A French Breakfast

My girls have never been particularly keen on cereal for breakfast, preferring instead to have toast, crumpets, pancakes, waffles or brioche. I guess you could say they prefer a continental-style breakfast. So when my daughter came home from school, talking about doing a school project on French culture I explained she part way there when it came to breakfast.

In the next few days she did a bit of research into French food and we had fun cooking some French recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Chicken Provencal for dinner, Croque Monsieur for lunch and pain au chocolat for breakfast. Then last Saturday morning I whipped up a plate of French Toast brioche for their breakfast, complete with a little portion of jam for dipping. I have to say it was dead simple to do, only took a few minutes to cook and went down a storm! I think this might feature regularly on the weekend breakfast menu.

Brioche French Toast Soldiers with dipping jam

For 2 people

4 slices of brioche
1 egg
A splash of milk
Oil for frying
Jam to serve

Crack the egg onto a dinner plate and add a splash of milk. Whisk the egg and milk together carefully. Heat the oil in a large frying pan then dip each piece of brioche into the eggy mixture until coated on both sides and all the mixture is used. Fry the pieces of brioche on one side for a couple of minutes until golden then flip and cook the other side until golden. Remove from the pan, cut into soldiers and serve with a tablespoon of jam for dipping.

Devonshire Splits... don't mind if I do!

Ooh... I do love a decent cream tea but quite honestly I'm a bit rubbish at making scones. And a rubbish scone ruins a cream tea. I have tried... but somehow they always turn out on the dense side and hard work to wade through. No good at all.

At the weekend, my daughter was thumbing through my bread machine recipe book and oohing and ahhing at the possible things we could bake. Eventually she came across a recipe for Devonshire Splits that I had previously bookmarked.

"These look yummy, can we make these?" she asked.

But why had I bookmarked them but never made them? It usually means I didn't have one of the ingredients to hand when I last considered it. A quick scan down the page revealed a remarkably simple recipe for the splits themselves but a serving suggesting with clotted cream and jam. OBVIOUSLY it wasn't the jam that was the problem but the clotted cream.

I put the cream on my shopping list then and there then after this week's shopping trip had a go at making a batch. They are in effect just a slightly sweet bread bun but they work really well. And the combination of clotted cream with my Strawberry and Vanilla Jam is just divine! So much better than a rubbish scone any day.

Devonshire Splits (makes 8)

140ml milk
225g white bread flour
25g caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp easy-blend dried yeast
Clotted cream, jam and icing sugar to serve

Place all the ingredients into your bread machine in the order stated in your instructions and set to dough. Once finished, remove the dough from the bread machine and knock back on a lightly floured surface. Cut the dough into 8 pieces and shape each one into a round roll. Place on a baking tray and cover with greased Clingfilm. Leave to rise for about half an hour. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220°C, gas 7. Bake the buns for about 15 minutes until golden. Place on a wire rack to cool completely. To serve, cut in half and fill with clotted cream and jam and sprinkle icing sugar on top.

Christmas Puddings on Sticks

OK, there is no jam mentioned in this recipe but it is fun and Christmasy!

Christmas Puddings on Sticks - makes about 8

100g milk chocolate
70g chocolate chip biscuits
30g ginger biscuits
80g mixed dried fruit
20g glace cherries (finely chopped)
100g white chocolate
Holly shaped cake decorations

Plus 8-10 skewers or cake-pop sticks

Gently melt the milk chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until crumbed. Add the biscuit crumbs, dried fruit and cherries to the melted chocolate and stir thoroughly. Mould spoonfuls of the mixture into balls, place on a plate and carefully insert a stick into each one. Refrigerate for a couple of hours until firm. Melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Dip each biscuit ball into the white chocolate in turn and hold upright so that it dribbles down the sides. Place each stick into a cup once coated in white chocolate. Finally, press a holly decoration into the white chocolate then leave to set. Enjoy!

Homegrown Marmalade

I remember years ago sitting behind my table of jams and chutneys at some Christmas fair when a rather harassed lady rushed up to my stall, glanced over the array of jars then asked, "Do you have any marmalade?" To this I replied, "Er, no, I don't grow oranges." She didn't stop on her manic Christmas shopping to think about this and no doubt continued her marmalade hunt elsewhere. However, it was a serious point. For people who make jams and preserves, it is often the "homemade" bit that is most important to them. But for me it is the "homegrown" bit that I'm most passionate about. Short of building an orangery, how could I make marmalade using Milton Keynes grown produce?

Giving this some thought and poring through recipe books, the following year I had marmalade on offer. It was my All Hallows Marmalade. Why "All Hallows"? Well, because it is made using pumpkin. Yeah, I could have called it "Orange and Pumpkin Marmalade" but how many people would buy that? There is something about the word pumpkin that just puts some people off but the marmalade itself is actually lovely. The pumpkin doesn't contribute to the flavour, which of course is dominated by the oranges that also go into the recipe, along with rather lovely warming undertones from grated root ginger. Instead, the pumpkin gives the marmalade a beautiful smooth background texture. All in all it is a tasty autumnal marmalade and the name "All Hallows" really rather suits it. But most importantly, with the use of pumpkin, I was able to offer a marmalade where a good bulk of the ingredients were homegrown.

There is no doubt that marmalade is a popular food with a definite fan club. Some people would really rather have marmalade on their breakfast toast than jam so this year I have given more attention to this preserve to expand my range. First came "Jamdelade". I invented this when presented with a rather large bag of crabapples. It is in essence, crabapple and orange jelly with pieces of peel suspended in it. Sweeter than a normal marmalade, it is the missing link between jam and marmalade and makes a good "trainee" marmalade for those who prefer sweet to bitter. Next came Lemon & Lavender Marmalade, made using the lavender that grows in my front garden. Forget soap, this marmalade taste of lemons but with a more complex flavour that is hard to pinpoint without the clues from the label.

Later, Laura found a recipe for Orange and Rhubarb Marmalade in her grandmother's old recipe books. What a find that was - a very popular marmalade that sells from the name alone, but it stands up to taste testing too with it sherbetty-orange zing. Then in the autumn, with the apple harvest, I tried an Apple & Ginger Marmalade recipe. It is a joy to make as it well behaved and sets beautifully and again it is a popular choice. Finally, I adapted the Apple & Ginger Marmalade recipe to try a flavour combination suggested by Lisa on my Facebook page - Strawberry & Lime marmalade. Wow! What a revelation that was! It is made using limes, lemons, apples and strawberries and if you shoved a whole pack of Fruit Pastilles in your mouth in one go you would get a close approximation of the flavour of this marmalade.

For many home-made preserve makers, there will be growing anticipation as we approach the long awaited Seville orange season early in the new year. Not so for me. Seville orange season will once again wash over me and instead I shall be making a steady stock of marmalades throughout the year as the different fruits come into season. And with such an amazing selection of flavours on offer, who would be satisfied with a jar of plain old Orange Marmalade anyway?

Fluffy Ideas

One of the things I really love about being part of the Milton Keynes foodie scene is meeting other foodie people and being introduced to new foods. Sometimes these foods are familiar in idea but are made from superior ingredients and with gentle methods and result in an end product far removed from a commercially made version. Sometimes, the foods are things I have never come across before.

Recently, my friend Laura has started a business selling handmade gourmet marshmallows. These are one of those things that when made commercially can actually be pretty grim. Overly soft, overly sweet and with an odd after-taste that raises suspicions about what the ingredients are. Stark contrast to the lovely things that Laura makes - plump, delicately flavoured and offering just the right amount of resistance as you bite into them. And if that wasn't enough, she makes them in several delicious flavours too - vanilla, lemon, raspberry and chocolate chip. Yes, chocolate chip marshmallows - yum! There will probably be other flavours with time as she works on product development, which is just fine by me as I'm always available as a taste-tester!

In conversation Laura mentioned that she also makes marshmallow fluff. This isn't something I had come across before but it sounded intriguing and I was more than willing to experiment with it. Unlike conventional marshmallows which come in little pillows you can hold in your fingers, marshmallow fluff comes in a jar and is soft, creamy and spreadable. Laura tells me that some people do just spread it on toast or in a sandwich, sometimes with jam and/or peanut butter, and it can, of course, be licked straight off the spoon.

When Laura gave me a jar of marshmallow fluff this week I instantly could see its potential as an ingredient in home baking. That afternoon whilst munching on a mini jam tart I realised that it could be jazzed up a bit with a blob of fluff on top so gave it a go and got a 10 out of 10 mark from my youngest daughter! This weekend I made a batch of basic biscuits and had a go at making sandwich biscuits. A biscuit base, a thin smear of raspberry or strawberry jam, a splodge of fluff and a biscuit on top - simple.

Then, another variation, a biscuit base, a smear of jam, a dollop of fluff and a sprinkle of dessicated coconut; a bit like a naked Tunnocks Tea Cake.

And for a bit of fun - iced gems - mini biscuits, a blob of fluff and a sugar flower on top.

Well, I don't know how much effort it is for Laura to make a batch of fluff but once made it is a brilliant, easy to use ingredient to add a touch of creaminess or fluffiness to biscuits and cakes. Great fun!

For more info have a look at Laura's facebook page http://www.facebook.com//Milton-Mallows

Basic Biscuit Recipe:


4 oz (110g) butter
2 oz (55g) caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 oz (85g) plain flour
2 oz (55g) wholemeal flour
1 oz (25g) oat bran
¼ teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 180°C, gas 4 and grease a large baking sheet. Cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and stir well. Add the flours, oat bran and baking powder and combine to form a soft dough. Roll out the dough on a floured surface and use pastry cutters to cut out biscuits. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until golden brown then cool on a wire rack.

Remembrance Biscuits

Next Sunday is Remembrance Day and once again paper poppies are being worn to show support for members the armed forces who have died in the line of duty.

Here's an idea you could use to help raise funds for this cause - Remembrance Biscuits. Cook a batch or two and ask for a donation to the British Legion in exchange for a biscuit.

Remembrance Biscuits:

8 oz (225g) self-raising flour
4oz (110g) butter
4 oz (110g) caster sugar
Milk
Natural red food colouring
Dark jam such as Blackcurrant or Blackberry

Preheat oven to 190°C/gas 5 and grease a baking tray. Rub the butter and flour together until it resembles breadcrumbs. Mix in the sugar. Mix plenty of food colouring into a small amount of milk then use this to bind together the mixture until to forms a soft dough. Roll the dough into a fat tube then slice it into about 12 pieces. Place the slices onto the baking tray then use the end of a wooden spoon to make an indentation in the centre of each biscuit. Spoon a little jam into the indentation. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes then cool on a wire rack.

How to Carve A Halloween Pumpkin

With just a few days to go until Halloween, you may well be making plans for what to do on the day. The most obvious thing is to take your kids Treat or Treating, dressed up in appropriate fancy dress costumes. If you don't have children of your own at home then maybe you would like to have some treats ready for children who may come to door. It is readily accepted in many neighborhoods that Trick or Treaters will only call on houses that show a sign that they are welcome and the most usual sign for this is a carved Halloween pumpkin.

If you have never carved a pumpkin before, it really isn't as difficult as you might imagine and it is a great activity to do with your kids. Last week I read an article which said that children could be involved in the selecting of a design for the lantern but they mustn't help more than that because it is dangerous. After my last blog rant about kids and knives, you'll not be surprised to hear me say that I don't agree with this and that once again children can be involved if they are properly supervised, have the correct tools and are shown properly how to help.

So, the first task is to select your pumpkin. Children tend to go for the largest they can find but small ones are a lot quicker and easier to carve and look great too. All pumpkins have "sides" to them because they grow resting on the ground so one side is always flatter and rougher than the rest of it so decide which side is best to carve. To get started, cut a rough hexagonal shape around the stalk to make a removal lid. This can be done with a large, pointed and sharp kitchen knife in a series of stabbing cuts downwards through the flesh and into the void in the centre of the fruit. I would recommend that this bit is done by an adult. Once cut, the lid can be removed but there will be some resistance because the gooey stuff inside will be holding it down but gentle tugging and twisting should release the lid.

Now the gooey stringy stuff and seeds needs to be removed and this is definitely a job everyone can get involved in. Hands are by far the best tools for this job and great fun can be had just because it is all so slimy and gross! Once the majority of the icky stuff is removed, use metal spoons to scrape away some of the flesh of the pumpkin, concentrating particularly on the side that will be carved to thin the wall here to make it easier to carve. Save the pumpkin flesh for cooking later.

The next step is to decide on the design to go on the pumpkin. There are lots of images on the web and you can also buy template books, or you can just draw a design. If you feel particularly confident, draw the design directly onto the pumpkin with a suitable pen. Otherwise, tape a printed version of your design to the pumpkin and use a sharp point such as a drawing pin to prick points along the lines of your design to create a dot-to-dot pattern in the skin of the pumpkin to use as a guide one the printed design is removed.

The best tools to use for cutting a pumpkin are in fact pumpkin carving tools, which are readily available to buy these days in supermarkets and online. The small, serrated saw-like knifes cut through the pumpkin perfectly and are easy to use and change direction as you are cutting. If you have a tool like this then you should be able to let your child from about the age of 7 or 8 use it safely. If you don't and are using a kitchen knife then you'd better do the curving yourself as the knife will be more inclined to slip. So, using your tool, carefully cut out the shapes on your design, putting the pieces of removed pumpkin to one side to cook later. If your pumpkin wall is very thick, you may need to remove more pumpkin flesh from the inside of your pumpkin as you go.

If you would like to keep your pumpkin lantern for a few days then smear the inside and all the cut edges of the design with petroleum jelly to help keep the moisture in and the mould out. I have also found with experience that the heating that occurs when a tealight is lit inside the pumpkin is enough to encourage a growth of furry mould so using a battery powered tealight is better for the health of your lantern as well as for safety. If using a tealight, always leave the lid off when the candle is lit. If using a battery powered one you can put the lid back on.

With the bits of pumpkin that you have saved from your lantern you can make a yummy batch of Pumpkin Muffins, which make a lovely afternoon snack after all your hard work!

Pumpkin Muffins


1 lb (450g) pumpkin
3¼ oz (90 g) wholemeal flour
6½ oz (180g) self-raising flour
½ teaspoon mixed spice
¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
3¾ oz (95g) dark brown sugar
2 oz (55g) sultanas
2 eggs
4 fl oz (115 ml) sunflower oil
4 fl oz (115 ml) whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Peel, chop and steam the pumpkin for 20 to 30 minutes until very soft.  Squash until smooth then allow to cool. Refrigerate overnight if desired.  Preheat oven to 210°C, gas 7.  Sift the flours and spices into a bowl, adding any bran remaining in the sieve.  Whisk the eggs, oil, milk and vanilla together and add to the dry mix then add the pumpkin.  Combine until just mixed.  Spoon into paper cases in a tin.  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack.