Norwegian style strawberry jam

Last year when I visited Dougal he had just made a batch of strawberry jam. But this was no ordinary strawberry jam but one that required very little cooking and was kept in the freezer. As my strawberry jam always takes an age to make I was very interested and brought home with me one of the packets he had used. The packet from 'Jam' promised less sugar for more berry flavour and contained vitamin C, calcium phosphate and pectin. All I had to do was take 2kg strawberries and the contents of the packet and bring to the boil for 2min. Then add the sugar and stir until it had dissolved. I actually had a phone call at this stage so the fruit and sugar mixture boiled for five minutes too. Then the jam went straight into hot sterilised jars, from the oven. And it had set in a couple of hours as it cooled. As easy a that - fantastic, no messing about trying to get the jam to set, just strawberries from my garden, some sugar and a packet of Jam! And as it is actually in a cupboard and doesn't need to go in the freezer - may be this is down to my extra boiling.

Pesto spaghetti squash

While I was pottering through the vegetable isles of the supermarket yesterday I chanced upon a spaghetti squash and thought I would buy one and see what it was like. I hunted throught my recipe books but found nothing about it, so as it was the size of a butternut squash I thought I would cook it in the same way. So I cut it in half and scooped out the seeds to leave a somewhat hard flesh in the beautiful speckled yellow shell. I put both seasoned halves into a roasting pan and filled the pan half full with water. I then carefully lifted it into a 200°C oven and placed a flat baking sheet on top - I had forgotten to buy any foil! - and cooked the squash for 40min. Then I removed the pan and retrieved the squash halves. I scooped out the succulent soft flesh - all stringy like spaghetti, the name did not lie - into a bowl and added 2 teaspoons of pesto sauce and mixed it in well. Then I put the flesh back in to the shells and topped them with a handful of breadcrumbs and dotted with butter and placed the halves on the baking sheet. A further 15min in the oven and my dinner was golden brown and smelling gorgeous - and tasting too!!! This has got to be good for the waistline - hardly any fat!!

tiny fishies

Ok so this is not the best photo in the world but that fish is tiny - about 1mm high and about 10 long!!! I found this little chap along with about 10 brothers and sisters in my old fish tank. I had just come back from an early morning run (this allows me to go out and nobody to see me plod along the canal) and was sat on the step in the garden and thinking that I really should take the old tank down to the tip - snails and all - when I saw something dart about. My immediate thought was - thats a bloody big mosquito larvae and so got down on my hands and knees to peer in through the slightly grubby glass at the 5cm of water in the bottom. It then occurred to me that they would have to have been very cunning mozzies to get into the tank with the lid on. But, low, this was fish life not insect life. The white cloud mountain minnows must have laid eggs in the old tank and now that they are with the other fish in the new tank there was nothing to eat their progeny in the old one! So I am now the proud surrogate-parent of a whole new set of fishies!!! I just have to figure out how to get them into the new tank and ensure they don't get eaten, and all before it gets too cold for them to live outside!!!

Happy Foodies: Gladmat in Stavanger

Last week I spent a wonderful few days in Norway with Dougal, Wampe and Rolf. We headed off to the hills straight from the plane in the blazing sunshine. Having completed the Kjerag bolt and been on a couple of shorter wanders over a couple of days, we headed back into Stavanger for the food festival - Gladmat (which literally means happy food in Norwegian).



It took us three trips to get round most of the stalls but even so we couldn't sample anything - though we had a jolly good go. The first evening we tried scallops, giant prawns, norwegian pranws in great piles, hardanger lamb with nutmeg infused mashed root veg, italian antipasti, calzoni and crepes filled with deliciously sticky strawberry jam and chocolate sauce...... in fact we could hardly move by the end of several hours of feasting and gently pottered home through the dispersing crowds.



To increase our apetites on Saturday morning we spent a couple of hours kayaking round Stokkavatnet in the glorious sunshine. And so it was with empty tummies that we headed once more to the harbour for lunch - more scallops, vietnamese prawns and spring rolls, tandori and curry with naan bread stuffed with cinnamon and drizzled in garlic butter, sausages, barbequed corn, Craig's BBQ sandwich (which was in fact a wrap containing BBQed pork), waffles and custardy pastries (which I think might have been called sunbreads).




After lunch we strolled back through Gamle Stavanger and had a sit down on Dougal's balcony - a much appreciated rest. Then later on we went and caught the final couple of hours at Gladmat, this time only having room for scallops and barbequed pork with some creme brulee to finish. And just because we were in Norway we had a tradtional pancake with lashings of strawberry jam. The food festival was fantastic, though I shall have a slightly enlarged waistline for a while, I would highly recommend a trip to Gladmat 2007!

Ting ting

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The happy sound of sheep bells in Fidjeland.

Orkney and Shetland by thigh power

These are just a selection of photos from our trip to the very north - in fact the picture in the bottom left is Muckle Flugga and you can't go much further north in the Bristish Isles than that!! The participants were John and his bike Marion (she's a Marin) and me and Whistler (he whistles in the wind!!! and there was plenty of that) and we peddled 400 miles around the two archipeligos. While everyone was sweating throught the summer weather back in the south we enjoyed gorgeous 20°C weather, though there was a certain amout of sweating - particularly uphill and on occasion downhill into the wind!!!

Pistachio heaven

While searching for last month's IMBB I found this fabulous idea by Sam of Sweet Pleasures - an ice cream event. My ice cream maker has been lanuishing in the cupboard all winter and what better time to get it out than now as I am gently melting in the summer heat! After making Joanna's pistachio and date meringues I was in pistachio mode so knocked up a little pistachio ice cream and a very delicious prune frozen yoghurt, and why not go the whole hog and stuff some dates with a pistachio paste!

Pistachio Ice cream
150g pistachio nuts - without shells (!) and unsalted
500ml semi-skimmed milk
2 eggs and 1 eggs yolk
140g caster sugar

I tried to remove the skins of the pistachios by blanching them in boiling water for a minute and then rubbing with a coarse tea towel - but this was not the most successful thing to do! May be gently roasting them would be better. I ended up picking off the skins from most of the nuts by hand - only to be done if you really love a green ice cream as its fairly time consuming. So once you've prepared your nuts put them with the rest of the ingredients into a liquidizer and blend until smooth. Then pour through a fine seive, to catch any lumps of nut, into a pan and heat gently until the custard thickens slightly. Cool it off - I actually put mine into the freezer to get fairly cold - and then churn in a pre-frozen ice cream maker.

Prune frozen yoghurt
250g ready to eat de-stoned prunes
juice and rind of one lemon
500ml greek yoghurt

Put the prunes into a pan with enough water to cover them and bring to the boil. Simmer for a couple of minutes and then cool. Liquidize with the yoghurt and lemon juice and zest. Chill and churn! Couldn't be simpler!!

Pistachio stuffed dates
230g pistachios (unsalted and shelled)
230g icing sugar
1 egg white
Dates (de-pitted) - lots!

Place the pistachios and sugar in a blender and whizz until finely ground. Then add the egg white and mix until a dough is formed - I had to add a little water too. Then cover and chill overnight. Use a broad bean sized amount of the paste to stuff the dates. (The recipe for the pistachio paste was actually from the Food TV website and was recommended as a base for making ice cream but I found it was too coarse and very sweet for that purpose but makes excellent stuffing mixture!!)

Gardener's World

Yesterday I had the day off and went to oggle at the plants and gardens at the NEC - and how fabulous they all were, I managed to come away with only 6 new plants which were bedded in last night while everyoneelse was watching the footie - I could here the roars when the goals were scored!! The shows on til Sunday - resist if you can!!!

Bacon burgers

An inspired idea by what I had left in the freezer! Blitz together 3 rashers smoked back bacon and 500g lean minced beef with 1/2 an onion, a handful of breadcrumbs and one egg. Make into 4 patties and fry until golden on both sides. Then pop in the oven (150°C) for 10 min. Serve with coucous made with summer vegetables lightly fried with fajita spices and chicken stock.

Seedy Buns

I made these last week and they were promptly demolished by hungry cyclists, so I forgot all about putting them up here on the blog. I had lunch in the Orange Cafe a while ago and had bread with caraway seeds to munch on while we were waiting. It was really yummy so I thought I would try to re-create it - however my early attempts didn't really hit the mark. These buns were great though. I tried lots of different spice seeds and all worked well apart from the fennel which was a bit strong.

Wholemeal bread buns with spice seeds
200g strong wholemeal flour
200ml luke warm water
150g strong white flour
7g fast acting yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 tablespoon corriander seeds
1 tablespoon onion seeds
1 tablespoon fennel seeds

In a bread maker add all of the ingredients apart from the seeds in the order stated. Then program the machine to make dough. When its ready take out the dough and knock down. Then divide it into 12 small balls. Mix 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds into two balls and so on for all the dough. Two can be left plain. Place on a greased baking sheet and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30min. Brush with a little egg beaten with water, then bake at 200°C for 15 min. Cool on a wire rack.

Jousting

Jousting at Losely Park - great fun!

I have been searching the IMBB site the last couple of weeks expecting to find something on the latest IMBB event - I usually start a little late on this!! But I always want to take part. And it is only this afternoon while I wait for my Western blotting to finish at work (yes I am 'weekend working' which is why there has been such a lack of blogging of late - the joys of having a job during the week and doing my own research in my spare time) that I found that I had completely overlooked that IMBB had joined with Wine Blogging Wednesday and that I have missed it!! Whoops!

Me and My Girl

As it has been just over a year since I started blogging on Hecticium it has also been a year since the last show by the Queensbridge Musical Theatre Company. So last night I found myself sat next to John in Solihull Library Theatre once more feeling immensly proud of young Paul as he took the lead in Me and My Girl. And what a performance he gave - he had us laughing our socks off once more!!! Fabulous!

Joanna's Pistachio and Date Meringues

Today is Helen's and Anna's 30th Birthdays! They both caused great panic on Tuesday when they announced that they weren't going to be coming into work today. So there was a flurry of late night activity in my kitchen as I knocked up a batch of these yummy meringues for them and I gave them to them yesterday. The recipe comes from Joanna, who I met at the blog party at Christmas, and is exceptionally simple. I used my new mixer to whip egg whites for the first time and mustn't have been quite patient enough as the mixture was a little sloppy and so ended up with meringue cookies, which were delicious nevertheless!

6egg whites
375g icing sugar
300g pistachios, roughly chopped
300g dates, chopped

Whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and then gradually whisk in the sugar. Then stir in the nuts and fruit. Put dollops onto a baking tray and cook for 1 hour at 100°C and then leave in the oven overnight. Couldn't be easier!!!

Chihuly in Birmingham?

As I cycled along the canal in the rain I came across this 'water sculpture' and thought (fleetingly) that I was in for a treat - that Chihuly had come to Brum to excite our eyes with a display on the canals. Sadly there were on two clusters and the second was deflating rather fast in the rain.

Hecticium is one!

I can hardly believe that I have been blogging for a year!

Yesterday's Bread IMBB # 25

I thought this month's IMBB from Derrick of An obsession with food was a brilliant one as I always have the end of a loaf going solid in my bread bin. But what to cook? I pondered serveral ideas for a while but thought better of bread and butter pudding. So I called in reinforcements in the shape of my great grandmother's recipes. My Mum has an old red exercise book filled with the family's inherited recipes, with additions of her own. She provided Nana Davies's Queen of Puddings, which Mum cooks on occasion, and one I had never had before: Ginger Pudding. Luckily I had most of the ingredeints in the cupboard and fridge, although I didn't have any suet as required for the Ginger Pudding so I thought I'd use vegetable fat, which is supposed to be for pastry but did the job nevertheless.
But, with all this sweetness I required something savory to make a whole feast from yeserday's bread. A little bit more thinking and I came up with crunchy lemony scallops with a lemony caper butter sauce and watercress, rocket and spinach salad - what a dinner!




Crunchy lemony scallops with a lemony caper butter sauce

For 2 people
6 scallops
4cm lemongrass, finely chopped
zest and juice of one lemon
handfull of breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten
100g butter
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons capers, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil

watercress, rocket and spinach salad - I bought a ready prepared bag, but you could easily mix up your own

Melt the butter very gently and add the crushed garlic. Leave to gently cook for 5min. Then add the lemon juice and the capers. Mix tohether the lemongrass, lemon zest and breadcrumbs. Dunk the scallops in the beaten egg and then into the breadcrumb mix. Fry in the olive oil until cooked through, though still moist. Then pile on top of the salad. Spoon over a little of the butter sauce and use the rest to dress the plate rather than the leaves.


Nana Davies's Queen of Puddings
1/2 pint milk
1 oz butter
2 oz sugar
4 oz breadcrumbs
2 eggs
2 tablespoons jam (I used rhubarb but raspberry seems to be more tradional)
grated rind of a lemon

Heat the milk and butter together. Then pour over breadcrumbs and half the sugar. Add egg yolks and grated lemon rind and mix well. Pour into buttered pie dish. Cook until set in a moderate oven. Spread the top with jam. Then top this with meringue, made from the egg white and half the sugar. Bake until meringue is set.

As Mum says "Nana presumed we knew what she was talking about and didn't spell things out!!" So this recipe serves about 4 people and a moderate oven is about 180°C, it took about 30min to set the bottom and then 15min to cook the meringue.

Nana Davies's Ginger Pudding
3 oz self-raising flour
3 oz suet
1 1/2 oz breadcrumbs
4 oz warmed golden syrup
1 teaspoon ground ginger

Add dry ingredients together in bowl,add warm syrup and pour into buttered basin. Steam for 2 hrs. This was incredibly easy to make and very moist and yummy, though I guess not for the calorie conscious.

I served it with a dollop of Greek yoghurt, which cut through the sweetness very nicely.

Out Now and Coming soon......

Since going on the felt making course with Mum I have been busy creating - felt and lampwork bead necklaces!!! The first went on sale on ebay earlier on this week and the others will follow soon! Just use felt and lampwork to search and it should come up!

STOP PRESS: Or visit my NEW shop on Etsy!!!!

Fat Bottomed Chuck

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Here's a bit of fun from the tent bound in Cornwall last week!

Mmmmmmm.....

....afternoon tea in the garden with fabulous cakes from Maison Blanc!