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March 10, 2009

Gardening Calendar for March & how Simon the sourdough starter is doing

Posted by glanbrydan under gardening, Gardening Calendar, Recipe, vegetable garden
[4] Comments 

 

where's the odd one out?

The black sheep of the family

Simon the sourdough starter has a life of his own now, I’m fascinated to watch the bubbles burst as I look into the jar. He will be fed again and then move into the fridge tonight in preparation for some bread baking later this week. The next stage is making a sponge which I gather is an extra large version of the starter.

The idea now is to keep Simon alive and use him as when I need him until  Peter pushers him out  or he peters out (ha ha couldn’t resist that).  I have to get through the sponge stage first to know if he really is going to make a proper loaf of bread. If it all works I’ll do a complete post on the subject.

We have a friend coming over for dinner this evening (and she is bringing cake with her) so T-W-O will be making a prawn risotto. We have been freezing reduced price prawns from the supermarket for a few weeks now and it’s time to make a bit of space in there.

I have been reading up on what I should be planting in March and I’ve petrified myself:

 

Asparagus

Beetroot

Broad beans
Carrots
Cabbage

Garlic

Jerusalem artichokes
Leeks

Lettuce

Onion sets
Peas

Potatoes
Radish
Spring onions
Spinach

Shallots
Turnips


I hope we get some good weather this weekend. I’m off now to order up some Asparagus and check what seeds I’ve got left

 

 

 

March 8, 2009

Confined to barracks & braised celery

Posted by glanbrydan under at risk in the fridge, country life, Recipe
[4] Comments 

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The chickens have taken to gallivanting across the road and over the bridge enjoying jaunts into the neighbours garden which has not gone down to well. As they are to be moved into the field in a few weeks we have taken the decision to leave them in the run during the day until they move. They are not impressed and jump about at the door when they see me or T-W-O. They don’t seem to accept our explanation that other people don’t see them as we do.

The frequent hail storms have left us virtually house bound today. We did nip out to our friends house for coffee and a bit of cake this morning but other than the animal chores we have remained in doors. This means my beans and peas are still in the packets but I hope that it will clear up a bit tomorrow allowing me a quick sortie to the greenhouse at some point.

I have had the time to start a little knitting. I can knit but I am not a regular or competent knitter so I’m doing a simple little jacket for 0-3 months for our next family addition. Our youngest daughter is expecting a baby in late August which is wonderful news for us,  her and son-in-law as well. It is a simple creamy colour wool and being so small it’s progressing well.

Today’s ‘at risk in the fridge’ was some celery, we tried braised celery. I like celery and it was a tasty dish. I sort of adapted Delias version missing things out.

I peeled and chopped half an onion.  

Melt about a flat desert spoon of butter in a saucepan and add the onion which I cooked for a couple of minutes on medium while I chopped about a third of a head of celery into 2 inch (about 4/5 cm) lengths, discarding the base and leaves. Wash the celery thoroughly and then add to the sizzling onion. Turning down the heat a little I put the lid on the pan and cooked for about 10 minutes.

I turned this off until about 10 minutes before serving. I then put in half a teaspoon of vegetable stock powder and enough boiling water to not quite cover the celery. Putting the lid back on I boiled it until the celery was just about tender when you run a sharp knife through it.

It went down well.

 

March 7, 2009

Egg tortilla or Spannish omlette

Posted by glanbrydan under at risk in the fridge, Recipe
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This is a basic recipe for a very useful dish. The simple version is good as a potato dish, with a BBQ, with a salad or good with lunch.  We are having it with sausages and peas. The left overs will be sliced, stored in the fridge and used as and when over a couple of days. It is also great if you have an egg glut – a chicken keepers delight.

You need:

5 or 6 medium potatoes or 6 to 8 smaller potatoes

1 onion peeled and diced

6 eggs

olive oil

salt and pepper

Peel the potatoes and slice them into half centimeter slices (I hope this is about quarter of an inch).

Put them in a saucepan, cover with water and add a good pinch of salt. Bring them very gently to the boil and then turn them down to a low heat. They need to cook gently for about 10 minutes. They need to be cooked and retain their sliced shape. Drain the water off and allow them to sit in the drainer over the empty pan for a little while .

Take a medium frying pan. We use a 10 inch (about 26 cm) pan. Put about 4 to 6 tablespoons of olive oil in and heat up on a medium heat, add the diced onion and allow it to sizzle gently for 10 minutes.  While this is cooking beat 6 eggs with a whisk until combined. Season with a pinch of ground pepper and a pinch of salt.

Put the potato in the pan and cook for a few minutes to help warm them up a bit them pour over all the egg. Try and push down any sticky upy potatoes so the top is coated in egg.

Put this on a low heat and cook for 20 minutes. Check it isn’t burning, it really needs to be gently cooking, too low and it won’t set – too high and it will get a tough outer layer. The top should be just a bit gooey.

You now need a plate and a big lid or two plates. Cover the pan with a plate and tip the egg onto it. Cover this with the lid or another plate and tip it up again. Then return the gooey side face down to the pan and cook for another 5 minutes.

Gently turn out onto a clean plate. It can be served hot or left to cool and served cold. When cold keep it in the fridge

 

March 4, 2009

Sourdough starter, grants and the weather

Posted by glanbrydan under country life, Recipe
[6] Comments 
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The frost and mist of this morning

Todays mix of frost, mist, bright sunshine, hail and sleet have been a weather roller coaster.  Whatever it throws at us it’s quite nippy out there. The wood burner is back on this afternoon after I thought we had a great laundry day first thing I shoved an extra wash load on and now the house resembles that of widow Twanky (Widow Twanky is a character in the Aladdin pantomime and is a washer woman, her house is shown on stage with rows of washing hanging -  for all you none UK people).

As we are out for supper (yes again ) at friends I am enjoying a no cook day. Aside from the day job my thoughts have been directed to a grant application for planting trees, an orchard and putting in a pond. They must have read my mind when they put that together. It’s all for a very specific area within a smallish section of the Towy valley which we fall into.

It’s based on a points system and although we only have a few acres I am very hopeful that we will have enough points to at least attract their attention. I and T-W-O have never applied for a grant before but we hear about other people getting money for hedging and tree planting. We are never sure if this is just rumour or fact. I will draft a letter with our proposal to post with the form and then cross our fingers while we wait for some correspondence.

Today I am trying a sourdough starter for the first time which if it works will allow me to make sourdough bread at the weekend. I have often considered that they must have performed this ritual rregularly before the introduction of commercial yeast. My concern is the lack of heat in the house so the ‘starter’ will have to live near a radiator. My starter will be a cup of white bread flour and a cup of warm water. This will go into a jar with the lid loosely put on and then into the living room where the fire is warming the room. It will have to move round with us during the day to keep it in a warm place. Of course for those with an airing cupboard and central heating you have a perfect home for your starter, remember it needs air so don’t screw the top down.

After this you need to throw away half the liquid each day and add a half cup of luke warm water and half a cup of flour to it. It should start to bubble it may gain a beery smell and a beery topping of water. This is all ok but you may want to pour off the beery water or you can stir it back in but it may add to the sour taste.

NB. Don’t use a metal container or a metal spoon for your starter. Don’t let it get hotter than 100 degrees C you will kill it. Use a sterilised jar. I cleaned my jar then dish washed it. I also filled it with boiling water not too long before using it. You can heat the jar in the oven for a few minutes to kill anything nasty as well. But get the jar below 100 degrees before you add your mixture.

 

February 19, 2009

Cream of Chicken Soup recipe

Posted by glanbrydan under at risk in the fridge, Recipe
[2] Comments 

 

miniature Iris

miniature Iris - sticking their tongues out

I am now making my second batch of chicken soup. OK, I did say it was a bit of a palaver but I think I’ve cracked it.

Make some good stock.

We bought ourselves a giant chicken from the Brecon market, far too much for just us so we decided to make more meals out of it. The chicken was cut in 2 and half of it roasted. It may sound a waste but we ate the meat in chicken sandwiches, very yummy.

We saved the carcass which was added to the uncooked carcass that had been stripped of meat. The uncooked breast will make one dish and the smaller meat from the thighs and legs will make chicken fajitas. http://glanbrydan.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-last-of-the-chicken-for-tea-chicken-fajitas/

Put a bit of olive oil in your pan and heat it up to a low/medium heat . Cut up 1 or 2 onions into quarters with the skin still on and place in a big saucepan along with a few sticks of roughly cut celery , a peeled roughly chopped parsnip, a couple of roughly chopped garlic cloves, 10 ish peppercorns, half a teaspoon of salt and all the chicken bones.

Give it all a good stir and let it cook for a few minutes without allowing it to burn. Add about 3 litres of water or enough to cover the bones (push them down into the water a bit if you need to), a teaspoon of dried thyme , a couple of bay leaves , a chicken stock cube and then bring to a simmer, put the lid on the pan. Allow it to cook gently for 3 hours checking it every now and then to see if it needs a little more water.

You can also add carrot, parsley, courgette, a bit of tomato among other things. It’s worth experimenting a few times to see what you like. You may have things ‘at risk’ of going over so it’s a good way to use things up.

img_0035Take the pan and put it to cool a bit somewhere out the way. Once it’s cooled to a heat you can handle the meat strain it in batches into a couple of bowls or another saucepan. Put the meat and veg to one side to be sorted out in a few minutes.

Return the liquid to a cleaned stock pot or pan and allow to simmer very gently uncovered for about 30 minutes. The liquid should reduce and help to develop the flavour. If it is too weak now you will need to add another chicken stock cube or a couple of teaspoons of veg stock powder.

Now sort out your chicken and veg. Carefully remove and meat bits that you can add back into your soup being sure to get the bones out – some bones can be very sharp! Discard the carcass then either throw away the veg or feed them to hungry dogs with a bit of dog food - again be sure there are no bones left for your dogs to choke on.

Now you can take enough stock for your soup I use about 1.5 litres for 4 people as a starter or as a nice lunch for 2, any leftovers can be kept for gravy for a day or two in the fridge or frozen for later use. Once the stock has cooled keep it in the fridge, after a few hours or a night in the fridge the fat will have risen to the surface and can be removed. The rest will set to a light jelly.

The soup bit

img_0054When you are ready to make your soup take

a little butter  – about 25 gms

an onion, peeled and chopped

a carrot, peeled and chopped

2 sticks of celery, washed and sliced

optional ingredient  – about 100/200 gms mushrooms

optional ingredient  – sweetcorn – a small tin, drained or a fresh ear stripped of the corn. It becpmes sweetcorn and chicken soup with this in.

about 75ml double cream

4 tb of dry sherry or a small glass of white wine.

more salt and pepper to taste

Heat a pan with a little butter in until it has melted and add the onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms/sweetcorn if using. Let them cook gently for a few minutes giving them a swirl every now and then to stop them sticking. Add the alcohol, turn up the heat so it boils for about 30 seconds. Add the stock back in and cook for 30 minutes.

Tip in the cream and heat up to simmering. Taste it and adjust the seasoning. It should now be ready to serve with fresh crusty bread and butter or croutons made from toasting slices of french stick and then grilling a bit of cheese on top of them before serving great if like us you cannot eat a complete french stick in one day.

 

February 10, 2009

The last of the chicken for tea – Chicken Fajitas

Posted by glanbrydan under at risk in the fridge, money saving, Recipe
[3] Comments 
Red Kite

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

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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

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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.img_00112

 

February 9, 2009

Monday blues and mashed swede

Posted by glanbrydan under Recipe
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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

 

February 8, 2009

A slice of cherry cake anybody?

Posted by glanbrydan under Recipe
[2] Comments 

img_0032The 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.

 

February 6, 2009

We finally had lemon chicken for dinner – and another cabbage recipe

Posted by glanbrydan under at risk in the fridge, Recipe
[6] Comments 

img_0018After 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.

 

February 3, 2009

Potato wedges and fried cabbage

Posted by glanbrydan under Recipe
[5] Comments 
The lane this morning

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.

 

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