Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

Baking: Sourdough possibilities

Herman is still going strong here. I've had him since January, and we've settled into a nice routine. I feed him 125ml each of flour, sugar and milk every 5 days, and stir him vigorously every day. Then about once every 10 days I either give a portion away to someone else, or I bake something.

So what sorts of things have I been making? Well, there's the carrot and pineapple cake that I blogged about previously. But my absolute favourite so far is probably the cinnamon buns.

They were so good that I ate one before I remembered to take a photo. Yum! I used a recipe that I found on Allrecipes.com - My only tip would be to really leave them to rise for a long time once they are shaped and filled. The sourdough mixture rises more slowly than traditional yeasts, but it's worth the wait.

The other great recipe that I've tried is called coffee cake... except that rather confusingly it isn't a coffee cake. It's a pecan and raisin spiced cake. I'm guessing it's coffee cake, as in "cake to have with coffee". But it did lose me for a while there! As I was baking I kept waiting to add the coffee but never did. Sigh. Not very on the ball, me.

Once I'd got over the no-coffee aspect of this coffee cake, my mind started to boggle slightly at the instructions as well. This is how the uncooked cake looks. Nice, huh?

Then you add a topping made from brown sugar and magarine (or butter)...

Yum! The mixture is then baked for 40 minutes or so...

...before you add a glaze of brown sugar and butter. It's a double topped with butter and sugar cake! I nearly chickened out of adding the glaze, but I'm glad I didn't! This is the most deliciously scrummy cake. I froze half of it and have been feeding it to the guys working on my garden all week. In fact I might just go and get another piece now.

Finally, as if one sourdough baby to keep an eye on wasn't enough. I just couldn't resist when Jeni offered me some of her bread sourdough starter. We're having a sourdough starter-along on the Fyberspates group on Ravelry (you'll need a Ravelry account to see that page, but it's free and quick to register), so there's lots of help and encouragement to get your own going if you fancy it.

This starter takes up less space, and doesn't need quite so much feeding. I just add more flour and water a day or two before I want to make some bread. And oh boy, the bread it makes!

I did the sponge and first rise stages during the day yesterday, and then left it to prove overnight. This morning it was HUGE. And tastes amazing. I'm eating a slice with butter right now, and trying to resist the urge to cut another slice...

My only "problem" now is deciding what to bake next. Do you think I have baking startitis as well?

Weekend delights at The Sunday House

I thought that you might like to get a peek at the other delights involved in my weekend quilting at The Sunday House. It was a joy from start to finish.

Based in a converted Methodist chapel in Cornwall, The Sunday House quilting weekends are such a treat. Anne Baxter is the quilting tutor, and Corinna Knowles produces the most amazing feasts to fuel the crazy dawn to dusk sewing activities.

Ceiling detail - inspiration at every turn.

I'm not sure how best to describe the food. There are always plenty of tasty and unusual vegetable dishes alongside delicious main pieces - stew or quiche or soup. It's probably easiest to just show you some pictures...

This was a pear, walnut, parma ham and crouton salad with a blue cheesey dressing. I'm trying not to add Masterchef-style descriptions of it being packed with flavour, but it really was!

The main meal on Sunday was particularly spectacular, and I couldn't help but try a bit of everything. Working clockwise round my plate, starting at midday, you can see:
Roast baby potatoes
Mushroom risotto covered in parmesan
Apple, celery and walnut salad
Carrots with cumin
Smoked fish and pea puree quiche
Cauliflour cheese and bacon quiche (this is to die for!)
Pasta salad with pine nuts and herbs of some sort
Mixed bean salad

I'm feeling full just thinking about it again...

And here's a taste of what everyone else was up to while I was on my snowball/Gran quilt mission. Above is Julie's snowball quilt top. It really reminds me of French Parterre gardens, don't you think? So pretty! And quite unlike mine. Click on this and the following pictures to see a larger version in a pop-up window.

Val made this incredible string stars quilt top. The amount of work that went into the careful piecing of the stars and those scrappy borders was astonishing to behold. One day I'd like to have a go at something like that. I don't think my skills are up to it just yet though...

Di produced this completely stunning Milky Way quilt, which is all layered up here, ready for quilting. She's used some beautiful Tilda fabrics (not unlike ones I used in Jeni's quilt some time back). This is another large quilt, and just gorgeous!

Finally, Denise worked on a Glad Tidings quilt, which is just awaiting applique stars in the centre of each block.

Aren't they all amazing? And hopefully they give you a flavour of the variety of designs that were worked on over the weekend, as well as what a contrast the fabric choices make. Tomorrow, I'll share the first pictures of Gran's quilt with you. I think it's pretty safe to say that she won't be surfing and reading my blog, so I can share the secret with you.

Baking: Herman Carrot and Pineapple Cake

I've been caring for a portion of Herman starter for some time now. Herman is a German sweet sourdough mixture that can be used for the basis of all sorts of delicious cake recipes. Having made two apple cakes from the recipe that came with the starter, I decided it was time to break out something different. I went on the hunt for recipes online, and discovered these instructions for carrot cake.

Oh my! The results were delicious!

The original recipe was a little sketchy and somewhat confusing, so here are my UK-icised instructions:

375mL Vegetable oil
450g Granulated sugar
250mL Herman starter
3 Medium eggs
1 x 435g Tin crushed pineapple (drained)
3 Medium carrots (grated)
75g Chopped walnuts
2 tsp Vanilla extract
320g Plain flour
3 tsp Cinnamon
0.5 tsp Salt
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
75g Desiccated coconut 

For the icing
200g Cream cheese
450g Icing sugar

Oven temperature: Gas Mark 4 / 180C / 350F

Preheat the oven.

Combine the oil and sugar and stir in the Herman starter. Add the eggs one at a time and stir thoroughly. Fold in the drained pineapple, nuts, vanilla extract and grated carrots.

In another bowl, sieve together the flour, cinnamon, salt and bicarbonate of soda. Mix in the desiccated coconut, and add these dry ingredients to the wet mixture previously prepared. Make sure that the batter is thoroughly combined and no floury bits remain.

Grease a baking tin approximately 20cm x 30cm x 5cm and if desired, line with greaseproof paper. Pour the batter into the tin and place in the oven for 40 minutes. After this time, start to test the cake with a skewer (or metal DPN!), and when the skewer comes out clean, remove from the oven. My cake took around 50 minutes in total.

Beat the icing sugar into the cream cheese, adding a little at a time until it is all incorporated.

Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the tin and allowing it to reach room temperature. Then pour the icing over the cake and try not to eat the whole thing in one sitting!

Plenty: Aubergine and lemon risotto

I LOVE AUBERGINES.

Oh my goodness me! This was one of the loveliest things I've eaten in a long time!

Just looking at the picture is making my mouth water quite a lot. It's another of the recipes from Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi.

I didn't entirely follow the instructions on how to burn the aubergine, as to me it looked unnecessarily complicated. Someone must tell me if there was a reason for doing it as described... I simply spiked the aubergine all over (to avoid an aubergine explosion), and then placed it under the grill on its highest setting. I turned it regularly, and left it there until it was burnt. Simples! And it didn't smell too bad or make anything much in the way of a mess. This will definitely be on my must-cook-regularly list.

Did I mention that I love aubergine, and that this was just awesome?!

In other cooking news, we made the Leek Fritters from the same book on Monday evening. They were really nice too. But we had to conceed that the tastiness to washing up ratio for that recipe doesn't really fall the right way round, so sadly I don't think they will be on the regular cooking list.

If you haven't entered the book giveaway, for a copy of Sweet Shawlettes, then what are you waiting for? All the details can be found here: Sweet Shawlettes Book Tour

Working my way through Plenty

I just can't seem to stop making recipes from Plenty... Belinda, you've got a lot to answer for!

The Sunday before I went on my travels we had a friend from church over for lunch, and the Fried Leeks seemed like an ideal starter.

The title doesn't sound that appealing, but they were completely delicious! You make a crème fraîche sauce with spring onions, capers and some other bits, as well as red peppers in a sweet vinegar marinade, and then serve them with leeks that you've egged and crumbed before frying. This starter was just mouthfuls of flavour. Absolutely wonderful! I'm not very good at the egg and breadcrumbs thing - it never seems to stick and my breadcrumbs aren't "crumby" enough, but it didn't in any way spoil this dish.

Last Sunday we had another friend over for dinner and Jim and I ran a tag-team for baking the Broccoli and Gorgonzola Pie. Oh my goodness! It was so scrumptious that we ate it all before I could take a half-way decent picture of it, so you'll just have to imagine it!

Before I do any more pie cooking, I need to get myself a proper pie dish and perhaps some of those loose-based tart tins too. I made this pie in a springform cake tin and while it worked, it wasn't really ideal. I feel a trip to the massive kitchen shop in Bath coming on... Uh oh!

Sewing days

On Wednesday, I took a little break from pattern-editing work, and spent the day sewing with a friend. We had a fabulous day, and it has left me all fired up for more sewing plans!

I worked on a couple of disappearing nine-patch quilt tops. I think that I might be a bit addicted to the simplicity of this design. I've got another pair of quilts planned around it after these...

I started the day with all my fabrics cut into the required 5" squares, and I made 24 of these blocks.

We had all of the things needed for a lovely day spent with a friend - namely cake and plenty of tea/drinks! For lunch we cooked a bean, chorizo and butternut stew, which was so delicious that I finished it off for my dinner!

And by the time Sarah left at 5, I had completed two matching centre panels.

They just need borders, basting and binding now. I'm hoping to have some time to put them together over the weekend, before I get on the road. One of them is promised to an old friend, and the other will be for one of the many new arrivals that are expected over the coming months.

In the evening I made my way around half of the edging on my Flukra shawl, so the end of this lovely pattern is sadly imminent.

Cooking...

Last week I received a wonderful parcel from Belinda. She sent me a copy of Plenty by Yotam Ottolenghi. I had a weekend of over-eating very rich food, and this has been the perfect antidote.

On Monday we had a meeting of team Fyberspates, and I cooked the Soba Noodles with Aubergine and Mango. I added some firm tofu to make it a main dish rather than a starter, and I can't begin to tell you how delicious it was!

Hopefully the picture will convey some of its deliciousness! I made one other modification from the recipe as written. Rather than frying all of the aubergine in a lake of oil, I chopped it and put it under the grill for 10 min or so, and then finished it off in the pan with the tofu (and much less oil!). It was a real delight to eat.

Then yesterday, I whipped up Warm Glass Noodles and Edemame Beans for our dinner. It took me 25 minutes from start to finish, and I hustled out of the door to Stitch n Bitch with a tub of noodle-dinner warm in my hands!

The crummy iPhone picture really isn't doing this any justice, but it was honestly wonderful! I can see that we are going to be eating much more vegetarian food over the coming months, and I'm really excited about it!

In knitting news I have very nearly finished my Flukra shawl. It has been a complete delight to knit from start to finish, and I'm hoping to have some pictures to share at the weekend.

I'll be on the road with work from Monday next week, so blogging might be a bit thin on the ground. I will aim to have a post of two up my sleeve before I leave. Fingers crossed!

The Signature Menu

As celebration for our tenth wedding anniversary, Jim and I had a special lunch at the Bath Priory Hotel. It was absolutely incredible. The head chef is Sam Moody, with Michael Caines as executive head chef, and we went for the Signature menu, which is a selection of Michael Caines' classic dishes from the sister hotel at Gidleigh Park. We were thoroughly spoiled from arrival to departure 5 hours later. Here is a brief run-down on the food.

To accompany gin and tonic on the terrace, we were treated to canapés - smoked salmon mousse on the left and horseradish cream with bresaola on the right.

We then moved indoors to the nicest table in the restaurant. It was in a large bay window with views over the spectacular gardens.

First up was scallops with pea puree and parmesan foam. I ADORE scallops and these were melt in the mouth delicious. Jim had a glass of fruity Riesling that wasn't too sweet.

I was trying not to be too annoying with taking photos, so these are all taken on my iPhone, and therefore not the best. But I hope they will give you an idea of how great the meal was. Jim went for the matched wine option. This was delivered by the delightful French somellier, who talked us through each glass (one for each course).

I didn't take a picture of the duck liver terrine, but it was accompanied by madeira jelly and a green bean salad with truffles. I couldn't believe the taste of the salad (I had forgotten about the truffles - they were incredible). We also had a selection of freshly baked breads to crunch on. My favourite had big pieces of sun-dried tomatoes in it. Yum! The wine for this course was an Argentinian Chardonnay - very good it was too.

Next up was Brixham sea bass on a ratatouille base with roasted artichoke heart. The wine to go with this was particularly delicious - a Saumur so nice that I had a small glass of it as well.

 That's really not a good picture of the main course, sorry! It was white beef fillet with a fricasse of something I can't remember. The green stuff at the bottom was a watercress puree of some sort - very good. The somellier brought Jim a glass of Haut Medoc to accompany the beef.

Possibly my favourite (or at least tied for first place with the scallops) was the cheese course. There was a delightful Parisian cheese dude, who talked us through all of the options. We chose 6 different cheeses to share, after his expert advice. He also placed them in order of increasing strength, so we didn't ruin our tastebuds by eating them out of order. In the top right of the plate is the cheese I would like to find more of - a soft cheese from Corsica covered in rosemary and herbes de Provence. To go with the cheeses there was quince paste, walnuts, grapes, crackers and more amazing bread (I went for pain de campagne at this point, followed by a fig bread). There was a special port, whose name I have forgotten, to go with the cheese. I couldn't stop smelling it!

 
It might look simple, but the pre-dessert was an exotic fruit salad with a passionfruit sorbet. This packed a punch like you wouldn't believe, and was a welcome cleanse before the main pudding action.

And what a pudding it was! Dark chocolate and orange confit mouse, with chocolate ice cream and orange confit sorbet. The orange sorbet was sitting in a chocolate bowl. Delicious doesn't really cover it. To finish off his epic wine journey, Jim had a glass of orange Muscat, which was wonderfully sticky.

And then the meal was completed with petit fours and coffee. This was pretty much another whole pudding course, with panna cotta, two different tuile biscuits, chocolate truffles and passionfruit jellies. And of course the kind wishes of the team.

The service, as you would hope, was absolutely wonderful throughout the meal. It was attentive but not conspicuous, and all of the staff were excellent at explaining each course/wine/cheese as appropriate. It couldn't have been a more special meal - I just wish I had an excuse and the funds to return before too long!

I will leave you with the grin on my face, having eaten that lot!

Marvellous making (part 1)

Isn't the word marvellous... well, marvellous? I've been giggling on Twitter with the lovely Mooncalfmakes about the word marvellous, and today's post required its use.

We had a perfect weekend. It feels like ages since I had a regular weekend off, so I enjoyed the treat-like feeling of two days and no specific plans. It ended up pretty jam-packed (pun intended) with making-action, so it was a perfect weekend.

First up was the ritual of the farmer's market followed by coffee and knitting at La Strada (no pics as you've seen it many times before!). We purchased Water Buffalo sausages, 2 quiches, cheese from Wootton Organic Dairy and some delicious brown mushrooms. Yum!

Earlier in the week we had finally given in to the inevitable, and Jim cut down our Damson tree. It hadn't been happy since it was first planted three or four years ago, and at this time every year the leaves all went mouldy and fell off. In taking the tree down, Jim collected our first proper crop of Damsons. Sad, but we would much rather give garden space to a plant that's happy and fruitful. So on Saturday afternoon we whipped the 2kg of Damsons into shape as jam. It's one of my favourite treats, so I think there are likely to be scones at some point in the week. Double yum!

Isn't the colour gorgeous?

During the jam-making fun, England won the test-match against India and became Number 1 at Test Cricket. Amazing! And well deserved. I find myself enjoying listening to cricket more and more. Possibly it's just that it makes such a good accompaniment to knitting, sewing and baking, or it might be the brilliant Test Match Special team (if you click through this link, be sure to look at all of the cake photos in the photo stream - it's tradition to send the team crazy cakes...). Who knows? But I'm definitely being sucked in.

I'll be back tomorrow with another finished sewing project. They are just flying off the production line at the moment!

 

French food heaven, and the joys of Chantilly

I can't get over the pleasure of cooking and eating in France. Even a simple trip to the supermarket is a world away from visiting our local in the UK. The fish counter is more like an aquarium than a shop in its diversity. At home we get a choice of 4 or 5 basic fish and a couple of shellfish. In Normandy there were too many choices to know where to begin. Jim and I are going back over to France shortly, so I aim to work my way through the options available. Jeni and I were tired after the ferry last week, so we contented ourselves with a very pleasing Moules Marinières.

Creamy-mussels with shallots and a side order of baguette.

It's a quick dish to make once you've scrubbed the mussels, and even that didn't take too long. We slightly over-estimated the quantity of mussels needed - 1.5kg would have been plenty.

Restaurant heaven...

Once we were down in Lot, we threw ourselves on the mercy of the local restaurant in Marcilhac-sur-Célé. And the dinner we had was so good that I ate it two nights in a row! It was a pork steak, marinated in garlic and all sorts, with ratatouille and rice. Start was a simple but delicious tomato and mozzarella salad, with salted butter caramel ice cream for pud. Truly Scrumptious!

Food went slightly more surreal once we were in Marseille though, as we were treated to Chantilly cream from a shop devoted to... Chantilly cream.

Yes. That is indeed a parcel from a shop called the Kingdom of Chantilly (and this in a nation that's very proud to be a Republic!). And yes, they specialise in Chantilly (and some Italian food products, but really it's all about the Chantilly).

Not only is there one shop, but Marseille is home to a chain of Royaume de la Chantilly shops. My flabber is officially gasted.

It doesn't look much, but I can assure you that it was amazing. And if there's any left over (which can't happen very often), it freezes to make a fabulous ice cream.