Tuesday 15 September 2009

Match made in heaven

Good Tuesday everyone! I managed to do quite a bit of cooking at the weekend (feeling low does not stop me from enjoying spending time in the kitchen - unfortunately for my waistline!), and I thought I should share it with you! Yesterday’s post was long enough, I though it was best if I saved some news for today. First of all, let me show you the last batch of cherry plum jam I made a couple of weeks ago. Not sure why I didn’t end up writing about it earlier, but I just didn’t get round to it, you know how that just happens sometimes don’t you. Well anyway, here it is! Went from this:


to this!

This did involve butchering my fingers (I wanted to get the stones out), 3 hours of hard labour and 4.5kg of fruit ready for action. But it was all worth it in the end. The thought that this jam was made with local fruit that grows around the corner from where I live, that I didn’t have to pay a penny for it, that I picked it myself (with the invaluable help of Boyfriend on that sunny Sunday morning with a stool to reach the higher branches – thanks again!), just fills me with joy! I thought these would make cute additions to some Christmas hampers too perhaps. I know I know, I mentioned the C word!!! Please forgive me, but I guess I’m one of these people who gets very excited by it all. I’ve done more C work and research, but I’ll save that for another day ;-)

So back to my weekend delicacies! Farls. Irish soda farls. A weekday breakfast without them is a sad one. There are sooooo yummy, you just won’t believe me until you try it. To be fair, it might not be to everyone’s taste, but I need energy in the morning. I have breakfast at 6.20am, do a fair bit of walking to get to work, and don’t have lunch until 12.00pm, so I need something that’s going to stop me from snacking all morning. And boy does this work. Have them cut in half, toasted, with some jam, and it’s a heavenly start to any day. I promise!

So here’s the recipe. It couldn’t be easier - though it is a little messy, but I’m getting better and better at containing the mess everytime!

Ingredients:
  • buttermilk – the tub I get from Sainsbury’s is 284ml
  • 300g flour
  • 1 heaped teaspoon of baking soda

Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl. Make a well in the middle and add the buttermilk. Mix until you get a soft dough (about 5min or so). Leave the dough to rest for about 10min. Knead very lightly on a well floured surface (and I mean WELL floured – add more flour if you feel you need to, otherwise it does get very sticky). Form into a flattened circle with your hands, about 1-1.5cm thick and cut in 5 sections.


Sprinkle a little flour in a frying pan, put it on medium heat. When it’s hot, add the farls (you may have to do this in 2 batches depending on the size of your pan, as you don’t want them touching each other) for about 6min on each side, until they’re nice and golden brown. Store in a Tupperware for up to a week (they may last longer, mine just never get to last more than that!).


Come back tomorrow to see what else I got up to! xx

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mmmmmmmmm! It looks so scrummy. I love making jam - such a peaceful time consuming activity.

Hope you are feeling more like yourself now - we all have ugh days like you had at the weekend but hopefully things seem clearer. I feel the same so often and I'm 27 - closer to 30 than you, so be cheerful about that! x

Don't worry about mentionning the C word. I've already had to organise a date for the office C word lunch and start thinking of venues!

Take care xxx

Lizzy said...

I like the look of the farls- will have a go when I get some buttermilk. I am planning some hampers for "C", I wonder what you are going to put in yours?
I was also thinking about the age thing. When my daughter was 1 years old, the world cup (football) was on and I said when it's on next time she will be at school. We couldn't imagine this little baby growing up and going to school. And so every 4 years I say that next time she will be .... what ever and we can never imagine her any older. Well now she's at uni and this year doing a work placement in Germany and I can't quite believe she is old enough to do that. and next year when I say I wonder what she will be doing in 4 years time - well she will be the same age as you? Rambling on a bit I know, but I have been thinking about this today.

Petit Filoux said...

Well I'm not sure yet, I'll probably add some more personalised items, but stantard might be a jar of homemade jam, a lavender pouch, a handmade decoration (I've got ideas with cross stitch!), and maybe a knitted cloth - found some nice patterns on Ravelry, but I'll more about that later!
About the age thing, I guess it's just a matter of finding happiness at whatever stage you're at, not wishing your life away... i have a feeling this blog might be helping me to focus on the good things, so that must be alright! x