Recipes
Tea loaf
Thursday 21 September, 2006
You might like to try this recipe more or less from from Jane Grigson's "English Food".
Soak 12oz dried fruit (I use sultanas) and 4oz soft brown sugar in half a pint of cold Indian tea, overnight. Add 8oz SR flour and a beaten egg. Mix together, put into a greased 2lb loaf tin and bake for about an hour on 180C, or until a skewer come out clean. Cool, turn out, wrap in tinfoil and keep for a few days to mature. Serve thinly sliced spread with unsalted butter.
It is so easy, really yummy and it keeps for ages. We've just finished one that was made 10 days ago and it just gets better. It's really handy to have if friends drop by for a cuppa. You can kind of kid yourself on that it's really, really healthy!!
Something simple
Sunday 17 September, 2006
Sometimes the simple things are best.
Today, we couldn't decide what to have for lunch. It certainly wasn't going to be sausages (for reasons Dan will explain in due course). Since the eggs are piling up in the fridge, I suggested "soft boiled eggs and soldiers". Although we eat eggs a lot, usually we have them scrambled, poached, omelettes etc. and I just fancied a nice soft boiled egg. Or two.
They were delicious - laid yesterday, huge and brown, with creamy yolks, a wee spinkle of salt and black pepper. Dan cooked them to perfection, and we had them with buttered toast soldiers and a glass of whole milk. Absolutely scrumptious. It was like a "Famous Five" lunch!!
Elderflower cordial
Sunday 2 July, 2006
Dan made elderflower cordial last week. It was abit of an impulse thing and when it was ready, we discovered we had no bottles. So we used 4 pint milk cartons, instead, which worked well. We're getting through it quite quickly so he's going to make more this week, while the flowers are available. The cordial can be frozen, so we'll do that. It's a lot cheaper the the Dule of Cornwall's!
The most difficult part was getting citric acid. Dan tried Boots. The assistant asked him what he wanted it for. He explained. She explained to him that heroin users cut the drug with citric acid so Boots don't sell it anymore. "Try the Co-op", she said. The Co-op didn't sell it either, but the third pharmacy did. That's the one where the methodone is dished out so maybe they're more used to disreputable looking characters than the other two - and Dan did look a bit disreputable. Anyway, he ordered a kilo off the internet today, which should see us through the cordial season.
Recipes
Thursday 2 March, 2006
I often pull recipes out of magazines and newspapers. A huge bundle was stuffed in the back of a book that my sister gave me, which is specifically for writing recipes in.
In a fit of spring fever (which also lead to me cleaning the cooker and sweeping the garage floor!), I decided that I would go through these recipes, throw out the ones that we hadn't tried and never would or had tried and didn't like; try the ones we hadn't tried and, if we liked them, I'd write them in the book. Still with me?
Melting Chocolate Risotto
Thursday 2 March, 2006
This is soooo wonderful I can't tell you.
Put 200ml creme fraiche in a measuring jug and make up to 800ml with whole milk. Put the milk and the creme fraiche in a large saucepan and add 40g of golden caster sugar and 175g of carnaroli or arborio risotto rice. Bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. Add 50g of good quality dark chocolate (70+% cocoa solids) and allow to melt. Transfer the mix to a shallow, buttered dish and put in a preheated oven at 150C / 300F / Gas mark 2 for 20 minutes.
Soup recipes
Sunday 22 January, 2006
Prompted by an email from a reader who has tried a couple of my soup recipes, I've added 3 new soups to the recipes section of the site. When I say new, I mean new to that section - the two stilton recipes originally appeared in the diary some time ago, but are now in their rightful place. The Carrot and Parsnip soup recipe is new - and was used this weekend to try to make a dent in the bumper crop of parsnips we've got this year.
Marmalade
Saturday 21 January, 2006
I've never made marmalade, but apparently if you're going to do it, this is the time of year, with Seville oranges in the shops.
I'm going to give it a go. "Country LIving" magazine (Feb 2006) has a recipe for Seville orange marmalade, but even better, it has recipes for using marmalade - Paradise Slice; Duck breast with marmalade sauce; marmalade polenta cake; steamed marmalade and cointreau pudding with caramel sauce. Yummy.
Alternatively, serve with toast!
Christmas cake
Thursday 24 November, 2005
Here's one of the recipes I use for Christmas cake. It's very rich and dark (like Dan!). I've made two - we ate one but the second one is living in the pantry and being fed brandy weekly. It's dead easy.
7" square or 8" round tin, greased and lined with greasproof paper.
1lb currants, 6oz sultanas, 6oz raisins, 2oz glace cherries, washed, dried and chopped, 2oz mixed candied peel, chopped.
Soak the fruit in 3 tablespoons of brandy overnight.
Sift 8oz plain flour, 0.5 teaspoon salt, 0.25 teaspoon grated nutmeg, 0.5 teaspoon mixed spice into a bowl.
Our "nearly Christmas" cake
Wednesday 2 November, 2005
Last weekend, I started our preparations for Christmas by making 6lb of mincemeat and a Christmas cake. Usually, I make two Christmas cakes - I burn the first one, so we cut the sides and the top off and eat it immediately, then I make a second that we keep for Christmas.
This year, I remembered not to use the fan oven and, since Dan was waiting to put the Toad in the Hole that he'd made for dinner in the oven after the cake had been in only four hours, I took it out earlier than I usually do. It is perfect - the best Christmas cake I've ever made.
Home baking
Sunday 18 September, 2005
I baked some really nice scones today - cheese, onion and olive. The recipe is in Delia's Christmas book.
Take a medium onion and chop fine; heat a tablespoon of olive oil and cook the onion for 5-6 minutes until it is brown. Keep it moving to stop it sticking.
Into a large bowl, sift 6oz of SR flour. Add half a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of mustard powder, half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and a really good grinding of black pepper.
Grate 1.5oz of strong cheddar and 1.5oz of parmesan.
