I was very brave

I invented a recipe. Normally I am a great one for sticking to rules and recipes but of late I've been a little more daring and my specially-invented pumpkin soup was well received at Zac's. I thought it was too salty but everyone enjoyed it nevertheless. So here is my recipe for:

Halloween Soup
All quantities are very rough
1kg chopped pumpkin flesh
2 large onions
bacon
1" ginger grated
3 cloves garlic
2l chicken stock
creme fraiche (about half a tub)

Roast the pumpkin in oil with a little added drizzle of maple syrup if you like. Meanwhile saute the onions until soft then add garlic, ginger and bacon. Continue cooking until bacon is cooked. Add pumpkin and stock and simmer for about 30 minutes. Whizz. Stir in creme fraiche and check seasoning (I added salt and pepper when cooking and needn't have added salt as there was plenty from the bacon and stock).

While we're on the topic of made-up recipes here's my recipe for: 

gluten-free Welshcakes
8oz gf self-raising flour
4 oz margarine (or butter)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
3 oz caster sugar
3 oz sultanas
1 egg
pinch salt

Rub the fat and flour (and cinnamon, baking powder and xanthan gum) together. Stir in the sultanas and sugar. Add the beaten egg and make a sticky dough.

With well-floured hands and surface, squish together and flatten. It may be easier if you divide into smaller pieces. When it's about this thick - I don't know, maybe 3/4 cm - cut into circles and cook on a pre-heated and greased griddle. Be patient and cook slowly. Cool and sprinkle with sugar. Eat quickly because they will disappear otherwise.

Saturday Photohunt - Delicious

Picau ar y maen (Welshcakes)

Many countries have their own version of this sweet fruity cake cooked on a griddle or bakestone. I bake mine on the same griddle my grandmother used. She was an excellent cook and I think she would have been pleased that I have continued to make these traditional treats.

I'd offer you one now but to really appreciate them at their best, you have to eat one still warm from the cooking. Mmm, heaven.

Welshcakes

1lb plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of salt

10 oz margarine

6 oz caster sugar

8 oz sultanas

1 egg, beaten

2 tablespoons milk

Pre-heat a greased griddle. Sieve the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Rub in the marg and then add the sugar and sultanas. Add the egg and enouhg milk to give a stiff dough. Roll out to a thickness of 1/2". Cut into rounds and bake on the griddle, turning once. (About 3 minutes a side. If the griddle is too hot, the outsides will burn while the inside remains raw.)

Replying to Welshcakes!

Welshcakes says that it's usual in Sicily to have a shelf over the sink as compared with Britain where our sinks tend to be under a window.

Here's the view I get when I'm washing up.

I suppose a shelf, particularly a draining shelf, is useful, especially if you don't have a view worth looking at, but I do like to watch the birds on the feeder, and the flowering of the camellia in Spring. I should be able to see the lilac blossoming too but after a particularly strenuous pruning exercise by Husband, it only flowers on the higher branches. Similar pruning also did for the lavender. I think he's learned; I hope he has.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Welshcakes also asks about the Archers. In case you're not familiar, the Archers is an everyday story of country folk. It's probably the longest running soap on the radio. One of the current storylines concerns Brian, the wealthy local landowner, his wife, Jennifer, his ex-mistress, Siobhan, and their young son, Ruarie. Siobhan is ill and is about to start treatment but is likely to die. She has asked Brian and Jennifer to take on Ruarie should the worst happen. Jennifer's position at the moment is that hell will have to freeze over before she will take on the bastard son of her husband. Welshcakes asks what I think she will do.

Siobhan wasn't Brian's first affair. In both cases Jennifer found out and took him back. She is quite desperate to keep him/her position/money. If Siobhan dies and Jennifer still refuses, she will lose Brian: he will go with the child. I think she will give in for that reason.

Ruarie is innocent in this. He is Brian's son. He is about 4. How can she refuse? He's only a child!

And considering Jennifer's own children have a number of different fathers, and Brian took them on as his, she should be careful before she comes over all righteous.

xxx

Welshcakes for St. David's Day

Cooking on granny's griddle.

Some people make big welshcakes but I work on the assumption that I'm going to eat a lot so it's better if they're smaller. Good logic, eh?

According to legend, David's last sermon before he died on 1st March 589, included the phrase, 'Do the little things' ('Gwnewch y pethau bychain'). Like little welshcakes.