What to do with stale bread.

Bread and butter pudding

When visiting my mother earlier this week she sent us home with two loaves of bread. These have sat on the side for a couple of days going stale. I hate waste so put on my thinking cap as to how to use these. My first thought was bread and butter pudding. This is loved in this house providing I don't put any fruit in. You would have thought that my boys were in heaven they loved this so much. I forget sometimes how easy it can be to make them happy.

Christmas pud

Z zesting the oranges

A couple of weeks ago I felt like being organised so I dragged out my mothers old recipe and made this years Christmas pudding. These are so simple to make and always taste better than the bought ones but in recent years it has been a task that I have put off until it is too late.

Spicy vegetable soup

Spicy vegetable soup

This is one of my favourite cold weather lunches, chunky, warming soup. Quick to make and we love it!

Bread

Blue Vinny bread

A few weeks ago we purchased a lovely dorset blue vinny bread at the cheese festival. I'm not a huge blue cheese fan but the saltiness that the mould brings gave a lovely zing to the bread itself. It has definitely rekindled the desire for more so I've been keeping my eyes open for what we have locally. I also love a good granary but I've not managed to find any of these at all! I find it hard to believe that they have disappeared. There are plenty of good white bread options around, especially if I visit the local farm shops. But they get a bit steep on the pocket, on the other hand supermarkets do not have the variety that they used to (my local ones anyway).

I don't want tasty bread everyday, I'm actually trying to cut back on bread. But a small loaf each weekend would be enjoyable. Many years ago I had a small bread maker. It made excellent dough but the bread it baked was somehow lacking though the same dough cooked in the oven was delicious. So I would be very tempted to try this again if only I had more counter space in the kitchen. I don't but I do have a dough hook for my ancient kenwood chef which probably ought to see more use.

Easy Soda Bread

To start the ball rolling I have here a soda bread made using the simple recipe from A girl called Jack . I'm not a big fan of soda bread but I cannot deny that this was a quick and easy make, another bonus is that it doesn't require any special ingredients. I'm not going to pretend that it tasted gorgeous but it was good to eat hot with the butter melting in. Will I bother to make it again? Maybe, the recipe is going into my recipe folder should I need to make a quick loaf.

Plum/Damson/Sloe Gin/Rum update

sloes

Well, this has certainly been a popular post. So popular that I felt that I probably ought to add a few more details to how we do this. First the basic recipe:

• 1lb fruit
• 6oz sugar
• 75cl of gin or white rum

Plum Chutney recipe

Better than Branston Chutney

I've referred to this recipe in a previous post, what I didn't share was how long it took me to find it again. I had the new blog bookmarked but unfortunately it is now no longer there. So, after much googling and wracking of my memory, I tracked down the original blog and I'm going print off the details for future use. You can find the recipe here, 'Better than Branston' from Contadina's blog.

I found that it did take quite a while to mature but is lovely when left long enough. I don't think that I'll be making any this year though as we are still working our way through the last batch.

Plum/Damson Rum

Home made wines

Another recipe I don't want to lose track of.

Plum/damson rum
We use a basic sloe gin recipe substituting the sloe and gin:
1lb fruit to 6oz sugar to 75cl of alcohol
For using sloes many recipes say to prick them with a pin, I prefer to use the freezer technique of letting them burst their skins whilst frozen.

I haven't made any rum yet this year though I have started the sloe gin to get rid of last year's sloes that have been hiding in the bottom of my freezer. It is a firm favourite with our extended family though J and I are not so keen. My mum in particular loves the damson gin that we make and has been known to arm wrestle my sister out of her portion!

This post has been so popular that I have provided more information here: Plum/Damson/Sloe Gin/Rum update

Preserving plums

Preserves

I've felt a bit 'bleurgh' this weekend so chose to take things gently. This conveniently tied in with getting on with making more preserves, not particularly hard work but I don't like to leave food alone whilst it's bubbling away.

Plum cordial recipe

A quick post, just to place a recipe somewhere I won't lose it. Plum cordial, recipe from the Norfolk Kitchen

Recipe in brief: 2 kilos of cherry plums simmered with 600ml of water until they fall apart. Strain mixture through a jelly bag for several hours. Measure resulting juice, warm through and add 700g of sugar for every litre (or adjust to taste)

First plum harvest of the year

Plum Harvest

 J got the step ladders out and picked our first haul for the year. These will keep coming now for up to another 6 weeks so I need to be prepared to deal with them. I would rather not leave good food rotting on the ground.

Gooseberry cordial

 

I like my drink so decided to use some of my harvested gooseberries as a cordial. A quick google led me to a recipe on the Islington Tribune site. I don't have lemon verbena but plenty of not so fresh lemons needing to be used up. I adapted the recipe to this:

Gooseberry and lemon cordial
Makes about one litre.
Ingredients
500g gooseberries, washed
200g caster sugar
1 litre water
1 lemon, halved and squeezed

Method
Bring to the boil the gooseberries, sugar, water, lemon juice and lemon halves in a large saucepan. Simmer until gooseberries are soft, about 10 minutes. I then left it to cool overnight. I strained the mix through a cheap jelly bag into a bottle. Shake the bottle before use. 

I actually used the juice of two lemons but one is more than enough. The cordial, when diluted, is a very refreshing slightly tart drink. My boys are not keen on it which is a bonus for me! When making cordial I usually freeze half and keep half in the fridge.

 

Home made ginger cordial

Ginger cordial in the making

I don't drink many hot drinks, I've never acquired the taste for tea and coffee affects me too much. I love hot chocolate but as my version is rather rich it isn't a drink for every day. I've experimented with herbal teas in the past but none of them have hit the mark. The only success has been Tetley's green tea that I enjoyed... but I had the same caffeine issue as I did with coffee which nixed that as a regular drink. So I'm usually down to the occasional hot drink of oxo or cup-a-soup, warming but not good fare for a regular cuppa.

I love ginger and have occasionally treated myself to ginger cordial, most recently with Bottlegreen's Ginger and Lemongrass. But what I really want is something with a bit more of a kick to it so I decided to try making my own. Working off a basic recipe of 2 parts water to 1 part sugar I boiled up some chopped up root with one lemon to make a delicious refreshing drink. With a kick. I use ALOT of ginger. It is good. Unfortunately the rest of my family think so too so it's going down quickly.

An extra bonus, this is delicious hot!

I must buy more ginger.