Category: Cooking

Making Jams and Jellies

On By TontowilliamsIn Cooking, Fork To Fork, Self-sufficient, Video

It’s that time of year when the preserving pan comes out and I turn some of the produce from the allotment and elsewhere into preserves: jams, chutneys, jellies, and pickles.

I made some pumpkin and ginger jam (which always turns out more like a marmalade) and a first for me, quince jelly. For both of these I made videos of the process. You can watch these below.

Pumpkin & Ginger Jam

 

 

Quince Jelly

Dorset Apple Cake

On By TontowilliamsIn Cooking, Video

I had a gift of a bag full of cooking apples at the weekend, and made a couple of different things. First an apple crumble, and then also a Dorset Apple Cake. I recorded the apple cake production (see below). I’m also planning to make something called Friar’s Omelette, which is nothing like an omelette, but another cake, before I can do that I need to top up some ingredients.

The Unreported Issues of Breadmaking

On By TontowilliamsIn Cooking2 Comments

If you’re trying to sell a house there’s some advice that says you should brew coffee or make bread just before a viewing to create a favourable atmosphere (and nice smell).

What no one tells you about making bread is that the smell can also be a massive distraction.

You’ll know if you’re a regular reader that we have a breadmaker and bake our own bread in it. In fact we’ve just recently bought a new one to replace our old, much used and worn out machine.

This morning I put the breadmaker on, in order to bake a loaf, so that we could have some later on with the soup that I’m planning for dinner this evening, and also possibly a sneaky bread and jam treat for lunchtime.

It is however a massive distraction. Not because it’s a noisy machine, far from it. It’s the smell, the gorgeous aroma of bread baking in the kitchen, which happens to be right next to my office, where I am trying not to drown in my own saliva, and instead concentrate on work. The timer says that there is about 50 minutes left to go for this loaf before it’s ready, just in time for lunch. Before then however I have a phone call to make and things that I need to focus on.

Nothing like freshly baked bread to help focus the mind!

Bread Maker Update

On By TontowilliamsIn Cooking2 Comments

I wrote about our old bread maker a while ago, and it seems that it had made its last loaves. I tried to make a couple more in it, and they came out rather brick like. It seems the belt or motor was so worn that it couldn’t knead the dough properly after the first rise, meaning that the bread wasn’t rising properly at all, and we were getting rather solid half-sized loaves.

So we’ve bitten the proverbial, and bought a new one. It’s the same make as our last one, but a slightly better model. It has an ingredient dispenser, which means you don’t have to stand around and wait to add extra ingredients, the machine will do it for you. We make quite a few fruit loaves, so this is a bonus.

It’s only just arrived, and hasn’t yet made its first loaf (it’s doing that as I type), so there’ll be another update once we’ve tried it for a bit.

Breadmaker

On By TontowilliamsIn Cooking4 Comments

img_20170122_160247_146

I think I’ve killed our breadmaker.

There’s nothing quite like a loaf of homemade fresh bread. I know a bread making machine is still cheating somewhat to say that all our bread is home made, but it still tastes better than shop bought loaves. When I’m on the road, and the sandwiches I’ve got in my backpack, are made from bread, made in the bread maker, it brings a piece of home with me at lunchtime.

On Sunday, I was running the breadmaker for a fresh loaf (we normally get through a couple of loaves in a week), but it was making some very strange noises on the mixing and kneading cycles, like the pan wasn’t properly connected to the motor, or the gears/belt were slipping. I hope it’s something simple, although our machine is getting on a bit in age, it was secondhand when it was given to us and it does get a lot of use, so it might simply just be worn out.

I’ll be making another loaf later in the week, so I’ll see what happens. It might however be time for another machine or back to shop bought bread for a while.

Making A Quick Potato Salad

On By TontowilliamsIn Cooking, Fork To Fork, Self-sufficient


Here’s a quick video for making potato salad. Details below.

Makes enough for four people.

You’ll Need:

  • 6 to 8 small / medium sized potatoes
  • Fresh Chives or mint
  • 2 small / medium red onions
  • Mayonnaise
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Lemon juice (2 to 3 tablespoons)

To Make:

  1. Prepare the potatoes, peel if needed (if you’re using young new potatoes, they’ll probably just need a scrub and the skins can stay on). Chop them into bite size pieces.
  2. Boil them until they are just soft, be careful not to over-boil, particularly if you are using a fluffy type potato.
  3. When they’re done, drain and put them back into cool water, and allow them to cool down, until they cold enough to handle comfortably with bare hands.
  4. Prepare the onions and chives by chopping into as finer pieces as you can manage, put these into a large mixing bowl.
  5. Add the potatoes into the mixing bowl, with the onions and chives.
  6. Add some mayonaisse (about 3 or 4 tablespoons), be careful not to add too much, you can always add a little more if needed.
  7. Add a good grind of pepper and salt and the lemon juice.
  8. Mix all together in the bowl, either with clean hands or a couple of large spoons, be careful not to mash the potatoes!
  9. This is ready to serve or can be refrigerated in a covered container for a couple of days.