I know, I know, vegetables and chocolate.  My reflex reaction is ‘blurgh’ too.  But bear with me, these brownies are good, contain lots of dark chocolate and are a handy way to use up beetroot if you find yourself needing to do so. Not that I often …
What to do with sage? Make buttery, cheesy sage and cheddar biscuits?  Yes please. I’ve found myself with a reasonably plentiful supply of fresh sage, which is a new thing.  I have always managed to grow parsley and been left perplexed at how to use the …
I always loved visiting Wales when I lived in the UK, and what’s not to love? Â Beautiful countryside, that lovely lilting accent and, most importantly, Welsh cakes.
To the uninitiated, these little morsels may present like just another baked good. Â I promise you, they are so much more. Â Sugary and dotted with currants, they are gently browned like fat little pancakes on a hot bake stone, which in other words is a whacking great slab of cast iron heated on top of the oven elements.
The secret to the toothsomeness of Welsh cakes lies not just in the sugar, butter and dried fruit, but in the addition of lard.  Yes, I too felt a little ill when informed of this fact.  But please believe me, it adds a little something wonderful without any taste of fat, leaving the finished product just ever so slightly crisp on the outside, in contrast to the fluffy sweetness inside.
I was very privileged this past weekend to receive one-on-one tuition from a genuine Welsh person, my lovely friend Suze. Â Not only did she share her bakestone with me, but also her Nan’s welsh cake recipe. Â Very kindly, Suze also hunted out the required lard, seemingly impossible to find outside of a butchers, which arrived in a slightly piggy-scented white tub.
To learn how to make Welsh cakes a la Suze’s nan, read on…
Ingredients:
Tip the flour, baking powder and pinch of salt into a bowl
Add the butter and lard and rub in with your fingers until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
Mix in the currants, then add the egg and work in together with your hands until you have a soft dough.  If it looks a little dry, add the splash of milk.
Lightly flour your bench top. Â At this point, put your bake stone (or heavy-based pan; I am reliably informed it will work just as well) over a moderate heat.
Roll out the dough to the thickness of your little finger (as demonstrated!). Â Use a 8cm cookie cutter to make the cakes.
Add a spot of lard to the bake stone and, once melted, cook the cakes in batches. Â They take about 3 minutes each side to become golden brown, crisp and cooked through – you can observe the colour changing as it cooks through along the side of the Welsh cake.
Sprinkle with caster sugar once cooked. Â I cannot emphasis enough how delicious they are served all fresh and warm with a good cup of tea. Â Â Dydd Gwyl Dewi hapus!
What a handsome red cabbage!  Or at least, that was my first thought when gifted some of the cabbage overflow from my parents’ bountiful garden.  And don’t you agree? And my second thought was coleslaw. Coleslaw, or slaw, has made quite the resurgence of late, I …
The busy run-up to Christmas is paved with good intentions, namely my intention to publish this post.  So forgive me for missing the boat a little with this one.  I think we can still consider this timely though, as many of us will have tin-foiled lumps …
You all know how much I love a good, old-fashioned cookbook. Â So I was naturally delighted when this little gem, ‘The Cookin’ Woman: Irish Country Recipes’ arrived in my letter box, thanks to my little sister (Science teacher extraordinaire and blogger at Einstein’s Kitchen).
It’s appropriate not just because I love unusual cookbooks, but also because my better half is Northern Irish.  Florence Irwin is the author, lauded as Ulster’s first travelling domestic science instructor.  She came to write this book after her expeditions throughout County Down. Her recipes include not only traditional fare and specialties such as dulse, but also suggestions for the modern-day cook such as the outlandish ‘imaginative and healthy vegetable dishes,’ and some household tips.
I myself would be interested to know quite how this little book found its way to this side of the world.  The original sales sticker on the back says it is from Four Provinces Bookshop (sadly now closed), 244 – 246 Grays Inn Road, London.  From there to Port Chalmers…who knows how that happened?
One of my favourite Irish treats is Soda Bread, or Soda Farl. Â The leavening agent is baking soda, and the bread itself is dense and wholesome with a pleasant soda twang.
Naturally, the Cookin’ Woman has a recipe for Soda Bread. Â It’s surprisingly easy to make, being rather like whipping up a batch of scones, and it resulted in a delicious little loaf. Â I am pleased to report passed the Northern Irish test – all gone rather quickly and washed down with plenty of tea.
You will need:
Preheat your oven to 375 Fahrenheit or 190 Celsius, leaving the tray you will be using for the soda bread in the oven to warm up.
Sift the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt into a large bowl. Â Make a well in the centre.
At this point, Florence becomes very firm on instructions to ensure a light loaf. Â One is not to add it ‘drop by drop.’ Instead, start with adding about half the buttermilk to the well in the centre. Â Using a knife, draw the batter from the sides and add more liquid as the batter thickens.
To ensure a light loaf, you don’t want it over-worked  ‘ragged’ in the centre.  And so I stopped mixing at about the point where it was lumpy and not to dry.
Spread the warmed tray with flour. Â Tip out the dough, dredge it in flour and knead lightly, tucking in the edges to form a circle as you go, and doing so ‘very lightly indeed.’ Â When the top is smooth, turn it upside down (to distribute flour to what is now the top of the loaf) and roll it to about 1 inch thick.
Cut it into farls. Â Yes, I had to check this out too – ‘farl’ is an old Scottish word for quarter.
Florence doesn’t specify a time, but just that one bakes it until it is ‘risen, nicely brown and cooked to the centre.’ Â This took my farls 30 minutes.
Delicious hot with butter and tea!
It’s truly wonderful to be writing about asparagus. Â The appearance of these little green spears of joy means it must be spring. Â I’m sure you’ve all enjoyed my endless assault of stodge and apples as much as I have, but there are few things in …
A friend in need is a friend indeed, do you think?  I don’t know the exact origin of this phrase (although the finger is pointed at a certain Quintus Ennius), but I do know that anyone in any kind of need can do with a tasty …
How do you like them apples? Â That’s how I feel I should be addressing you, because we really have had a lot of apply recipes by this point in the Edmonds A section. Â But I love a good flan and this little number is easy and satisfying, so it’s worth a try if you like the sound of it. Â d
It all beings with a packet of Edmonds butter cake mix.  I haven’t bought cake mix for years. It gives me a little guilty pang and I feel like I should be making my own from scratch.  One of the last times I used cake mix was a formative baking experience back in the mists of time.  I had to produce a cake for Girls Brigade and Mum, sick with the flu and no doubt not feeling up to chaperoning a junior baker in the kitchen, bought me an orange cake mix.  I proudly presented the finished product to the family table and Mum, who probably wanted to eat anything else in the world apart from a vivid orange pile of stodge crafted by a 10 year old, gallantly rose from bed and forced down a bowlful.  Being the anxious kid I was, I decided then and there if anything happened to Mum I would always remember that moment.  Probably a little hysterical on my part (I always was a worrier) but it was a very touching moment nonetheless and I still appreciate her sucking it up for the sake of my feelings.
If you want to make this Apple Coconut Flan, you will need:
Set the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Â Combine the coconut and cake mix in a bowl. Â Edmonds offers you the choice of doing this by hand or with a food processor. Â I don’t think you need a food processor, I did this by hand very easily.
Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Â In another bowl, combine the stewed apple and lemon rind and put in the bottom of a greased, oven-proof baking dish. Â Spoon the cake mixture over the apples, and then combine the water and lemon juice and pour this over the top. Â Bake for 55 minutes or until pale golden and firm to touch. Â You can serve this hot or cold.
The apple in my version caramelised rather charmingly at the corners of the dish and the coconut toasted up a little in the topping. Â We had ours semi-warmed with some yoghurt and it went down a treat, I hope particularly for my Mum.
It started a sunny beautiful Saturday and how nice to spend it having brunch chez nous with old friends. Â The majority of today’s spread was very traditional British breakfast fare….bacon, sausages from our excellent Ngaio butcher, some croissants and jam for a sweet, and a …
