Happy Yuletide 2015

Hello Friends,
Feeling festive? I'm just taking a few minutes between squidging up the chestnut stuffing ingredients & making pastry to wish all our friends a Happy Yuletide. The turkey is defrosting, a scary amount of sprouts have taken up residence in the pantry, everything is ready for guests & I have only macaroon mince pies & star biscuits to bake before applying my backside to a chair with a glass of something & a wodge of Christmas Cake.

Fellow cat-owners will know it's touch & go this time of year whether the tree remains intact for longer than the two hours it took to put it up. So far so good here, but we had a wobble yesterday when Albert Whiskers climbed up behind the tree so as to get a better paw to a large red bauble he's clearly taken against. After several bashings, he got one of his slasher claws stuck in the metal hook at the top of the bauble. His solution to this? Well, it's never the sensible option of retracting their claws back into their feet is it? No, he pulled & pulled, branches swaying about all over the place, then had the genius idea of trying to walk away claw still attached, until the Bigger Hairier Cat Handler in the Relationship somehow managed to get cat & bauble uncoupled. Was he grateful? If he was, he showed it by chomping his rescuer twice on the foot, before ambling over to undo my bootlaces with his teeth! He is refusing to eat the food we got in for him over Christmas. The blackbirds will be pleased, but I have to wonder if it's a ploy to get more turkey. We shall soon see.

Well, I'm going to raise a toast to you all, & send you a 'virtual' piece of Christmas Cake.

Whether you are celebrating the birth of the son of your god, the older Midwinter Feast of Yuletide as we do, or are simply looking forward to some much deserved time off work & routine to spend with family & friends, we'd like send our best wishes for a happy, peaceful time. I know many of our friends will be thinking of the  people who are having a horrible time at the moment - the winter seas are unlikely to stop desperate people risking their lives trying to escape from countries devastated by war, not to mention people in our own communities who have been brought low by one of the most cruelly devisive governments ever, including our UK steelworkers & miners who will be hoping to find work in the new year.
I don't know what 2016 will bring, but we all have a voice & we need to use it, remembering the quotation about evil triumphing because good people do nothing.
Well, friends, if you don't have your sprouts on now, you know they'll not be cooked by tomorrow, don't you? And I have to get that cake cut & the kettle on.
Yuletide Blessings from us here at the Peoples & Cats Republic. 
C , S & AW xxx

Yuletide visit to Hardwick Hall

Hello Festive Friends,
Winter Solstice Blessings to you all! Oh for a crisp twinkly frost overnight to set off the magic. Sadly more amorphous grey & the promise of plenty of rain later for us here at the People & Cats Republic. Despite the lack of winter, Festive Things have been going on, kicking off with seeing Jethro Tull at Lincoln Cathedral last week, & this weekend, we visited Hardwick Hall (Derbyshire) for their festive offering. The Hall looked fabulous. Such a lot of work had obviously gone into the flowers, trees & lights, and we felt 'proper festive' afterwards. 

So I thought I'd share my photos. It's the first year we'd been to see the Christmas trimmings at the Hall, but I think they take place every year, so if you missed it & are within travelling distance from Derbyshire (v close to the M1), then there's always 2016.

.......and not forgetting the servants' quarters......where let's face it, most of my ancestors would have been confined.......actually, that would have been a promotion, mine would have been stone-picking & crow-scaring out in the fields.....scrubbing floors for the aristocracy? Luxury!

These pictures don't really do the displays justice, as they were stunning, particularly the rooms & Tudor stone stairways which were lit only by candlelight. Do visit next year if you didn't get the chance this time.

We stopped off for a family visit on the way home & exchanged gifts. We were given a big bag of chocolates. I had no sooner tipped them out when Albert Whiskers jumped up & started bashing them about. I didn't manage to get a picture of him in action, but this was afterwards, refusing to come down. He doesn't eat chocolate, so I can only assume it's a protest about this particular purveyor's tax status.

He's been pretty well behaved with the Christmas Tree so far, but has been busted for nosing around the presents a bit more enthusiastically than strictly necessary. I, on the other hand, have not yet felt, prodded or poked a single present. Oh, hang on, not quite true, as I did try to have a squint down a gap in some sellotape the other day.

Hope people are starting to feel at least a bit festive, anyway.
Time for a caffiene top-up........but do I need a 2nd cranberry & almond biscotti? Judging by tightness of skirt this morning, perhaps not!!
C x

Yuletide wreaths & naughty cats........

Hello Friends,

Give me strength!!.......All day with Albert Whiskers on 'wet playtime'. I've somehow managed to get most of my job list done, despite Cat Help. I've never yet found the performance of ANY practical task to be improved by the addition of feline assistance & I doubt I ever will. Despite everything (more of today's furred delinquency later), I've managed to make & hang my Christmas Wreath.

I always used to buy one, but having taken one apart to inspect construction, it seemed ridiculous not to have a go myself, as I have a garden full of greenery. I kept the frame from the one I dismantled & it looks like this:

A quick squish around the garden in the rain produced a basket of green........mostly spotted bay laurel, with some sprigs of manky conifer, holly, fir & 'shrub that looks like holly, but isn't'.......(not actually its botanical name!).

My other bits of high end equipment for this? A few foraged fir cones, some shiny red pound shop baubles & a roll of wired red ribbon from the same establishment..........all re-used from last year's supplies........ 

......& a roll of wire we had in the shed. That's it. It's the greenery that's key here. If you don't have much in the garden to use, get your wellies on & go for a bit of a forage. Good for the soul AND the wallet. Most cut evergreen stuff seems to last 2 or 3 weeks outside. I sprinkle mine with water if it looks like it's considering turning its toes up.
OK, so all you do now, is pick your most boring greenery to pad out the wire ring, cutting short lengths of wire to secure it where necessary. I used expiring conifer for that. Then continue to wire in pieces of green Yuley Loveliness, saving your best pieces for last, wiring on fir cones & baubles as you go. Finish with ribbons & hang. Greenery miles = approx.100 feet (though I concede that the pound shop ribbons & baubles were probably made in China). It isn't difficult because if it all looks as though it's going to fall apart, just stick a load more wire on it. Same principle as bras - underpins the action & keeps it all going in vaguely the right direction!

Anyone who saw Albert Whiskers in action today would quite rightly wonder how I managed to get anything picked, let alone knocked into a garland. This has been him today: I rushed upstairs to close bedroom door to prevent picking out of rancid claws on bed to find he was already on there. I swear he head-butted the cat-flap to fool me into thinking he'd gone out. Refused to get off bed. Had to lift him off & deposit him by the door where he reversed back & we had a repeat performance; Licked all the jelly off his breakfast & refused to eat the chunks; Meowed pathetically for my lunch. Was given some. Left it untouched on the sofa. Also meowed for coffee (x 3), a satsuma, crisps, a jammy ryvita & a tea-towel. Kept jumping on the yarn while I was stitching up a hand-knitted jumper (which is for a gift & has already been mended because he clawed it out of my knitting basket to play with). Meowed to go out of the front door (apparently cat-flaps are for wimps). I opened it. He ran upstairs instead. I locked the door back up again & had no sooner put the key away when he re-appeared & meowed to go out again. Opened it again. Ran out. Instantly ran round & sat under the lounge window yowling to be let back in. (Hard luck this time, matey, because I'm not moving!) He then proceeds to jump onto our front wall & meow piteously at all passers-by to let them know how badly he is treated, look its December, it's drizzling & I'm all alone out here because nobody cares & they don't feed me. USE YOUR BLOODY CAT FLAP!! Managed to get jumper finished. Head upstairs to wrap it. Checked I'd definitely re-locked the font door. He hears the handle & is there like a shot - meow, meow, meow, Oh please let me in, hard-hearted cat-hating one. I unlock & open the door. He just sits outside on the door mat & refuses to come in, & I swear he is actually smiling. No interest in coming down the garden with me to pick festive greenery....................until I'm back inside & the door is locked. Then, going in the back garden is suddenly his life's ambition, & no, he can't go through his cat-flap because he isn't a loser. Refuse to open the door. Start to construct wreath. For some reason, he thinks I'm serving up his dinner. Starts winding round my leg. No dinner forthcoming (those chunks are dry because YOU HAVE SUCKED ALL THE JELLY OFF!! I HAVEN'T SUCKED THEM. YOU DID IT!!) The leg-winding is now turning into leg-nibbling. Luckily I'm wearing jeans today, so it isn't as disconcerting as it is when I've got tights & boots on. However, I know from experience that a session of leg-nibbling can soon escalate into a chomp. Offered to play an impromptu game of Mousie to encourage him to burn off a bit of energy. Mousie is also apparently for no-marks today. Straight onto the windowsill instead to size up the cabling behind the TV unit. This is an area thoroughly verboten to cats, so naturally Albert Whiskers thinks it is some sort of magic grotto. He has also thought about going up the chimney. Now he is busy telling the Big Hairy Half of the Relationship who has just arrived home, how that I haven't fed him & he's almost starving away to a stick cat ........but it's consistent 'parenting' in this house today, because I've just heard the BHHOTR telling him that no new food is being opened for naughty jelly-lickers, so he'd better start making some serious inroads into those chunks RIGHT NOW! This is not unusual behaviour. This is Albert Whiskers on pretty much all wet days..........& some dry ones. <Sighs> 
Off to the kitchen to make a quiche now......give it 10 seconds & he'll be rocking up meowing for pastry.......
Hope you're all starting to feel at least slightly festive, anyway.....& that your furries are better behaved than ours.
Till next time,
C x

Sock knitting - thinking of having a go?

Hello Friends,
Well, it's been over a week since I promised a number of people who asked that I'd post some pictures of my latest hand knitted pair of socks, so here we are. 

It's hard to explain self-patterning sock yarn to people who haven't seen it. It's fab stuff. You buy it looking like this.....

.......this one is Regia 4-ply, Design Line by Arne & Carlos.....a Nordic-inspired range....& it knits up into this.......

without you having to do anything other than simply ordinary knitting.  You don't even need to do 'knit a row, purl a row' as socks are knitted in the round so stocking stitch is automatically formed by knitting every row. I've knitted heaps of socks over the years, for gifts, for myself & for sale. I must have made at least 70 or 80 pairs in total, from teeny tiny ones (they make a nice gift for a new baby) up to clod-hopping massive pairs to fit the bigger hairier half of the relationship. I've knitted a few plain pairs, or plain with contrasting ribs, heels & toes, but mostly I've used these self-patterning yarns, such as Regia, Opal & King Cole 'Zig-zag' so as to obtain maximum funkiness of sock for minimum effort. This is one of the most impressive sock yarns I've ever used. It really does look as though I've been slaving away over a fairisle chart for hours, when it really is just knit stitch & the cleverly designed yarn does all the work!

Now I have to admit that my first attempt at knitting socks many years ago was not a success. In fact, it ended in an impressive tantrum on my part! I managed to knit the first sock, but was unable to repeat this for the 2nd one which went hideously wrong. After 3 attempts at frogging & re-knitting, I ripped it off the needles, jumped on it (imagine a BBC bleep-style machine in overdrive & you'll have an idea of the language....), grabbed the first one, stomped to the door, marched out & hurled them both into the bin! Didn't try knitting them again until 2 or 3 years later when my good friend Hel bought me a ball of self-patterning yarn, a set of double-pointed needles & a sock pattern! This time, success! The trick is to start with a straightforward pattern to allow you to concentrate on learning the structure of the sock. Once you've mastered this, then it's time to try some lacy, textured, frilled or more arty pairs.

 If you've never knitted socks before, you don't need much gear - just 100g of 4-ply sock yarn (usually 75% wool & 25% polyamide) a set of 4 double-pointed needles (DPNs) in size 2.5, a row-marker (a little, usually beaded charm which sits on the needle so you can see where each new round begins or you can use a safety pin slipped onto the needle in the same way) & a darning needle. These socks are seamless, so the only sewing is to darn in the tail of yarn at the beginning & end. 

While socks look complicated, it really is just a case of not over-thinking it & following a pattern. To knit a simple pair of socks like the ones pictured, you need to know how to do the following:

 Cast on & off, knit, purl, decrease, count & measure (!). Every part of sock knitting uses just these or  simple variants of these skills.

100g of 4-ply sock yarn is sufficient to knit a pair of adult-sized socks. Even if I knit the biggest size, which is 10 -12, I still have sufficient yarn left to knit a pair of baby socks too. They make nice gifts because they're warm in winter, but the high natural fibre content allows the feet to breathe so I know many of the people to whom I've gifted hand knitted socks wear them all year round.

So find a pattern, have a look at all the lovely self-patterning sock yarns available & cast on a pair of warm lovelies for winter.

I should just add that if you've got one of these........

.........then do first make sure it is otherwise engaged. 

Sorry it took me longer than promised to get these pics on. I don't know where the last couple of weeks have gone. Off to make macaroon mince pies now. 

Till next time,

C x

Pea & Beef Kerala - something nice to cook on a soggy winter night

Hello Friends,
Where are the crisp frosty mornings this year? I'm always far more inspired to get outside for walks or gardening on a really cold bright day than I am in this warmer but deeply soggy weather. By evening, I'm more than ready to close the curtains on yet more rain, switch on the fairy lights in the kitchen, find a CD & settle down to cook something good, so this week, I'm sharing a recipe we both enjoy eating. Pea & beef kerala - it's easy, tasty & reasonably healthy too.

I've collected recipes since I first started cooking in secondary school. I clip interesting sounding recipes from newspapers & magazines, scribble them down from library books, cut them off product packaging, make notes from TV programmes, print them from websites - anything I think I'd enjoy making or adapting is added to my collection. When I can no longer shut the lid on my green box, the recipes are sorted & the best ones transferred to books for keeping. Any for stuff I've totally gone off the idea of making are composted (like anything that sits around in this house for too long, such is my evangelical zeal for making scrummy free plant food out of now't!)

I received this large recipe notebook as a Christmas gift in 1991 & use it at least weekly. It's so rammed that there are even recipes on the end papers, inside covers & titchy ones squeezed into margins. This is my 'go to' book for old favourites such as my tuna fish pie, for pear cake, lentil roast, BBQ sauce, carrot & garlic chutney & tons of others. Then I moved on to my 'Garden notebook', also now full, before starting a Christmas edition to allow me to scrapbook festive favourites like my mini-sausage pies, a rather slurpmongous cranberry vodka & the 'house' Christmas Day sauces & stuffings. 

I tend to pick up new recipes from almost anywhere. This week's share actually arrived in the post years ago as a piece of unsolicited junk mail before we registered with the Mail Preference Service. I used to chuck most of it straight in the bin (does anyone ever buy that giant single heated slipper or battery-operated ear-wax hoover?), but on this occasion, for some unknown reason, I'd been singled out for a booklet from a British pea-championing organisation! Yes, a free booklet of 'Things I may never have thought to do with frozen peas' was mine. Most of the recipes were things I could make without a Very Helpful Booklet, but I copied out the recipe for pea & beef kerala. I've barely adapted it since then - simply to swap the suggested rump steak for the much cheaper & thinner frying steak, which cooks quickly & makes excellent strips. 

Pea & Beef Kerala (Serves 4)
1 firm medium cooked potato, cut into cubes
500g frying steak
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2cms fresh root ginger, grated (you need about 2tsp)
1 tbsp red chilli, finely chopped
2 onions, peeled & sliced into half rings
75ml beef stock (a cube is fine)
2 tbsp tomato puree
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp chilli powder
Juice of 2 lemons
3 tomatoes, peeled & chopped
200g frozen peas
salt & black pepper
Oil
Fresh coriander if you have some

Using a sharp knife or scissors, cut the steak into small thin strips. Put in a bowl & add garlic, black pepper, ginger, chopped chilli & mix till coated. Can be left to marinate at this stage, but it's fine to crack on straight away. Heat a little oil & fry the steak strips in batches over high heat. Remove from pan & set aside. Add onion & cook till soft & golden. Remove & set aside. Add stock, tomato puree, soy sauce, chilli powder & lemon juice to pan, bring to boil, reduce to simmer. Now add onions, tomatoes & peas. Cook for 2 mins. Add the steak & cubed potato & stir until heated through. Taste for seasoning. Contains stock & soy sauce, so won't need much salt. If you like a bit of a green flourish, add some chopped fresh coriander before serving.  
We usually eat this with plain rice, but you could do a flavoured one if you were feeling a bit creative & la-di-dah fancypants in the rice department.

OK, so there's an easy warming recipe from my collection of Very Useful Stuff amassed over the years. Why not give it a go? It's a good 'fakeaway' dish, when really, you fancy a takeaway but are baulking at the potential calorie armageddon & the £30. And it's easy! So for non-cooks....no excuses!

Hope everyone is so far avoiding too much in the way of seasonal sniffles. The Big Hairy Half of the Relationship went down with a slight cold last week (very unusual for his tungsten steel constitution) but unusually, I didn't get it. I am, however, keeping the hand-gel industry afloat!
Till next time,
C x

Cranberry & Orange Fruit Cake

Hello Friends,
It doesn't feel at all like November with this mild weather, but the fact is that Christmas is just over 5 weeks away & I am busy both planning my festive baking & finishing off home-made gifts.

Last year, I baked a cake for my Dad as a Christmas gift. Neither he nor Mum bake, so I thought a nice fruit cake would be something he could enjoy in January & as I love baking, it seemed a good idea. He loved the cake. I mentioned to him last month that I might cast around for another recipe for a good cake to bake him for this Christmas, & he said, "Yes, or even that same one again". I can take a hint! It was apparently a 'really tasty' cake, almost turning him into a food critic for a brief moment as he explained how all the flavours of the key ingredients really 'came through' & it was both 'moist' but 'chewy', & actually seemed to 'get better' as it dwindled down to the last slice. 

This paragon of a cake (in Dad's eyes, at least!) was Spiced Cranberry & Orange Fruit Cake, a recipe I found a year or two ago in a magazine. 

I tried to find a link to this recipe, which was published in an old copy of Women's Weekly magazine, but their online archived version is different, so I'm sharing the recipe I used below:

Spiced Cranberry & Orange Cake

250g butter - needs to be soft
250g light muscovado sugar
4 eggs
300g plain flour
1 tbsp cinnamon
1kg dried mixed fruit
200g dried cranberries
zest of 2 oranges
4 tbsp Cointreau
(see note about decorating)
You'll also need a 20cm round cake tin, which you have lined with baking parchment (I double-line mine).

Pre-heat the oven to Gas 2.
Put the softened butter, sugar & eggs in a bowl. Sieve in the flour & cinnamon. Beat until smooth. Add the dried fruit, cranberries & orange zest & stir well to combine. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin & smooth the surface. Bake for around 3 hours or until cake passes the 'clean skewer' test. If it looks as though it's going to get too dark, pop a square of baking parchment over the top (Just twist the corners first - think 'knotted hanky' on balding seaside heads!) If you also surround your tin with newspaper, which I do, the top of your cake should be protected (see below). Leave the cake to cool slightly for about 15 mins, then carefully sprinkle the Cointreau over the top. Stand tin on a wire rack & leave it to get completely cold before turning out. Wrap it in a new sheet of baking parchment, then a tight layer of foil, where it will keep for 3 months.


Cakes which contain a lot of dried fruit can be prone to 'catching' on top. This can be avoided by tying a collar of 3 or 4 sheets of newspaper around the outside of the tin before it goes in the oven. The newspaper needs to stand at least 10cm above the top of the tin. Make sure you use cotton or oven-proof string so that it doesn't melt. (Remember Bridget Jones & the bright blue soup!)

If you haven't tried a newspaper collar before, this is how it should look, & yes, you can see I've used George Osborne on mine. The temptation of trussing up that particular individual with string before delivering a long slow roasting was just too much to resist.

This cake is suitable for a Christmas or celebration cake. If you wish to decorate it, just do the marzipan & icing thing as usual.

I just put some whole blanched almonds on mine, as it's intended to be eaten in January & people are often ready for less-rich foods by then. I know I certainly am, especially if it's been Piglet Central here at 'Hagstones'.

I know some people are put off baking fruit cakes because of the cost of the ingredients. They can be expensive, depending on the recipe. I kept costs down by using 'Like brands, only better' baking ingredients, which are generally excellent. I also substituted the Cointreau with an own-brand version & used oranges from our local market, which has excellent produce at good prices. Only the zest is required, so the oranges can still be eaten. Dried cranberries can be quite expensive. My tip for buying these is to look in the baking aisle with the dried fruit first, as I found these to be half the price of (probably identical) bags of dried cranberries in the 'healthy snacks' section. I wouldn't suggest using baking spread instead of butter because this cake mixture is noticeably very buttery-tasting (well, a girl's got to lick the bowl......) & I think it'd be a shame to lose this. I also bought whole almonds with skins on & blanched them myself rather than pay extra for someone else to have done this very simple task for me.
The only sad thing about this cake? I've never tried a piece! Am tempted, but it seems a bit cheeky to gift-wrap a home-baked cake with a slice missing. I do have some scruples where cake is concerned!

So there we are - Spiced Cranberry & Orange Fruit Cake. Smells fab in the oven, too. So festive. 

It sounds as though we may actually see a bit of snow over the weekend. I always prefer more seasonal temperatures myself, but if it does turn colder, I can guarantee we will be seeing a lot of this.

Albert Whiskers has well & truly done with being a stray street cat. It's home comforts all the way these days, & why not?
Have a good week, all,
C x

Slow cookers - Is it worth buying one?

Hi Friends,
Yes! Well, I think so, anyway.
Years ago, someone offered to sell me their ancient slow cooker. It was an odd looking thing from the 1970s. As a child, I'd probably have used it as a Sindy swimming pool. I thought it looked like somewhere good ingredients would go to die & declined to part with my cash. I didn't give slow cookers another thought until their recent resurgence when newer models & enticing cookbooks started to appear. I started to think a slow cooker could be useful, but I wanted one I could take straight to the table. Who wants an extra pot to wash?

So I bought this one. It's a 'Crock-pot'. It's made from pottery, tough enough to go on the hob for browning meat, etc, before transferring to its heated base which simply plugs into the mains, where I'm told it uses roughly the same amount of energy as a light-bulb. 
I've been experimenting for 3 or 4 years now, so what have I learned about slow cookers?

1. Liquid doesn't evaporate as it would in conventional cooking, so I use a LOT less liquid.
2. Browning ingredients such as onions, celery, meat, etc, (only if you have time) will add more flavour, just as it would in conventional cooking.
3. Use plenty of flavourings. The cooking time will be much longer, so initial flavouring needs to be more robust.
4. If cooking a joint with a fair bit of fat on it, my personal choice is to trim it first. This fat won't crisp up & taste as it would in the oven, so really is just calories & I'd rather get rid of it.

A criticism I've heard of slow cookers is that everything is watery & 'tastes the same'. I'm wondering if this is a hangover from the 1970s wave of slow cooking because it hasn't been my experience at all. However, if you are basically going to throw some meat in with an onion & bucket- load of water, that is exactly what will happen. I think people sometimes hear 'Slow Cooker' & think 'Stew'. They are useful for stews, especially this time of year & into the coldest months. I regularly make a chunky beef & vegetable stew:

The ingredients go in like this - it couldn't be simpler - & 8 hours later, it has simmered itself into this.......

The gravy is usually pretty much the right consistency, but if you've used a little too much water, it can easily be thickened up in the time-honoured way adding a couple of teaspoons of cornflour mixed with a tiny bit of the liquid, replacing the lid & simmering for an extra 10 mins or so.

A bubbling hot cauldron of stew is great to come home to on a cold day, but I'm finding my slow cooker is hugely more versatile than that. So far, I've made black bean chilli, pulled pork, lamb rogan josh, chicken casserole, bombay potatoes, beef stroganoff, smoky ham hock with Boston baked beans, savoury mince, veggie bulgur wheat chilli, steak & kidney, sweet & sour chicken, as well as all manner of stews, soups & stocks. I'm looking forward to trying mojo pork & Mexican chicken too. Slow cookers are great for the traditional cheaper cuts of meat - ham hocks, shanks, neck of lamb, ox-cheek, oxtail, brisket, etc. A pork shoulder will emerge so tender it only needs to be helped apart with a spoon before it's piled into warm cobs with a dollop of sharp apple sauce. There's no messing about with cooking times. Slow cooker recipes are pretty much based on 4 hours on 'high' or 8 hours on 'low'. Still not ready to eat? Most have a 'Keep warm' setting until you are.

There are plenty of good slow cooker recipe books available. It's worth borrowing a selection from the library to get a feel for how versatile slow cookers can be. I can recommend Slow Cooker - Throw it in & let it simmer for a truly fab spicy pulled pork recipe (other retailers are available, especially your local bookshop & not forgetting the library service - Use them or loose them!) Just check that any book you are buying is actually written for slow cookers. There are some lovely slow cooking titles around which are for slow conventional cooking in the oven, so the techniques will be different.

So there you are! Is it worth buying a slow cooker? For me, the answer has been 'yes'. If you have a cat, you may well find a lot of 'Bisto-cat' activity going on as s/he detects all the fragrant loveliness wafting through the house on slow cooker days. Albert Whiskers takes up a very hopeful position on the kitchen rug & is always most disappointed to discover that the contents are not for him & he is expected to eat fishy sludge again. It is, after all, a desperately hard life being Albert Whiskers.

Until next time,
C x

Norwegian apple cake - nom!

Hello Friends,
What a fab autumn day it's been today. A lovely walk at Creswell Crags, now back to light our pumpkin, fill a glass & settle in to celebrate Samhain night. 

I wanted to bake something for today which used some of our own fruit, so I chose Norwegian Apple Cake. I've been baking this cake since I was about 14 years old. Everyone who tries it says how nice it is, so I thought I'd share the recipe. It's from an ancient cookery book, now very much defunct, which I no longer own, but I pretty much know this recipe by heart. If you've got a few nice sharp-tasting apples handy, give it a go. You do need a reasonably deep rectangular tin. The very shallow ones used for tray-bakes are not deep enough. You need the sort of tin you might make a Yorkshire pudding in.

This was the view from our kitchen window as I was baking mine. A lot of leaf-raking to be done this week, particularly as Albert Whiskers is starting to trail them in on route to the fridge. Anyway, on to the cakeypoo:

Norwegian Apple Cake

2 eggs
9oz caster sugar
4 oz butter
1/4 pint milk
6.5 oz plain flour
3 tsp baking powder
4 nice sharp-tasting apples (3 will be enough if they are the big Bramleys)

Grease & lightly flour a deep rectangular baking or roasting tin (approx. 20 x 30cms). Pre-heat oven to Gas 6. Put 1 oz of the sugar aside on a saucer. 
Put the milk & butter into a small pan & gently melt, then start bringing it to the boil.
While it's heating, crack the eggs into a bowl, add 8 oz of the sugar & whisk together till pale & thick. The mixture needs to be thick enough to leave a trail when you lift the whisk. 
Keep the whisk handy & finish bringing the milk & butter mixture to the boil. 
Now get the electric whisk going with one hand & with the other, add the buttery milk STILL BOILING HOT in a careful steady stream into the sugar & eggs, while you whisk it in. 
Sieve the flour & baking powder swiftly into the mixture & carefully but thoroughly fold it in with a spatula. 
Pour it into your greased & floured tin. 
Now, working quickly, peel & core the apples, quarter them, then slice quite thinly. 
Arrange the apple slices in rows across the top of the mixture. You should have plenty, so overlap them a little if you want, to fit them all on.
Sprinkle the surface with the reserved 1 oz of caster sugar.
Bake in a pre-heated oven for about 25 mins until well-risen & golden brown. The sugary top shouldn't 'catch', but if it looks like it's going too dark, cover it with a piece of baking parchment for the last little bit of cooking time. (This is a moist cake because of all the apple, but do give it a little poke in the centre, just to check the batter is not still liquid. If this happens, just give it another 5 mins). 
Leave it to cool in the tin before cutting into slices (makes about 10 'normal' size or 8 if one of the eaters is my husband). Before serving, sift a little icing sugar on top or a sprinkle of caster sugar. 
It's nice on its own, but its niceness is elevated further by a blob of clotted cream.

This is an easy cake to make. It's a runny mixture, so don't start worrying & thinking you've done it wrong. It's more like the consistency of pancake batter than normal cake mixture. Just stick with it & you'll soon be tucking into a lush warm slice of Autumn. Enjoy!

Well,  it will soon be time to sit down with a little bowl of these spicy roasted pumpkin seeds at my side, candles lit, ready to watch The Wicker Man  - the original, of course!

Autumn blessings to you all from The People & Cats Republic,
C x

Pear Chutney (This is seriously yum!)

Hello Friends,
Anyone who has spoken to me recently will know that after my loathing of the Tory government, the next topic of conversation is currently our inundation here at 'Hagstones' with pears! Our old Conference pear tree produces fine crops, despite the foliage being affected with pear rust & the buds trashed every Spring by the local sparrow mafia. I've made blackberry & pear jam, pear chutney, 2 pear cakes, oodles of pear & cinnamon compote, which I like on top of porridge & I've given 2 stones in weight of them to Labour Party comrades in a trade for some of their lovely allotment summer berries. However, I'm still picking up this sort of quantity every couple of days.......

.....& I can see there are more than as many again under the tree for gathering today. I've been asked to share my pear chutney recipe this morning, so here it is. I'm really proud of this one, because it isn't someone else's recipe which I make or have tinkered with, it actually is my own recipe. Anyone remember this fab foodie/cookery mag?

Sadly, it ceased to exist around 4 years ago, much missed by me, & I've kept all my old copies. Anyway, before they went bust, they chose my Pear Chutney recipe for their 'Reader's Seasonal Recipe' page.

I make this chutney every year. It keeps well & makes a nice gift, particularly at Christmas, as it goes so well with ham & different cheeses. Unlike most chutneys, it doesn't require maturing time, so you can start slathering it on your sarnies pretty much immediately. Makes around 8 large jars, but sterilize some extra ones just in case, as chutney-making, like most things in my life, isn't an exact science.

Pear Chutney

Ingredients

2.7 kg pears

1.6 kg white granulated sugar

900 ml white wine vinegar (cider or malt vinegar are fine)

1 kg onions

1 kg sultanas

5 red chillies, de-seeded (dried are also fine)

2.5 tsp salt

2.5 cm cube root ginger, grated

1 level tsp ground mixed spice

Chop the onions & chillies. Put in a preserving pan. 

Peel, core & chop the pears. Add to the pan.

Add the rest of the ingredients. Heat slowly, stirring well until the sugar has dissolved.

Bring to the boil, turn down heat & simmer until the chutney is thick & sticky. 

It's ready for bottling when most BUT NOT ALL of the liquid on the top has gone. The chutney will continue to thicken as it stores, so you don't want it to get too dry.

While the chutney is cooking, wash the jars & lids in very hot soapy water, arrange in a roasting tray & sterilize in the oven at Gas 2, turning temperature down to lowest setting until you're ready to use them. Make sure that the lids are the ones which are coated inside, as vinegar can react with metal lids & taint the chutney.

Carefully ladle the chutney into the hot sterilized jars, wipe the jars with a hot very clean cloth & seal with the lids.

As you can see, this is a rich, sticky chutney. It's very easy to make & would be a good recipe for someone who is new to chutney-making. The only thing to watch out for is that the chutney doesn't 'catch' on the bottom of the pan as it starts to thicken, as this can result in blackened sultanas & a slight burnt flavour. Just get plenty of good music going in the kitchen, & make sure you are on hand to give the pan a good stir fairly regularly as it cooks.

I hope I haven't made this sound complicated, because it really is an easy recipe, & well worth making to liven up the winter larder. If anyone out there is as armpit deep in pears as we are, do give it a go!

Until next time, which will be feline fun & games.

C x

Phew! Sitting down with cup of coffee at last......

Hello Friends,
I'm making headway now with all the tasks I'd fallen behind with. Today I put the greenhouse to bed for the winter. That's always a bit of a seasonal marker. First, I collected up all the remaining food,

including red peppers (Variety = 'Thor'. Very good. Much better than the iffy petulant sulkers I grew last year!), chillies & a bunch of basil. I've frozen the jalapenos & green 'Heatwave' chillies & strung the ripe 'Heatwaves' up for drying, & turned the basil into a batch of fresh pesto for some pasta.

An hour of sweeping & clearing made sufficient space for tender plants to come under cover before the first hard frosts - agapanthus, lavender mint & grapefruit mint here, enjoying some rays.

Grapevine suffered a severe pruning. I'm not a natural pruner. I start off with a plan & it turns into a more of a frenzied hacking, but however bad it looks (& it will die back to little more than a collection of twigs over winter), it does always burst into grape-promising buds in spring. 

That's the thing with us gardeners, really. Garden tasks are so seasonal, but there's always this looking forward to the next season too. I brought this dahlia (Variety = Lolo Love) under glass this morning to protect it from freezing, so that felt kind of quite wintery, but also these two trays of strawberry runners which I potted up to increase our fruit supplies next summer. I always feel sad when our awesome swifts depart for Africa midway through August, but I know that this has to happen for me to enjoy their noisy return at the beginning of May.

So with spring sunshine in mind, I sowed our sweet peas. Two varieties - A mixture of hot colours called 'Floral Tribute' & a cooler 'Blue lagoon'.

I always find I get better plants from an October sowing. I've tried sowing sweet peas in March but they have invariably been spindly ungrateful little things, refusing to thrive. They are pretty hardy plants on the whole. I will probably be able to plant these outside at the end of March. If you want to sow some, it's well worth saving the tall 'disposable' coffee cups & large yoghurt pots, as sweet peas (like all peas & beans) seem to like a deep root run. No need to buy special root-trainer pots - there's already quite enough plastic waste knocking around!

And before coming indoors to do some baking (only bread, in case anyone was just getting on the bus in anticipation of a large interesting cake!), I had what I can only describe as an idea of near genius. Oh, ok, that's stretching it, but as someone who lives in permanent fear of eight-legged beasts fiendishly concealing themselves before deliberately leaping out on people, this is a low-tech innovation of note.

......A large plastic freezer clip fastened firmly across the tops of my gardening gloves. Ha! No baddies getting in those! Just need some bigger ones now to clip across the tops of all my boots!
That, friends, has been today's activity.
Till next time,
C x