Figs

We all have some figgy pudding

My first experience with Figs was at age 18 in my Gap year in Greece. We went to the island of Kalymnos for a vacation and the bed and breakfast hostess - left a basket of figs outside of our room. I didn't even know what they were.This is exactly how they looked and I can still remember how they tasted.

 

Figs are a large part of the mediterranean diet.

info

http://www.pickyourown.org/figs.htm

Hot Cross Buns

Hot cross buns!

Hot cross buns!

One ha' penny, two ha' penny,

Hot cross buns!

If you have no daughters,

Give them to your sons

One ha' penny,

Two ha' penny,

Hot Cross Buns.

Today is Good Friday, which means it’s time to eat Hot Cross Buns. The Hot Cross bun used to be eaten in England at Easter but now it is eaten all year round because it’s so delicious. It is a sweet glazed bread bun with currants, they are quite lovely when toasted with butter.

The cross is a symbol of the crucifixion, and was said to ward off evil Spirits. In some stories, people hung the buns in their doorway. After the reformation in England, Protestants tried to ban the sale of the bun with word that the cross contained a Catholic Communion wafer! In the 1500s Queen Elizabeth 1 passed a law allowing them to be sold only at Easter and Christmas.

There has been a lot of superstition about Hot Cross Buns too, some say the buns baked and served on Good Friday will not spoil and if you save them they bring you luck. There is a family in England that hands one down from generation to generation. Not me, no moldy buns in my house. They are too good not to eat them all as they come out of the oven!

RECIPE

Ingredients 

450g/1lb strong white bread flour 

7g/½ oz dried yeast 

2 tsp ground cinnamon 

1 tsp allspice 

100g/3½oz raisins 

1 orange, zest only 

100g/3½oz sugar 

50g/1¾oz butter 

250ml/9fl oz milk 

1 free-range egg 

For the cross 

75g/2¾oz flour 

4 tsp caster sugar 

4 tbsp water 

For the glaze 

1 tbsp smooth marmalade 

1 tbsp soft dark brown sugar 

2 tbsp water 

butter, to serve 

Preparation method 

1.For the dough, sift the flour, dried yeast, cinnamon, allspice, raisins, 

orange zest and sugar into a bowl. 

2.Warm the butter and milk together in a saucepan until the butter has 

melted. Remove from the heat and whisk in the egg. 

3.Fold the milk mixture into the flour mixture to form a dough. 

4.Tip the dough onto a floured work surface and knead for 10 minutes, 

or until the dough is smooth and elastic. 

5.Divide the dough into 12 pieces, shape into balls and cover with a 

damp cloth. Set aside for 12 hours, or until the dough has doubled in 

size. 

6.Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. 

7.Meanwhile, for the cross, mix the flour, sugar and water together in a 

bowl and spoon into a piping bag with a plain nozzle. 

8.Place the buns onto a baking tray and pipe a cross onto each bun. 

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until cooked through. 

9.Meanwhile, for the glaze, heat the glaze ingredients in a pan until the 

sugar has melted and the mixture is smooth and glossy. 

10.Remove the buns from the oven and immediately brush each bun 

with the glaze. Set aside to cool. 

11.Serve the hot cross buns warm with butter. 

Cornish Pasties

It isn't a National holiday yet but this month The Cornish pasty has become a protected food following a long campaign to prevent it being copied by imitators.

Only pasties prepared in Cornwall and following the traditional recipe can now be described as Cornish after the European Commission awarded the dish "protected geographical indication" status. Authentic pasties can still be finally baked elsewhere in Britain.

On my last trip to England I introduced Cornish Pasties to an American. Of course, I grew up on them but it is an acquired taste.  It is a carbohydrate dream, pastry filled with meat and potatoes!

The visit to Convent Garden included a drooling stop at The West Cornwall Pasty company.

A Cornish Pasty ( pronounced Pastie) is associated with Cornwall, which is the western tip of England and one of my favorite places to visit.

It has been said that the Pasty was first made to meet the needs of men working in tin mines. The traditional filling of meat, potatoes, onion and turnip provided a nutritious lunch for the hard-working miners in the damp and gloomy tunnels. So firmly was the filling encased in the pastry, the pasties were still warm when lunch time came around. It was also very practical as it was easy to carry in one hand.

Nobody knows exactly when pasties originated, but there's a letter in existence from a baker to Henry VIII's third wife, Jane Seymour (1510-1537) saying '...hope this pasty reaches you in better condition than the last one...'
As well as being one of Cornwall's most successful food exports, the Cornish pasty is also an essential part of the holiday experience for 3.5 million tourists a year. Today the Pasty has evolved into many different fillings and recipes.

This is a sample of the selection in a Pasty Store, Steak and Stilton is delicious!

Take a look at the the store website:-

West Cornwall Pasty company

Cornish Pasty traditional recipe 

Ingredients

Pastry:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 ounces cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 4 ounces lard or vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
• 1 egg yolk
• 6 tablespoons cold water

For the Filling:

• 10 ounces chuck steak, trimmed and cut into scant 1/4-inch dice
• 1 small onion, very finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 small potato ( I like Yukon), cut into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

For the pastry:

Directions

  Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and add the butter and lard. Using your fingers, 2 knives, or a pastry blender, cut the butter and lard into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles fine crumbs. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and water together and add to the flour mixture. Mix quickly, but thoroughly, until mixture just comes together to form a dough. Knead briefly until pastry is smooth with no cracks; the trick to making this delicate pastry easy to work with is kneading it just enough so that it can be rolled out and manipulated without breaking but yet retains its lovely crumbly texture. Press into a flattened disk shape and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight before proceeding.
Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and unwrap. Allow to soften slightly, then place on a lightly floured work surface and roll the pastry to a thickness of 1/4-inch. Using a small plate or saucer as a guide, cut out 6 (6-inch) rounds. (Scraps may be combined and reformed if you cannot get 6 rounds out of the first batch.) Stack the pastry rounds onto pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper (with pieces between each round to keep them from sticking together) and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.

For the filling:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Remove the pastry circles from the refrigerator. In a mixing bowl, combine the meat, onion, carrot, potato, salt and pepper and mix until thoroughly combined. Place the pastry circles on a clean work surface and place about 1/2 cup of the filling in the center of 1 side of the pastry. Using the beaten egg, brush the edges of the pastry and then bring the unfilled side over the filled side so that edges meet. Press edges together to seal and then crimp using your fingers or a fork. Repeat with the remaining turnovers and then transfer to a baking sheet. Brush the tops of the turnovers with the remaining egg and then cut several slits into the top of each pastry. Bake for 20 minutes, or until pastry is golden brown around the edges. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F and continue to bake until the pasties are golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 to 15 minutes before serving.

Shrove Tuesday is Pancake Day!

Today is Shrove Tuesday - this means different things to different people but it is the day before Ash Wednesday, also known as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, the day before Lent starts. In England it is known as Pancake Day - most people eat pancakes but I'm not sure many people there actually observe Lent.

We always make pancakes for dinner on this day, even though we live in the USA.

There are pancake races all over Britain, dating back to 1445 in the famous Olney, Buckinghamshire.

We are serious about this in England!

But there's more to Shrove Tuesday than pigging out on pancakes or taking part in a public pancake race. The pancakes themselves are part of an ancient custom with deeply religious roots. 

Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the ritual of shriving that Christians used to undergo in the past. In shriving, a person confesses their sins and receives absolution for them.

Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent. During Lent there are many foods that some Christians, historically and today, do not eat - foods such as meat and fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods.

So that no food was wasted, families would have a feast on the shriving Tuesday, and eat up all the foods that wouldn't last the forty days of Lent without going bad.

The need to eat up the fats gave rise to the French name Mardi Gras ('fat Tuesday'). Pancakes became associated with Shrove Tuesday as they were a dish that could use up all the eggs, fats and milk in the house with just the addition of flour.

The origin of pancake racing

Pancake races are thought to have begun in 1445. A woman had lost track of the time on Shrove Tuesday, and was busy cooking pancakes in her kitchen.

Suddenly she heard the church bell ringing to call the faithful to church for confession. The woman raced out of her house and ran all the way to church; still holding her frying pan and wearing her apron.

The pancakes in America are not the pancakes we eat in England on this day, they are more like crepes to everyone else. We always served them with sugar and wedges of Lemons and Oranges.

Recipe for Shrove Tuesday Pancakes:-

4 large eggs 1 cup milk (do not use low-fat or nonfat) 1 tablespoon butter, melted 1 tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla, extract 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup all purpose flour Additional melted butter Powdered sugar Fresh lemon juice Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend first 6 ingredients in blender. Gradually add flour; blend until smooth. Let stand 15 minutes. Heat medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Brush with butter. Add 2 generous tablespoons batter, tilting pan to coat bottom. Cook until golden on bottom, about 45 seconds. Turn pancake over. Cook until bottom is speckled with brown, about 30 seconds. Turn out onto paper towel. Cover with another paper towel. Repeat with remaining batter, brushing skillet with butter as needed. Butter ovenproof dish. Sift powdered sugar over speckled side of each pancake, then sprinkle lightly with lemon juice; fold pancakes into quarters. Overlap pancakes in prepared dish. Cover; bake until heated through, about 10 minutes. Serve with more powdered sugar and lemon juice.

See you at the pancake race today!

Now bring us some some figgy pudding

This is the first blog I have written that has made my mouth water! I didn't like Christmas pudding as a child but I always loved the brandy sauce.  Now I love it so much, I always make extra sauce and hide myself a helping of pudding for the end of the day (don't worry this isn't a secret my family knows already)!


There is some confusion about figgy pudding, as it is slightly different than the dense Christmas pudding that we eat that resembles moist fruit cake. 


The Christmas pudding we recognize today is a Victorian dish made from suet, dried fruit, candied peel, breadcrumbs, spices, egg, grated carrots and apples. The Victorians shaped their puddings into a spherical shape and boiled them in a muslin cloth. ‘Stir up Sunday’ (the last Sunday before Advent) had become associated with the start of the pudding-making process, in order to allow it least a month to mature before being consumed on Christmas Day. At Christmas, the pudding is doused in brandy and set alight.

There are many traditions and superstitions surrounding the Christmas Pudding. Some traditions say to make the pudding by the 25th Sunday after Trinity, with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and his Disciples. Every member of the family is to take a turn stirring the pudding with a wooden spoon from east to west, in honor of the three kings. It is said that setting the brandy aflame represents Christ’s passion. A sprig of holly as garnish is a reminder of his ‘Crown of Thorns.’ Holly supposedly brought good luck and had special healing powers. 


In 1664, it was banned by the Puritans as a custom unfit for people who followed the ways of God.

In 1714, King George I re-established pudding as part of the Christmas feast even though the Quakers strongly objected. Meat was eliminated from the recipe in the 17th century in favor of more sweets, and people began sprinkling it with brandy and setting it aflame when serving it to their guests. The Christmas pudding was not a tradition in England until it was introduced to the Victorians by Prince Albert. By this time the pudding looked and tasted as it does today. The traditional cooking time takes about eight hours, with preparation taking even longer due to extensive marinating. The longer the fruit is marinated in brandy, cider, or both, the better it tastes and this could take weeks! 

Another tradition when I was growing up was to put a sixpence in the pudding before it was steamed. The person who found the coin was supposed to have luck that year. One of my favorite stores, Harvey Nichols, packages their pudding to look like a sixpence.

Here is a link to a recipe, but you will have to save it until next year!


christmaspudding recipe





Don't worry you can still go out and buy one!

merry merry!

Chestnuts Roasting on an open fire

This is the season when all sorts of great food memories come flooding back. I love the food during this time of the year, plus all the other traditions we have in England at Christmas. You will see a few of those before the year is over.

Roasted Chestnuts are the best! At this time of year you can get them from Street Vendors in England.They are roasted in their skins and served hot, and it is an amazing flavor with an indescribable smell. If you can't make it to Europe to buy them on the street, you can do it at home in your oven.

Chestnuts are shiny brown nuts whose thick casing has long, sharp, needle-like spikes (burrs). There are usually two to four nuts per casing. Unlike other nuts, chestnuts have a high starch and water content but low protein and fat levels. They've never been as popular in British kitchens as in Continental ones, but they're a versatile and flavorful pantry ingredient. Chestnuts are available fresh, ground, dried, puréed or vacuum-packed

Growing up we called them Conkers and would peel and eat them from the tree; they were so starchy though and weren't very good! They are much better roasted or baked.

Chestnuts are most popular in stuffing, but they add a great flavor to desserts too. The puree is similar to an almond paste, which of course I can't bring into our home :(

When my "nut allergy" daughter goes to college it will be safe to make some recipes with nuts again!

Roasted Chestnuts - recipe

A great way to roast your chestnuts is to place them, with the cut sides up, on a baking sheet or cookie sheet. Roast them in a hot oven (about 400 degrees F) until the chestnuts appear tender. This will take about 20 minutes. To test to see if they have been roasted enough, stick a fork through the cut in shell and test for tenderness.

Finally, wrap the hot chestnuts in an old towel (no matter which way you chose to roast them) and squeeze them hard. Squeezing the chestnuts will break and crush the skins which will make peeling them much easier to do. Let the crushed chestnuts rest inside the towel for about 5 minutes before unwrapping them.

Open up the towel and feast and enjoy!


You'll know when they are roasted to perfection by the fact that you can easily open the shell and find beautiful golden colored chestnut meat inside. It's sweet to the taste and a little crumbly in texture. Delicious!

thanks for reading I will be back soon with a british delicacy.....

Guy Fawkes Night

Remember, remember the fifth of November.

Gunpowder, treason and plot.

I see no reason why gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.

November 5th is Guy Fawkes Night. It is also known as Bonfire Night and has a very long tradition in England involving dangerous plots and treason. 

On 5th November 1605 Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, London. Guy Fawkes disagreed with the then king of England, King James I and plotted with a group of men to fill a cellar under the Houses of Parliament with gunpowder to blow it up. This was later to become known as the Gunpowder Plot. The plan was foiled, Guy Fawkes was captured and sent to the Tower of London, and then later executed.

Since that day the 5th November had been remembered as Guy Fawkes Night. Effigies of Guy Fawkes were made with shirts and trousers stuffed with hay or paper, and a mask was sometimes used for its face. Children would take their guy out on the streets and ask for a 'penny for the guy' to pay for fireworks. I actually remember asking for the penny for a guy - "penny for a guy mister"? At night the guys were placed on the top of bonfires, and burned like this.

Nowadays, the 5th November is just known as Bonfire Night. Today it is celebrated with fireworks and bonfires, usually organized bonfires for a crowd with other festive activities planned too. We always had our own fireworks, and I can even smell them now. This night is a great memory.

You knew I was leading up to food!

It is a bonfire night tradition to make baked potatoes in foil in the bonfire, and we would also cook sausages and marshmallows on sticks that way too. It is usually a cold night, so hot chocolate is a must.

There is a traditional cake "Parkin Cake" eaten on Bonfire night too. It is made with molasses and oatmeal, and looks a little like gingerbread.

Toffee apples are a bonfire night favorite too, and they are similar to the American candy apple.

Even though the food is a memory here, as it always seems to be with me, the bonfire is really what sticks in my mind. Nothing like being out on a crisp, cold night in front of a huge fire with family and friends.

here is what is going on this weekend in my hometown:-


Bonfire Night events in Norwich

thanks for reading.