Cranberry and Clementine Bread for Us and the Birds

This year, although I have been extremely good and committed to eating local, fresh produce or British grown. There are some seasonal products that are not grown here, so have to be imported, such as the cranberry, which you may know, I have been thoroughly enjoying. So for next year, on my gardening 'wish list' is to get myself a cranberry bush, here’s hoping.
Anyway, as I still had some imported cranberries sitting at the bottom of my fridge, a couple of days ago, I decided to make Cranberry bread. I got the original recipe from Freds blog Grown Away. Fred informed me that his home state was one of largest cranberry producers, so he was merrily looking forward to receiving some black heirloom cranberries in his vegetable box, but surprisingly none appeared. Although disappointed, Fred was not deterred and purchased some dried local cranberries from his natural food store; and made an incredibly simple cranberry walnut bead.

Now I have absolutely no doubt that Fred's Cranberry and walnut bread was delicious, but you know me, I had to tweak it just a little. Sorry Fred, (she says wincing) but I think you will approve.
I don’t think the photograph taken does the 'Cranberry and Clementine bread' justice, as it doesn’t show the burst colours of the cranberries, but they are there. The bread was moist, it was not as sweet as the scones and the muffins I made earlier in the month. I think because they had white chocolate in them, whereas this bread allowed the sourness of the cranberries to come through, which my husband loved. The flavour of the Clementine also came through, although a tad subtle and the walnuts gave it that extra texture. Nice.

Now talking of growing and cakes, I thought I better mention that I have been fortunate to have been chosen to receive not one, but two gifts from fellow bloggers. The first is a baking book called Muffins Galore from Icook4fun of Kitchen Snippets. I had completely forgotten about this until I got an email yesterday. The second will be a surprise gift from Ribbit of The Corner Yard where I will become one of the lucky recipients of a 'Pay it Forward' parcel. Please do check out this link, I absolutely adore the way my 'blogger name' was picked out!

What a lovely way to end the year…unexpected gifts, Smiles and new blog friends.

And finally, how could we forget about the little birds that entertain us in the garden, I made them a loaf of there own too. I made this with vegetable fat which I melted, ands then poured into a 2lb loaf tin that contained a mixture of chopped apples, nuts, seeds, dried fruit and some fresh cranberries. I left it in the fridge overnight and then the following day, cut a slice and left it on the Bird table. Sorry I didn't get a picture of that, I wanted to - but the red breasted Robin just wouldn't pose for me.

Cranberry and Clementine Bread
Makes 2lb Loaf

Ingredients

2 cups plain flour
¾ cup caster sugar
1½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon bicarbonate soda
¼ cup butter*
1 medium egg
¾ cup Clementine juice
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries

½ cup chopped walnuts

Method
In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg, juice and peel; stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Add the cranberries and walnuts. Spoon batter into a greased 2lb loaf pan. Bake at Gas mark 4 for 45 minutes to an hour or until a toothpick inserted near the centre comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

I took Fred’s advice and cooked the bread on a lower temperature. I loved the simplicity of this recipe, plus the use of American cup measurements. *The only part that made me raise my eyebrows was measuring butter in the quarter cup, you have to push in the butter and then spoon it out to use.

The Vegetarian 'Scotch Egg'

I am always filled with anger and disappointment when I read or hear of cultural insensitivities or worse, people’s basic lack of common sense, to treat each other with some dignity and respect. In the past I have wrote about how my soup was not 'suitable for vegetarians'; and my marshmallow experience. Well yesterday I saw this article on my blog sidebar.

At this works buffet, 'Scotch eggs' were labelled as an option 'suitable for vegetarians' and suitable to consume by those of a particular religious background, in this case Muslim employees. In actual fact, these 'Scotch eggs' were not suitable as they were made from pork. I would personally have terminated the contract of the caterers, but no apparently this organisation offers the offended employees who had eaten the meat product, a cup of tea.
The sceptic in me would not surprised if this was done out of malice; or for a joke by one of the caterers staff members. I mean anyone who has been raised in the U.K or gone to any traditional British buffet will know that the 'Scotch egg' is a hard boiled egg covered in sausage meat made namely from pork, then coated with breadcrumbs and deep-fried. Scotch eggs can be eaten hot or cold and are often served at parties, cold buffets and picnics, similar to the pork pie. Therefore not suitable for people with particular diets.

I remember at Primary school witnessing and experiencing bullying behaviours from other children, specifically towards Arabic or South Asian children like myself, and in particular those who were Muslim, easily identified by dress. Other than the racist jibes that were deemed normal part of growing up for children of colour in this part of Wales, the other jibes you would often hear would be ‘do you wanna pork pie’. This wasn't a question, it was deemed an insult aimed primarily at the Muslim children who religiously were forbidden to eat any part of the pig. At night, the cowardly racist adults would throw bits of pork pies at the windows of Muslim homes, and at the small Jewish community, it would be eggs. I don’t think this kind of behaviour has disappeared, in those days it was direct, nowadays it is subtle.
Anyway, back to the above article/incident – I also do think the Muslim employees should have used their personal judgement and commonsense too, as sometimes the offering of complimentary food tempts us to overlook our dietary convictions, sometimes it easy to blame others afterwards, rather than take personal responsibility at the time.
Personally, I have liked the ‘idea’ of the Scotch egg. I have always liked crispy things, and admired the deep fried coating of the scotch egg. I had always wanted to make a vegetarian version and had read numerous ways to do this, with nuts, beans and pulses, but I wanted to include a vegetable, a fungi in this case. So here is my take. This was originally a Pâté , as I had made too much (double the quantity), I decided I could use the remaining Pâté to mould a hard boiled egg, coat with breadcrumbs and deep fry and there you have it my vegetarian 'scotch egg'.

Mushroom coated 'Scotch eggs'
Makes 6 eggs
Ingredients
6 hard boiled eggs
½ cup of yellow lentils
1 bay leaf
40g butter
1 small onion, finely sliced
250g button mushrooms, minced
½ tablespoon of finely chopped soft herb (oregano, parsley or coriander)
Salt and pepper to taste
Breadcrumbs to coat
1 beaten egg for dipping
Vegetable oil for deep frying
Method
Place lentils and bay leaf into a pan and cover with cold water. Cover pan and simmer for 40 minutes or until lentils are soft. Drain well. Melt the butter in a pan over low heat. Add onion and cook for a couple of minutes, then add mushroom, oregano, lemon juice and seasoning. Cover and cook on a low heat until mushrooms are soft. Combine well drained lentils and mushrooms mixture into a food processor and blend til the mixture is relatively smooth, be careful not to puree it. Allow to cool. Divide the mixture into six, then take a handful and pat it in your palm, gently covering the hard boiled eggs completely. Leave in fridge for up to an hour to firm up. When ready to eat, bring back to room temperature (don't miss this step or the coating will split whilst deep frying) before dipping in beaten egg, coat in breadcrumbs and deep fry till golden.

I served these with beetroot chutney and home-made piccalilli. Now why didn’t the caterers think of this?!

Cranberry Heart scones

I had the opportunity to make some more cranberry and white chocolate chip scones this morning. These I decided to make in the same vain as my lavender scones and used my heart shaped cookie cutter.

The only thing I did different with these was I studded some of the scones with the fresh cranberries cut in half and some white chocolate chips. By the way, I am not done with cranberries yet, I also have a 'cranberry and clementine loaf' in the oven (ooh the flat smells like a bakery), but I'll show slices of that to you later on in the week.

Now I know I wrote a little about my Christmas past, I hope I wasn't misleading anyone by suggesting that D and me don't give each other gifts on Christmas day, actually we do. We enjoy like the next person, giving and receiving, so below are a few things that my dear husband gave to me with a loving kiss.

Books that I have been eyeing for a while. Other than The Gourmet Gardener which is a growers book, the others are all cookbooks from reputable vegetarian eateries: Cornucopia in Dublin; Demuths in Bath and Terre à Terre in Brighton. I appreciate them all, but I am mostly excited by Terre à Terre as this book has so many inventive recipes including vegetarian marshmallows and each dish is presented beautifully. The recipes in this long anticipated cookbook also show that vegetarians and vegans are gourmands too, something that often gets overlooked.

As I have been making the most of my cookie cutters of late, D got me some more in fruit and vegetable shapes. They are so dainty.

And finally, contrary to all the sweet things that appear on my blog, I don't really have a 'sweet tooth'. I am more of a savoury kinda girl, so instead of getting me a box of chocolates this year, D decided to get me some vegan marshmallows made in England, U.K. I'll let you know how they taste when I open the package, which won't be that long as the expiry date is only next month.

Rosemary roasted hasselbacks

Or what is known in my home as 'hedgehog' roasted potatoes, even though they look nothing like the spiny, nocturnal mammal. And even better, no animals were harmed in the making of this dish.

Today, I wanted a lazy cooking day, so opted to make some fancy jacket potatoes, known as hasselbacks.
Hasselbacks are perhaps the best-known of all Swedish potato recipes. The potatoes are sliced almost to the base, so the slices open out like a delicate fan when cooked. To my knowledge, the traditional hasselback recipe uses bay leafs and butter, but in this recipe I decided to use some of the fresh rosemary growing in my garden plot, olive oil and sea salt. I baked these in the oven at Gas mark 5 for about an hour until the edges had become golden and crisp.

I just had to accompany the hasselback potato with my 'Moose' Christmas ornament, there is just something complimentary about it. I hope your all enjoying your holidays, I have tomorrow off, then I am back in work on Tuesday, so am trying to make the most of my time just lazing about.

My Tofu Press and Home-made Tofu Crisps

I try not to eat tofu as a meat replacement, but as an ingredient of its own. Although I have tried the silken tofu a couple of times, my preference really is to use the firmer tofu for dishes such as Tofu and Mushroom strogonoff, Thai Green Vegetable curry or even Red curry. However, the one major problem with tofu is that it is often waterlogged, making it not particularly pleasant to eat.
I made these tofu crisps a couple of days ago and anyone who has deep fried tofu will know that it is extremely watery, and we all know that water and oil do not mix. So getting rid of the water from the tofu in my home involves pressing the tofu with a 'cast iron' literally, which can be a hassle resulting in puddles of murky water. In the past I used to use plates and weights of tinned tomatoes and beans, but then came across this cast iron at an antiques fair and thought to myself 'ahh that it would be a handy kitchen gadget' for pressing all kinds of foods, not just tofu.

Anyway, you can imagine my delight when I saw that Ellen of I am Gluten Free offering one lucky reader with an opportunity to win their very own TofuXpress. A TofuXpress is designed particularly to press water from tofu without any other additional equipment. As one who likes her kitchen gadgets (old fashioned and the new) I've decided to enter Ellen's generous giveaway to own my very own TofuXpress.

Then making dishes like these Tofu crisps won't feel so dangerous. All that spluttering, made me nervous and I am quite comfortable cooking with hot oil! After I had shallow fried these think tofu strips I sprinkled over some salt and paprika. My husband took a bite of one and then decided I could enjoy the rest on my own. I think they were okay. In fact, if I am honest, I don't think I would make these tofu crisps again. I would rather eat the tofu spicy biltong instead, for me they had more flavour.

Fresh Cranberry and white chocolate chip Scones

Forgive me dear readers, but I still seem to be riding on this culinary 'Cranberry roller coaster'. After making the cranbelly Robin biscuits last week; and the Cranberry and white chocolate chip muffins early this month, today I thought I try my hand at making some fresh cranberry and white chocolate chip scones.

Well I must say I am so glad I did, they turned out pretty good. These scones were really, really light. They were not overly sweet either and the sharpness of the freshly burst cranberry juice in the scones were quite delightful on the tongue. Yum yum. If you don't believe me, try them - you might just like.
I tried to convert the measurements for these scones into American cups, but I don't know how successful I was. But I am trying hey.
Fresh Cranberry and white chocolate chip Scones
Makes about 12
Ingredients
280g or 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
55g or ¼ cup caster sugar
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
70g or ¼ cup margarine or butter
100g or 1 cup fresh cranberries, if small keep whole, if big cut in half
50g or ¼ cup white chocolate chips
200ml milk (you may not need it all)
Method
Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Add in the margarine or butter till mixture and working with your fingers blend so it begins to resemble breadcrumbs, then stir in the cranberries and white chocolate chips. Carefully add some of the milk and mix to make a smooth dough. Then on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to about 2 inch thick and either cut into individual scones using a cookie cutter; or cut into wedges. Bake at gas mark 4 for 20-25 minutes.

Happy Christmas

We went over to the allotment yesterday afternoon. Although there were plenty of footprints about, including those of four legged beasties, there wasn't anyone else there. We had difficulty getting into our plot, as the padlocks were iced over, so D had to jump over the gate. Unfortunately we will not be having our home-grown parsnips on the plate, as we couldn't see them for the snow, and even if we had removed the snow, the ground is so hard, that we would not have been able to pull them out in one piece.
D started picking the sprouts of the plant one by one, but that would have been so time-consuming, plus his fingers were getting pretty cold with the ice, so he snapped the best looking Brussels sprouts plant to bring home. Anyway, I must go - but before I do - I would like to wish Each and Everyone of you a Happy Christmas and Happy Eating with Friends, families and loved ones!