Lenny’s not normally interested in smoothies, so when I find one he really likes it must be worth posting!
Serves 2
Ingredients
1 Mango
1 Banana
150ml Orange juice
2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
3-6 Ice cubes
Method
Chop the fruit and add to a blender with the orange juice and blend. Then add the yoghurt and ice cubes. Blend again to incorporate and serve while chilled.
Our fridge freezer has broken down. I’ve not started to panic yet, luckily my mother has some room in her freezer for storage but there is still a lot of food that I need to save. I’m just praying when they come to fix it next week I will not hear the words “we’ll not be able to get the part before Christmas”.
When we lived in Canada I remember at this time of year we could open the back door and use the wall of snow as a deep freeze.
All the beautiful fruit I had stored to see me through to next summer I’m going to have to find a new way to eat up or preserve for the next few weeks.
Fruit leathers are essentially dried fruit puree’s. Cut into strips and rolled up, these thin, pliable sheets of fruit make tasty and relatively healthy sweets, they will keep in the fridge for up to a month or can be frozen – if you have a freezer!
This recipe is taken directly from the book preserves by Pam Corbin
. She calls it a fruit leather but we have been making beef jerky this week so I’m following a theme.
Apple & Blackberry Jerky
Ingredients
500g blackberries
500g apples, peel cored & chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
150g wild flower honey
Method
Preheat the oven to a very low setting – I use 60C. Line two baking sheets, measuring about 24 x 30cm, with baking parchment.
Put the blackberries, apples and lemon juice into a pan. Cook gently until soft and pulpy, about 20 minutes. Rub the mixture through a sieve or mouli into a bowl; you should have about 700g smooth fruit puree. Add the honey and mix well.
Divide the puree between the two baking sheets. Spread it out lightly with the back of a spoon until the puree covers the sheets in a thin, even layer.
Put the baking sheets in the oven and leave for 12-18 hours, until the fruit puree is completely dry and peels off the parchment easily. Roll up the leather in greaseproof paper and store in an airtight tin. Use within 5 months.
Variations
There is no end to the possible variations here – you can turn any fruit into a leather. All you need do is create a smooth thick puree with your chosen fruit before drying it out. Try plums, spicing the puree with a little cinnamon; or peaches, infusing them with a few honeysuckle blossoms as they cook. For a savory leather use half and half apples and tomatoes seasoned with celery salt.
I have not forgotton about the christmas cake, just marinating the fruit. Two weeks should have done it! If you missed the first part of this post you can see it here.
On to the next stage:
Ingredients:
250g Plain Flour
1 tsp Baking Powder
250g Demerara Sugar
250g Softened Butter
4 Beaten Eggs
Method:
Mix together the Flour, Baking Powder, Sugar and Butter into a smooth batter. Beat in the Eggs one at a time until well blended.
Gradually fold in the marinated fruit, ensure all the fruit is well incorporated for even distribution in the mixture.
Preheat the oven to gas mark 1 and prepare the cake tin. Double line the tin with baking paper and grease well.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tins, keeping a level surface.
Bake in the oven at gas mark 1 for 2 1/2 hours, then cover the cake with baking paper to prevent the it browning too much and continue to bake for 1 1/2 hours. Turn the oven off and leave in the warm oven until cool.
Once cool you can remove from the oven and remove the baking paper before wrapping in tin foil to store for up to 1 year.
To finish off the cake see back here in a week or two when I’ll be decorating it.
Notes on using the Silverwood Cake Pan.
This recipe has made 5 cakes approx 4.5″ x 4.5″ using the Silverwood Multi Size Cake Pan.
Updated 22-11-09: I have doubled this recipe to make 9 cakes, now all I need is a bigger mixing bowl. Increased the cooking time to allow for the extra mixture:
Bake in the oven at gas mark 1 for 3 hours, then cover the cake with baking paper to prevent the it browning too much and continue to bake for 2 hours. Turn the oven off and leave in the warm oven until cool.
Updated 28/11/09: Check out the next stage here.
In a nod to Halloween this week, here is a recipe for toffee apple pie.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
4 Large Cooking Apples – Peeled and Sliced
75g Butter
75g Light Brown Muscovado Sugar
100ml Cider
1/4 tsp Mixed Spice
1 tbsp Golden Syrup
Sweet Short Crust Pastry
Method:
Pre heat oven to gas mark 6.
Use 1/2 the pastry to line a pie dish.
Melt the butter in a pan and add the rest of the ingredients (except the syrup), simmer until the apples start to soften.
Remove the apples with a slotted spoon from the pan and layer in the pie dish.
Add the syrup to the remaining sauce in the pan and bring to the boil till the sauce starts to reduce into a thick toffee mixture.
Spoon the mixture over the apples.
Roll out the remaining pastry to cover the pie dish. Brush with egg white and make a small hole in the middle of the pastry to let the air escape.
Bake for 25 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard.
This cake is full to the brim with rich fruit, nuts, spices and alcohol. The longer you leave it to mature, the better!
We still have some of last years cake left. If well marinated and stored correctly it will keep very well.
Don’t skimp on the alcohol, I tend to add an additional slug of port and rum as I go along, but that means it requires more cooking time. If you stick to the guidelines below this time, you can modify it to your taste next time around.
This recipe fills a 9 inch cake tin, however this year I am making 5 smaller cakes for hampers, using a Silverwood Multi Size Cake Pan.
Ingredients:
450g Raisins
225g Currents
150g Candied Fruit Peel
150g Walnuts
150g Sultanas
150g Prunes
125g Dark Brown Muscovado Sugar
2tsp Vanilla Extract
1tsp Cinnamon
1tsp Salt
1/2tsp Nutmeg – Grated
1/2tsp Cloves – Ground
1/2tsp All Spice – Ground
5tbsp Dark Rum
5tbsp Brandy
5tbsp Whisky
5tbsp Port
Method:
Put all the ingredients into a large stock pot and mix well with a wooden spoon. Heat gently and simmer for 15 minutes. Do not let it boil as you need to retain the alcohol. Leave to cool and pour into a jar for storage for at least a week, stirring the mixture daily.
I’ll see you next week when I’ll post the next instalment… You can’t rush perfection!!
Updated 9/11/09: Check out the next stage here.
We are lucky enough to have a few fruit trees in our garden, and if we can get to the plums before the wasps they are really delicious. I’d like to thank Thane for volunteering to cross the stream this year to collect them for us, especially as he did get a bit damp when he nearly fell in the ditch. I feel a little mean not letting him take them all home.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
15g Butter
350g Plums stoned (Halved or chopped depending on the size)
2 Apples peeled and sliced covered in juice of ½ a lemon
125g Golden Caster Sugar
175g Plain Flour
100g Light Muscovado Sugar
100g Butter – Small cubes
50g Oats
Method:
Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4
Melt the butter in a frying pan and add the plums and apples, cook gently until just about to soften, do not stir too much as you don’t want to break the fruit up.
Lightly grease a baking dish or 6 ramekins, layer in the fruit then sprinkle over the caster sugar.
Rub the flour, sugar and butter together into fine breadcrumbs and then mix in the oats.
Sprinkle the crumble mixture over the fruit base and bake for 45 minutes.
Serve with clotted cream, ice cream or custard.
This is my recipe for cooking Welsh Cakes on the top of the wood burning stove in our tent but you can also use a griddle pan or heavy based frying pan, I don’t grease these but some recipes call for greasing – work out what works best for you. I have also included the measurements for Cups as even I don’t take weighing scales camping and a roll of cellophane works just as well as a rolling pin!
Some like to serve them with Jam or Honey but just cooked hot off the stove is quite delicious.
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup (125g) Butter (Not Marg)
1 Cup (250g) Self-Raising Flour
1 egg
1/3 Cup (70g) Caster Sugar
100g Dried Cranberries (Traditionally Currents, Sultanas and Raisins)
Mixed Spice
Extra Sugar for dusting with a pinch of Cinnamon.
Method:
Rub the butter into the flour and then add the beaten egg, caster sugar, dried fruit and a pinch of mixed spice. Leave to cool if possible (Not so easy in a tent).
Roll out the mixture to 1cm thick and cutout with a pastry cutter or just in approx 6cm squares. Cook the cakes on the stove top until browned on both sides.
Sprinkle with the dusting sugar and serve.
Everything’s coming to life. My very first Aubergine has emerged from the flower of which I took a picture of a couple of weeks ago. There is the inevitable glut of Courgettes, not that I mind I’ll eat them everyday if possible. My first Corn has appeared, I have never grown Corn before but I have been told it’s supposed to be easy so I thought I might get at least one good crop.
This year even the Pears are looking good, we have not had many good crops so in anticipation I am testing recipes. Oh that old excuse!
I have not made Pear and Almond tart before so I have modified a basic Bakewell Tart recipe and that seems to do the trick.
Base:
175g Plain Flour
80g Butter
3 Egg Yolks
80g Caster Sugar
Pinch of salt
Filling:
175g Butter
100g Caster Sugar
175g Ground Almonds
25g Plain Flour
3 Eggs
Almond Essence
2 Peeled and sliced Pears
Glaze:
I make my glaze from lemon marmalade and lemon juice but I believe the more traditional method is to use apricot jam.
Method:
Mix all the ingredients for the base together to form a soft pastry, and wrap in cling film then rest in the fridge for approx 1 hour.
Roll out the pastry to the dimensions of your flan dish. It will be very soft so carefully fold over the dish and return to the fridge for 25 mins, and preheat the oven to gas mark 5.
Layer some greaseproof paper over the flan and fill with baking beads. Bake the pasty blind for 20 mins.
Remove the beads and bake for a further 5 mins or until the pastry case is cooked though.
While the pastry is baking:
Mix the butter and sugar until creamy then add the eggs one at a time with a spoonful of flour and then add the rest of the ingredients, except the Pears until all is mixed well.
Tip the mix into the cooled pastry case and layer the Pears on top to over the surface.
Bake for 45 mins, then leave to cool before brushing with a glaze.
Enjoy with Crème Fraiche for me, or Custard or Ice Cream or just on it’s own.
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