Farmersgirl Kitchen

Lunch at Hadrian's Brasserie, Edinburgh

2012-01-28T20:30:00.000Z

Today we went to Edinburgh for a Spa Day at the Balmoral Hotel. This was a Christmas present from my Mum and included lunch in Hadrian's Brasserie. The Spa is superb and the treatments were excellent, it's not cheap, but is a lovely treat.

Apologies for the quality of the photos, I didn't want to take my DSLR with me so took the little Nikon L2. It reminded me why I upgraded! This is the menu which you probably can't read, the two course lunch was included in the Spa Day Package.

Brian chose the Lanark Blue Salad with Walnuts and Pear which he enjoyed, the pear was red, we weren't sure if it had been marinaded in something or was a red pear!

I had the Roast Pumpkin soup with Parmesan Croutons, it was very smooth although I thought it could had done with a little more seasoning.

The starters were served with a wooden platter of rolls, in fact they brought us a second serving of rolls, they were very nice although a little chewy.

We both chose the Sea Bream with wilted spinach, red pepper, baby artichokes and salsa verdi. Now this was really delicious, the skin was crips and the flesh was perfectly cooked, the vegetables and sauce were also excellent.

Overall, I felt the menu was overpriced and although the food was very good and the service was very attentive, I don't think it was good value. I stayed over at the Carrick Lodge Hotel in Ayr last Monday night and had a superb meal with excellent service that was a much better deal.

Random Recipes - Beetroot and Black Cumin Soup

2012-01-25T21:53:00.000Z

For the New Year, Dom at Belleau Kitchen has invited us to cook from a new cookbook. Now I only got one cookbook for Christmas and it features nothing but...CHOCOLATE! However, the house is still full of chocs and biscuits, the fridge still has two jars of homemade mincemeat and we have only just finished the Christmas cake, so I really couldn't face making any more sweet things.

So instead I turned to the books I won from Ren Behan at Fabulicious Food, I got all three of the Moro cookbooks by Sam and Sam Clark. I randomly chose the original Moro book from the three. Then I opened the book in a random sort of way and found that I had chosen

Beetroot Soup with Black Cumin

4tbsp olive oil
1/2 large Spanish onion,thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 rounded tsp black cumin or normal cumin seeds
750g raw beetroot, peeled and finely diced
1 large potato, finely diced
1.25 litres cold water
3 tbsp good quality red wine vinegar
1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
100g home-made or Greek yoghurt, thinned iwht a little milk an seasoned with 1 garlic clove crushed to a paste with sea salt and black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook for 10 mintues, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to colour. Now add the garlic and cumin and cook for 2 more minutes to release their flavour, followed by the beetroot and potato. Pour in the water, bring to a gentle simmer and cook until soft, about 15 minutes (I don't think I chopped mine small enough as it took much longer to soften). Place the vegetables and the cooking liquid in a blender or food processor and blend until just smooth. You may need to do this in two stages. Return to the pan, add the vinegar, half the parsely and salt and pepper to taste, bearing in mind you may need more salt than you think to blance out the acidity of the vinegar. Servie with a little yoghurt on top, the rest of the parsley and an extra drizzle of olive oil.

The soup was very easy to make and looks incredible, it has an interesting sweet and sour taste with the combination of the sweet beetroot and the red wine vinegar. I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't taste the cumin and I did actually use black cumin but I can't say it was obvious. I would make it again but might increase the amount of cumin, or maybe use some ground as well as cumin seeds.

Gong Hey Fat Choy - Sang choi bao

2012-01-23T09:00:00.000Z

Happy Chinese New Year and Welcome to the Year of the Dragon! We celebrated Chinese New Year with another recipe from February's Delicious Magazine, San choi bao or prawn, mushroom and vegetable wraps, and I served it with the suggested garnishes of spring onions, fried shallots, toasted sesame seeds and peanuts.

You are supposed to use the lettuce leaves as sort of wraps but they tended to fall apart. The recipe suggested 'round' lettuce but I think it might work better with iceberg letter which might hold together better with the warm food.

Dragon – 龍 / 龙 (辰) (Yang, 1st Trine, Fixed Element Wood): Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong, self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, eccentric, intellectual, fiery, passionate, decisive, pioneering, artistic, generous, loyal. Can be tactless, arrogant, imperious, tyrannical, demanding, intolerant, dogmatic, violent, impetuous, brash.

Delicious Flamiche (Flemish Leek Tart)

2012-01-22T11:58:00.001Z

My friend has recently been in hospital for major surgery, she is back home now and I went to visit her yesterday taking with me a lunch of this Leek Tart. The recipe is in the February edition of Delicious Magazine and not available on the website yet, but hopefully it will be once the March edition is published.

I have to say we were both mightily impressed by this tasty tart, the cheesy pastry and leek, creme fraiche and egg filling (I also added an 50g of cheese to the filling mix) was moist and the pastry was still crisp underneath - hurrah, no soggy bottom!

I accompanied the tart with a roasted tomato salsa. The cherry tomatoes were roasted because they were just not quite as ripe as I would have liked, so I drizzled them with olive oil and a little salt and stuck them in a hot oven for 10 minutes. Once they had cooled, I mixed them with diced celery, cucumber and coriander, poured in the remaining roasting oil and a little white wine vinegar. No photos of that I'm afraid as I was hurrying out the door to get to my friend's house for lunchtime!

Haddock Mornay Layer Bake - keen as mustard!

2012-01-14T20:25:00.000Z

All of this little lot came to me from Kelly Atkins at Food Matters. They are working with Henry Harris and Grey Poupon to show the versatility of Grey Poupon Dijon mustard as an ingredient in cooking. Grey Poupon is one of the finest Dijon mustards, it’s the white wine in the ingredients that makes it superior to its competitors and the flavour it creates when used as an ingredient is very unique.

I opted to make a fish dish and only specified some spinach, the rest of the ingredients were a surprise to me a bit like doing 'Ready Steady Cook'!

So here is what came in my bag:
2 Haddock Fillets
260g bag of Spinach
220g Blue Stilton
300ml Creme Fraiche
2 Leeks
3 potatoes
215g jar of Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard

You will also need:
2 tbsp olive oil
75g butter
1 tsp cornflour
50g Gran Padano cheese, grated
100g mature cheddar, grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

After much thought and some inspiration hunting through my cookbooks, I decided to make a layered bake.

Put 1 tbsp olive oil and 15g butter in a large pan, add the leeks when the butter begins to sizzle. Saute the leeks gently until they are soft and slightly golden. Tranfer them to an ovenproof baking dish, season with salt and pepper.

Put the other 1tbsp of olive oil and 15g butter into the pan and add the whole bag of spinach leaves once the butter begins to sizzle. Cover the pan (I used a sheet of foil and cook gently until the spinach has wilted, about 5 minutes.

Place the wilted spinach over the leeks in the ovenproof dish, season with salt and pepper.

If the fish has skin, remove the skin and cut the fish fillets into chunks and spread over the spinach and leeks. Season with salt and pepper.

Put a tsp of cornflour into a bowl and add about a tbsp cold milk, mix together. The cornflour will help the creme fraiche not to split when the dish is baked.

and now for the mustard, add a generous teaspoonful of Grey Poupon Dijon Mustard to the milk and cornflour and mix thoroughly.

Add the Creme Fraiche and the two chesses and mix together.

Spread the mixture over the fish and vegetables layers.

Peel the potatoes and slice thinly, parboil in a pan of boiling water for about 5-10 minutes until soft but not breaking up. Top the ovenproof dish with the potatoes. Melt around 20g of butter in a pan and brush the potato slices with the melted butter.

Bake in the oven at 180C for 30 minutes until the sauce is hot and bubbling and the potatoes are golden brown.

I was really pleased with the taste of this dish, you could taste all the ingredients but no one overpowered the others and the crispy texture of the potatoes was a nice contrast to the creamy sauce and soft vegetables.

Now the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that I did not use the Stilton. I felt that it would have overpowered the taste of fish and I wanted the mustard to be the dominant flavour. However, I thought it might be nice to accompany the Fish Bake with a salad and a little Blue Cheese Dressing.

Blue Cheese Dressing

100g Blue Stilton

2oz cream cheese

1 tbsp mayonnaise

100ml single cream

Crumble the blue cheese, set aside about 1/3 of the cheese and mix the rest with the cream cheese until well blended.

Stir in the mayonnaise and the single cream, then stir in the remaining blue cheese.

Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 3 hours to blend the flavours

I made a simple Waldorf salad with Romaine lettuce, chopped celery, sliced apple and chopped walnuts, combined with the Blue Cheese dressing this was very good and a complete contrast to the fish bake.

I'm not convinced these are ideal parnters but the Blue Cheese dressing would make an outstanding dip to have with crudites as it really complimented the celery (especially when I was testing it out before serving!)

Lamb Tagine

2012-01-09T21:34:00.000Z

I bought a pomegranate last week and then wondered what to do with it! So I thought I'd make a Lamb Tagine, I used the recipe from my Good Housekeeping book but bumped up the veg content to make it go further and make it healthier. I topped it off with chopped coriander and the pomegranate seeds which I loved by were not so popular with my husband!

Lamb Tagine

1.4kg boneless leg or shoulder of lamb

4 parsnips, peeled and cubed

6 medium carrots, peeled and cubed

1/2 Celeriac root, peeled and cubed

2 tsp ground ginger

2tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp saffron strands

5 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper

275g pearl onions or shallots (I just used ordinary onions and cut them into chunks)

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1 tbsp plain flour

1tbsp tomato paste

450ml lamb or chicken stock

150ml sherry

2tbsp chopped fresh coriander

2tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

75g stoned dates

1 tbsp honey

coriander leaves to garnish

1. Cut the lamb into 4cm cubes. Place in a bowl with the ginger, ground coriander, saffron and 1 tbsp oil. Season, cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

2. If using pearl onions or shallots, immerse them in biling water for 2 minutes, drain, refresh in cold water and peel.

3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a heavy based flameproof casserole and brown the lamb in batches, using more oil if necessary. Add the garlic and stir over the heat for 1 minute. Add the onions and the cubed vegetables and cook over a medium heat until slightly softened and caramelised.

4. Return the lamb to the casserole. Stir in the flour and tomato paste, then add the stock, sherry, herbs and cinnamon stick. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, cover and cook at 180C for 1 1/4 hours, stirring occasionally.

5. Discard the cinnamon and bayleaf. Add the dates and honey and return to the oven for 15-20 minutes. Garnish with coriander and serve with couscous.

Stollen Bread Pudding

2012-01-07T20:33:00.000Z

Are you still eating leftovers? We seem to have a lot of cakes, cookies, biscuits and chocolates left. My SIL brought a large Stollen down at Christmas and although half of it had gone, there was still a big piece left and it was beginning to dry up, so I decided to make it into dessert.

I buttered the oven dish, sliced the Stollen and laid it into the dish added a few spoonfuls of apricot jam (left over from marzipanning the Christmas Cake), beat together 3 eggs and about 1/2 pint of milk and poured it over the Stollen. I didn't add any sugar to the mixture as I would with plain bread, the Stollen was quite sweet enough.

I know I'm a day late, but I am entering this for Frugal Food Fridays
run by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours.

Bad photos, good food

2012-01-02T14:31:00.002Z

There is nothing I like better than making little bits and pieces of party food. I am not a great party giver, something to do with living out in the country and the general state of tension it leaves me in!!!

However, this year for New Year's Day we had a little family party and I spent the morning cutting up little squares of rye bread with pate, cheese or prawn toppings, making bruscetta, and filling bowls full of crisps. Add to that a Lemon Tart (not home made) and some Christmas cake and we had an instant party.

The photos were taken from my new Flip video camera so the quality is not as good as my DSLR but it is very handy. I also didn't get to the table before the hungry visitors, so the paltes are a little dimished, but I am sure you get the general idea.

Here is my plate, gherkins and chilli jams were served separately as some guests like their food very plain. I forgot to mention the sausage rolls, my grandson loves them so I made some specially for him.

I hope you all enjoyed your parties and are ready for another year of cooking, baking and sharing your passion for food.

Farmersgirl Recipe Round Up 2011

2011-12-31T11:00:00.000Z

2011 is drawing to an end, it's been a busy blogging year at Farmersgirl Kitchen so I've done a little round up of the most popular post from each month. Wishing you all a very Happy New Year and hope you will visit my kitchen again in 2012.

January

Exploding Marmalade

February

Gingerbread Slab

March

Minced Beef Wellington

April

Rhubarb, Pineapple and Ginger Crumble

May

Butternut Squash Lasagne

June

Chocolate Pavlovas with Strawberries

July

Pepper Steak Marinade

August

When Blondie became Barbie

September

Tomato Chilli Jam

October

Great British Bake Off - Shortbread

November

Chickpea and Smoked Paprika Soup

December

Gingerbread Man Christmas Cake

Random Recipes does Charity

2011-12-30T00:00:00.000Z

Now I have to say that I've been a little bit liberal with my interpretation of Random Recipes this month. Dom has asked us to donate some of our unloved cookbooks to the Charity Shop, that's not a problem, it's something I do pretty regularly but first we have to randomly choose a recipe and cook it, that is not so easy.

I chose this book, which has been lurking in my collection for a long time. I suspect it was one of those Book Club books that you get at work and seemed like a good idea at the time. However it has some seriously weird recipes in it, Raspberry Mallow Pizza anyone? Or what about Frankfurter Bake - eeeugh!

Fortunately, my Random Recipe was not one of these horrors, but an edible Pasta with Salmon and Cream Sauce...except I had all this lovely turkey breast to use up and no salmon in sight, so I cheated.

I'm also entering this for the January 'One Ingredient' challenge run by Working London Mummy , the ingredient is Poultry and that includes turkey. Visit this month's host 'How to Cook Good Food' for more information.

Anyway, here is the adaptation of the Random Recipe:

Turkey and Cream Sauce

30g butter

500ml double cream

two cloves of garlic crushed

30g grated Parmesan + a little extra for the top

250g cooked turkey (or flaked salmon)

head of broccoli

300g spagetti

3 tsp chopped dill

salt and pepper

pinch of freshly nutmeg

sprig of dill to garnish

In a saucepan, heat butter, crushed garlic and cream. Bring to just below boiling point, add the parmesan cheese.

Simmer gently for about 10 minutes, until thickened andslightly reduced. Add Parmesan cheese.

Stir in salmon, dill, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Cook the spagetti in boiling water until just cooked.

Cook the broccoli in boliling water until just cooked.

Mix the pasta, broccoli, cubed cooked turkey and cream sauce. Put them into a buttered oven dish, sprinkle parmesan over the top and heat through until golden and bubbling on top.

Which just goes to prove you can make a great dish out of any old recipe!

Chocolate Chilli Ice cream

2011-12-29T14:04:00.000Z

This has been on my list of 'must makes' for about two years since I first tasted it at the Appleby Manor Hotel. I love the combination of the rich chocolate, the cold ice-cream and the sweet heat of the chillies. We ate this on Christmas Eve with homemade mini mince pies filled with my Chocolate Mincemeat and it proved very popular, although my son would have been up for even more chilli!
I am entering this for the Sweet Heat Challenge #3 'Christmas'

The recipe is adapted from a couple of different ones, so here is what I did:

Chocolate Chilli Ice Cream

600ml double cream (you can use 300ml milk and 300ml dbl cream)

200g Dark Chocolate

4 large egg yolks

100g caster sugar

3 red chillies

1/4 tsp chilli powder

Slice the chillies and add with the cream to a saucepan, include the chilli seeds.

Warm the cream until just below boiling point then leave to infuse for 30 minutes.

Strain the chillies and seeds from the cream, add the chilli powder and reheat the cream.

Mix the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl and slowly pour the cream onto the eggs stirring all the time.

Return the egg mixture to the saucepan along with 150g of the dark chocolate broken up into small pieces, heat gently stirring until the mixture thickens slightly. Remove from the heat and let it cool in the fridge.

Chop the rest of the chocolate and stir this into the mixture once it is cool.

At this point it is ready for the ice cream maker (if you don't have one then you can freeze it in a shallow box but you will have to keep taking it out of the freezer and beating it every 30-40 minutes) once it has thickened and frozen in the ice cream maker, decant it into a box and freeze.

Homemade ice creams generally need around 30 minutes out of the freezer before serving.

Smoked Salmon and Fennel Salad

2011-12-28T14:44:00.002Z

The one part of Christmas Lunch which always taxes my brain is 'The Starter'. This year I had the Smoked Salmon from the Forman and Field hamper that I won. So looked for something interesting to do with it. I came on this recipe on AllRecipes.co.uk which seemed to fit the bill.

I addeed a few leaves of Rocket but otherwise it is as the recipe and the fennel was a delicious fresh and crunchy counterpoint to the rich smoky salmon. I would certainly reccommend this either as a starter a salad or made into canapes.

2011-12-23T21:19:00.000Z

Image from My Vintage Vogue

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

from Farmersgirl Kitchen

Festive Photos for No Croutons Required

2011-12-21T19:32:00.000Z

Frozen Herbs

Pine cones in the snow

The road at the end of our lane

I feel like I'm cheating a bit here as these photos are from January 2010. December is the month for a festive photo for Jac's and Lisa's No Croutons Required challenge hosted at Tinned Tomatoes blog. Searching through my photos, these seem to be the most snowy and festive.

And here is another festive photo from 2008!

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Gingerbread Man Christmas Cake

2011-12-18T16:38:00.000Z

As soon as I saw Ruth Clemens Gingerbread Man Christmas Cake at The Pink Whisk, I knew I had to try to make something similar with the cake I made from the Delicious Magazine recipe. The Gingerbread Man is made from chocolate fondant.

I surrounded the cake with little gingerbread men also made from chocolate fondant. Check out my little perpetual gingerbread house which I made last year, a totally non-edible decoration!

and the other house is a lovely 3D Christmas card which was sent by friends from Malaysia.

You can see by the decorations on my dresser that I have a bit of a thing about gingerbread men and you can see where the little house is on display.

Heavenly Meringues

2011-12-15T21:41:00.001Z

I do think there is something heavenly about meringues, and these ones came out particularly well, they just melted in the mouth like little sugary clouds filled with cream.

I've been using the same simple recipe for meringues for many years, it comes from Mary Berry's 'Fast Cakes' book first published in 1981 to accompany her appearances on Thames Television's After Noon Plus programme. I never saw the programme but Mary was featured in many magazines at the time. This is the book I turn to for good basic recipes for scones, traybakes, sponges and biscuits.

Basic White Meringues

4 egg whites

225g caster sugar

whipping cream

Heat the oven to 200F, 100C, gas 1/4 and ine two baking sheets with silicone paper.

Put the egg whites in a large bowl and whisk until they form soft peaks. Add the sugar, a teaspoonful at a time, whisking well after each addition, unti all the sugar has been added. Using two dessertspooons, spoon the meringue out onto the baking sheets, putting 12 meringues on each tray.

Bake in the oven for 3-4 hours until the meringues are firm and dry and will lift easily from the paper. They wshould be pale off white.

Whisk the cream until it is thick and use it to sandwich the meringues together.

Time to eat the Chilli Jam!

2011-12-11T20:29:00.001Z

Back in September I made some Tomato Chilli Jam and in October I made Pineapple Chilli Jam. Today I was entertaining my family and served both of these preserves in the crystal jam dishes left to me by a friend of my mum's. They usually on make an appearance round about Christmas and always make whatever is served in them look elegant and inviting. You also get a little peek at my Christmas tree in the background.

Both of the jams were delicious, but I have to say, that the pineapple one was particularly good, my son commented that it had a 'sweet and sour' flavour and it was delicious with cold ham and turkey, the turkey from my Forman and Field hamper, which was also very good.

Forman and Field Hamper

2011-12-08T18:23:00.001Z

Many thanks to Claire and Lucy at Crumbs for awarding me this fabulous prize hamper from Forman and Field in conjunciton with Knorr.

I had it delivered to my husband's work and they couldn't resist opening it to ooh and ahh at the contents, fortunately there wasn't anything they could eat or my hamper might not have arrived home complete!

The hamper is full of goodies: smoked salmon, caviar, a 4-5KG Kelly Bronze Turkey, trimmings pack including sausages, bacon, chestnuts and stuffing, a big big of Stilton, seasonal vegetables, some unsalted butter, double cream, a pineapple, 2 apples and a banana (ingredients for the curry recipe that is included), what is described as a 'small' onion but it is HUGE! There were also a couple of pots, one of curry powder and one of coconut, again for the curry and a pack of Knorr chicken stock pots.

I've dismembered the turkey and have frozen the legs and wings for later use. I'll cook the crown this weekend and serve it cold as I have family coming for lunch. The rest of the goodies will be also be scoffed over the weekend.

I've been particularly lucky in blog prize draws over the last few weeks, winning the Short and Sweet book by Dan Lepard, three Moro Cookbooks and Jamie's Great Britain book too!

Thanks very much to all the bloggers who run competitions and to the sponsors who provide the lovely prizes, they are much appreciated.

Mince Pies for Tea Time Treats

2011-12-04T19:24:00.001Z

I'm entering this for Tea Time Treats as the theme for December is 'Christmas' Team Time Treats is a monthly baking challenge run by Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Kate at 'What Kate Baked' , Kate is hosting the December challenge.

Last month I made Dark Chocolate Mincemeat using Dan Lepard's Dark Rich Mincemeat recipe from his fabulous book Short and Sweet. So today I made some mince pies and again I turned to Short and Sweet for the Rich Shortcrust Pastry that Dan recommends for mince pies. It's a lovely recipe, sweet and enriched with ground almonds and egg yolk . I was really quite excited about tasting the mince pies and I wasn't disappointed.

Usually I find that mince pies are all pastry and no filling and the pastry never seems very exciting, but the Rich Shortcrust was light, 'short' and added rather than detracted from the mincemeat. I made the pies in my muffin tins, some mini pies in mini muffin tins and a few larger ones. The muffin tins give you a deeper pie which allows for more filling. Definitely a huge hit! If you haven't bought Short and Sweet yet, then get it on your Christmas list.

Shepherd's Pie

2011-12-03T15:41:00.001Z

Last weekend I cooked a shoulder of Lamb in one pot with all the veggies, you can read about it HERE.

I was deliberately a little bit mean with the slices to lamb so I had plenty left to make a Shepherd's Pie. There is no real recipe for this, I roughly chopped the cooked lamb, put it in the food processor and chopped it up, then added the gravy and veggies and whizzed it up some more.

Boiled some potatoes and mashed them with milk and butter, put them roughly on top of the meat mixture in the dish, rough as you like so you get lots of cripsy bits, then stuck it in the oven at 200C for 20 - 30 minutes, until it was heated through and the top was nice and brown and crispy. Serve with a green veg, we had savoy cabbage.

Raspberry Jam Muffins

2011-11-29T21:50:00.001Z

I made some more muffins, I used the basic Betty Crocker recipe, the one I used for the Banana Muffins, but instead of banana I used a scant cup of raspberry jam and for the topping I spread on more jam and dipped in flaked almonds.
These muffins are slightly more dense than the Banana ones, but still very tasty, quick and easy to make.

Lamb Pot Roast with Cauliflower Cheese

2011-11-28T12:00:00.000Z

Regular readers of this blog will know that I like a good 'one pot' recipe, stick it in the oven and go and do something else while it cooks away itself.

This is a piece of rolled shoulder of lamb which I marinaded in olive oil, rosemary and garlic for a couple of hours, then seared in the pot. Then I added big chunks of carrots, potatoes (still in their skins so they held together) and some stock to cover the veggies and a tablespoon of my SIL's Apple and Mint Jelly (or any other mint or redcurrant jelly) adds a bit of sweetness. Stick it in the oven for a couple of hours at 160C.

I served it with cauliflower in cheese sauce.

I have loads left which I'll make into Shepherd's Pie tomorrow

Dan Lepard's Sweet Sherry Plum Pudding

2011-11-26T21:07:00.001Z

In last Saturday's Guardian Magazine, I spied Dan Lepard's recipe for Sweet Sherry Plum Pudding. I love Christmas pudding so, as Dan Lepard is 'the man of the moment' as far as baking is concerned, I thought I would give this a go.

The recipe is full of lovely rich dark stuff, butter, muscovado sugar, black treacle, honey, sherry, prunes, currants and nuts (I used walnuts), it is also lightened by wholemeal breadcrumbs and a grated apple. There is only 75g of flour in the whole recipe.

I packed the mix into my large pudding basin for Christmas, but there was a bit of mixture left over, so...

I filled a little ramekin and steamed it for an hour, that was yesterday. Today, I reheated it by steaming for about half an hour.

When I cut the string and removed the baking parchment and foil , this gorgeous black pud appeared, studded with dark fruits and golden nuts.

It turned out onto a plate rather well and I managed to get three portions out of this little pud which I served with custard.

As I said, I only made it yesterday, so it hasn't had time to mature, it is packed with flavour, but doesn't taste heavy or stodgy. If this is what it tastes like after a day, I am really looking forward to Christmas Day!

If you would like to make this pudding, the recipe is available on the Guardian Food pages HERE

I'm entering this for Bookmarked Recipes run by Jac at Tinned Tomatoes with Ruth from Ruth's Kitchen Experiments

Banana Muffins

2011-11-24T15:26:00.001Z

I needed a little sweetness in my life yesterday and didn't have a lot of time, so thought that muffins would fit the bill. There were bananas in the fruit bowl, looking nice and ripe and calling out to be used before the grocey delivery arrives (today). I thought I'd look and see what Betty Crocker had in the way of muffin recipes and sure enough there is a nice quick recipe for Banana Muffins.

Banana Muffins (makes 12)

2 ripe bananas (1 cup mashed)
1/3 - 1/2 cup milk (I put in 1/3 then needed to add more)
1/4 cup of vegetable oil
1 large egg
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

For topping
30g butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
30g finely chopped walnuts

1. Heat the oven to 200C. Grease the muffin pan or line with paper cases.
2. In a large bowl beat milk, egg, oil and banana with a fork or wire whisk until well mixed.
3. Mix the dry ingredients together and add them to the milk mixture and combine just until the flour is moistened (batter will be lumpy)
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Make the topping: melt the butter, add the sugar then brush the mixture over the warm muffins.
6. Put the chopped walnuts on a plate and dip the sticky top of the muffin in the nuts.

I can certainly recommend this recipe, it was quick and easy to make, the Betty Crocker book gives a selection of options for the basic recipe including Apple and Cinnamon, Chocolate Chip, Cranberry and Orange and Blueberry. I haven't used this book very much although I bought it about 4 years ago when we visited California. I think I will have to investigate further!

Food Bloggers Unplugged!

2011-11-23T14:48:00.001Z

There's a new tag in town, it's Food Bloggers Unplugged which has been started by Susan from A Little Bit of Heaven on a Plate and I have been tagged by Karen at Lavender and Lovage.

Food Bloggers Unplugged is to help you to find out a bit more about the tagged Food blogger, in this case ME! So here goes:

What or who inspired you to start your blog?
I started my craft blog in July 2007, Farmersgirl Kitchen followed in August 2007.
I really couldn't remember exactly why I started it and thought that there was a bigger gap between the two blogs. So I went back to see what I'd said in my first post:

Tuesday, 14th August 2007
First Post: I love food!
Yes, I really love food and lots of different food. Just as well I like cooking too!

I am going to share some of my favourite recipes here and tell you all about what I am cooking and eating. Maybe some cookery book reviews too, I have too many cook books and have a tendency to do too much reading and not enough cooking.

I think the blog must have had the desired effect as I am cooking more than I am reading now!

Who is your foodie inspiration?
My mum is an incredible inspiration. When I was growing up she was always making something new and different and continues to be an excellent cook. In her heyday she also entered a lot of baking competitions and would make a certain item again and again until she got it perfect.

Your greasiest most batter splattered cook book is?
Now I really found this difficult as I don't have one book which I use all the time, there are quite a few which are greasy and splattered! Anyway, I decided to pick out three and tell you about them.

These are three of the oldest books that I bought myself.

A Taste of the Country by Pamela Westland, I this got out of the library when I was 15, I trailed it in my suitcase on holiday to London and Belgium (it was hardback as well!). Later I bought the paperback, used it to death and had to buy a replacement.
Cooking in a Bedsitter by Katherine Whitehorn was given to me by my Mum when I went to university and was well used. It is also a very good read, with lots of funny anecdotes.
The complete International Jewish Cookbook by Evelyn Rose was a book I bought in 1978 (I noticed that I had written my name and the date on the inside title page) and cooked from for many years, there are some fabulous recipes in there and I used to be able to live for a week from a 'boiling fowl' bought from the butchers, making it into all sorts of different dishes inpsired by Ms Rose.

The best thing you have ever eaten in another country, where was it and what was it?
Again this is difficult, I have quite a few foodie memories, but not sure that I could pick one out as the best. However, the first time I went to another country it was on a family camping holiday to the South of France, it was a huge adventure and for a Scottish girl from a small country village in the early 1970s, I was very impressed by the bounty of the markets and particularly the fresh peaches, which we washed in the fountain by the market square and ate there and then. I'd never tasted peaches so ripe and sweet.

Another Food Blogger's table you would like to eat at?
How on earth am I supposed to choose without offending all my bloggie friends?
I'd love to go to a dinner with Karen from Lavender and Lovage, Jac from Tinned Tomatoes, Dom from Belleau Kitchen, Fiona from London Unattached , Susan from A little bit of Heaven on a Plate and Kate from Turquoise Lemons. So I'll either have to tour round each one or they will all have to come to me. You see, for me, it's all about the people not the food, a nice bowl of soup and some bread and cheese with like-minded friends would be fabulous.

What one kitchen gadget would you like Santa to bring you? (money no object)
I'd love a Magimix food processor. My food processor just won't die so I don't feel I can justify getting one. The one I have is a Moulinex which I bought in 1980 and is very basic, but the motor in it must be solid state!

I'm coming to you for dinner, what is your signature dish?
It would have to be Beef in Barolo wine, I've never actually used a bottle of Barolo, just a nice bottle of tannic red does the job. It's an ace recipe because all the work is done before hand, so you can spend time with your guests.

What is your guilty food pleasure?
I'm not sure I have one...I try not to feel guilty about food, it takes away the pleasure.

Reveal something about yourself that others would be surprised to learn?
I used to work for Donald Dewar MP, long before he became the first First Minister for Scotland.

And now I have to tag five other Food Bloggers to answer these questions:

1. The Little Loaf
2. Home Baked Online
3. The Baking Addict
4. Chow and Chatter
5. Orange Thyme Blog