Time Together

This weekend, as a Valentine’s Day treat, my husband and I spent some time together without the baby. This was quite a big step for me as I’ve spent very little time away from her – partly through necessity as I was breastfeeding up until recently, but also due to the fact that the fretful mother in me was reluctant to trust her care to someone else. However, as my husband and I have spent so little quality time together as a couple recently, we thought it was important that we had a weekend away. I must confess, I did take some talking around but in the end I agreed to it.

After dropping off the baby at my mum’s, we went out for a meal and it was lovely to have time to talk about ideas and thoughts rather than practical matters demanding our attention. In fact, it was just so lovely to have time generally. Everything about our time away was slow-paced and unhurried – a complete contrast to my normal day-to-day activities. Breakfast the next morning for instance, was a wonderfully leisurely affair with pastries and a paper – a real treat as we don’t have time to read the paper usually.

We then spent the day in Malvern, Worcestershire – walking in the hills and finally visiting the knitting shop in the town which had been enthusiastically recommended to me by a number of people. The Malverns have a special significance for us as my husband proposed to me at their highest point many years ago and whilst we were up there it made us smile to see another couple doing just that. It’s undoubtedly a romantic spot – even on a damp and windy february day. The visibility wasn’t great but you could still see great swathes of the surrounding countryside – the rolling hills of Herefordshire contrasting with the flat plains of Worcestershire. There was still some snow on the hills, although it had disappeared on the low-lying areas.  We climbed up Herefordshire Beacon which is topped by British Camp, an Iron Age hillfort and the snow dramatically picked out the ditches of the ramparts. I loved how the snaking trails of snow seemed to coil themselves around the hill….

And of course, snow always provides opportunities for adults to act like kids…..

You can’t see in the picture, but there was a perfectly good non-slippy path to the side of me but I opted for the more er… interesting method of throwing myself down a snowdrift and, yes, I did end up on my bottom.

So, we had a wonderful time but how did baby small fare? Well, I think it was clear when we went to collect her and had to prise her away from grandma – she just didn’t want to leave! 

Finally….

…some snow! This is the first snow we’ve had here this winter and I’m ridiculously excited about it. What is it about snow that fills us with such childish delight? For me it conjures up memories of days off school spent playing in the snow, building snowmen and sledging down the pea field on old carpet tiles. Oh to be 10 years old again!

Back to the present – the baby was a little uncertain about the white stuff at first but she was soon stomping about in it. I didn’t let her stay out too long though as she’s quite poorly at the moment (hence the snotty nose in the pic – poor thing) and I thought getting cold and wet probably wouldn’t improve matters!

Recipe: Cawl Mamgu (Lamb Broth)

As I’m currently living in Wales, I like to cook traditional Welsh dishes from time to time. This is one of our favourites – Cawl Mamgu or Granny’s Broth – baby small is particularly fond of it! it’s simple and relatively cheap to make, tastes great and, provided you use water rather than stock, is suitable for older babies. If you’d like a bit of food history, please take a look here.

Serves 4

• 450g diced lamb
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 sticks of celery, chopped
• 1 swede, diced 
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 parsnip
• 2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 leeks, thinly sliced
• fresh or dried thyme
• olive oil
• seasoning
• water or stock

Heat the oil in a frying pan then gently fry the onions and celery for 10 minutes. Add the carrots, parsnip and swede and cook until golden then transfer to a flame-proof casserole. Next brown the meat really well – this adds flavour and is particularly important if you’re using water rather than stock. Transfer the meat to the casserole and cover with water or stock. Deglaze the frying pan with a little water or stock and add this to the casserole. Add the thyme and bring to the boil. Cover and simmer as gently as possible for 2 hours. When the 2 hours are up, add the potatoes and leeks and cook for a further 20 – 30 minutes. Serve with crusty bread.

Blood, Guts and Testing my Mettle…

It’s easy to claim you can do something if you’re never put to the test. When we’ve seen things on telly about killing and preparing your own meat (River Cottage, Kill it, Cook it, Eat it etc) I’ve always maintained that, although I could never kill an animal, I’d have no problem preparing it for cooking. I’m not squeamish, and although I’ve never exactly relished the prospect of gutting an animal, I’ve believed myself to be capable of doing it. In fact, I believe it quite an important thing to do – for many people meat has become just something you can pick up from a supermarket, cellophane-wrapped and looking very un-animal like. It’s easy to forget where it actually comes from (see here if you don’t believe me!) – but when you pluck/skin/draw/gut your own, the fact that it was once a living creature is inescapable. Also, as we plan (one day) to have a smallholding, it’s important for me to be able to prepare and process our own meat as I see this as being integral to that sort of lifestyle (unless you’re vegetarian of course).

Anyhow, on with the story….

Last weekend we were kindly given a brace of pheasant. Both my husband and I are fond of game generally and pheasant is a particular favourite. However, when we’ve had pheasant before it’s come from the butchers or farmer’s market, ready for cooking. These pheasants were definitely not oven-ready. They were fully feathered and otherwise intact. Eek! We allowed the pheasants to hang for a week in our ‘game larder’ (otherwise known as the outside loo), and throughout the week I found my thoughts wandering nervously to the birds. The root of my anxiety lay in my lack of experience – I was worried about doing it all wrong. I should perhaps point out here that I also have a few unresolved moral issues with meat-eating – not enough to make me stop eating meat altogether, but I do limit the amount of meat we eat and only buy stuff that I know has been reared and slaughtered in as ethical and humane a manner as possible. Anyhow, because of these issues, it was vital that I made the most of our pheasants and didn’t end up with a big, inedible mess! My first task was to pluck the birds. My husband helped with this part and it turned out to be much easier than I’d been expecting and even a little enjoyable. Pheasants are beautiful creatures and I took time to admire the rich colouring of the cock pheasant and the delicate patterning of the hen’s feathers.

Once plucked, it was time to draw the birds. My husband resolutely refused to help with this part but, buoyed by the success of the plucking, I was feeling pretty confident. I’d read plenty of books which described how to draw the birds and had also researched it online. Everything I’d read made it seem easy…

It wasn’t.

I was expecting it to smell a bit, but was completely unprepared for the foulness of the stench – and even less prepared for my reaction to it. I gagged and had to run from the room, knowing that if I’d spent a moment longer there I would have been sick. I was completely ashamed of myself and close to tears. As already mentioned, it was really important to me to be able to do this. I felt like my body was letting me down – mentally, I was resolute that I could do it but my physical response seemed to be completely outside of my control. The thing that got me back in that room was respect for the pheasants. There was no way I could allow them to be wasted. I finished off the first bird, still struggling to keep my breakfast down, but by the time I got to the second, something had changed and suddenly the smell didn’t seem quite so bad. I’m not proud of my initial reaction but I am pleased that I managed to go back and finish what I’d started. I think it’s one of those things that after you’ve done it once, you can do it a thousand times. I’m certain that next time (and yes, there will be a next time ) I’ll be able to pluck and draw without any of the er… drama of my initial attempt – in fact, I’m quite looking forward to it! So, moving onto more pleasant pheasant territory – the cooking part. I suspected that our birds were quite mature – over a year – so thought it best to cook them slowly in a casserole rather than roast them and, with the continuing grey, dampness of the Welsh winter, a hearty stew seemed like a good idea anyhow! After looking through a few of my recipe books without finding precisely what I wanted, I decided to just make something up as I went along. I’m pleased to tell you that the resulting stew was delicious and adequate recompense for the unpleasantness of the drawing! Here’s my recipe:

Pheasant Casserole

• brace of pheasant, cut into quarters
• 250g thick-cut bacon, cut into chunks
• 250g mushrooms, thickly sliced
• 3 sticks of celery, sliced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 large onion,
• diced 1 clove of garlic, crushed
• 400ml red wine
• 400ml stock (game, chicken or veg)
• generous sprinkling of dried thyme and parsley
• seasoning

Heat some olive oil in a frying pan, and gently sweat the onion, celery and carrots until starting to soften. Add the garlic, cook for a minute then transfer to a large, flameproof casserole. Next, turn up the heat and fry the bacon and mushrooms until nicely coloured. Add to the casserole. Next, brown the pheasant portions then add to the casserole. Pour the wine into the frying pan and allow it to bubble for a few moments whilst you scrape the pan to get all the lovely, tasty brown bits off. Pour into the casserole along with the hot stock. Add a sprinkling of herbs and season. Pop the lid on and cook in a low oven for 2 – 3 hours.

If I haven’t put you off pheasant for life, perhaps you might give it a try….

Wassail!

Yesterday was Old Twelfth Night, the time when wassailing in orchards traditionally takes place. Waes haeil means ‘be healthy’ and wassailing apple trees was believed to encourage a good crop.Traditionally, the largest or oldest tree in the orchard is selected as the focus of the wassailing, but, lacking either an orchard or a large apple tree, we decided to wassail my mother’s recently planted apple trees!

We hung some cider-drenched toast in the branches and poured cider around the trees roots. In keeping with tradition, a large quantity of cider was also consumed (although we did this part after the baby had gone to bed)! You can read more about the wassailing tradition here and here.

Recipe: Seville Orange Curd

Marmalade can be something of an acquired taste – not everyone likes it’s bitter tang. This recipe offers a sweeter, creamier alternative for putting those seasonal Seville oranges to good use. I urge you to give it a try – it’s quick and simple to make and it tastes divine.

The recipe is adapted from Pam Corbin’s wonderful recipe for Bramley Lemon Curd in the River Cottage Preserves book. 

Seville Orange Curd

Makes 3 x 225g jars

200ml Seville Orange juice (you need approximately 5 oranges)

zest of 3 Seville Oranges

125g unsalted butter

450g sugar (I used Tate and Lyle Organic Caster as that’s what I had in the pantry)

4 large eggs (to make 200ml of beaten egg)

Heat the butter, sugar, zest and orange juice in a bowl over a pan of simmering water until the butter has melted. Pour the beaten eggs through a sieve into the bowl. Stir every now and then until the mixture has thickened (this takes about 10 – 15 minutes), then pour into warm, sterilised jars and seal. The curd will keep for up to 4 weeks and needs to be kept in the fridge once opened. 

Marmalade

A well-stocked larder is a thing to delight in. I love to see my shelves jam-packed with row after row of preserves. I’ve always been a bit of a hoarder so I guess it stems from that. However, due to giving away lots of preserves as Christmas gifts, my stash has been a bit depleted of late – something I was keen to remedy. Winter isn’t the obvious season for a bout of preserving but there are a few yummy things you can make which utilise seasonal fruit and veg. Today, it was the turn of the seville oranges: time to make marmalade!

The recipe I used came from Pam Corbin’s wonderful book Preserves. It uses demerara sugar which produces a wonderfully dark, amber marmalade. It tastes wonderful too, with the seville oranges holding their own against the sugar. The flavour is intensely orangey and bittersweet, so definitely a grown-up preserve. There are also lots of good marmalade recipes available online and, if you fancy making some, its worth taking a peek at the following:

Delia’s Seville Orange Marmalade

Delia’s Dark Chunky Marmalade

Dark Musovado and Whisky Marmalade

A few marmalade-making tips:

Make sure the peel is completely tender before you add the sugar. Once the sugar is added it won’t soften any more. 

To stop the peel from floating to the top when you pour into jars, allow the marmalade to cool for about 10 minutes before potting.

Don’t be afraid to make a large batch – marmalade keeps really well – apparently up to 2 years, but I must admit, in this house it’s normally been scoffed long before that!

Slouchy Hat

I’m not really a hat person, nor am I a bandwagon sort of person, so I was little surprised to find myself making the Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat by Craftypants. The pattern has been hugely popular on Craftster and Ravelry but, up until this week, I’ve resisted it’s lure. I finally cracked when I was wondering what to do with a ball of yarn that has been lurking at the bottom of my stash for about 2 years – I thought it was about time I found a use for it and this pattern seemed ideal. I’m glad I gave in and followed the crowd. It is a lovely, lovely hat – quick and easy to crochet, used little yarn and is very versatile as it can be worn in a number of ways. Anyhow, enough enthusing, on to the nitty gritty….

Pattern: Pretty Puffs Slouchy Hat

Hook: 6.50mm

Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool x 0.5 skein (not sure what shade sorry)

Modifications: None made although next time I might add in a few stitches to make the hat a bit more slouchy. I’m also planning a baby-size version as the babe tried my hat on and looked very cute!

Seville Oranges

Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend….

For me, one of the delights of January are Seville Oranges. Any opportunity for preserving usually fills me with greedy anticipation, but these are even more special. They appear at a time when few fruits are in season and bring a welcome burst of colour into these grey winter days.

Seville Oranges have a short season – mid January to February – so you’ll need to snap them up quickly if you fancy a spot of marmalade making. Of course you can make marmalade with any citrus fruit, but Seville Oranges are particularly well-suited for the purpose as they are higher in pectin than normal oranges. They are bitter-tasting and full of pips, so definitely not for eating, yet their intense flavour is perfect for preserves. Marmalade is the obvious example but, if time permits, I’m also hoping to make some Seville Orange Curd. Yum! I usually try to avoid buying imported fruit but I do make an exception for Seville Oranges,  reasoning that just a small amount can keep us stocked up with marmalade for at least a year – so a little goes a long way!

Anyhow, more on marmalade in a future post….

Winter

After celebrating Autumn with brightly-coloured photographs, seasonal recipes and a number of posts about apples that bordered on the obsessive, I’ve so far paid winter much less attention. In part this is due to the fact that I like Autumn more than Winter but also that there have been very few points so far this winter where all three of us have been wholly well – meaning few opportunities for getting out to enjoy the season. It also doesn’t help that the baby seems to hate the cold with a passion!

However, rather than thinking about all the things I dislike about winter, I want to focus on it’s more positive points. There are many reasons to love winter: beautiful snow-covered landscapes, mulled wine, trees silvered with frost, big bowls of hearty stew, making marmalade or cosying up in front of the fire.

Over the next few weeks I have a number of winter-themed activities planned that will hopefully help me connect with the season and learn to like it a bit more:

• Woodland walks.
• Lots of hearty winter cooking – stews, soups and bakes.
• Making Seville Orange Marmalade.
• Using the time indoors to have fun with crafts with the baby.
• Making (and drinking) mulled cider.
• Planning the garden for next year.
• Keeping an eye out for early rhubarb at the market and pouncing when I see some.
• Cosying up on the sofa and crocheting / knitting / stitching.

So, if I don’t learn to love winter after all that, I’ll just have to give up and try hibernation instead next year….