Elderflower adventures...

So... we seem to have caught the preserving/canning bug! Perhaps it's some deep seated need to hunker down and stock the stores now we're newlyweds, and staring our thirties in the face, but I'm fairly sure it's mainly because we're greedy gourmands, and like delicious food - all - year - round! ;)

It all began to simmer a bit in us a year or so ago when Ryan bought me "Canning for a New Generation" which was beautiful, but I didn't have much time to sit and read it (until now)... and recently, our friend Claire showed us an amazing book she had bought by Diana Henry, called "Salt Sugar Smoke", which is DIVINE (and beautifully styled by the super talented Laura Edwards), and really got our juices going - we found a copy ourselves for a song in TK Maxx, (where we get all our best home bargains!).

We're planning a Summer Garden party in August, to celebrate my big 3-0, and wanted to make all sorts of delicious food and drink for our guests. The idea of making yummy infused syrups and spirits for our drinks, and elderflower cordial or champagne from our huge Elderflower bush at the back of the garden seemed not only a budget friendly option, but a creative, inspiring and fun option, too! So - we've made a start...

So far, we have raided Lakeland (hello, cooks/foodie heaven!) stocking up on some huge mason jars, and started a Strawberry Gin, a Rhubarb & Vanilla infused Vodka, a Rhubarb Sharbaat, and a Vin de Myrtille (blueberries, to you and I)... it's been so much fun, and we love watching the jewel toned colours deepen and infuse each day.

Today, we waited until the rain subsided (yes, I know, there might just be an indoor summer party the way things are shaping up this Summer!) and squelched up the garden to pick the just blossomed Elderflowers. A quick shake off, and they were placed in a bowl with three unwaxed lemons, cut in to slices, after their peel was removed with a peeler, also included in the bowl... then, we brought 1.5KG (yes, I know! wow) of sugar to the boil with I.5L water, and then poured the hot syrup over the flower heads and lemons. It all fitted perfectly in to my big antique baking bowl, and then we stirred in 75g of Citric Acid. Everyone says you can get citric acid in any chemist, but I couldn't get it in a large Boots, so went to my local independent chemist, where I had more luck.

All we have to do now is cover the bowl, and leave in a dark place for 24 hours, before straining and decanting in to jars tomorrow! I think we are going to hot process our jars so they last longer than five weeks, and then we are done... it will make litres and litres of delicious summer drinks, not bad for the price of a bag and a half of sugar and a few lemons, egh?

Have a go while the Elderflowers are still in bloom... they're everywhere once you notice them!
Happy cooking,
xo Abigail

Pavlova...

I made this Pavlova for Ryan's birthday last Saturday... as per request!

I used golden caster sugar for the meringue (5 egg whites, free-range, and 3 tbsp of sugar per egg-white), which gave us a wonderful chewy toffee-ish texture to the Pav base, but I opened the oven to peek as I wasn't working with a recipe, so it cracked - BUT, that's why you have cream, right?! Fill in those craters!

I softly whipped the cream, and combined with some Mascarpone, and a little vanilla paste and teensy bit of the custard that was left from making the icing for the poppy seed cake I also baked, just to add the slightest hint of sweet. I macerated the Summer fruits (just frozen ones I'm afraid) with some more golden caster and black pepper and mixed through the seeds of two passion fruit to enhance the fruit just before serving. It was really delicious and I am tempted to make (and EAT) another one this weekend...

A@a*r

Best Banana Cake...

After a little Autumnal breakfast this morning, I have finally sat down and written up this recipe, as promised in the last post. Here goes!

Arrogant, maybe, but if there's one thing I know, it's cake and after a few refinements (i've baked this 3 times now) i'm pretty sure this might just be the BEST banana cake i've ever had...

Some have the needless frippery of chocolate chips, the unnecessary addition of chopped nuts, the superfluous augmentation of peanutbutter, cheesecake, raspberries, raisins, and any other number of things, but here we have it: pure bananananananananay goodness. Moist, rich and decadent enough to be a dessert (warm with a scoop of ice-cream, please...and maybe some hot fudge sauce), while still solid, and dare I say, healthy, enough to be great mid-morning with a cup of coffee.

Even better, it's dairy-free, egg-free and vegan...now who says I never give you anything..??!

Here goes...you can thank me later ;)

Best Banana Cake

3 medium/large Mashed Bananas

1 Cup Light flavourless oil (we use groundnut)

1 Cup Milk (whichever kind you prefer, we use Kara because I love it)

1 Cup Oats

1 Cup Sugar

2 1/2 Cups Self raising flour

2 tsp Baking powder

Preheat your oven to 180ºC.

Grease and line an 8'x8' brownie tin (one about 2-3 inches deep). We use a (wonderfully) fuchsia pink silicone one, which doesn't need greasing.

Mix everything together in a big bowl until well combined.

Scrape and pour the mixture in to your tin.

Make a loose fitting tinfoil hat to protect the cake during the first part of it's cooking time.

Bake for 50 mins, then remove the tinfoil hat and bake for another 20.

Ovens do differ, so you may find you need to keep an eye on your cake during the last 20...or, even, that it takes a little longer. Just make sure that a cake tester comes out clean and that the top, although a deep golden, isn't burning.

As soon as it's out of the oven, cover the top of the cake with clingfilm and put a clean tea-towel on top of that. This ensures the golden top stays moist and delicious. Leave to cool (as long as you can- it's pretty fantastic warm!) , then serve however you wish :)

ryan@abigail*ryan

Morning munchies!

This morning Abi and I were peckish from something a little different from our usual weetabix, so I had a flick through some recipe books (just to make sure I was along the right lines for quantities) and came up with these Breakfast Muffins.

Now, I don't want to disappoint anyone, so i'll make it clear now- these are *Proper Breakfast Muffins*, no moist, unctuous goo, no sugary-sweet treatiness, just a beautifully hefty crumb with the slight chewiness of oats and sweetly juicy bursts of dried fruit. Gorgeous warm from the oven for breakfast, possibly dripping with melted butter...maybe even some jam or lemon curd on the side, too...

Breakfast Muffins (makes 12)

Dry Ingredients:

2 cups Plain Flour

1/2 cup Oats

1 cup Sultanas or Raisins (or any dried fruit, I suppose, as long as you chop it to raisin size!)

3/4 cup Sugar

2 heaped tsps Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Bicarb of Soda

1 tsp Ground Mixed Spice

Wet Ingredients:

2 Clementines (juice of)

50ml Light Flavourless Oil (we use groundnut)

Make this up to 200ml total liquid with milk (whatever sort you like- we used soya)

2 Eggs

Preheat your oven to 200ºC

Line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.

Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl

Beat the 2 eggs in to the container with the other wet ingredients.

Add all the wet ingredients in to the bowl with the dry and combine. Try not to over mix as this can toughen the crumb, even leaving the occasional swirl of dry ingredients peeking through the mix is ok!

Divide the mix evenly between the 12 cases (they'll be about 3/4 full).

Bake in the middle of the oven for 17-20 mins.

Serve warm.

Tips:

If you don't have any clementines, use 100ml fruit juice.

To boost the citrus flavour (it's very subtle) add the zest of the clementines (or whatever other citrus fruit you may have used).

If you have time, you could soak the dried fruit in the fruit juice first to make them extra juicy- just strain the fruit into the jug before topping up the juice with the other wet ingredients, and stir the fruit in to the dry ingredients before combining the wet and dry together.

There's a mousse, loose, about this hoose!

The latest recipe from our laboratory kitchen (well...it's just are plain old kitchen, but we get to wear white coats and lab glasses...) is a pretty fantastic, dairy free, Chocolate and Coconut Mousse.

This stuff is incredibly rich, but, luckily, also incredibly good...so keep your servings small and share it with more of your friends. They'll suddenly become *best* friends after a taste of this!

100g good quality dark chocolate (dairy free and, at least, 60% cocoa solids)

200g (a bag) of marshmallows

1 can full fat coconut milk*

3 Organic Free Range eggs, separated

1 pinch salt

*make sure you've bought your coconut milk a few days before you want to make this.

First, prepare your coconut milk. If you've left your can undisturbed for a few days, the contents will have separated- this is what you want! Gently turn the can upside down, and open what was the bottom. Pour away all the thick, clear liquid until you're left with only the thick, white coconut cream.

Pour and scrape this cream into a pot over a medium heat along with the chocolate and marshmallows. Mix together and stir constantly to ensure the chocolate doesn't scorch. Once all have melted together into a coconut scented, pillowy, gorgeousness, take off the heat.

Separate your eggs. Whisk the 3 whites with a pinch of salt until they have reached the firm peak stage.

With a hand-whisk, whisk the chocolate mixture for a minute or two to ensure it has cooled slightly, then whip in the 3 egg yolks. The mixture will thicken slightly.

Now, loosen the chocolate mixture by stirring in 1 large spoonful of the beaten egg whites, before folding in the rest of them. Try to be careful here, as you want to keep in as much air as possible- more bubbles= more fun! A metal spoon is a great way to cut through the mix without knocking out too much air...

Divide the mixture between 4-6 dishes (use whatever pretty little things you have lying around) and place in the fridge. In a couple of hours the mousse will be set and you can dive right in!

Serve with nothing more than a knowing grin.

ryan@abigail*ryan

p.s. As this mousse contains very lightly cooked eggs you might want to avoid giving this to pregnant ladies and very young children if you feel it would be unwise...

Cutabitch Pie

This is it. THE pie. The pie that, in fact, you would indeed cut a bitch for...

Smoother than velvet peanut butter pudding, topped with a layer of barely set chocolate gorgeousness, both contained in a crispy, crumbly, buttery biscuit shell. You don't think you'd cut a bitch for anything? Well, just wait until she gets between you and the last piece of this pie...

As a super-awesome extra greatness bonus- this can easily be made lactose free!

Base:

350(ish) grams of digestive biscuits/graham crackers, crushed to rubble (make sure to check the label if you want to keep this dairy free!)

1/2 cup melted butter/dairy free margarine

Mix both together until you have what looks like wet sand. Spread, mash and squish in to a 10" pie tin, making sure to bring it up beyond the edge, creating a kind of lip (you'll see what I mean in the photos above).

Bake this in a preheated oven (18oºC) for 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool while you make the pudding layer.

Peanut Butter Pudding:

1/2 cup plain flour

1/2 cup butter/dairy free margarine

1/2 cup caster sugar/brown sugar (either is good, brown adds a slight extra carmelly note)

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

2 cups milk (either lactose free, or other milk substitute)

Over a medium heat, beat together the flour, sugar and butter/margarine, making your roux to thicken the pudding. Stirring continually, it will go from grainy to glossy in a few minutes. Keep stirring, and, as you cook out all the floury-ness, the roux will start to pull away from the edge of the pot. Once you've reached this stage, keep stirring over the heat for a couple of minutes longer- just to make sure there is no longer any trace of flour, and to add a slightly nutty depth to the flavour.

Now add 1 cup of milk, you'll probably need a hand-whisk now to get this and the very thick roux amalgamated. Once this has been mixed in (it will still be very thick), add the second cup of milk. Again, whisk together until all is smooth and gorgeous looking. You should have a nicely velvety, thick sauce. Add the cup of peanut butter and beat in. Your sauce should immediately thicken to something dollop-able- almost like a super-smooth mashed potato. If it isn't quite thick enough, just stir over the heat for another minute or so. If it's too thick, just add a couple of tablespoons of milk to slacken it.

Dollop this in to the pie tin, then give the whole thing (carefully!) a couple of bangs on the bench to level out the pudding, and get rid of any air-bubbles.

Leave this to cool for an hour or so.

Chocolate Coating:

200g marshmallows (minus the few you'll eat straight from the bag)

100g Dark chocolate (make sure it's dairy free, as all good dark chocolate should be, and about 70% cocoa)

2 tablespoons milk (again, lactose free, or other milk substitute)

Melt the 3 ingredients together over a medium/low heat- stirring all the time to make sure the chocolate doesn't catch and scorch. Once all melted and amalgamated, pour carefully over the pudding layer. Pray for some left over.

Put the completed pie in the fridge and leave, again a few hours is enough for the chocolate to set, but this pie gets better with age, so overnight is great if possible. The whole thing will set firmer and, believe it or not, taste better.

Treat yourself to some ice-cream and left over chocolate sauce...or, my favourite, cut up a banana and pour it over. Heaven. Enjoy this cook's treat- you've worked hard, you deserve it.

Pie serves 10-12 (believe me, it really does!).

p.s. We'll upload better photos once we've made the pie again...which, believe me, will be soon!

ryan@abigail*ryan

Weekend in Food...

* Carrot, Apple and Orange juice...

* Coconut Muffins (four ingredients, I kid you not - 1cup each of self-raising flour, desiccated coconut, sugar and milk (we used lactofree) - mix, spoon in to papers and bake at 180C for 20 mins)... like little cakier macaroons, soft as clouds and oddly lovely with a little butter (or for us, pure spread!) and tea...

* Cucumber, Celery and Apple Juice. Toast, cucumber, cheese, yoghurt... tea...

* Assam tea...

* We ate too fast to photograph it first... what's left of Miso Grilled Tofu with Sesame, Gyoza parcels and Edamame...

Bon weekend to you!

A@a*r