I love making sourdough but it does take a while, and I let my culture die over winter, so need to start from scratch. I like soda bread for a quick loaf without yeast. I just add lemon juice to milk as a substitute for buttermilk.
This easy cheesy lentil bake is one of my favourite "storecupboard and fridge bottom" recipes. It's a moveable feast in that you can use whatever veggie bits you have that need using up. I skip the cashews because OH is allergic, and the mushrooms because I don't like them, and add other things like courgettes, peppers, broccoli, chopped leftover ham if you don't need it to be vegetarian, cooked/tinned butter beans or similar, etc..
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Does anyone have suggestions for how to use up excess lettuce? We’re having all the salad we can manage and I’ve already made a big batch of lettuce & mint soup.
Any other options? I got carried away and planted 30 red lettuce and 20 little gem. Drowning in lettuce leaves.
Now this is thread that I can relate to!! @Womble54 for the first post - relish. I will definitely try this!! Lettuces (when they are bolting) can be gently fried in olive oil or butter. Little onion. Little dried pepper (flakes). s&p. Bon appetit. i have loads - mother-in-law calabraise (Italy) They make sumptious dishes from nothing! We may need them this winter.
For @Dovefromabove and anyone else who likes creamy alcoholic puddings. It's from a 1072 book by Marguerite Pattern so quantities in old money. I have used 30g per ounce for the weights.
Rum Pudding
with Cherry Sauce
300ml double cream,
chilled and then whipped to soft peaks 15ml powdered gelatine or 5 leaves of gelatine 4 large egg yolks 150g caster sugar 150ml milk 150ml single cream 45ml dark rum 3ml vanilla extract
240g Morello cherries,
stoned weight* 65ml water 30 to 60g sugar according to
taste 10ml cornflour
If using powdered gelatine, dissolve it in 15ml of water. Otherwise, soften the gelatine leaves in
cold water for a few minutes till soft, then drain.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar till really thick and lightened in colour.
Bring the milk and single cream to the boil then remove from the heat and add
whichever gelatine you are using. Stir
the milk and cream mixture into the eggs and sugar with the vanilla and
rum. Chill until thick but not set
then fold in the whipped cream.
Pour into a mould which has been rinsed with cold water and leave to set. This can be a fancy jelly mould or a simple round
bowl.
When nearly ready to serve, put the cherries in a pan with half the water and
sugar to taste and cook for a few minutes.
Dissolve the corn flour in the remaining water and stir into the
cherries. Heat to cook the corn flour
and thicken the sauce the serve hot poured over portions of the rum pudding.
*Jars of stoned Morello cherries are fine.
Just thicken the juices a bit if needed.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Not a recipe but a query... we have a glut of runner beans, and a new (additional) freezer, so space to freeze them. I've frozen them in the (distant) past but the result was disappointing.
My query is this: I cook runner beans only for 2 minutes cos we like them "squeaky". The Internet says I have to blanch them for 3 minutes before freezing, but if I do that, they'll be soggy when I cook them. Can I freeze them without blanching first? If blanching is really desirable, would 1 minute steaming or microwaving do the trick?
Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
I think they need to blanch to kill surface bugs, not cook, so micro might not work. I do find French beans better for the freezer, but green beans have worked fine for me, but I do like them softer. Maybe blanch and then freeze, but then add them to stews or soups.
Posts
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/irishsodabread_67445
Gleaned from 'Blue Peter' many years ago:
‘WINTER WARMER’ SAVOURY PIE.
(Will easily satisfy four healthy appetites)
INGREDIENTS: 2 Eggs
8oz Bacon Off-cuts – minced
1 Onion – chopped
8oz Cheese – grated
4oz breadcrumbs
8oz mushrooms – sliced
3 large tomatoes – sliced
2oz margarine.
1 Mix thoroughly: Eggs/Bacon/Onion and Cheese/breadcrumbs
2 Grease casserole
3 Put in half the egg/bacon/onion mix and spread evenly
Then half the tomatoes
Half the mushrooms and
Half the cheese/breadcrumbs mix in even layers.
4 Repeat with remaining halves.
5 Place lumps of margarine on top
6 Cook at Gas mark 6/Electric 200 deg for 45 minutes
Rum Pudding with Cherry Sauce
300ml double cream, chilled and then whipped to soft peaks
15ml powdered gelatine or 5 leaves of gelatine
4 large egg yolks
150g caster sugar
150ml milk
150ml single cream
45ml dark rum
3ml vanilla extract
240g Morello cherries, stoned weight*
65ml water
30 to 60g sugar according to taste
10ml cornflour
If using powdered gelatine, dissolve it in 15ml of water. Otherwise, soften the gelatine leaves in cold water for a few minutes till soft, then drain.
Whisk the egg yolks and sugar till really thick and lightened in colour.
Bring the milk and single cream to the boil then remove from the heat and add whichever gelatine you are using. Stir the milk and cream mixture into the eggs and sugar with the vanilla and rum. Chill until thick but not set then fold in the whipped cream.
Pour into a mould which has been rinsed with cold water and leave to set. This can be a fancy jelly mould or a simple round bowl.
When nearly ready to serve, put the cherries in a pan with half the water and sugar to taste and cook for a few minutes. Dissolve the corn flour in the remaining water and stir into the cherries. Heat to cook the corn flour and thicken the sauce the serve hot poured over portions of the rum pudding.
*Jars of stoned Morello cherries are fine. Just thicken the juices a bit if needed.
My query is this: I cook runner beans only for 2 minutes cos we like them "squeaky". The Internet says I have to blanch them for 3 minutes before freezing, but if I do that, they'll be soggy when I cook them. Can I freeze them without blanching first? If blanching is really desirable, would 1 minute steaming or microwaving do the trick?
The only ones that I like fairly soft.