Salad and Schnecken

Something happened in the borough of Scotland this weekend...something so strange that people gathered in large open spaces, stood or sat open mouthed and stared at the big orange ball in the sky.   What caused such mass hysterical behaviour?   What were the Scots looking at with such awe and wonder?   Was that......sunshine??   Yes!   Twas indeed!   Oh, happy days, the boroughfolk cried....happy, happy days and they stripped to their underwear immediately and promptly got burnt to a crisp.   The End.

And such is the scene all over the country every time the sun dares to rear it's gorgeous head from the sky.   It makes us happy though.

I was supposed to be in France last weekend but alas, it wasn't meant to be.   The reason appears to be the numpty gene I've inherited from a well dodgy gene pool.   But at least the sun shone.  But wait, I hear you cry....weren't you supposed to go to London tomorrow?   Surely that will make up for missing France.   Yes, dear reader, I was.   I was supposed to go to London tomorrow with my daughter.   Happy days again!   Ah but alas, once again, that numpty gene...the one that lay dormant for many years, switched on with the passing of the years has suddenly come up trumps again and it looks like we won't be going to London after all as daughter's passport is out of date.   Yes, we need a passport these days to travel within the country.   Can I get a new one?   Sure, they have a fast one day service for the price of a small cottage.   Why don't I do that then and stop moaning?   Because the passport office won't let you book for a same day appointment, even if you call them at 8am.   Stupid?   Oh yes.   Ways round it?   No.   But hey, the sun still shines.............

Lots of salads have been consumed lately; pasta salads, artichoke salads, meaty, fruity salads...you know how I love me an artichoke...and salads with chicken, cheese, vegetables, fruit and anything else I care to fling in there on a particular day.   Here are some of my favourites:

Artichoke and mint salad with feta, crispy Parma ham, roasted chorizo and Parmesan cheese.

Chicken and Lemon Pasta Salad....doesn't look like much but well tasty, hot or cold.

Chargrilled Chicken Salad

When not eating salads the past few weeks, we've indulged in mini Toad in the Hole...

Mini Toad in the Hole.....delicious with gravy and mash!

....and a bizarre looking concoction of puff pastry, saute potatoes, grated cheese and hard boiled eggs.   Delicious, according to the kids!

I made Brian a Key Lime Pie for his birthday....yum!

Skinny Lemon Muffins with lemon drizzle icing for us all.....Fraser was particularly smitten.

A team of hardy laddies what I know, will be taking part in the Caledonian Challenge to raise money for charity; I'll be baking Schnecken, my favourtie bun ever, to help provide some tasty fuel during this gruelling two day challenge.   Check out their page and maybe sponsor them a quid or two, if you think they're worthy...I do!

Back to receipts, menus and recipes next week as well as that darn giveaway that never happened.

A Lovely Christmas

Carrot for Rudolph, milk and cookies for Santa

Christmas was lovely; the kids woke me at 4.45am and despite trying to get them back to sleep, they continued to check the time with me every 10 minutes or so, leaving me exhausted and I eventually succumbed to their excited whispers of "is it time YET?". Lucy wasn't feeling entirely well but they were all excited and decidedly happy with their gifts. We made dough for Schnecken buns and rested collapsed into a coma like state with hot mugs of tea whilst watching the kids play happily with their toys.

The Schnecken are prepared

And separated into nutty ones and nut free. Mmmm.

My sis arrived with her kids, to help us eat the cinammony, pecan topped delights which are Schnecken and bacon sandwiches to follow. Once they left, I began to prepare dinner, roasting the ham, which had been boiled the night before with a maple syrup and honey glaze, slicing the turkey crown, also made the night before, to heat in gravy later and preparing the turkey by stuffing it and rubbing it with lashings of herb flavoured butter and topping it with fatty bacon slices.

Roasting the Ham with Honey, Cloves and Maple Syrup

Lemon rind, sage and thyme to be mixed into the butter

Inbetween cooking, we watched The Polar Express and had our Scotch Broth. When dinner was ready, we sat at the table and opened the champagne, toasting another year and the year ahead. When we had finished and tidied, we were just in time for The Gruffalo and Doctor Who!

Scotch Broth


Christmas Dinner

The new 3d Monopoly was brought out; whoever said games brought families together were wrong but it was a great laugh nonetheless.

Grandpa, my husband's dad, had me in stitches throughout the day with his interpretation of certain things he'd overheard, for example, whilst watching the news... "...Pope has been knocked over", grandpa exclaimed "the Pope wasn't sober??".

Boxing Day saw us all sledging before heading to Ann's house for curry and conversation. It was a lovely day although in hindsight, the 3pm start of drinking champagne doesn't entirely agree with me, when not heading home until late....

Sledging

Monday evening, we went to Di Maggios restaurant for pizza and pasta with our friends and their family, followed by a pantomime at the Pavilion Theatre. Today, I'm being forced to see Alvin and the Chipmunks 2 and then it's Hogmanay tomorrow! Party time.

A Happy New Year to you all.

Merry Christmas!

Jedi Santa

Well, my lovely bloggy friends, that time is almost upon us; the time when we let the big red fella down our chimneys to eat the cookies we left him. To look out at the snow covered roofs and watch the kids laugh and giggle as they open and enjoy the gifts they received; we'll stuff our faces with beautiful birds and tasty treats, roasted ham and Brussel sprouts; we'll nap on the sofa and play board games, maybe do a jigsaw and listen to Christmas tunes.

View from our window

Grandpa has settled in, mum, sis, brother in law and baby came to visit, we ate cake, opened gifts and toasted Christmas with a wee gin and tonic. The Christmas movies are playing, the braising steak is in the oven, all the gifts are wrapped and new pyjamas are donned by little 'uns, who snuggle under blankets as we speak, happy and excited about tomorrow.

Kelly fell in love with the turkey foil, stuck eyes and a mouth onto it and let it sleep in her bed last night. Her confused brother took a picture, trying to make sense of what was going on. We gave up a long time ago.

Our Christmas feast usually consists of Christmas morning muffins with cinnamon and jam followed by bacon rolls but this year, we'll who is this 'we'll'; me, I mean...who else.... be having schnecken. Oh, and the bacon rolls of course. My twin sis and her lovely offspring will be coming to join us for this, much to the kids delight and for the first time in 12 years, I will be hosting Christmas dinner with no extra guests. We usually have all my family and Brian's dad at least but we decided that this year, we'd keep it small. I'll miss them though.

The dinner itself will be:

Scotch Broth

Honey Roasted Side of Salmon with Prawn Salad
with
Parmesan Bread or Blinis

Roast Turkey, Gingerbread Stuffing,
Ham joint,
lemon and wine flavoured gravy
and
pigs in blankets,
baby boiled potatoes, roast potatoes,
mashed potatoes

Accompanied by
Brussel Sprouts with pancetta and toasted flaked almonds,
Honey and maple syrup glazed parsnips and carrots,
Broccoli, peas and onion confit
with
Redcurrant and Cranberry sauce.

The kids will have some chocolate cake and we'll just about manage a mince pie but later...much later! We're all excited about watching Dr. Who as the master returns, much to the excitement of the kids...ok, me...Brian.... and having a lovely, relaxed time.

Lunch; lentil and vegetable soup with freshly baked bread

Merry Christmas to you all, wherever you may be.

Schnecken (Happy Cakes)

I like to think of myself as a happy person. Neither up nor down most days, really rather happy the rest. Every once in a while though, something happens, something simple and so unexpected that you realise just how wonderful life is.

It's never about money...don't get me wrong, a lottery win would be good...and neither is it about power; who needs power when you're the mum of three despots. That leaves love and food; love and food encompass such a variety of actions and emotions. Both are complicated and incredibly simple: a touch from a child's hand against your face, a delicate slice of smoked salmon, perhaps a special kind of cake.....

Schnecken. Such a nice wee word. It makes you think "wonder what it could be? A sausage? A stew perhaps. Maybe a bread. Or a cake. Yes...a CAKE!". And you'd be right. You'd be dead right. But what you would fail to understand is how incredibly, delightfully right you'd be.

So, you may be wondering if I'm drunk. Well yes I am, but not on drink. On cake. Schnecken to be exact. Schnecken has brought me joy and happiness tonight in abundance. Happy cake, Kelly has christened it. I'm not going to hide it, I'm not going to lie; I just made the best bun every to be created in God's sweet earth. Why haven't I made this before, I wondered. Meh. Looks a bit messy, a bit complicated. Can't really be bothered when there are so many other, simpler recipes out there. Well, I'm so glad that tonight, I took the plunge and went for it.

My happiness summed up: schnecken bun, cup of illy coffee and 11 more looking at me from the dish.

Messy doesn't begin to describe making this but if ever a complete mess were worth it, then this is it. It's not that messy making it but cooking it and getting it out the pan....it's not hard, just make sure you have the oven gloves ready. Melted sugar and skin do not mix.

Nigella...the recipe giver...did say it was a bit tricky but she never mentioned that the bottom of my oven would be covered in molten lava sugar or that the muffin tin would resemble a nuclear fallout.


But when you empty out the tin and these buns come tumbling out, the smell of the maple sugar and golden syrup with a hint of cinnamon hitting your senses, you don't care. You'd throw away the tin...heck, you'd throw away the oven if you had to.

This is how the buns looked prior to baking; I don't think I'd rolled the dough quite tight enough as the cinnamon sugary filling was spilling out but I sprinkled the escaped sugar on top.


Here is a lady who made it properly; this is how it should look before cooking:
Since she has better style than me and gives a brilliant, blow by blow account of how it should be done, I'm going to take the easy route and direct you to her schnecken recipe. I will give you the UK list of ingredients though as the ingredients listed on this blog are American amounts and ingredients.

I would say though, my first go was pretty amazing (incase you couldn't tell) and you really can't go wrong. My one piece of advice? Place foil or parchment paper on the bottom of your oven and do not remove until the oven is cold and the sugar that has fallen onto it has cooled completely.

British Ingredients for Schnecken
for the dough:
500g bread flour
50g caster sugar
Half teaspoon salt
7g (1 sachet) easy blend yeast or 15g fresh yeast
75g unsalted butter
150ml milk
2 large eggs

for the syrup:
125g unsalted butter
2tablespoons demerara sugar (I used soft brown simply because I had no demerara left)
4 tablespoons maple syrup (I used 2)
3 tablespoons golden syrup
200g walnut or pecan pieces (I used pecans bashed up, around 50g as half were made without any nuts for the kids)

for the glaze:
1 large egg
2 tablespoons milk (this seemed like an awful lot: small egg and one tablespoon milk is fine)

for the filling:
50g caster sugar
100g demerara sugar (I used soft brown sugar)
1 tablespoon cinnamon

12 bun muffin tin, buttered
Parchment lined tray or tin to empty the buns into...they may stick a little, help them out but please watch the dripping molten lava which is melted sugar! No hospital trips please!
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Last night I made vegetable curry with boiled rice and my quick version of paratha. It's amazing what you can cook when the cupboard is bare; serves me right for freezing all the meat.

Vegetable Curry with Paratha
For the paste:
2 red chillies, de-seeded
Ginger, around 2 inches, peeled
1 shallot
2 cloves garlic

Blend. Then add the following, once ground:

Approx. 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds, Coriander seeds, Fennel Seeds, Fenugreek Seeds, half cinnamon stick, 3 cardamon pods. All you really need are the cumin, coriander, cinnamon and cardamon pods. Toast lightly in a pan and then grind, using a pestle and mortar. Add to blender. Give it a quick buzz.

Curry
Choose vegetables to taste. I chose a few large potatoes, peeled and cubed, a courgette, chopped into large chunks and a tin of chick peas.
Homemade tomato sauce, around cupful (optional)
Tin chopped tomatoes
Salt, pepper
Yoghurt
Half lime
Handful coriander (optional...I didn't have any fresh)
Clarified butter, ghee or oil-tablespoon

Heat up butter or oil in a deep pan and scrape out the paste into the hot pan. Fry gently for around 5-8 minutes. Add in the vegetables and stir. Add in tomato sauce, tinned tomatoes and a little water. Stir, bring to the boil then simmer with the lid on for at least 30-45 minutes. Check seasoning, add the lime juice and serve with a few tablespoons yoghurt and plain boiled rice.

Paratha
Rather than go through what seems like a complicated process, especially if explained by me, I'll just give you the link to the great site which tells you how to make this wonderful, flaky bread. It really is quite simple once you've done it step by step.