Pesto

I love Pestos...and frequently look for the best there are with real ingredients.....



It goes on gnocchi which I and Mr S also love...homemade preferably, in breads, on breads, and even as a filling...


Friends even brought back the most fabulous Pistachio Pesto from Sicily as a present last year.

Its no surprise that I got excited that one of our local WI members is currently running a wild garlic pesto workshop.   However because I did not go to the last meeting and had not registered my interest on time, I found out today that I have not only missed the first group but also the second group.

I have been rather in the dumps recently and a short break in Cornwall seems to have got me out of the doldrums.  I cannot thank Pat enough for taking good care of me over three days.  Here is a picture of Pat and her favoured pet Breeze on the beach.  It is just a short walk from her home to this little cove.  Of some of my home made bread, cake, marmalade etc which I took down, it was the Beetroot Chutney which Pat is going to try her hand at.

Today for supper I decided to just go completely off piste and made my own pesto, without even doing any research.  I was preparing pasta with a mushroom and pheasant sauce.  This sounds rather extravagant but to be honest it was a 'breeze'.  My cousin Pat was going to cook up some Venison but the local farm shop had run out and suggested a pair of dressed pheasants instead.  When Pat got out her cash to pay a second pair was put on the counter...It was buy one, or rather a brace of pheasants, which is a pair, get another pair free.  All four birds went into the oven...and we came home with a whole cooked bird.  Yesterday we had a meal with most of the meat which I had made into a 'fricassee' on the hob.  There was really enough for three good helpings, so I kept one back.  It was that portion which I then made into a sauce with saute mushrooms, onions, herbs and my ubiquitous Calvados.

The pesto which I dressed the pasta with, before topping with the pheasant concoction, was made up as follows:

a handful of roasted walnuts
the dregs of the lovely olive oil from Greek Olives in a tin, another present from a dancing friend
all the leaves of my windowsill basil plant which had reached the peak of perfection
some Cave aged goats's cheese from Wookey

It was really a use up....but absolutely delicious.  Except for exceptional pestos such as the pistachio one..in future I shall be exploring the world of Pestos through experiment in my kitchen.

I came across a really splendid blog just by chance and there are also tips from Paola Bacchia on gnocchi as well as Pestos.

Clive Mellum's Sweet Shortcrust Pastry is a winner as a case for Lemon Meringue Pie

It has become a family tradition that I bake a lemon meringue pie when my sister visits.  Its one of our favourites too, but since it is really at its best on the day of making,a Lemon Meringue pie needs to be made when it will be appreciated by several mouths.

This morning I mixed up a batch of pastry using a technique that I had never tried: one mixes the butter, sugar, and egg till they are emulsified, then the flour is added and rubbed in till a ball is formed. I found it very easy.

The finished pastry sat in the fridge, and when we came back from our little tour of Dinder and Crosscombe, it was rolling pins at the ready, zesters, lemon juicer, bowls, whisks, baking tins, came out of the cupboard, oven preheated, paper and baking beans were used.

Yesterday we had been out for a steak night out, and this morning everyone felt a little sluggish.  We had a great plate of salad, followed by fruit, and this evening a light supper of home made soup and pesto rolls followed by Lemon Meringue Pie.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, and I must agree that this is the best pastry I have made.  Even with the home made fresh lemon filling, there was no soggy bottom.  It was short and tasty, but strong enough to hold the thick layer of lemon and meringue topping.

Neighbours Val and Kay helped by having a piece each: a well earnt gardener's pudding following their afternoon out on their front gardens.  There is just a smallish piece left which I shall have shortly....I only had one piece earlier on!

Dried Chestnuts: Foodie treasures from Madeira

Last Easter we spent a couple of weeks on Madeira and we enjoyed our various trips and adventures there, and of course I was on the look out for different types of ingredients and foods!

On our trip to the Valley of the Nuns...where we were most expertly driven around mountains with hairpin roads as I have never seen before, we stopped at a viewpoint where I took these pictures

Trees grew wherever their roots could gain anchorage

At the very quiet market place in the Valley of Nuns Village, where there were only two stalls, I started to chat to one stall holder.  She was a very helpful young woman who spoke excellent English.  She and her family farmed on the hill sides.  I looked over what she had to offer and wondered what I could take home.  I chose some wild oregano, which I shared with a couple of friends and is almost gone, and a bag of dried chestnuts.

I was going through my ingredients and decided it was time to use these.  First I had to find out how to 'deal' with them.

I soaked them overnight.  As I walked into the kitchen the next morning, I was surprised by how much water they had absorbed.  It was easy to carefully peel off any remaining outer membrane and inspect them for any 'foreign bodies', of which about 5% were rejected. I then cooked them very gently until half cooked as I wanted to be able to add them to dishes such as casseroles and soups and continue cooking them for a little longer.  

The young woman had explained that they were all from local trees which are organically grown.  What she did not explain is that they had been heated and dried over real smoking fire.  This has imbued the chestnuts with a wonderful wood smoked flavour.  That day I had popped only four into a 'Chicken Chasseur' type dish with some Madeira Wine and realise that these are a real foodie find.

I've boxed up and bagged and frozen the rest for future use!  The cooking liquor is far too precious to throw away.  I am planning mushroom and chestnut soups, venison casseroles, pork, chestnut and bean hot pots etc.  Maybe even some smoked chestnut and thyme infused bread?

I have since learnt that Chestnuts are an important part of the Valley's harvest, and each year there is a very popular Chestnut Festival at the beginning of November.

Friend bearing gifts

Even though we feel that we have loads to do to get the house ship shape, and be really comfortable enough to receive guests, it was Penny who was brave enough to come to stay and take us just as we were.  For this I am so grateful, it was lovely to see a friend, whose visits were always so very welcome.  It took a great deal of effort, with train and bus across the Country, but Penny loves a challenge and loves travelling by train and bus.  At least we had the heating up and running, but forewarned, Penny brought down a new hotwater bottle, just in case, and this was one of the gifts she brought.

During our walk into Wells, Penny could not resist going through this gate at one of the Almshouse complexes....

We enjoyed walking and admiring the buildings, and later when we visited the Cathedral, we found the well worn steps which Penny remembered from a visit many years ago.  I am really looking forward to Penny's next visit, when we can explore more places together.

Only a couple of days before Penny's visit, when we were talking on the phone, she asked me if there was anything she could bring for me.  I must confess that back in Warwickshire from time to time, I would ask Penny to be on the look out for some obscure ingredient on her various travels. When we found unusual spices, or ingredients, we would share them.  Penny was therefore not surprised when I asked her to bring me a couple of boxes of dates.  I explained that they were soft Persian Dates and normally I bought them from Joe Richards the greengrocer in Kenilworth, and that my favourite fruit and veg stall at the market in Kenilworth: Stodds of Leicester often have them too.

I've been on the look out here for these lovely soft dates, but had not seen any.  These are my 'chocolates' they are soft and delicious, and I love them stuffed with a brazil nut as an after dinner sweetmeat. The nearest I have found are these.  Mazafati or Bam dates are quite the nicest dates at the 'affordable' end of the price range.

A large Parma Ham on the Bone

Yesterday I picked up my phone messages, and there was one from MC asking if I would like some Parma Ham, with something to the effect they were going to the shops.....I thought maybe there was a special offer on locally and my friend was offering to fetch me some. 

Later that day it turned out that yes some ham was on its way to me, a gift, well its with me for a few days and I can cut off as much as I would like....It started off at MCs daughter's, spent a couple of days at MC, and now it is with me.  Many thanks for sharing this great treat with us.....

I got up early this morning and researched the best way to cut and keep the ham at its best, how to keep its surface moist with a film of olive oil and sharpened the long bladed knife ready to cut some succulent thin slices for lunch.


The ham tastes wonderful...sliced thinly, eaten with and assortment of chutneys; pineapple and pear and walnut chutney is specially good, oven baked tomatoes, roasted peppers, tomato focaccia, salad and red wine. I can see why Italians love Mostarda di Fruta with their ham. The Spanish too have an air dried cured ham, I've seen the black pigs grazing under oak trees.

New Baking Tins means better baking

Several years ago I bought what has continued to be my best baking tray from a Kitchen shop in Cirencester, which never warps or buckles.  As I have been doing more baking recently I decided to replace some of my older tins which had started to loose their non stick: I bought a new very heavy non stick baking sheet and tray baking tin from a local store.  However I was so disappointed that after a short time in the oven, there was  the undeniable sound of the tin warping.  I went on line and did my research and found to my delight that my best baking tray was made by Silverwood, which is still manufactured and in the UK too nearby in Birmingham. .  Whilst ordering some tins from Salamander I had to get a Madeleine tin too...but one from France.

So with my recent new recipe books, and old favourite recipes, I have been adjusting the amounts of ingredients to fit the new tins.  This is a honey, almond and raisin cake.  I cut it into three and freeze two portions.  That way there is cake for another time, and we can have a variety.

The madeleines too were light and tasty and really have to be eaten the same day they are made.

Brede Mouroum or Moringa Oleifera from a friend bearing gifts

Last week my friend Marie-Claire returned from her break in Mauritius, where she stayed at Pointe aux Sables and was able to visit her Mum, as well as going out and about. 

When I got home on Friday, there in a Sainsbury's bag by my front door, were a few hard green sticks.....What were they?  I could not guess but a phone call later I was wiser:  Brede Mouroum Sticks.  But I had not heard of eating the sticks.  I can remember that my Auntie Suzanne who lived next door had a tree, which from time to time, especially when times were hard, or it was too hot to walk to the bazaar for greens, she would pluck the young green leaves and make them into a 'greens dish' to go with rice and salt cod, poisson sale or whatever.  It took no time at all to cook, and was a gorgeous bright green colour, always lovely beside the local rougailles.  If I lived in the right climatic zone, this would definitely be growing in the garden.  I bet the tender small green pods are great to eat too!

With the wonder of the www, I found that indeed one can eat the pods.  Mine seemed to be on the hard side, so I chopped them up, boiled them.....and what a pungent smell.  I stripped the outer pods, and was left with some winged seeds.  They taste very mild, so I am going to dress them with some olive oil and have them as a starter with some roasted red peppers, olives etc.

Dragon Fruit

This week at the market I spied an unusual fruit.  I had seen them before, but when my friendly market holder offered me a slice, and having tasted the fresh taste, not sharp, not sour, not really sweet, but just refreshing,  I thought why not....sitting in the conservatory, with a white frost, low sun, what can be more exotic looking.....  I've looked up the details and seen the sort of cactus/succulent type plant it grows on,  but it was just the perfect juxtaposition of colour and texture which makes buying a Dragon Fruit worth while.

Apple Cake

Mr S was wondering if he was going to get cake this week, and just when I was doing something completely different, the idea of apple cake came into my mind.  I searched for a recipe, weighing up in my mind which I would use, when I remembered a recipe that I wrote down years ago.  I looked through my well worn book, and found the recipe dated 1993! 

I adapted it a little as I was using desert apples, and felt there was too much sugar.  As I was using a larger 23 cm spring cake tin, I got into a little bit of a dilemma after putting in the sliced apples and felt I did not have enough mixture, so mixed up a further 1 eggs worth to cover the fruit properly.  I really like this size of cake as it gives more and better sized slices.  This is a really easy cake to make.  Since a couple of friends who received slices have left messages on the answer machine saying how much they enjoyed it, I am posting the recipe for them to have a try....

1 lb or so prepared eating apples
1 lb self raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
10 oz caster sugar
5 eggs
1.5 tsp almond essence
10 oz (goats butter) or ordinary butter melted
Flaked almonds
Caster Sugar

I decided to leave on the peel on the apples, but sliced the apples neatly.  To prevent them browning, some lemon juice was squeezed over them

Sift the flour, baking powder into a large bowl, and then add the sugar.

Melt the butter gently.

Whisk the eggs to blend, together with the almond essence.

Add the eggs and butter to the flour and sugar, and mix.

Cover the bottom of the cake tin with half the mixture.  Layer the apples.

 

Then top with the remainder of the cake mixture, and sprinkle on a liberal layer of flaked almonds.

Bake at Gas Mark 4 for about 1.5 Hours.  Remove from oven, after about 10 minutes, remove from tin, and allow to cool slowly on a cake rack.  When cold, dust with icing sugar.  Three days later the cake is still fresh and there are two slices left for Sunday too!

Baking for Friends and adapting recipes

Although I love baking just for ourselves, it is really nice to have friends round for tea. This time seven knitters or rather on this occasion, ladies crocheting some squares...came round. There was loads of chatting, and some crocheting, and a little knitting....then being a glorious day it was also out into the garden.

I wanted to bake at least two of three items gluten free. The biscuits pictures above, I adapted from Popina's Book of Baking. It is based on her Pineapple, coconut and lemon biscuits. If they were made with butter and normal flour, and slightly different other ingredients as per her recipe, then I think they would be different, but equally nice. They are light, tasty, with chewy pineapple bits. The quantity makes 36 good sized biscuits, so I was able to take some round for Julian.

When there were just three left, and we had been pudding less for about two days, I was inspired to make a quick dessert, which was so good, that it would be worth making these biscuits again just for this. I would freeze some biscuits just to have some put buy to make it up again.

Firstly Dessert using the biscuits:

For two people: Crumble three biscuits using fingers. Share about two of them between two pretty stemmed glasses, splosh over a little calvados. In a separate bowl whip up a small tub of double cream, I used goats cream, due to cow product intolerance, you could use normal cream. Then stir in the remainder of the biscuit into the cream. Put about two tablespoons of cooled poached apple on top of the biscuit mixture in the glasses, top with the whipped cream mixture, then decorated with some pretty pieces of poached apple.

This desert is 'assembled', all you need is cream, biscuits, cool poached apples, pears, maybe mangoes, peaches, apricots, and some liqueur. Malibu or a pineapple liqueur would go well. You could use Pineapple instead of the apple, but then I think it would overwhelm the subtle pineapple flavour in the biscuits.

Gluten Free Pineapple, Coconut and lemon biscuits

See Popina for her ingredients, and method for making preserved pineapple.

I used the following for my Mauritian Sunshine Biscuits

100g Pure Sunflower Spread

2 Eggs

100g white caster sugar

70g Demerara sugar, (we have a few acres where sugar is grown near to Moka)

180g crystallised pineapple rings which I bought from the Thursday Market in Kenilworth (the above soaked overnight in 1tbs rum, the last of my Mauritian Rum, and 1tbs lemon juice to plump it up)

Finely grated rind from 1 organic unwaxed lemon

120g Dessicated coconut

250g Doves Farm Gluten and Wheat Free Self-raising flour

Cream Pure and sugars, till fluffy. Add Eggs bit by bit, mixing well in between. Stir in Lemon zest, coconut and pineapple. Sift the flour high to add lots of air, then fold half into the mixture, then the rest.

Place generous teaspoonfuls onto baking trays, lined with parchment, leaving room to spread.

Take a wetted dessertspoon and flatten them slightly.

Bake in a pre heated oven, Gas Mark 3 for 25 mins until golden. Cool on a baking rack, and store in a sealed container for up to a week....I think three days.

Since I used my Mauritian Rum, and the main flavours say Mauritius: Pineapple and Coconut, I call these my Mauritian Sunshine Biscuits.

The second Gluten Free cake I made was on the pack of Gluten and Wheat Free Self-Raising flour blend from Doves Farm. I am sure that it would be equally good, and maybe even better when using butter, and normal flour.

Lemon & Poppy Seed Sponge, slightly adapted

125g self raising flour

100g Pure Sunflower

125g caster sugar

2Eggs

3 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Rind finely grated from an organic wax free lemon

1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds

Lemon juice and icing sugar mixed, for the topping

Place everything in a bowl, and beat really well, pour into a greased lined 500g baking tin. Bake at Gas Mark 5 for 45 mins.

Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

When cool, spread thick icing mixture on the top, allowing it to drizzle down the sides.

I also bakes some scones, and must try my hand of making some with gluten free flour.

Its a white out

On Friday we had a very fast downpour of snow lasting less than an hour, the final flurry was fast and furious and sounded like a downpour of hail. Then the sun came out.... all the while I was busy with the white stuff in the kitchen.

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The previous week I had made the marzipan from scratch which makes covering the cake very easy, and set the cake to dry out, ready for icing. Since the very cold weather, I had also been spending my 'enforced' stay at home time cleaning out all the cupboards in the kitchen and around the house, so I knew exactly where to find the little box which contains my Christmas Cake decoration, first bought in Swindon in 2007.

This year, instead of the usual 8 or 9 inch fruit cake, I am making a 6 inch one. With my calculator I carefully recalculated the quantities for the cake, marzipan and icing, and with the little bit of marzipan left, made the most delicious little biscuits, called Sardinian Almond Biscuits.

I only had 100g almond paste left over, so again, made about a quarter of the quantity of biscuits. These also used up the remainder of the egg white left from brushing the cake before laying on the marzipan. I used to use apricot jam method, but the egg white method used by Delia Smith really works well. Last year I ended up throwing away the remainder of the marzipan after it had sat in the recesses of the fridge for too many weeks.

The recipe for the biscuits came from an early birthday present from my very good friend and bread guru Vicki: a book by one of our favourite writers Linda Collister called Christmas treats to make and give.

This year I have been given some wonderful home grown apples by various people. All different varieties having different flavours and uses. One big green apple from Julian was labelled as being dual purpose. It is really good used either way, and needs no added sugar when cooked, and I must try and get its name.

Since I have been making small batches of Gelato most weeks, I decided to try my own concoction, based on three egg yolks with 350 ml goats milk and sugar, I added about a cup of cooked and chilled apple pure and also some sultanas which had soaked in calvados overnight. Mr S was amazed and so was I, the sultanas were reminiscent of the raisins in rum and raisin ice cream, but with the flavour of the apple as well as the calvados came through. Together with the Sardinian Almond biscuits, it was a truly delicious desert.

More Knitting and Baking

When some of our friends came up for Swindon in the Summer, I promised Maegan that I would knit her some more socks. I finally got round to asking for the measurements last week, and when I got my old knitting note book, I found the page where we drew round Maegan's feet in May 2007. As she was just a little girl then, there was plenty of yarn left over which I found in my stash. The colours are a little softer than above, and when they are tried on, and I have a report back on fit, then I'll be able to adjust my pattern if necessary, and made another pair in a different yarn.

I've started my Christmas baking and present giving, and baked these hazel nut and cranberry cookies which I took over to Rita's. Over a nice coffee and a biscuit, I then read her some poetry, from a little book we came across when I helped her sort out through some old papers. There is something wonderful about reading poetry aloud. Most old people of Rita's generation used to learn poetry by heart when they were young, and it really gives them a boost when they can remember some lines. Its certainly a lovely thing to have a picture of a host of golden daffodils on such a cold and dreary day!

Knitting and baking

I seem to gravitate towards Knitting and Baking when the snow and ice makes venturing out less attractive. On Wednesday morning, I was wondering what to make for our Gardening Evening Club Party. I just did not feel like going out shopping, so I went through my stash of ingredients, and came up with a tasty seasonal mix.

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I made cake mix and added cranberries, chopped fresh apple, and slowly roasted pecans. As I used the whole 250g butter block, I had sufficient mixture to make 12 cup cakes and another small slab of cake. I sifted some icing sugar over the cup cakes. * Several gardening friends came up to ask for the recipe for these. *

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In the afternoon, some of the slab was eaten up, when a few of my knitting friends came round for the first session of our lap rug project. We have worked on the pattern for the crocheted squares and under Jackie's guidance, we all managed to crochet similar sized squares, adjusting our tension by changing technique or hook size. I must say how much I admire Jackie, Nicki and Janice for braving the weather.

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These little snow flakes have fluttered into my blog, and allowing the space between the paragraphs which I have trying unsuccessfully to achieve.

Kitchen Notes

Late Autumn, early winter, before the rush to decide what to make for Christmas, there is time to play around in the kitchen. With gifts of surplus produce I get out books, thumb through, then try to remember what I would have liked to have made this time last year, then get stuck in.

With some apples I have made a few jars of home-made mincemeat. My favourite use of this is stuffing the centre of apples before baking.

When Mr S rolled over the large pumpkin which has been sitting in the conservatory, and saw that it was creating a dent in the carpet, I realised that it was time to 'deal' with it. Having carved it up and shared it out with another friend there has been more than enough for us. I have baked it down in the oven, frozen pieces of the baked pumpkin for use later on, and made huge amounts of delicious soup flavoured with either chicken or ham stock and bits of meat, and finished with coriander.

I also decided to have a trial run of my version of Panettone, using roasted pumpkin flesh......delicious. This time I added green pistachio nuts, dried cranberries, citrus peel and sultanas soaked in rum. The large 'cake' was made in an 8 inch cake tin, with a tall collar of paper to hold the dough so high, and the small one in a steel storage container. The small one went round to Marie-Claire's. Spread with tangy homemade wild plum jam, and freshly brewed coffee, this is one of the most delicious breadkasts, and is now a tradition at home. I shall be making this again a couple of days before Christmas ready for our breakfast.

With having ordered double quantities of walnuts, I have discovered a wonderful recipe for walnut short breads. In the biscuit line, I have also made a good quantity of Amaretto biscuits, and having had the seal of approval from several people, I am going to make a second batch, then having checked the recipe, will post it here.

Hedgerow delights

Finding a couple of hours a few days ago, when the sun was shining, I walked through the fields enjoying the wonderful late summer weather, with a couple of lidded boxes. The blackberries which I had spied the previous day had all been picked so I had to walk much further, but I was not to be deterred. As soon as I got home I set to: washed and picked through the fruit, and set them on to boil together with a few chopped up windfall apples. Overnight I strained the lot through some muslin, which I draped over a colander. I had a wonderful dark liquid. I make 500ml with 400 g sugar into cordial. This is the first time I have tried this, and it was very successful. After boiling up the mixture for five minutes, I poured the liquid into some small bottles which I had been saving, and then with the tops on, I put then into a big pan full of boiling water, and felt that 30 minutes was probably sufficient to sterilise the lot. Both Mr S and visiting nephew have finished off the two smaller bottles already!

I then made some superb jelly, clear and well set with 500 g of sugar to 500g of juice together with the juice of one lemon. The rest I made up into 'cheese', having pushed through almost everything except the pips through a sieve. This took me ages, but the results were well worth it.

Potting time again

With incredible timing my dear friends Marie Claire and Stephen arrived Sunday afternoon with 3 kg of wild plums, the small yellow ones which I know make the finest of jams. I was just thinking of cycling over to my favourite wild plum site. So over two days Sunday and Monday of last week, I make two lots. I know that my pressure cooker, which acts as my jamming pan can take 1.5 kg of sugar and up to two pounds of fruit, and have room for a good rolling boil, so I am not tempted to make more than that at one time.

This morning I led Mr S to believe that I was going out shopping for frocks etc., but seeing that the few plums our poor tree has managed to bear this year, needed picking, I set to and got busy. Compared to the bountiful load of last year, the couple of pounds this year is hardly worth talking about. However, I was not about to let them go to waste. I have eaten a few, but having some bites on them, have had to cut them open to check for creepy crawlies. I looked at my old tried and tested Fruit Book by Jane Grigson, and went for her Plum Chutney with a twist of my own. When I am making my Chinese Stir Fry or Duck Breasts flash fried, I often add some plum jam or chutney to round off the sauce, and hence my inspiration for adding the Star Anise. After potting three large jars, I have a little dish, and even without maturing, the flavours are wonderful.

Jam and Chutneys

Why the lavender wand? Its just that I named myself the Sugar Plum Fairy when I emailed Diane a week or so ago to thank her for the lovely gift she gave me: a beautifully hand tied bunch of lavender heads from her garden . Also, I am in Sugar Plum Fairy mode having made a batch of wild plum jam yesterday.

I was all set for cycling out and foraging yesterday, when I had a call from Penny...'Would I like some wild plums she had picked from the hedge of a friend's garden?' With all sorts of apologies about how tart they were, and perhaps one needed to skin them, I assured Penny that the jam would be delicious. I cycled to Waitrose to pick up my favourite T & L sugar, and by the time Mr S was home, the jam was ready to bottle. Strange saying this, should we say 'jar'? This morning at breakfast Mr S declared the jam to be delicious. There were sufficient yellow plums to make just one jar, and the rest was red.

I have a little assortment of labels, and am using a pretty hedgerow pattern. These were passed on to me via a friend, from an old lady who no longer makes jam, so from this batch, there will be three jars given away: one each for Penny and her friend, and one for the donor of the labels.

On Monday as well as the apricot jam in the photo with the plum jam, I made some runner bean chutney. I managed to collect 800g of runner beans from the garden, and was really pleased with the recipe which I had devised last year.

Strawberry Pavlova

It looked marvellous, so I wanted to get the whole thing in, and so I look at the photograph, but it looks as if it is hanging off the wall!

I made this specially as Rita was coming over for lunch, and I know she has a very a very sweet tooth. We had a very healthy salad and one of my red onion, olive, red pepper and cheese breads, and the Pavlova to finish.

Mr S and I finished it off later that evening.....well Pavlova is best eaten the day it is made. This is made with the addition of a little cornflour and cider vinegar, which leaves the centre of the meringue soft and marshmallowey. I always think of my mother when I see Pavlova's, in Mauritius she would use all manner of luscious tropical fruits, and would often make them for friends' dinner parties.

Popina Book of Baking

Once I had over one hundred cookery books, and had to reduce them, so took them into work, and later that day our office charity box was the richer....


Slowly, very slowly the numbers are mounting up again. I do try to only get books from the Library, but there are a few, which really NEED to stay here. Whilst in Waitrose, I picked up a new book, and flicking through the pages, I knew that here gathered under one cover, were several things I would like to bake.
In her introduction Isidora Popovic 'urges you to use this book as a canvas for your own creations.' I loved this, as this is just how I use books. Her use of pizza dough to line savoury tarts lessens the amount of fat, so for my first trial of this I used her spelt pizza dough, but used just cooked fresh salmon and asparagus in the filling. I used the quantities of Greek yogurt, cheese etc recommended and felt it was a bit shallow, but it baked up just right...this is before it went into the oven. Next time I shall try hot smoked salmon.



The new season asparagus at the market was too tantalising, so two bunches were used for this and a soup. I took this over for Veronica when we went to visit the new addition to the family. V & I had a piece for our lunch, and the rest was portioned and stored in the freezer for snacks on another day. It was lovely.

Tasty partners

I seem to remember lovely things just being available to eat when I was young. Perhaps it was because I was not aware of the planning and organisation that was behind the food and dishes which stood around ready to feast the eyes and make the mouth water.

My mother was always very busy with her work, and with a florist business in the tropics, from growing to completed displays, it was hard work too. Flowers soon go over, and often there were flowers in the big fridge rather than dishes. She still had time to make cakes, using the Kenwood Chef, which she had managed to bring hand luggage from England....can't see that happening now with hand luggage restrictions!

We also had two lovely maids, gosh that sounds so old fashioned now, who were excellent cooks, producing local delicacies. In Quatre-Bornes in Mauritius, where I grew up, in view of the cliff like Corps de Garde Mountain, we had access to a vast array of exotic foods. In those days we had itinerant vendors, well known to the old families, who came selling door to door, things which they had made, grown or picked that day: gauffes, which were thin crispy biscuits to serve with ice cream; macatia ena coco, sweet bread buns stuffed with coconut and sugar, still warm from the oven; gateaux piments and dhal purris: fresh wild raspberries and guavas picked that morning from the mountains, huge bunches of bananas, leitcheess and mangoes. Most intriguing to us children octopus and huge fresh lobsters, the eyes of which were touched so that they moved and you then knew they were still alive and therefore fresh and good to eat. This was in addition to all the things which grew in our garden and those of neighbours and friends. During the hunting season, often there would be a tap at the door before breakfast, and a gift of a huge slab of venison. As very few people there had fridges back then, it was the norm to share around produce as it was ready to eat, and it had to be preserved or eaten within a day given the temperature and humidity. Those days have now past, and the super markets with their ready packed and prepared meals, their packaged fruit and veg. emulate their European counterparts. For lots of other reasons just as in the UK, food production, preparation and consumption has changed so much.




With a turn towards more activities and outings, I am trying to have dishes ready in good time and which can be eaten over a couple of days, rather than cooking just as they are needed, which is more my usual style. Often Friday I spend time making up dishes, or preparing food ready just to assemble when we come in from gallivanting.





Some russet apples had been lingering in the fruit basket, and wondering how they would be like baked, I popped them into the oven, cored and stuffed with mincemeat, below the Italian lemon and mascapone cheesecake. I had picked up a large bag of russet apples at Kenilworth Market for £1.00, which is a bargain. These apples are only usually available in the autumn, so these must have come out of store, but they were fresh and firm. They baked beautifully and being smaller than granny smiths, were ideal for platting up with a slice of cheese cake, which we had with a good dollop of Greek yogurt, drizzled with some of the juice from the baked apples. They made tasty partners, and was excellent warm and cold. I even warmed the apples through for 10 minutes the next day, so this would make an excellent combination when having visitors, being able to be cooked in advance and then produced when needed.