point, and securing).

Decorating Simnel cakes with a thick disc of marzipan and marzipan balls is easy. The cakes are traditionally placed under a hot grill to give the characteristic toasted look (or blow-torched of course), however I make life much easier for myself by brushing some Sugarflair paste concentrate in 'Chestnut' on the marzipan balls instead.

I used (marginally adapted) Jane Brocket's recipe  from 'Vintage Cakes, tremendously good cakes for sharing and giving'. Full of old fashioned, hard working cake recipes, this is a book I have turned to many times. I made double quantities, which gave me five x four inch cakes. Single quantities give one x eight inch cake. 

Ingredients.

500g marzipan

400g mixed dried fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants)

50g mixed peel

50g glace cherries, rinsed, drained and quartered

finely grated zest of one orange and one lemon

175g plain flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons mixed spice

175g butter at room temp

175g light soft brown sugar

4 L eggs

2 tablespoons apricot jam

icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Preheat oven to Gas 2

Roll out 400g of the marzipan on a surface dusted with icing sugar, and cut two 20cm discs, using your intended cake tin as a guide, pressing the top rim into the marzipan and cutting slightly inside the lines. Lay aside, wrapped in cling film. Keep any scraps wrapped in cling film and set aside.

Grease and line cake tin.

Place dried fruit and grated zest in a bowl.

Sift dry ingredients in a bowl.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy using electric hand held whisk or stand mixer, until light coloured and fluffy.

Add the eggs and flour alternately until the mixture is thoroughly combined.

Tip in the dried fruit and zests, mixing by hand until thoroughly combined.

Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin, then drop in one of the pre-cut discs of marzipan. Spoon the remaining mixture into the tin, and smooth with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 2-2 1/2 hours, until well risen. Bear in mind the marzipan layer will be soft and sticky when  sticking a skewer or cocktail stick in the cake to test for done-ness, so might give a misleading result. The top of the cake will be firm, and dark golden brown.

Place on a wire rack and allow to cool before turning out.

When the cake is completely cold, brush the top generously with the apricot jam, warmed slightly to help it spread. Cover with the second disc of marzipan, pinching the edges if liked, to give a crimped effect. Roll the remaining marzipan, and any scraps from making the discs, into eleven equal sized balls, placing one in the middle, and the rest evenly spaced round the cake. Brushing the undersides of the balls with a little water helps them stick. Grill very carefully, or blow torch very carefully, or brush with colouring as I do. Decorate with pretty ribbon.

The smell of spices, citrus, and cake wafting round the kitchen signal 'celebration' to me, and making fruit cakes, at Easter and Christmas is one of the great pleasures in life. Happy Easter.

Business Biscuits

This week Derek is away to Aberdeenshire for a series of business meetings, and has taken some bags of home made biscuits with him as small gifts.

I had made chocolate biscuits using a recipe from 'Life Is Sweet' earlier in the week, sandwiched with icing, as in the photograph below. I decided to repeat the recipe for Derek, but  left the biscuits plain, making them easier to transport.

I always seem to end up baking for Derek on a Sunday evening, so once again it was beneficial to use a recipe where the mixture is rolled into balls and placed on the baking trays, rather than rolled out flat and cut out, as kitchen table space on a Sunday evening is always at a premium.

Chocolate Biscuits with Vanilla Icing

Ingredients (biscuits).

140g butter

320g caster sugar

1 L egg

170g plain flour

90g cocoa powder

1 tsp bicarb of soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

 

Ingredients (vanilla filling).

130g butter at room temp.

220g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

(the original recipe uses double these quantities for the vanilla filling, but I found half quantities more than enough)

Method.

Preheat oven Gas 5, 190c.

Cream butter and sugar until very light and fluffy using freestanding mixer or electric hand held whisk. Add the egg and beat until just incorporated.

Sift all dry ingredients together and add gradually with mixer on medium speed until all ingredients come together. The dough will look very dark, and quite stiff.

Break off small pieces of the dough, roll into balls and place slightly apart on baking trays. (I weigh each piece to 15g to ensure they all turn out the same size)

Dip a flat-bottomed glass in caster sugar (I used a smear of egg white from where I'd tipped the egg into the mixture to help the sugar to stick to the bottom of the glass), and press each cookie down flat, dipping and flattening as you go.

Bake for 10-15 minutes until firm, remove from tray and allow to cool on a wire rack.

To make the filling, beat the butter until light and pale, using a stand mixer or hand held electric whisk. Turn down the speed and gradually add the icing sugar. When thoroughly combined, add the vanilla extract and beat well for several minutes until light and creamy.

Spoon the filling into a disposable piping bag with the end snipped off, and pipe a neat spiral of filling onto a cookie. Gently press another cookie on top. Repeat until all the cookies are filled.

When filled, the biscuits should probably be eaten within a day of making to ensure maximum biscuit crunchiness, but without filling they should keep for several days in an airtight tin (or tied in cellophane bags, bumping over the roads of Aberdeenshire).

 

Business Biscuits

Sometimes Derek asks me to do some baking for business meetings at work.

Home baking breaks the ice, introduces a homely air, and helps to relax the atmosphere. And if he clinches the deal I always take the credit, if my baking has been involved.

Ruled out are squidgy cakes; meringues, flaky pastry, sprinkles, runny fillings, and creamy toppings. As I have said elsewhere, sitting at a business meeting with shards of meringue pattering onto your lap, or jam running down your sleeve, does not conduce to dignified discussion. Like spaghetti bolognese and knickerbocker glories on a first date, these are best avoided. 

Last Sunday evening, I made Pecan Shortbreads for a Monday morning meeting. These are easy to make and have the advantage of being rolled into balls and placed on the baking tray rather than rolled out flat and cut, which is helpful when your kitchen table is piled high with laundry, homework, books, kit bags and general Sunday evening clutter, leaving little space for baking prep.

Pecan Shortbreads

(adapted from The Great British Bake Off book, 2014)

80g pecan halves, plus pecan halves for decoration

250g plain flour

175g butter at room temp

85g icing sugar, sifted

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to Gas 4/180c

Toast the pecans for 5-7 minutes, but do not toast those reserved for decoration.

When cool, chop finely.

Beat butter until very smooth and soft, but not oily. Add the icing sugar tablespoon by tablespoon until fully incorporated. (If you are using a free standing mixer, have it on the lowest setting).

Add the vanilla extract and beat until well incorporated. Add the plain flour and chopped nuts, and mix thoroughly until a stiffish dough is formed.

Flour your fingers; take a walnut sized piece of dough, and roll into a ball, then pat into a small fat disc and place on the baking tray. Top with an untoasted pecan half. Continue, placing the biscuits a little apart on the tray until all the dough is used up. (I weigh each piece at 16g. I know this would have some people screaming with frustration, but I find it reassuring.)

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, depending on your oven, and the size of your biscuits, until the underside looks fully cooked, and the top of the  biscuits are tinged golden.

Transfer onto a wire rack to cool. When cool, dredge with icing sugar. These keep for  2 or 3 days in an airtight tin.

 

 

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a little homemade something

Making edible gifts for family and friends is of the most enjoyable parts of the Christmas season. There is something very satisfying about tucking a carefully labelled jar or beribboned bag into a parcel for a friend. A little homemade something cheers up even the most pedestrian shop-bought present, and a few home made items can make a handsome and very personal gift.  Some years I even manage to produce small christmas hampers, with christmas cake, home made liqueur, biscuits and preserves.

But on less productive years (like this one), when December had other plans for me, and time in the kitchen was limited, I still managed to make some jars of mulled cranberry jelly, and some bags of sugared pecans*.

The cranberry jelly recipe is adapted from one of those perennial magazine supplements that appear every Christmas. The smell of apples, cranberries and spices simmering on the stove is warm and aromatic, the finished cranberry jelly tastes delicious, and the jars look pretty when tied with a ribbon and decorated with a christmas label.

The quantities below produce about 5 half pound jars, so for that quantity of jelly, it is worth the effort, and the inevitable stickiness and general kitchen carnage of dealing with so many pounds of sugar. 

Mulled Cranberry Jelly.

First, sterilise your jam jars.

Ingredients:

3kg cooking apples, unpeeled, cut into rough chunks.

900g fresh cranberries

500ml red wine

3-4 whole cinnamon sticks

1 1/2 tbsp whole cloves

preserving sugar and caster sugar

Method:

Put the apple chunks and cranberries into a heavy based pan, or preserving pan (known as a 'jeely pan' in Scotland.) Add the wine, cinnamon and cloves, and 1 litre of cold water. Bring to the boil, and simmer until the fruit is very soft; about 15-20 minutes.

This next part (straining the jelly )is what puts many people off; all the talk of muslin squares tied with string, jelly bags suspended on upended stools, and bags of fruit juice dripping overnight is really enough to put the average person off the whole business. I have my own foreshortened method which is this: I line a colander with an old, clean, thinnish tea towel (or a muslin square of course), and place it over a large jug, or bowl, which is sufficiently wide to comfortably support the colander by its handles, carefully empty the contents of the preserving pan into it, and leave it for 2-3 hours. By that time the vast bulk of the fruit juice will have dripped through the teatowel/muslin into the jug or bowl below.

Don't be tempted to squeeze or press the fruit down to release more juice, as this will result in a cloudy final product. When you are ready, discard the fruit pulp and measure the strained fruit juice.

Now it's time to make your beautiful, clear, fruit and spice liquid, into the actual jelly. For every 600ml of liquid, you need 450g of sugar. I usually use caster sugar as I always have it in the house, but you can use granulated if you prefer. I use one third preserving (or jam) sugar to two thirds caster sugar. I find more than one third preserving sugar gives a very hard set, and I like my preserves to have a more voluptuous consistency.

Put the juice and the sugars back in the (washed out) pan, and heat very gently until the sugars dissolve, and you can no longer feel any grittiness on the bottom of the pan with your wooden spoon.

Turn up the heat and bring to a rolling boil. Boil for about three minutes, skimming off any scum that gathers at the edge of the boiling mass, then start testing for a set. There are various  methods of assessing whether your jelly is set, my preferred option is the 'flake' test, lifting the spoon out of the boiling jelly to see if it forms a flake on the edge of the wooden spoon after a few minutes boiling, which is very quick and accurate, and doesn't involve stashing saucers in the freezer beforehand. The flake is very distinctive, you will know as soon as you see it that it is different from the jam simply running off the spoon back into the pot.

                                   

                                                 (Courtesy of Google Images)

Immediately you have a set, turn the heat off, and skim off any remaining scum. When you are ready to pot up, ladle the jelly into the warm jars. (I find a preserving funnel a great help here.) Fill the jars very close to the top, and place a waxed disc on top of the jelly, smoothing out air bubbles (I use the end of a teaspoon for this).These measures help to provide a hygenic seal and will improve the shelf life of your preserves. Screw the lid on tightly, wipe down the jars with a damp cloth to catch any stray drips or spills and then prettify with ribbon and label etc. Should keep for six months; store in fridge once opened, and eat within a week.

I made several batches of this jelly, and gave away the vast majority of it, keeping a couple of jars for use at home. Being a vegetarian, I was reliably and enthusiastically informed by the family that it was the perfect accompniament to cold meats, and I can tell you from personal experience that it is absloutely delicious on hot buttered muffins, especially when taken in front of the fire, with a fresh pot of tea, ready to be poured, as 'Mapp and Lucia' is about to start on television!

*no photographs of the sugared pecans, so that recipe will come another time.

 

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happy christmas

Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas, and a peaceful, healthy and happy 2015. Signing off for a few days now, see you in the New Year. Thanks for making this space feel like home.

Love

Penny XX

sweet, salty, crunchy, smooth.

I love peanut butter; I could eat it straight from the jar by the spoonful  (and on occasions when my self control has been less than steely, I have done just that). I also love jam; home made if possible, ideally my Nana's bramble and apple jelly.

So when I have peanut butter, and jam/jelly in the house, I can either making myself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (and let's never underestimate just how gorgeous that can be), or, if I am prepeared to defer gratification for an hour or so,  I can bake Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars.

These tickle the tastbuds in so many ways; they are sweet, salty, crunchy, smooth and altogether one of my favourite things to bake. The original recipe came from Ina Garten, aka The Barefoot Contessa, and I haven't changed it in any way, apart from converting the cup measurements to grams, so thank you Ina!

 

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

Ingredients.

130g butter (+ more for greasing tin)

160g caster sugar

1 large egg, lightly whisked

250g smooth peanut butter

240g plain flour (+ more for dusting tin)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon table salt

300g jelly or seedless jam

200g salted peanuts, chopped (or place in freezer bag and bash with a rolling pin)

 

Method.

Preheat oven to Gas 4/180c

Butter and flour tin, base measurement approx 30cm long x 20cm wide, 4cm deep (I use a standard enamel roasting tin)

Using a stand mixer or hand held electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until it is plae, and light in texture.

Add the egg, and the peanut butter, and mix again until thoroughly combined.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together and add slowly to the peanut butter mixture. Mix until well combined, but do not overmix. (The dough will be rather soft.)

Divide the dough in half, and, taking the first half, tear off small pieces and scatter them evenly over the base of the tin. Then, dipping your fingers in some plain flour to stop them sticking, pat out the dough until it is evenly spread in a single layer over the base. (The first time you do this, you will be convinced there isn't enough dough to get right over the base, but there should be, it's just a little fiddly to work with).

Next, spread the jam evenly on top of the dough, avoiding spreading it to the very edges (if the jam sticks to the side of the tin during baking, it is harder to cut the bars, and harder to scrub the tin clean!).

Now take the second half of the dough, and breaking off small pieces, scatter it evenly over the jam. This time you wont be able to spread it out, as it will slide on the jam, but you will mange a reasonably even covering, even if tiny bits of jam are showing through here and there.

Scatter over the chopped peanuts. I sometimes sprinkle a little extra salt on top too, but that is entirely optional.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden on top and smelling strongly of peanuts!

Allow to cool competely in the tin, then cut into bars, as big or small as you like.

 

 

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August Break: Morning

The next photo prompt from blogging project The August Break is 'morning'

Regardless of season, my morning always starts with a cup of tea. That first cup is sipped at odd moments during the morning flurry of packed lunch making; boys' breakfast preperations, last minute gym kit assemblies, 'Clean your teeth' naggings and morning goodbye kisses. After everyone has gone, I put the kettle back on the hob again: it's never too soon for another cup of tea as far as I am concerned, particularly if a bit of rootling around in the cake tin turns up a slightly elderley banana loaf, ready to be toasted and spread generously with pale, creamy butter.

 

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The August Break: Shadow

Continuing with the August Break, and today's photo prompt is 'shadow'

Rich, crisp butter biscuits with a hint of nutmeg, cooling on a wire tray, creating an interesting shadow. I will post the biscuit recipe after the August Break project is finished.

The August Break: Bookshelf

Continuing to work my way through the one-photo-per-day August Break challenge set by Susannah Conway. Today's prompt is 'bookshelf'.

This is my cookery book shelf. This is where I turn to for inspiration, advice and comfort. I particularly love cookery books with lengthy introductions to each recipe, written in a friendly tone, advising, but not hectoring. Some I have owned for many years, some are comparatively new, all are loved. I have no compunction about writing all over them, making notes on any changes I have made; the exact timings for my oven, or halving, doubling or in some other way altering the recipes.  

I also have an unwritten merit system for my cookery books, where, if I haven't consulted a recipe book for over a year or so, it is demoted to a distant bookshelf elsewhere in the house. If it languishes there for any length of time, it is quietly dispatched to the charity shop. 

Some cookery books are kept, however, not because they are frequently consulted, but for other reasons. Perhaps because they contain one much loved recipe,e.g. 'French Leave' , bought some years ago in Oxfam, and kept for the cauliflower soup recipe. Others are kept because they have been received as gifts, e.g. 'Home Cooking' by Rachel Allen, given to me by Jacob, with a treasured message from him written on the fly leaf. I will keep it for ever.

The Readers' Digest 'Cookery Year' is the grand old man of the collection; kept because it was given as a gift from my family when Derek and I became engaged. I still turn to it regularly for no nonsense advice and classic recipes.

One of my favourites cookery books is the Roald Dahl's Cook Book, many of the recipes have introductions and explanations by Roald, which add charm and give an insight into his life with his family.

My christmas cookery books live on the shelf all year round. Opening them 'out of season' gives a pinprick of nostalgia for christmases past, and getting them down from the shelf in November for my christmas cake, or christmas pudding recipe, is one of the most enjoyable parts of the festive season.

I still remember the pleasure of saving up for and buying Delia's  'Summer Collection' and 'Winter Collection' books when Derek and I were quite newly married, and a new recipe book was a big purchase.

I love Mary Berry too, her down to earth approach with recipes, as well as her strength of character, humour, and sense of style. I have several of her books, and they are well used.

I can't talk about my cookery book shelf without mentioning the fabulous 'Home Cook' by Alistair Hendy. Written with a quick wit and sly wink, Alistair is the man to turn to when you can't quite remember how to make recipes you feel you should know. I love this book so much I bought an extra copy incase anything happened to the first one I had.

In the same way that each of our friends brings a different joy or richness to our lives, so each of my recipe books gives me pleasure. Like friends, they too have their foibles and quirks, and they are not without their flaws, but my kitchen, and home, would be poorer without them.

What cookery books you treasure, and turn to often? 

 

The August Break: Look Down

Today's photo prompt for 'The August Break' is 'Look Down'

This evening found me looking down into a big baking bowl full of egg yolks and caster sugar, into which I was carefully folding stiffly whisked egg whites.

Although a metal spoon is the traditional implement for this job, I prefer a slim rubber spatula. It's just as effective, and enables me to scrape the sides of the bowl easily, without having to endure the awful sound of metal scraping against metal.

 

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The August Break: Hands

The August Break continues, and today's photograph prompt is 'hands'.

My hands,passing a slice of home made cake to someone I love. Of all the things hands can do, this is one of the nicest.

 

The August Break: Three

Continuing the August Break blogger project, and today's prompt is 'three'.

I spent most of the day telling myself I couldn't possibly post a photo of three speckled bananas, but in the end I did, because three speckled bananas mean something specific to me, and I find numbers a bit meaningless without a visual or personal reference. (I am in fact quietly convinced that had I been educated in a different era I may have been spotted as having a definable problem with numbers, and helped accordingly. My beleagured maths teacher could probably done with some professional counselling too, come to think of it).

Hence when I look at three speckled bananas I don't really think of the number, I instead think of one of my favourite things to bake; banana loaf. Comforting, not too sweet, quick to make, even quicker to eat. I shared my oft-used recipe in this post . Feel free to try it and don't feel obliged to say your nine times table at any time during the baking or eating of this simple, homely treat.

 

innocent chocolate hearts and vodka espressos

Chocolate sprinkle hearts are a sweet hostess gift, and would also be a pretty addition to a party table. I made a batch of them on Midsummer's Eve, when we were invited to a friend's house for dinner. Having intended to make iced cookies, then running out of time, I remembered seeing these in Annie Riggs excellent Sweet Things, and quickly made some to take with us.

They were warmly received, and as we nibbled them after dinner with our coffee, my friend's husband (since renamed The Silent Assassin) offered  to make us Vodka Espressos , which suggestion we welcomed with enthusiasm, our defences being already weakened by the champagne and pomegranate aperitifs, and excellent wine with dinner.

A vodka espresso tastes like sweet, cold coffee, but makes your brain feel like you are propelling yourself at speed in high heels into a moving truck. Drinking lots of vodka espressos makes your brain feel like you are propelling yourself at speed in high heels into a moving truck but you don't feel any pain until the next morning.

However, on the topic of the altogether more innocent chocolate hearts; what follows is not really a recipe, more of a friendly nod in the direction of some melted chocolate and a piping bag, if you want to make these pretty little things:

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper and pour in your choice of sprinkles, giving the tin a shake to distribute them in a even, generous layer. 

Melt 200g of plain, white or dark chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water. When it is melted and smooth, remove from the heat and allow to cool, stirring it every few minutes until it has cooled and thickened sufficiently to leave a ribbon trail, at which point you must the act with cool headed efficiency to pipe the hearts before the chocolate becomes too cold and stiff to pipe.

Decant the chocolate into a waiting piping bag (with a star tipped piping nozzle if you feeel so inclined, or just with the end snipped off), and pipe the chocolate hearts on top of the sprinkles. They will dry and harden in just a few minutes, ready to be packed into a pretty box or container.

For maximum effect, enjoy on Midsummer Eve, in the company of friends with a killer streak for making cocktails...

 

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nicely chocolatey.

There are lots of chocolate cakes in the world; each with its own characteristics. This particular example is not perfect for every occasion in life; it is not hugely rich, or sophisticated, or unusual...but it is easy to make, nicely chocolatey, economical, keeps well, and is suitable as a weekday cake, or even, as Isaac proved recently, as a birthday cake. 

 

When made into cupcakes it bakes helpfully to a flat finish, making it easy to ice. It's safe to say this cake currently makes a regular appearance in our house justnow.

 

The original recipe came from the much maligned 'Celebrate' by Pippa Middleton. I have switched the margarine for butter, considerably reduced the amount of water (yes, water), increased the oven temp, and changed the method. I leave you to decide if it's still Pippa's recipe.

I also always double the quantities, so I end up with either a large double layer cake (made in 2 deep 8" tins) or several loaf-tins worth/ cupcakes and a big cake, and permutations thereof. Once fully cold, the cake/s freeze well, wrapped well, uniced, so I always like to make a big batch. Quantities given below are those that I use. Of course half them if you wish.

Ingredients

170g butter at room temp. 

570g caster sugar 

4 L. eggs 

110g cocoa powder 

340g self-raising flour

300ml cold water 

 

Method 

Preheat oven to Gas 4/180c. Grease and line 2x 20cm round cake tins.

Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.

Add the eggs one by one, ensuring they are thoroughly blended.

Sift the self-raising flour and cocoa together.

Add the sifted ingredients and the water alternately until all fully incorporated, and the mixture is smooth and creamy. (If using stand mixer, take a spatula round the bottom of the bowl to ensure all is fully mixed.)

Divide the mixture between the tins and bake for 50-60 minutes, checking at 45 minutes, until nicely risen, and a cocktail stick insterted into the centre comes out clean.

Cool in the tins for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely before covering with the icing of your choice, or dusting with a mixture of cocoa and icing  sugar. Or plain.

 

 

 

very pretty when decorated with a bright ribbon.

I absolutely love Christmas; the anticipation, planning, food, gifts, tree, decorations, atmosphere, late night shopping, last minute dashes and midnight parcel wrapping. And though I join in with the annual lip pursing and head shaking when tins of festive biscuits and wrapping paper appear in the shops before hallowe'en, secretly, I'm thrilled.

However, when Easter comes round there is something very appealing about the unstressy purchase of a few chocolate eggs, a little relaxed baking, and the pleasant task of gathering a few twigs to make an Easter tree. 

This year, as in years past,as well as the ubiquitous eggs for children, I made lemon curd to give to family and friends for Easter. It is a gorgeous colour, easy to make, creamily delicious, and the finished jars are very pretty when decorated with a bright ribbon. Perfect for spreading on toasted hot cross buns for Easter Sunday breakfast (for those who are not gorging themselves on chocolate).

 

The recipe I use is from Leiths Baking Bible. It calls for the juice and zest of the lemons, but I dislike zest in lemon curd so I leave it out. 

Prior to making the lemon curd I sterilise the jars (see notes here if you're not sure). I also sterilise the lids, the sieve, and scald the jug or bowl I will decant the curd into. I leave the jars to dry in a low oven whilst I make the curd. A jam funnel is helpful but not essential.

The recipe below produces 1lb of jam, and can be multiplied as desired, but I would not recommend that more than 3lb is tackled in one batch; it starts to become slightly unmanageable in very large quantities. It keeps well in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.

Ingredients

Juice of 2 large lemons.

85g butter 

225g caster sugar

3 large eggs, lightly beaten.

Method

Place all ingredients together in a heavy based pot, over a medium heat (if the mixture is cooked over too high a heat, it can lose its creamy consistency and become grainy). Stir constantly for 10-15 minutes. Vigilance pays off; the mixture will turn suddenly from liquid to a curd consistency.

Remove from heat, and strain through a sieve to remove the strands of cooked egg white that will have inevitably formed, taking care not to rub them through the sieve.

Decant into the sterilised jars, screw the lids on tightly and cool in the fridge. Write label and tie with ribbon. 

 

pot of tea also essential

 

As I have mentioned before, Derek occasionally requests some home baking to take to business meetings. Last Friday he requested scones. Although these are supposedly an easy option, quick to mix and bake, I've always felt that their homely appearance belies the whiff of baking sorcery required to get them just right. 'I can't even make a scone', is often the rueful admission of many a novice baker, but in all honesty I would start any home baking career with a sponge cake; banana loaf or  biscuits, rather than the temperamental scone. 

Prior to the advent of the ubiquitous home freezer, women would often keep a quantity of the 'rubbed in' mixture in a screw top jar in a cool place  (then in later years  in the fridge), ready for visitors, so all that was needed was to add the milk, pat out, cut and bake. In the small highland villages  where I grew up, being considered a 'good baker' was a matter of great pride for many women (not only for scones of course). Each had their own secret method, or added a pinch of this or that to make their scones lighter, fluffier or sweeter than others'.

On communal occasions, or at local agricultural shows, there would be a procession of steely eyed country women, clad in home knitted cardi's, or tweeds, each carrying in their (usually substantial) bosom a carefully packed container full of golden scones and other baking, to be unpacked onto platters on the covered trestle tables in the village hall, or marquee. Friends they might be day to day, but there was no mistaking the competitive gleam in their eyes as they unpacked and displayed their home baking, with many a sideways glance at their friends' offerings.

My recipe is an amalgamation of several others, so can't be attributed to a specific writer, and has evolved over the years, but it is just right for my oven, and my style of baking. I am slightly reluctant to commit it to print incase I receive the on-line equivalent of letters of complaint written in lavender ink, but I will take the plunge. Perhaps it will turn out to be just right for your oven too.

The quantities below make about 18 scones, using a 5 1/2cm, straight sided cutter. Handle the mix lightly, do not knead the dough, pat it out using your hands, no need for a rolling pin. Additionally, the first time you make the scones, you might like to reserve about 1/4 of the milk initially, until you see how the mixture comes together (depending on what brand of flour you are using etc), adding the rest as required. Any scones that are uneaten on the day can be frozen immediately after they are fully cold, and then gently reheated in a warm oven when required. 

Ingredients.

840g self raising flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

120g caster sugar

60g butter

30g trex

180g raisins (omit for plain scones)

510mls milk

1 egg, for glazing the scones

Method

Preheat oven to Gas 7 or equivelent.

Sift flour, sugar, salt and baking powder together in a large bowl.

Add the butter and trex (I usually use the butter at room temp, and the trex from the fridge)

Rub the fats into the dry ingredients, until all is well amalgamated and of a sandy consistency.

Add the raisins (if using) and distribute them evenly in the mixture.

Make a well in the dry ingredients, add the milk. 

 Stir the milk into the dry ingredients using a round bladed knife. Work quickly and lightly.

You are aiming for a slightly sticky, loose dough.

Using a scraper or rubber spatula,turn out the mixture onto a generously floured surface. 

Dust some flour on the top and pat the mixture into a round with your hands. Pat out to a thickness of about 2- 2 1/2cm. Put a handful of flour in a small bowl, or in a mound at the side of the work surface, and dip the cutter into the flour before cutting out each scone. The mixture can be drawn together, re-patted to a round, and more scones cut out, but I would do this only once; the dough results in tough scones if it is overhandled.

Place the scones apart on the tray. Brush the tops with the beaten egg, slackened off with a little water.

Place the scones in the top of the oven for 18 to 20 minutes, checking after 15 the first few times you make them. You will quickly find an exact time for your particular oven.

When the scones are well risen, golden on top, and also the bottom, place on a wire rack to cool. you might find those out the outer edges of the tray are ready first, and those in the middle can be popped back in for another few minutes.

These are best eaten when warm, and you should  twist, rather than cut them in half, revealing the fluffy centre, flecked with raisins. Butter, jam, honey, cheese etc are all delicious with fruit scones. Pot of tea also essential.

 

it remains a favourite

I made this cake a couple of weeks ago for Mum's birthday, decorated with my attempt at her favourite flowers; pansies.

The cake is Nigella's clementine cake, from her 1998 book 'How to Eat'. This was the first cookery book I had come across written in such a chatty, informal, knowing style, which at the time I found enchanting. I read it from cover to cover many times, loving the glimpses it gave into Nigella's life style of after-work suppers, dinner a-deux, and sophisticated sounding friends who drifted over to sit with their elbows on the table tucking into into vast platters of carpaccio of beef. It all seemed impossibly glamerous and desirable. Seeing her recent personal difficulties played out in the ruthless glare of high level publicity, the book is  now perhaps tinged with a  certain poignancy; nevertheless it remains a favourite, and the only book of hers which I return to regularly.

Back to the clementine cake: it is easy and enjoyable to make; the smell of the simmering clementines scents the house pleasingly, and the effort involved in making the actual cake is minimal. It is very adaptable; served warm with cream or craime fraiche as pudding, or at room temp dusted with icing sugar with coffee or champagne, it also lends itself to being marzipanned and iced as an occasion cake. It is a beautiful golden orange colour and not too cloyingly sweet.

Making it in March, I felt the clementines were not at their peak of seasonal piquancy, so I added the finely grated zest of an orange to help the flavour along. I brushed the cake with sieved, warmed apricot jam before applying marzipan, and then next day applied the fondant icing. Leaving a day in between  each procedure gives each layer a chance to dry a little, making the cake easier to handle and less prone to suffering dents and marks from utensils or fingernail marks etc.

The pansies were made using the run-out technique.

 

 

Clementine Cake.

375g approx clementines

6 L eggs

225g caster sugar

250g ground almonds

1 heaped teaspoon baking powder

Put the clementines in a pan with enough cold water to cover, bring to the boil and simmer for two hours. drain, wait until cool enough to handle, then cut in half and remove any pips and stalks. Preheat oven to Gas 5, 19oC. butter and line an 8" loose bottomed cake tin.

Blitz the clementines briefly in a food processor, or using a hand held stick blender, or mash with a potato masher. In a seperate bowl, lightly beat the eggs, then add the ground almonds, sugar and baking powder. Mix well, add the clementines, mix well again until all is fully combined.

Pour into prepared tin, and bake for one hour approx, until golden on top, and a skewer or cocktail stick comes out clean. Leave until cold in tin, then turn out.

a bit of freehand piping.

 

I know the words 'piping bag' have some people reaching for the smelling salts, but I really enjoy a bit of freehand piping. Ask me to make a 3-D Spongebob Squarepants cake, or Princess Castle and I'd have to leave the room (if not the country), but cakes large or small with a bit of piping decoration; yes I can cope with that. I don't always remember to take a photograph of the cakes, especially on family birthdays, when there is so much going on, but found this photo of Isaac's cake from a few years ago as an example. 

dentists, look away.

I am always looking for quick no-bakes, but find the ubiquitous Tiffin Bar a gloomy option at times; it's hard to feel uplifted by a slab of  brown chocolate filled with fragments of fawn biscuit.

However change the brown to white, the fawn to pink, add a sprinkle of nostalgia- inducing sweeties and you suddenly have a more cheerful proposition, reminiscent of 1970's childrens' parties and fairy food. Enter the Pink Panther Fridge Cake.

Initially whipped up as a child friendly option one day the boys had friends over, I quickly realised that adults liked it just as much as (or even more than) children. I have made it several times since, most recently at the weekend for a family birthday where it was swooped on by all ages.

What follows can hardly be called a recipe, but the proportions of chocolate to biscuit to sweeties might be handy for you to know. Dentists, look away.

Pink Panther Fridge Cake. 

Two packs of Pink Panther wafer biscuits.

600g white chocolate

2 small packs dolly mixtures (or other sweeties of your choice)

Line a swiss roll tin with greaseproof paper.

Melt 400g of the 600g of white chocolate in a bowl suspended in a pan containing a small amount of simmering water.

Crush or finely chop the bisuits.

Add the melted chocolate to the biscuits, mix until thoroughly combined. Press into tray, spread out and flatten the surface. Put in the fridge for 20-30 mins.

Melt the remaining 200g of chocolate as above. Pour over the surface of the set fridge bar; sprinkle lavishly with sweeties. Do not return to the fridge. Allow to set at room temp and cut into small squares. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

what do you do?

What do you do at 6.15am when you have just waved off your 14 year old son on a 4 day long school trip to London? When you are fully awake but not quite ready to engage with the activities of the day? When you have what seem to be tears in your eyes, which is odd because two minutes ago you were standing at the front doorstep in your dressing gown, smiling madly, nodding, and waving in a most encouraging fashion?

Well, if you're me, you make a banana loaf (or two, as it turned out).

A couple of hefty slices (buttered of course) and two big mugs of tea helped me to swallow down the lump in my throat. Not the healthiest breakfast nutritionally, but emotionally it hit the spot nicely.

Banana loaf is probably one of the first things that people attempt to bake, and there are good reasons why: it's very easy to make,  very adaptable, and most kitchens have a couple of very speckly, or black bananas in the fruit bowl at some point every week. It is absolutely delicious; lovely on its own, or toasted (under the grill, it would stick in most toasters). It also freezes well.

There are countless recipes for banana loaf, but I always use this one, from my rather hacked- about edition of Amy Willcock's 'Aga Baking'. The page shows some signs of use, to put it politely.

 

Although the recipe is for a 2lb loaf, there is often sufficient mixture to make an additional 1lb loaf, or even  few muffins, depending on the size of the bananas, and what additional ingredients you use.Today I added 100g of chopped walnuts and 100g of sultannas, but you could also use 100g of chocolate chips, or 100g dessicated coconut, or a tablespoon of poppy seeds and the grated zest of a lemon, or anything atall that you like.

Banana Loaf.

Line 2lb loaf tin with  loaf tin liner (held in place with dabs of butter if necessary). Preheat oven to Gas 4/180c

2 tbsp milk

2 L eggs

80 ml sunflower oil

3 bananas, peeled and mashed

1 tsp baking powder

250g self raising flour, sifted

150g caster sugar

Optional: additions, as described above.

Combine all ingredients in roomy bowl and mix thouroughly. Spoon into lined loaf tin (or tins, depending on additional ingred). Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until well browned on top, and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. (If you have enough mixture for an additional 1lb loaf, it will take about 25-35 minutes).

 

gestalt buns.

Many years ago, I attended a two day course in a musty basement office in the beautiful  Georgian New Town of Edinburgh.The purpose, content and usefulness (or lack thereof) of the course is now lost to memory; clearly it didn't make much of an impression on my twenty-something self, but I do have a couple of memories of those two rather lengthy, summer days.

The first was a distinct, prickling discomfort at my comparative youth and inexperience comapared to the other attendees; the second was hearing the word 'Gestalt' for the first time. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I haven't heard it dropped into everyday conversation often in the intervening years, but the basic principle of 'The whole being greater than the sum of its parts' did come to mind this week when I made several batches of plain, simple, yet undeniably delicious cherry buns.

 

There is something about the ratio of sightly crisp outside, to soft cakey inside, that makes it almost impossible to eat only one. Studded with bright glace cherries (none of your natural dye cherries here, please), piled on a plate, these are lovely at any time of day. Derek has eaten a few with coffee for breakfast, and the rest of us have enjoyed them with tea or cold milk any time of the day or night. The boys have also had them with custard as a pudding. A batch of twelve will disappear in half an hour in our house, but if there are any left the following day, a slighty stale bun dipped in a cup of cold milk is a real treat. Much more so than it should be. Very Gestalt in fact.

The recipe is taken from the curious but highly appealing 'Taste Ye Back' by Sue Lawrence

Cherry Buns.

55g Lurpak Spreadable (the original recipe calls for margarine: the choice is yours)

55g Caster Sugar

1 Large Egg

110g Self Raising Flour, sifted

100g Glace Cherries, quartered (unwashed)

Lightly brush a 12 hole bun tin with melted butter and dust with self raising flour. Shake out excess. (Please use a bun tin or fairy cake tin, anything deeper will not give the lovely outside/inside ratio that makes these so delicious).

Preheat oven to Gas 4/180c.

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.

Break in the egg and mix well.

Add the sifted flour and mix well until fully combined.

Add the cherries and mix until well distributed.

Divide the mixture evenly between the bun holes. 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on your oven, until golden brown.

Tip the buns onto a cooling rack. If you prepared your tin well they should drop out easily, with a tap on the tray from an oven-gloved hand if necessary.

Allow to cool before eating or storing in an airtight tin.

 

 

Business Biscuits.

Sometimes Derek asks me for some baking to take to business meetings. Even the most focused business person relaxes a little when presented with a tea or coffee and some home baking, and it is a good ice breaker.

I thought a batch of neat, sweet, crisp butter biscuits sprinkled with demerara sugar would be suitable. The recipe has been adapted from the wonderfully atmospheric 'Scandanavian Christmas' by Trine Hahnemann, where she calls these biscuits 'Crisp Cinnamon Cookies' but as I didn't sprinkle them with cinnamon, I have temporarily renamed them 'Crisp Demerara Cookies', though they are much more a biscuit (crisp) than a cookie (soft). 

Ingredients

375g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

Grated zest of 1 small lemon

125g light soft brown sugar

250g cold slightly salted butter, cut into small pieces.

1 large egg, beaten.

Topping

50-60g demerara sugar

1 egg, beaten together with 1 tsp cold water.

Method

In the bowl of a Kitchenaid or similar stand mixer, beat together the butter and light soft brown sugar until well combined and creamy.

Add the grated lemon zest and egg and beat until amalgamated; scraping down the sides to ensure thorough mixing. (The mixture may look a little lumpy at this stage)

Add the sieved flour and baking powder with the mixer running at low speed and beat until the mixture comes together in clumps.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly.

Divide into two or three sausage shapes approx  6cm in diameter, wrap securely in cling film and chill in the fridge for 50-60 minutes or overnight. (Or put into a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months or until required, defrosting to fridge temp before slicing)

Preheat oven to Gas 6/200 c/400 f. and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper (no need to grease)  

Cut into thinnish slices, 2-3 mm thick, and place a few cms apart on the tray (they do spread a little, despite the dough being chilled).

Brush sparingly with the beaten egg and water, and sprinkle with demerara sugar. 

Bake for 10-14 minutes, depending on your oven, until they are golden; check the underside is also golden to give an indication of done-ness.

Remove to a cooling rack and ensure they are cold before storing in an airtight tin, or bag neatly with a suitably smart ribbon.