Sorry, sorry, sorry. I've not been posting as the past couple of months have been mentally rather draining and time in the kitchen was limited to quick meals, old favourites and not a lot of baking. Been dealing with family issues, but that is now over (for the time being) and I'm getting my mojo back. Oh and I now work two evenings a week which means I've been getting to grips with the slow cooker.
I have a new friend in the kitchen who I have affectionally called Alfred, after the King who alledgedly burnt the cakes. He's a garden spider and although I normally hate spiders; huge arachnaphobe, I've become quite attached to him and as he isn't bothering me, I'm not bothering him.
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| Alfred the Spider |
Not a good photo admitedly but hey. :-D
So, Winter is here and the garden is producing leeks, turnips, kale, parsnips and swede. There is a lot of clearing up to do and some cutting back, although now the frosts have arrived I might have to leave that until Spring. Ivy and Castor Oil Plant is producing berries and I have robins hiding and popping out for seed in and amongst them. I may also have a wren, but it's so quick I can't ID it properly. Tiny thing. Plus there is the usual sparrows, collared doves and pigeons, blue tits, great tits and the occasional magpie and crow.
So what have I been doing in the kitchen for past week or so? Well, firstly there was Stir Up Sunday! Has become a family tradition over the years to get the kids, and now grandchild, to come over for Sunday dinner (meaning daughter and granddaughter come over as son already here) and we make up the Christmas pudding mixture ready for steaming the following day and everyone in the family gets a stir and a wish.
The mixture made one large and one small pudding. The large was steamed the following day overnight and the smaller during the day after; both using the slow cooker meaning I don't have to constantly worry about topping up water and Alfred doesn't get steamed along with the puddings. I've got a timer switch attached to the slow cooker and am wondering why I never thought of doing it before; it's been amazing.
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| Main Christmas pudding getting it's rewrap after cooking |
We also seemed to have a glut of vegetables in the rack at the beginning of the week, so a large chutney making session was in order. As it had celeriac, onions, apples, green toms from garden (the remaining tomatos after pulling up the last of the plants), butternut squash, raisins, carrots and one parsnip I named it Glut Chutney and followed a basic chutney recipe that I found and added a few tweaks. It has a fair amount of spice and chilli in it and the initial tasting wasn't bad at all and I'm sure it will mature rather well.
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| Lots of leftover veggies and a spice bag |
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| Glut Chutney |
Also did a couple of jars of pickled celeriac with dill, garlic and turmeric as I had two of those and didn't want to overpower the other veg in the chutney.
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| Pickled Celeriac |
The rest of the week has been basic dinner cooking including mixing the last of the fish pie, which partner made over weekend, with chopped leftover roast veggies, leeks in cheese sauce and remaining sauce in fridge to make a fishy, saucy, bubble and squeaky mix up. I was actually rather surprised how it turned out as it was lovely and was devoured in minutes by the boys. Never feel afraid of mixing stuff up a little differently and it's a great way of using up cooked food from weekend to make a simple Monday night dinner.
So, a quickish catch up and hopefully I'll be back to normal with a weekly write up. It'll be more pickling and chutneying probably over next few weeks and, of course, the big Christmas cook ups with baking.
Cya
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