Cherries, before the storm.

We just picked all these from the lower branches of our cherry tree. Had to use steps to get at some of them. We go for the lower hanging fruit but try and leave the unripe ones. The birds are getting ready to feast. Some of the fruit has already been pecked. Blackbirds and wood pigeons are particularly partial to them.

Hubby used a broom to hook the branches while I climbed up a couple of steps ( I’m too wobbly to go right up). Then he climbed to strip a well laden branch. Luckily they are bendy so it does no damage to pull on them. We’ve got a bowl full of cherries ready to ripen. Saves them blowing off in the wind which is whipping the branches about. The forecast is for big thunder storms later. It got to 33.3°C in places yesterday. Hot!

Salmon and garlicky pasta (with or without salmon)

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not neat, but tasty..

Ingredients,

About a table spoon of cooking oil,

Salmon fillet (or not for vegetarian)

1/2 aubergine, diced into small cubes,

1 courgette / zucchini, grated finely

1 sweet pepper cut into small squares

1/2 a can of chopped tomatoes

3 cloves garlic, crushed,

Spiral pasta, 2 handfulls

Method

Heat the oil in the pan, add the aubergine cubes, add the sweet pepper pieces, brown gently then add the grated courgette. Add the tinned tomatoes, mix and cook for a few minutes. Add the crushed garlic and the salmon on top of the mix, cook for a few minutes then turn the fish over. Lower the heat from medium low to low and gently simmer for about 5 minutes.

In the meantime put two handfuls of pasta (I had multi coloured spiral pasta in) with boiling water and cook on a medium heat till softened.

Drain and then add the pasta to the other pan. Serve the fish on top of the pasta and vegetables.

(I grate the courgette because it cooks quicker and makes the sauce feel thicker). You could add a squeeze of lemon juice.

Home made bread

Made a couple of years ago… Now flour is never on the shelves in the supermarket, or if there is there is no yeast!

I think the photo shows we had brie with it, on burleigh ware plates.

It had a very good rise, probably because my hubby used flour and yeast separately. The problem with ready mixed bread making kits is that they don’t always rise well and you have to get the amount if moisture and temperature right so that it is soft enough to rise but not too squidgy. But you can always add extra flour if it’s too wet. The dough needs kneading to stretch it and get the gluten in it working. Obviously this doesn’t work with gluten free flour.

Anyway, looking forward to baking again.

X

Comfort food

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Apologies to vegetarian and vegan readers please do not read further. Also anyone whose religion does not allow eating pork. I apologise and do not wish to cause offence.

————————————————————- We had sausage egg and chips for tea tonight. It cheered me up.

It did remind me of the Monty Pythons Flying Circus sketch about a man asking what he can order in a cafe and the list goes from egg and chips through various permutations to spam egg and chips, spam egg and beans u to and including ‘spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam…… And spam’.

I howl with laughter when I see it.

I can remember being sent to the shops by my mum and saying ‘plumrose chopped ham with pork’ over and over so I would remember the convoluted name. I know it was before I was seven. I’m sure it was after we got a black and white TV. I can remember seeing adverts for it. Perhaps I have got the two mixed up…..

Trying to make banana cake without all the ingredients.

I give you (please take some).
Home made banana cake with toffees melted on the top.
Ingredients.
Half self raising flour, half plain flour, about 8oz with a bit of yeast. (what I had in the cupboard).
Some granulated sweetener, about a tablespoon full.
4 oz approx of butter
Two eggs
A small mug of milk.
A bit of orange juice.
Two sliced bananas.
Toffees melted on top for the last twenty minutes.

Method
I added the flours together with the yeast, added the sweetener, then added the butter and broke it up until it was crumbly. Then I added the eggs, mixed in milk. It was still a bit dry so I added a bit of orange juice, till it was quite soft. A bit like wet mashed potatoes.
I then chopped the bananas up and mixed them in. I left it for a while to see if it rose (it didn’t!)
Cooked gas mark four for an hour and ten minutes. About forty minutes in I noticed it was rising but split in the top. So I got some toffees we had at Christmas and placed them on top. The mess is where they melted.
Not pretty but tastes OK. Served the first bit with some ice cream while it was hot. Not bad!

Something in the post…

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My friend decided to order this for us on line. Carribean chocolate rum cake. It arrived today, a small cardboard box with a yellow hexagonal box wrapped in bubble wrap inside. When I took it out of the box there was a dark round cake inside, it had a small hole in the middle. It was like a sponge cake. The box said you could microwave it, so I made some custard and warmed it through. Very tasty. And where did it come from. Not Tortuga, but Hampshire. Yummy.

X

Using up sprouts

I had a bag of sprouts in the fridge, they needed using up. What to do? I took a mixture of leftovers and cooked something ‘not bad but interesting’ according to my hubby.

First I used up half a small onion. I chopped it up and cooked it in a small amount of butter and olive oil. I added some garlic granuals, dried chives, and dried basil.

I then added sprouts that I had cut the base off, took off the outer leaves and then cut them into quarters. I added some water to the mixture up to the level of the sprouts in the pan and let it gently simmer.

I cut up two large tomatoes that were getting wrinkly and were just past their best before date.

I carried on simmering it to soften the vegetables.

While I was doing this I put on a small amount of penne pasta in some boiling water. I cooked that until it was Al dente (still slightly firm)

As the sprouts were softening I added half a jar of tomato pasta sauce that I’d saved from last night.

If you want to leave it there you can. That would be a vegetarian option. But I had some mini frankfurters to use up, so I cut them into small pieces and added them to the mix. Once they had heated through I tasted the food. It was quite ‘sprouty’ so I took a small piece of cheddar cheese, about a thumb sized piece for each of us and melted it into the mixture. I added a little salt to taste and then drained the pasta and added it to the mix.

Cooking time, about twenty minutes in total.

Don’t know the cost, but not much.

Ingredients

Half a small onion.                              About two big handfuls of sprouts.    Two large tomatoes.                              Half a jar of tomato pasta sauce.              A handful of mini frankfurters.               A small amount of mild cheddar cheese.                                                           A couple of handfuls of pasta.

X

I made bread pudding

Bread pudding made, yum!

It was a bit burnt on top. I used half a stale crusty brown loaf, soaked in water overnight. Then I added a cup of dried mixed fruit, and stirred it in to break up the loaf.  Then added two eggs, some milk, three teaspoons of sugar substitute, a few knobs of butter and a teaspoon of cinnamon to make a wet mix. I put it in a greased shallow  baking dish  and baked it in the oven gas mark six (mid temp not too hot). I cooked it for 1 hour and 20 minutes. It came out a bit burnt on top. The bits of crust were nice and crunchy. I served it hot with cream. You could use custard.

One way to use up stale bread. Thanks Frank’s wife for the original recipe.

X

I give you the Staffordshire Pikelet.

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Staffordshire Pikelets, cousin to the Staffordshire Oatcakes. Made with the same oat batter, but smaller and thicker. With added dried fruit  (currants, raisins, citrus peel).

Toasted under the grill then added butter and as it was shrove Tuesday yesterday I added some lemon juice from the lemons I got for my pancakes. All hot and tasty.

Different parts of the country have different special foods. This one is very tasty and filling!

Favourite food

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I’m making a trifle (my favourite food). I use sugar free jelly in the base, making up about a pint.  Usually I add a little sherry to the mix. This time I used a stale scone cut into pieces to give the jelly a bit more strength. I put them in the base of a nice glass bowl. You can get trifle sponges but I couldn’t find any. Once the jelly has cooled but not set I poured it into the glass bowl covering the scone pieces. This goes into the refrigerator. Later I will make a pint of chocolate blancmange, I use sweetener instead of sugar to sweeten it. (I don’t like custard, but some use it instead). That gets poured on the jelly once it has cooled but is still liquid so that it doesn’t melt the jelly. The bowl goes back into the fridge. Finally I whip double cream till its stiff and spoon it over the trifle. Serve with cherries and chocolate shavings. Enough for six large portions.