Jen Arnall-Culliford Knitwear

Getting ready

The last few administrative and decision making hurdles have been safely jumped, and we are now on the last leg of this waiting game. The number of sleeps until we meet our little ones is now much less than 20. Whoop!

So naturally, this has inspired some heavy duty nesting instincts in me. First up has been the need to fill the freezer. We're very lucky to have a chest freezer under the stairs, which we use seasonally to preserve fruit and veg from the garden. At the moment it is stuffed to the gills with home-made ready meals: The sort of thing that you can warm through in the microwave or saucepan and eat with simple accompaniments such as bread, rice or pasta. I thought it might be of interest to share some of my favourite recipe sources for this type of large-quantity cooking.

First up was Lentil and Bacon Soup for Lots of People from The River Cottage Family Cookbook. This is a recent book purchase, and I've loved reading through it. There are lots of ideas for cooking with your family, which we will definitely be trying out. It's sadly currently out of print, but I found a secondhand copy online without any trouble. I upped the quantities a bit - I bought a bag each of red and green lentils, poured them into measuring jugs and then adjusted the other ingredients to use all of the lentils. We've actually already eaten a few bowls of this and it's really tasty - definitely one to add to my normal repertoire. I think we have around 15 portions remaining in the freezer.

I then started to work my way through the Cooking in Advance chapter of How to Eat by Nigella Lawson. This is one of my most-used recipe books, along with her How to be a Domestic Goddess, which I hold solely responsible for the stone I gained in my first year of marriage!

Beef Stew with Anchovies and Thyme has been cooked and frozen in two person portions for Jim & me to eat. I think that the rich red wine sauce is probably a bit too grown-up for all the family, but I might be wrong.

Next up was a double quantity of Chicken and Chick Pea Tagine - you can see that I had to break out an even larger pan as I was making this! But well worth the washing up for the many, many portions now stowed in the deep-freeze. I think this will be good for all of us, as it's a nice balance of tasty, but not too spicy. Jim and I can add Harissa to taste if we want a bit more kick to ours!

Finally from How to Eat, I made about 20 portions of Greek Lamb Stew - a recipe that I adore, as it combines two of my favourite things: lamb and cheese (in this case Feta). The only way this could be more of a favourite would be if I could find a way to add some aubergine to it... Which would probably work really well actually! I've got a box of this defrosting for us to have for supper tonight, with some macaroni and lots of coriander sprinkled on top. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

My other go-to recipe book for simple, but delicious, large-quantity cooking is The River Cottage Meat Book, by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. I've got a couple of tupperwares of the following recipes tucked in the freezer from previous cooking binges:

Picadillo - a lightly spiced meat sauce, made with minced beef and pork. We eat it like Chilli con Carne in tortillas or with rice. This is another real favourite of mine as it has sultanas, almonds and olives in it. Yum!

Chilli con Carne - Having made Hugh's recipe, I'll probably never make Chilli any other way. This recipe can easily be made in double quantities, providing you have a pan big enough (the recipe says that it serves 8-10 and I froze 24 good portions last time I did a double batch). It's got pork shoulder, beef mince and chorizo as well as kidney beans - Heavenly!

Finally, I really love the recipe for Spaghetti Bolognese in The River Cottage Meat Book. It seems more tasty than any of the other recipes I've tried (I've never quite forgiven Delia Smith for making me put chicken liver in a Bolognese sauce - I've tried, but I'm really not a fan of any type of offal!). Again this can be made in double quantities very easily, and the serves 6 label gives portions larger than I usually eat, so it goes a long way too.

As well as all of the cooking I've done, my brother and his family came to stay last week, and they too have cooked up a storm for us - the chest freezer is almost completely full to the top! The temptation now is to eat it all before we start introductions, but we're resisting so far.

Finally, following the news that Google Reader is to cease to exist in a couple of months time, I have migrated over to Bloglovin' for my blog reading. If you want an easy way to keep up to date with the posts from your favourite blogs, I can really recommend it. I'm actually finding it much better than Google Reader, as there's even an app for my phone too. You don't have to, but if you want to then you can follow my blog with Bloglovin'.

Granny George's Welsh Cakes

I'm baking for a cake sale at church on Saturday, so I thought I would share the recipe for Welsh Cakes that I use.

As children, we used to go and stay with Granny George in South Wales, and the highlight of each visit was enjoying Welsh Cakes hot off the bakestone. Mum cooked them for us at home too, but something about being in Granny's kitchen and being on holiday has a particular resonance. On the odd occasion that Granny looked like she wasn't planning to make a batch, then a request for a trip down to High Street to buy Welsh Cakes at the bakers would always result in some being made! I can remember the look on her face at the thought of purchasing shop-made Welsh cakes - priceless!

Granny George doesn't get much opportunity to make Welsh Cakes these days, so I thought it would be nice to share the recipe so that you too can enjoy their hot-off-the-bakestone deliciousness! You don't need a bakestone (though do use one if you are lucky enough to have one!), a griddle or heavy frying pan works just as well. If you are vegetarian, the substitute the lard with a hard vegetable fat instead.

One last tip is that I often make 2 quantities of dough together. I then cook one straight away, and place the other in the freezer for a quick cake emergency. The dough can be thawed out and cooked quickly for fresh cakes another day. That said, a batch really doesn't last very long, so if you are a family of 4, then make double quantities anyway! The picture below is of a double batch being cooked.

Granny George's Welsh Cakes

8oz (225g) Self-raising Flour
2oz (55g) Butter
2oz (55g) Lard
3oz (85g) Granulated Sugar
Pinch of Salt
2oz (55g) Currants
3/4 tsp Mixed Spice and Nutmeg
1 Large Egg, beaten
Small amount of Milk (may not be needed)
Small amount of Caster Sugar for dusting the finished cakes 

Rub the butter and lard into the flour, sugar and salt, until they resemble small breadcrumbs. Stir in the spices and currants. Mix to a pastry-like dough with the egg. If the mixture doesn't form a nice ball add a very small amount of milk until it comes together nicely.

Roll out the dough on a floured board to a thickness of 0.25in (0.7cm). Stamp into rounds with a scone or biscuit cutter. Grease your bakestone (griddle or frying pan) and cook on a low to medium heat until the fruit appears to sink into the dough (this is really the dough rising around the fruit) and the bottom is a pale golden brown. Carefully turn the cakes over and cook the second side until it is the same colour - making sure that the dough is cooked through. Remove from the heat and make stacks on a plate, sprinkling each layer with caster sugar.

Enjoy them at their best, while they are still warm! Thank you Mum and Granny George for all of the hundreds of batches of Welsh Cakes you have made us over the years. I hope that our children will enjoy them just as much as we do. xxx

Winning all round - a meal at L'Enclume

On our way up to Cockermouth for WoolFest, Nic and I made a little detour via Cartmel. My everso-talented cousin, Dan Cox, is head chef at Aulis Research Design, which is part of Simon Rogan's restaurant collection in Cartmel. Simon was the stand-out star of this year's Great British Menu, he was shortlisted for all 4 banquet courses and won the desert course. Unfortunately, Dan was busy down in London at the big Taste of London event on the day we visited, and rain and the torch celebrations got in the way of our planned trip to the farm. None of this mattered though, as we had the MOST incredible meal at L'Enclume. If you are anywhere even vaguely near to Cartmel or the Lake District, I can't stress enough how much you need to try to have a meal there.

We started with a glass each of delicious British sparkling rosé called Balfour. Completely yummy, and I never would have guessed that it was from the UK.

First up were these delightful amuse-bouches. They are a wafer made from chick peas and rosemary, with a cream cheese topping, decorated with Viola and other petals. Nic and I agreed that we happily would have eaten a whole meal of them, but luckily there was just one each so we didn't spoil our appetites.

Next up was cod yolk with garlic cream. The picture really doesn't do justice to this. It was amusing, delicious and fun to eat. The cream on the left is garlicky, and the yellow yolk was a jelly-like outer covering that contained a sort of cod mousse - but it wasn't overly fishy, it was just yummy. It's garnished with crispy pancetta, something green that I can't remember, and amazing crunchy vinegar powder on toasted puffed rice. It was a complete play on the idea of fish and chips and ramped our enthusiasm and excitement up a notch. I think the serving staff were enjoying our enthusiasm almost as much as we were enjoying the food, which is really saying something!

It's almost impossible to pick a favourite dish out of the many options, but if pushed, I think this would be in my top 2. It's sugar snax carrots, ham fat, tarragon and nasturtium (more ingredients from the farm, I think), and the shiny sheets lying over the carrot are carrot caramel. The caramel was one of the most stunning things that I put into my mouth over the course of the meal. It was melt in the mouth good and to coin an over-used phrase, "absolutely jam-packed with flavour".

Next up were sea scallops with spiced strawberry, grilled cauliflower and coasal leaves. I nearly fainted at the thought of scallops, as these are one of my favourite ingredients! This dish didn't disappoint either. I can't remember what the yellow sauce on the plate was, it might have been honey based? But the little brown bits you can just about see are toasted buckwheat and brought a great texture contrast as they were nice and crunchy. The combination worked brilliantly, with the spiced strawferry sauce really bringing some sharpness to the soft scallops.

I'm writing this post just before I have lunch and thinking that no matter what I cook, it's going to be a huge disappointment after reliving this magnificent meal!

Our main dish was Reg's guinea hen and offal with baby turnips and elderflowers. Maybe it was this dish that had a delicious honey-mead sauce - I know that one of them did! The meat was tender and super-tasty, as were the teeny-tiny turnips and mushrooms that accompanied the guinea hen. I'm dribbling even more now.

Our lovely server Camilla, took us through the delights of the cheese board, and this was the point at which we started to wonder how we would manage to carry all the boxes of yarn and set up the stand at the show. We tried lots of the cheeses. They were all utterly delicious. And I've completely forgotten the names of my favourites... I should have written them down, but I was already self-conscious about taking pictures of each dish, so I didn't.

The accompanying crackers were wicked-good too. There was an oaty one tucked under the bread that was perfect with the stronger cheeses. Mmmmm.

Our first pudding... Lemon verbena cake with raspberry, milk skin and sorrel. You can't see the cake - it's hiding under the tuile biscuit - but it was a wonderfully greeny-yellow colour and strongly fragrant and lemony.

This was my favourite of the sweet dishes by a long way. The green was chervil granita and has already started to melt in this pic - I stared in awe at it for a little too long, I think. It's accompanied by cherries, a sweet ice creamy something (I can't remember what it was, but it was good!!), and crunchy hazlenut. This dish was fresh and perfect in everyway. I would imagine that Simon's banquet-winning pudding was this sort of dish - fresh and incredibly tasty. I want to eat more of it right now!!

Finally, when we thought we really couldn't take any more, we had coffee accompanied by these treats:

Aerated chocolate filled with Kendal mint cake ice cream. The perfect end to an incredible dining experience.

The staff were utterly delightful - attentive, welcoming and really enthusiastic about the food. The setting was clearly beautiful, even though it didn't stop tipping it down the whole time we were there. Jim is utterly gutted that he couldn't join us this time, so I do hope I'll be able to return with him before too long - I SO want to see the farm as well.

Massive thanks to all the staff who made our visit such a total pleasure.

The standard 5-course lunch menu costs an incredibly reasonable £32.50 - with drinks and cheese board as extras. The restaurant no longer has a menu as such - you are asked to choose between the 5-course lunch menu and the 14-course tasting menu, and whether you have any dietary requirements, and then the staff bring the dishes out and talk you through each one as they come. It's a culinary magical mystery tour. If you have the opportunity, go to L'Enclume, I highly recommend it.

Thank you all for the great comments on the Coronation Knits post - I'm so glad to see that I'm not the only technique junkie out there. I love trying new things! The lucky winner was commenter number 22: Linda, who said, "I love knitting socks in the round on dpns. Have even mastered grafting toes (after many failed attempts) with the wonder that is youtube!"

You Tube is absolutely brilliant for finding tutorial videos - almost every technique you've every thought of is up there in some form or another. I wouldn't be the knitter I am today without the help of many of those videos!

P.S. I've also joined Instagram (as you can probably tell from the pictures above), and I'm JenACKnitwear there too.

Street Party

In London, the tidying up and furore over stewarding the Jubilee celebrations will probably go on for days.  Meanwhile, out in the sticks, we were invited to a far more low-key event to mark 60(ish) years of the queen being the queen. A few people down the road from my parents decided that a street party would be a great way to bring neighbours together.

I have to admit that I was a bit dubious about the whole thing, but I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The theme needed no thinking about, but all of the rest had been carefully planned, right down to the cups and plates.

Some had really gone to town with their baking.

In addition to all of the food (as ever, bring as much as you can eat meant that everyone brought far too much), there were games and entertainments. Egg and spoon races, quizzes and others paled into insignificance once the main event, the Knobbly Knee Contest, took place.  For those of you who have never encountered one, the Knobbly Knee Contest is best described as the male equivalent of the swimsuit round at the Miss World pageant.  There were literally half a dozen women overexcitedly filming, or taking photos of men's bony knees. This was the Clan A-C team entry.

After much deliberating, the panel of judges (yes, there were three of them) announced their shortlist, with two of us making it to the last four competitors.  Despite our valiant efforts though, the prize went to Graham from number 30.

In all, it was a geat way to spend a Bank Holiday afternoon. The communal eating has made me look forward to the World Food Feast at the Frome Festival next month more than ever.

Jim

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.