They are not Artichokes and have nothing to do with Jerusalem
Written by RuthJerusalem Artichokes are a member of the sunflower family and originate in North America, not Jerusalem. They are also known as Sunchokes in the USA. They are easy to grow and are very knobbly, potato-like tubers, with the nickname "fartichoke" for a good reason!They are delicious at this time of year and make a wonderful winter soup. Here is a recipe for Jerusalem Artichoke and Carrot Soup
More food is wasted at Christmas than at any other time of the year. An estimated 74 million mince pies and two million turkeys will be carted off by the dustmen. If you would like some ideas for using up leftovers, meal planning and shopping accordingly take a look at the lovefoodhatewastewebsite. This is my turkey and ham pie made from this weeks' leftovers.
I have run out of my Seville orange marmalade so have made myself a small batch of easy four fruit marmalade until the new seasons Sevilles arrive.
I used clementines, limes, grapefruit and lemons for my Christmas special! Just subsitute what ever citrus fruit you fancy and use this recipe
A delicious treat and the perfect way to use up those unripe tomatoes. Vegetarian too!
Ingredients:
- 4 to 6 green tomatoes
- salt and pepper
- beaten egg
- cornmeal
- vegetable oil for frying
Preparation:
Slice the tomatoes into 1/4 - 1/2-inch slices. Salt and pepper them to taste. Dip in the beaten egg and then the corn meal. Fry in hot oil for about 3 minutes or until golden on bottom. Gently turn and fry the other side. Serve as a side dish - delicious with breakfast!
Yesterday I picked the last of the mulberry crop from the suffolkfoodie ancestral home.. The old mulberry tree blew over in the great storm of 1987 but being from a farming family, daddy suffolkfoodie pulled the tree upright with his tractor and tied it back into position. It survived! I have picked over 20kgs of fruit and made some into jam. Here is the recipe. I used jam sugar with added pectin as mulberries are low in pectin. I added plenty of red, unripe fruits to improve the setting, as the red fruit have higher pectin levels.
1kg Mulberries and 1kg of Jam Sugar
Rinse the mulberries carefully and quickly so as not to lose too much juice. Put into a large saucepan and simmer until soft. Stir in the sugar ensuring that it all dissolves. Boil hard until setting point is reached. (Setting point can be tested by dropping some cooked jam onto a saucer which has been chilled in the freezer, a skin will form on top of the jam when setting point is achieved)
Warm some clean jars in the oven, bottle and store.
A quick and easy crab recipe which serves eight as a starter, or four as a large main course.
Ingredients
2 dressed crabs ( I use brown and white meat, some prefer just the white meat)
600g linguine
10 tbsp very good olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ tsp finely chopped fresh red chilli
75ml dry white wine
3 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tbsp chopped basil
Juice and grated zest of ½ lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the linguine for 9-11 minutes, or according to packet instructions, until al dente.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan and add the garlic and chilli.
Fry lightly without colouring for about one minute.
Stir in the crabmeat and heat through for another minute.
Add the wine to the pan and let it bubble and reduce a little.
Drain the linguine and add to the crab mixture.
Stir in the parsley and basil and toss everything together to coat evenly.
Finish with the lemon juice and grated zest.
Season to taste and serve immediately
How about these if you came to my house for tea last Sunday?
Daydream Believer at The Framlingham Country Show today was Laura Cotton of Daydream in Cupcakes with some original and beautifully packaged home baked goodies. Laura started her business this year and is keeping up with the current trends in cakes. The cookiepop was delicious. I want to see whoopie pies and cakepops next time Laura!
Allow three hours to make these hot cross buns include rising time. Makes 12 buns so well worth doubling up if like me, you'll eat four as soon as they come out of the oven.
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Now that you can buy hot cross buns all year, everywhere, the only thing to do to make them special is make them yourself. I had a go and have eaten four so far and these are lovely. I should have spent more time getting the shape right but as usual I was rushing. I tried the recipe from my charity shop find, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Book - the 'Cooks Classic Companion', which I use all the time although I have my own recipe here. Later on I'm going to make some fab Easter chocolates to give to the family (but don't tell them I've just melted down Lidl Dark Almond chocolate to do it...)
If you can get salt fish try these, the fish needs soaking overnight and smells horrible but the flavour afterwards is worth it. Just make a thicker batter than usual, add the shredded salt fish, some chopped spring onions and chili, and fry until crisp. Mmmmm...
Today is National Yorkshire Pudding Day. Here is our recipe:
See the eye of the home cured salt beef ? It didn't quite get all the cure it should. My father, who has cured many a joint of beef himself says it shows that it has not been oversalted. It was delicious and provided many tasty sandwiches after the party. Can't help thinking that it was looking at me...