Recipe Time

Tonight I had what I suppose in modern parlance could be called a "labelling malfunction". What Paul Levy calls UFOs - unidentified frozen objects.

Over Christmas I had needed some duck breasts, and they were so hard to come by that I bought a whole duck and jointed it, freezing the carcass and the legs separately. Since it's now marmalade orange season, we were going to have Duck à l'orange tonight.

It turned out to be chicken à l'orange. With the freezer being exceptionally full over Christmas, the labelled duck legs were in the bottom drawer which normally doesn't have any meat in it, and when I found un-labelled chicken portions in the meat drawer, that was what got defrosted.

In any case, the Feathered Rice that I had thought would be very nice with the duck was equally nice with the chicken - and as I  made the full quantity I took a quick picture of the half that's now safely tucked away in the fridge for next week. Hence the rather dirty looking dish - sorry!!

This recipe is from Ronald Johnson's An American Table - I know I've shared recipes from it before. He describes it as earthy and nutty.  Nutty is about right to me - the aroma is almost like a puffed-rice cereal, only without all the added sugary sweetness.

Feathered Rice:

1 cup (8 fluid oz) rice

1 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups (1 imperial pint) boiling water.

Heat the oven to 400F, 200 C and toast the rice grains on a baking tray till lightly browned - about ten minutes. Stir occasionally.

Reduce heat to 350F, 170C. Transfer the rice into an ovenproof dish with a close-fitting lid. Stir in the salt and boiling water. Cover tightly, and cook for about 40 minutes, till dry and fluffy.

He says you can stir in a little butter at the end if you wish, but neither he nor I think it's necessary.

I know I haven't posted many cards recently - I don't think I even did a December pick, and it's really too late now for any Christmassy ones. But in view of the bitter cold here the last few days, this is still seasonal. I love using alcohol inks to make a plaid background à la Tim Holtz.

Today has not been a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination - the duck being chicken was only the last in a litany of things which went wrong today. But there's always tomorrow...

Recipe Time

The temperatures plummeted last night to just above freezing, and a clear sky brought an end to the dismal grey mornings we've been having recently.
So we went for a quick walk in the park. We were no sooner in the gate than we spotted a pair of jays, to C's delight. I've seen them before in Farmleigh, but it's only the second time he's ever seen any. Then his beloved wood duck was back on the lake, and we saw a pair of Little Grebe - a first for him. Plenty of birds in Farmleigh, too, and lots of glorious autumn colour.

 

We came home and I cooked this for our brunch : German Apple Pancake

Pancake:
3 large eggs
1/4 pt milk (5 fluid ounces; this is an imperial pint!)
3 oz white flour - between 1/2 and 3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4oz / 1 1/2 tblsp butter
1 apple thinly sliced (optional)

Filling:
1 lb tart apples thinly sliced - preferably ones which will hold their shape
2 oz / 1/2 stick melted butter
2 oz / 1/4 cup sugar
cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.

Prepare the pancake batter by beating together the eggs, milk flour and salt till smooth. If you wish to add some thinly sliced apples, do so.
Preheat the oven to 220C, 425F.
Heat a 12" heavy skillet, melt the butter in it and once it's sizzling, pour in the batter and put into the oven. Cook for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 170C, 350F and cook for another 10 minutes; it should be brown and crisp.
Now, here's where I don't know if the issue is that my largest skillet which will fit in the oven is only 11", or if it is meant to rise up the sides of the pan! I've made it twice now (once with, once without the optional apple), and it's been the same both times.  The recipe is from "The Vegetarian Epicure", which was Anna Thomas' first cookery book. All I have for this recipe is a rapidly fading  photocopy on thermal fax paper - a situation soon to be rectified. She says that during the first 10 minutes or so of cooking it may puff up in large bubbles, in which case you should pierce them with a fork. Mine just rises up the sides...but at the end I am able to fold the sides to the centre which works OK.
The filling should only take about ten minutes to prepare; melt the remaining 2 ounces of butter, sauté the apples till just soft, then add the sugar and spices.
Slide the pancake out onto a large plate. Recipe says put the filling over one side and fold the other half over it. My way means I spread the filling over the whole centre and fold my very risen sides in over it.
You can drizzle with more melted butter  (I don't) and sprinkle with sugar..
We can finish this between us for breakfast or brunch, it could probably serve three. As a dessert with cream or icecream it would certainly serve up to 6.

Knitting in the Round

My sister-in-law had bought a large (1kg) ball of wall and a pattern that came with it, to knit something for one of my nieces. Whether it was that she didn't really like the pattern (she did suggest I could try something else if I wanted), or that it was tricky to knit with, she passed it on to me - and now it's ready to head back down to her again. I put the wool brand into the search in Ravelry, and a Pinwheel Sweater was one of the hits.
I had to use different needles to get the right tension, but I really enjoyed knitting this. It was a bit bulky for carrying to work, but I got it done; and one of the best things is that there was no sewing up to do - just darning in the ends. The picot edging took a while, but I think that if I wants to add a couple of big buttons, the loops in the picot will serve as button loops. Essentially it's just a circle with sleeves set into it and knit down from the top, and the smaller part becomes a loose shawl-type collar. The front is more like an extended bolero - it's longer and swings loose at the back. I really like how it turned out! The pattern says that for a baby it can be worn the other way, with the longer part as a hood. It certainly did remind me of my favourite ever coat that I bought in Paris, which had a sort of cape edged with fur which could be left at the back as a cape over the coat, used as a hood, or draped across the front like a loose shawl. I wore it till the wool was getting bare!

Gujarati Style Aubergine  (Eggplant) and Potato (serves 4)

5 tblsp oil
large pinch asafoetida (but then do NOT reheat this in the microwave!!)
1/2 tsp each mustard and fenugreek seeds
2 cloves garlic, crushed,
1/2" ginger root peeled and grated
1 small onion, finely chopped
8 oz potato, peeled and diced
1 tblsp desiccated coconut
8 oz aubergine/eggplant diced the same size as the potato (about 1")
1 tsp each ground coriander/cilantro and ground roasted cumin seeds
1/2 tsp each garam masala, ground red chilli / cayenne, turmeric
salt
8 oz chopped tomatoes (fresh or tinned)
1 tblsp each sugar and lemon juice.

Heat the oil, fry the asafoetida with the mustard and fenugreek seeds till the mustard starts popping. Add the garlic, ginger and onion and fry till lightly browned.
Add the potato and fry till golden brown.
Add the coconut and aubergine and fry for one minute.
Stir in all the dry spices, then the tomatoes. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer for twenty minutes till the vegetables are tender. I think I may have added a little water at this stage - the recipe says to add water if it gets too thick.
Add the sugar and lemon juice, then increase the heat till the liquid has reduced.
Sprinkle with garam masala and chopped fresh coriander/cilantro and green chilli to serve.

As I said, I made this purely because I had already set aubergines ready before work on the day our guests had to cancel, and since we'd just had a large dish of ratatouille and C is not over-fond of aubergines, I thought I'd try something other than the pasta dish with grilled vegetables that I had been going to do. This was more work than I would have chosen in a busy week, but he liked it and it's certainly something I'll be making again. The sweetness of the coconut went remarkably well with the aubergine.

I need to do some more research into what makes Gujarati food so typical. Is it the asafoetida? I know that the two other dishes I use it in both say they are Gujarati. I just wish that the smell was a bit less lingering!

Jelly and June cards

June was so busy that I didn't have a lot of time for card-making, and hadn't thought it was worth picking out my favourites when July came around.
But now that I'm looking back over July's cards, I see a couple from June that are worth putting here, so I'll do that tonight and then catch up with July later in the week. The first card was an MFT sketch, and as soon as I saw that big circle I thought of a setting sun. I used the third one as a non-traditional new baby card. The Snoopy card was for C's birthday, so it's just creeping into July.

I also have a couple of recipes that I've been meaning to upload. We were expecting friends overnight a couple of weeks back, and I had bought everything I needed for dinner, and had set the aubergines to degorge before I left for work. Then our friends had to cancel due to illness, and I had to come up with a different recipe for the aubergine. I tried an Indian one, so I'll find the book I got it from and write that up later this week also.

This Layered Fruit Terrine used to be one of my staples for people who were dairy-intolerant.
I made it over the weekend as one of the desserts for my mother-in-law's 87th birthday dinner.
As I recall, I used to make the jelly base with cranberry juice and port, but as my in-laws are both conservative and teetotal, I stuck with apple juice for this one.

30ml / 6 teaspoons powdered gelatine (yes, it's more than would normally be used for the volume of liquid, and you could probably use a bit less, but the fruits tend to add some juice into the mix
450 ml / 3/4pt / 2 American cups of apple or grape juice
275g / 10 oz small strawberries, hulled
3 large oranges, peeled, segmented and drained
4 nectarines, cut into segments.

Sprinkle the gelatine over 150 ml / 1/4pt / 1/2 cup of the juice, and after it has sponged for a few minutes, heat to dissolve. Add it to the remaining juice.
Pour a 1/4" layer of jelly into the bottom of a 705ml / 1 1/4pt / 2 1/2cup non-stick mould or loaf tin. Chill to set.
Arrange the fruit in well-packed layers, then pour the jelly over it. Chill till completely set.
Turn out and garnish with more fruit.
I also added a raspberry coulis.

It goes without saying that you can use any fruit you wish - the original recipe had green and black grapes. Just stay away from fresh pineapple, which will stop the gelatine from setting.

Gingering Things Up

July has not proved to be any less stressful and busy than June - and the start of August isn't going to be any improvement either.

Years and years ago I bought the best digital cooking thermometer with a probe that I've ever had. Well - maybe the second best! After my mother died I gave it to my dad, to make sure he was heating things through properly. And then started the quest for another good one. I couldn't get the same make and model again, and I don't think it's overstating things to say I tried at least 5 more before finding one that was reliable and robust. I'd still love a Thermapen, but I like having a probe.
The thermometer I ended up with was a French make (I saw some lovely products from the same company (Mastrad) in the kitchenware department of BHV in Paris). And it came with correspondingly upmarket recipes in the instruction leaflet; two for foie gras, and one for

Pear Preserves with Ginger.
I'd always wanted to try the last, and one day a couple of weeks ago was the day.

1 kg reasonably firm pears
700g sugar
50g fresh root ginger.

Wash, peel and remove the pips from the pears. Then cut them into pieces, place in a thick-bottomed pan and cover with the sugar.
(The recipe was very unspecific about size. I'd cut them into quarters to take the pips out and then cut each quarter into two or three; next time I think I'd just cut each quarter in half horizontally).
(I also had a few pieces turn brown as the sugar didn't quite cover them, and I think I'll try dropping them into acidulated water while I prepare them next time).
Peel the ginger, cut into small pieces and add to the pan.
Cook over a low heat till the temperature reaches 104 C, 219F.
Place in sterilised preserving jars.
The pears are strongly infused with flavour from the ginger, and along with plenty of the syrup (which is just sugar and some juice from the pears, I expect, they make a lovely accompaniment to a good vanilla icecream.
In fact, I'm just going to go and have some now.
I think they would make quite a nice Christmas gift too, especially if I could find more jars like this, which was the last one in the shop.

MIB5 / Chicken Soup

Men In Black 5  ~ not that I've seen 1 or 2, but I've been seeing the poster ads for 3 around the place.


Last Saturday night I took two chicken breast fillets out to defrost. On Sunday morning I remembered that we'd decided that one was sufficient for the stir-fry that I was making.
So I took out a chicken carcase (I get them free from the butcher from time to time, and stick them in freezer) and made a good stock, poaching the spare chicken breast in it for a short while...
Then we had a lovely chicken and sweetcorn soup.

Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup: (serves 4)

 1 litre good chicken stock (with sliced ginger if you like, although I found that adding grated ginger at the end was sufficient).
6 spring (green) onions
2 slices fresh ginger
12 oz creamed sweetcorn
1 chicken stock cube if you like extra flavour - I don't like extra additives
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
2 tblsp cornflour
1 egg white
4 ounces /100g shredded cooked chicken

Strain the stock and remove excess fat from the surface.
Chop 4 of the spring onions, grate the ginger and  put in a pan with the stock, sweetcorn, stock cube and sesame oil, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil.
Blend the cornflour with a little cold water, stir it into the soup and cook for a minute till it thickens.
Whisk the egg white with two tablespoons of cold water and drizzle it into the soup, stirring continuously.
Add the shredded chicken and heat through.
Serve and garnish with the remaining spring onions finely chopped.

As I only made half the quantity, the remaining stock went into a green vegetable risotto which we had for dinner tonight.

Neglect

tr.v. ne·glect·ed, ne·glect·ing, ne·glects

1. To pay little or no attention to; fail to heed; disregard: neglected their warnings.

2. To fail to care for or attend to properly: neglects her appearance.

3. To fail to do or carry out, as through carelessness or oversight: neglected to return the call.

 

What I am, apparently, doing to my blog. And what happened to this hanging basket - although to be fair, it's hanging outside a pub that is a victim of the recession, rather than wilful neglect. And in my case it's lack of time rather than wilful neglect.

We had these Sicilian onions the other day with some lamb chops - definitely on the repeat list. Even though they spattered oil everywhere and left C a big clean-up job on the hob afterwards.

Sicilian caramelised onions
12 oz / 350 g small or pickling onions
2 tblsp olive oil
2 fresh bay leaves torn into strips
thinly pared rind of one lemon
1 tblsp soft brown sugar
1 tblsp clear honey
4 tblsp red wine vinegar
Skin onions - blanch in boiling water first if needed.
Heat oil in a frying pan, add bay leaves and onions and cook for about 6 minutes, turning occasionally, till onions are browned all over.
Cut lemon rind into thin matchsticks (I used zester thingy). Add to the frying pan along with sugar and honey. Cook for 2-3 minutes till the onions start to caramelise.
Add wine vinegar, being careful as it will spit. Cook for about 5 minutes till onions are tender and liquid is almost all evaporated/absorbed.

I used shallots, being what I had. Next time I think I'd just fry the bay leaves whole in the oil - I think you'd still get enough flavour from them, and they were quite chewy and we ended up picking them out. 

 

I promised some owls. I still haven't finished editing my photos, but here are some of the long-eared owl, along with one of the barn owl and the only good one I was able to get of the Snowy. Since the Snowy Owl was still in its cage, and you couldn't get close enough to the bars to really lose them with a wide aperture, it was very difficult to get anything worth keeping.

 

 

Tomorrow - or Saturday - I'll try to sort out a new blog header for May and some of my favourite April cards...

Happy St. Patrick's Day

In a break from my usual photo of St. Patrick's Tower on Thomas Street I snapped a few photos the other day, but more computer problems meant I didn't get to schedule this post.

Saints, hermits, whatever...this morning I made Hermits for our morning coffee. I normally make the bar cookie version for convenience, but I didn't want that large an amount, so this time round I made the drop cookies.

Hermits - makes 30

1/2 cup  butter beaten till soft.
Beat in 1 cup soft brown sugar and beat till light.
Add 1 egg and 1/2 cup sour milk.
Sift and add 1 1/3 cups flour with 3/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp cloves, 1/4 tsp soda.
Stir in 1/2 cup chopped raisins, 1/4 cup chopped nuts and (optional) 1/4 cup desiccated coconut.
Drop onto prepared trays and cook for 12-15 minutes at 375F, 160C.

Happy Christmas

I was feeling lazy on Saturday  and didn't make my usual cinnamon buns for Christmas breakfast.
Instead I made this Moravian Sugar Cake - it's been a while since we've had it.

Moravian Sugar Cake: 2 large or 3 medium sugar cakes


2 medium potatoes
1/3 cup lard
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup warm water
1 1/2 tblsp dry yeast (I used between 1/2 and 1/2 an ounce fresh)
1/2 tsp sugar or honey
approx 6 1/2 cups flour

For topping: butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cream.
Cook the potatoes till soft, reserve 1 cup of the water and mash the potatoes.
In a small pan heat the reserved potato water with the butter and lard till they are melted. Add the honey, salt, and mashed potatoes and mix well. Cool to lukewarm.
While cooling, activate the yeast in the 1/4 cup warm water with sugar or honey. You can do this in a large mixing bowl ready for the next step.
Add the eggs and potato mix to the yeast. Add 2 1/2 cups of flour and beat for about two minutes with an electric mixer.
Gradually add more flour as needed till you have a soft elastic dough.
Turn into a buttered bowl, cover and leave to rise.
Knock the dough down, turn onto a floured board and knead lightly. Cover and leave to rise for about 10 minutes.
Butter shallow baking pans.
Pat or roll the dough out to fit - it should not be more than 1/2" thick. Brush the top with melted butter.
Cover and leave to rise till almost doubled in size.
With your thumb, punch little indentations over the surface of the dough and fill with dots of butter.
Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and liberally with brown sugar, and then dribble heavy cream over it.
Bake in a preheated oven 400F / 200C for about 15-20 minutes till golden brown.
Serve warm.
To freeze, wrap tightly in foil. When ready to use, heat in  a moderate oven still wrapped in the foil.

This comes from The Bread Book: A Baker's Almanac  by Ellen Foscue Johnson.

Speckled Egg and more

I haven't seen a speckled egg like this one in ever so long - I was about to crack it to make the batter for dinner, but then I thought I'd take a photo!

Mrs Robin's tail is growing in nicely. She's still moulting, though - as she was sitting on the wall early I could see a little breast feather blow off and drift away in the wind.

This bud is the yellow flower that looks a bit like a daisy. I still haven't looked through my flower books to try to identify it - it's got quite a fleshy stem. There's beautiful colour in the nigella seed-heads, too.

I can't think how long it is since I last baked this - ten years or more. I'd totally forgotten about it till I came across it again recently looking through the cookery book (Ronald Johnson's  The American Table). Last week I thought I'd asked the butcher for one piece of striploin that would do a stir-fry, but I discovered that he must have mis-heard: when I got home there was a large piece of sirloin, enough for the stir-fry and then a good bit left over. Just the right amount for this:

Colonial Beef Steak Pudding  (serves 4)

2 tblsp vegetable oil
1 lb boneless beef, cut into small bite-sized pieces
1 chopped onion
1 tblsp flour
1 cup beef stock,
2 tblsp tomato purée, 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
Salt and pepper - I add thyme

2/3 cup sliced mushroooms - we're not mushroom fans, I use carrots
2 tbslp oil or beef dripping
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
2 eggs

Heat 2 tbslp oil quite hot, and brown the steak in batches. Add the second batch back to the pan, add the onion and cook for a few minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for another few minutes. Add the stock, tomato purée and Worcestershire Sauce, carrots and seasoning to taste. Bring to the boil, reduce hit and simmer over a very low heat uncovered for about 1 1/2 hours, till the meat is tender. If it dries out too much add a little more water, but the aim is that at the end of the cooking time there should be very little liquid left.
Heat the oven to 450F, 230C, Gas Mark 8.
Heat the oil or dripping in a 1 1/2 quart casserole, with at least 2"  sides.
When the oil is really hot, pour in the batter and then drop spoonfuls of the steak mixture over the top. Bake for 15-20 minutes till the pudding is puffed and brown.
My recollection is that I used to do this in a soufflé type dish, so that's what I used tonight, but I think it would have been better in a wider, shallower dish. Certainly when we used to have toad--in-the-hole my mother used a roasting tin, partially cooking the sausages and then pouring the batter over. We used to have it with sugar - that seems strange to me know. But Yorkshire pudding is good to me almost any way it comes, and essentially that's what this is, except that I use milk and water mixed for Yorkshire puddings.

For the birds

There are no flies on this little baby robin - he knows just where Momma flies to to pick up those tasty titbits she brings back. Actually, I'm interested to see that when there's a variety of stuff on the doorstep for her to choose from, she seems to like to bring a variety back to the little ones. Even though mealworms seem to be her favourite she'll bring grains and seeds and fruit back to the babies too.



Much of yesterday was rainy and not so warm - time to put the duvet back on the bed tonight, I think. But in between, C and the birds both enjoyed the sunny spells.

Mrs Robin on the trunk of a tree that came down in the snow two winters ago

I never picked a favourite card from June to share, because I was feeling flat and uncreative and didn't really have a favourite that stood out. This month I have several favourites, so I think Woodstock can settle in with the flock of birds in this post. Thanks for the twine, Lorraine!

We were sort of expecting a friend of C's to call yesterday, and we only had about three biscuits in the house. Since I knew Jorges likes peanut butter I went looking for a recipe for a bar cookie (for convenience) with peanut butter. This is what I found:

Oh Henry Bars: (approx 40)

2/3 cup butter

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 tblsp vanilla (I thought this was a lot, and would cut it back to not more than 2 tsp another time)

1/2 cup corn syrup (golden syrup over here)

4 cups porridge oats

6 ounces chocolate chips

2/3 cup chunky peanut butter.

Cream the butter and sugar together. Add vanilla, corn syrup and oats. Press into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan. Bake at 350F, 180C for 15 - 16 minutes.

While it bakes, melt the chocolate chips (I just used chocolate) and peanut butter together over a low heat. When the cookies have cooled slightly, spread this over and allow to set.

We don't have Oh Henry bars here, so I did a bit of googling to find out more about them - and the cookies. This recipe is from The Wellesley Cookie Exchange Cookbook, with a note that it came from the Boston Globe. But pretty much any recipe I looked at was almost identical. They all stress not to overcook!! One suggested using a 10" x 15" jelly roll pan with a reduced cooking time, although she notes that the original recipe was the size I used. That would give a thinner coating of peanut butter and chocolate on a thinner oatmeal base - I think I like the sound of that.

Summer in the Kitchen

 
It's certainly not summer outside this week. I had a pot of basil that I bought a couple of weeks ago for tomato soup, and it needed using up so I decided to make a big pot of ratatouille for dinner tonight. I thought C didn't like it and that I would be eating the rest of it myself, but it appears his taste has changed since the last time I gave it to him - a good discovery.

The more traditional version is cooked with more olive oil, but I like this version from Anna Thomas's  From Anna's Kitchen. She uses less oil and a fresh tomato sauce for extra cooking liquid - even more summery goodness.

Ratatouille:
I used two small aubergines / eggplants, two courgettes / zucchini, 2 onions, 1 each red and green bell peppers, 4 large tomatoes for the sauce and two at the end, plus some basil, parsley, garlic and a spoonful of balsamic vinegar.
The aubergines, courgettes, onions and peppers were all cut into 1/2" dice. The tomatoes were cut a bit larger

The tomato sauce was simply 4 tomatoes skinned and coarsely chopped, and simmered for about half an hour in a little oil with a crushed clove of garlic and some chopped basil till it was reduced.

While I made the sauce I degorged (is that how you spell it in English?) the aubergines; in a plastic colander I sprinkled them lightly with salt and left them for half an hour. Originally this was to remove some of the bitterness and excess liquid. A bit like scalding milk being a hangover from when it was needful, I think that most modern varieties are a lot less bitter then their early predecessors, and personally I don't bother doing it with the courgettes. I do, however, think it helps make the aubergines a bit less absorbent, so I usually do it with them. After this rinse them and pat dry with kitchen towel.

Heat 1 tblsp olive oil in a large pan. Add the chopped onion and a clove or two of crushed garlic, and fry gently for about 7 minutes, till soft. Add the courgettes and aubergines and continue to fry gently, stirring well, for another 7 minutes or so. Add the peppers and the tomato sauce, along with some salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for about twenty minutes. Add the tomatoes, chopped basil and parsley and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Cook for another 5 minutes and serve.
We had with pasta tonight - I like it with crusty bread, and I like it almost as much cold.
Funny, it's a real Provencal dish, but I don't believe I had it when I was staying in Provence on a teenage exchange visit.

Phoenix Park 2

The Wellington Monument was somewhere we always enjoyed going for picnics when we were small. It obviously still hasn't lost its attraction for young children - just as I was leaving a mother arrived with her two young boys who raced each other up the steps.

Recently when we had friends coming for lunch over the weekend I thought I'd make Parker House Rolls. The name was so familiar that, when it came to getting out the Joy of Cooking and reading the recipe, it was a shock to discover I had no memory of what they looked like, and I had to do a bit of online searching to get an idea. It's a well-worn page in the book, with all the conversions from US to Imperial pencilled in by my mother, so I think she must have used it as a basic bread dough. Anyway, they were delicious that day, so I made them again on Friday since we were just using up some leftover tomato and rice soup for dinner.


Parker House Rolls:  this recipe says it makes 30 2" rolls. Well, mine must have been way too big; I used a 3" cutter and  got 14 and a little round roll. But any smaller than I made them and I don't see how they could possibly take the advised 20 minutes to cook - mine were done in less than 15 minutes.

1 cup / 8 fluid ounces milk
1 tblsp sugar
2 tbslp / 1 ounce butter
1/2 cake / 1 sachet yeast (I used 1/2 ounce fresh yeast)
1 egg
3/4 tsp salt
2 5/8 cup flour - I used a cup to measure, but this would be something over a pound but under a pound and a half
melted butter

Scald the milk, add the sugar and butter, and when it's cooled to blood heat add the yeast and leave till active.
Normally I don't bother with scalding - I think it's one of those hangovers from old days ,when it was necessary to kill any bacteria. But in this case I needed it hot enough to melt the butter, so I went with what the recipe said.

Sift most of  the flour and the salt into a large bowl. Add the egg and the yeast mixture and knead well to make a soft and very light dough. It's important not to use too much flour, but obviously you need to be able to work with the dough, so use enough flour for a soft but manageable dough.
Put in a clean bowl, brush with melted butter and leave to rise.
Roll out on a floured surface to about 1/2" thick and cut into rounds with a floured cutter - I used my largest one, which is about 3 inches.
With the handle of a knife dipped in flour press a crease along the centre of each roll.
Not in the Joy recipe, but one of the ones I found suggested brushing with melted butter at this stage, which I did. Fold the rolls over along the crease line and press together lightly.
Place in rows on a floured tray, cover and leave to rise till doubled.
Bake in a hot oven (425F, 220C)  for 15 - 20 minutes, serve warm.

I should have taken a photo, really, but there weren't very many left after dinner! Next time...

Eastern Blooms

Another day of hot, hot sunshine. As I wasn't working I took a trip to Farmleigh.

C is feeling - well, I don't know quite what the right word is - he says that I have seen jays there and today I saw tree-creepers and he's never seen either any time he has been. But he saw them both in St. Catherine's Park, so he shouldn't feel too deprived.

Tree-creeper

I said I'd been experimenting with red cabbage -this is my final version. It's certainly not worth using balsamic vinegar as per the more modern recipe I tried, but the cranberries seem to be much nicer than apple.

Red Cabbage with Cranberries:
For half a red cabbage I used one red onion (because I had it, although I am sure an ordinary onion would be pretty much the same),  a little oil, 2 tblsp each brown sugar and wine vinegar, a pinch of allspice and about two ounces / 50 g dried cranberries.

Heat the oil, fry the sliced onion gently for a few minutes. Add the finely sliced cabbage and fry gently for another few minutes. Add the sugar, vinegar, spice and cranberries plus a little water  - enough just to keep it moist. Cover and simmer gently for about 45 minutes, stirring a couple of times.

This would probably give about six servings as a side dish.