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Jumat, 18 April 2014
Hello From Healdsburg!
Well be doing the food at the gorgeous Frick Winery for the 16th consecutive year! Despite all the hard work, its a lot of fun and we look forward to this every spring. Ill be back Monday with a new video, and hopefully some decent photos of this years offerings. Stay tuned!
Senin, 03 Maret 2014
A slice of cake and a visit from the Fairy Hobmother
I picked up a copy of the June BBC Good Food Magazine at the station last week and was immediately drawn to this simple recipe for a Family Fruit teabread. It comes from Mary Berrys book My Kitchen Table: 100 Cakes and Bakes by Mary Berry. I own quite a few Mary Berry books, mostly bought in the 1980s.
I have to say that I have many similar tea loaf recipes but I dont think that Ive ever seen a more even looking tea loaf, it is a masterly recipe.
Here is my version of Marys teatime cake:
350g/12oz mixture of raisins and dates (because that is what I had in the cupboard)
225g/8oz mix of light and dark muscovado sugar
300ml/1/2 pt hot Assam Tea, made with two tea bags.
275g/10oz self-raising flour
zest of a lemon
1 large egg, beaten
Put the dried fruit and sugar in a bowl and pour over the hot tea.
At this point you are supposed to leave it overnight to soak up the tea, but I didnt have time, so mine got 2 hours and was still pretty wet.
Heat the oven to 150C/130C fan/gas 2
Line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment or one of those clever loaf tin liners you can buy from Lakeland.
Add the flour, lemon zest and beaten egg and stir iwth a spoon till mixed through. My mixture was still quite wet, so I poured it into the tin.
Bake for 11/4 to 11/2 hrs or until it is well risen, firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
Peel of the baking paper or liner and serve sliced with or without butter - mine didnt need any butter it was so moist and deliciously stuffed with fruit.
And so to the Fairy Hobmother, if you havent heard of this phenomenon, then listen up! The Fairy Hobmother grants wishes to good food bloggers. She lives at Appliances Online , who sell cookers and other white goods and hangs around food blogs looking out for people to help.
I was lucky enough to be picked out for a gift from the Hobmother when I visited Choclettes Chocolate Log Blog
Here is what I got from the Fairy Hobmother, Ive been eyeing it up for some time and this was just the excuse I needed. The only drawback I can see is that the writing seems tiny, however as it is a dipping into book Im hoping that that isnt going to put me off. Ill report back when Ive had a proper look.
If you would like a gift from the Fairy Hobmother, leave a comment saying what it is that you would like and maybe you will get a visit.
Kamis, 06 Februari 2014
Quick and Easy Black Bean Soup – Something from Almost Nothing
This black bean soup saved me during a recent attack of, “Oh my God, there is nothing in kitchen to cook with!” Even though it sometimes seems that way, theres rarely, literally nothing to cook with. I quickly found a few slices of bacon, a couple cans of beans, and an onion, and with the help of a spicy lime and green onion relish, turned it into a very decent bowl of soup.
It got me thinking about all those long shelf life, must-have pantry and fridge staples you can count on to produce a meal when lacking supplies. My short list is olive oil, beans, pasta, bacon, Parmigiano-Reggiano, eggs, tomato sauce, anchovies, salami, capers, garlic, onions, potatoes, and fresh citrus. As long as those things are close by, I can still look forward to a great meal no matter how sparse the rest of the provisions.
By the way, this will work with any smashable bean, and rumor has it that a handful of sausage in place of the bacon is a great variation. With wet, chillier days ahead, I think you’ll have occasion to give this a try soon. Enjoy!
Ingredients for 4 Servings:
6 slices bacon
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken broth or water
2 cans black beans, rinsed, plus 1 can of water
pinch dried oregano
pinch cayenne
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp black pepper
salt and pepper to taste
For the relish (note – I only made a little bit in the video. This is enough for 4 servings):
1/3 cup minced green onion
2 tsp crushed or minced red chilies
juice of one lime
green onions to garnish
sour cream to garnish
Rabu, 05 Februari 2014
All the Tea from China
TeaVivre is a company run by a group of tea lovers and aficionados from China, Canada and France, who all share a passion for drinking great tea and appreciate the healthy life style it brings. They all live in China, and frequently travel through the country visiting Chinas tea plantations so they can track down only truly exceptional teas. As a result TeaVivre are able to bring to us the absolute highest quality Chinese teas that are, wherever possible, 100% organically grown and produced.
The green tea sample pack contains two of each of the following teas, beautifully packaged in individual foil sachets inside a larger sealed foil package:
Organic Tian Mu Mao Feng Green Tea
Organic Hangzhou Tian Mu Qing Ding Green Tea
Superfine Pre-Ming Dragon Well Long Jing Tea
Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls Green Tea
I tasted the Premium Jasmine Dragon Pearls Green Tea, it had a light clean flavour with just a hint of jasmine, no overpowering floral taste that you can get with some jasmine teas. I drink my tea black and not strongly brewed, so really enjoyed this delicately flavoured tea. Here is how TeaVivre describe the tea:
Jasmine “Dragon Pearls” is a deliciously sweet green tea that combines the absolute highest quality green tea with a jasmine aroma and taste. Made from one unopened bud and one small leaf, this tea hand rolled into small balls, which slowly unfurl during brewing, releasing an amazing taste and aroma combination of green tea and sweet jasmine. Brewing a cup of this sweet, fragrant tea only requires a few tiny pearls!
The Black Tea sample pack contains the following teas:
Yun Nan Dian Hong Black Tea – Golden Tip
Fengqing Dragon Pearl Black Tea
Bailin Gongfu Black Tea
Organic Superfine Keemun Fragrant Black Tea
Lapsang Souchong Smoky Black Tea (Yan Xun Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong)
I am not a huge fan of Lapsang Souchong tea as I usually find it rather overpowering but, after enjoying the Jasmine tea, I thought I would see what the TeaVivre Lapsang Souchong Smoky Black Tea was like. It was a nice surprise to find that the smoky flavour was subtle and the tea had a clean taste, without any real bitterness. Here is what is said about this tea on the website:
Zheng Shan Xiao Zhong (Lapsang Souchong) used pine wood or pine charcoal from Tongmu kuan in Wuyi mountain as materials. Because black tea has a strong capability of absorption, while pine charcoal will release plenty of smoke when burning. So the Lapsang Souchong, produced by hands and machines, has a heavy flavor of smoked and pine, which is suitable for people who prefer strong flavor.
Im looking forward to trying more of the tea samples and reviving my taste for exotic tea. TeaVivre ships to the UK, be sure to change the currency indicator, in the top right of the web page, to GBP to see the prices in sterling. The Green Tea Assortment costs £7.40 and the Black Tea Assortment is £6.50, shipping costs depend on the weight of the parcel, but start at £2.70. This might seem expensive but given the outstanding quality of the tea and the fact that you could easily pay that for a bottle of wine, it is really not such a high price to pay. I think any of these teas would be the ideal gift for a tea connoisseur.
Disclaimer: I was supplied with the Black and Green Tea Assortments by TeaVivre.. I was not required to write a positive review and any opinion expressed is my own..
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