Book Sharing Monday 2010 - Snow, thaw and shelves

An appropriate choice for today, I thought, is Ollie's Ski Trip by Elsa Bescow.  Another of these gentle little stories, this tells how Ollie gets a new pair of skis for his birthday, but doesn't get to use them for ages, as the snow keeps falling and then thawing right away.  Then at last it snows for 3 days and he gets his chance.  Out he goes, revelling in the beauty of the winter landscape, and he meets Jack Frost !  Jack Frost is very impressed with Ollie and asks him if he would like to visit King Winter in his ice palace.  Well - who wouldn't?  On their way, however, the meet an old woman with a broom, who is making the ice and snow melt - Mrs Thaw!

 

Jack Frost chases her off in quite a rude fashion, but when Ollie challenges him, he says that Mrs Thaw is always trying to come too soon - she should not be here until the spring.  Anyway, Ollie has a most wonderful time at King Winter's court, playing, sledging and skating.  Then he returns home and he and his little brother enjoy the rest of the winter, playing in the snow.  Mrs Thaw stays away for a long time, but then at the end of winter, she comes back.

 

She didn't stop until there wasn't a speck of snow left

Rain poured down in torrents and last year's withered 

leaves were sent whilring away with her broom. And every-

one seemed to get a cold.  Ollie was really angry with Mrs Thaw.

 

But one lovely spring day, Spring came driving up in

her airy carriage drawn by white butterflies.  Then Ollie

saw Mrs Thaw, as she stood by the side of the ditch wearing

a brand new apron. She curtsied to Spring, beaming with 

delight For the first time, Ollie really liked Mrs Thaw 

and knew that she wasn't so bad after all.  But he did 

wish she would learn to come at the proper time.

Is this the proper time?  Or will King Winter and Jack Frost return?  Watch out for  the next couple of months to find out!

There are lots more books being shared at Serendipity every week on Book Sharing Monday.

Now I am going to add another dimesnion to my Book Sharing Monday posts.  I was very taken with this post on When I get the time.  Pippa mentions how people's kitchens and bookshelves can say a lot about them.  I have been thinking about this, and looking at our bookshelves.  Just glancing at the one to my right as I type has The Golfer's Companion sandwiched between The Complete New Herbal, and Solar Ethics.  Hmmm.  Well I am going to be brave and start sharing some of my bookshelves.  I have 2 small(quite chipped now that I notice) shelves in the kitchen which hold some of my cookery books, so we will start there.

I love looking at other people's book collections.  Dare to share?

Give us this day....

I posted the other day about making a spelt and oatmeal loaf, and Lisa kindly asked for the recipe.  The trouble with me and reciies is that I always tinker around with them, depending mostly on what I happen to have in the cupboard at the time. This is quite a good one, in that the basic formula is there and there is lots of room for doing your own thing with it. It is in fact the Grant Loaf, made famous by Mrs Doris Grant in the 1940s

3lb spelt flour (or wholemeal or white or even thise multi-seed/grain bread flours that you can buy nowdays)

2 tsp sea salt (I don't ever put salt in and it is fine)
2 pints water at blood heat (usually half boiling and half cold works for me)
3 level teaspoons dried yeast (not fast acting kind)

2 level teaspoon honey or black molasses (or whatever sweetener you favour)


Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and set in a warm place along with three greased bread tins until thoroughly warmed.
Place 3 tablespoons of the water in a cup and sprinkle the yeast on top - leave for a couple of minutes
Add the honey, or whatever.  Leave in a warm place for 15 minutes until there is a thick creamy froth.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and add the yeast together with the remaining water.
Mix well, by hand is best, working from sides to middle until the dough feels slippery and elastic.
Divide at once into the warmed bread tins.
Cover with a cloth and set the tins in a warm place for about 40 minutes, or until the dough has reached the tops of the tins.
Place risen loaves in centre of oven heated to 375°F (190°C) or Gas no. 5 and bake for 50-60 minutes. Turn out on to a wire rack and leave until completely cool. This bread keeps for about 5 days.

The big key to this bread is that you DO NOT knead it

If I am adding oatmeal then i take out about 3 oz of the flour and add the same amount of  medium oatmeal (not the porridge oats, but if thats all you have about you, then I'm sure it would be fine).
I usually throw in a handful of sunflower or pumpkin seeds without changing any quantities.
I also quite like sprinking the top of the loaves with linseeds - they come out beautifully toasty, but have also done this with other seeds.

I have been making this bread for several years now and it always turns out well - providing the kitchen is warm - if not, then it takes longer to rise.  Since the snow came in the middle of December, I have been making it twice a week.  I did buy a shop wholemeal once when we ran out and I was being lazy, but we couldn't eat it - it was soooo salty and frankly not very nice.  This makes a lovely nutty dense moist loaf which is very filling.  It takes no time at all to mix up - fast food at it's very best. Give it a try.

Cranberry Mincemeat

At my parents house on Saturday, I happened to catch this programme (Grow your own drugs for Christmas).  Well, I just loved it and can't imagine how I have ever managed to miss it.  Hmmm - maybe not having a TV could account for it, but nevertheless I was very taken with everything about this show. So, first thing on Sunday morning I was online searching for the recipes, and we decided to make the cranberry mincemeat. I have copied the recipe below,  but they are all available on the website.

1 kg cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 Bramley apple, chopped - I used 2 large apples from the fruit bowl
1 tsp mixed spice
100g unsalted butter
100ml maple syrup
300g soft brown sugar
3 tbsp dark rum or Cointreau - Cointreau every time for me.
100g candied orange peel
Flour, for dusting
2 rolls ready-made shortcrust pastry - I made my own, as I didn't have any frozen stuff
Icing sugar, to dredge
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Distribute the cranberries and chopped apple between two roasting tins. Sprinkle over the mixed spice and fleck with the butter. Drizzle the maple syrup over. Roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the fruit is slightly shrunken with a golden tan.
3. Remove the roasted cranberries from the oven and place in a bowl. Mix in the sugar, rum or Cointreau and candied orange peel.
4. Sprinkle flour onto a work surface and roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 3mm. Using a 7cm cookie-cutter, cut out discs of pastry and place into a greased mince pie tin. Prick the base of each pie with a fork and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven, and spoon the cranberry filling into each pastry cup. Return to the oven to cook for another 5 minutes. - We added little pastry hearts and stars and so cooked them a bit longer - 10 mins maybe. 
6. Leave the pies to cool, then dredge with icing sugar.
(by James Wong - Grow your own Drugs for Christmas BBC)

I have loads of mincemeat left, so it is sitting in a large jar in the 'fridge until my big baking day, currently pencilled in for Wednesday.

I have to say that these were the most delicious mincemeat pies I have ever tasted - and I have tasted a lot in my time.  These were light, sweet, tart, fruity......  can you tell I liked them?  Everyone else did too and they disappeared almost instantly. 

Good job James made a batch too!

Ur ye haudin Hallow e'en?

Hallow e'en has always been a big event in our family. Not least because it was my Grandfather's birthday, and my Gran always made a Clootie Dumpling for the occasion. A clootie dumpling is a sweet fruit, spice and suet pudding, mixed up and tied in a floured and sugared cloth then steamed for several hours. The smell of the boiling cotton mixed with spices is one of my abiding childhood olfactory memories, along with the aroma of charred turnip wafting from the carved lanterns. Both can transport me instantly back to frosty dark nights going round the neighbours' houses 'guising'.

Guising (or going in disguise) goes back at least to medieval times, and probably longer. Originally it was a Hogmanay custom for adults who disguised themselves and there are reports of groups of 'Guisards' going around from house to house offering some entertainment in return for some hospitality. Of course Hallow e'en was originally the Celtic New Year's Eve, so there may be some connection there. In any case, as children we would go to houses where we knew there would be a welcome, and performed our poems, songs or joke telling in return for a tangerine and some nuts. As we called at each house in our homemade costumes, we would ask "Ur ye haudin Hallowe'en?" none of this "Trick or Treat" that we get now. And - we were expected to sing for our hallow e'en. On the rare occasion we are visited by guisers, I always invite them in to do their turn. Usually now it is some mumbled joke that we have heard several years in a row, but now and again there is the odd gem.

So, Hallow e'en for us this year meant introducing James to the customs. It is such good fun seeing these things through a child's eyes again. After breakfast he asked me if we could go now.
"Go where?" I asked
"To Halleen!" he replied impatiently.
As I put out peanuts( or monkey nuts as we call them) in a bowl I showed him how to crack them open, revealing the dark red nuts inside. He loved them, and soon the place was littered with shells.

Then I made some toffee apples

and James decided to make his own Hallow e'en concoction - chopped pork, 2 eggs (and the shells) some goats milk, a handful of suet, two apples and half a lemon. Yummmmm! He wanted to bake it and do you know? It smelt quite nice when it came out of the oven! I didn't try it though, and he had lost interest by then and moved on to something else :)


Later he put on his Bumble Bee outfit and we went to visit Gran, who is having a week of respite care in a Nursing Home. She enjoyed seeing him, and he enjoyed bouncing on her bed!



Back at home it is now my role to make the Hallow e'en dumpling. An onerous responsibility, especially when there are lots of expectant and hungry faces watching the great unwrapping. The hallmark of a really great dumpling, however, is the skin which is formed first of all by the flouring and sugaring of the cloot, and then careful drying in front of the fire. What's the verdict?



It's strange to think that my Grandfather was born 111 years ago tonight, in a coal miner's cottage just a few hundred yards from where I am sitting now. He died when I was 14, but we had such good times as I was growing up. I loved to help him in his garden and had my own plot outside his greenhouse. I learned so much even as a small child, that I still remember today, as I tend my own garden. He also had a love of Scottish history and legends, and told me stories and taught me songs that fired my imagination. he was such a great influence on my life, so Here's to you on your birthday Papa.

Here is my Gran's recipe for Clootie Dumpling - although I have adapted it a bit.

1lb plain flour
8oz currants
8 oz sultanas
8 oz raisins
8 oz suet
1 cup sugar (as this is an old recipe I assume the cup to be a teacup and not a cup measure)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp treacle (molasses) - warm it to make it easier to mix in
milk to mix to a soft but not runny mixture (about 7 fl oz,)

Mix all ingredients together (get your hands in about it)

Prepare your cloth - I use a muslin square, but any cotton will do - an old pillow case was my Gran's pudding cloth.
Scald the cloth in boiling water and wring out when you can handle it. I lift it out with a pair of tongs and let it drip until it is cool enough to touch.
Lay out flat and dredge with an even layer of flour and then sugar. (Very important step this!)

Tip your dumpling mixture on to the cloth and then tie up into a bundle with string.

Put a plate into the bottom of your big pan and put the pudding on top.
Almost cover the dumpling with boiling water and boil hard for 30 minutes
Continue simmering for 3 - 3.5 hours.

Lift out and put on a plate or I use a colander to let the excess water drain out. Open up and invert the dumpling on to a heatproof plate.
Carefully remove the cloth and you should see a nice white sheen on the surface of your beautiful dumpling That is the skin - the best bit!
Dry in front of the fire, turning occasionally for half and hour or so - or put in a low oven.

Serve with custard, or cream, or whatever you fancy.
Leftovers are great eaten cold the next day - or fried in butter even.

I was very pleased with this one. A bit wet at the top as I cut the string, but it dried out nicely and the skin was almost perfect. I may add a bit more spice next time, as I did feel it could have done with a bit more pep, but otherwise it was just delicious.

Celeriac and Pear Soup

This recipe took my fancy while browsing through Country Homes and Interiors magazine the other day. I am always looking for celeriac ideas, and local pears are plentiful right now, so I made it for lunch today. It was so delicious that I thought I would pass it on. It is actually very similar to a Celeriac and Apple soup that i have made, but i think I preferred this. We had it along with a homemade cheese and herb scone. Sorry the picture is blurry - I just can't find good food stylist when I need one :)

25g Unsalted butter
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 medium celeriac (celery root) peeled and cut into small chunks
1 litre vegetable stock (I used marigold bouillon)
4 ripe juicy pears (mine were a bit hard)
a few leaves lovage, flat-leaved parsley, celery or celeriac leaves shredded, as a garnish (oops forgot to shred)
Salt and pepper


Melt butter and fry onion until soft
Add celeriac and stock - bring to a gentle simmer
Cover and cook gently until celeriac is soft (20 - 30 minutes)
Blend until smooth
Reheat gently and scatter with shredded (or not) herbs.

Very easy, very tasty.