If I'd Known You Were Coming, I'd have Baked A Cake

It's hard to believe that's another Christmas come and gone and we're now into a new year! Really, where does the time go? 

One explanation for me is that work commenced on the house in October and we have gone from having to go through two front doors (or back doors) to do various bits and pieces, to now having what is shaping up to be quite a nice home. The first stage was to move my existing kitchen into the 'other' cottage, and from then on in the work progressed pretty well. The reason for the kitchen move was that a large portion of a hefty stone wall between what was our kitchen and the living room of the adjoining property was to be removed to join the ground floor of the two properties. It seems funny now that I went through a period of baking a number of cakes at a time when I wouldn't normally have baked so much, then the usual period of cake baking, the run up to Christmas, didn't happen.  The reason for more baking than usual was so that the guys doing the work could have more with their tea or coffee than a couple of Hobnobs - though the said biscuits did find their way on to a few plates along with the cake.  I made the Hummingbird Bakery coffee and chocolate loaf a couple of times, my trusty lemon drizzle cake from the first Great British Bake Off book, a banana loaf recipe also from the Hummingbird book, which I had never made before, likewise the honey and walnut loaf I ended up making twice along with their fabulous nutty apple loaf. So the two cottages are now connected on the ground floor and I have tried out a couple of new cake recipes while the work was going on!

Once the rubble had been removed and the dust settled

Looking a little different now.

Nutty apple loaf (also contains chocolate)

Honey and walnut loaf

Obviously we were in a state of upheaval for a few weeks then decorating took up our time in the lead up to Christmas - I felt really thankful for recipes which are quick to prepare so we could eat something more than pasta every night (although Stuart claims he could happily eat pasta every day, I like some variety).  There have been a couple of curries along the way, a great Yotam Ottolenghi recipe spotted in the Saturday supplement of a certain newspaper - aubergine/paneer rolls on a bed of lentils (surprisingly quick to make) - focaccia filled with roasted peppers and halloumi, chilli, but I was really missing being able to have a leisurely stint in the kitchen. Even doing some baking to take into work on my Birthday required a certain amount of forward preparation - arriving home from a cross-country on the Sunday afternoon, I set about doing as much as I could. I really wanted to make the marjolaine, which had been a technical challenge in the last series of the Great British Bake Off.  I was aware that there was a lot to it, but once I'd made the meringue and the praline for the buttercream, nothing was going to stop me.  I was taken out for a meal on the Monday night as a Birthday treat, thinking I would come home and decorate the marjolaine and a lemon cake I had made ready for the next day in around 15 minutes.  As with all the best laid plans, a freezing cold kitchen meant that the buttercream, the chocolate ganache and the limencello cream were practically solid, so 15 minutes stretched out to about an hour and I finally got to bed feeling shattered.  I was pleased with the marjolaine, but I could have done without the late night.

Rogan josh, pilau with coconut and cardamom pancakes

I couldn't eat a whole one!

Something a little healthier.

So, December ended up vanishing rapidly as Stuart and I pressed on with the decorating - I've lost count of the number of times I said "everything always takes longer than you think" as the anticipated weekend or two of painting stretched to very close to Christmas itself.  On top of the work on the house, we had both agreed to take part in Marcothon - meaning we were agreeing to run every day of December - as well as signing up to a couple of races along the way. We did the Water of Leith Half Marathon on the first Saturday in December, which I really enjoyed, especially as I have looked at a lot of the ownerships along it's banks in the course of my job.  It was brilliant to run along some scenic and interesting parts that I've only ever looked at on a map before!  Once we were home, we did some work on the house.  The following weekend we had a cross-country, followed by painting and me decorating the first of the Christmas cakes I'd made towards the end of October. The other two were decorated the following evening after some painting. The weekend before Christmas saw us doing a trail race in Binning Wood on the Saturday, painting before and after that, then our own club's Festive Half Marathon on the Sunday, followed by more painting. Small wonder we were both feeling exhausted.  We bought a beautiful Christmas tree, decorated it, but didn't get to appreciate it until Christmas day was almost on us.  I was trying to wrap presents, write cards, make curtains for the living room and make sure that the decorating was going to be finished so that we could use the new living room/dining room on Christmas Day.  Madness! I briefly wondered if I could get away with taking the curtains into work to finish sewing up at my desk, but that might have been a little too obvious, though no different from others who do their own thing in the office every working day, I don't think that would have been looked on too kindly!

I did hit a low ebb on the Wednesday before Christmas - tired and feeling that there was no end insight, but by that night, I felt fairly optimistic that everything would fall in place and on Friday evening I finally sat in the living room and got to appreciate what we had done.

Christmas Eve was all about preparing everything for the meal the next day, though I did finally get the curtains hung up in the early evening.  I hadn't given a huge amount of thought to Christmas dinner other than, when I made the marjolaine for my Birthday, deciding that it would be a good dessert to make, with white chocolate ganache rather than the dark...possibly fruit rather than the nuts on top.....oh and whipped fresh cream rather than the buttercream...so, not quite the same thing then!  The main course was another thing spotted in a weekend supplement - a butternut squash, chestnut, feta and filo pie.  The starter was still undecided until fairly near the day - a mushroom pate from The Food Aid Cookery Book from 1986 - a recipe I hadn't made for a number of years.  Stuart's contribution was to suggest ice-cream to go with the dessert - he thought that whisky and honey with bits of Crunchie through it would be a good one to try.  So, I had my work cut out on Christmas Eve, but loved it, just been able to focus on cooking and baking.  I even made some nibbles for when we opened the presents - cheesy bites and spiced nuts.  The nuts are pretty quick and simple, just use any selection of nuts and pop in a food bag with a little glug of olive oil, a little black pepper, a generous pinch of paprika, onion seeds and salt to taste.  Shake the bag and empty the contents on an oven tray, pop in the oven at 180C and bake for 10 to 15 minutes - keep an eye on them and remember, when they come out of the oven, the nuts will appear to be soft, but they do crisp up as they cool.  Quick and tasty!

I did completely forget to take pictures of what was made, but I would certainly do any of it again.  I forgot how much I like that mushroom pate, I also forgot how much I love homemade oatcakes - I made ones cut in the shape of Christmas trees - again, a long time since I've made oatcakes.  The pie looked and tasted great - that's one I would made again - and the dessert went down well, though I opted for cream with mine, while everyone else went for the ice-cream, which seemed to work - Stuart was quite proud to say that he had suggested it.

So, I have enjoyed the time off work over Christmas and New Year, and adopting a more leisurely pace of life.  I have still run every day, with a couple of races in the mix - by the time I have a rest day, I will have run every day for seven weeks, so a day off will seem very odd.  Time in the kitchen has been really enjoyable as everything has being pretty unhurried.  I had bought myself The Cardamom Trail by Chetna Makan - it's another cookbook worth having.  On Boxing Day, I adapted one of her recipes for a filled naan bread by way of using up potatoes left over from the day before.  The next day I made her beautiful cumin loaf, the following day her pine nut and onion rolls, a couple of which we had warm from the oven with an Italian bean soup. I have also cooked up a large amount of dried chickpeas, cannellini and kidney beans, bagged them and frozen them ready to use when I need such things to hand.

Cumin loaf - wonderfully aromatic

Pine nut and onion rolls



I also made Chetna's paneer and tomato loaf which we had with her smoked aubergine.  Gorgeous. I've also baked a couple of things from Ruby Tandoh's "Crumb" - a date malt loaf and chickpea and cumin seed buns.  Ruby says that these buns complement robust fillings, such as falafel, bean burgers, spiced lamb.  I was a little sceptical as to how these would work as I wondered if the inclusion of mashed chickpeas in the dough would make the buns heavy, but not in the least.  Two more great recipes to try again from Ruby.

Date malt loaf - great toasted

 I did think I would make a recipe from "Nopi" (Yotam Ottolenghi and Ramael Scully) - the spiced chickpea patties with coconut leaf paste - a recipe to do when you have a little more time than usual.  I really enjoyed it; Stuart less so as he found it a little too spicy for his taste.  I was amused to see that I made this round about the same time last year, though can't recall what Stuart's reaction was then!

Chickpea patties

Happy New Year.

Holidays!

Crumbs, where does the time go?  It is starting to feel decidedly Autumnal and it’s only just over three weeks since I went back to work after our summer holiday! Having not had more than three consecutive days off work since Christmas/New Year, I was more than ready for our summer holiday. Stuart and I had decided that, with our recent major property purchase, we wouldn't be going abroad - a decision we were both more than happy with, just being really keen to have a break from work and not having to clock-watch for a while.  It was a really nice feeling to finish up from work, knowing I had over two weeks ahead of me where I could take my time with thing, not having to cram everything in to the all too short weekend as usual.

 

I kicked off with some baking almost as soon as I was out of work mode, as we had been invited to a party the next day, so I made cupcakes.  I know some people think cupcakes are a confection too far, but have had their day, but I like making and eating them from time to time, so I made lemon ones with lemon butter cream and toffee with vanilla butter cream.   Having opted for applying the topping with a palette knife, trying to perfect the swirl at the top, I think I should revert to the tried and tested method of piping the topping on - much quicker and neater!  Regardless of the decoration, it didn’t affect the flavour and they seemed to go down well.

  

 

The Sunday saw us heading off to York for a four night stay, which felt rather novel as we are usually there in the winter, so feeling nice warm temperatures, seeing the floral displays around York and the colour in the gardens made it feel a bit of a different place.  It was also novel to visit the railway Museum – a place I haven’t been to since I was a child when the “new” building opened – which made me feel a bit like a child again with the height of the locomotives (the difference of not viewing them from a platform, but ground level).  The Castle Museum has gone through changes with the displays since I was last there, having appeared the same for a long time, but that’s how a museum should be, changing with the times, not remaining static. We were also in a couple of gardens, one which was relatively new – a tasting garden, accessed from the Museum Gardens and a visit to Rowntree Park, where I spent many happy hours as a kid.

We ate in Strada on the second night, which saw us seated next to a group of Morris dancers from New Zealand no less, in full costume ready to perform in King’s Square later that evening.  One lady in the group was quite demanding on the staff there, having eaten part of the way through the dish she had ordered to question what one element was – fregola.  When she was told it was a type of pasta, she announced that she was gluten intolerant!  A couple of things sprung to mind when I perused the menu to work out what she had ordered – salmon on a bed of fregola! One was, if she was unsure what that was, particularly having an intolerance, why did she not ask before she ordered it?  The other, why did she take a couple more mouthfuls before it was taken away and replaced with the salmon minus the bed of fregola?  Hmmm, I’ve seen that one done before, knowing you will get the dish again minus the “objectionable” bit at no extra cost (or even no cost).  Anyway, I got chatting with one of her fellow Morris dancers, a very nice lady, who told me that there was quite a large contingent of them in York and that they would be performing in the square a little later.

I had vowed to work my way through the hot drinks menu at York Cocoa House, but summer isn’t really the time to be wallowing in hot chocolate, so I had a chocolate espresso which was pretty damn good – strong coffee with a nice hit of chocolate.  The salted caramel truffle which came with it was pretty good too. The Graduate on  Lendal was a new try this time – the cheapest meal we had on our visit, having a fairly decent veggie burger and glass of red.  I met up with my cousin Chrissy, her son James and daughter Holly for coffee one afternoon – the time just flew by as we chatted – I thought we might get asked to leave as it was getting near closing time by the time we thought about leaving, so will have to catch up again when we visit again in a few weeks.



  

 

 

 

 

All in all, York was fun and it felt a longer stay as we were out and about every day, bolstered by a run every day before breakfast, and, apart from a wet start to the Monday, the weather was great.  The remainder of the holiday felt good – doing things at a nice pace – gardening most days, baking nice things for breakfast and not feeling I was getting through a massive “to do” list.  I really appreciated getting the garden shipshape again, as one or two bits have been sorely neglected.  It felt like something of an achievement to win the battle against the weeds – well, for a little while anyway. 

 

 

We had a visit to Perth one day too. We knew that the Poppy installation “Weeping Window” was on at The Black Watch Castle and Museum until the 25^th September, so that was our first stop – it was definitely worth seeing.  After that we tried Small Talk – a quaint looking tearoom, which we’ve walked by so many times – so finally walked in.  Good coffee and carrot cake.  When the cake arrived, I was told by a guy, who might be one of the owners of the establishment, that it would be the best carrot cake I had ever eaten.  A bold claim, but it was a pretty fine bit of baking, the sort that would definitely encourage me back again.

 

 

I knew that the next Great British Bake Off book would be out as the first episode had aired, so that was a purchase in Perth, It wasn’t long before I had a bash at one of the recipes - roasted garlic herb twist – I decided to miss out the cheese and it probably looked a little on the “informal” side (as Mary Berry would say), but a good, tasty loaf.  As I said, I baked a few things for nice leisurely breakfasts - wholemeal muffins from the original Cranks cookbook and teacakes from Paul Hollywoods How To Bake - their the best teacakes I've managed so far - I was quite proud of them.  I have made some in the past that would have done real damage if you accidently dropped one on your foot, but these were nice and light. Success!

Lovely Teacakes

Informal bread.

So now, I'm having to accept summer has gone and, even though there is still the possibility of a few more sunny days, the mornings are dark, the nights are closing in and it's getting colder. Still, there are some nice recipes for this time of year and loads of brambles growing round about, which always cheers me up no end when I see how abundant they are.  I have picked a few with the intention of making blackberry gin again - a lovely winter drink - actually, a lovely anytime drink. 

 

 

Sterilize a large jar or a few small jars.  Take 800g of brambles and crush lightly and layer in the jar or jars with 225g of granulated sugar, then pour over a litre of gin.  Seal the jar or jars and leave in a cool dark place for 3 months.  Shake the jar from time to time and you will notice that the sugar gradually dissolves.

When you come to bottling this, strain the gin through a double layer of muslin and pour it into sterilized bottles.  Seal and label.

As well as the gin making last weekend, I also made an apple and bramble cake using the Be-Ro madeira cake recipe with three peeled and chopped eating apples stirred in at the end of mixing, along with a generous handful of brambles. A real flavour of Autumn.

 

 

 

Dreams

Over the years I have had a recurring dream, one where I went into a room in my house and discovered a door I didn't know was there, leading into a room I didn't know existed.  Now, I know those people who analyse dreams say this symbolises a facet of your character - I've heard a guy on the radio often enough coming out with something like .."this is the 34th most popular dream..." - but I've just assumed the dream has had more to do with the desire to have more space.  In fact, why can't it mean just that? After nearly eighteen years of living in a small cottage, the opportunity arose for Stuart and I to buy the next door property - something which had been a bit of a pipe-dream over the years had finally become reality - there's quite a bit of work to be done to make two cottages into one, but it's quite an exciting prospect!

So, my time has been taken up with doing some work in the house and also working on twice as much garden as I had before - weekends seem to vanish pretty quickly - they really aren't long enough to fit everything in, so my blogging has been none-existent since we picked up the keys. I've still cooked and baked (though I did have a  period of about three weeks where I realised I hadn't made any bread or a single cake, so had to rectify that), but I've been pretty hopeless at taking pictures along the way I must admit. 

I think the change in the weather took me by surprise - a bit of warmth and things in the garden have grown so much, to the extent that one weekend of work in the garden has looked like nothing was done by the next.  I turned over the weeds/grass at the front of our recent acquisition and planted it up with some help/hindrance along the way.

A neighbours two chickens seemed to hear ground been turned over from a bit of a distance, scrabbling about the newly turned over ground to scoff any worms.  One was scratching at a hole I had dug to pop in a plant, as if to say "I'll help with that".  They have been a source of amusement as they waddle up to investigate what I am doing, but are less amusing when I've come home from work to discover they have been scratching about and have up-rooted a small plant. On balance though, they make me laugh when they turn up to see what is going on next.  I also quite like the local cats, but not when they choose to dig my garden! Last years crops in the raised beds were pretty much a wash-out due to a cat/cats.  This year, with fleece in place, I've almost managed to keep them cat-free and some crops have just grown a bit better.  I didn't realise that my solitary gooseberry bush was so laden with fruit until a neighbour mentioned that I had some nice fat berries on it, so a couple of weeks ago I decided to pick them, though I didn't expect quite as many as I got.

 

 

 

 

I thought a dozen jars of jam was quite a good yield, but, in picking the gooseberries, I noticed the birds were having a go at the blackberries in the garden, so thought I'd better pick them too before much longer, remembering that two or three years ago the birds made short work of them, leaving me with just enough for a small pie or crumble. with that in mind, I went out to pick the blackberries last Sunday, eventually getting weary picking them because there were so many, so still some for the birds. Fourteen jars of jam later, I now have no jars left, plus I had some I cooked up and froze for a later date. Luckily I keep spotting recipes for blackcurrants......

While making the gooseberry jam, I made a Paul Hollywood loaf - adapting his recipe for a pain de savoie (taking out the meat element). This was such a nice bread - I added sun-dried tomatoes to the dough, which, after the initial rising, is divided into three to create three discs of dough, which are layered in a tin with cubes of cheese, but I reckon it would work with a few other ingredients, so will experiment a bit with this loaf.

It's funny that, while I do make bread quite often, I've never put a loaf into our local flower show, which was this weekend.  I noticed last year that a cob loaf had being introduced into the various baking items for submission to be judged - I'm not sure quite when this had become a category, but in a moment of madness as I was baking cakes on Friday evening for the show, I decided to add a bit of bread making. Friday was a bit of a feat of fine-timing - a tea-loaf mixed and in the oven as soon as I got in from work, a washing put in the machine, a read of the paper and a coffee, chocolate sponge whisked and ready to bake when the fruit loaf came out, then dough made and a lemon drizzle cake mixed, then tea made while that was finishing baking. A later night while the loaf got a second proving and baking, with cheese scones made just before breakfast.  While the cheese scones didn't score this year, nor a jar of blackberry jam, both having being awarded prizes in previous years, the loaf got a first, lemon-drizzle and tea loaf second prizes, the chocolate sponge getting not just a first, but a special prize for being best in the baking category. I was stunned at that.  A jar of the recently made blackcurrant jam got a first, with knitted bootees and bonnet both getting a second.  Stuart brought me back down to earth though, pointing out that, as there were only three entries in the category for home-grown blackcurrants, getting third prize wasn't much of an achievement. He also suggested I leave behind the scones and blackberry jam as they obviously weren't very good..... It didn't stop him eating some though!

Anyway, as it is summer - a recipe.  I've made ice-cream for years, so here is the tried and trusted one - be warned, it does use a few bowls!

140g caster sugar
300ml double cream
3 eggs - separated
200g dark chocolate

Melt the chocolate and let it cool a little or it will seize when added to the egg yolks. 

Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Whisk in the chocolate.  Whisk the cream and, once thick, whisk it into the egg yolk mixture.  Beat the egg whites and fold in to the mixture, then tip into a rigid container and freeze.  The beating of all the components makes the ice-cream scoop straight from the freezer, so it doesn't have to be taken out in advance to soften up.  Simple.

I have done a few other flavours - one to two tablespoons of espresso powder mixed with one to two tablespoons of water to dissolve and added to the beaten yolks then beaten again.  Swapping the caster sugar for light muscovado gives a fudge ice-cream, with mini cubes of fudge folded in with the beaten egg whites.  I've also added cherries in kirsch and broken up meringue folded in at the end.  Remember, if you introduce too much extra liquid, the ice-cream won't be soft-scoop, but will still be delicious.  Enjoy.

Spring Madness

I don't remember when or why I agreed to do it, but last weekend I took part in a 50K - The John Muir Way Ultra Marathon - something of an act of madness as it has been five years since I did anything longer than a Marathon. It meant an earlier rise than I would prefer for a Saturday, but with it being a fairly local race, Stuart and I got off lightly compared with some who had further to travel.  There were quite a few familiar faces taking part, so we had a chance for some chat when we met at Foxlake, outside Dunbar, before a couple of buses took all the runners to the start in Port Seton.  It was bright, but there was a chilly breeze, which made me determined to keep my jacket on for as long as possible - as long as possible turned out to be a mile and a half in as I suddenly felt considerably warmer. 

There was a lot that was very familiar along the route - while I haven't necessarily taken the paths and tracks making up the 50K, I've run alongside some of them.  It was nice to see one of my running club friends at Dirleton - Neil Jones - who ran with me for a bit and had a chat. As there were some bits of the route that were new to me, I would like to run along them again, though on a training run rather than a race.  I did feel really tired two-thirds of the way in, also feeling a little ill, which is usual for me on longer events, but I did manage to finish with what passes for my sanity intact.

I don't think this running lark ever gets any easier, some days are better than others - the training run the previous Sunday was an utter slog from start to finish - twenty three and a half miles and none of it felt comfortable. The run this Sunday, while shorter at twenty miles, just felt so much better in comparison, even with a headwind in parts.  I can't say for sure what made it much more of an enjoyable run, but it was, even though I felt dressed more for winter.  The unsettled weather makes it so hard to decide what to wear - I've gone out in something of a blizzard a couple of times over the last week or so, for the conditions to completely change part of the way round my run. Mad.

One of the things about doing a long race, as opposed to a long training run, is that I lose my appetite for a while afterwards - rather than feeling I could eat my way through everything in the house, I find it difficult to eat very much and should probably just pick at one or two things which take my fancy. I usually enjoy the pasta Stuart makes on a Saturday for tea, but I found it a struggle to get through it - the amount of pasta seemed to look more with every mouthful. 

Fortunately, by the next day, I was back to normal and craving something filling for tea, so softened some chopped leeks in butter, cooked around 250g of spinach, mixed it with the leeks, seasoned with salt, pepper and nutmeg, crumbled in some feta and wrapped the whole lot in flaky pastry, then baked it for 30 - 35 minutes at 200C.

 

 

I feel as if quite a bit of my cooking at the moment is still the kind of thing I would make in the winter - I do make a few salads to serve on the side along with some other vegetables - I seem to do that all year round, but the main element of a lot of the meals I have been making of late are the sort of warm, comforting things that, I suppose, are more appropriate to the weather.  The night before the 50k tea was an aubergine layer - sliced aubergine soaked in slightly salted water, dipped in seasoned flour and fried until golden. I made a tomato sauce - onion, garlic, some chopped peppers, tomatoes, with some fresh basil stirred in at the end of cooking, then did a couple of layers each of aubergine, the tomato sauce and mozzarella, finishing with a little grated parmesan, then in the over at 180C for about 30 minutes. I think that fuelled me round a few miles the next day.

 

 

Some other dishes we've munched our way through recently that have been of the warming sort have been Scarpaccia - courgette tart - from The Hairy Bikers Big Book of Baking.  This is basically a batter with courgettes sliced in it - obviously, I ignore the bit of meat they include - adding some strips of red pepper this time around.



 

 Of course, being a lover of spicy things and habitually buying chillies every week, there has to be an Indian dish somewhere along the line.  A slightly battered paperback "Vegetarian Indian" by Shehzad Husain has some interesting recipes - the Panir and Vegetable Roghan Josh below has almost as many ingredients as a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe, but really doesn't take too long to cook. The almonds and yoghurt in this give it a nice texture - I made some coriander naan for Stuart, as he's not a massive fan of rice (unless it's in some Italian dish, what's it called again.....oh, yes, risotto), while I had a green rice (coriander, basil, green chillies). So, something to suit us both.



 

 

So, talking of Yotam, I tried another of his recipes from "Plenty" - Mee Goreng - tofu, noodles, bean sprouts, beans and one or a dozen other ingredients.  A first with this recipe - I liked it - something less winter-warmer!

 

After the mention in a previous post of a peppery cheese used as a filling for some patties, I had to buy some more to just enjoy with biscuits and a fruity chutney. This cheese, if I'm correct, is made from unpasteurised cows milk from Hennart Freres - the pepper is the rind gives it a nice kick.

 

 

While I haven't been making biscuits for cheese I have been baking bread again - German Three Cereal Bread from Linda Collister's "The Bread Book" - a mixture including rye flour, oatmeal and linseeds - this is a really tasty loaf.  

 

 

After the attempt at a malt loaf earlier in the year where I somewhat murdered the yeast (rather over-heating it), meaning it didn't rise as much as it could have, I gave Mr Hollywood's recipe another go.....

 

 ....should have made double - it was gorgeous!

Silence of The Lambs

 

I love this time of year, not least because the flurry of little arrivals makes it feel as if Spring really has arrived - yes it is lambing season again!

 

Lamb snacks!

I never get tired of the whole cycle of lambs being born, the early days of them getting to grips with the world on wobbly legs, going through the boisterous stage of bouncing about the fields, then, if they are spared, becoming typical sheep.  Well, some are less typical than others - we had a flock in the field at the back of the cottage three or four years ago who figured out how to get across the cattle-grid and were impervious to the presence of humans.  Where they usually run off when approached, this particular herd totally ignored me when I tried to shoo them away from the ivy they were happily munching from my garden fence - one didn't seem to mind me patting it on the head.  Anyway, I have heard the sound of the shepherdess on the quad bike, with trailer, going backwards and forwards over the cattle-grid at the side of the house from early morning onwards over this weekend, knowing that soon we will go from hearing the odd little bleat through the night to feeling as if someone somewhere has cranked the volume up.

Anyway, regardless of when the weather is less than Spring-like, I'm still running a few miles - 22 today, getting rained on for the first few miles - and getting in some baking.  Having had a 10k to organise, which took place a week ago, I'm back to feeling my time outside work is a little more my own again and I can maybe do a few things at a more relaxed pace.  That said, I have enough of a repertoire of recipes that can be done in a hurry when time is short, but I much prefer taking food preparation in a more leisurely fashion where I can (usually a Friday with a glass of wine in hand...).

A recent Friday night meal was from "Vegetarian Cooking" by Louise Pickford - her recipe for bulgar patties stuffed with spice cheese.  When I've made this previously, I have stuck fairly rigidly to the recipe, with its filling of mozzarella, spices and lemon, but realising there was no mozzarella when I had decided I wanted to make the patties, I tried a peppery goats cheese with some chopped sweet piquillo peppers. Enjoyed the change of filling, but do like the stringy effect of the mozzarella.

The following Friday was a nice focaccia.  I really wanted to make the colourful one in the first Great British Bake Off book from Jasminder, who didn't make the final but produced this lovely bread, and I based the rest of the tea around the bread. Lovely, and highly recommended.

I really do enjoy making bread, as well as eating it obviously.  I made Paul Hollywood's Cheddar and Mustard loaf - a few ends of cheese lurking in the fridge made me think that would be a fitting end for them - and there is usually a jar of mustard or two on the go and the grain mustard just gives this a nice edge.

Over the Easter weekend, I made another bread from the same book as the focaccia - the Fennel and Cumin loaf from the winner that year, Ed Kimber.  I like this loaf, a fairly wet dough which gives it a light texture - it was highly rated on the show and I've made it quite a few times and highly rate it myself.  I also made a Tsoureki  for Easter Sunday - something I've done a lot over the years.  This is an egg/butter enriched dough which has a texture like brioche.  I watched the two-part programme with Mary Berry looking at, and making, various traditional Easter dishes, one of which was the Greek Orthodox Tsoureki. The lady who made it, had a dyed egg on the bread when she placed it in the oven - I've usually boiled two eggs, put them on the loaf when it is rising, removing them before baking - so decided this time to try the method I had seen. The bread worked pretty well, but the eggs were inedible - back to the tried and trusted next Easter as I do like to be able to eat the egg.

Ed's loaf.

Tsoureki

Yesterday I tried out another loaf - a seeded bread from Ruby Tandoh's "Crumb" - again, a fairly wet dough which gave a good, springy texture, with the mixture of sunflower seeds, sesame seeds and linseeds giving it a good flavour. I have admit I did over-prove the loaf a little, but it certainly didn't spoil it. I am certainly a fan of Ruby and I like her approach to baking.

Friday was the 81st Birthday of my Father-in-law George, so he, and my Mother-in-law Helen were invited round for dinner.  I had made the cake in advance and the pastry for the main course - the cake was filled and decorated the night before, but I did manage to go through a bit of a mad dash to get the first course put together and on the table while it was still warm, while trying to make sure that the mushroom pastries for the main course didn't burn, like the croutons that should have gone on the plate with the started.  I was rather telling that, when planning what to make, I decided on the dessert - a Mary Berry chocolate cake with white chocolate ganache - before the rest of the meal.  The starter was a mini courgette frittata with feta, topped with a warm cherry tomato salsa.  The main the said mushroom pastries, with a colourful bulgur salad, baby corn, French beans and sweet potato (a nod to my other half who is not a great fan of ordinary potatoes), then the cake, which had a cream and raspberry filling.

I think I've just managed to run that off!



 

 

 

Spring Has Sprung!

I think I'm a little in denial that we are in to March already and that it's been several weeks since my last blog - before I know it, I'll be packing my bag for my summer holiday! 

The weather is certainly looking up and it's nice that it's lighter for longer, so yesterday I ventured out into the garden.  I do feel I have neglected the garden more recently, not quite putting in the work last year as I have done previously, so, in a burst of enthusiasm, I managed to clear more than I expected in a relatively short time, likewise with another short stint today. It's nice to see so many plants starting to sprout, although there are some things I wish wouldn't sprout quite so much - I had to do battle with a bramble that had ensconced itself behind a large holly bush - hopefully I have got the better of it - plus there are a couple of plants that are really too big for the garden and the thought of trying to bring them down to a manageable size is quite daunting, but I'll give it a go, possibly next weekend.

I enjoyed another trip to York at the beginning of last month - we don't usually do visits so close together, but we were keen to go back again and I was keen to meet up with my cousin Chrissy, who I haven't seen for..............well, too many years. It was so nice to get together for a bit and catch up, and it has made me determined that we will stay a bit longer on our next visit, so we can have a bit more time together. All in all, it was a good trip. This time round, our eating out was in places we have visited before, largely because that was what we wanted to do.  Our first stop on arrival was the Newgate Coffee Bar on Newgate, where we had a fairly nice cappuccino each, plus date and walnut scones with fig jam and cream cheese, which went down pretty well. We went to Bombay Spice at night, a place we have visited quite a number of times over the years, but it was a first receiving a complementary whisky! Well, if I'm completely honest, I had the one which was brought for my other half too - he gave up alcohol ten years ago and it is amazing how many people don't quite get someone saying no to a drink and still put one in front of him. This is something I will admit to shamelessly taking advantage of.

Another visit to York Cocoa House was also on the cards - the quest to try out all the different types of hot chocolate could mean a stop-off every time we are in York. This time the Spanish hot chocolate was an interesting choice. This is described as "a meal in itself", which is not an understatement - I couldn't finish it! The menu is good at giving clear descriptions of everything, which I can't argue with, it was an unsweetened drink that you could stand a spoon in. Maybe the shortbread biscuit on the side was a bad idea, but I did think this hot chocolate should come in a cup the size of an espresso cup, rather than the larger cup it was served in - it really is a different beast to the average hot chocolate. Part of me wants to try this again, but there are so many other hot chocolates to try that it might be a while. Anyway, we also ate in Mama Mia - a favourite of many years standing; family run, with good Italian food (one that fuelled me round the inaugural Yorkshire Marathon in 2013). Of course, running was also part of the trip, so we ran late afternoon on the day of arrival; early morning on the following two days. On the last day, I made sure the run took us along past the old family home on Bishopthorpe Road - or Bishy Road as it has become known as - voted the best high street in Britain last year.  This is something I find hard to get my head round - the old family home, part of which was sinking into its own foundations when we live there, plus the kind of shops I remember as a child, have all developed into this trendy, happening place to live.  The former family house is looking more spruce these days I have to add.

A new cook book was purchased on the trip to York - I saw it on our last trip and hadn't noticed it elsewhere, so felt I couldn't pass up the chance - Prashad at Home.  I have the first book, the recipes I've tried so far have been very good, so I just couldn't pass up the opportunity. I attempted Makai Cutlets (sweetcorn bhajis) as I thought the recipe read quite well, but they didn't work out. The mixture looked and smelt wonderful, but the bhajis disintegrated during cooking. Maybe I didn't leave the mixture to stand for long enough, maybe the potatoes should have been a different variety, but I was disappointed, so will have another attempt in the future. The other recipes I've tried have been good - Renghan Lothiu (Spicy Fried Aubergines) is simple to make - sliced aubergines, soaked in salted water, then dipped in a spiced gram flour and fried - delicious! One of the recommended side dishes, a fluffy tomato rice - Tameta Pilau - was good too. I can see this book is going to be well used.

Aside from lovely Indian food, I have made more bread - a walnut and blue cheese coil loaf from a Paul Hollywood recipe.  I can't resist the smell of something like this when it is in the oven - cheese, like chocolate, would be hard to give up if I ever had to.

A handsome loaf if ever there was one.

Just a quick one!

I made an old favourite loaf too - Waterford soda bread from "The Handmade Loaf" by Dan Lepard. This is a wonderfully quick loaf to make as there is no yeast so no kneading or proving, though Dan has devised a number of bread recipes which take out a lot of the kneading associated with more traditional bread-making - fairly wet dough seems to be the key. 

I realise that with all the cookery books I own it means, in theory, I could go for quite a long time without making the same thing more than once, but why would I want to do that when some things are just too good not to have again (and again).  One recipe I have had several times is a puff pastry filled with a spiced couscous from "The Vegetarianean" by Malu Simoes and Alberto Musacchio. Usually the pastries are done as squares, but for Valentines Day I went with hearts.

 

 

I have adapted the recipe slightly and the quantities given should feed four:

20g peas
1 small clove of garlic
olive oil
10g butter
1level teaspoon ground cumin
1 level teaspoon curry powder
1/2 tablespoon grated root ginger
5cm piece of celery, chopped
5cm piece of carrot, cut into 5mm pieces
1/2 small courgette, cut into 5mm pieces
20g broccoli, broken into small florets
1 small shallot, finely chopped
20g couscous
30ml vegetable stock
1 tablespoon pine nuts, lightly toasted
1 tablespoon raisins, soaked in hot water
Salt and pepper
250g puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
20g Pecorino or other hard cheese, cut into four

Put the peas in a small pan with enough water to just cover, add a little salt and a drizzle of olive oil and cook until just tender.  Drain.  Saute the garlic in the butter and a tablespoon of olive oil, once brown, add the cumin, curry powder and ginger.  Toss in the remaining vegetables and cook until they still have some bite.  Season. 

Toast the couscous in a small frying pan then put in a small bowl and pour over the hot stock.  Cover the bowl with cling film and leave for 10 minutes.  Flake the couscous with a fork and add to the vegetables along with the pinenuts, drained raisins and peas.  Cool.

Roll the pastry out until quite thin and cut into equal squares.  Place the couscous mixture in the middle of each square and place a piece of cheese on top.  Fold over two diagonally opposite corners and seal with beaten egg, do the same with the other two corners and join both sides together to make a parcel.  Brush with egg and place on a baking sheet.  Make for 20 to 25 minutes at Gas 4/180C/350F.

Last week, as it was Mothers Day, I had my Mother and Father-in-law round for tea - my starter was inspired by a dish I had in the Dunmuir Hotel - a mild goats' cheese served with caramelised walnuts, beetroot and oatcakes.  I made spinach filo tarts - a simple mixture of spinach, eggs, Greek yoghurt and seasoning (salt, pepper, nutmeg), plus sheets of filo brushed with melted butter.  I didn't add cheese this time, but tried these out a couple of weeks previously with brie sliced over the top before baking - around 20 minutes at Gas 4/180C/350F. The dessert was a lemon meringue roulade with soft fruits from "Crumb" by Ruby Tandoh - it went down pretty well.

Now all I have to do is think what to make for dinner tonight!