Glanbrydan’s Weblog

Every so often something you expect to ‘just work’ ok  decided to do it’s own thing. Today our old and trusted bread maker produced a loaf with a concave top. This is not the first time either so I thought I’d try the dough setting and then bake it myself in the oven.

The dough did it’s first prove in the machine, all went well. I then took the dough out and got covered in sticky dough – trying to get it off the plaster cast was interesting. Then I put it to prove in a bread tin and forgot about it. T-W-O asked if I wanted to pop into town when he returned from seeing his customers.

I jumped at the chance to get out the house for a bit and indulged in a latte at a new(ish, to us anyway) cafe in town. We went searching in the local supermarket – an independent that still exists in our local area – for foil pudding tins as I didn’t realise my supply was down to the last one and we have a market on Saturday. Sadly they don’t stock pudding tins only pie tins. Onto the co-op we went, again no tins but lots of red wine to distract us.

Returning home I sauntered into the kitchen, as I went by T-W-O commented on the smell of cooking. Ops – there on the counter stood a tin of dough that had escaped with the dough falling down the sides while managing to collapse in the middle. I have cooked it but it looks remarkably like the loaf that the bread maker mucked up.

Red Kite

I went for a walk with the camera  today trying to bring back a few shots of either a red kite or a common buzzard. The Red Kite delighted me by circling around, never quite overhead but close enough to get a few shots.

I missed a shot of a heron flying past with great wings flapping like some lost creature from the age of the dinosaurs. Not my favourite birds, they have raided our fish ponds too often.

The chicken fajitas have gone down and I think went well. They are a bit of work but organisation is the key. I did get to use my left over egg yolk todays at risk in the fridge item.

Decide you want the chicken fajitas and allow a day for marinading the chicken. It needs as little as half a day but if you’re a busy home then do the preparation the night before. This is a big meal for two adults. If you add another chicken breast and juice of a lime it will stretch to 2 adults and 2 children.

Chicken marinade

Juice of 1 lime

1 teaspoon mild chili powder for us – if you like chili try it with half a teaspoon normal chili powder

half teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon coriander

1 teaspoon tomato puree

1 tablespoon olive oil

a clove of garlic, peeled, crushed and chopped.

2 chicken breasts or the equivalent in boned chicken thighs or legs (as we used from the last of our £4 chicken from co-op where they don’t purchase the crammed in chicken rearing types)

Chop the chicken into bite sized chunks. Put all the other ingredients in a bowl and stir in the chicken until coated. Cover the bowl with cling film and put in the fridge to marinade.

Flour Tortillas

If you are cooking the potatoes put them in the microwave for 10 minutes while you make the dough

You can buy these ready made to cut down the work but it’s fun to make them. I got this recipe from a friend – Aura.

2 cups of flour (I used self raising)

1.5 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Three quarters of a cup of milk

2 teaspoons olive oil (the cheap stuff not extra virgin as it tastes too strong).

Either use a food processor or a hand whisk with the dough hooks on – or you have to knead the dough for 15 minutes by hand!

Put the flour, baking powder and salt in the bowl of the mixer or processor. Start the motor and add in the oil then milk. Allow it all to come together and then let it run for a couple of minutes. The dough should have some elasticity to it.

Put the dough in a plastic food bag or wrap in cling film and allow to rest in the fridge for at least half an hour. While this is resting  put the potatoes in the oven then cook the veg and chicken.

Potato skins with bacon and cheese

Oven to 180 degrees C/ Gas mark 4

4 egg sized potatoes

2 slices of bacon, cut up into little pieces and fried.

2 ounces of grated cheese

an egg yolk

salt and pepper

paprika

 a dribble of sour cream

Take one egg sized potato per person, flick a bit of salt over them and microwave until cooked through (I did 4 for 10 minutes on high).

Put the potatoes on a baking sheet covered in foil. Cut them in half and scrape out some of the cooked potato from each. They need to stand on their own still. Put the scraped out potato into a bowl and add half the  grated Cheddar, the eggyolk, half the bacon bits, a pinch of salt. Mash up with a fork and add a dribble of the sour cream.

Put the potato mash back into the skins

put the bacon bit over the top and the rest of the cheese. Sprinkle with paprika

Put in the oven for 25 minutes  -while it’s cooking fry the veg and then the chicken

Vegetables

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1 onion

1 clove garlic.

a knob of butter

Peel and slice the onion as thinly as you can. Peel and chop the garlic into little bits.

Chop off the tops of the peppers and take out the seeds. Slice the peppers as thinly as you can.

Heat the oil in a frying pan until melted.

Pop it all in and sizzle on a medium heat for about 14 minutes. Put them in an oven proof dish at the bottom of the oven to keep warm.

Dips and sides

Put some sour cream in a bowl to use as a dip. Also grate a bit of cheese and put that in another bowl

Fry the chicken

Using the same pan as you did the veg in drop the chicken in and allow it to sizzle on a medium heat giving it a stir every now and then for about 15 minutes.

To make the Tortillas

split the dough into 10 and roll them into balls. Flatten each ball.

Take each ball and roll out until a very thin roundish shape. Store wrapped in a clean tea towell.

Heat a thick based frying pan (no oil). When it’s hot cook a fajita for 30 seconds on each side. The pan needs to be hot and the surface should bubble a bit.

You need a clean tea towel on the side and a piece of foil over it. Get another piece of foil and each time a tortilla is cooked pop it between the foil and fold over the tea towel.

Once it’s all cooked assemble on a plate – veg, chicken, potato, sides and add a couple of tortillas folded up on the side of the plate.

Also if you keep the Fajitas wrapped and don’t eat them all you can freeze the left overs for next time.

The sky was blue if nothing else. Much of the day was spent researching how we could sell our dried liver dog treats at a reasonable price on line. The jury is out because of post and packing costs . An ebay shop seems possible perhaps we would add a link to the blog -I think – if wordpress allow us to???

The last of the chicken soup has gone tonight. It is quite a thing to make if you include the chicken stock but the results are amazing, don’t just think of it as chicken soup then maybe the effort is worth it. Perhaps make chicken stock and freeze it in batches then make the soup when it is required. It did satisfy my desire for chicken soup which I read has some enzymes that are benfiicial if you have a cold.

We did our lunch out for the week with disappointing results. I think it proves that you can have too much of a good thing so perhaps we will revert to coffee out a couple of times a week instead.

I want to add another mash possibility here, it’s something T-W-O has done since I don’t know when and I imagine came from his mother.

Take about half a reasonably sized swede for 4 people.

Peel the swede and then cut into half inch (1.5 cm) cubes (or strange shapes when I do it)

Put the swede in a pan, cover with water. Add a good pinch of salt  then put the lid on.

Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a good simmer (keep the lid on you need less heat to keep it simmering – help save the world ).

Cook for about 15 minutes, you need to keep checking until you can run a knife through and it doesn’t resist.

Drain the swede, add a knob of butter and a shake of dried thyme. Mash as best you can.

Serve with anything – except pastas for some reason

The fresh cherry cake turned out deep and moist. The cherries still soft and all over the place not sunken down as I had feared. After great debate about what to make with the cherries this cake seemed the best option. T-W-O likes cherry cake made with glace cherries and adores almonds. This cherry cake is a bit of a step up I think from sticky glace cherries and would be good served as a pudding cake with a spoon of vanilla ice cream. It is not overly sweet and so easy to make.

Oven to 180 degrees C  – reduce to 160 for a fan oven(Gas Mark 4) – put the shelf in the middle.

140 g cooking margarine suitable for baking (I used an own brand, olive oil, reduced fat spread)

250g of self raising flour

150g of ground almonds

140g caster sugar

2 big eggs

125ml milk

200g of fresh cherries, stalks and stones removed

Flaked almonds for decoration.

Line a 20cm/8 inch round deep baking tin with baking parchment. I use the loose bottom sort.

Put the flour and butter in a bowl and rub together until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar (I had to sieve mine as it had become lumpy) and the ground almond.

Whisk the eggs until beaten then add with the milk to the dry ingredients.

 Give it a good stir then tip in the cherries and give it another stir – but not too much you don’t want pink cake!

Tip it all into the cake tine and smooth the top down, sprinkle on some flaked almonds.

Put a bit of foil very loosely over the top. It shouldn’t be touching the cake .(so you can whip it off half way through without your cake sinking) and pop in the oven. Set the timer for 1 hour 10 minutes and drop the open temp to 170 degrees (Gas mark 3)

Before removing the foil turn up the oven up to 180 degrees (Gas 4) and then swiftly remove the foil. Get the oven door shut quickly, don’t bother peeking!

When it’s cooked take it out the oven and then let it sit in the tin for 10 minutes. Then remove from the tin and allow to cool.

This little clump of snowdrops have been here much longer than we have lived here. Each spring they reappear, the little flowers gradually increasing in number. They are usually the first then the ones in the garden follow.

Snow drops really have been accompanied by days of snow now although the big melt happened today and much of the green valley  is yet again on show. We have heather in full bloom and the sweet almond tree is showing signs of buds on the bare branches. I have noticed only one primrose in flower and await the abundance of delicate yellow to burst into life. Last year was a bumper show of primroses.

I have been busy in the kitchen using more lemons. Lemon Sorbet is setting in the freezer and a cherry cake is in the oven, fresh cherries so I have no idea if it will work. Cherries and almonds seemed to be a good partnership for a cake. I will hold judgement until we try a slice later.

T-W-O has tackled the mountain of ironing we have been collecting whilst getting his weekly football fix. I am reliably informed in many unrepeatable words that the cricket is not worth the television space it is currently being given.

We have enjoyed an early Sunday roast dinner as we are out tomorrow and it was delicious. Roast rib of beef, roast spuds, mashed swede (todays at risk in the fridge item) and a giant carrot cup up for the two of us. Yum Yum! The chicken stock is in a big plastic box in the fridge and will be tomorrows tea made into chicken soup. The last bits of uncooked chicken are wrapped up waiting for some spices to make chicken fajitas on Monday making 3 meals from a medium chicken.

After searching through many lemon chicken recipes I decided on Gordon Ramsey’s sticky lemon chicken with champ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/gordon_ramsay/article1660232.ece. It was easy to cook and we had it with the other half of the cabbage. This time the cabbage was cooked with a left over slice of bacon.

Cabbage and bacon

Melt an ounce (25g) of butter in a pan and add a slice of chopped bacon. Let it sizzle for a couple of minutes then chuck in half a shredded cabbage. Put on the lid and it will start to wilt very quickly. Add a dash of water and pop the lid back on. In 4 to 6 minutes you will have tasty cabbage, wilted but with a bit of bite.

The next ‘at risk in the fridge’ is half a packet of fresh cherries. With pancake day not too far away I may turn them into a sort of cherry jam ready for the day.

The snow has begun to melt here in the valley but high on the mountain the caps remain white. The moon is bright in the clear sky as the temperature plummets our wood burners is working overtime. The chickens have long settled down for the night, the dogs are quiet and I have no doubt that Smudger cat has gone out for a night on the tiles.

The cottage is still and T-W-O has retired  to bed having spent yesterday night awake, the early hour has caught up with him. I have watched a recording of the BBC series the ‘Victorian Farm’ where several people are spending a year working a farm as they did in the late 19th century.  Now I am going to enjoy a peaceful nightcap and take my hot water bottle up to join T-W-O for a good nights sleep.

have a seat

I have often wanted to be anything other than a Thursdays child, the rhyme is after all not a happy one for someone who enters the world on such a day. ‘ Thursdays child is full of woe’ and a Capricorn! So I’m full of woe and I take things seriously.

I am serious about my dinner and full of woe that I forgot the macaroni for the macaroni cheese T-W-O was looking forward to so I’ve had to be inventive.

Ok boiled ham, parsnip mash http://glanbrydan.wordpress.com/2009/01/04/mashed-parsnips/  & broccoli is  n0t that inventive but I did use up the broccoli and parsnips that had been hiding away in a corner of the fridge for some time probably hopeful of being hidden from view by the 1.5 cabbages guarding the entrance to the vegetable draw.

Oh not on my coat

Some of the animals are enjoying the snow more than others. Smudger ventured  out today but Tattycat with her long black winter coat on wasn’t too keen on getting her paws wet. I watched a chicken try and jump from the top of the duck house to the entrance of the chicken house without touching the floor – unsuccessfully, but she only had a short hop left up to the entrance of their home.

Bertie and Vickie seem quite happy with it. Bertie who refuses to get his paws wet normally happily trampled through fresh snow. While Vickie the one who jumps in puddles just after having a bath was taking the cleared road until she walked over a gritted area and got something in her paws which must have stung being mixed with salt.

On the subject of Bertie he has been diagnosed with an inflamed liver, the treatment  is 4 weeks of antibiotics and some liver conditioners. Lets hope we see some improvement without further trips to the vet. He has been cleared of cushings or cancer which is a huge relief for us. The diabetes makes any treatment complicated as we have to watch for improvement in his glucose levels. The vet has recommended we buy a  device to prick the inside of his ear to check his glucose levels each day- I can just see Burtie being really keen on this!

Today we have an excess of lemons. I purchased them for tart aux citron which I didn’t have time to make so I did a bit of searching.  Lemon Gin http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=112 from the cottage smallholder took my fancy. I realised that the Gin bottle had one of those none return pourers so I thought I’d use a whisky bottle that has a small amount of whisky in. With me so far………………..

I now have a Gin bottle with a bit of Gin left in, a tumbler of homeless cheap whisky that I use in cooking and a bottle of lemon Gin which will be ready in 3 years!!!!! We are forcing a bottle of wine down so we have a home for the cheap whisky. Got all that………….

Now I have 3 skinless lemons and 3 whole lemons to use.

The lane this morning

I am fed up – I went to the hospital today and they have put the cast back on for another 2 weeks. This would have been ok but they have put on a bigger cast with my thumb almost completely covered which then goes almost up to my elbow. So I’m stuck, unable to drive or get about without a lift. Having managed to get through the snow this morning we worried that we would get snowed in at the hospital, thankfully after much snow we had a bit of rain on the pre-gritted tarmac so the roads in Carmarthen town stayed open!

We ventured to the big Tesco there to purchase a few bits including some yummy sounding chicken and parsnip soup from the finest range for our lunch along with a big seeded loaf and some reduced dim sum. Now I know St Delia (Smith) complains on her web site that good soup eludes the commercial makers. Our experience today sadly echoes that, we don’t usually eat pre-prepared food but with the old wrist incapacitated I thought it would make life easier. The soup tasted of parsnip  – where’s the chicken? – the texture lay somewhere between mashed potato and glue. I assume it is only picky us that doesn’t get on with this sort of thing as they must sell the soup to many satisfied customers. We didn’t eat the soup or much of the dim sum. The bread was delicious!

So this evening we will revert to home made quiche http://glanbrydan.wordpress.com/2008/10/03/flexible-quiche-or-egg-and-bacon-flan-recipe-leave-out-the-bacon-for-a-veggie-version/, potato wedges & fried cabbage.

The wedges are simple and healthy:

3 medium potatoes for 2 people, peeled and chopped into wedges

a plastic bag

quarter teaspoon of garlic salt

half a teaspoon of paprika (not the hot type unless you like it that way)

4 tablespoons of olive oil

Pre heat the oven to 200 degrees C (about gas 4.5)

Put the potatoes into the plastic bag sprinkle in the paprika and garlic salt, then add the olive oil. Give the bag a good shake and spread the paprika around by rubbing the bag between your hands.

I line an oven try with foil and then tip the contents of the bag into the tray. Bake for about an hour checking after 40 minutes to make sure they aren’t burning. They are cooked when you can run a sharp knife through them without resistance.

The cabbage is easy too, it takes 5 minutes to make. Cut up half a savoy cabbage into fine strips. Melt about an ounce of butter in a frying pan and put in the cabbage, sprinkle with about quarter teaspoon of garlic salt. Add two table spoons of water and let the cabbage sizzle. Put a lid on the pan and squeeze out the juice of half a lemon then add to the pan. Cover and cook for about 4 minutes stirring every minute. The cabbage should be soft but have a tiny bite left.

Old fashioned Steak and Kidney pudding

In true British style I want to talk about the weather. My goodness the snow has battered Britain today, London at a standstill, major roads blocked, many schools closed and doesn’t it all look much better with a layer of white to hide any dirty faded bits.

We ventured out late this morning to do our chores enjoying a cup of hot chocolate in town before heading for the homestead where we stayed ever since only venturing out to walk the doggies and feed our extended clan. Now we are deep in dinner preparation, a left over   and vegetable pie with 3 root mash – the mash obsession goes on – and cauliflower cheese with a cauliflower that needs using now.

The mash also uses up left over mash from yesterdays dinner which we had with steak and kidney pudding.

On tomorrows vegetable at risk register is a cabbage so I need to get creative with cabbage.

Anyway for those of you who are mash mad like me my version of 3 root mash:

You need for 2-3 people roughly

200g swede, peeled and chopped into 1cm (half inch ish) cubes

200g carrot, peeled and sliced

200g potato, peeled and chopped into 1cm chunks or left over mash

an ounce of butter

salt and pepper

Cook the swede for 5 minutes in a medium sized pan of water with a good pinch of salt added

Add the potato and carrot. Put the lid on and simmer until all the veggies are cooked through. Run a sharp knife through each type of veg and if it slides in easily without resistance then they are cooked.

Drain off the water, add a lump of butter then grind in some pepper.  If your mash is precooked give it a minute or two in the microwave  then add it to the dish. If you are a none microwave person I would pop some foil on an oven proof dish and give it 15 minutes in a hot oven to heat it up.

Then give it all a good mash together.

This is so flexible – you need to look in the fridge and see what you’ve got 

Other suggestions:

•  parsnip as well as the other veggies or instead of one
• a bit of chopped onion added at the end
• left over cooked cabbage, chopped and added at the end.
• a sprinkle of thyme
• a bit of grated nutmeg
• a few chili flakes for chili lovers sprinkled on before you serve
• a crushed garlic added to the uncooked veggies