Category Archives: Baking
06 Oct, 2011
Unexpected pleasures are so sweet, don’t you find? The glorious sunshine and unusual warmth of the past days have brought delight – just as we started to get entrenched in the routine of Autumn. And the garden of our new home boasts trees laden with an extraordinary crop of apples and the hedges are richly dotted with blackberries. These must be celebrated!
So, directly home from school, books and bags are cast aside and we make right for a lovely spot in the garden for a cool drink and a rest.
But little boys don’t really rest for long, do they? Our boy is lucky as he has quite a few little friends who live in the village. So after school, the garden is often buzzing with several little boys running around, building dens, climbing…. And feeling hungry – always hungry!
I’ve been reading a charming little book. It’s called ON A Stick! and it’s written by Matt Armendariz. Matt is the creator of the wonderful blog Matt Bites – do you know it? Well the book is just about what you would expect from the title – a series of quirky, delicious recipes and ideas – all of food on a stick.
Now I have yet to find a child who doesn’t adore food on sticks! Even healthy skewers of fruit and veggies. As long as you can trust little boys with sharp sticks (you can’t!) So with vigilance, I presented a garden snack inspired by Matt’s book. This isn’t actually his recipe, in fact it isn’t really a recipe at all. I simply assembled some berries and apple slices (from the garden), along with some little pieces of cake on wooden bamboo sticks.
The cake is a buttermilk and almond cake but I haven’t perfected the recipe yet. When I do, I’ll be happy to share it if you would like. Just let me know.
A quick chat, then back to running around!
A change of weather is forecast – back to the typical offerings of the season. Despite a little sadness to say goodbye to the bright warm days, I feel quite excited about the prospect of Autumn. It’s such a beautiful time of year – the splendid colours, the brisk walks, and of course, the delicious warming foods that nourish body and soul. More soon.
Px
in Apples, Autumn, Baking, Cake, Family, Growing Food, Picnics, School, berries, garden, sunshine | Comments (13)
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11 Feb, 2011
Colour. Sometimes a flash of vibrant colour inspires a wonderful creative moment, a mood, a story. At least it does for me – how about you? Colour and light, both so influential. There’s no getting away from it, England in February is not bathed in either glorious warm light nor rich bright colour. And I love both. But there are compensations – it’s taken me a little time to appreciate it but I do now see a quiet beauty in the subdued mood of a dull grey day. And actually, this light intensifies the vibrancy of colours – which can be all washed out under a bright sunlit sky.
So after a walk through a lonely feeling landscape, I met a glorious heap of rich red rhubarb at the farm shop. It brightened my whole day, my whole week. What a revelation. I’ve always quite liked rhubarb – without much passion – but this week, as my little boy like to say, like has turned to love.
Returning with a lovely brimming basket of produce, I set about photographing and baking. Two pleasures! How to do justice to this lovely rhubarb? I settled upon a tart of crisp puff pastry, filled with aromatic sweet almond cream and topped with rhubarb and muscovado sugar. I could hardly photograph the finished tart, so eager I was to share it and enjoy eating it! If you have a chance, do try making this – I think you’ll be very pleased.
A most delicious Rhubarb and Almond Tart
Rhubarb and Muscavado Sugar Compote
5-6 stalks of rhubarb. I’ve used the gorgeous, bright red forced rhubarb that’s currently in season. Wash and chop into 1 inch bits.
a scant cup of light brown muscovado sugar (This depends a bit on how tart the rhubarb is and how sweet you like things. Add a bit, and add more to suit.)
In a heavy pan, warm the sugar with a spoon or so of water and allow to melt into a syrup. Add the rhubarb and simmer over medium heat until it softens. Don’t overdo it, let it keep a little shape. Set aside to cool while you prepare the rest of the tart. Or just eat – it’s lovely with ice cream or custard. ( I ate the first batch this way!)
Frangipane – Almond Cream
100g butter, 100g sugar (caster or fine), 100g ground almonds, 25g plain flour, 2 eggs,1 teaspoon of vanilla. (Or a few drops of almond essence if you like an extra almond boost.)
In a bowl, mix well together the butter, well softened, with the sugar and almonds. Stir in the flour and then mix in the eggs and vanilla.
Puff Pastry and a small handful of flaked almonds
500g of puff pastry. I use a good, all butter pastry from the shop.
Heat oven to 200 degrees centigrade. Line a baking sheet (about 24-30 cms) with baking paper. Roll the pastry out to fit the size of the baking pan. Lay the pastry in the pan and brush the edges with a little beaten egg, and roll over slightly to make a border all around. Spoon the frangipane (almond cream) all over the pastry base and smooth out to an even layer. Then gently spoon the rhubarb compote over. Leave a few spaces in between the spoonfuls as the frangipane puffs up and browns around it nicely. Sprinkle with some flaked almonds. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the pasty is lovely and golden. Wait a few minutes for it to cool before enjoying it.
Can you give a bunch of rhubarb for Valentines Day? I, for one, would be happy to receive such a gift.
Happy Valentine’s day all. Thanks for stopping by and please do drop me a line/comment if you wish.
Pascale
in Almonds, Baking, Colours, Pastry, Photography, Rhubarb, Tart | Comments (12)
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12 Jan, 2011
It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Those of you who kindly stop by here regularly will have noticed I’ve been a bit quiet for a time. It’s been an eventful and difficult couple of months, I’ll say more in a moment. But first – a bit belatedly – heartfelt wishes for a glorious and peaceful 2011 to all. The new year brings a fresh start for us, and this year I feel that especially. So here we are, I’ve taken stock, and I’m so looking forward to this coming year - and feeling very thankful too. I’m starting my new year by sending out a lot of thank you messages. And what better way is there to say thank you than with some delicious homemade shortbread biscuits.
So where have I been? Well I’ll just say, in a nutshell, that I had a bit of a sudden health issue and as a result I had to have major surgery just before Christmas. All went well and all is well now, and that’s one (big) reason I’m truly thankful.
But it’s extraordinary how much that’s wonderful and positive can emerge from challenging events. I’ve been delighted and honoured by the kindness and friendship of people around me. When I came home from hospital, friends and neighbours in our village showered us with help and good wishes. Our cottage was absolutely brimming with cards and flowers (those pink ones above came from the two gorgeous old ladies who live next door). We were brought hot dinners and given lots of help with childcare. I felt so touched by all these kindnesses. We moved to this village from Barbados about five years ago and at first it wasn’t easy to settle. Over time we naturally made friends – however the experiences of the past several weeks made me really see how lovely this place is, this little village full of kind and caring people. Now I’m well on the mend, it’s time for me to send out some thanks for all those favours. It’s time to start baking.
I found this cute little biscuit stamper in my Christmas stocking and this is an excellent opportunity to try it out. I love it, and so does our little boy. We haven’t quite mastered perfectly stamped biscuits yet, but that’s what homemade is all about isn’t it?
While the biscuits cool down, we have the chance to take a walk in the crisp winter sunshine. It has been a lovely winter so far, lots of snow and frost. I’m a warm weather girl really, but even so I love the beauty of winter. The shapes of the bare trees, the muted colours and far reaching views. Then back home, into the warmth, and it’s time for a cup of tea and to start on those thank you cards.
As I haven’t been able to cook much for the past few weeks, my husband has had to get cooking. (Another thing to be thankful for?!) As the head cook of the house, I’ve been teaching him a bit as he goes along. It’s been quite good fun actually, so we’re going to keep up the cookery lessons! More about that next time.
In the meantime, drop me a comment if you like. I would love to hear from you. And if you would like to connect on Twitter, I always tweet on there with blog updates and other things in between. Thanks for visiting!
Pascale x
in Baking, Biscuits, New Year, Photography, Shortbread, seasons, winter | Comments (35)
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