As I know I've said before, most Tuesdays groups of carers from Community Based Support come for a cooking class. They are always such a jolly group, eager to learn and apply new and easy recipes and cooking tips. It's by no means a one way street. Some of their tips and shared family recipes … Continue reading The Class of Community Carers
With a gift of plums from a friend, time to make more Worcestershire sauce. The batch I made with peaches a few days ago was really good, but it's a yearly tradition to make the plum version. Anyway, you can never have too much, such a great addition to so many savoury dishes. I mixed … Continue reading Plums for Worcestershire Sauce
I've had a few requests for the recipe for the Autumn fruits paste. You can vary this recipe according to what you have on hand, but this is what I did. If you don't have any honey mead that's ok. No cider? Just use water instead. The paste is delicious on a cheese platter, especially … Continue reading Autumn Fruits Paste
High time to do something with those amazing pears and peaches. First juice the pears, we decided, as they were very juicy and ripe. That juice is delicious in its own right, so we preserved it and reserve our options for later making into pear cider or drinking it as it is, chilled. Peach Worcestershire … Continue reading Autumn Preserving in the Valley of Love
That wood box bread dough. Did it cook in the sun? Well yes, after a fashion. I could describe it as having a light crispy crust with a lovely aerated soft crumb, but really that's praising it. Proven it could be done though. (Pardon the pun.) A passing grasshopper stopped to check it out, but … Continue reading The Wood Box Bread
Well, next episode - brought the dough inside, knocked it down and gave it a good beating with a spoon. Thought that would keep it in check while I went merely to put clothes on the line and give Snowball the rabbit a new bottle of ice to sidle up to. This is what I … Continue reading Episode 2 Runaway dough
Thought I'd just sit the bread dough outside while I filled the dehydrator with tomatoes. Maybe not such a great idea - that dough is going to take some serious taming!
In the midst of a busy day of appointments and shopping, a fantastic gift from friends - clingstone peaches and Corella pears, LOTS of them. No prizes for guessing what we will be doing tomorrow - preserving them all one way or another. Someone else is picking damson plums for us, which will go into … Continue reading Peaches and Pears and soon to be Plums
Meanwhile, back in the cooking school kitchen, it's blackberry season once more. Robert went foraging yesterday, and left a bucketful on the bench. Quick as a flash I'd put them into the jam pans to make cordial syrup and jam. A batch of sparkling blackberry was soon starting its time in a bucket before being … Continue reading Blackberry season has arrived!
Finally, finally the ducks have started laying again. Huge eggs, maybe to make up for lost time. Here are a couple in an egg carton, which of course won't close over them, with a chicken's egg in the middle for comparison. What a difference their eggs make to baking! For instance - those jelly cakes, … Continue reading Ducks’ eggs versus Chooks’
