This year's veggie garden in pictures!

pepper plants:

view of little corner between barn and bread oven:

tomatoes, aubergines, courgettes, beans and parsley:

grapes over the barn:

very green grapes!

Blackberry Jam

We have heaps of blackberries in the garden at the moment. The ones we have are an early, thornless variety, so they're nice and easy to pick!

I popped out into the garden the other day and came back with 4lbs, so I decided to make some blackberry jelly, using a recipe from my mother's Cookery Year cookbook, but then I couldn't let the left-over cooked/drained fruit go to waste so I passed it through a mouli to get rid of the seeds and then turned it into jam.

Ingredients:
4lbs blackberries
1 pint water
juice of 2 lemons
sugar

First, simmer the blackberries with the water and lemon juice until tender (about 45 min). Then pour into a sieve lined with muslin and allow to drip for about an hour.

To make the jelly:
Collect the juice and allow 1lb of sugar for each 1lb of juice. Heat in a copper pan, and boil rapidly until setting point is reached. I use Nigella's tip and place a saucer in the freezer beforehand and then just test little blobs of jelly/jam to see if it crinkles when it cools. Then pour into clean, sterilised jars.

To make the jam:
Pass the remaining fruit left in the sieve through a mouli to get rid of the seeds. This will make a nice puree. Then weigh equal quantities of the fruit puree and sugar, and proceed as above to make the jam.

Cuisses de grenouille à la crème

I had family staying last week, and the kiddies were desperate to try some frogs legs French style! I'd never plucked up the courage to make them before, and had only eaten them once at friends... so it was a great opportunity for me to have a go at last!

Ingredients:

Two packs of frozen frogs legs
Milk and water to cover
Flour
Half a pack of butter (125 g)
Madeira
Whole head of garlic, crushed
Bunch of fresh parsley, chopped
Large tub of creme fraiche

Leave the frogs legs to defrost in a mixture of milk and water for a few hours at room temperature. Drain, then pat dry with kitchen paper, and coat with flour. I'm pretty squeamish so it was kind of freaky - everyone kept telling me they looked like little fairy legs and so I had to put on latex gloves to be able deal with it haha







Melt some of the butter in a frying pan, and fry the frogs legs in batches 'til golden on each side, flipping half way, and placing them in a warm earthenware dish. Keep adding butter as necessary, until all the frogs legs are done.

Drain the cooking fat, and deglaze the frying pan with a glug of Madeira.

Add the crushed garlic and creme fraiche, stir well, and allow to bubble and reduce. Then add the chopped parsley, stir thoroughly, pour over the frogs legs and heat in the oven for a few minutes.

They turned out really good, and the kiddies loved them especially, and piled their plates high!

It's quite labour-intensive, but really nice for a special treat!

A poem

Night-walking

Gust of wind, warm as summer’s day
Wild plum leaf falls into my hair
Owl flies overhead
Imminent storm

16.07.09

Mint Tea

Just been out in the garden picking some herbs to hang in my kitchen to dry (lemon verbena, oregano and mint for now), and then had to make a pot of mint tea!

Summer is most definitely here!

Elderflower cordial

The elderflowers suddenly appeared in the hedgerows a couple of weeks ago, so I decided to have a go at making some elderflower cordial.

The hub went out and braved nettles and brambles, and came back with 2 bagfuls of flowerheads for me... I followed Sophie Grigson's recipe, with slightly less citric acid.

I was so pleased how it came out, I sent the hub out foraging again the next day, to make some more!

Ingredients:

20-30 elderflower heads
1.8 kg granulated sugar
1.2 litres water
2 unwaxed lemons, zest pared in wide strips, and flesh cut into slices
2 tbsp citric acid

First, I gave the flowerheads a good ole shake to make sure there were no creep crawlies left, then I placed them in a stock pot with the lemon zest and slices.

Meanwhile, I made a sugar syrup by heating the sugar and water in a pan, stirring til the sugar dissolved and bringing to a boil.

I then poured the sugar syrup over the blossoms and stirred in the citric acid, covered the pot with a cloth and let it stand at room temperature for 24 hours.

The next evening, I strained the cordial through a sieve lined with 2 layers of muslin, and then poured the syrup into glass and plastic bottles. I kept the glass bottle in the fridge to use right away, and popped the plastic bottles in the freezer. Makes about 5 x 50 cl bottles.

It is truly delicious and very refreshing. Best served with ice-cold sparkling water. I often add a little cordial to redcurrant and blackberry summer compote and serve as a verrine with greek yogurt - delish!

Party Cake

J's party cake:

quadruple-layered genoise sponge, brushed with sirop de canne with a teensy bit of kirsch, filled with strawberry-flavoured cream and fresh strawberries, iced with strawberry-flavoured cream and decorated with home-made sugar flowers.

Sugar Flowers

I have been desperate to have a go at piping some flowers, so on Saturday, the sunniest day of the year so far, I ended up making a big batch of Royal Icing, and experimenting in my kitchen! Bliss!

It was real fun! I thought they could come in handy for topping cupcakes, and will also be using them to decorate J's party cake this coming Wednesday.

J's bday cake

J is pony mad, and specifically asked for a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, so I had to get a pony squiggle in there too!

Homemade Easter Chocolates

This was my fourth mini-batch - milk chocolate shells filled with milk chocolate ganache.

The first batch was an experiment: white chocolate half-eggs filled with milk chocolate ganache which ended up being eaten at D's party; the second batch was a complete failure and impossible to unmould (think I must've botched the tempering), and the third batch was a success - white chocolate flower shapes filled with rose-flavoured ganache, but they disappeared before I could take any piccies (will definitely make some more!).

I need to remember to tap the moulds though, to get rid of any air bubbles.

Drum-Kit Cake

It was my D's 13th birthday yesterday, so I made him a drum-kit cake!

The cake base was rich 50%/50% dark/milk chocolate cake with a milk chocolate ganache topping, and the drums were made of the same, but cupcakes, brushed with apricot jam and covered with fondant. Next time I will wait for the drums/icing to set properly before assembling, as it was all a bit squishy! It was fun but incredibly tricky making the little marzipan figure - the best bit were the little Converse sneakers, but I forgot to take a photo of them and they ended up drowned in chocolate ganache hehe arms and torsos were a little unruly too haha

Pate d'amandes roses

I've been meaning to try making some chocolate roses, but just haven't had time to get round to it, and so last night I found some "pate d'amandes" in my larder so had a go at marzipan ones instead...

I'm really happy with how they turned out. I kneaded the marzipan to make a little cone-shaped base, then used a little modelling tool my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas, and worked the marzipan in between two sheets of cling film to make the petals.

I also had a go at making teeny tiny rosebuds as well and they look really sweet!

Here is my first rose:

My Jamaican Christmas Cake

Yay! It worked!

This was a real experiment as I had no idea how it would turn out, but I was so pleased with the results. The cake was rich, heavy and moist - it tasted just how I remembered it as a kid! Felt really nice, sort of comfort memory food. I will definitely make it again! I think it will become another new tradition hehe. I had enough mixture to make one big cake, and two mini cakes which I gave to friends.

Recipe:

Soaked fruit from

http://sherrytruffle.blogspot.com/2008/11/rum-and-raisins.html


Batter:

9 oz butter
5 eggs
1 tsp Madagascan vanilla extract
9oz dark brown sugar (I used vergoise brune)
9 oz self-raising flour
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of salt
2oz chopped pecan nuts

Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla extract in a large bowl. Add the beaten eggs.
Sieve the flour, salt and spices over the butter/eggy mixture, and stir well to combine.
Add the soaked fruit and pecan nuts. Stir thoroughly.

Pour the mixture into a double-lined tin, and bake at 140 degrees for 3 hours, then cover the cake with double greaseproof paper and bake for another hour.

Allow the cake to cool completely, then wrap in greaseproof paper and foil until it needs to be marzipaned and iced.

I used Delia's recipe for the Almond Icing - it was surprisingly easy and really delicious too!
And also used her Fondant Icing recipe as well, and kept the leftovers to make decorations.

Cool Yule

I rolled out my traditional yule log again this Christmas - well, a new tradition for me really... I discovered this recipe 3 years ago and it was voted "Favourite Yule Log Ever" by the kiddies, so have stuck with it ever since! It's a Joconde base, brushed with sugar syrup and rum, and filled and iced with French chocolate buttercream, dusted with icing-sugar snow and sprinkled with edible white snowflake-like sprinkles. The kiddies always help decorate the yule log, so this year we cut out some ivy leaves, and D made a herd of tie-dye green rhinos out of the leftover icing hehe

I always make two as they disappear pretty quickly, and it's not much more work. This year I popped the extra Joconde sponge and the extra buttercream in the freezer for a week, and then defrosted and assembled it for our New Year's Eve party.

Demi-Brioche

Well, the kiddies and hub demolished half of it before I remembered to take a photo hehe

This was my first attempt at a brioche; it was sort of cheating because I used 500 g of "Brioche flour" and just had to add three eggs, 130 ml of milk and 30 mg of butter, and let my bread machine work the dough while I made tea.

After 2 hours and 20 min, I just had to break off 1/4 of the dough, stuffed the rest into a greased baking mould, made a hole in the dough base, then rolled the remaining dough into a ball and put it on top. I left it to stand for a couple of hours under a clean wet tea towel, then brushed it with an egg yolk and baked it in the oven for 30 min at 200C.

Was really pleased how it turned out, but I want to have another go, from scratch next time.

Triple Chocolate Babycakes

This is basically an intensely dark chocolate brownie recipe, with a milk chocolate ganache and white chocolate shavings.

It works best as a large cake, but the cupcakes are perfect for little mouthfuls of dense moist chocolatey goodness hehe

Ingredients:
400 g dark chocolate
200 g butter, diced
16 level soupspoons vanilla-infused caster sugar
6 level soupspoons self-raising flour
6 eggs, separated

Break the chocolate into little pieces and melt. I usually just fill a little saucepan with water, bring it to the boil, take it off the heat, drop the chocolate pieces in and leave it to stand for 1 minute max. Drain off the water carefully - it leaves a lovely moulten chocolatey goo in the bottom of the pan, which you then mix with the diced butter over a low heat til it's all melted.

Place the flour and sugar in a large mixing bowl and stir thoroughly. Pour in the chocolate/butter mixture, and stir well until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Add the egg yolks and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites, using an electric handmixer, until they form peaks, then fold into the chocolatey mixture carefully using a fork.

Fill into a prepared tin, or cupcake papers, and bake at 180C for 30-60 min (for a large cake) or 20-30 min for cupcakes.

For the cupcakes: leave to cool in the cake tin for a few minutes, then place on a wire rack.
For a large cake: wrap immediately in foil while still warm, and leave to cool - this will make the cake extra moist.

For the ganache:
200 g milk chocolate
200 ml cream

Melt the chocolate as above, then add the cream and stir over a low heat until the mixture is smooth and very very shiny. Allow to cool (but not set), then spoon over the cupcakes/pour over the cake.

Decorate with white chocolate shavings.

And cupcakes too

These ones were from Nigella's Fairy Cake recipe in How to be a Domestic Goddess, which is lovely and easy and delicious:

Ingredients:

125g unsalted butter, softened

125g caster sugar

2 large eggs

125g self-raising flour

half a teaspoon vanilla extract

2-3 tablespoons milk

I just blitz all the ingredients (apart from the milk) in the food processor til smooth, then pulse in the milk, and spoon into cupcake cases (makes about 16-18 smaller cupcakes or 12 muffin-sized cakes). Bake at 200C for about 15-20 min, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

The frosting is taken from my mum's 1977 edition of The Cookery Year, and it's a great recipe which works every time!

Seven-minute frosting

Preparation time: 10 min

Ingredients:

1 egg white

6oz caster sugar

Pinch of salt

2 tablespoons water

Pinch of cream of tartar (I can't get this here, so have to make it without)

Food colouring paste and cocktail stick

Put all the ingredients in a deep bowl and whisk for a few minutes using an electric hand mixer.

Place the bowl over a pan of hot water and continue to whisk until the mixture is thick enough to stand in peaks, after 7 minutes.

Stir in the desired colouring (mix v. gently). Pop the mixture into a freezer bag/piping bag and pipe onto cakes.

I like to add a few sugar sprinkles. This time I added pink and white mini hearts, and popped a mini marshmallow on top, only these mysteriously disappeared when I wasn't looking - think my mini marshmallow monsters must've struck hehe

been practising my Carrot Cake...

making big family-sized ones:

and baby ones:

This is a one-bowl cake which I love because it's so easy and makes hardly any washing up! I just put everything in a bowl and mix it all up with a wooden spoon and some elbow grease.

Ingredients:
8oz self-raising flour
2 level teaspoons baking powder
5oz light brown sugar (i use vergeoise blonde)
2oz chopped walnuts
4oz carrots (grated)
1 ripe banana (mashed)
2 eggs
5 fluid oz vegetable oil

Frosting:
3oz softened butter
3oz cream cheese
6oz icing sugar
half teaspoon Madagascar vanilla extract

Sift the flour and baking powder. Stir in the sugar, and mix well to get rid of any lumps. Add walnuts, carrot and banana and mix lightly. Make a well in the centre of the mixture and drop in the whole eggs and oil. Beat well with a wooden spoon.

Spoon into muffin cases, and bake for 30 min at 180C.

Test with a skewer, and when it comes out clean, transfer the baby cakes to a wire rack to cool.

Mix together the frosting ingredients til smooth. Place in a piping bag (or freezer bag then snip off the tip) and decorate.

look at dese babies!

I made some French macarons yesterday! Greeny-blue ones with blueberry jam filling, and pink ones filled with white chocolate ganache flavoured with rose cordial. I was so pleased with them! They're definitely my best ones yet. Using Bake-O-Glide made such a difference. The pink ones were still kind of crackly though - I piped them using a proper piping bag+nozzle so I don't know if this made a difference because I piped the greeny-blue ones using a freezer bag and they turned out much much better, lovely and smooth...

My recipe (which just produced about 18 medium-sized macarons - I might double it next time as they disappeared too quickly, although I gave most of them away to friends and neighbours as little impromptu treats):

for the macarons:

75 g ground almonds

120 g icing sugar

60 g egg whites (or two egg whites)

35 g caster sugar

colouring pastes

for the filling:

(pink ones)

1 x 100-g bar of white chocolate

a splash of cream

2 teaspoons rose cordial

(greeny-blue ones)

blueberry jam as required

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C.

Sieve the almonds and icing sugar separately, then place in a large bowl and mix carefully.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form peaks, then add the caster sugar gradually while whisking.

Gently fold the meringue mix into the dry ingredients using a spatula, til smooth. Split into 2 bowls, and add the colourings using a cocktail stick. Mix carefully.

Line two baking trays (I used bake-o-glide).

Stand a freezer bag in a medium-sized glass, and spoon the mixture into the bag, then snip a tiny hole in one corner and pipe onto the baking trays. Make sure the tip of the bag is touching the tray, hold the bag fairly upright and just squeeze until perfect little round blobs are formed.

Leave plenty of room between them.

Then pick up the tray to shoulder height, and drop onto a clear work surface to get rid of air bubbles.

Leave to stand for 30 minutes until the surface of the macarons remains intact when touched lightly with the fingertips.

Pop in the oven for about 15 minutes.

Leave to stand for 5 minutes then carefully place on a wire rack.

Place the white chocolate in a little saucepan, and add a splash of pouring cream. Heat over a low flame and stir until melted, then add 2 teaspoons of rose cordial. Mix well, then pour into a small bowl and chill in the fridge until the mixture has thickened (probably best made a couple of hours in advance).

Sandwich the macarons together with either a teaspoonsful of white chocolate/rose ganache mixture or blueberry jam (beware of clumsy thumbs when putting them together - a few of mine got dented that way hehe).

Admire for a bit in shock and awe, and enjoy!

Rum and Raisins

Have just been busy chopping and soaking fruit in an attempt to make a Jamaican Christmas Cake.

I've been experimenting and think I've found the closest thing to my mum's christmas cake recipe! It was her mother-in-law (my grannie) who taught her how to make it - I just remember it being really heavy but oozing with rich fruity goodness and rum! I remember her filling huge empty Quality Street jars with dried fruit steeped in a mixture of dark Jamaican rum and Sherry. She would soak the fruit for months, sometimes even a year!

I guess I've left it late for this year, but am tempted to have a go anyway, and will soak the fruit for just 2-3 weeks.

Alcoholic fruit mix:

560 g raisins
225 g prunes (stoned)
2 tbsp demerara sugar
3 tbsp water
110 g glace cherries
50 g dates (stoned)
50 mg candied orange peel
375 ml dark Jamaican rum
375 ml Porto (or mixture of Porto and Sherry)

1.5 litre glass preserving jar with rubber seal, sterilised by washing in hot soapy water and drying in an oven.

Stone the prunes, place in a small saucepan with the water, sprinkle with the demerara sugar and simmer gently on low heat for 20 min, stirring regularly, and adding a little more water if necessary.

Meanwhile, finely chop the cherries, stone and finely chop the dates, snip the candied orange peel into tiny pieces with scissors, and place in a large mixing bowl with the raisins. Allow the prunes to cool, then chop finely and add to dried fruit. Stir well, and transfer to a glass storage jar, and fill to the top with the rum and porto (and sherry if used).

Close the jar and leave for as long as possible (anything from 2-3 weeks to a year)

It's starting to feel all Christmassy with all the fruity rum-infused fragrances in my kitchen (not to mention the year-round fairy lights on the beam hehe)