From a North London Kitchen...

I've moved...

2010-09-07T10:41:00.000+01:00

Hi Everyone,

Now that I'm no longer in north London, I decided it would make more sense to move the blog too (and finally get a more instinctive blog address!)

I'm now at number ninety eight.

I hope that you'll continue reading over there, and join me for a new start and new adventures in baking, cooking, preserving, knitting and cat refereeing!

This blog will remain static so you can still find recipes etc, but all the posts have been transferred so they will be over there too, and I will no longer place new posts here.

I look forward to seeing you at the new abode, perhaps for some tea and cake?

Goodness

2010-08-30T12:16:00.000+01:00

I don't know where to start. Over a month has disappeared since our interwebs went down, and there are so many things that have gone on it's hard to know where to begin. Firstly, I huge thank you if you've stuck with my silence and are willing to read again, I am hoping to be a better blogger now, and a better keeper-in-toucher.

And, well, er, yes. I guess I should begin with a confession. We moved! Yep, we're no longer living it up in Our Lovely Flat(tm) in north London. At the beginning of the year, oh yes, way back in January, we decided that it was time to get away from the hustle and bustle of life in the city. Peace, quiet and space in the suburbs were beginning to call, as was the exciting prospect of owning a place of our own, one with a proper garden, and stairs, and fireplaces. It seemed to take forever, with each viewing worse than the last, nothing affordable, and morale and dreams of houses disappearing faster than the post-viewing bottle(s) of wine.

Then finally an offer was accepted on the perfect place, and after much box packing, cat calming, and tester pot choosing later, we are in, unpacked, and even online again!

Now, obviously, there is a slight problem, as I cannot be "From a North London Kitchen" if in fact I am no longer in north London. Oops! So there will be some bigger changes a-foot on the blog.

But before then I have other things to share. The new house has meant more space, and as if we didn't have enough books, jars, wool and fabric to fill it with, we decided that something was missing from our new set-up.

Meet Gatto, the newest member of the family! Don't be fooled by those large cute eyes, he's a little terrorist! He eats Sniff's food, loves to climb on anything and everything, and three days into his life with us managed to scratch me in the left eye just as I opened them in the morning! He is definitely stamping his way into our lives (and refuses to sit still for good photos!)

Finally, a week into our new life a wonderful box arrived for me. The month before I had signed up to Siri's amazing Farmer's Market Exchange. It was a mad dash to get mine posted before the deadline, and amidst all the frantic packing, but I managed to get my box off, and wondered what would appear for me. Then we moved and I forgot about it, and suddenly a letter arrived saying a parcel was ready for collection. I was so lucky to be paired with Jes. Not only is her photography absolutely stunning, but she is an incredibly generous exchanger. As I delved into her package I felt ashamed that the timing of the exchange meant I hadn't squeezed more into hers. It was a box filled with Minnesota goodness; natural harvest maple syrup, blended tea, honeys and apple rings, as well as some homemade jelly and a piece of pottery made by Jes' Dad. How amazing is that?!

Thank you so much Jes. I've already enjoyed tea in my lovely new teacup, and can't wait to try the honey on some homemade bread (still tinkering with the new oven, it's not playing ball!)

It has been a month filled with madness, and stress, but also crammed with goodness. And now, as the autumnal chill begins to lurk in the air I am looking forward to a whole new phase of things.

I really hope that you'll all stick around and join me at number ninety eight, for a whole new set of adventures. There will be cake, and jam, and tea, a bigger garden to transform, knitting projects to finish, and cats to referee. I can't wait to share it all with you, and catch up on what everyone else has been getting up to.

We interrupt your regular programming...

2010-07-26T10:48:00.003+01:00

...to give you this announcement.

Due to the ineptitude of a customer services person we are about to lose our internet. Don't ask. I'm sure you can all imagine just how the phone call went when the news was broken to me.

It might be a while before it's back too. And so in the flat we are pulling faces like this.

I'm sure there is a way to do fancy things with fancy phones. But this blogger is not someone who has gotten her head around all that yet.

So please bear with me, I promise I will be back as soon as I can. Hopefully with news about this, and other such exciting summery ventures.

84

2010-07-22T15:58:00.001+01:00

84 apricots, don't make as much jam as you'd expect for that much de-stoning.

But it's worth every one. The height of the jamming season has begun, and I'm doing the best I can to put as much gorgeous summer fruit into jars as possible.

Are you preserving the summer too? If so, please share how. This marmalady can't get enough of whacking things in jars!

Ladies wot lunch

2010-07-19T22:47:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago, when summer was at it's height, Rosy and I decided it was time to take advantage of the tucked away green spaces that London has to offer, and have a picnic.

It's amazing just what tranquility you can find in this city. Moments away from a busy road, and convenient bus route you can find yourself in gently green spaces, dappled in sunlight, refreshed by breezes, affording both quiet and comfort. I don't take advantage of it enough, and I really should.

I also don't take enough advantage of Rosy's amazing skills. I was in charge of the booze, and she was in charge of the main food items. I've been to picnics before where it's all a bit shambolic, the food is last minute, and squished into tupperware or still wrapped in shop cellophane, the blankets aren't sufficient and there is always one less plate or cup. I love those picnics for their charm, their laughter and their hapharzard cobbling together of things.

I suspected this would be something different, and I was right, after all it was two food bloggers, who take a leisurely lunch very seriously indeed. What I wasn't prepared for was just how unbelievable it would actually be. Honestly, this lady served up a still warm pesto and salad tart, a still perfectly crisp panzanella salad, and, wait for it, individual eton mess! I was out classed.

But I had the booze, so I like to think I did my bit. (we won't talk about the awful lemon cake I made that was so bad it embarrased me to even offer it...a write-off recipe that has been torn from my scrap book and burnt).

It was a perfect afternoon of calm, in the midst of one of the craziest and noisiest summers I've ever known.

I could very much get used to being a lady wot lunches.

The curious incident of the frog in the night time

2010-07-05T12:21:00.000+01:00

This cute, fluffy, adorable little blighter has been getting up to some rather impressive tricks recently.

He doesn't enjoy the heat much, or rather, he likes to bathe in the sunshine in spring, but the height of summer is not his friend. You can't blame him, you'd be a summer grump too if you were carrying rather a lot of hot ginger fur (and perhaps a little bit of weight?! - yes, the v.e.t. did mention he should lose a few hundred grams!).

As a result he doesn't venture into the house much at the moment, but seeks out shadier spots under the decking or neighbours trees. Only popping in occasionally to remind us he needs feeding.

So I get all silly. I worry that he doesn't sit on my lap or want to be cuddled, I fear he loves someone else more than us and spends his days with them. I get in a bit of a tizz about it all.

And so Sniff finds ways to show his appreciation, as only cats do. A couple of nights ago we were graced with a midnight mouse hunt. Sniff kindly brought it in to show us just how exciting it can be to chase both him, and said rodent, around our living room. The prize was captured by a very on-the-ball N and given it's freedom, and what we thought was ample time to run and hide before Sniff was allowed out again.

Not so. How could two humans be so bad at this game? The aim is not to free the mouse, but to eat it! Sniff showed us just how we were going wrong by treating us to bit of ex-mouse around the flat the next morning.

Not to be deterred by his humans failings he upped the game. The night we finally got some humidity relieving rain he tried again. We were woken not by the pleasant noises of raindrops on the windows, but instead a very strange sound indeed emanating from the kitchen. Another poor mouse we assumed, so I gaily went out to do my fair share of chasing. In my sleepy haze I made the mistake of not taking my glasses, and so was peering at the strange shape on the floor, thinking how it was amazing that a mouse that spread out could still make so much noise, when it leapt into the air and emitted a mighty croak! It was a huge frog! Goodness knows how this innocent little cat had managed not only to catch the amphibian, but to get it through the cat flap in one piece!

At this discovery all rescue duties were promptly handed over to a very sleepy N. I have nothing against frogs, but they rank with slugs and snails for their potentially sliminess, at least in my head! And I wasn't about to attempt capture, not least because I had no shoes on, nor glasses, nor any idea how to go about the manouver.

In the end it took two of us, one inside and one outside, to coax the poor thing back out into the damp garden, whilst little Sniffer was trapped in the bedroom eeking for all his little lungs could managed (I like to think he was balling instructions about how the game worked!)

Luckily the frog survived the encounter and hasn't been seen since, and our little kitty has been smugly sleeping off the exertion.

What remains a mystery is where the frog came from in the first place. As far as we are aware there are no ponds, streams or water holes anywhere near us.

It truly was a curious incident of a frog in the night time, and shall remain so...

Blame it on the pav-a-lova

2010-07-01T22:11:00.000+01:00

Sometimes I inexplicably get songs running round my head. This would be fine, except it goes on for days and days and it seems nothing will cure it. I can even hunt out the song, listen to it, and still my brain doesn't seem satisfied.

Which is how I came to be singing "blame it on the pa-va-lova" to the tune of "blame it on the bossa nova" which incidentally I only know because of watching this.

Why pavlova? Because this week I made some ice cream and decided that it would be a wonderful excuse to pile some cream, passion fruit and passion fruit curd on top of a cloud of crispy-on-the-outside mallow-in-the-middle meringue.

Because really, who needs and excuse for this super-sweet fat free (ahem, we're ignoring the cream, alright?) fluffy cloud of summery deliciousness? Not me. Especially as it means I can dance around the kitchen in my dressing gown singing "blame it on the pa-va-lova" at the top of my voice!

There's only one problem really. Unless you are super talented, it can be hard to make pavlova photogenic. Or perhaps it's just me? But seriously, this baby did not want it's picture taken. The light was all wrong, the cream kept trying to leap off the top, and all in all it just wasn't having it. So I've dolled it up with poladriod in the hope that you will trust me that it's a lovely idea to make this for your next summer gathering. I scaled down my recipe to make me feel less guilty about eating all that cream and curd for four days in a row. As a result this recipe makes a nice size pavlova for four servings. I'm sure it's not the best in the world, but it's easy and quick and I think it tastes lovely after a salad with a chilled glass of white wine.

Passionate Pavlova - Serves four.

2 large egg whites
250g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
1/2 tsp lemon juice

2 very ripe passionfruit
100ml double cream
3 tbsp passion fruit (or lemon) curd

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

Whip the egg whites until peaks form. Then gradually whip in the sugar until the mixture becomes stiff and glossy. Then sprinkle over the lemon juice and cornflour and gently fold it into the mixture with a metal spoon trying to knock as little air out of the mixture as possible.

Pile into the centre of the baking sheet and smooth the top as best you can. You want a disk around eight inches in diameter and 1-2 inches tall.

Place in the oven and immediately reduce the temperature to 120C. Bake for 15 minutes and then turn the oven off, but leave the pavlova in there to continue baking as the oven cools, leave until completely cold.

When you are ready to serve, gently invert the pavlova onto a place and peel off the paper. Whip the cream gently until it is still soft and fluffy, but holds its shape. Then stir in the pulp from the passion fruits. Gently spread the curd over the pavlova and then top with the cream, serve immediately, or within an hour.

Please don't forget to sing "blame it on the pa-va-lova" whilst serving, it makes it taste better. Honest.

A sigh of relief

2010-06-27T22:12:00.000+01:00

Today brought many a sigh of relief. Firstly, it is the first Sunday in a long time that I have not been working, and so meant a full day of N's company. It was spent in a very typical manner, him being crafty at the table, me being crafty on the sofa, but even this silent time, spent in mutual contemplation of our tasks, and the cricket, made everything feel aligned again.

Speaking of cricket, a huge exhalation went up when the final ball was lofted over the outfield for four, and England won the series. It was touch and go at the end there, and two people and one cat held their breath as they prayed that it wouldn't be a truly dreadful day for English sport.

Because yes, unless you've managed to blissfully avoid World Cup mania, you're probably aware the England went out of the tournament today. I know it is controversial to admit, but I breathed a sigh of relief at this too. Frankly, now we can stop pretending to believe the hype that England are going to win (which they never were, let's face it), we can all sit down, relax, and enjoy the rest of the competition, whilst watching some teams who actually can play football.

Phew, mini-rant over. Sorry about that!

What I really wanted to tell you about was the sauce I made for our pancakes this morning. I didn't plan the pancakes, but the lack of bread and unwillingness to miss a single moment of any sport today meant that I needed to come up with a breakfast option fast. I used my go to recipe (which I've tweaked a bit over the last six months) and would have added blueberries to them, except I suddenly decided instead to whip up a sauce. I'm so glad I did! It would have produced a sigh of happiness, had it not been for us both stuffing stacks of pancakes and sauce in our mouths!

It's super simple, quick and uber tasty. It goes incredibly well with a subtly flavoured pancake, and a dollop of creme fraiche, so that the sauce is the star of the show. I'm sure it would be equally delicious on waffles, ice cream or French toast.

Blueboozy sauce - serves two for pancakes, liberally.

2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen.
1 large glug of creme de cassis, or for a non-alcoholic version, a dark berry (or elderflower) cordial
1 tbsp water
3-4 tsp cornflour

Place the blueberries in a small saucepan with the water. Begin to heat gently until they release their juice. Then add the cassis or cordial. Continue to cook gently until the blueberries are bursting and there is a large amount of liquid in the saucepan. Add the cornflour a teaspoon at a time, through a sieve (to avoid lumps forming) mixing as you add. Wait for the mixture to thicken slightly in the heat. You can continue to add cornflour until the sauce reaches your desired texture. I had mine fairly thick so that it sat well on pancakes, but if I was using in on ice cream I'd leave it much thinner.

Pour over hot pancakes, toast or waffles, or scoops of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!

Finally...

2010-06-21T22:56:00.000+01:00

...It seems that maybe, just maybe, Britain might get some summer. For some reason it hasn't felt like there's been much summer here yet, despite the slightly depressing fact that it was apparently the solstice yesterday. Perhaps I missed it all being stuck in the office, whereas in previous years I have been blissfully at home and therefore able to appreciate each and every day when the sunshine peeks out and the temperature creeps above ten degrees Celsius.

I'm sure it was Molly who once mentioned that bloggers can have a habit of posting less during the warmer sunnier months. I think particularly for those of us who are less used to all this gorgeous weather, and who only get about three days of it a year (yes, I am indeed a jaded Brit), it is imperative to leave the computers behind and head out and frolic.

That's not quite what I've been doing. I would definitely be up for some frolicking in principle, however I have mostly spent the last week and a bit working. The shop I work in has been moving to a larger premises (hurrah!), but being a small business the shifting of boxes was done by us. There is part of me that relishes being back to physical work after months of being in a office. It reminds me of when I was working on the market and shifting palettes of bread every morning. It is a wonderfully satisfying way to spend a day.

But my muscles the following day were not amused, especially when I hauled them out of bed to do it all again!

However, despite the aches and pains and exhaustion that seem to be following me around, there is a huge plus to all this dashing around. You have full license to eat as much as you like! On the actual moving day, when myself and the lovely M shifted box after box and bag after bag from the van to the new shop, dodging pedestrians as we went, I probably ate my body weight in baked goods (and then we discovered the amazing local frozen yoghurt place! I LOVE our new location!), and that's not an insignificant amount. And yet, when I got home, I was still ravenous! Total result. I can once again bake my heart out and stuff my not-so delicate little face with cookies, cakes and tarts and totally justify it (did I mention that the new stock room is on the top floor...I've got a new love affair with all those stairs!)

With all this in mind I decided my co-workers and co-box-sifters might need a little sugar rush to keep the spirits lifted. On our first day open in the new shop I brought everyone cinnamon rolls, topped with my amazing new-found (Thanks Rosy!) cream cheese icing. The days before this, there was a endless supply of cookies.

Why? Because thanks to the advice of a certain young American, who knows her cookies, I was finally pointed in the direction of the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. I shall forever be indebted to her, and her French source, for what will quite possibly now always be my go-to cookie recipe. It's crispy yet still chewy, better on the second day, and held up to some adapting. I made them last week, and we ate the remainder today (the recipe makes a LOT) and they were still good. In my eyes, that's the perfect cookie. They even stood up to what is my high water mark of cookies, the pecan and chocolate chip ones from Ottolenghi.

Go, bake and be sated...nom.

The almost-Nestle Tollhouse cookie - Makes enough to feed an army of movers.

2 1/4 cups strong white bread flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light muscovado sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups dark chocolate (I used 70%) chopped into chunks
1 cup chopped nuts (I'm a pecan gal myself, but walnuts, hazelnuts etc would work fine)

Preheat the oven to 190C and line all the baking trays you have in the house! No, seriously I used all four of mine a couple of times over as you only really want about six on each sheet in case of spreading.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a mixer, or by hand beat together the butter, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy. Then gradually beat in the eggs one at a time. Gradually add the flour mixture and combine. Then stir in the chocolate and nuts.

Place rounded teaspoons of dough on the baking sheets a couple of inches apart. Bake for aprox. 8 - 9 minutes until they are just golden brown at the edges (this tip was thanks to M, who pointed out this would maintain a chewy centre. mmmm...)

They will keep for quite a while in a air tight box, but I would recommend them either just warm, or the next day with a nice cup of tea.

I've served my time

2010-06-10T15:57:00.000+01:00

I tried, I really tried, but 9-5 office work really isn't for me. At first I loved it. I was in and out of the office running training sessions, and meeting new people. But as the months went on, and the time in the office longer, it became clearer that this wasn't going to be something I could do long term. I loved the people in the office and have made some great new friends, but sitting down staring at a computer screen is downright depressing, and even a little soul-destroying for me.

Who knows, I might go back to it, but yesterday, after much deliberation and financial pondering and deep philosophical conversations with N, I bid farewell to my colleagues and gave it all up.

Eek! So I am taking almost a 50% pay cut and am swapping the office for a (gorgeous) shop job. It sounds strange, but it seems to be working for me at the moment. It's a incredibly creative environment, and I am surrounding by a wonderful group of crafty inspiring people. It also means that for the most part I have my four day weeks back, hurrah! So hopefully I will be here a little more often with all sorts of baking and crafty goodness.

Despite my desperate desire to get out of the office, I was a little sad to leave it behind, and it's very difficult to take such a massive risk. I will no longer be in an academic environment, and I certainly won't have much loose change kicking around. But I'm hoping it will be the start of a new chapter, and some exciting new ventures.

As a little thank you to all my amazing friends and colleagues in my office I baked them one last treat. Little chocolate fairy cakes topped with cream cheese icing and sprinkles. I called them chocolate cheesecake cakes, as that's exactly what they tasted like. Yum! We had a picnic at lunchtime and then wine at the end of the day. A lovely farewell.

The cakes went down a storm and were gobbled up in no time. I won't post the recipe, instead I shall direct you to it's source, as I can't take any credit the delicious cake was all thanks to my lovely friend Rosy. The only thing I can boast about is the decision to put the cream cheese icing on it. It wouldn't be my usual topping, but I couldn't resist and the result was delicious. Make them this weekend and treat yourself, but beware, you'll want to make British fairy cake size ones as they are incredibly rich!

Well, I am off to enjoy my day of freedom with some housework. I'm so rock and roll!

"We don't like cricket...oh no! We love it!"

2010-06-01T22:03:00.000+01:00

Nothing quite epitomises summer for me than cricket. If you've hung around here, or indeed spent much time in my company, it probably hasn't escaped your attention that I am a massive cricket fan.

There's just something so gosh darn civilized about a gentlemanly game that takes places at an almost leisurely pace over an entire day and include a break at 3.40pm for afternoon tea. If you're familiar with other bastions of gentlemanly culture, cricket may well conjure up images of fluffy clouds in blue sky, teams all decked out in white, and spectators politely clapping at the end of each over between mouthfuls of strawberries and cream and swigs of Champers. All of which should be accompanied by the soothing tones of Test Match Special (minus Boycott of course, nothing soothing there!)

The reality of course looks rather more like this:

Five hours of drizzle, rain and inclement weather. If you go to the cricket in England (rather than sensible places like the West Indies, or Australia) chances are you should pack for the arctic. N laughed as he saw me stuffing a quilt, raincoat, hat and scarf into my bag on Saturday, but true to my expectations I spent five hours at Lord's huddled underneath the aforementioned bedding wishing I'd bought some gloves as well.

That's the reality of the British summer. And I embrace it. Partly because I have to, and partly because no matter what at 3.40pm there is a break and out comes the tea and cake. If I do nothing else in preparation for an afternoon of cricket it is to prepare a cake. I've talked about this before, and fruit cake is almost always what I make.

But sometimes I need a little sunshine, and so sometimes I make something a bit brighter in the hope of tempting out the rays and casting off the raincoat. If you need a little sunshine, especially after a damp bank holiday weekend, I suggest you dust off your mixing bowls, search out some good lemons and have a crack at this. It's a great cake for transporting because it is incredible dense and holds up well. I think I might add a strongly lemony buttercream next time. But then again I might not.

Lemon Vanilla Yoghurt cake - makes one 9x5 loaf. (Adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

1 1/2 cups Plain Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup vanilla yoghurt
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs
Juice and zest of two unwaxed lemons
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

Whisk together the cups flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, mix together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lemon zest, and oil. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, but mix thoroughly.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about an hour, or until a toothpick of skewer in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Meanwhile, cook the lemon juice and remaining 1 tablespoon sugar in a small pan until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is clear. Set aside.

When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack. Carefully place on a baking rack over a baking tray. While the cake is still warm, gently poke wholes all over it with a toothtpick and then brush the lemon syrup over it with a pastry brush until all the syrup is absorbed. Cool and then enjoy, preferably in front of the cricket.

All you knit is love.

2010-05-24T09:45:00.000+01:00

These hands are mine. Knitting in Barcelona. They could, however, quite easily be the hands of my mother, or indeed my grandmother. I have clear memories of seeing a photograph of my grandmother in a very similar setting, also on holiday, also in the sunshine. She is sitting on a rock (I think) knitting in her hands, in a beautifully stylish dress, looking at the camera with a little gleam in her eye. She is on her honeymoon, the person holding the camera is her new husband, and I believe she is knitting something for him, even while they are walking in the countryside.

It makes me smile to think of that picture, and to think of how proud she would be to know that I now share her love for knitting (and her wish to do it whenever and wherever). She never saw me knit. She tried patiently to teach me when I was younger, but I was more interested in climbing trees and pretending to be Columbo than sitting patiently forming stitches. But here I am now, having learnt from her daughter, and taken on what feels like the inevitable love of the craft that the women in my family have.

It's lovely, because every time I look down at my hands holding my needles I think of my grandmother and I think of my mum, and I smile.

Would you like another cookie?

2010-05-20T22:43:00.000+01:00

I increasingly find myself baking cookies these days. I think because working six days means I have lost my lazy Sundays of baking, and my weeknights are taken up with either frantic knitting to finish projects (I've become newly obsessed, and last week stayed up until 2am and got up at 8am just to finish something in time to wear for work! - more on this in another post...) or crashing out on the sofa trying to keep my eyes open and my cat happy with some cuddles.

As time has become precious, I want quick fixes. I still want to bake and cook, but am aware that the window for doing so is a lot smaller, especially with all the other things that also get missed and need doing in my snatches of time.

Cookies are perfect, you can whip most recipes up in one bowl, and either cook then and there, or rest the dough in the fridge overnight and pop them in the oven the following day.

This is one of the reasons I chose today's cookie. It meant I could whack it all together last night at ten, and get home to ready mixed deliciousness to be formed into balls and baked. Perfect. There is nothing quite like the smell of cookies baking after work, with the late afternoon sun gently dipping across the garden, and a breeze coming in through the open patio doors. It would be completely idyllic if it wasn't for the stack of washing up on the side, the drying clothes on the rack (and still piles of dirty ones loitering in the bedroom) and the mountains of fur that are beginning to taunt me as I'd rather be baking than hoovering!

Cookies are also a great little gift, a nice homemade thing to say thank you. This weekend I shall be sharing them with a lovely girl I work with at my new job. She makes brilliant cups of tea, humours my love of sport, helps with my knitting disasters and is the perfect company on a rainy Sunday afternoon when work is quiet and we are knitting and nattering. She rocks.

Some shall be going to someone else too, who's husband very kindly presented me with a Ottolenghi cookie a few weeks ago, as he didn't want me to miss out. How lovely is that?! I shall pass on a batch for her and the family as a thank you (She's also the wonderful woman who got me the job, there will be a lot of cookies (and the curd I promised) going her way!)

I borrowed the recipe from Nicole, who adapted it from the ever-great David Lebovitz.

I made a few changes, mostly due to necessity than will. I couldn't bare to part with my entire chocolate stash, so only used a scant two cups (200g) and I used only one cup of nuts, pecans, as I didn't have any more. I also sprinkled them ever so lightly with salt to balance the flavour. I won't pass on my version as Nicole and David have already done such a good job and deserve the credit. I have to admit too that I still found these a little disappointing, and I wonder if my changes are the fault (which is the most likely reason frankly). Don't get me wrong, they are a very good cookie (*nods and munches from the background*), but I still feel like I am searching for my "perfect" chocolate chip cookie. Perhaps I should just give in and buy the book so I can give the original a go? And really, I don't mind having to bake a few more cookies in the quest for the perfect one. We're troupers in this flat, we'll do out best to try as many cookies as it takes!

Books.

2010-05-17T10:21:00.001+01:00

There has been a lot of talk about books around the web at the moment. About old favourites, new favourites, and of course everyone's favourite, the public library.

So I thought for a bit of fun I would share with you just how out of hand my little cook book library is getting. We live in a small flat, and are both book obsessives, and so books are on shelves, on floors, on books, in cupboards, and always, always in hands. We have many genres, and are not snobs, "bath books" (those deemed comfort reads that do not suffer from damp fingers, rather revel in them) are tucked alongside classics, both new and old. My PhD related books take up almost the entire spare room (which is mostly to do with having to have at least three copies of all works by the author I was writing about, one for reading, one for annotating, and one first edition - oh and sometimes ones in languages I can't read, but simply wanted for the novelty!)

But it is the cookbooks that pose the most problems. They are of unusual and uneven sizes, and so do not uniformly suit one shelf. Nor is there space enough for all of them in the kitchen, so they are spread out all over the place like a grazing flock. And they move around. They go from being presents on show (in the living room), to bedside reading, to much splattered and in use, to pausing on the kitchen table before they make the rounds again. They are often found in cahoots with the craft books, conversing with the gardening section, or hanging out with the fantasy literature.

I dream of a house where I can have them all in one place, and yet I know it's much more fun this way.

Where do your cookbooks hang out?

Because you can put jam in everything.

2010-05-14T22:43:00.000+01:00

The Jamvangalist strikes again! The cake I bring you today is a wonderful way to use up the dregs of marmalade that might be taking up ~~several rooms~~ space in your ~~house~~ cupboards. Okay, so I'm sure you don't actually have that problem, but when I am trying out new marmalades the half-full tester jars gradually stack up in our "breakfast" cupboard and because I try and eat nice ~~boring~~ healthy museli in the morning and so only have toast at weekends, I need another way to re-appropriate the half-filled jars.

I discovered this cake when doing all sorts of research in the run up to Food Junctions. In the spirit of "isn't preserving amazing and versatile" that I was trying to get across in my presentation I wanted not to have tasters of just jams and marmalades, but examples of the things you can do with them other than spreading them on bread. As a result I spent the evening and then morning before the talk frantically whipping up cakes, biscuits, tarts and slices all of which used jam, marmalade, curd or other preserves. It was the marmalade cake that was the first to go. It's moist, and whilst it doesn't taste too strongly of bitter orange marmalade, it does have a wonderful background hint of it, and a great depth of flavour.

It was so good that one participant actually prized the cake paper out of my hand and stood scraping the crumbs off it!

So today, I bring you my newly-found go-to marmalade cake. I used my "dark side" Seville marmalade, which is made with bitter oranges, all dark sugar (making it almost black, and very treacly in flavour) and a nice dash of smooth Irish whiskey. I also intend to make a version that uses my lemon marmalades. In fact, I might even try using other jams, as I get the impression it is highly adaptable and will suit many preserves and many tastes. It is adapted from a Nigel Slater recipe (of course) and so all credit must go to him really. Except I like my cake a bit darker and so have used light muscovado sugar instead of white, and didn't add orange blossom water, or any additional orange, or icing as I don't think it needs these extras. That said, a dash of lemon juice and perhaps some zest would probably make this cake really sing, but I shall leave that up to you.

Marmalady Cake - makes one large loaf cake.

175g unsalted butter, very soft.
175g light muscovado sugar
175g self-raising flour
3 large eggs
75g marmalade

Preheat the oven to 180C and grease or line a large loaf pan.

Cream the butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs a little and then add to the creamed mixture a little at a time, beating well between each addition. You want to make sure that you do this really well, I would probably even use a whisk next time because the dark sugar is less easily incorporated (or so I find). Next add the marmalade. I also chop the peel a little so you get nice bits of preserved peel all though the cake. Finally, in a swift firm action fold the flour into the batter until it is fully mixed, trying to whip in a bit of air as you go.

Pour the batter into the lined tin and bake for 40mins or until a skewer comes out clean. Mine was 40min bang on.

Leave to cool in the tin before turning out. Serve in thick slices.

Cake is coming...

2010-05-12T11:10:00.000+01:00

A big thank you to everyone for voting. I promised cake, and you shall have cake. One that got rave reviews at the Food Junctions event. However, I need to make it again, and take photos, as the only proof I have is an empty tin and the full bellies of the people leaving my talk with suspicious crumbs around their mouths.

We have just returned from a whirlwind visit to Spain. Five hours sightseeing followed by three days of family chatter in bars, and at train stations (an awful lot of time was spent here it would seem). Fortunately the ash only delayed us by an hour. Thank you Joe.

I shall bake this evening, and photograph and bring it to you with smiles and more thank yous. I also have some cookies to share. But tomorrow...until then I shall leave you with photographic proof of why I love my new job (and why I won't be going anywhere near a bikini this summer...)

Cast your vote?

2010-05-06T23:41:00.000+01:00

It's election night, and it's going to be a long one. So let's have a little fun...why not vote for me instead?

Maybe you could ask your friends too?

Pretty please, I'll bake you a cake...

Is there a Doctor in the house?

2010-05-05T12:28:00.000+01:00

Yes there is!

As of yesterday it's official, I've had the confirmation of award, and so the thesis is finally, finally complete. No more waiting for paperwork, it's all done, finished. Forever.

Weird. It's a strange process, and I have to say it's left me with a feeling of anti-climax. I think in part because I am so tired at the moment, but also because the process at the end of a PhD is a bit like that. I did the examination at the end of November, then I made all the required changes by early January, and since then I've been hanging around waiting on a piece of paper to get passed to the right person. When this was eventually produced it got lost in the internal mail. It got to the point where I really thought the world was trying to tell me something, and that the damn award would never be given.

But last week the paperwork finally fell into the right hands, and so the thesis made it's way from my desk draw to the relevant office, and yesterday a headed piece of paper confirmed that it was done, months after the actual writing and editing and work.

So now I'm not just a jam lady, I'm Dr jam lady! (Wow, wouldn't it be amazing to have a PhD in jam?! Perhaps that should be my next aspiration?)

For all the relief that it is finally done, there is now a huge gaping hole where it used to be. I know people who have spend years battling with their thesis, and when they finish it is with a cheer that they say goodbye to the project, and often to academia as a whole.

I don't have that. I wish I was back at the beginning, starting over again, about to embark on wonderful years of reading and research. I miss it so much, and I want it back! I am beginning to realise that perhaps finishing early wasn't something I should have aspired too, and that I should have spent more time stretching it out.

I have spent most of my life waiting for the day when I would be awarded my doctorate. Pretty much my entire education was planned with exactly this in mind. Now I've run out of plan and I'm at a bit of a loss.

I think I might go home and make jam...

The Jamvangelist

2010-05-03T19:36:00.001+01:00

So according to my sources the talk went well. Okay, so my sources are mostly my Mum and N, but I'm fine with that. People laughed (in the right places) people asked questions, and it seems I might even have inspired a few to make their own jam. Oh, and everyone raved about the jam and preserve based-cakes which was great. (Well, kind of, I was slightly hoping I'd have more to bring home, rather than the odd curd tart case and cookie crumb!)

I'd say that's a successful piece of jamvangelism, wouldn't you?!

Speaking of which, for those of who you might be reading and want to know more about preserving, I thought I would recommend a few things. I'm sorry that they will be UK specific in most cases, but that's just what I know, and I only want to recommend things I use and trust. This book has all the basics, and some very good adaptable recipes. You don't need to get bogged down in all the technical stuff, but it explains it all. It doesn't have big glossy photos like modern books, but I've found it an excellent tool whilst learning to preserve. The only thing I would say though, is to ignore some of the things she says about setting point. Trust your instincts on it. Oh, and if it doesn't set the first time, whack it back in the pan and try again. What she says about how if you don't get the set right the first time meaning all is lost is rubbish. Trust me, I've re-boiled many a time in the pursuit of the perfect set!

Another great option is this book. This time with pictures, and a wonderful guide to what fruits are available when (well, when in the UK). I have made many many recipes from this book and only once was I disappointed (my redcurrant jelly was brick, not jelly as I found the estimate for set just wrong). It's good because it has a good range of preserves, and so not that many recipes for each, but techniques for jam, jelly, curd, chutney, bottled fruits and fruit drinks.

I now have a ridiculous collection of preserving books. It's outnumbered by the baking books, but only just! Each has it's own charm, and each has favourite recipes in, but the above two are what I started with, and helped a lot getting the basics down before I moved into the realms of experimentation (which has been interesting, and featured many a preserve that hasn't made it onto the blog for obvious reasons!)

As for equipment, I'd stress that you really don't need to spend lots of money. For small batches all you really need is a heavy-based large saucepan, a wooden spoon and a cold plate (to use for testing set). You can recycle old jars as long as you wash and sterilise both the jar and the lid. However, if you do decide it's something you'd like to pursue more, then the easiest and best place for UK jam equipment in my opinion is Lakeland. You can order online, they are very affordable, and have the best customer service I have ever come across. I would say however, that I can't recommend the sugar thermometer they stock. I had one and after two washes the numbers had washed off. Instead, try and get a brass one which has the numbers etched into it. Harder to clean, but will last you forever. BUT, you don't have to have a themometer, and I no longer use one when preserving, I do it all by instinct, and the more you make the more you will too, I'm sure.

I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who came and listened to my tales of jam making, blogging and packaging jam to send across the world. I really hope that I managed to express just how much fun preserving is, and how great the people are that I've met through the jammin' jelly exchange, and all the other random jam connections I have made.

If nothing else I managed to inspire myself, and have had recipes running around my head for days! It's clearly time to dust of the preserving pan and get going again. Who's with me?...

Eight days a week....

2010-04-26T23:20:00.000+01:00

"ain't got nothing but love babe, eight days a week..."

This tune has been running round and round my head for about a fortnight now. I don't think I heard it anywhere. I think it just appeared around the point at which I made a potentially controversial, and quite possibly completely mad decision.

I've given up my lovely relaxing four day week. Yes, I've relinquished my Friday of Freedom in favour of returning not to five days, but six. Yes, I know it sounds like insanity. That's probably because it is. But an opportunity arose which was too good to pass up, and so I've taken a second job. It's different, and fun, and somehow I've still managed to keep lazy mornings. But gosh it's tiring!

I have no idea how long these six day weeks will last, as the situation in one job is rather precarious, and the second did in fact start as potential contingency for the first. But for now my weekends are down to one very very precious day.

I'm really hoping it won't mean things slow down here (well, more than they already have), but please be patient if the updates aren't quite as thick and fast as in the old four day week times!

I have been baking during my few spare hours. Lots. I made bread, and cookies and roasted rhubarb. I've potted up plants and planted more, and gave some serious quality time to Sniff. None of which got photographed. Instead I have littered todays post with pictures taken while we were away during Easter. Yes, we kept that quiet didn't we! A very lovely jaunt into the country, with lots of peace, lots of quiet, and more than a bit of walking through beautiful surroundings in search of pubs. It was a fabulous break, and feels even more deserved now than it did then.

It also showed where my head truly is most of the time. We packed four bags of food, including pre-measured ingredients for baking, and when we got there I discovered I hadn't packed the toothpaste! Such is the life of a food blogger...

Food Junctions

2010-04-21T20:46:00.004+01:00

So, it would seem that I'm not the only one ~~obsessed with~~ interested in jam. A little while ago I spotted an email calling for people who were into food to suggest presentations or talks that they might give at an event that was taking place.

I hummed and hawed, and pondered, and after about three seconds sent a ridiculously enthusiastic reply. A bit of too-ing and fro-ing later and I had the idea for a presentation figured out, and then suddenly a potential date, and the oh, look, my name in a programme and a 30 minute slot.

Eek!

Food Junctions is a massive two-weekend event (this weekend - 24/25th April, and next weekend 1/2 May) that explores all sorts of different aspects of food and food production. It's part of the Kings Cross Reveal festival and sounds like it's going to be not only really interesting, but masses of fun.

And on May 1st at 2.30pm I'll be there, talking about jam, and blogging, and blogging about jam (and jamming about blogging), as part of the "Cultures of Food" presentations.

The website is www.food-junctions.org.uk There are events going on throughout the weekends, plus a seed and recipe exchange, best recipe competition, free breakfasts and all sorts.

Come along and say hello...and please don't laugh at my presentation or I might cry. (and if you don't laugh there might even be some free jam...)

Dump the grump.

2010-04-15T21:30:00.000+01:00

I have days when I get a bit self-indulged with grumpiness. I sit tired in front of spreadsheets wallowing in "woe is me." Which is exactly what happened yesterday. You see, I got bitten by what a friend, looking at the size of my red swollen maddeningly itchy arm, surmised, was a horse fly. As a result I had taken about a gazillion anti-histamines in order to quell the irritating fire that seemed to have taken over my right forearm. The result, a grumpy, itchy and now very sleepy me. Turns out I hadn't thought that anti-histamines make you drowsy. Oops!

Add to this the usual "what am I going to do with my life" existential crisis, and you get what in hindsight is a very ridiculous me.

So I was in the weirdest mood when I got home, and for some strange reason felt almost completely unable to keep my eyes open! I decided that there was clearly only one thing to do.

Make cake.

Because let's be honest, you can take all the medicine in the chemist and nothing quite hits the stop like a delicious easily thrown together bit of baked goodness.

I wanted something light, and low in fat, and fruity, to be the utter antithesis to my droopy, indulgent mood. I wanted a reminder of the spring sunshine, and a kick up the behind to stop being so gosh, darn, silly about everything. I pondered a typical Victoria sponge, but decided I wanted something a bit different, and less daunting than a two-tier monster that only two people would have to consume.

In the end I decided on a buttermilk cake. I had spotted Molly's a while ago, and as soon as I started wracking my brain for a light spring cake solution to my grump it appeared from the depths of my memory. I adapted it a little bit, using blueberries, and adding a topping of cinnamon and sugar, and also using curdled milk as I didn't have buttermilk on hand. The result was a lovely light sponge, wih a great crumb and a delicious moist vanilla flavour, speckled with deep purple blushes of blueberries and a cinnamony-sugary crunch. We nearly demolished it in one sitting, and you're lucky I managed to snap a few pictures this morning as I know it'll be gone in no time tonight.

I am now officially calling this my "dump the grump" cake. It won't be the last time I need to pull myself of out silliness, and so won't be the last time I make this cake....in fact I rather hope I am being a grump again soon...

Dump the Grump Cake - makes one 9" cake (or two servings! hehe)

1 cup plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

2 oz softened unsalted butter

2/3 cup and 1 tbsp sugar, divided.

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 large egg

1/2 cup of milk

juice of half a lemon

3/4 cup blueberries (fresh or froze, but not thawed)

Preheat the oven to 200C and line or grease a 9" cake tin.

Add the lemon juice to the milk and leave to stand for a few minutes so that it curdles.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Beat the butter and 2/3 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the vanilla and egg and beat well.

Add the flour mixture to the batter slowly, alternating with the milk, begin and end with the flour. Mix until just combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Scatter the blueberries over the top. Combine the remaining sugar with the cinnamon and then sprinkle as evenly as possible over the top of the blueberry studded cake.

Bake until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Remove the cake from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for ten minutes, then turn out onto a rack until fully cool. Invert to right side up and serve.

We didn't feel the cake needed any embellishments, but I'm sure a dollop of cream or creme fraiche wouldn't go amiss if you fancied it.

Hooked...

2010-04-10T15:07:00.002+01:00

Last week my Mum, saint that she is, very kindly taught me to crochet....over the phone. It's even harder than it sounds, believe me, I'm sure she can vouch for it given the slightly hungry hook wielding daughter that was on the other end of the line grumpily attesting that NO, it DID NOT look anything like the picture in the link she sent me!

Three phone calls, several clarifications of what exactly constituted "a triple" and a few late night text messages, and I seem to be on my way. Only another elebenty billion more squares to go and my blanket shall be complete!

Kneading is so yesterday

2010-04-08T13:10:00.001+01:00

I know, I know, no knead bread, the brain child of Jim Lahey, has been kicking around the interwebs for years now. Forgive me for being so late onto the bandwagon. I can't remember where I first saw it mentioned. I thought it sounded really interesting, and then promptly forgot about it. Then I saw it somewhere else, and my ears pricked up, I remembered the first mention, read a bit more. And then promptly forgot about it.

You see, I already have a bunch of really good bread recipes, and I know that once I start getting more and more into bread making, I will get buried in the subject, never to return. I used to think this might be a bad thing, but given just how much I LOVE bread (I definitely think it's a genetic thing, my father is the same, it's more of a compulsion for bread than a love), I am beginning to realise that actually this could be the best thing ever. I keep wanting to try my hand at sourdough, but have always been too scared in case I kill off my starter, or come home to a kitchen that has been taken over by a huge bubbling mass that looks like something from a The Blob.

So I swing from "let's start a starter this weekend" to steadfastly ignoring the numerous books I have on the subject. Then I saw this. Seriously, how good does that loaf look?! It was at that point, quite literally about four and a half minutes later, that I began my love affair with the no knead bread.

I am now fully on the wagon. So far on the wagon in fact that I have made this bread five times in the last week and a bit. Call me crazy, call me obsessed, and I will say, yes! Because it's just so darn good! I should also point out that I have no only made this loaf five times, but I have adapted it each and every one of those times. First off I didn't have any walnuts, so I decided to draw on a loaf I'd had in Italy once and add some ground fennel seeds. Delish! Then I made cranberry and pecan, with a little bit of wholemeal flour, then fennel and black pepper...the list goes on.

This loaf is easy, amazingly tasty and can be adapted to pretty much whatever you have in the house as far as I can tell. This is my new go-to loaf, I shall be forever thanking Tracy for opening my eyes to the truth and starting a whole new bread adventure in Our Lovely Flat.

No Knead Bread - My favourite way (so far)

3 cups bread flour (I sometimes use 1 cup of wholemeal in the mix)

1/2 tsp instant yeast

1 3/4 tsp salt (I never measure this, I'm lazy, I just throw in a large pinch)

1/2 cup raisins

2 tsp fennel seeds, slightly bashed in a pestle and mortar

1 1/2 cups water.

The night before mix all the ingredients together in a medium to large bowl, it should form a dough, but be a sticky one. Leave, covered with a tea towel until the next morning (aprox. 12-18 hrs).

Flour your work surface. Turn the dough out in one piece and gently form into a ball, tucking the corners in underneath it to form a nice tight shape. Liberally flour a tea towel and place the dough in the centre, and wrap the edges around it. (I usually place the towel and dough back in the bowl to help hold the shape as you can see in the pictures!) Leave for another hour or so, until doubled in size.

Half an hour into the second rise preheat your oven to 240C and place your casserole or dutch oven inside for half an hour, with the lid on. Then once the bread is ready, gently turn it from the tea towel, into the hot pan, and return, covered, to the hot oven. Bake for 30 mins, and then remove the lid and bake until the shade of golden brown that suits you most! Remove the pan from the over, and gently tip out the loaf and allow to cool before cutting and eating.

eggscellent cupcakes...(groan, I know, but come on, it's Easter!)

2010-04-05T10:33:00.006+01:00

Two years ago for Easter I made some cupcakes. They were good cupcakes, with some very good icing. I kept thinking that next time around I would make them again, kind of like an Easter tradition. Except I didn't. Instead I spent last Easter making hot cross buns (see that tradition did stick!) and learning about patchwork. The whole time-consuming posh icing, nice presentation, thing went out of the window.

Then this Easter I very nearly didn't make them. I was thinking we should be good, that we should be thinking ahead and trying to shed pounds for Summer and eating better. Then I let on to people at work that I had this recipe up my sleeve, and the inevitable happened, I spent last Tuesday night elbows deep in ganache trying desperately to evenly and beautifully ice a set of cupcakes for my co-workers.

I also upped the game this time around. Last time I had vanilla cupcakes with chocolate icing, however, I know the ladies in my office, and given the choice of vanilla or chocolate, chocolate wins. And so on Wednesday morning last week I braved my bus journey to work, with my elbows out and scowl on, cradling a cake tin filled with carefully iced and topped chocolate Easter cupcakes. It was worth it. The office loved them, and it was nice to take a little something special in as everyone has been working incredibly hard in the run up to the break.

I think these would be the perfect little treat for anyone over Easter, especially if you've got a bunch of dark chocolate and mini-eggs kicking around. I made both large and mini-cupcakes as they are seriously rich, and sometimes all you need is a little bite of sweetness with a mid-afternoon coffee. (and yes, you can totally justify eating three small ones in one ~~mouthful~~ go)

I won't post the cupcake recipe, as I got it from the lovely Rosy, over here. She is right, they are amazing, dense, moist and with a lovely depth of flavour. I made two batches, the first to get exactly 8 large cupcakes, and the second to split between a few more large and a whole host of mini ones. I had 11 large and 11 small in the end, and the batch of ganache I made was enough to generously ice them all.

I will share my whipped ganache again, in case you missed it last time around. It's my go-to chocolate icing recipe for both cupcakes and layer cakes, as it is beautifully soft to pipe or spread, and firms up well to hold it's shape. Careful though, this stuff is incredibly rich!

Whipped Ganache

You can easily halve this recipe and it'll be enough for eight cupcakes, or there abouts.

8 ounces dark chocolate
3/4 cup double cream
1/4 cup soft butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Chop chocolate and transfer into a heat proof bowl. Heat cream until bubbles form around the edge of the pan, pour cream over the chocolate. Let sit for 1 minute then stir until combined.(if, like me, no matter how small you chopped your chocolate the whole lot won't melt, then you can place the bowl over barely simmering water and stir like crazy to get it to melt. You have to be really careful though as if you get it too hot you will split the ganache and it will be gone forever, I speak from bitter experience, one that left me in tears at 11pm on evening a few months ago...so beware!) Add butter to the chocolate (make sure its soft and at room temp) and stir until combined (you can also do this in the double boiler situation if you're still having trouble getting everything to melt together - do remember as soon as the ganache is smooth to remove it from the heat and continue stirring to avoid over-heating). Whisk together sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla in another bowl until combined.Pour the sugar mixture onto the chocolate mixture, then stir until combined and smooth. Let sit at room temperature until thickened. Beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Pipe onto cupcakes when they're completely cooled. Lick bowl.

A very good Friday.

2010-04-02T11:51:00.000+01:00

Right now I am in bed with a cup of tea and breakfast. Yes, I know that it's already past eleven, but I make no excuses for my laziness, in fact this ~~weekend~~ week I will be embracing it to it's maximum potential.

It seems incredibly generous that society has felt it only right and proper to bestow on me two extra days of holiday this weekend, and it seems even more gracious that work should operate "closure days" on the Thursday and Tuesday that bookend this already wonderful four day weekend, turning four, into six, relaxation days.

As a thank you, I am going to share my breakfast with you. More hot cross buns! Having admitted in my last post about them that I really wish I made them more, I wondered what exactly was stopping me? This ponderance, coupled with the spotting of this recipe, forced my hand, and in the last week I have made them twice more, and I think I am ready to admit that this new version trumps the old one, hands down.

What was the clincher? I could say it was the addition of the subtle blend of spices, rather than the simple mixed spice, and yes this is definitely a factor. But really, since I am honestly confessing to my laziness I might as well admit that it was the use of tea and stout.

The addition of a teapot in this household at Christmas has almost turned me from a staunch coffee drinker to a tea fanatic, and I have begun to truly realise that a good cup of tea is not simply a good cup of tea, but a Good cup. And that tea is without doubt the most wonderful comforter, restorer and general hot drink equivalent of a duvet.

And a can of Guinness is often the same!

So this week, I have been mostly making and eating these. I think you should too. Take some of that lazy time this long weekend and reward yourself. It's two-fold too as you're not only blessed with the most delicious afternoon tea or breakfast, but your whole house will smell amazing!

Very Good Friday Buns - Adapted from Dan Lepard.

Having made these twice now I have come to the conclusion that I personally like a bit less fruit than Lepard, and that you can easily add a bit of wholemeal flour with no ill effect, in fact I preferred the slightly nuttier flavour and more equal quantities of peel and raisins. I mention this by way of saying that this is a pretty adaptable recipe, so feel free to tweak as is your want.

Be warned your really need to start this the day before you bake, as the fruit is soaked overnight...

Makes 10-12 depending on how accurate your weighing is (mine, not so much!)

162ml Stout (Guinness is my poison)

3/4 tsp each of ground ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg

3/4 tsp instant yeast

163g wholemeal bread flour

275g strong white flour

88g raisins

88g mixed peel (or other dried fruit if you prefer)

125ml hot black tea (make a pot and have a cup in the process!)

1 large egg, beaten then divided in half (or as close as you can manage)

25g melted butter

25g sugar (golden caster is best I think)

3/4 tsp salt

The night before put the peel and raisins in a small bowl with the tea. Stir and leave to soak. Then place the wholemeal flour, stout, yeast, and spices in a deep bowl (if you have a mixer you can place them in the mixer bowl). Combine and then leave, loosely covered, overnight.

The next day at add the melted butter and half the egg to the fruit mixture, stir and then mix into the stout starter. Then add the white flour, sugar and salt. Mix until it just comes together, then leave for ten minutes. Mix for ten seconds, then leave for ten minutes. Repeat. Then leave for an hour.

After an hour turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Line a baking sheet with parchment, or silicone liner. Divide the dough into roughly 100g pieces (mine were 122 as I'm greedy) and form into balls, then lay, touching, on the baking sheet. Cover with a tea towel and leave for 90 mins.

Mix 1 tbsp of flour with 1 tbsp of water to form a paste.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix the remaining egg with a dash of milk, and then gently brush this mixture over the risen buns. Then dab the past over the buns to form crosses (Yay, I remembered and bothered this time!) Bake for 20-25mins. Then allow to cool, if you can wait that long!

Up, up and away...

2010-03-26T13:57:00.000Z

Today I am mostly doing housework. It's not what I usually spend my blissful free Friday on, but the sprunging of spring made me shamefully aware of just how much dust and dirt was lurking in the flat. I do love the new sunny mornings, but curse them for shining light in all those usually dark corners! I can no longer live in denial. Something must be done.

So, while I dash round like a mad thing frantically swiping surfaces, nooks and crannies, I thought I would share a little piece of spring joy with you:

I planted these last week on night after work, and they were so keen that by the weekend green shoots were looking promising, and by yesterday they were pushing against the lid of the propagator! All I need to do now is be careful and patient, and pray to the gardening gods that I can maintain some green fingeredness for the whole planting season.

The large adventurous shoots in the foreground are courgettes and squash, and then coming in a close second with their delicate little offerings are tomatoes. This weekend the first potatoes are going in, and probably a whole load of chilies!

What are you planting this year?

The sprunging of spring

2010-03-19T19:03:00.001Z

All over the interwebs, and indeed all over this town, there are hints that spring has well and truly sprung. The light is that little bit brighter, and around for a little bit longer, the thermostat creeps down as the temperatures outside slowly (oh so slowly) creeps up, and today we got some showers. Not the torrential downpours of January, but the gentle pattering of raindrops on the roof.

On Tuesday evening it was light enough when I got home to riffle through the greenhouse and rescue the propagator trays and begin the first round of this years planting. I have high hopes for Our Lovely Garden this year. I feel like every year so far I've learnt lots, but harvested little, I'm hoping (with all my not-so-green fingers crossed) that this year it might be the other way around.

And look, the rhubarb is already trying to prove me right! In a few months this will be begging to be harvested, perhaps just in time for an early summer pie?

When the sunshine finally does rear its pretty little head my baking suddenly takes on a lighter note. I want cakes rather than pies and crumbles, and soon the tart season will begin. Oddly I am not someone who turns to citrus to get me through the winter. Aside from the dark bitter tang of seville marmalade (yes, there has been plenty of that made behind the scenes here this winter!), I shy away from the bright fresh fruit in the colder months. Frankly, I like an excuse to eat stodge!

But the minute the green shoots start to appear, and the winter coat goes tentatively back into the wardrobe I start thinking about lemons, and fresh clean flavours. This year I branched out and discovered how glorious passion fruit are. Okay, I know, not native and so I can't pretend I didn't have to buy imported, but sometimes I think that's alright, and it's not as if my sevilles and lemons aren't brought to me across the sea.

I begin thinking of herbs at this time of year too, and I have to admit that I might have a slight problem. I've become obsessed with rosemary. I've always liked it, but recently I haven't been able to leave it alone, savoury or sweet my dishes have lashings of this tough fragrant herb running throughout them.

And so today I bring you the perfect cake to kick off spring with. It's moist and dense, but with a great crumb and a lightness and delicacy of flavour that hints to the weather and moods that are hopefully smiling away.

Glazed Lemon and Rosemary Loaf - makes one large loaf.

250g soft butter
200g caster sugar
3 large eggs
210g self-raising flour
90g plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest and juice of 1 unwaxed lemon
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (or more if you love it like I do!)
4 tbsp milk
juice of another lemon, and then and equal quantity of sugar (I eyeball this), and a large rosemary sprig

Preheat the oven to 170C and line a long loaf tin (mine is 10" by 4") with parchment (it will be much easier to turn the cake out if you line rather than just greasing).

Cream the butter, adding the sugar when it is really soft, and then cream until pale. Beat in the eggs one at a time, adding a large spoonful of flour after each one. Then add the vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Fold in the rest of the flour, and then the rosemary. Thin the batter with the milk.

Pour into the lined tin and smooth the top. Bake for aprox. 1 hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean - mine needed a little longer, probably an extra ten minutes, so don't worry if it's not done at a hour. Do keep an eye on it while it bakes, and cover the top with foil if it's getting too brown.

Meanwhile in a small saucepan stir together the lemon juice and sugar and then add the rosemary sprig. Bring to the boil and then remove from the heat immediately.

When the cake is done, remove from the oven and gently prick all over the top with a toothpick, or fork. With a pastry brush, brush the cake with the lemon syrup. This will keep the cake moist and produce a slight glaze and a nice tangy crunch to the top of the cake.

Cool completely, and then slice and enjoy.

This cake lasts really well, and is often better a day after making if wrapped well as the flavours deepen slightly.

Spring Cleaning and Not Cross Buns.

2010-03-14T23:40:00.002Z

Hello? Anyone still there? Seems I fell off the blogging wagon for a little while there. I needed a bit of time to get back into focus, and whilst doing so it made sense to do a bit of spring cleaning, both literally and virtually. (Sniff of course slept through the whole thing.)

So...ta da! A whole new look. I decided that much as I loved the red and black of old, it was time to lift my head and see some clean bright lines. It felt right for what I hope will be sort of a new start. It's amazing isn't it just how dramatic the impact of sunshine is. It totally controls my mood, and every year I try and pretend it doesn't. I've spoken before about how I used to be such a winter person, I loved the short days and the dark nights to wrap up into, loved the layers of clothes and root veg stews. I still, every year, try and pretend that this is true, and in some regards it is, I love pies, and sausage and mash and hearty stews. I love crumbles and steamed puddings. But the older I get the more I come to realise that the sunshine is crucial, and without a heavy dose I am one depressed little lady. This year it hit harder than every as a long dark winter was combined with a whole bunch of uncertainty and insecurity in my own goings on.

Things are still mostly uncertain, and I remain as insecure as ever, but the sunshine is making me smile through it. As are wonderful inspirational meetings with new friends, and in lovely places, and with old friends on hilarious outings.

Oh, and cake of course. Yes, cake is definitely a crucial element. I have baked lots in the last couple of weeks, and so hopefully will have lots to share. I shall start with something delightfully seasonal, a treat that I wait patiently for each year, and then wish I just gave in and made them all the time: Hot Cross Buns. Oh, I love them so, with their hint of spice, and slight tartness from mixed peel and the sweetness of the raisins. Not to mention how unbelievable perfect they are at soaking up melting salted butter.

These are my "not cross buns" because somewhere along the way I forgot to put the crosses on, and then actually couldn't be bothered, and then realised that I liked them just as much without and it saves a step in the process, not to mention a few more bits of washing up.

Not Cross Buns - Makes 16 small(ish) or 8 large.

500g plain flour (in two 250g batches in different bowls)
125ml Cold Milk
125ml Boiling water
10g instant yeast
pinch of salt
2 tsp mixed spice
50g caster sugar
zest of one unwaxed lemon
75g raisins
75g mixed peel
50g melted butter
1 beaten egg

In one medium bowl (or the bowl of a food mixer) place 250g of the flour. In a jug mix the cold milk and the boiling water to give you a lukewarm liquid. Add a pinch of sugar and then the yeast. Leave until bubbles form and then pour into the flour and make a sticky dough. Leave to rise until doubled, about 45-50mins.

Meanwhile mix the other 250g flour with the mixed spice, caster sugar and zest. Then add the raisins and peel. Once the wet batter has doubled, add the dry mix to it, along with the melted butter and half the beaten egg and form into a wet dough. It will be sticky, but manageable. Leave this to rise for a good hour, again until doubled.

Turn out onto a well-floured surface and gently shape into a ball. Divide this into two, then four, and then eight (or sixteen depending on the size of bun you want). Shape these pieces in to slight rectangles and place on a greased and floured (or parchment covered) baking sheet(s). Leave for a final rise of 20mins. Preheat the oven to 200C.

Brush with the remaining beaten egg and place in the oven for 15min, until slightly golden. Then see how long you can hold out before tearing one in half, slathering in salted butter and stuffing into your face. I lasted five minutes, which I thought was pretty good, but then again I wasn't on the ball and hadn't prepared the pot of tea until the last moment. Rookie error!

Enjoy everyone...

Out of focus

2010-02-26T15:43:00.002Z

Is exactly how I feel at the moment. Blurry round the edges.
I will be back soon hopefully, with a cake to share, but for the moment I need to do some hiding under the duvet...

It's the little things he does...

2010-02-18T10:28:00.000Z

My last meal.

2010-02-15T18:24:00.003Z

So I was over here, and I got to thinking about what my last meal would be. I thought it would be tough as there are many foods I adore, from the elaborate to the simple (peanut butter on toast came a very close second, and might still make it in the running for dessert!).

However, in the end the result was obvious. It would have to be aubergine parmigiana, (melanzana parmigiana to give it the correct title) and would have to be accompanied with handmade focaccia.This is not only the meal I would pick as my potential last ever, it also happened to be the one I decided to cook for Valentine's day. We're not that big on Valentine's day. There are no grand gestures, no expensive gifts, and certainly no trips to fancy restaurants. Instead we're low key, low budget and low maintenance. In a very cliched way we are a couple who celebrate our love for each other with random and constant acts (K, I can hear you vomiting....) and it has to be said that much of this occurs through the medium of food, not unlike other couples I know.

So as the weekend rushed forth I toyed with all sorts of ideas for main dishes. As you may (or may not) know I have a tendency toward the epic tradition when it comes to Valentine's. Yet this year I didn't want a Homeric mission. I knew I was going to be out all day, and after all the chaos that the previous weeks had thrown I figured we'd want the food equivalent of a huge indulgent duvet. As a result I went with our favourite meal of the moment and made it the night before. I'd say it's nothing special, as we have it almost once a week, except it is special. Somehow, through some frying and some baking, a simple dish of aubergines, tomatoes and cheese becomes something far far grander than the individual ingredients. It sits happily as a starter, and yet we prefer to completely indulge and eat platefuls as a main, with the sauces slopped up with bread.

Considering I am someone who supposedly didn't like aubergines, this dish is a revelation, and proves that if you prepare them well, and treat them right they can become something that I would be desperate to have as my last meal.

Beware, it does take a little time to prepare. It's one to make in advance. It also tastes even better on the second day, especially made into a sandwich with any remaining focaccia. It took me a little while to get this recipe totally right, but I do now feel like it's ready to share.

Sorry about the slightly ad-hoc nature of the recipe and instructions, it's take from an email, as that's the only time I've ever written it down. I've added (what I hope are) some helpful photos...

Aubergine Parmigiana - Serves four as a main just with bread, or more with salad

You'll need a 9" pie dish or something similar.

4 aubergines (sliced lengthways in thin slices - not sure how thin, I
just try for as thins as I can without a mandolin, although I know
that probably doesn't help. Also, I don't really worry about some
being thicker as you can deal with that when you fry them)
2x tins chopped tomatoes
small onion
dash of basil (I use dried in winter, fresh in summer)
olive oil (er, lots? have the bottle on hand)
Parmesan (also lots, I think I use 150g) grated finely.
salt and pepper

Righty, so you slice your aubergines and place layers of them in a
colander, sprinkling them with salt as you go. Then put a plate over
them and weight it down to get all the juice out (this is absolutely vital)
I leave them for as long as I can, probably 20-30 mins.

While they are draining knock up a quick tomato sauce. Chop the onion
into small pieces and fry in a medium saucepan in a bit of oil. When
glossy and soft add the basil and then dump in the tomatoes (and a
dash of wine if you fancy it) leave to simmer until a bit thicker, but
don't let too much evaporate.

Drain the aubergines and then dry them thoroughly. I do this with a
special tea towel or kitchen roll trying to get as much liquid out as
possible. Heat a frying pan and have a ramekin of olive oil and a
pastry brush to hand. Brush oil on one side of the aubergine slice and
fry oil side down (four or five at a time) in the dry pan. You want
them to be just about to turn browny black (you'll know what I mean
when you see it, and some charred bit are no problem, I even like
them! - see photo, where I got a bit distracted dashing for the camera and got a little over-charred, you want them a bit less brown than this),

brush the side up with oil and flip them over.Remove from the pan when done and start the next batch. This can take a while!

You can cook the thicker slices for longer at this stage to even it up a bit.

Okay, now you're ready to assemble: Get your pie dish. Place about a
third of the tomato sauce in the bottom:

cover with a layer of aubergine,and then sprinkle with a third of the Parmesan. Then repeat. You want
it so you have about three layers, (although depending on the
aubergines I sometimes get four) I think this number make it just
right. You want to finish with a layer of aubergine topped with
Parmesan.

Don't worry about thinking there isn't enough tomato sauce in there,
and that it might be too dry. It will prove you wrong every time!

I cook mine the day before often and then re-cook the night we want to
eat it as the flavours develop really well. I also like the top of
mine to go really dark, almost charred, as I love the flavour!

Place in a 190C oven and cook for about 40-45 mins, until the cheese
has melted and going brown at the edges and it's bubbling slightly.

Try and hold out not plunging a fork in immediately, it'll be so hot!

Serve with lots of bread and be smug!

Stashed

2010-02-13T19:07:00.002Z

My collection of wool is growing at a much faster rate than I can knit it up. Oops!

It never rains...

2010-02-09T21:19:00.004Z

...but it pours, as the saying goes. As it happens, we've had more snow this week. Just a dusting, which, on the much-trodden London streets, hung in the air longer than it settled on the pavements.

But the pretty white flakes weren't enough to lift morale. There are more than a few battles going on at the moment, and I now understand why you can't deploy a single army to fight on multiple fronts. It's just too hard.

When the going gets tough there is one man who can make everything better. N is a saint, and despite bearing the brunt of the attack this week has managed to always make me smile and lift my spirits. So last night, while he was out, I decided to do a little something to lift his.This involved consulting the other man in my life who often puts a smile on my face. Nigel Slater. I know that sometimes it must seem like the Nigel Slater appreciation society over here (does this exist? and if not, why, not and can I be president?!). I do like other food writers, honest, it's just that on a cold February evening, when everything in life is a little bit rubbish, I want to read a book that feels like being wrapped in a duvet, and that's exactly what Nigel Slater's writing (and recipes) are like. They are utterly unpretentious, beautifully uncomplicated, and as warm and satisfying as a really good cup of tea. So, when N isn't here to give me that big hug, it is to the pages of The Kitchen Diaries, or Appetite, that I go running.

Last night was a double whammy. I started with his mustard and sausage pasta dish, and then finished with his coffee and walnut cake. Adaptations were made to both, but I think Nigel would take that as a complement, as intended.
It was definitely a comfort meal. Sausages, fried with onions, and then coated in cream and mustard, with a random addition of some roasted tomatoes, all mushed together with pasta. Then the cake, a classic sponge, spiked with a hit of coffee and a crumbling of nuts, sandwiched and topped with fluffy coffee buttercream. Perfect.

It feels like I am working on classics at the moment, carrot cake, coffee cake, Shrewsbury biscuits. Somehow it feels like that kind of winter, where we need something familiar easy and from a simpler time (which of course is a myth, as all times have their ups and downs, but you know what I mean).I deviated from the classic slightly by using pecans rather than walnuts. This is partly because we both prefer the slight caramel hint you get with pecans, and partly because when I went to the cupboard is was bare of walnuts. I think it worked really well, with the slight softness that pecans have providing more of a chew than a crunch in the light sponge. I think it will be even better today as the coffee has had time to develop. Perfect for that afternoon pick-me-up.

I also halved the recipe, and rather than making it in large sandwich tins made it in my little 7 inch ones. This made a smaller, shallower cake that is more suitable to a house of two people. You'll still get about eight servings from it, but they won't be quite such door-stop slabs as the original. You can easily just scale up and make a bigger cake if needs warrant. Coffee and pecan cake - adapted from Nigel Slater's recipe in The Kitchen Diaries.

For the cake:
88g softened unsalted butter
88g unrefined caster sugar
88g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 large eggs
1 tsp instant coffee granules, disolved in 2 tsp hot water (or 2 tsp camp coffee)
35g pecans, toasted lightly then coarsly chopped

For the buttercream:
100g unsalted butter
200g icing sugar
1 tsp instant coffee dislved in 1 tsp hot water/ or 2 tsp camp coffee
aprox 1 tbsp milk
seven/eight pecan halves for decoration

Preheat the oven to 180C and line or grease two 7 inch round sandwich tins.

Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add the eggs one at a time, beating in between additions. sift together the flour and baking powder and then gradually add to the mix. Add the coffee and beat to combine. Finally stir in the chopped nuts. Divide between the two pans as evenly as possible (don't worry too much about spreading or leveling the batter, it will do this as it bakes) and then bake for aprox 12 mins or until just golden and springy in the middle. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool completely before removing from the tins.

While the cake are cooling, make the buttercream. Beat the butter until very soft, and then add the coffee. Mix until well combined, and then add the icing sugar in three additions, beating well in between. Finally add enough milk to get the right spreading consistancy (it needs to be fluffy and spreadable, without being runny, I could describe the texture I got as cloud-like!). For me this was about 1 tbsp.

When the cakes are cool turn them out. Place one on a plate, use a third of the icing in the middle, and spread evenly on the cake, then top with other half of the sandwich. Then ice the top and sides with the remaining buttercream and decorate with pecan halves.

p.s. for those of you who asked for the cinnamon roll recipe, it's over here... This is actually a vegan version. To make the "normal" ones, just add an egg instead of the replacer powder, and use real butter. The only thing I think I've changed since first making them is to up the lemon zest in the dough (I like my things lemony!) and to leave the dough on it's initial rise for longer, as I find the flavour develops well after a longer rising time (like three hours if you have it, I just leave mine on the radiator and forget about it.). It doesn't need this, but I happened to have the time and liked the flavour.

Four days a week.

2010-02-06T16:08:00.003Z

After battling with my conscience, my finances and finally my managers, I have gone down to working four days a week.It's a decision that has made me happier than I've been in a long time. You see, at the start I loved my job. It was new, and challenging, and quite frankly it put off the inevitable post-studying "oh my goodness what on earth do I want to do with my life?!" panic. Then as time went on I realised that actually, I can't hack the 9-5. I just can't do the sitting in front of computer screen all day (ironic given that I spent three years doing that everyday whilst writing the phd), it was actually beginning to make me depressed.

So I did some sums, and some pondering, and some more sums, and even more pondering, and decided that perhaps four days a week would make it all easier. Sod the money, it's about the well being, as N pointed out to me.
Yesterday was my first of my new free Fridays. I almost danced around the flat whilst doing simple tasks such as cleaning the hob, and putting on yet another load of washing. I finally finished a quilt, the top of which I'd had sitting in a box for almost four months. I made us a treat for the weekend breakfasts. And then I took delivery of 96 beautiful new jars. Because you can never put enough things in jars.

I am going to use this time to make some plans. To do even more pondering (if it was an Olympic event I'd be right up there, I'm definitely in the world record region of ponderers), and hopefully make some decisions. I shall also put lots of things in lots of jars.
Wishing a very happy weekend to you all.

Carrots aren't just for Christmas...they're for cake.

2010-02-03T18:30:00.009Z

The first year we truly started to eat seasonally, no longer nipping out to supermarkets to pick up things, but relying almost completely on our box scheme and farmer's market, we found it rather tough. We thought we knew veg, we were smug vegetarians. Summer graced us with glorious tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Autumn held pumpkins and courgettes by the armful. We were doing fine, this seasonality malarkey was great. Until the strange shaped objects started appearing on our doorstep as winter deepened."What on earth is this?!" cried N in horror as he pulled a large brown stick-like object out of our box one particularly dark, damp evening in January. "They've even run out of parsnips now" he exclaimed, "they've resorted to sticks and twigs!" It was black salsify, and the first of many new introductions over the winter months.

Now? We're well seasoned at seasonality, we scoff at another root in the box (and cheat a whole lot by asking for the "deluxe" box during winter in the hope of getting something that isn't brown or white!) However, there are still times when I struggle with winter veg, and for some reason it's often the carrots that catch me out. I don't know why. I love them raw, and happily munch on them on days when I remember to pack them in my lunch. But more often than not they are forgotten about and then hastily added to meals at the last minute rather than being the star of the show.Then suddenly a few weeks ago I started craving carrot cake. I think I needed some brightness, a dose of vitamin D, or B, or C, or all three. I needed something that was fresh and yet comforting. I needed an all-rounder of cakes. One that wasn't just winter or summer, so no ginger cake (winter for me) or victoria sponge (the epitome of summer) would do. It had to be the perennial classic: carrot cake.So I dashed home, I hunted out the recipe and started pulling ingredients out of the fridge and cupboards. Then the huge flaw in my poorly-laid plan hit. I didn't have any carrots! A fit of "I must eat them before they go bendy" had struck and they'd been snuck into lunches and devoured. Oops!

But this week, I finally successed. I got in slightly earlier from work, and I even remembered the carrots. I managed to pull together the other ingredients, and off I went. It was worth the wait. I always forget how much I love this recipe. I didn't have icing ingredients, but I don't think it needs it. It lacks nuts for the same reason. This is my very own carrot cake recipe, and it makes me proud. I felt even prouder when N said "is there booze in this?" in a very approving tone, and I had to admit that no, there wasn't, and yet it tastes moist, and spiced and indulgent enough for you to expect a boozy addition.

Ladies and gentlemen, as an offering on this dark, damp, miserable Wednesday evening in February, a little something that I hope will lift your hearts and spirits.

Rebecca's very own carrot cake

I make this in a loaf pan, and sometimes ice it, and sometimes don't. It an adaptation of my pumpkin cake recipe, and one day I will post a marmalade version too. Until then, plain carrot it is. This manages to feel both righteous and indulgent. I wish I made it more often.

300g grated carrot
100g raisins
100ml light olive oil
175g self-raising flour
175g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp grated nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice

Grease and line a large loaf pan (mine is about 4" x 10"). Preheat the oven to 150C.

In a large bowl beat the eggs. Then add the oil, sugar, carrot, raisins and mix. Then add in the flour, spices, and soda. Mix until combined. Pour into the loaf pan, and bake for aprox 1 hour 15mins (mine sometimes takes less, keep an eye one it) or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool before removing from the tin.

p.s. can we not mention the bad photos and the lack of good light here at the moment? Thanks, you're the best.

Old school.

2010-01-27T21:56:00.005Z

This week I attended some training at work. It was a three hour session on Virtual Learning Environments, and was, somewhat predictable, almost a complete waste of time. Don't get me wrong, the trainers were excellent.I just didn't need the training. I have been using computers for a long time, I know people in the business, and I am, as you might have noticed, a blogger. I can use interfaces that publish and promote online learning. So I was a little baffled when it was suggested to me that my professional development might benefit from the "Getting Used to Moodle" session.

Notice I said almost a complete waste of time. Completing the ten exercises in our training pack in a little under twenty minutes allowed me ample time to investigate the tea and coffee facilites on show.

They were good. Very good in fact. Which, given the record at my institition, was a rather pleasant surprise. The coffee machine made proper coffee. And by proper coffee I mean not only strong enough to bend spoons,but flavourful too. Given the good start I expected an inevitable skimping on biscuit quality. Not so. I eyed-up, pondered, considered and chose wisely. I also chose well, as my selection blasted me into a moment of nostalgia that I'm not entirely sure belonged to me, but was very nice nonetheless.The Shrewsbury biscuit - in this particular instance named simply the "fruit shortcake" is a small traditional English biscuit of shortbread and currents. It is cut using scalloped edge cutters and dusted with sugar before baking. And it is, quite simply, lovely. I feel that "lovely" is the perfect word as it conjures up quaint images of knitted cardigans, and afternoon tea and village fetes, and that is exactly what this simple little biscuit is about. It's not flashy, it doesn't even use vanilla extract (gasp! a recipe without vanilla extract, in this day and age!) and yet is a perfect little morsel of "lovely." Oh and yes, they are indeed traditionally little, which means that you are entitled to gobble up six or seven in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

This humble biscuit reared it's pretty little head in my training session and has stayed with me ever since. Fortunately I happened to mention this to a friend today, and she immediately commented that there is a recipe in Delia Smith's Book of Cakes. Naturally, why didn't I think of that.So, the minute I got through the door (before I'd even ditched my coat) I whacked the oven on to preheat, hunted down the recipe and by ten past six I had a place of quaint biscuits sitting on the table.

Sometimes it's the old recipes that are the best. The only way I changed the recipe was to put everything in a food processor. It saved all the rubbing of butter into flour and probably ten minutes of my time, and more and more time is of the essence. It also meant that there are smaller bits of currents throughout, and I liked the result.
If you have time, and are so inclined to add some quaint British biscuit charm to your weekend(or week night) whip up a batch of these. I don't think they'll last long, especially not if there is a pot of tea on the go.

Shrewsbury Biscuits - adapted, very slightly, from Delia Smith (makes about 20 small biscuits)

110g caster sugar
110g cold unsalted butter
225g plain flour
50g currents
1 large egg
1 tsp water

Preheat the oven to 180C and line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone liner.

Place the butter, flour and sugar in a food processor and whoosh until the texture of breadcrumbs. Then add the water, egg and currents and whoosh again until it forms a dough.

On a floured surface roll out the dough. It should be about the thickness of the biscuits you want to eat as there is no rising agent. I went for what I thought is "average" biscuit thickness. Cut with a small scalloped edge cutter (you can make them any size you want, but they are traditionally quite small) and then place on the baking sheets. Sprinkle with an extra dash of sugar and then bake for aprox 15mins - until golden (check though as mine became golden before the time was up)

Leave to cool completely on a wire rack and then serve.

The Lazy Sunday Cookie

2010-01-24T17:25:00.004Z

There is nothing quite like stepping out of the shower at ten past five on a Sunday afternoon and being greeted by the smell of cooling chocolate cookies. I think that's exactly what Sundays should be about.

Yes, I admit it, I did not get out of my pyjamas and dressing gown until after five pm today. And it was wonderful. I'm afraid the day just did nothing to encourage it. We did the hard stuff yesterday. We spent time in the garden, taking our lives in our hands skidding around on the wet slippery decking in order to re-mulch soil and clear up the winter carnage in the vague hope that it won't be long before we're planting and making new veg plans. Then N went out to see some dear friends who have been coping with much tougher battles, while I held the fort here.
It was a late late night, and so when we stumbled out of bed this morning, foraged for food (which seems be somewhat lacking this weekend - how can we have found ourselves without tinned tomatoes, olive oil, and bread in one fell swoop, along with the only vegetables in the house being celery (eurgh!) and a lone aubergine!) and guzzled enough tea to rouse us (thank goodness there is always milk and tea bags!) we discovered it was time for the match, and then it was time to make cookies, and then and only then, was it time for showers.

But the cookies, oh, the cookies! I have just polished off two with another cup of tea, and am worried that if I return for a tea top-up another couple of cookies might disappear. They were a whim. I was going to be good and not bake (yeah, right) and then I was going to be slightly good and make carrot cake, because at least that uses vegetables. But by the time I fished out the recipe and started poking around our cupboards I realised that we were missed more than a few ingredients, and suddenly grating carrots seems like too much effort.

So I decided to make some cookies. I have many many cookie recipes, and two are my standard "go to" plan depending on the specific type I am looking for (the first is a "cakey" plain cookie with chocolate chips, my second a more "cookie" cookie which will handle almost any addition and has a lovely almost caramely base). In the end I used neither. As I was admiring the mess of the baking cupboard a bag of hazelnuts caught my eye, and in a flash I was online digging out a Nigel Slater (who else?!) recipe I'd spotted last week.
They came together in a flash, baked in less time it took to throw them together, and boy did they smell (and taste) amazing. They are slightly crisp on the outside and soft in the middle. They are the epitome of the lazy Sunday. You still have time to make them, go on....

Soft Sunday Cookies (I am renaming them this as it seems very appropriate)

100g dark chocolate, melted
38g soft unsalted butter
112g light muscovado sugar
1 egg
vanilla extract
25g hazelnuts, lightly toasted and ground (coarsly, not too fine)
75g Self raising flour

Preheat the oven to 180C, line two baking sheets with either parchment or silipat stuff.

Cream the butter and sugar together, and then beat in the egg and a dash of vanilla extract. Then add the hazelnuts, flour and chocolate and combine well. If you're doing this in a mixer don't forget to scrap down the sides.

Place dollops of the mixture onto the baking sheets (I used about 2tsp dollops and got 14nice sized cookies) Bake for exactly ten minutes and then remove from the oven. Allow to rest on the sheets for about five minutes, until they stop being too soft to move, then carefully transfer onto a wire rack to cool.

They will be slightly chewy/crisp on the outside and nicely soft in the middle.

p.s. Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments about the marmalade. I'm so pleased that I might have inspired some people to have a go making it themselves. However, I'm probably not helping my business prospects as now everyone will be doing it no-one will buy mine, oops! Seriously though, I hope you're all having as much fun with it as I do. There will be more preserving to come believe me!

Lady Marmalade

2010-01-17T12:33:00.005Z

Oh yes, it's marmalade season again! Last year I got a little bit "marmalade-herical." There were oranges everywhere, jars filling every surface, and more than one little tearful moment as I feared (again) that my precious batch wouldn't set.

This year? Well, I'm having to be a bit more realistic. There are only so many free hours in my weeks now, and mass marmalade production, although wonderfully fun, can't actually fill all of them when there is laundry to get through, a hungry cat and boyfriend to feed, and several knitting projects waiting to be finished and given as presents. I am scaling down a bit.Well, I say that now. I have a hunch that in a weeks time we'll be drowning in dirty washing, eating toast for dinner and I shall be up to my elbows in jars, sugar and sticky jam funnels.

I love preserving. Why don't more people do it? Okay, I know it's coming back as a "cool" pastime, but seriously folks, I can barely express the joy I get at putting stuff in jars! The thought that this summer if I fancy a spot of marmalade on toast I can reach for, and crack open, ajar of my very own, months after the seville season has finished. I know, I'm gushing, but I just can't help it. Get thee to the grocery, bag yourselves some oranges (sevilles if you can) and start whacking that golden stuff in jars.

You know what marmalade is also good for? Getting your baking mojo back. I kid you not. This week, over tea and cake with a wonderful new friend, I confessed to feeling like I not only don't fancy baking, but even if I did I can't think of anything to make. A shocking admission from a self-professed baking obsessive. Then a little recipe in a magazine caught my eye. Marmalade and ginger cream sandwich cookies. It's marmalade season, and I adore ginger. I had to do it.So yesterday, in a quest to renew my mojo, I made these little cookies with last year's marmalade, while a new batch was on the stove. I am so glad I did. These are a lovely little treat, which go perfectly with a hot strong slightly sweet cup of tea. The marmalade (because I used the bitter seville type) stopped the cookie from being too sweet, and the sweet slightly hot cream in the middle balanced the marmalady kick of the cookie. Plus, as N said,"they feel almost like they should be healthy" because they are packed with oats.

I only made one change to the recipe, I didn't add any water to the cream. They suggest you add a tablespoon of boiling water to thin it out and make it spreadable. Frankly I don't think it needs this at all, and fear that doing so would actually make the cream too thin. Oh, and I used lemon zest where they suggested orange, as I had lemons on hand.Marmalade and ginger cream sandwich cookies (makes aprox 15 little cookies)
From, the Sainsbury's magazine.

cookies:
50g unsalted butter
50g caster sugar
50g light brown soft sugar
zest of one lemon
1 large egg yolk
50g thick cut marmalade
50g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
50g rolled oats

filling:
250g icing sugar
75ml double (heavy) cream
50g soft unsalted butter
75g stem ginger, drained of syrup and finely grated

Preheat the oven to 170C and line two baking sheets with parchment.

Cream the butter, sugars, zest and egg yolk until smooth, and then beat in the marmalade. Mix in the flour and soda, then stir in the oats.

Place rounded teaspoons of the mixture on the baking sheets, allowing space for them to spread. Make sure you have an even number! Bake for 15-20 mins (mine took 20 in a fan oven) until the edges are just golden. Remove and cool on a wire rack.

To make the filling, cream the butter and sugar until smooth and then add the ginger.

When the cookies are cool sandwich two together with a generous amount of ginger cream. Put the kettle on, make a nice pot of tea, and enjoy!

(I stored mine in the fridge overnight to stop the cream from becoming too soft, then removed them for half an hour before eating two for breakfast, oops!)

p.s. I made the crumpets (or rather pikelets,as I didn't have crumpet rings) they were lovely, but refused to photograph well. The recipe is over here, I recommend it...

p.p.s. Turns out my last post was number 300! Hurrah!

O Hai-cookie!

2010-01-10T16:18:00.004Z

Today, my cookies exploded. Or rather, they decided to spread across the baking sheet as if making a bid for freedom. While this was going I also got distracted by searching for some tracing paper, that I know I have put somewhere safe. So safe it eludes me. As a result we have some rather sad looking dark brown flat cookies cooling on the side. They overspread and in my revenge I over cooked them.

To top it all off I have also managed to break yet another mixing bowl today. The last one was lost whilst cleaning the windows (don't ask...) this one did at least have a baking-related death, albeit involving pitching itself off a radiator whilst the mixture inside it was proving. Suicidal crumpet mix anyone? It's at times like these that I am very pleased that Molly came into my life. I think either I need to move to Alaska or Molly needs to get her butt to London because I know we'd have the best time together drinking beers, browsing cook books, cooing over notepaper and stamps and generally gadding about town. She makes me laugh from all the way across the world. And she is also the creator of the Hai-cookie exchange.

It is through this that I exchanged cookies and haiku with Helen. The deal? Send a dozen cookies and a haiku to whoever you got paired with. I totally lucked out. Not only did Helen's seriously good cookies arrive on my birthday (bonus present!) they also hit the spot exactly with two of my favourite flavours, cranberry and white chocolate and oat and raisin. Mmmm....I can tell you that I waited all of two seconds before devouring them. Delicious. I also got a great baking themed card, and the following haiku:

It's nearly New Year

Time to make resolutions

For the year ahead

Helen in return also got white chocolate and cranberry cookies (mine having macadamia nuts in them too as I can't resist them) and some of my festive stars. I also put in a small bag of homemade marshmallows and some peppermint bark as an extra treat just in case Helen didn't like the cookies. My haiku was:

Festive Happiness

Mulled wine with a dash of spice

Knitting and my cat

Thank you Molly, for being coerced into holding yet another exchange!

I shall post another time with a recipe as I don't think I'll be sharing the one for the cookies I made today, I'm sure none of you need rebel cookies. That is unless they taste amazing, in which case I shall forgive them and show them off another time. Hopefully the crumpet batter has survived despite the cracked bowl and radiator tumble, I'm off to test them now. Updates to follow!

Where I'm going...

2010-01-01T15:34:00.003Z

Well, there's no denying it, it really is 2010. We welcomed in the year in our pyjamas with hot toddies, curled up on the sofa with our favourite film. Colds or otherwise we're no longer the big party types, preferring instead to sip and laugh the new year in under a thick quilt, stroking the cat and trying to explain that the fireworks can't hurt if he stays right where he is.

This morning was just as relaxed (ahem, lazy) with much of it spent under the duvet dozing and sipping lemsip. Showers and lunch however did prompt a quite flurry of activity, to match the flurry of snow that dusted the garden. Christmas crockery tucked away, a rearrangement of glasses - less wine glasses in reach, more tumblers - and the pleased discovery of a place to put our new teapot. Just the kind of start to the year we party animals like!
I'm not really one for resolutions. I know I'll break them unless I'm really determined, and usually those decisions are left for after the depths of winter. Cold, grey, damp weather that invariably makes up the British new year is no time to ditch the well needed creature comforts of red wine and baked goods in rash resolutions to ditch the gained Christmas pounds and ounces. I'd much rather keep that layer of pudge thank you, I'll need it to keep me warm at the bus stop on dark mornings. I can worry about it once the blush of spring arrives and the winter layers are discarded.

Instead this year, I have some general notions - they're not rules, more like guidelines! There will be big changes a-foot, and I think it's time. I think it's going to be an interesting year, potentially a difficult year, but one that will be filled with fun, laughter and all sorts of nice things. I hope to see old friends a lot more, for coffee and wine and chats like we used to, I want to see new friends more too, for similar times filled with beverages and gossip. I want to continue to use the best of my time, to learn new skills and develop old ones. And of course I want to continue experimenting in the kitchen. An ice cream maker, and pasta machine are going to make that pretty fun I think!

And whatever 2010 brings, I hope to be there to meet it head on with N next to me to make me laugh and tell me I'm a big silly when I cry!

I think it's going to be a good one, I hope you do too. Let's go get em!

Where I've been...

2009-12-31T12:22:00.004Z

Nearly 2010? What!? Where did the year go? As someone in the office commented a few weeks ago "it can't be nearly 2010, that's the future!"

I was hoping I'd make it to 300 posts before the year was out, but it turns out the fates were against me, so I shall finish the year on 298, with some reflections on where I've been, and a totally random recipe for some damn fine ice cream. Because despite what N says, there is no weather too cold for ice cream, especially not when it's your first ever homemade batch, it's rather tasty, and you're tucked up on the sofa with cricket highlights!It's been quite the year here in the North London Kitchen. It was the year I went public with the blog, and as a result I have met some really special and lovely people. I thank you for coming into my little corner of the interwebs and coaxing me out of my comfort zone to meet you, or write to you. It goes without saying that this blog wouldn't be what it is without the people who pop in and say hello. You have made the year very special indeed. Thank you.

In the wider world of the North London Kitchen it's been quite the year as well. I managed to travel to three countries, sell my products on Covent Garden, watch one of my closest friends get married at the most beautiful wedding, and then watch the newly married couple cut a cake I had made in front of their guests. All the while in the background I was hurriedly battling with words to meet my PhD deadline (done! wow!), whilst trying to learn even more about gardening, and thinking about where on earth my future might take me. I got my first ever 9-5 job, and somehow still managed to learn how to quilt and continue on my knitting and sewing quest (don't ask about the knitting, I still have yet to make a successful garment, although my scarves and gloves are coming on some!).

I'm not sure how I managed it all, and reading that back I'm beginning to understand why by body has given in to a bad cold and forced me into bed for the final day of the year. Now I get why I feel exhausted!

This week I made my final and controversial act of the year, which perhaps implies where I might go next. In a dramatic change of form I had my hair cut. Not just trimmed, but chopped off a full eight inches! It went from my waist to just below my shoulders. If I'd have done that this time last year I'd have cried and cried to see it gone. But right now it feels like the right time.And on that note I give you ice cream, because it's always the right time for ice cream!

I was very lucky as Father Christmas (the northern branch) left me a Kitchenaid ice cream bowl for Christmas. It is something I had long admired, and so have spend a year collecting any and every ice cream recipe from magazine, "just in case." My patience won out, and on Boxing day we tucked into fresh homemade damson ice cream! I had damsons tucked away in the freezer for such an occasion, but if you don't you could use plums, or any deep rich berry.This recipe if very loosly adapted from a Nigel Slater one. What's below is for a very small batch, but it can easily be doubled.

Damson Ice cream - serves 2 generously

250g damsons
2 large egg yolks
100g caster sugar
125ml double cream
125ml natural yoghurt
2 tablespoons of champagne or dry white wine

Place the damsons and wine in a pan and cook over a gentle heat for about 10 minutes, or until you have a good amount of juices. Push the mixture through a fine sieve until you only have the stones and skins left. Leave the puree to cool completely.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy. Warm the cream in a saucepan and then add to the egg mix, stirring constantly. Rinse and dry the saucepan, and then return the egg and cream mixture to it, and heat gently to form a custard. Stirring constantly so it doesn't get too hot. It is ready when just thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.

Immediately transfer to a bowl in shallow sink of cold water, again, stirring the whole time. This will stop it curdling. Leave until cold.

Mix together the damson puree, custard and yoghurt. The pour into your ice cream maker and freeze as per the instructions and then transfer to the freezer. If you don't have an ice cream maker, place the mixture in a tupperware and put in the freezer. Remove every hour and beat the frozen edges into the middle until desired consistancy is reached. It won't be quite as creamy as that made in a machine, but it will still taste great!

I found that it needs to be removed from the freezer a good 30 minutes before serving, in order to be soft enough to scoop.

Old traditions, new traditions.

2009-12-28T11:59:00.000Z

It was three years ago that we first started having our Christmases together, alone, in Our Lovely Flat. It was quite the revelation of calm, and something we'd both find it difficult to give up now. The family visits are lovely - perhaps not accompanied by the best weather or travel conditions, but lovely nonetheless - we get to see each others in the two weekends before Christmas, delivering presents (when they're not forgotten! Oops!) and enjoying long lazy evenings of wine and chat, and if I'm particularly lucky N's parents will break out the card games, and then thrash me at all the one they know and I don't. Cribbage? "fifteen two,fifteen four" what's all that about then?! We just like being able to do our thing.

But what is that thing?!

That first Christmas in our flat was quite the revelation in other ways too. There was a conflict of traditions, and much confusion about how to resolve them. We shared stories in the run up to the big day of how each of our families played out Christmas morning. In N's family presents were opened immediately, in pyjamas and accopanied by glasses of Bucks Fizz. In my family however, it was quite different. My stocking, kindly left outside my bedroom door by Father Christmas, was allowed to be opened in secret, in pyjamas, and then shown off downstairs in a haze of excitement. The presents under the tree however had to wait. Everyone must be washed and dressed, all food prep done, and the all important clincher, it must be done whilst eating mini-sausage rolls, mince pies (in exploding pastry - aka, very short shortcrust) and sipping hot fresh coffee.

There were other conflicts too, N and his brother always had chocolate advent calendars, I on the other hand always had beautiful old fashioned ones with windows and pictures. Oh, and don't get me started on what you had to eat on the day!

We weren't quite sure what to do about these traditions. We knew Christmas wouldn't feel quite like Christmas without them, but somehow it didn't feel right to pick some over others. This, of course, led to an inevitable stumbling into Christmas with no clear plan at all. And it all worked out wonderfully. Some traditions have been kept, others discarded, and naturally new ones have evolved over three years to become our very own, and I couldn't be happier!
We have lazy Christmas mornings, and open mini-stockings in bed with coffee, and then carry that coffee to the tree, spread a quilt on the floor and open big presents, with Buck's Fizz, mince pies, and coffee, all in our pyjamas! As for the advent calendars? Well, I still have one with pictures, and N still gets chocolates, albeit homemade and tucked into a fabric calendar.

Old traditions and new traditions, all good traditions. The food has also evolved over the years, as we have gradually come around to the idea that you should only eat what you want to, no matter what anyone says about brussel sprouts being The Law. So, we have nut roast, potatoes,stuffing and stir fried carrots and broccoli. The latter is not very festive, but it's a darn sight nicer than watching two people push sprouts round their plates trying to hide them!

And so, here, I finally come to a recipe to share with you. Nut roast. We're seasoned veggies, and have been around the ring with many a nut roast in our time, more than a lot of which have been mediocre at best. This one is not. We have it every Christmas, and every year we complain that we eat it and then forget about it for another twelve months, as it's so good. I can also tell you that it feeds 4-6 people, but that it's always best to make more, so you can have nut roast and gravy sandwiches on Boxing day. No really, make it just for that, a wonderful sloppy indulgence that has officially been added to next year's list of traditions! (This image is just before I heaved the sarnie onto the plate and dumped a load of onion gravy on it, oh yes!)

Luxury Nut Roast

My exact version of this is a very closely guarded secret, and I'm afraid I'm not sharing all, but this is what I start with before the tinkering, and it is hands down, delicious. Make it, even if you're not veggie. I made this for a bunch of meat eaters for Sunday lunch once, and there wasn't a scrap to be seen.

I should warn you that I've never successfully turned this out in a loaf shape, instead I scoop it from the pan onto plates. Frankly we don't care that it doesn't look pretty because it tastes so good, but if you're looking for presentation, you might want to reconsider!

Also, I make mine the day before and leave it to rest overnight in the fridge. I swear that this makes the flavours much better, and it saves time on the day.

Serves 4-6 (just!)

2oog mixed nuts (use whatever suits you, walnuts, hazels cashews, brazil, peanuts and any seeds go well in this)
75g dried cranberries
100g shallot (I use basically half an onion and it seems to be fine)
400g tin chopped tomates, drained in a colander for 10 mins
1 large egg
100g strong cheddar, grated finely
dash of dried mint
dash of dried sage
handful of fresh parsley, chopped
1 tsp marmite, mixed with 1tbsp red wine and a 1tsp orange juice
pinch of salt, and lots of grinds of pepper
tsp mustard

Grease a large loaf tin and set aside.

Lightly toast the nuts in a frying pan until just becoming fragrant. Remove and cool, then whizz in a food processor until finely ground.

In a large bowl mix all the ingredients together thoroughly. Place in the prepared pan and leave overnight in the fridge, or for at least an hour to let the flavours deepen.

Preheat over to 180C. Cook for 45mins to an hour until firm and golden. Serve with cranberry sauce and onion gravy.

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and are bounding towards the new year with happy thoughts and outrageous resolutions.

"one day we'll all look back on this and laugh..."

2009-12-24T11:43:00.004Z

..So, apparently things get worse before they get better.

new flight delayed by five hours...flight home cancelled...new flight booked, again, then a text to say it was cancelled...finally arrived home a day late, to discover I wasn't paid this month.

And.....breathe.

Not quite the relaxing stress-free run up to Christmas we had hoped for. But we are thankful for the small things, and the not so small things, like not having been booked on the Eurostar, having family to entertain us with card games and whiskey, a cat who loves us despite the fact that we couldn't get home to him, a friend and a neighbour who were happy to look in on the cat and be messed around because we were, friends who listened to us moan, and bought us drinks, and made us laugh all night.And being home on Christmas eve, in our lovely flat, with a beautiful tree full of decorations that remind us of people and places that we love.

The halls are decked, and so it's time to bake the gingerbread, mull the wine, have a bath and let the relaxing festivities begin.

I hope you are all surrounding by the friends and family that you love. Have a very merry Christmas, and thank you for reading my little corner of the interwebs. Normal service will resume after all the mince pies have been eaten and the recycling put out!

Out of Action

2009-12-19T12:34:00.006Z

Sometimes you just have days (ahem, weeks) when the world seems out to get you. I had plans for lovely posts this December, but it seems to be the 19th, and my blog remains sparse. Why? Well, it started with work getting incredibly busy, throw into that a round of pre-Christmas parental visits, and a list of outstanding Christmas presents long enough to make even the saner amongst us weep, and you begin to get an idea of how my December has been shaping up. Now, granted, this is probably exactly how everyone else's is going. But I haven't gotten to the good bit yet!

Last weekend, whilst potting in my parents brand new beautiful kitchen I started playing with some settings on my camera. I decided to do some black and white, and I was really pleased with them. So, after the six and a half hour drive home I eagerly fired up the laptop to blog about them. Oh no, my memory card had other ideas! No pictures to be found. Not only were the black and whites missing, but about a hundred others, including the ones of the delicious port and prune brownies I was going to include in said post. I was not amused. So I was nervous about using that memory card to take pictures, and of course, could I find my spare, of course I couldn't. Almost a week passed before I was able to do anything.

Then yesterday was the final straw. Trying to fly out to Europe over Christmas is always a tough haul. Especially when the flights you have are with a budget airline, because they were the only ones you could get. Add snow into the mix, and you have total chaos. Trains don't run, planes don't fly, and heaven forbid anyone should be on hand at the airport to help you. We waited and waiting, and were finally told that all flights were cancelled and we should go home. Cue a battle back across London and a whole bunch of upset family members. Then we made the mistake of getting online to claim our compensation, only to discover our flight had actually taken off.

Angry doesn't cover it. So today, we try again. Different airline, different airport. And goddamnit I don't care how long I have to wait, but we are getting to France tonight, no matter what.

Er, yes, so that's why I haven't posted. I will have to leave you today with the only festive picture I have managed to snap, and the promise (yet again) that there is more on it's way next week when I finally get to breathe again.

I hope you're all having better runs up to Christmas, and in the midst of your own baking/shopping/entertaining chaos, you are managing to enjoy a huge glass of mulled wine and a whole host of chocolate goodies.

p.s. During the writing of this post my computer crashed. Seriously, the world is against me right now!

A change of heart; or, a realisation of limitations (at the moment).

2009-11-30T20:18:00.004Z

Alas, I come to you today with a downcast look. I have something to admit, and I'm not quite sure I'm okay with it yet.

I won't be opening the shop tomorrow. In fact, I won't be opening this year.

I was jubilant, I was baking, melting, mixing, packaging and photographing like mad, and then slowly amidst this haze the reality began to hit. There was no way I was ready. I wanted it so, so badly, I've been clinging to the idea with all my strength as I am desperate to start my road to working from home and working for myself. But sometimes you need to stand back, and see things from a distance and admit to yourself that you were wrong, and now is not the time.Last week threw up a chunk of extra work. Not entirely unexpected, but the amount of which has caught me a little off guard. Coupled with this I will be organising Christmas at home this year as a working lady for the first time. I no longer have hours in the house, pottering around getting everything just so, or browsing the markets for that perfect little gift. Instead I will be joining the hordes of shoppers battling with the besieged high street in the rain after work. So this weekend when the sudden realisation hit, that actually, diving headlong into a business venture, just three weeks before Christmas might not be the best idea I've ever had, for once I stood back and decided to say "no". I don't like it, but the reality is that when I do this, I want to do it right. I want to have lovely photographs of products I really and truly believe are worth (hopefully) shipping all over the world. I can't do this at a canter in the middle of trying to buy presents, bake/sew/knit gifts, and spend two weekends out of three on pre-Christmas parental visits.
So, it will be a little longer until I try and take over the world (ahem, my little corner of the web at least), but I promise you it is my goal of the new year, and it will be bigger and better than it could have been before. Plus, shipping might be a tad more reliable once this pesky Christmas malarkey is over!

I hope you will bare with me, and I hope if you do it will be worth it.

Phew, now I've got that off my chest I feel a little better. I'm hoping a prune and port brownie will help me relax even more...photos and recipe tomorrow!

Empty plates

2009-11-28T21:16:00.005Z

I have a real thing for empty plates. I seem to photograph them all them time. Often, I find them more appealing, than plates full of food. Weird, I know. Perhaps it is because usually the food that once occupied the plate in question is invariably in my stomach, and making me feel smug. Perhaps there is just something about the tines of a fork (because more often than not my empty plate shots involve forks). Perhaps it's just that I have no patience, and so my documentation of food becomes uselessly after the fact.Tonight, it was an empty bowl that caught my eye. This time, satisfyingly empty because the risotto that was in it was entirely my own recipe, and as a result gobbled down even more smugly than usual. Fortunately I made far too much than two could possibly eat in one sitting (although we tried, we really did) and here is plenty more sitting on the stove waiting to be packed into the fridge for frying into risotto cakes tomorrow.This is a nice autumnal dish. A hint of sweetness, a touch of spice, and an unctuous creaminess that balances well with a dry rose wine. Winter is fast approaching, but I refuse to give in the hearty meals entirely, instead I think you need something which can occupy the "in between" space, hence the rose. I hope you all enjoy this too.P.s. Who's stupid idea was it to attempt opening shop in one of the busiest months of the year? Eek!

Spiced Butternut and apple risotto (probably serves four (ish) )

1 small butternut squash
2 medium-sized sharp apples (I used bramleys)
one large leek
2 cloves garlic, minced
150g risotto rice
1 pint of good vegetable stock
2 tsp cumin
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried sage
glug of olive oil
glug of cider
pinch of salt
freshly ground pepper
freshly grated parmesan

Preheat the oven to 190C. Peel the squash, cut it into quarters and scrap out the seeds. Douse with a smidgen of oil (I used chili oil to add a hint of heat to the eventual risotto) and roast until soft. Mine took about 20 mins, but it'll depend on your oven and the size of the squash. Remove from the oven and cool.

Slice the leek and heat a large glug of oil in a deep frying pan. Gently sweat the leeks, being careful that they don't brown. Once they begin to glisten, add the minced garlic and fry for another minute. Then add the sage, cumin and risotto rice and another small glug of oil. Coat the rice with oil and heat for two minutes and then begin adding your stock. You want to add this a ladle-full at a time, and wait until it is absorbed by the rice, before adding more. Meanwhile, peel, core and quarter your apples. Blend together with the roasted squash in a food processor. When you are three quarters of the way through adding the stock (eg. when there is only a quarter of a pint of stock left to be added) add the pureed squash and apple mixture to the pan, with a large pinch of salt, a grind of pepper, the bay leaf and a generous glug of cider. Wait until the liquid has been absorbed, and then add the final stock. When this is cooked down, check to make sure that the rice is soft, but retains a slight bite.

Serve immediately, topped with a generous helping of freshly grated parmesan and a large glass of dry rose!

It's begun.

2009-11-22T21:25:00.005Z

Preparations are well under way here in the North London Kitchen.

Cakes have been baked, and puddings have been steamed. Oh yes, "stir up" Sunday produced a flurry of activity, none of which the cat agreed with. As far as he was concerned, all attention should be focused on the sofa, the first One Day International cricket match between England and South Africa, and, quite frankly, giving him as much attention as possible.Alas, I was not obliging. Instead I have spent the majority of the day aproned-up covered in puffs of flour and icing sugar, in a haze of steam, attempting to get test products baked and photographed before the inevitable disappearance of natural light.

Wait a minute! Test products? I hear you exclaim, I thought this post was all about Christmas preparation.

Well, it is. Sort of. You see I've been in a bit of a slump. I have grand plans, I really do, but am a bit unsure of quite how to go about them. So a while ago I decided that baby steps were the only way to kick me out of stasis and get me going. And of course what better time for me to choose than the run up to Christmas. Nothing much going on around that time is there!

You see, I've decided to try my hand at opening a little online shop over at Etsy! I'll be selling handmade and homemade baked goodies, and hopefully the odd piece of knitting or sewing. Oh and a print or two. I have spent the last couple of weeks thinking about and testing products, and hopefully on December 1st I'll go live!

EEEEEK!

I thought you'd all like the sneak preview and heads up. If you fancy a spot of festive foodie goodness, head over on December 1st and you'll see what's up for grabs. I might even throw an offer or two into the mix.

In the midst of this I have of course also been trying to get more personal Christmas things sorted. Like the making of puddings. Last year we had the Great PhD Pudding Stir-Up. This year it was just me. Needless to say I had to adapt the recipe somewhat so I didn't end up with twenty puddings! Instead I have just two and they smelled rather lovely steaming all afternoon. I did of course stir and make a wish, and asked N to do so too. Last year I shared the ingredients list for all twenty puddings, this year I thought I would give you the scaled down version. Okay, a little late to make your pudding on stir-up Sunday, but I highly recommend it. There really is nothing quite like producing a homemade pudding at Christmas, aflame with hot brandy.Oh, and don't forget to give it a stir and make a wish. They taste better holding wishes, I promise.

Christmas Pudding - Makes two 700ml puddings.

This is my own take on a traditional recipe. You can swap in and out things you like. For example, although I love nuts, I just can't abide them in my pudding, so I don't bother. But if you want them in there, who am I to stop you. (wrong as you are!)

Also, you need to start this the night before as the fruit needs soaking. Just to warn you.

Before you start you will need either two traditional ceramic pudding bowls, lined with first buttered parchment paper, and then muslin, or two plastic modern pudding bowls well buttered. You will also need two disks of parchment paper, with a fold in the middle go on top of the pudding basins while they steam (the fold allows for expansion).

Ingredients:

175g sultanas
88g raisins
88g cranberries
75g figs
63g mixed peel
50g unsulphured apricots
38g dark glace cherries
80ml brandy
1 apple, grated (but you don't have to peel it first)
juice/zest of one orange
3 eggs
125g vegetable suet
175g light muscovado sugar
125g brown bread crumbs
88g self-raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice.

Firstly, put all the dried fruit in a bowl, pour over the brandy and leave over night. The liquid won't cover the fruit, but don't worry, just give it the odd stir.

In a large bowl mix together the apple, orange juice and zest, the eggs, suet, sugar, breadcrumbs and flour. The add all the dried fruits and any remaining liquid. Stir together (whilst making a wish), and then divide between the two pudding basins. Place the disks of parchment over the top and tie down with string around the edge. Steam for three and a half hours (!) and then leave to cool.

When cool seal the pudding basins. Do this with a double layer of cling film across the top of the plastic basins before popping on the lids, or by wrapping the traditional pudding basins with parchment and then foil (I do this to make doubly sure they'll still be okay by Christmas).

On the day you'll need to heat them for further three hours of steaming, or if by heating in a microwave for 3-5 minutes depending on your wattage. To serve turn out onto a place, douse with heated brandy and light! Bring to the table aflame, and then serve with lashings of brandy butter and clotted cream. Yum!

Sunday's are brilliant because...

2009-11-08T19:37:00.004Z

....you can totally justify eating oatmeal cookies for breakfast, then go out for brunch, and still have a slice of cheese on toast at 4pm. You can also knit in front of the football, and finish a project in ninety minutes, discover you can make a hat, and learn that you like port. Mmmm...port...how did I not discover you and your fortified winey goodness earlier?

This week I promise to make more things, and try and post more about them. I miss this little space. I'm sure I'll get the balance right eventually. But right now there is a mushroom bourguignon waiting to be eaten...

It's all in the crack

2009-10-29T20:43:00.005Z

Well, yet again it's been a while. Still trying to catch up with myself really, and to find the balance between work and home. It's pretty tough, as oh-so-many of you know.

I find that there is one sure-fire way to make things a little calmer, to bring a pause, a bubble of niceness, into the mania of the answering of emails, the printing and reviewing of documents, and the ridiculousness that is trying to book a room for an event.Biscuits. And knitting (preferably munching on the former whilst steadily, soothingly, progressing with the latter).
Tonight I needed a little space of calm to curl up in, so well before bedtime I donned the old dressing gown, rolled up the sleeves and perused a cookbook. Ah, it felt like old times, and because of this I wanted an old fashioned recipe. A biscuit from my childhood. Gingernuts. As soon as I fell upon the recipe in the suitably 1970s "Delia Smith's Book of Cakes" I knew all other suggestions were going out the window and this biscuit just had to be it.

They've just passed the taste test of my harshest critic whose response was "it's a proper biscuit!" followed by "sometimes what you really want is just a biscuit." How true that man is.I have a feeling these will be just the thing at work tomorrow, around eleven, with a cup of tea.

So, here I give you a recipe for a "proper" biscuit. Not a cookie. No, it's a biscuit, and a rather nice one at that. I would also like to dedicate this post to Siri, as a far too belated congratulations, and a huge thank you for the particular excellence of the postcards that have graced our flat recently. I have a whole backlog of things to post on the Mavens site (including wonderful and much needed warnings on tsunamis and bears - Molly, you crack me up),but frankly, nothing quite beats a Norwegian milk maid riding a pig, or a 1950s bikini-clad water skier. I have long drooled over some of Siri's ginger recipes, and so here,finally, is one of my own...

Gingernuts - adapted from Delia Smith's Book of Cakes

Makes 15 aprox.

4 oz self-raising flour
1 heaped tsp ground ginger
1 level tsp baking soda (on reflection I'd use 3/4 tsp, I feel one is a bit much)
1 1/2 oz muscovado sugar
2 oz cold butter, cubed
2 oz golden syrup

Preheat the over to 190C (375F) and line two baking trays with parchment.

Whisk together the flour, soda and ginger. Stir in the sugar (I would use a spatula, it'll come in handy later), and then rub in the butter until it is the texture of bread crumbs. Now add the syrup, and stir with the spatula until it begins to come together in a paste. You can then help work it together with your hands.

Form 15 equal balls of the mixture, and place them on the baking trays. Allow them a little space as they will spread. Press them down slightly to flatten them a little.

Bake for 15 mins, until the tops are cracked, and they are a dark golden colour. Cool, and enjoy with a nice strong cup of tea.

Tonight I have been mostly...

2009-10-21T22:10:00.002+01:00

...mourning the loss of blog followers due to my lack of posting.
...enjoying new faces in the comment section.
...catching up with close friends.
...sewing together bits of fabric I had previously cut up.
...listening to John Coltrane.
...eating nutella with a spoon straight from the jar.
...pondering the future, and sheep called Eddie and Bill.
...remembering to do things because I love to, not because I have to.

Ups and downs

2009-10-11T21:31:00.006+01:00

Well, it's been quite the time of it here. Bit of a baptism by fire in the new job, lots of hours, lots of things to take in and get to grips with, and lots of things doing battle in my head.

Oddly, I think the biggest thing I've struggled with this week was the fact that I miss being home so much it hurts, and yet I love my job. It's such a strange feeling. If I hated my job I could almost cope with the pining for domestic life, but in fact I don't want to give up my job, because it's great. Weird.
So this weekend I went a little bit mad! I'm just so desperate not to lose the hobbies and interests in the new mess of working life, so I crammed my weekend with all sorts of manic activities. I might have over-compensated a tad. Something I'm trying to learn, with lots of help from N, is that sometimes you just need some time off, and I shouldn't get too het up about time that isn't "productive" as rest is productive too.
And indulgence is definitely something that aids rest, and sometimes you need the simplest dessert to curl up with on the sofa on a Sunday evening, in your dressing gown, whilst watching recorded cookery shows.

The trick with this is to use the best cream you can, and the ripest berries. I add a sprinkling of granola to add a more autumnal feel.

Raspberry "fool" - Serves four (or two, really generously!)

200ml double cream
200g raspberries, so ripe they're almost dripping (I just used two small punnets)
sugar
cinnamon/spice of your choice
Blueberries
Toasted oats/granola

In a medium bowl place a large pinch of caster sugar and one of whatever spice you prefer, I'm a cinnamon lover myself, but I think star anise would go well, or ginger for a hint of warmth. Add the cream and whip lightly. When it just starts holding it's shape stop whipping and add the raspberries, and smush them into the mix. Serve topped with a few berries and toasted oats/granola.

Eat immediately...and relax...

What would Hemingway do?

2009-10-05T07:41:00.003+01:00

Most people don't have to know me long before realising that Mr Ernest Hemingway is a huge influence (ahem, obsession) in my life.

Yet perhaps only one person truly understands just how motivating it is, on a dark grey autumnal Monday morning, to drink my espresso from a Cafe de Flore cup, just as Mr H himself would have many mornings in Paris.

It's going to be a good week (and tonight I'm putting things in jars again so a recipe post is right around the corner)

Into the thick of it.

2009-09-23T19:31:00.006+01:00

How on earth do you working people blog so prolifically?! I'm sending out some serious respect to all of you working bloggers, especially those who are dedicated enough to be managing things like this!
Yes, I am now in the realms of work. Not exactly the nine to five, as it's more 8.30 until whenever things get done. But I'm loving it, which is a good sign. Okay, I'm only two days in, but they've been long days, with a steep learning curve, and so far so good. I'm hoping that once my body gets over the initial shock I'll be right back to the ridiculous amounts of baking and preserving that have graced this blog in the past.But, no fear, I do have a recipe for you today, and lots of other things to share. Firstly, I shall admit to spending the five days after hand-in very well indeed; in the beautiful sunny hills of Italy. We ate too much food, and drank far too much wine, and it was fabulous. The perfect little treat.As ever my photos were mostly food, and frankly with produce as stunning as that from Italy who can blame me. It wasn't quite autumn there, but the gourds were already out in force, showing off their deep oranges and dusky yellows. The grapes were heavy on the vines and the coffee and pastries divine. Mmmm....I also have seven things to share with you as hinted at in the previous post. I was very kindly given the kreativ blogger award by Liz, whose lovely blog occupies this corner of the web, and I think it's about time I share the seven fact about myself. Hmm, it's hard thinking of these things, but I'll give it my best shot. I just hope they're vaguely interesting.

- By the age of 11 I knew I wanted to do a PhD, and by the age of 14 I knew what I was going to do it in. Weird huh?!

- One of the reasons behind wanting a PhD was so that when I was a great rock and roll bass player people I could be called Dr, like Dr Dre or Dr John, and I'd actually be one. I haven't even picked up my bass for ages.

- I don't mind rodents or spiders, I love snakes. However, I am terrified of slugs and snails. They freak me out, and I have been known to freeze and squeal at the sight of them. I kid you not.

- One day I want to own two sheep. One called Eddie, the other called Bill.

- I'm bit odd about white and yellow foods. Eggs are only okay if cooked into cakes, I don't like bananas, and am very particular about creams and custards. It's a texture thing. Blah, slimy.

- I have competed in a national fencing competition. I came second to last.

- I'm not a huge fan of potatoes, or any other carb apart from fresh pasta or bread, but I crave good chips rather more often than I admit to.

And speaking of which, I give you a recipe:
These were perfect just before we went away. Baked rather than fried and seasoned with lashings of salt, pepper and paprika. Amazing. They may seem simple, but try them.

Baked paprika chips.

One large potato per person
2 tsp oil per potato + 2 tsp (I used olive)
salt
black pepper
smoked paprika

Preheat the oven to 220C. Coat a large roasting pan with 2 tsp of oil and place in the oven as it warms.

Slice the potatoes into small strips, making them like fries rather than traditional British chips. Once the oven has reached temperature spread the chips out into the pan and drizzle the remaining oil over it, grind some pepper and salt over them and toss. Return the pan to the oven and cook until the chips are golden brown and crisping. You'll need to toss them about every fifteen minutes. Mine took about 45mins.

Remove from the oven. Douse in paprika to your own taste (I like a lot). Return to the oven for two minutes to bring out the flavour of the spice and then serve tossed with more salt and pepper.

See, I've finally given you a recipe! I promise more, honest. Apparently there's a tradition in the office that every Friday someone brings in some sort of cake. Guess who's getting in on that immediately!

As for passing on the award, I have a theory. So many of you out there are creative and blogging, that passing it on to just seven people would be a little cruel, and as it happens I know many of you have already either received the award, or something similar. So, I shall instead just try and pass on my enthusiasm and love of all things creative and hope to continue reading about all the amazing things you are all already doing that inspire me daily and make me realise that no matter how long the days at work, coming back to this little space makes me grin and motivates me. Thank you everyone, for your reading, and for your writing.

Beating a retreat, smugly.

2009-09-16T11:39:00.006+01:00

Ta da!

Gosh, I can't quite believe I've done it. It's all done.

For now at least. I still have to sit the exam in a little while, but right now I am going to revel in the fact that it's handed in and I can relax. Well, until next Tuesday when I start my first ever 9-5 job.

Don't worry, I'll be making the best of it until then.

See you in a little while...

(p.s. sorry, photos from my phone so not the best quality)

(p.p.s. I promise I'll get to the lovely award and other things, I just need some space for my head to explode, then I'll be back!)

When in doubt, make pie.

2009-09-10T10:41:00.004+01:00

In my usual bleary-eyed early(ish) morning email and blog checking I suddenly noticed that it had been ten days since I'd posted. Ten days! How on earth had that happened? Then I mentally tracked back across those hours and it gradually became clear. What a ten days it has been.

There's been a flurry of strange happenings around here lately and as a result the last week or so has disappeared never to be seen again.

First, Sniff decided that since the tiny bird clearly wasn't impressive enough, he needed to try harder. Enter the rat. Yes, I did say rat. Now, it was a small one, but still twice the size of a mouse, and Sniff conveniently herded it into the study, the smallest, most full, room of the house. Great stuff Sniff, thanks for that. Cue a frantic hour and a half of trying to chase, maneuver, and encourage said rodent out of the place. The relief of its final exit was brief as I returned to absolute carnage. Books off shelves, fabric from my stash on the floor and a broken bobbin case. It was not a good afternoon.

Then after that debarcle came the big stuff, about jobs and all sorts. Followed by stressing over some teaching.

So, what did I do to ease these troubled times? I did the only thing I could. I made pie. On the first of September it was as if the god of weather himself had flicked the switch and made it autumn. The air was chilly, the leaves beginning to crisp and fall, the afternoon light slightly weaker. Great! I thought, now I can get back to pies and sausage and mash, and roasts. Then came the curve ball, it suddenly got warm again. Talk about messing with my seasonal excitement.

So I made the pastry, and it sat in the fridge and went unused, until I couldn't stand it any more. I needed pie, I needed hot fruity bubbling pastry-enclosed reassurance on a plate, covered in cream. I needed something homely and comforting to remind me that despite the rats of this world things are indeed very good.

Now, my only issue with this little pie (well, galette really as I was trying to cut down pastry consumption) is the filling wasn't quite as bubbling and fruity as I expected. Probably by fault as I just adapted the filling of something else. However, when we had it the second day it was much better. Weird, but good of course!

My real delight came from the pastry. I wanted something a bit different, and my experiment worked perfectly. I can't wait to make it again, this time to use with a proper pie filled with British apples.

As a result, I recommend you try the pastry, but use with your own filling recipe, just to make sure. I used 2 cups of blueberries (with some raspberries to make up the amount) 2 tbsp of cornflour and a dash of lemon juice and it just wasn't quite right. In fact it was very much "alright" and next time I'll be back to good ole apple pie, and no messin'

Cinnamon pastry (makes enough for one 8" galette, but could easily be doubled.)

3oz cold butter, cut into small cubes/chunks
6oz plain flour
1 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar
1.4 tsp cinnamon
Milk

In a medium bowl, place the flour, cinnamon and sugar and mix. Rub the cold butter with your fingertips so that it resembles coarse breadcrumbs (I used my new pastry blender, and I'm so in love!) The slowly add a little milk at a time until the pastry just comes together - I make it so it still seems a little dry.

Wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least an hour before using.

Alternatively you can make it in a food processor, but I'm afraid I don't have one, hence the hand instructions.

oh, oh, oh, how could I almost forgot, I won an award! Thank you Liz! So, in the next post you'll get seven things you might not know about me...(and I promise it won't take as long this time around!)

Rescue mission

2009-09-01T23:07:00.004+01:00

Some days I'm trying to be a domestic goddess, some days I'm trying to be an academic, some days I'm just trying to stay awake, and then some days I'm trying to rescue tiny birds from the jaws of a ruthless cat.

This tiny tiny thing was brought in by Sniff today. He was stroked and soothed by me the best I could (I have no experience with birds, but hoped that very gentle stroking would calm it down) and the with Sniff locked in the flat the bird was taken outside. I think he was okay, no obvious wounds other than a little redness where Sniff had carried him. He tried to fly, but was fluttering on the ground and then disappeared under the fence into the grass next door. I keep telling myself that it will be okay, and so far Sniff as returned to the flat empty-jawed, which I can only hope is a good omen for such a sweet little bird.

I love Sniff so much that my heart aches when he eeks unhappily, and bursts when I wake up with him sleeping full length on my chest. But there are times when I wish I could explain to him just why I'm not pleased with his presents. Poor thing looked so sad when I took his toy away.

Things are manic right now, and for once I've been so busy I haven't busted out the baking tins in more than a week. A week, people! A tragedy, I know as alas, not even a three day weekend yielded the usual flurry of activity in this north London kitchen. But I promise I'll try harder, and hopefully have a recipe up in a couple of days.

House hunting

2009-08-26T12:28:00.005+01:00

While visiting my parents last week I decided to do a spot of house hunting. The first was quite small, only eight or so bedrooms, open courtyard for afternoon tea and a drawing room with only enough room for one piano. Cramped, but cosy, we'd cope, but it might be a struggle. It's saving grace however was the beautiful walled garden and large greenhouses. Definitely something that would be worth compromising for.

Then I saw this, large with the grandeur that befits our cat (because yes, he is the head of the household). It comes not only with cottages for the staff, it's own hydro-electic power station and a large kitchen with downstairs scullery, but with a whole separate room for making jam. Now that's what I'm talking about.

In all honestly the prettiest places we saw were indeed the staff cottages.

I could just see us in one of these, N curled up writing, and me sewing or knitting, Sniff lounging in front of the fireplace or pottering in the garden.

One day...one day....

Ah, I love the National Trust.

The taste of summer

2009-08-18T17:50:00.003+01:00

The last couple of days here have been glorious sunshine, the kind of summer I long for now. I think I've mentioned before that I didn't used to be a summer person, and in some respects I still thrive in the autumn (like Siri, it's the spiced warm flavours and more wintery recipes that dominate my repertoire), which is probably why our shrugging off of the hot weather here and holidaying in the New Zealand winter felt more like a bonus season than a missed opportunity for beach trips and sunbathing.

However, there are many things about summer that draw me in every time, and make me realise that what I really want is a true mix of seasons rather than the seemingly eternal "blah" that most people associate with the British weather (it's not that bad. Well, not always at least). There are two things for me that would make me wish for longer summers, and that's tomatoes and bread. Throw basil into that mix, perhaps with a dry white wine and you've got me, hook, line and sinker.

You can probably guess that we spend most of the summer combining tomatoes and bread as much as possible. Okay, frankly I tend to force this into the depths of winter if I can, so it's not strictly a summer thing, but we all know that those summer tomatoes beat everything else hands down. Usually I roast a bunch of tomatoes whilst making bread and then we have dinner that involves dipping bread into warm roasted tomatoes and their juice. Then suddenly last week I was hit with inspiration, and honestly, I can't believe I hadn't done it before. This time I took some semi-dried tomatoes, chopped them up with some of their oil, tore a whole load of basil and mixed them together, then poked the mix into my rising dough.

The result? Heaven! N said he thought it might be the best thing I've ever made. Fortunately I'd made a huge batch, so for lunch the next day I sliced the pieces in half and made sandwiches. Oh-so-good. So, before the summer is over, before those light evenings disappear, make some of this, pour yourself a glass of wine and relish that vitamin d while it lasts.

Semi-dried tomato and basil focaccia - makes lots.

I cut it into probably 8 pieces, and careful it is very hard to resist not stuffing your face with all of them, there was nearly a fight in our flat over the portions. N won, in case you're wondering, because coming between that man and food is a dangerous business and no mistake (it's almost as bad as coming between Sniff and food, and you don't wanna go there).

500g strong white flour (or plain if you're out, like I was)
15g fresh yeast (or 10g dried instant)
50ml olive oil (the better the quality, the better the bread)
320ml water (I weight mine for accuracy)
Large handful of basil
semi-dried or roasted tomatoes (it's up to you, I used some from a local deli, but next time will just roast my own: punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved and laid cut-side up in a roasting pan, spray with oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar if you like it, sprinkle of salt and some more basil, cook at 190C until just going black at the edges, which will depend on the size of your tomatoes, usually about half an hour for me)

Place the flour and yeast into a bowl with a pinch of salt and stir (if it's fresh yeast crumble it over the top of the flour), make a well in the middle of the flour mix and pour in the oil and then the water. Mix until just coming together and then turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and kneed for about ten minutes, until it is smooth, elastic and no longer sticking to the work surface. Alternatively, place in a mixer with a dough hook and mix until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place bag into the bowl, slightly oiled and leave to rise for about an hour in a warm draft-free place, covered with a cloth.

Meanwhile, oil a large sheet baking tray (like a shallow swiss roll pan).

Once the dough has doubled in size, knock it back gently and then place the dough in the centre of the oiled pan and gently spread it out to the sides using the balls of your hands. You can oil your hands it if helps. Leave to rise for another 45mins or until almost double again.

Meanwhile tear the basil and place in a bowl with either a dash of olive oil, or oil from the semi-dried/roasted tomatoes. How many tomatoes you use is up to you, I like to have lots, so used a large handful. Chop the tomatoes into about thirds and toss with the basil. Leave to stand for five minutes.

Preheat the over to 200C. When the dough has risen, gently poke bits of the tomato and basil mix into it reasonably evenly all over it, any leftover oil rub over the dough. Then cook for 25-30mins until just going golden at the edges. Remove from the over and stand for five minutes before eating.

It's time for cake.

2009-08-14T08:23:00.009+01:00

There's about to be a celebration. Just a little one, it'll involve going to the pub and drinking some very fine organic cider and ale. It will probably involve stopping on the way at the luxurious knitting shop and buying purple wool.

What's there to celebrate, I hear you ask? Well, a collection of little things that are about to coincide. Firstly, I think today I will finish the main writing of my thesis. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I think there are only a couple of hundred words left to write. Quite the achievement for me, especially considering how much baking I've managed to fit in around it! Secondly, I'm going Up North next week to visit the folks. They've just returned from the most amazing holiday ever, and I haven't been back since December, so it's time. I want to swap holiday photos, knit and sew with Mum and steal as many of my father's amazing photography skills as possible! Finally, it's about to be the weekend. It may seem silly, but it's been "one of those weeks" and not having to get up early tomorrow is such a great and wonderful thing that I think it warrant a raising of glasses. Many glasses!

I think you should all celebrate with me, and so I bring you cake. Yep, this is the very recipe I used for the wedding cake. You should make it, you should treat yourself this weekend because I think you deserve it. It's rich, chocolatey, incredibly moist, and doesn't involve any boiling of eggs! Go ahead...

I'm afraid aside from the finished cake I don't have many photos as I was a little tied up in making everything as perfect as possible to grab the camera - and those sticky chocolatey fingers weren't going anywhere near my nikon! I have however got a couple of the filling and icing process which I'll share because for large cakes the technique I used was really helpful.

Super Sexy Chocolate Cake - serves you! (and maybe a friend or two if they're very lucky)

This recipe makes a large three layer cake, and made up the smallest "tier" of the wedding cake. To make the larger ones I just made lots and lots of this batter and hoped for the best. I also baked it at a lower temperature for longer. I totally recommend you indulge in the cake and share it with friends. Trust me, those will be friends for life! The other alternative is to make a simple two-layer cake and freeze the remaining batter. It freezes and thaws so well that it could mean in a few weeks time, when you're craving chocolate cupcakes, you've got the wherewithal sitting waiting!

I did everything in my mixer (because otherwise my arms would have fallen off I made so many batches,) but I've written it out for mixing by hand because frankly it's such an easy cake turning on the mixer might seem like effort!

3 cups plain flour
3 cups caster sugar
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder

250ml Buttermilk

3 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
250ml
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups freshly brewed coffee, cooled to room temperature

Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line three 8" round tins (or two and keep some batter aside)

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and cinnamon, until combined. Add the butter and buttermilk and stir slowly until moistened. Once you're now longer puffing clouds of chocolatey flour in the air (I speak from experience, don't try this on high on your mixer!) you can start stirring faster until it's light and fluffy.

Whisk the coffee into the beaten eggs (the coffee must be cool or you'll cook the eggs, a big no-no!). Then add to the batter in 3 additions, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating only until blended after each time. Divide the batter among the prepared pans; each tin will take about 3 1/4 cups of batter if you're using three tins,

Bake for 38 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove and cool completely before taking out of the pans (these are really moist cakes, so heed this instruction!).

When stacking I filled mine with a layer of swiss meringue buttercream and then strawberry jam. To avoid over-spill of the jam I piped a ring of buttercream around the edge of the top of each layer, like this:

This not only stopped the strawberry jam escaping, but helped with the stacking and overall icing.

I used the following icing recipe and loved it. I was worried because lots of people say it doesn't work, but if you keep mixing it does. You definitely need an electric hand whisk, or better yet a mixer for this as you need constant whipping action. If you don't have one, and don't need the cake to last long (as if it would!) then I highly recommend whipping cream by hand into peaks and then icing the cake with that. It'll make it like chocolate, strawberries and cream, oh yeah!

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream

1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
12 oz butter, softened (the softer the better in my opinion)
1/2 cup of melted dark chocolate

4 tablespoons cocoa

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Whisk egg whites and sugar together in a big metal bowl over a pot of simmering water (I actually used the mixer bowl as it made the whole thing quicker and easier in the long run) until you can’t feel the sugar granules when you rub the mixture between your fingers.

Move the bowl to the mixer and whip the mixture until it turns white and about doubles in size. Watch for any steam or condensation, you do not want that getting into the mix or it won't whip properly (I put a tea-towel around the bowl as I lifted it to make sure)

Add the vanilla and whip to combine then add the butter a bit at a time whilst whipping (I was putting in about a tablespoon each time, I know it takes forever but it's worth it), then pour in the melted chocolate and the cocoa. Whip, whip, whip! It might seem like it takes forever to come together, (and you'll know when it does) but stick with it and you'll have a great icing and one that can withstand all sorts of pain (like travelling in a hot car!).

Just because...

2009-08-10T18:47:00.006+01:00

...I can make a wedding cake, doesn't mean I can boil an egg!

Hatred of soft-boiled eggs (or any form of cooked eggs other than rock hard ones mashed with salad cream) + getting distracted by playing with the cat = strange alien egg formations in an over-boiled saucepan. Nice.

Back soon with a recipe for the most delicious chocolate cake ever (yep, it's the wedding cake one) and more "oh aren't I crazy to take on so much" confessions.

Let them eat cake

2009-08-06T12:27:00.004+01:00

Are you ready?

Last Sunday N drove very very carefully from North London to Cambridge, with three very fragile, moist and decadent chocolate wedding cakes nestled in the boot and backseat of the car. I winced at every slight acceleration, every tiny curve in the road, and at every traffic light that flipped to red at the last moment (it was a lot people, the traffic light gods were not on our side). But we made it, without incident, and after the slight panic over cake stands, and only one minor disaster, the cake was be-decked in ribbon and flowers and standing proudly ready to go.

And here it is:

Many apologies for the not-great photos. I'd had a few classes of champagne by this point, to quell my nerves, and drink to perhaps the most perfect couple I know tying the knot. (I managed not to blub during the ceremony, but it was a close call!)

The florist is the one who did the great job with the flowers, so I can't take credit for that, but the cake and ribbon is all me, and I have to say I was a little bit proud. There are two moments that stand out for me. The first was when people started walking into the hall and taking pictures of the cake. I never thought that something I made would warrant other people taking photos. I mean, yes, I take pictures of the things I make all the time, but to see other people doing it during ooh's and aaah's really made my heart swell a little. It made me ponder how perhaps I could do this sort of thing after all.

The other moment that really got me was when the bride, my amazing friend D, cut the cake and then leaned in, put her nose milimetres away from it and took in a huge satisfied nose of chocolate fumes and grinned. It was at this point that I knew it would all be alright. She was happy with it, and that's all I wanted. I stressed during the whole thing that it wouldn't be perfect enough for their big day, and I didn't want to let them down. I got that big sigh and grin from her and knew I'd done okay. I relaxed, and took a large satisfied gulp of wine. Everything was okay.

I'm so pleased I did it. It was worth all the stress and worry just to see D eagerly scoffing a piece of chocolate cake in her beautiful dress with a massive grin on her face. She'd been so relaxed about the whole thing (seriously, I've never heard of a bride who says things like "as long as we've got a cake made by you that tastes good we don't care what it looks like" and actually means it!), and I think that's the only thing that made it possible. I'm not the world's greatest cake decorator, in fact I'm not that great at all, and know I could never actually make wedding cakes professionally, but to do something to make a friend happy is something that makes me happy, and I'd do it all over again for her.

I'd crack, separate and whip 14 egg whites to make four batches of icing, I'd chop over a kilogram of chocolate and melt it, I'd cover myself, the flat and every available surface with batter, strawberries, cocoa, and swiss meringue buttercream, I'd discover splatters of jam on parts of my arms days later despite showers, I'd blue-tak cake bases into boxes so they don't move in transit, I'd even tie 112 bows of ribbon (more on that in another post). I'd do it all because that smile of genuine pleasure on a friend's face is the best reward I could ever have.

Thank you D and A for trusting me with your cake. (and thank you N for putting up with a flat full of chocolatey mess, and an exhuasted stressed little me, and still being good enough to drive me to the wedding after having been at another wedding the night before - seriously, how much is this guy amazing?!)

p.s. - I'll post more about the process in a couple of days. I know it's Thursday, but believe me I'm still recovering from the carnage!

All by ourselves

2009-07-28T16:32:00.004+01:00

Look!

We grew that. All by ourselves! I know earlier this year we had radishes, and last year we got two little tomatoes, so this doesn't technically count as our first harvest from the North London Garden. But it feels like it is, because this is more than a mouthful, this is enough for a meal, a meal made from a courgette picked just moments before cooking, from a pot in our back garden.

I feel so immensely proud. Last year we lost all nine of our courgette and squash plants to disease. This year, we seem to have prevailed, and are finally beginning to see the fruits (or rather the vegetables) of our labour.

My biggest problem after picking the courgette was knowing what to do with it. We have tonnes of courgette recipes. Being veggie they are a large part of our diet. The problem was that I wanted to make a dish with our not-so-little beauty as the star of the show.

In the end I settled for a puff pastry tart. My Mum and I discovered this concept in a restaurant years ago, and have been using it ever since. It's such a basic idea, but it's so effective.

You roll out puff pastry into a rectangle or square (or any shape you like really), and then place vegetables on top, sprinkle with a little cheese, dab the edges of the pastry with milk, and cook at 190C until the pastry edges are brown and puffed up. Simple, yet oh-so good. We have many variations of the recipe. I believe my Mum does it with roasted veg and lashings of cheddar, I often forgo the roasting, and add parmesan, basil and balsamic vinegar. However you do it, it really allows the vegetables to hold their own against a flaky puffy indulgent background.

This time I sliced the courgette really thin (note to self (I must invest in a mandolin, it would make things so much easier and faster) and layered them prettily on the pastry base. I then place little cherry tomatoes in between the rows. Over this I sprinkled a very light helping of Swiss cheese and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Off it went into the oven, and out came this:

It was so nice. I can't believe how amazing the courgette tasted. It just goes to prove how much better home-grown is.

I can't wait until our tomatoes and beans start fruiting!

nom nom nom nom nom nom....

2009-07-24T17:20:00.002+01:00

Now I know why our brassicas aren't doing very well. Grr.

It's all over...for now.

2009-07-21T10:59:00.004+01:00

I'm done, and done in really. I had my final day on the stall on Thursday, and now it's all over. It's a strange feeling. As I packed everything up on Thursday night and hoiked it into an awaiting taxi (just before the heavens opened and dumped half the north sea on London) I couldn't really work out how I felt about it all.

I still don't know how I feel really. It felt so good to be back working on a market, and even better when the nice comments about the product really were about my product. But at the same time I was relieved that I no longer had to spend any and every but of spare time making jam or granola, or cakes, or sticking labels on things.

One thing I do know. I'm exhausted. I've spent three weeks not being able to stop. Even when I did manage to find a spare minute that had relaxing potential I discovered something inside me that wouldn't let me calm down. Even N, who is used to my manic-ness got a bit worried about me. As a result the last three weeks have been unbelievably productive, and taken a huge toll. Suddenly this weekend my body gave in, and it doesn't seem to want to relinquish it's new-found power over my will to do things, especially anything involving the oven or stove.

I'm sure I should pay attention and accept that I should be lying in bed or on the sofa groaning softly and recouping. But oh no, there's a new project that must be done...

...I'm making a wedding cake!

The great British summer.

2009-07-13T22:35:00.003+01:00

I have a confession to make. I've never barbecued. I've been to a few (though not that many considering how we Brits love any excuse to don an apron al fresco), but have never actually taken it upon myself to stoke the coals.

Now some of this reluctance might have had something to do with never really having had a garden (except briefly during my final year of undergrad, but all I remember of the garden that summer was the loud rave music coming from the strange neighbours and the endless task of attempting to memorise the finer details of 18 Shakespeare plays - not much room for flipping veggie burgers as you can probably imagine), however, we did have a garden last year, and even a few sunny days (though it seemed more like sunny half hours to be honest) and yet the snail-infested barbecue was left to its own pestilent devices and the disposable grills never graced our decking.

Until now!

Yep, we finally broke and decided that barbecue time had rolled around. It'd been a tense day of cricket watching (frankly, all days being an England fan are tense due to our remarkable ability to invent a sport and immediately become rubbish at it) and the Pimms had been flowing, and suddenly I get the bright idea to hunt out a disposable grill that a friend had donated, fire it up and whack on the veggie sausages, halloumi and courgettes.It was of course thoroughly overcast and blowing a gale, true British barbecue weather, but hey! that's what it's all about, and didn't detract from tasty veggies on grilled bread smothered with homemade ketchup.We've got three grills left. It's going to be a tasty summer...

Here I go again!

2009-07-10T19:15:00.005+01:00

Glutton for punishment that I am, I took on not only one week on Covent Garden Real Food Market, but three! All this in the few weeks when I have a chapter deadline looming. Yes, it seemed like a good idea at the time.Anyway, somehow I am managing - just about - to hold everything together, and so yesterday I lugged my trolley, backpack and huge Farmer's market shoulder bag on the rush hour tube and just about managed to make it to Covent Garden, both on time and intact. I must have been quite a sight dragging my stuff around. A fundamental flaw in my business plan is the fact that I don't drive! Oops!
So by the time I arrived I was already exhausted and I hadn't even set out the stall, let alone stood behind it for eleven hours. This time I remembered to charge my little point-and-shoot camera, and couldn't resist having it tucked in my bag so I could share some pictures with you.

After last weeks mild disaster with the baked stuff not selling I did a lot of thinking and decided that making stuff I thought was a winner in hot weather had actually put me at a disadvantage. It didn't show off my skills at all, as I think lots of people were looking at the stuff and thinking "well I can make cookies and scones" and not bothering.
This week I decided to completely change the approach. I made things I really like making, things I think look great and taste great, and things that if they didn't sell, would frankly be gobbled up once they got home, rather than making the trip into the depths of the freezer. I hope that this stuff would show off my skills a bit more too, and be a bit more impressive. Oh, and it would be cooler, so hopefully people would be hungry.

On top of this approach, I made more of the best sellers from last week (the white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies and the two granola's) and topped up my jam and chutney displays. All in all I might have been exhausted when I arrived, but I was feeling pretty psyched about the day, and aiming to try and sell out.
Of course, things never turn out the way you would hope.

I thought that the comfortable temperatures and spattering of sunshine would bring out droves of people to the market, alas this was not the case, and the day started reeeeeaaaaallllllly slowly. I barely sold anything in the first few hours, and even the supply of wine from my amazing friends on the stall next to me was doing little to lift my spirits. I have to admit that at one point I even got a little teary and pondered why on earth I was doing this whole thing, and what was I thinking trying to start a business when I'm clearly not good enough. These thoughts weren't helped by the lady who tasted one of the jams, pronouced it "alright" and flounced off, or the lady who tasted a different jam and said "oh, it's very sweet and sugary" (it's jam people, fruit preserved in SUGAR?!). So yes, things were not going all that well.However, things did slowly pick up, and although this week my jams and chutneys didn't sell as well (I partly put this down to being sold out of my most popular chutney the previous week), I did almost sell out of all the baked goods, with only a few fruit tarts left over at the end of the day (which were very successfully traded for some very delicious looking food from other people).

This week truly has showed me that Covent Garden is a strange market indeed. My knowledge of markets is based on specialist food markets, and my products bear that in mind. However, Covent Garden isn't usually occupied by foodie stuff, and so the crowd just isn't the same. Well, that's the verdict of myself and several other traders I spoke to.

So yes, perhaps it isn't that my stuff isn't good enough, perhaps it's just not in the right place, perhaps my takings (which haven't been as high as hoped for) are actually pretty good. We shall see. I have one more week, and after some very nice and supportive hugs from N (who came down after work, kept me sane for the last hour helping me sell, packed down with me, and then even dragged the trolley home after a few too many post-work pints) I've decided that I'm going to go all out. I'm going to bake lots and lots of stuff, and make more jams and chutney and hopefully it'll be a bonanza week.

Plus, there is a huge food event going on in Covent Garden next week, someone is making a giant cupcake at lunchtime, so who know, the place might be packed with food loving (jam buying) people!

Fingers crossed I can go out with a bang, and if you fancy a taste of the world's largest cupcake, or some baked stuff from moi, please pop down and say hello.

Back on the horse

2009-07-05T18:58:00.004+01:00

I love summer. Okay, it doesn't have the crisp bright mornings of autumn, or the cosy evenings of winter, or the fresh new smells of spring. But it does have sunshine (no really, this year England seems to have remembered what summer is all about and conjoured up some proper hot sunshine!) and with that sunshine comes flowers, and after flowers, fruit!

Although the berries in our garden don't seem to be thriving (I'm not sure why, I clearly need to do some more reading up on the matter) the farmer's market has been packed with bright jewels

Look!
I can't tell you how excited I was when I spotted the above. Loganberries! I'd never actually seen a loganberry in real life until this morning, I'd only seen photos and eaten them in jam. My favourite jam ever in fact. Loganberries are like raspberries, but larger, sharper and richer, they make the most divine jam, and I wanted me some of that.

I know, just last week I was complaining at how much jam I had to make and how ridiculous a project preserving is in such hot weather. Well, today I got right back on the horse. I had to, these red babies just called out to be potted for later in the year. The loganberry season is notoriously short and by the time we'd dragged ourselves out of bed and to the farmer's market there were only two punnets left. I pounced on them and couldn't give the man the cash fast enough!

I wasn't sure at that point what I was going to do with them, I just knew they had to be mine. I pondered a fool, or tarts topped with them, or even a compote. But having removed all the stalks I weighed the results and had almost a pound, just enough to produce two little jars of jam.

So now, I can put these pots of goodness away until the winter, and then indulge and be smug that I finally managed to snatch some up for my very own in the summer.

See, no matter how hot or hard the days, I can't be kept out of the kitchen! And don't worry, I have a lovely plan for those gooseberries, which will be coming soon.

Loganberry Jam: Makes 1 2/3 lbs.

450g loganberries (after the stalks have been removed and the berries washed and patted dry)
450g sugar
squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Place the berries in a large pan with the squeeze of lemon juice (this is not for set, as loganberries set really well, I use it for a hint of extra tartness and stop the jam being too sweet), cook over a low heat until the juices are released and the berries become tender. Add the sugar and stir until it has completely dissolved. Then raise the heat and boil rapidly until set (this will probably occur very quickly). Pour into hot sterilised jars and seal.

The jam should keep for a year, but refridgerate after opening.

Gosh

2009-07-03T18:27:00.004+01:00

I am so exhausted. I didn't drag my aching body out of bed until past midday and have spent most of the day on the sofa blurry eyed attempting to edit a chapter, or keep my concentration up for longer than a few minutes. I'd forgotten just what hard work it is standing up all day. I don't remember it being quite so tiring when I was at Borough. Then again, when I worked that market I hadn't spent the week beforehand putting in long days baking, preserving, designing business cards, labels and obsessing over stall layouts.

I don't think the heat helped much either!

Who's idea was it to make it the hottest day of the year when I had to stand up for eleven hours trying to sell homemade products to overheated tourists?!

Another bad picture as I didn't want to risk my camera at the market, but you get the idea of what my little stall looked like. I was expecting a double pitch and had planned the amount of stock I had accordingly, so I was a little disappointed to discover I only had one table to squeeze things onto. However, I did the best I could. I think.

The whole thing was such a learning curve, and the heat probably made the day a little unusual, but I feel like I've learnt so much. Overall I was pleased with the experience, but disappointed with the result. I know that must sound strange, but I'll explain. The response from people was wonderful, everyone was really interested in my flavour pairing, and encouraging about me trying to kick-start the From a North London Kitchen empire. Also, I couldn't believe how many people came down to show support, not only my friends (friends I hadn't seen for years who took time out of their precious lunch hours to keep me company, or friends who walked all the way from north london just to visit for half an hour, or friends who took tubes from work just to stop by) but also people from the blogging world, and the UK food bloggers association. It comfirmed what I already knew, that you lot out there are an amazing supportive bunch.

I got to meet the lovely lady of Green Ink (who was wearing the most fabulous green summer dress *want*), and soon after Julia of A Slice of Cherry Pie and Kavey of Kavey Eats bumped into each other in front of the stall. Their smiles and enthusiasm got me through the final hours, and Julia took what I'm sure are some very embarrassing photos, which she's promised to share in the next week or so. Oh dear!

I also caught up with some friends from Borough (who even let me store my leftover stock in their premises until next week, saving me a cab ride that would have left me with virtually no cash after a hard days work), and made some new ones, reminding me of the great camaraderie of the market, something that make the hard days worth it.

But, the actual selling didn't go as well as I'd hoped. The preserves went well, which is great, but the baked stuff just wasn't going. Frankly, I don't blame people as it was so unbelievably hot in the piazza that I didn't touch a bite all day and the last thing I would have wanted would have been baked stuff. However, I had spent almost fourteen hours the day before making as much as possible in fear of running out of stock and not being able to fill the space, and so going home having sold only a sixth of it was somewhat demoralising.

I'm hoping that next week it'll be cooler and people will be in the mood for some tasty goodies (well, I think they're tasty). I did speak to another trader who I know from Borough who said she just couldn't figure Covent Garden out, no week has yielded anything expected. Something that was nice to know.

So yes, there it is. A real mixed bag. I'm glad I'm doing more than one week, because I think if yesterday had been it I might have been ready to quit the whole stupid idea of starting a company. As it happens, I got enough positive feedback about my preserves, and enough people interested in my business cards, that I shall push on, try new things, and do it all over again with excitement and anticipation for the second go.

I'm mad aren't I?!

The reveal (part two)

2009-06-29T14:52:00.003+01:00

No time for a good picture this week. Why? Because it's action stations in the North London Kitchen. I can finally reveal the massive project I've been working on, which is possibly the most exciting and terrifying thing ever...

...I'm going to be selling my products at the Covent Garden Real Food Market! Ohmygoodness! Basically, if you live in London, for the next three Thursdays (2nd, 9th and 16th July) you can come down and see little ole me and my jams, chutneys, cakes, cookies and such like, and even buy it! I'll be in the piazza of Covent Garden (near the Royal Opera House end) from 12pm - 8pm each week.

I've been wanting to make NLK into a business for so long now, but didn't know where to start, and was convinced when friends and family said things like "you could sell this you know" that they were just being polite. Well, they probably were, but as of Thursday I'll actually find out. Who knows, it might be the start of my empire, it might lead to nothing. But's it's going to be great fun and a wonderful experience.

It's all part of the UK Food Bloggers Association, and I must thank them and particularly Julia Parsons so much for providing the opportunity.

I'd love to see some of you down there (don't worry, there's won't be any hard sell, just some nervous grinning). Sorry I can't give more exciting recipes and tales from NZ, but right now I have tomorrow's teaching to prepare, a chapter of the Phd to edit and a price list to put together. Eek!

And the award goes to...

2009-06-26T09:16:00.003+01:00

...ME!

I had another post all worked out for today, and then out of the blue I got an award!

Ta da!

The lovely lady what lunches, Cucinista, has honoured me by passing on the "One lovely blog" award, my first ever blogging award. Thank you so much!

So what happens now? Well, first of all you head right on over to Working Lunch and check out the fabness. This is a lady that takes lunches very seriously indeed, and frankly so would I if I took the time to prepare the gorgeous meals she does. Salad with avocado and grapefruit, oh yeah.

Next? The rules of the game are that I have to pass the award on to ten other blogs I've discovered recently and think are damn fine. Here, I hit a wall, not because I can't think of ten lovely blogs, believe me I can probably list almost a hundred, the problem is that so many of them have either had the award, or are so well known that everyone already knows they are lovely.

My solution is to name six very special blogs that I follow obsessively, and that more people should know about. I hope that is alright with everyone. Here's my pick in no particular order:

The Transplanted Baker - Siri upped sticks from the confort of Minneapolis to the Fiords of Norway, and has done with with an ease and style I envy. Plus she digs pie and bread with a passion. What's not to love about her?

Arctic Garden Studio - Nicole is my blogger-ganger (like a doppleganger in the blogging world), she preserves, she knits, she loves buttons, is obsessed with lemon and somehow always manages to post things I am thinking about.

Green Ink - a literary Londoner (well, living in London at least!), need I say more?! Get thee hence to her page.

Shutterbean - I'm not sure how I stumbled across Tracy's blog, but I do remember arriving and then losing hours going through her previous posts. This lady has style, her obsession with black and white reminds me of a very close friend, and her home and cooking are just beautiful. I'd harbour some seriously jealousy if it wasn't for how downright nice this lady is, and just how effortlessly she seems to cope with balancing being a new Mum with absolutely everything else!

The Domestic Novice - There is nothing of the novice about this lady, I can tell you. Gorgeous summer cakes and the pictures of flowers will have you wishing for days in the garden tending to flower beds and drinking white wine and eating sponge cake. Or is that just me?

Batter Splattered - I was originally only going to post five blogs, but it would be a huge injustice not to have Molly in my list as I owe her so much. In fact, I would love to give her a special award of her very own, the "Molly Rocks" award. She is the lady who got me blogging, she said far too many nice things about my writing when I was still a humble invitiation-only, "I bet only my Mum would read this" blogger. She pulled me in with her love of thrift store scores, her jammin' jelly and her appreciation of a cold beer on a hot afternoon. She's also an Alaskan. Boy, those Alaskan ladies are something special aren't they? I wish that Molly and I lived closer as I can just see us sitting on a deck in the soft summer evening light sharing a beer and talking about recipes with unusual names.

So there you go, that's my list. There could have been so many more, but the above ladies are ones that make me grin every day, and make me thankful for the blogging community.

Now, I'm off to put things in jars...more about this later in "The reveal (part two)" hehe.

The reveal (part one)

2009-06-23T08:40:00.005+01:00

So, I have a confession to make, which might go a little way to explaining why I have been slack in commenting and reading blogs recently. It's not because I've fallen out of love with you all, oh no, I'm just as obsessed with all the gorgeous blogs and food out there as ever, it's just been the slight issue of being across the world in the southern hemisphere.

Yep, you heard that right, for the past month I've been in New Zealand.

Er, surprise!

I know it will probably be quite a shock since I decided to do what K has called "phantom blogging." I just didn't want this little space to get neglected while I was freezing my ass off spurning the English summer for a proper winter.

Why was I there? Well, friends of ours were getting married, and it couldn't be missed, and given that it was going to take us almost thirty bum-aching hours on a plane to get there we figured we might as well make a holiday out of it. Now yes, it does seem a little strange to me both get married and holiday in winter, since my experience of winter is of dull grey perpetual rain. NZ, being the gorgeous place it is, does winter a little differently. Okay, it was bloody freezing, and even with my layers of alpaca jumper, coat and a windproof waterproof jacket the cold was biting at times, but the sun was out almost every day and the autumnal colours were still hanging on the trees. I don't think it could have been more beautiful if it tried. Plus, can you imagine wedding photos on the tops of snowy mountains?!

Yes. I get it now! I've always loved the idea of a proper autumn or winter, but it's so rare to get them here in England, now I feel completely spoiled as I got a second winter that showed me just how perfect bright cold days can be, and have returned to hot weather and a greenhouse full of tomato plants! The best of both worlds.

So yes, as you can probably see I have so much to tell about, including my baking exploits in hostels! It's true you know, you can take the baker out of her kitchen, but you can't take the want for baking out of the girl.

I shall post exciting things about my experiments soon, and share part two of the reveal in a couple of days when the world stops being a bit blurry and jet-lagged around the edges.

Until then, it's very very good to be back, and I'm loving catching up with everyone's news.

p.s. Nicole, thank you so much for the Hokey-Pokey heads up...have you had it on rhubarb? Oh yes. mmmmm.......

Wholesome, yet tarty!

2009-06-19T11:45:00.000+01:00

I realised a few days ago that onions seemed to be reproducing in the veg bowl. Every time I walked past more seemed to have appeared.
Now, I like onions, but when there are only two of us it's sometimes hard to use them all up. Not unlike the bananas that make their way into the flat. I'll chop an onion for a pasta sauce, or soup, or stew, or to top some bread, but then I'm still left with a few billion vying for my attention.

So this week I decided it was time for a serious attack, before they got too comfortable and started sprouting.

I've become rather addicted to caramalised balsamic onions. I first discovered them on Valentine's day last year when I made an onion tart from Delia Smith's Vegetarian Collection. She suggested red onions, as you get a slightly sweeter flavour, but I've since done it with normal white onions on many occasions for topping cornbread or focaccia and I still really enjoy it. If anything I like the less sweet version.

Whilst eyeing up the onion situation this little tart came to mind. Delia makes them as starters, but I figured that with all the onions I had I could make a large version topped with little rounds of chili-rolled goats cheese. I also decided that instead of the cheese-heavy pastry that Delia uses, I would make a more wholesome version using light wholemeal flour (which has been ground down much finer than usual wholemeal to make it more suitable for cakes and pastry).I was really pleased with how this turned out, the only problem was I made too much of the onion filling! I was so keen to use up the surplus that I just kept chopping! So now we're going to be eating caramalised onions with everything. Oh well, they are tasty and I'm sure it's good for you, I'm just not sure I fancy them for every meal.

Caramalised onion tart with goats cheese: serves 4-6.

First make the pastry so it can rest in the fridge.

8oz light wholemeal flour
4oz cold butter
sprinkling of salt
cold milk

Sprinkle the salt over the flour and then rub in the butter until you get a coarse breadcrumb texture. Then slowly add milk, a tablespoon at a time, until it just comes together as a dough. Leave to rest in the fridge for 30mins.

Preheat oven to 180C. Then roll out and lift into a 8 inch loose-bottomed tart tin. Prick the pastry with a fork and then fill with baking beans and blind-bake for 20mins. Remove from the oven when slightly golden and leave to cool.

Filling:

4 large onions
oil
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
goats cheese log, cut into as many slices as you want to top the pie.

Slice the onions and the place in a pan with the oil. Cook over a low heat for about 20mins until soft, glossy and golden. Add the vinegar, stir and continue to cook for another ten minutes. Leave to cool.

When cool, place the onions into the tart shell, and then top with the roads of goats cheese. Place back in the 180C oven and cook for about 20mins until the goats cheese is just beginning to melt and brown. Remove, rest for five minutes and then serve.

Peachy

2009-06-15T12:17:00.004+01:00

I've become rather addicted to scones recently. I've started using them as my go-to breakfast option when we don't have any bread. I think it's because the cricket season makes me want high tea with scones and strawberry jam. There'll be plenty of time for that later in the summer, so at the moment I'm doing a bit of experimenting.

We don't have an indulgent breakfast every week, but probably once a month I decide it's time to celebrate a lazy Sunday with a spot of baking.

Another reason that I decided we should have scones was because I was desperate to try one of my newest jam recipes. Yes, it's that time again, I've started on the preserving kick! I had a flurry in January with the marmalade season, and then a few chutneys got tried, but then I tailed off a little. Partly because there is less fruit around at the tail end of winter, but mostly because I ran out of jars! However, good friends of ours recently - and very kindly indeed - donated their kilner and preserving jars to us. With two little ones now they rarely have time to watch children and boiling sugar, so things were handed over to me. How lovely is that!Remember I alluded to a big project coming up? Well this jam may well be part of it, and I wanted to test it, and more importantly I wanted the resident North London Kitchen taster to try it. What better way to do that than to have it on fresh hot scones.So I whipped up a batch of sour cherry and vanilla scones and we ate them in the sunshine topped with my new peach and mango jam. I'm not sure which went down better, the scones or the preserve!I won't share the jam recipe just yet, but I do recommend the scones. They are light and fluffy and a little too indulgent for breakfast, so call it brunch and no-one will notice!
Sour Cherry Vanilla Scones: Makes 4

4 oz of Self-raising flour
1 oz cold butter
3/4 oz sugar
1tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
handful dried sour cherries.
Cold milk.

Preheat the oven to 200C, line a baking tray.

Put the flour, sugar, soda and tartar in a bowl and combine. Then rub in the cold butter. Add the sour cherries, and then the vanilla, and enough milk to just make a dough (probably about a tablespoon, or a little more). Roll out the dough - but not too thin, as it won't rise much, so bare this in mind. I make mine pretty thick. Cut our four rounds. Place on the baking tray and bake for 1o mins. Rest for as long as you can hold out, then cut and top with your favourite jam.

Too cute for words

2009-06-13T11:42:00.001+01:00

A change of pace

2009-06-11T19:17:00.001+01:00

When the weather gets warmer things seem to slow down. Everything becomes more lazy and languid, and that's exactly how I begin to approach our evening meals.

I no longer want meals where I have to stand and prep veg for ages, instead I like to spend time with N in the garden, sitting in the early evening sunshine with a chilled glass of wine. We sit, read the paper and enjoy the comfortable silence between us. It's only when this calm is broken by growling stomachs that dinner occurs to me, and I want something simple, quick and satisfying.

I swear that we both must have some Italian in our blood, because we rely on Italian food for almost all our meals in some regard (except when we're eating curry!) and in summer this is even more pronounced. We eat hot fresh bread with salads, or simply with roasted tomatoes and a slice of cheese.One thing I don't do nearly enough is bruschetta. It's such a simple and delicious dish, and yet for some reason it rarely crosses my mind. This week however, with some sourdough getting a little past it's best in the cupboard and a punnet of ripe cherry tomatoes in the fridge, it was the first thing I fancied.

I simply toasted the bread on one side under the grill. While this was happening I roughly chopped the cherry tomatoes and mixed them in a bowl with some chili oil, a whole load of torn basil, a squirt of tomato puree and the tiniest dash of balsamic vinegar. I then piled this onto the untoasted side of the bread, grated some parmesan over the top and popped the whole thing back under the grill until it sizzled.

Served with a light salad of simply leaves and a very cold glass of Pinot Grigio it was the perfect thing for a light evening meal in the wanning sunshine.

Summer salads...

2009-06-08T13:29:00.000+01:00

...are on their way. Slowly.

Dinner for one

2009-06-04T23:07:00.002+01:00

I'm not very good at doing dinner for one. I can cook, that's not the problem. I can cook small portions, that's not the problem either. The thing is, I very rarely want to cook when it's just for me.

Now this presents a problem, as once a week, like clockwork N is out in the evening and I am left to fend for myself. It doesn't matter if the flat is rammed with all the most delicious possibilities, I am far more likely to pop to the corner shop, buy a small tin of tomato soup.

This sort of attitude to cooking for myself that has developed over the years that N and I have been together has resulted in some very strange meals while N is out. All of them tasty enough - yes, porridge is dinner, yes, so is peanut butter on toast, and yes all of these should be accompanied by an episode of Columbo and a large glass of wine - but none really what I'm sure many people would call a "proper" dinner.

A few weeks ago I found the usual night rolling around, and the cupboard even more bare than usual. It was at this point that I also discovered the box of eggs on the verge of their use-by date lurking in the back of the fridge.

"Brilliant!" I'm sure most people would think, omelette time! Thing is, I don't like eggs. Never have. No quiche for me, or scrambled or fried for breakfast. Bung them in a cake, no problem, but actually have to face them alone, and I'm outta there.

With one exception. Egg mayonnaise. It doesn't happen often, but sometimes, on a very rare occasion I find myself in the mood. To demonstrate how rare this is, I can confess that when I made this dish a few weeks ago I actually had to phone my Mum and ask how long to boil the egg for. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that's how little experience of eggs I have!

So when I make egg mayonnaise it has to be special. It has to be worth adorning the gorgeous things that are cream crackers. And so I give you, egg mayonnaise, my way:

Egg mayonnaise ala moi.

4 large eggs
Heinz light salad cream
freshly ground black pepper
dijon mustard

Boil the eggs for as long as you need to boil eggs for. I'm still a little vague on this, I think I did mine for about ten minutes because I want to knock any softness out of them! Once the eggs have been boiled and cooled shell them and either using a clever egg slicing gadget (like the one I inherited from my grandmother and sat in our bottom drawer for three years until I needed it last week) or the high-tec method (a knife) chop the egg into small pieces. Grind the black pepper over it. Use lots, you always need more than you think you do. Stir. Then add a healthy squirt of salad cream. No posh proper mayo here, it's against the law in my egg mayonnaise making. You want enough to coat the egg, without the whole mixture being totally sloppy. Then add about a tablespoon of mustard, or to taste. Then grind in more pepper, mix and serve on cream crackers.

This amount made enough for me to have crackers for dinner and then a sandwich the next day.

Getting territorial

2009-05-31T08:04:00.000+01:00

Sniff would like to point out that the quilt I commented about in the last post isn't N's at all. It's his.