Twins, Hedgehogs and Lemon Curd Blondies...

So I haven’t been at home much recently for cooking or writing purposes.  Most recently - visiting a friend in Oxfordshire...

Yesterday, we were on an autumnal walk, picking up dry leaves for her 19 month old twin boys to scrunch. 

The boys were peering out of their double buggy and I was full of the joys of autumn when in with the leaves (and a mini “I’m almost two” tantrum-ette) we found a hedgehog. 

Very over excited we were immediately overcome with the warm and fuzzies and were mid-way through planning a rescue mission thanks to the local hedgehog hospital within walking distance… 

Then the practicalities waded in - how the hell do you even go about picking one up?  And aren’t they supposed to be flea-ridden and rabid?  And finally, sadly - Ummm… is it actually even alive?!  Yes, after closer scrutiny we discovered we had very almost rescued a (very dead it turns out) hedgehog…  Not the idealistic autumnal day planned but never mind! 

Anyway – on a happier and more appetizing note, my leftover lemon curd...  I decided that swirling it through an oatmeal blondie was the way to go.  The recipe could do with a bit of tweaking but turned out remarkably well considering it was a first attempt.  The creamy oats and tangy lemon is a winner in my book!

Preheat oven to 180°C.  Grease and line your baking tin (the one I used was approximately 8x15”.

Cream together the sugars with the butter then add the eggs and mix.

Grad add the flour, raising agents, salt and 1 ½ cups of the oats and mix.  Swirl through half the lemon curd and spoon into the prepared tin.  Smooth the top of the mixture and dollop over the rest of the lemon curd. 

Sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup of oats and bake approximately 30 minutes until golden brown (check with a skewer after 25 minutes to gauge how fast it’s cooking – you want it to have a fudgey texture like a brownie).

Cool the blondie in the tin for another half hour then cool it the rest of the way on a wire rack.  Cut into small squares and eat!

Oatmeal and Lemon Curd Blondies: (fills 8x15” tin)

1 cup white sugar

1 cup demerera sugar

125g butter, softened

2 eggs

2 cups self-raising flour

1tsp baking powder

1tsp bicarbonate of soda

1tsp salt

2 cups porridge oats

5tbsp lemon curd

all change on the good ship Duncan...

This week has been a week of change.  Goodbye to: having a boyfriend, working in Shoreditch, cycling to work on a death trap and being the youngest in the family...  Hello to: being single again, working in Clarkenwell, cycling to work on a bike with actual working brakes, and my sister-in-law’s due date (one week today!)! 

In the midst of all this change I had the family over for a very relaxed afternoon tea on Sunday... one of the stars of the show (in comparison say, to the overly “caramelised” fruit scones) was the lemon curd.  A delicious way of disguising the slightly overcooked scones if ever I found one!  It was so good it was also sandwiched with some sweetened mascarpone between lavender shortbreads, slathered on toast and dolloped on sticky gingerbread... a bit of an all-rounder hero really!

Place the lemon juice, zest, sugar and butter in a bowl over simmering water.  Stir this until the butter has melted.

Beat together the eggs and the extra yolk and stir into the bain marie.  Cook stirring regularly for 10 minutes until thick.

Remove from the heat and stir until it is cool.  Pour into sterilised jars and seal.

It will keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Lemon Curd: (makes 2 small jars)

4 unwaxed lemons, zest and juice
200g sugar
100g butter, cut to cubes
3 eggs and 1 egg yolk

A pretty pickle...

As Carl Sandburg once said: “Life is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep”...

...then again he also said “the moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to” so possibly isn’t the most sane of people to listen to!  (No offence budding poets!)

Perhaps a more fitting phrase for me this week would be “Life is like a pickled onion: you pop one in your mouth and spend the next few moments in a rapture of gurning, vinegary, delight!”...

Yes, this week I have been pickling anything that has sat still on the counter top long enough to be thrown in vinegar.  A vat of pickled onions and more piccalilli than you could shake a stick at... which is apparently quite a lot!

Only three days left until my holiday to Portugal... goodbye preserving, HELLLOOOOOO sun, sand, swimming pools, sangria, surfing and Portuguese Custard Tarts! Ok, so the last one doesn’t start with S but it’s still pretty exciting!

Don't miss me too much...

Pickled Onions: 

Make brine by boiling one litre of water with the salt until dissolved.  Cool completely.  Peel the shallots, and submerge in the brine.  Leave for at least 24 hours.

Place the rest of the ingredients and two of the peeled shallots in a pan with an additional teaspoon of salt and two peeled shallots.  Bring to the boil and boil for five minutes.  Turn off the heat and leave to cool completely. 

Rinse the brine from the shallots and pack them into jars.  Pour over the cold vinegar, seal and store in a cool place.  Leave for at least a week before opening.

Piccalilli:

Place the vegetables in a colander over a bowl.  Sprinkle with salt and mix.  Cover with a tea towel and place in the fridge for 24 hours.  Rinse with cold water and leave in the colander to drain.

Blend the cornflour, turmeric, mustard, ginger, and seeds to a smooth paste with a small amount of vinegar.

Bring the rest of the vinegar to the boil with the sugar and honey.  Pour a little of the hot vinegar in the spice paste to loosen it up.  Then pour into the vinegar.  Bring back to the boil and stir until thickened to the consistency desired then turn off the heat.

Stir in the vegetables and pack into warm, sterilised jars.  Leave for 6 weeks before opening and use within the year.

Pickled Onions: 

1kg shallots

250g salt

1L malt vinegar

60g pickling spices (I used a mixture of whole coriander seeds, mustard seeds, chilli, peppercorns, bay leaves, all spice)

25g root ginger

1 small cinnamon stick

Piccalilli:

1kg assorted crunchy vegetables, chopped to bite-sized pieces (I used radish, courgette, cauliflower, cucumber, green beans, carrot, and onion)

50g salt

60g cornflour

20g turmeric

20g English mustard powder

20g ground ginger

1 tbsp mustard seeds

2tsp cumin seeds

2tsp coriander seeds

1L vinegar

100g sugar

300g honey

Names for the Nephew...

There have been many discussions recently over names for the incoming nephew – so far the parents-in-waiting haven’t been impressed with any of my suggestions: Mungo Duncan; Duncan Duncan; Dougal Duncan; Fergal Duncan; McDuff Duncan... Apparently any of them would constitute a reportable offence in cruelty to children. 

Currently the unsung champion name which (surprisingly) both my brother and I are really pushing for has to be - Bodie “Dude” Keanu Duncan... Inspired!  For some reason the sister-in-law doesn’t seem that keen... maybe I should ease her into it with a Point Break themed evening?

Anyway, on a more food related point – I think I have discovered THE best red onion chutney recipe ever made... In fact I’m so in love with it at the moment, I’d be happy to name my soon-to-be-nephew “Fraser Doherty’s Caremalised Red Onion Chutney Duncan”!  It’s got just the right balance of sweet vs. tart (the chutney that is, not the name)! 

I’m about to spend my weekend making a second more substantial batch to last me through until Christmas because it will not only work with (soggy) end of summer bbqs, but also autumnal sausage sandwiches, ANYTHING with goats cheese or cheddar, chicken liver pate... you name it: I’m happy to try slapping some of this on!  I even added a spoonful to some vinaigrette the other day which was delicious. 

I’m sure it would work using any of the woody herbs to suit your taste: thyme, rosemary, sage...  Looks like it’s time for some experimentation!

We had this last night with a waitrose recipe for chicken liver pate and granary rolls - an unbeatable combination!

Fraser Doherty’s Caremalised Red Onion Chutney:

Sterilise your jars (pop them through a hot wash in your dishwasher and make sure you don’t open the door until you’re ready to jar up).

Finely slice the onions and chili into short, thin slices.  Cook them in oil in a frying pan with the bay over a low heat for 20 minutes (until dark and sticky).

Next add the sugar and both vinegars and simmer until it becomes thick and dark.  This should take approximately half an hour.

Spoon the chutney into the freshly sterilized jars.  You should leave them for at least a month for the flavors to fully develop but if you eat it straight away it’s still delicious!

Quick Chicken Liver Pate with Orange and Sherry:

Fry the livers in oil over a medium heat (stirring frequently) for about 10 minutes until cooked through.  Pop them in a blender and the pan and any juices back on the heat.

Add the chopped shallot, crushed garlic and thyme leaves to the pan and cook for a further couple of minutes.  Add the sherry and simmer for 30 seconds.  Scrape the contents of the pan into the blender bowl with the liver.

Add 100g butter and the orange juice and season.  Blend until a smooth paste.  Spoon the mixture into your chosen dish – individual ramekins, half-litre kilner jar, serving bowl etc. and allow to cool to room temperature.

Clarify the final 50g butter in a small pan.  This means melt it then remove from the heat and allow the white residue to settle at the bottom – this is the same process as making ghee.  Spoon the clear clarified butter over the top of the pate (to seal it) then sprinkle with Malden salt and chill until set.

Take the pate out of the fridge 15 minutes before serving.  Serve with the best red onion chutney in the world and some crusty bread.

Fraser Doherty’s Caremalised Red Onion Chutney: makes 2 jars (depending on jar size that is!)

8 red onions

1 red chilli

25ml olive oil

200g brown sugar

150ml balsamic vinegar

150ml red wine vinegar

Quick Chicken Liver Pate with Orange and Sherry:  serves 6

400g chicken livers

Olive oil

1 shallot, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1tsp thyme leaves (fresh or dried)

2tbsp sherry

150g butter, softened

1 orange, juice only

Third time’s a charm

Marmalade you are a fickle, FICKLE mistress... On my third (THIRRRRDDDD!!!) attempt of the evening I was out of: patience; sugar; and down to my last orange and lemon.  ARRRRggghhhh... This time I was't going to get distracted!

Last October when I got the preserving-itch, I spent a frenzied evening making pickled pears, candied peel and orange and lemon jellies... It’s like I suddenly started preparing for hibernation... or maybe a nuclear winter?! 

With all the rain and cloud cover we’ve been getting over the past few months, it’s dark and feels like autumn already.  This has tricked my body clock into preserving mode even though it's only July... I’m getting that itch again to make jams, chutneys, pickles – anything that will keep. 

Oh, here's a bizarre little digression for you...  Thanks to all the rain, I've discovered my washing machine is obviously not rinsing out all of the detergent.  When I’ve been cycling I’ve started developing foaming knees... at least I’m assuming it’s the washing machine rather than a little known strand of “knee-rabies”...

Anyway, frothing knees aside, previously, I’d only made marmalade on mum and dad’s induction hob which seems to be a lot more forgiving than gas where it turned from far too runny to black and burnt in less time than it took to brush my teeth!  Literally! 

My current obsession is Rooibos tea so in an experimental frame of mind, I decided to try and add some Rooibos flavours.  Personally I prefer a sweeter marmalade rather than the traditional bitter flavour so that’s how this recipe turned out, I'll definately tinker around with it in the future (maybe with proper sugar next time!):

Make up the Rooibos tea (1 litre of boiling water and 4 teabags).  Cut the orange and lemon in half across their equators.  Squeeze the juices into the tea.  Place any pips and pith into a spice ball or muslin bag. 

Chop the rinds into strips. I cut each squeezed half-fruit into quarters and sliced these as thinly as desired. 

Pop everything into a large pan and leave to infuse overnight.  This ensures you get as much pectin from the seeds and pith as possible which makes the marmalade set.

The next day, boil the mixture for 2-3 hours until it has reduced, concentrated, and the fruit skin has softened.  At this stage leave to cool and then squeeze as much juice out of the seed/pith bag as possible and then discard.

Add the sugar, then slowly heat the marmalade until all of the sugar is dissolved.  Sadly, in the previous disastrous attempts I’d used pretty much all of the sugar in the house.  Therefore this time I ended up having to use icing sugar which (surprisingly) worked!

Bring it up to a rolling boil for a further 30-60 minutes until it reaches the correct consistency.  You can check this with either a sugar thermometer or by placing a plate in the freezer for a couple of minutes.  Once the plate is chilled, test by dropping some marmalade onto it.  If after a few seconds the marmalade wrinkles when you push your finger over it then it’s set.

Cool the mixture in the pan for ten minutes or so and then seal in sterilized jars.

There are several ways you can sterilize jars but I’ve found the easiest is to run them through a hot wash in the dishwasher, and use immediately.

Rooibos Marmalade: (makes 2 jars)

1 L Rooibos tea (made with four teabags)

1 lemon

1 orange

400g icing sugar

It’s the thought that counts

[Roche you’re not allowed to read this one until after your birthday...]

Disclaimer over:  Let me sally forth with a quick ARGHHHH... I’m stuck slap bang in the middle of Birthday/Wedding season and find myself perilously low in funding... why must you get older and live happily ever after people?  WHY!?

Today was payday and scarily, after rent and bills were deducted it’s only just inched me back to the right side of zero.  Having been stuck on this fine line between debt and credit for months now, you may have noticed I’ve taken the slightly depressing decision that everyone will have homemade presents - EVERYONE!!! OK, fine... not everyone – homemade gifts don’t tend to feature all that highly on wedding gift-lists. 

I may also have to still buy gifts for the soon-to-be nephew. There’s no way I’m risking being relegated to “the un-cool aunt who made me a keychain out of paperclips and rubber bands”... BUT apart from small unborn children and wedding presents: it’s DIY all the way.   Here’s hoping that people are going to see that effort = love... (Naive? Moi?!) 

[I solemnly swear to steer clear of any and all gifts constructed out of office supplies.]

Anyway, with my surfing partner-in-crime’s birthday coming up fast (next Tuesday - after the wedding I’m going to Saturday... DOUBLE ARGHHH) I decided to try and combine two things she loves: tomatoes and goats cheese.  I have found an interesting recipe for a cake with goat’s cheese frosting (more on that in a later post) so decided to try and do something new (for me – obviously I’m 20 years behind the rest of you worldly know-it-alls!) and make her a jar of sun-dried tomatoes.

Sadly my home grown tomatoes are FAR from ready (looks like another autumn of trying to cram green tomatoes into every recipe going – chutney, jam, passata...).  So I ended up using shop bought.  Also with a distinct lack of sun they’re more oven-dried than sun-dried but remember guys (all together now) – IT’S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS!!

I followed Nigella’s moonblush tomato recipe: 

Preheat the oven to 220˚C.  Cut cherry tomatoes in half and place them cut side up in an ovenproof dish.

Sprinkle with the salt, sugar, and thyme.  Then drizzle with the olive oil.

Place them in the oven and immediately turn it off.  Leave the door closed overnight and (theoretically) in the morning you will have dried tomatoes...

Realistically, (probably my evil oven’s fault) they barely dried at all overnight.  So, if at first you don’t succeed... I tried again before work the next day.  And again that evening and then again over night!  FINALLY, we have liftoff!  I’m guessing that if your oven is well behaved (like all ovens should be) it would be a far quicker process!

For gifting purposes, I've popped them in a sterilized jar and covered them in olive oil.  I may even stretch as far as a big shiny bow...

Nigella’s moonblush tomato recipe:

20 cherry tomatoes

2tsp Maldon salt

¼tsp sugar

1tsp dried thyme

2tbsp olive oil