Navvies Slice

 

Navvies Slice

This was one of the favourite traybakes that I made when working as a volunteer cook on the canal camps run by the Waterway Recovery Group. It, and some of my other recipes from my time with WRG, can be found in my book "Fancy a Dirty Weekend?" available on Amazon in Kindle format. 

Ingredients:

300g cooking chocolate  - either plain, milk, orange or white as preferred

125g soft margarine

250g granulated sugar

250g porridge oats 

2 eggs

125g glacé cherries, halved (or chopped mixed glacé fruits or chopped dried apricots if preferred)

Method: 

Melt chocolate in a bowl over a pan of boiling water or in a microwave oven, and pour onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Leave to set until quite hard. Meanwhile, cream margarine and sugar together, then add eggs, oats (or coconut), and cherries (or glace fruits / apricots). Mix together well then spread over the set chocolate base.

Baking: 

Bake in oven on gas 4/350°f/180°c for about ½ hour until golden. Remove from oven. Leave in tin until absolutely cold so the chocolate sets hard again, then cut into pieces.

Makes 18-20 pieces

Festive Flapjack! UPDATED December 2021 Recipe

This family loves flapjack! It's been one of the bakes I have made since my son was quite small, and he has developed a passion for it. So much so that he is now trying out new recipes for variations on the basic flapjack taste.

Having explored Strawberry Flapjack, and Mixed Berry Flapjack, I set him a challenge: can we make flapjack with mincemeat, as an alternative offering to the ubiquitous Christmas Mince Pies?

Enthused by the idea, and armed with a large jar of fabulously aromatic nut-free and vegetarian ALDI Mincemeat (The Pantry Classic Mincemeat) he set about making it happen.

The first try was good, but needed to be slightly more dense as it came out a little crumbly. The second try (see above) worked perfectly, and the texture was firmer and taste was just superb. I love mincemeat but I'm not a pastry fan, so tend to avoid mince pies, but the mincemeat flapjack is a great alternative. 

In 2021 after ALDI changed the consistency of their mincemeat (it's now more runny) we experimented with a change of recipe and the updated version is now shown below. 

We hope you might want to give it a try - it was described recently as "a winner" by someone who bakes a lot of cakes, so we were really pleased. 

This recipe is suitable for vegetarians and those following a dairy free and/or nut free diet, but it contains gluten (in the oats).

FESTIVE FLAPJACK 

1 large teaspoon bootstrap molasses (we use Meridian brand)

175g white granulated sugar

250g block margarine (we use Tesco Baking Block margarine which is vegetarian )

4 tablespoons golden syrup (approx 160g)

822g mincemeat (we use ALDI own brand)

715g rolled oats  (the sort you buy to make porridge with - no need for a branded version, supermarket own-brand works well - ours come from ALDI.)

In a large sauce pan over a low heat melt the molasses, margarine, sugars and golden syrup. Cook until all the sugar has melted into the mixture, stirring occasionally, then add the mincemeat and stir until all heated through and combined well. Don't boil!

Remove from heat and put to one side whilst you put the oats into a large mixing bowl, add the mincemeat/sugar/molasses/marg/syrup mix into the oats, mixing well until all the oats are coated with the mixture.

Line a deep baking tray or dish* (approx 20cm x 30cm x 5cm deep or equivalent) with baking parchment (the latter makes lifting it out so much easier!) pour in the flapjack mix and level with a wooden spoon. The mixture should be around 3 cm deep.  * We use a ceramic ovenproof dish instead of a baking tray.

Place baking tray/dish in a moderate oven (Gas 4 or 180C) and bake for around 45 minutes, or until the top is firm and golden brown.

Remove from oven when cooked and leave in tray until cold before lifting out.

Slice it into pieces using a large knife (or as we did, the meat cleaver as it is a long level blade!)

Enjoy!

Adventures in Cheese: Boy Laity (Curds and Croust)

 

A superb Cornish Camembert cheese made by Martin Gaylard Speciality Cheese Ltd., from near Liskeard. This Camembert is better in my opinion than the traditional French Camembert. It's firm and creamy but a distinctive mellow flavour that is decidedly more-ish!  It's a cows milk cheese that comes in a 165g wheel, and is the winner of several awards.  We founds ours at Booth's supermarket. 

Adventures in Cheese: Singleton's Parlick Fell Ewes cheese

Parlick Fell is a ewe's milk (sheep's milk) cheese made in central Lancashire by family firm Grandma Singleton's, who have been making and selling cheese since 1934. It gets its name from Parlick Fell, a few miles from the dairy, and is made from Lancashire ewe's milk from Stott's Farm in the Ribble Valley.

Singleton's Parlick Fell Cheese

Singleton's is the largest producer of ewe's milk cheese in the UK, and P:arlick Fell is one of their award winning varieties, which has a slightly tart creamy flavour, and comes in a green wax rind. It's really nice, and makes a great addition to the cheeseboard or to enjoy with savoury crackers etc.  I bought mine at Booth's supermarket at Carnforth. 

Singleton's have also this year produced a variation: Parlick Fell with Olives, which is on my list to taste test very soon! 

Adventures in Cheese: Gorwydd Caerphilly

This is a delicious creamy, slightly citrusy, Caerphilly cheese, which was originally made on their parents' Welsh farm by two brothers: Maughan and Todd Trethowan, in the Teifi Valley, but since 2014 has been made near Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset, by Maughan and his wife Kim in their new dairy. 

Gorwydd Caerphilly Cheese

An organic raw-milk (unpasteurised), hand-worked cloth-bound cheese with a natural rind, it is normally matured for around 3-4 months. 

Gorwydd Caerphilly cheese  has won several awards, including Best British Cheese at  the World Cheese Awards 2021 held in Spain on 3rd November. 

It's a cheese that goes incredibly well with savoury crackers, tomatoes, olives etc. or just enjoy it on its own! 

Preserves: Pear and Ginger Jam

Last summer a client gave hubbie a bag of pears, which we don't eat as fruit, so I went hunting for a recipe to use them in. This one did the trick - I left out the stem ginger as I don't care for it - but the resulting jam was delicious! The apples I used were windfalls from our own trees. I made a second batch using pears from the reduced rack in the supermarket, and that jar disappeared as fast as the first one. Perhaps we need to add a small pear tree to the garden!

Adventures in Cheese: Butlers Blacksticks Blue

This is one of the yummiest blue cheeses I've tried so far! Made in my home county of Lancashire by Butler's, it's an amazingly flavourful blue cheese, which comes in several formats: a ready to eat wedge, slices for burgers, a creamy brûlée, and pots of cheese shots (which I used to make cauliflower cheese with).  

You can even buy an age-your-own version, so you can keep it as long (or as short) as you like, depending on the level of flavour you want from it and how strong your willpower is!

What I really enjoy about Butler's Blacksticks Blue cheese is the creaminess of it, yet the texture isn't wet or sticky like some of the continental blue cheeses I've tried. 

It goes so well with savoury crackers, but also melts on toast, and as for that cauliflower cheese, that's another post all by itself! 

Plain butter scones - an indulgence!

We all love scones in our household! Normally we make Vegan Scones, but recently I was asked how to make plain butter scones, so here is our standard recipe for them:

454g plain flour 2.5 teaspoons baking powder 

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 

114g butter 

114g sugar 

230ml of buttermilk (or you can use ordinary milk, even it's is starting to just turn sour) 

 Mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarb and sugar in large bowl, cut the butter into small pieces, drop it into the bowl and then rub the butter into the flour mix. It should take around 7-10 minutes depending on the temperature of the butter. The mix should look like big breadcrumbs when it's done, with no big lumps of butter visible. 

Slowly add the buttermilk or milk mixing as you go (I use a fork for this as it works well), keep adding the liquid until you have a firm dry-ish dough, it shouldn't be wet and sticky. You might find you don't need all the liquid as it depends on the absorbency of your flour. Just use what is needed. 

Once it's a nice firm dry dough (not so dry as it crumbles up) then lift it out onto a floured flat surface and roll it flat until it's about 1cm thick. 

Cut into rounds using any handy-sized cutter - if you don't have a cutter then grease the rim of a mug and use that instead. 

Lay the rounds onto greaseproof paper on a flat baking tray, and then glaze the surface of the rounds. You can use either a beaten egg for this, or the remains of the milk liquid. 

Pop into the oven on high heat (gas mark 7) or 230C if fan assisted electric oven, 265C if not. Bake for around 15-20 minutes in the centre of the oven. 

When they are done they will look golden and smell delicious!

To ring the changes (as image above), add 200g of the dried fruit of your choice to the dry mix before adding the liquid. Sultanas, currants, raisins, glacé cherries, dried cranberries and mixed peel all work well. Then continue as for plain butter scones.

Adventures in Cheese: Garstang Blue

Dewlay Garstang Blue cheese, image from www.dewlay.com

I'm funny about blue cheeses, some of them I can't eat, others are fine. However, this one, Garstang Blue by Dewlay Cheeses in Lancashire is the best I've tried so far.  It's wonderfully creamy and tasty, slightly tart but not too much so, with a delicious aroma that makes my mouth water just unwrapping it. 

It's a cheese that I enjoyed eating on its own, but that also worked well on Booth's sub rolls with a slice of Booth's smoked German ham, as the combination of flavours was delightful. It also works well as a cheese to flavour a white sauce with - cauliflower cheese with Garstang Blue sauce sounds yummy!

Dewlay Cheesemakers of Garstang are based just outside Garstang in central Lancashire, and have been making cheeses since 1957. Along with Garstang Blue, the range includes Lancashire and Wensleydale, smoked cheese, Garstang White and Nicky Nook blue, as well as flavoured cheeses such as Double Gloucester with chive and onion, Lancashire with chili, chives or garlic, and Wensleydale with cranberries.

In addition to their cheese range, Dewlay also offers (via their webshop) cheese selection and gift boxes, hampers, and their amazing cheese cakes - perfect for a wedding feast or other celebration! 

Dewlay webshop hampers, gift boxes and cheese cakes, image from www.dewlay.com
.

Adventures in Cheese: Snowdonia Beechwood Smoked

As a lifelong lover of cheese in all its types, one of my big worries about Brexit has been a possible reduction in the range of cheeses available in the UK. I might be worrying prematurely, so I thought it was time to explore some more of our wonderful British cheeses, starting with Snowdonia's Beechwood naturally smoked mature cheddar. I found this on sale in Booth's supermarket so had to try it and I have to say it's delicious! 

The Snowdonia Cheese Company was formed in 2001, and is based in Llanrwst on the edge of the Snowdonia National Park, hence the name. Their range currently includes 12 cheeses and 4 chutneys, which can be purchased individually or in gift packs from their webshop. They also have a page of recipes using their cheeses which is worth checking out - the Smoky Beechwood Fishcakes sound very tempting. 

I admit to having a liking for smoked cheeses, but with some I have found the aroma of smokiness exceeds the taste. With Beechwood smoked cheddar the taste is just as forthcoming as the aroma. It's a firm, tasty cheese in a yellow waxed coating, and is sold by Snowdonia Cheese Company via their website if you can't find it locally. They offer 200g and 2kg options in their webshop where it is described as a, "Mature Cheddar naturally smoked over beech wood chips for a smoky depth of flavour throughout."

The texture is slightly crumbly and definitely creamy. I had mine with olive, tomatoes and home-made crackers for lunch and it was delicious. Snowdonia's other cheeses will be featured in future adventures with cheese here on the blog, but to start with the Beechwood is highly recommended!

Anne's Tomato Bread

Anne's Tomato Bread

This is one of the best breads we've made so far!  And it's so simple to make, fairly quick to prepare and complete, plus a couple of hours rising time and 40 minutes baking time.

Ingredients:

425g of strong bread flour (I used ALDI's own brand bread flour)
33g of fresh yeast (mine came from Booth's but many supermarkets have it in the bakery section, just ask them) 
1½ tablespoons (tbs) granulated sugar
½ teaspoon (tsp) fine table salt
5 pieces of sundried tomato, chopped into small pieces
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic granules or powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp crushed or ground dried rosemary
2 tbs tomato puree
1 tsp olive oil
up to 1.5 cups of tepid water

Method:

Crumble the yeast into a bowl and add the sugar to it, leave to stand for around 10 minutes.

Yeast and sugar mix

The mixture will start to interact and liquify. Add around 1/2 a cup of the tepid water and mix together - don't worry if you still have uneven bits showing, they'll slowly dissolve and it'll all work once you add it to the flour.

Yeast, sugar and water mix

Into a large mixing bowl put the flour, salt, garlic and herbs, and mix them together well.

Flour, salt, garlic and herbs

Make a well in the centre of the flour mix, and pour into it the olive oil and the tomato puree.

Olive oil and tomato puree into the flour mix

Add the yeast mix...

Yeast mix added to the flour mix

And gently fold the flour mix into the well.

The mixture starts to combine

Add the chopped sundried tomato pieces...

It's best to use dried tomatoes rather than those in oil

Add more water as needed, a half cup at a time...

The mix is starting to combine well...

Nearly there, still needs a bit more mixing...

   ... until you get the dough to the right consistency (it should be firm and doughy, and not wet and sticky).

This is how it should look

Tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead for around 5 minutes, stretching and folding the dough - this is a great stress-reliever and a good workout for your arms and shoulder muscles!

After kneading, pop the dough back into the mixing bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and let it rise for around 2 hours in a warm place (not too hot or you'll kill the yeast!)

We stand the rising bowl on our brewer's pad (intended to help home brewers ferment beers or wines in demijohns) but you can use any warm place. If you're not sure if it's warm enough, add a hand towel or two on top of the tea towel to keep the dough warm (it's like having its own duvet!)

Once there is a bulge in the cloths at the top of the bowl your dough is ready for the next stage. This is how much our dough rose in 2 hours.

The risen dough should fill your bowl

Now preheat your oven whilst you do the next bit... it needs to be very hot - 450 degrees F (232 degrees C), or gas mark 8.  Lightly oil your baking pan and, if you are using a heavyweight pan or tray, pop it into the oven to heat up whilst you deal with the dough.

Tip the dough out onto the floured kneading surface again, and knead for 2 -3 minutes. Shape into whatever shaped loaf you want to make. 

Dough needs kneading!

As you can see here, we use a long enamelled cast iron pan for our bread, which takes a fair while to heat through, so the preheating of it is vital. Lift your shaped dough into the pan and put the pan back into your hot oven.  Bake for around 35 - 40 minutes.

Your pan should be big enough for your loaf to double in size during baking.

If you prefer to use a baking tray instead, you could line it with a sheet of baking parchment instead of oiling it, and place the dough in the centre of the tray, allowing space around it for it to spread and rise. 

Make sure you use a lower shelf in the oven to allow space for the bread to rise as it cooks.

Check the bread is cooked through by lifting the pan from the oven and lifting the bread from it, tap the base of the loaf, if it sounds hollow it's baked through. If it isn't done, pop it back in for another 5 minutes or so and check again. 

Once you're happy it's baked through pop it onto a wire cooling rack (if you don't have one then use the rack out of your grill tray, it's to stop the bottom going soggy).

Beautifully baked tomato loaf cooling on the rack

Cover with the clean tea towel again and leave to cool thoroughly before slicing and eating.

One slice or two?

This is how the inside should look - spread with your choice of butter / margarine / cheese spread or try it plain, it's yummy that way too.

Enjoy!

Adventures in Cheese: A Champagne Cheese!

"What?" I can hear you saying, "a Champagne cheese, what's that all about?"   Let me tell you about this most delicious cheese, from the Champagne-Ardenne region of Normandy in France. It's called Vignotte and is a high-fat, triple-cream cheese from pasteurised cow’s milk.

Vignotte contains nearly 75% fat due to the amount of cream it includes, and the cheese has a powdery white bloom on its outside and an seriously creamy, rich texture within. It's Brie on steroids! 

With a slight lemon-citrus flavour, it's delightful to eat on its own, or with crackers or artisan bread, and is one of the most delicious cheeses I've tried so far. I found it on sale in our local Booth's Supermarket at Carnforth. It's highly recommended if you enjoy rich creamy French cheeses.

Medovníky: Slovak Spiced Honey Cookies

We're feeling somewhat down in the dumps this week, after the media brouhaha about BREXIT last Friday, so the boy and I did we always do when the world gets us down: we retreated to the kitchen to cook, or in this case, bake!

We had a mammoth session of international cake making as a way of saying we reject the demonisation of immigrants and foreigners that seems to have been unleashed by the UK leaving the EU.

The result was two blueberry bundt cakes (American), a batch of cinnamon rolls (originally Scandinavian), and an enormous batch of Medovníky or Slovak Spiced Honey Cookies (Slovakia).

The latter is something he has wanted to try for ages, but it's one of those recipes that takes a bit of time to prepare, as it has to be left overnight to chill and firm up, and only then can you get to the interesting bit: baking and eating them!

Medovníky are traditional festive cookies often served at Christmastime in Slovakia and are often beautifully decorated with white icing patterns or swirls. Not being artistic, he decided to split the dough into halves and one batch were topped with a half glace cherry, the other batch were sprinkled with Aldi's Winter Spice baking fudge pieces, then all were glazed them with beaten egg (rather than the recipe's egg white) before baking. We also left out the optional almonds due to my nut allergy.

The flavour and aroma was really interesting, as you might guess reading the list of spices that go into these cookies, they reminded us of lebkuchen but with a difference.

The recipe made 36 cookies each of which is about the diameter of a round beer mat, so we'll probably be eating them for days!

Carrot and Cardamom Soup (V)

Carrot and cardamom soup with three olive bread

I've always loved carrot soup! One of the first recipes I ever tried was from a Marks & Spencer's cookbook and it was carrot and coriander soup. This was way back before it became popular and available ready made in every supermarket!  I loved it, and it's been a staple for the family ever since.  But I fancied a change from coriander, and having discovered that I can grind down the wondrous cardamom pods into cardamom powder, I wanted to try carrot soup with cardamom instead. It works so well!

Ingredients

280g carrot, thinly sliced (or you can use ready prepared baton carrots if you prefer)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
500 ml (½ litre) of vegetable stock
30g plant butter or dairy butter
1 tablespoon of flour
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
½ teaspoon of ground bay leaves
1 cup (½ pint) of plant based such as oat milk, or dairy milk
olive oil for frying
pinch of salt

Method

Put olive oil into soup pan and heat up, add onion and carrot and cook until softened, adding cardamom and bay during the cooking. Add half the stock and simmer gently.

In a separate pan melt the butter and add the flour and make a roux, stirring continuously for 1-1½ mins. Don't overcook it or it will burn. Add the rest of the vegetable stock, a spoonful at a time, mixing well to avoid lumps, once it's pourable add it to the soup pan and mix well. Blend using a stick blender or similar.

Add the milk, do a taste test, add a pinch of salt if needed and simmer for another 3-5 minutes to make sure it's hot through. Serve hot with fresh bread.

Serves 3-4

Vegetarian 

If you use plant based butter and milk this is a great vegetarian soup.

Late Night Baked Frittata

 

During one of those late-night mother and son conversations yesterday about how nice the frittata was at the Kendal People's Cafe / PopUp Repair Workshop at the Castle Street Centre in Kendal, the son grinned and said, "frittatas are easy" and promptly vanished into the kitchen to make one.

He normally makes them in a cast iron frying pan on the stove, but this time he wanted to try a baked in the oven version to see how it worked.

Mother was drafted in to help: chopping onion and long red pepper into small pieces ready for a quick softening fry in the pan, and to crack eggs into the bowl without dropping the shell in as well (she failed!)

Son tackled the potatoes - nice fresh redskins that were just washed and sliced thinly, no need to peel them.

The end result was very tasty and proved that, yes, you can make frittata in the oven! Here's how...

Ingredients

800g of potatoes, washed and thinly sliced
9 eggs
1 large onion, finely chopped
½ long red pepper, finely chopped
approx 10cm of Aldi spicy chorizo or equivalent
Olive oil to fry the onion, pepper and chorizo in to start with
A couple of dashes of Cholula Chipotle sauce
Salt and pepper (optional)

Method

Firstly, put the olive oil into a frying pan and shallow fry the onion, pepper and chorizo for around 3 minutes or so, adding the cholula sauce and making sure everything is hot through.

Crack the eggs into a jug or bowl and lightly mix with a fork to break up the yolks.

In a large mixing bowl combine the sliced potatoes and the contents of the frying pan, pour mixture into a large baking dish (ours is approx 28cm x 17cm). Level it down, then pour the eggs over the mixture. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on the top (only a little!).

Bake in oven on Gas Mark 4 for 100 minutes (1hr 20mins).  Remove from oven and lightly sprinkle a small amount of black pepper over the surface, cut into portions and serve hot.

Serves 4 as a main course or 8 as a side dish.

Scrumpledumptious Herb & Spice Mixes: Italian Seasoning

We use loads of this as it's such a good mixture of herbs for pasta dishes, garlic and herb bread, and much more besides. Make it in a bowl then transfer to an air-tight jar for storage, use as required.

Scrumpledumptious Italian Seasoning

Ingredients:

5 tablespoons of oregano
3 tablespoons of basil
2 tablespoons of marjoram
1 tablespoon of ground thyme
1½ tablespoons of garlic powder or garlic granules
2 tablespoons of sesame seeds

Method:

Measure all into a bowl and mix well, transfer to an air-tight jar. Shake well before use.

Scrumpledumptious Italian Seasoning

Asparagus, sweet red pepper and spicy chorizo soup

Having picked up some reduced-price asparagus in the supermarket and having not had this vegetable before (other than as instant packet soup) we needed a new way to use it. Asparagus soup is nice, so what if we could enhance it? A bit of experimentation, and this was the result!

Asparagus, sweet red pepper and spicy chorizo soup

Ingredients:

130g-150g asparagus spears cut into small pieces (young thin shoots are best but if yours are thicker and older see notes below) *
enough boiling water to cover asparagus in a pan

1 medium sized capsicum/sweet red pepper, finely chopped (orange or yellow will do if you can't find a red one)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
Oil to cover base of small pan/skillet

60g-70g spicy chorizo chopped into small pieces (we use the Aldi one but any make will do)
1 vegetable stock cube
1 teaspoon of Italian Seasoning **
¼ teaspoon of ground Star Anise
pinch of salt
¼ pint of milk (dairy, soya or oat milk all work equally well)
¼ pint of boiling water
1 tablespoon of plain flour
50g butter or margarine

Method:

Put the chopped asparagus, the pinch of salt and the stock cube into a big pan and cover with the boiling water and cook for approx 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, fry the capsicum and onion in the small pan or skillet for 3-4 minutes.

Add the chorizo to the asparagus pan along with the onion and capsicum and add the Italian Seasoning and Star Anise. Leave it to simmer gently.

In the small pan or skillet put the butter/margarine and melt over a medium heat. Add the flour and mix to form a roux. Cook for 1-2 minutes to make sure the flour is cooked properly. Add the ¼ pint of boiling water to the roux and stir well to avoid lumps. Continue to heat through stirring all the time, the mixture will thicken to make a thick sauce.

Add the roux mixture to the asparagus pan stirring continuously, add the ¼ pint of milk. The soup liquid should be a thick runny consistency like honey.

Turn off the heat, cover the pan and leave the soup to stand for approx 2 hours.  Or make the day before and leave to stand in the fridge overnight if you prefer.

Reheat after standing, add more hot water to thin the soup if needed. Do a taste test and add a wee bit more salt if needed.

Serve with fresh bread. The loaf in the photo is one of the Co-operative's loaves which we love!

Notes:

*  For the thicker older asparagus stalks we found that laying them on a plate and popping them into the microwave on high for 2-3 minutes softens them enough for soup making and makes them easier to cut into smaller pieces.

** We now make our own Italian Seasoning but you can buy similar in most supermarkets.

To make this into a vegetarian soup leave out the chorizo and use a vegetarian / vegan stock cube, vegetarian margarine such as Flora 100% plant based spread, and one of the dairy free milks or coconut milk.

Tipsy on Cheese - hic! (Adventures in Cheese)

Have you ever opened something which says it includes wine or spirit, only to find it smells of the drink but there's no taste of it at all? Isn't it disappointing?!

We picked up a piece of Belton Port Wine Derby and wondered if the same would happen: it didn't!

Unwrapping the beautifully veined cheese from its case, the aroma of port wine was strong enough to make my mouth water. Slicing off a piece I tentatively popped it in my mouth and immediately enjoyed the wonderful sweetness of port and the wine flavour along with the traditional Derby cheese texture. Wow! It was good!  The wine gave the cheese a fruitiness, described by its maker as "real blackcurrant undertones." 

Belton Farm, in Shropshire,  has been a cheese-making farm for more than a century, surely one of the great British cheesemakers! 

"Honestly h'officer, I've h'only been eating cheese... hic!"

PS It's also suitable for vegetarians!

Fettled in Yorkshire (Adventures in Cheese)

Our latest Adventure in Cheese is Yorkshire Fettle, a superb substitute for Greek Feta in recipes that call for it.  Made by Shepherd's Purse near Thirsk, in North Yorkshire, this is a Mediterranean salad-style cheese, which is made with milk from English ewes and its slightly tart creaminess is perfect with olives, tomatoes and lovely fresh bread.

The Shepherd's Purse website has this to say about Yorkshire Fettle,

This is Yorkshire's version of feta. Made with whole ewes’ milk, we handmake and hand-salt each cheese to encourage the piquant, lemony flavour and slightly crumbly texture. Matured over a minimum of two weeks, the salt infuses the whole cheese. We then hand-wax each truckle to lock in the fresh flavour and creamy texture. Originally called Yorkshire Feta, we renamed it Yorkshire Fettle in 2008 due to Greece being awarded the PDO (Protected Designation of Origin). This was Judy Bell’s very first cheese, produced in 1989. It’s won international awards, and was featured on Paul Hollywood's BBC One cooking program, Pies & Puds.

All I have to add is, it's yummy, try it and see for yourself!

Chocolate Topped Flapjack

You'll know this family loves flapjack by our previous posts, and the boy keeps trying out new ideas... this time it was, "Do you think chocolate covered flapjack would work?" I said, "Try it and see!", so he did, and this is how it came out...

It tasted good too, slightly softer than our usual flapjack, so if you'd like to try it for yourself, here is how he did it...

Ingredients:
550g oats
250g block margarine
140g sugar
1 tablespoon of Meridian organic molasses*
4 tablespoons of golden syrup
300g dark cooking chocolate
2 teaspoons of vanilla essence (use an alcohol based type not a syrup based one of the chocolate will seize when melted.)

Method:
Put the oats into a large mixing bowl. Prepare an oven proof dish or deep baking tray by greasing and lining it with baking parchment.

Put all the other ingredients into a heavy saucepan and heat until all is melted and starting to bubble. Pour the mixture carefully into the oats (it will be very hot so take care!) and mix thoroughly.
Pour the mixture into the baking dish and put it into the centre of the oven at Gas Mark 4 for 30 - 40 minutes.  When cooked remove from oven and allow to cool.

For the chocolate topping melt the dark chocolate into a bowl or jug, add the vanilla essence, and pour over the cooled flapjack in the baking dish. Leave to set before removing the flapjack from the baking dish. Cut into squares with a warm knife (it will cut easier if it's warm!)

Enjoy!

*Meridian organic molasses can be found in ASDA, Holland & Barrett, and in other healthfood shops. Other supermarkets may have them too but we buy ours from the fabulous Waterside Cafe in Kendal.