Blackberry Crumble September 10, 2008

This was made with Gluten Free flour (which tasted like wallpaper but it was still OK other than that!)

Autumn: Blackberry Fool September 9, 2008

(makes a change from Crumble doesn’t it?)

 

1 vanilla pod, cut in half lenghtways and seeds discarded

juice and peel of 1 lemon

500g/1lb 2 oz fresh blackberries, rinsed

 

150g/3oz caster sugar

 

500ml/18fl oz whipping cream

2-3 drops vanilla essence

Extra blackberries to decorate

Place the vanilla pod into a pan with the lemon juice and peeol, the blackberries and 130g/43/4 oz of the caster sugar. COver with a tight fitting lid and simmer for 7-8mins until the blackberries start to breakdown. With the lid still on leave to cool. Remove and discard the lemon peel.

 

Whisk the whipping cream with 2-3 drops of vanilla essense and the remaining sugar until semi-whipped.

 

Transfer the cooled blackberry compote into a large mixing bowl then carefully fold in the cream in 3 lots using a spatula. You may want to tase themixture before adding all the cream. Spoon into tall sundae glasses and served with a blackberry.

Sticky Chelsea Buns at Last! April 11, 2008

I was in Spitalfields today (hunting for something else) and I ended up bumping into a shop called A Gold at 42 Brushfield Street. Blimey, it was a proper British Shop with humbugs,  sugar mice, chelsea buns, brandy snaps,   proper fruitcake and cakes I hadn’t seen for ages. There were loads of nice things perfect – for tea, I nearly fell over! There were no muffins, croissants and cookies to be had. The Chelsea Buns looked wonderfully sparkly and fresh, nothing like buns that could have been delivered three months before by a nameless company such as 3663.

I will go there again for some inspiration. I was in a bit of a rush so couldn’t stay too long.

I did notice that some of the ‘fast food or trendy shops’ nearby were almost empty.. but this shop, though small, was ‘jam’ packed. Everybody looked excited and happy, and like me, reluctant to leave for the office.

 

web.mac.com/sabinaspaldi/iWeb/Site/Local food shops .html

Scouser Nosh April 11, 2008

J is a ’scouser’ and I’ve been talking to him about his ‘Northern Origins’ (as he says).  He was saying that he was brought up on Bubble & Squeak, Black Pudding, Everton Mints and Pigs Trotters.. apparently his father is fan of them. I didn’t realise that pigs trotters were ‘English’… My other side of me is German, so I knew they go potty about pig trotters and when you talk about it to people in the South, they ‘think it’s weird’.

I did find Everton Mints in Woolies recently and bought him some. It’s not always easy to find. He was pretty happy about having some.

Listen up! Some of us are fed up with muffins, cookies, peanut biscuits, American coffees April 10, 2008

Ok, ironically, I have a muffin mix in my cupboard (ouch, slipping), but that was because a) sometimes I can be pretty lazy cook b) there’s wasn’t much of a selection of English cakes c) they’re easy to make

Confession over.

However, I am also sick to death of gateauxs, blueberry muffins and cookies and waffles. You can’t go anywhere in any English village or town without seeing some of these ‘evil alien species’. They have  a ‘grey squirrel factor’. It doesn’t exactly help our British business does it? How come Gordon Brown allows this stuff in.. surely they ought be taxed heftily?

In the future, maybe I shall make a more conscious effort to ‘boycott muffins’. 

Tonbridge Biscuits.. the story continues April 10, 2008

Yesterday, I made some ‘proper’ Tonbridge Biscuits with plain flour, without any weirdy gluten free stuff. Well, it ended up a lot more tasty and I added heaps of sugar. You could really smell the homely buttery and herby caraway taste. Ironically caraway isn’t very British, maybe it is the Indian Empire connection? I really must learn more about the history of cooking.

I gave some to my colleagues and had a ‘thumbs up’. One of the more honest colleagues, said they were ‘jawbreakers’.. which is true! They were pretty hard… so any tips to make them less like ‘rocks’ would be helpful. Maybe I won’t cook them so long, the only thing with that, is that they won’t be so brown which I like.

I would show you a ‘plain flour’ version, but they’ve all been scoffed!