Making Christmas #5: Peppermint Creams.

These little packets of peppermint creams are the perfect last minute addition to any hamper or given as small treats with your Christmas cards.  They are super super simple, look pretty and taste awesome.

You will need:

     1 egg white

     60 ml double cream

     About 500g icing sugar (plus a little more)

     Peppermint essence

     A big bar of dark chocolate.

Mix the egg white and the cream into a bowl.  Sift in the icing sugar gradually and beat it in until it forms a stiff paste.  I added the peppermint cream at this point, I can't tell you how much to use because it depends how pepperminty you want them to taste.  I like them strong so added a teaspoon and then some more (and then a little more).  Just be aware that the more you add the stickier your dough will become, so the more icing sugar you will ultimately need.

Dust your work surface with icing sugar and then dollop the paste out onto it.  Knead it a little, using more icing sugar if it is too sticky.  When it is not too sticky, roll the dough out into a sausage shape and cut into slices, making disks about one centimeter thick.  Place the disks on grease-proof paper and let them dry for several hours or overnight if possible.  When they are dry enough, melt the dark chocolate in a deep bowl or mug, then dip half of each peppermint cream into the chocolate - dunk them quickly though so they don't re-melt.  If needs be you can always double dip them.  Let them harden again on the grease-proof paper then divvy them out and wrap them up.

I made pouches out of presentation paper I bought from a kitchen shop.  I picked two festive threads and hooked up the sewing machine and sewed along three edges, popped in five peppermint creams per packet and then stitched the top, adding a label and a ribbon for good measure.

Easy Peasy deliciousness.

The true tea for bohemia.

I am having a zen evening tonight.  It has been a long and tiring week but I am proud of myself for managing with only mild tantrums and sulking.  So I have rewarded myself; this tea flower has been saved for almost a year for such an occasion and this Friday evening, this beautiful, work-free Friday evening is finally that occasion.

In the quiet privacy of my home, in my beautiful glass tea pot, I lay the flower down, waited for the freshly boiled water to cool just enough, gently poured the water over the green bud and waited in blissful, non-library silence for my tea to brew, watching it slowly unfurl.  Then, with the sense of reverence that can only be attributed to waiting for a year for a single cup of tea, I drank the lot.

I love nights in.

Thank goodness it is Friday.

 

I don't know about anyone else but I find this time of year so calming.  This morning, on having to face the long commute to placement, I sulkily left the house at some ungodly hour.  The morning was dark, however on stepping outside I realised it was not the endless dark of January but instead that icy crisp dark that feels somehow magical, when no one else is awake and the world belongs to you.  I sat alone at the train station drinking strong coffee, waiting for the first train of the day and watching two early-bird magpies thieving red berries.  I really could have spent all day there.

For James however I sense this may be a less calming time of year; it brings out my worst squirrel like tendencies. I have a compulsion to collect all the beautiful leaves which now line all the usable surfaces in our house.

 

The box was a little sparser this week, the weather this year has apparently caused endless havoc for growers this harvest time but on a lighter note those Autumn Greeting apples are some of the best I have ever eaten.  I am continuing to feel slightly overwhelmed by the number of oranges we are receiving each week, so I am getting increasingly inventive.

My advice is, if you are also struggling with oranges, firstly please make my favourite pudding ever (I'm sure I have already shared this but it is worth mentioning twice), secondly get a bit more grown up and try this recipe for an infused vodka (I am so excited to give this a go) or finally, if you have simply had enough of peeling the blighters, make some beautiful decorations for Christmas!

I am getting back to my blankets and red wine now, you have to stave off the autumnal evening chill somehow.

A strange dedication to a purple cauliflower.

Please do not judge me but it is true, this blog post is entirely for the purple cauliflower.  I was going to wait and include it on the general food-based post but it was so pretty I figured it deserves a moment all to itself.  What an absurd vegetable.  (Also I got home waaay too late to try and take veg box pictures and these were just waiting on my phone for usage).  It is such a fabulous colour.  I love it even more now James is slicing it ready to roast.

 

This picture was taken in the pre-damaged-kitchen times; it now looks like it housed a war between Blue Peter and Art Attack as yesterday was spent on a variety of Christmas based projects.  I cannot post a picture of the kitchen post-projecting, it is simply too shocking. The projects however I cannot wait to share!  A friend and I have been spending every Tuesday afternoon creating (aka experimenting) in order to give fully handmade presents this year.  I really do love Christmas but I think it is all too easy to get carried away with the need to spend lots of money; Christmas should be a stress free, happy time and worrying about money should never spoil that.  Consequently our friendship group refrains from buying each other presents and instead the money gets pooled into a Christmas dinner together, whilst my family are getting handmade gifts this year (whether or not they would have preferred a DVD - sorry guys)!

 

Wednesday's food and news from my tree.

My week in InstaCam makes me feel all fuzzy, I love weeks that seem to be filled with sea, sand and mini-dates with James.

Anyway, let's pretend it is Wednesday today.  It still is almost Wednesday, right?

This week has been a good week from our dear fellows at Riverford, just look at those fennel fronds.

The highlights of my foodie plans this week are:

• This fantastically coloured hummus made with beetroots and walnuts
• My all time favourite pasta dish from Nigella made with butternut squash and pinenuts
• And predictably in this house, no week is complete without James making Panzanella with all the tomatoes and peppers.

Now, briefly before I have to actually get on with my dissertation reading, this is my tree, it lives just outside our window.  It is my seasonal clock and as the top of it has just started to turn a yellowy red,  I am proud to announce folks, that according to my tree, Autumn is beginning.

Happy Autumn.

Eating very locally or 'The Moonlight Shrimpers'.

This has to be one of the best adventures yet this year.  Out of desperation to make the most of the last camping-friendly days, James and I migrated, once again, towards to the sea where we were joined by my family.  After making our tent based nests, we ate supper by the light of a hurricane lamp and finally went for a moonlit stroll along the beach, with a shrimping net in hand.  As my mother's partner had donned his waders and headed into the tar like water, we laughed and shook our heads.  But as moments later he had herded shrimp by the hundreds, we suffered true fishing envy, so shimmied out of boots and jeans (jumpers were still required) and jumped into the midnight sea.

We hauled up shrimps aplenty as well as a host of other critters; teeny crabs that pinched as we released them, shy hermit crabs and the cutest little fishies (who were also released).

 

The scavenging carried on into the next morning, digging for clams to add to our haul.  Having never done anything like this before, I am still amazed at the amount of (tasty) critters living just beneath our feet.  Carrying them all back to the campsite in a bucket was such a proud moment, true hunter-gatherers us!

 

So finally, windswept and cold, we returned home for the most incredible, entirely local, fully sustainable and most required pasta dish ever.  Totally worth the hundreds of hours it seemed to take to peel the bleedin' shrimps.

Wednesday's food and a forgotten surprise.

The food box looks a little smaller this week, this is due in part to the fact that I forgot to unpack half of it for taking this picture and was too lazy to repeat the set up!

However, we seem to be in a bit of a vegetable box transition time, the boxes are feeling a little sparser each week.  I am eagerly awaiting the season of squashes to begin.  

This weeks meals include:

• Sweet corn and leeks - this sweetcorn, leek and haddock chowder
• Oranges - this Nigel Slater recipe for my favourite ever pudding.  Ever.
• Bananas - depending on my baking enthusiasm might make it into these award winning cupcakes.

Also on my doorstep when I returned from lectures was this little package.  I bought a Zine from Kelly Zarb a couple weeks ago and then promptly forgot all about it, which made its ultimate arrival all the more exciting!  I so love getting post, but recently it has been nothing but spam or bills, so this felt like such a treat!  It is a beautiful little book about the strange world of Terrariums.  Plus the little koala on the stamp was pretty much the icing on the cake.  Thank you Kelly Zarb!

Wednesdays food and a little consistency.

I thrive on goals, I need targets to hit in order to feel that I am achieving.  This month I am running a mile a day.  I have tried to be the kind of person that enjoys running for the sake of running but sadly I am not a masochist.  But having a goal, a glorious end in sight (with an associated materialistic reward) makes pulling running shoes on at 6am, before lectures begin, seem slightly more do-able.  

The crux of my ramble is this; this blog has no goal, it is aimless.  Consequently, knowing in what direction to take it is feeling a little tricky right now.  So my fairly lean goal currently is simply to achieve consistency, consistent posting on consistent topics, consistently to make an effort, consistently to build TFB even if I am not sure what I am building.  I like it, consistency seems like a good aim.

So my consistent Wednesday is a foodie one, heck the excitement of my day is unpacking my good-karma-seasonal-and-local goods.  I emit pure smug for about thirty minutes, subsequently followed by two hours considering what to do with that many pears.  I think this recipe might just be the winner.

Harvest time.

So I might be a little late with my September appreciation post but I'm going to do it anyway.  I love September.  I think it could be the best of all months.  It is still warm, the sea is its least toe-cramping and my veg box is at its finest.  Unpacking it this morning was nothing less than a joy.  You can look online to find out what you're getting but I never do.  Discovering a tiny melon under a mound of green beans is what it is all about.  As I unpack each item recipes are constructed in front of my eyes; here is what this week might look like.

This is the best time of year to go for walks, the hedgerows and the bees are pretty busy.  My poor phone is beginning to struggle with the number of pictures it is being forced to take.  I must confess though, a couple of the photographs are technically cheating whilst discussing a British September as they were taken at the Eden Project.

Local and Weekly.

This blog has become a little unfocused, it no longer addresses the things I thought it would when I started writing.  In an attempt to achieve some degree of consistency, I now declare Wednesday as 'Food Day in Bohemia'.

This is our weekly food, delivered by the lovely chatty man from Riverford Organics.  Most of the food is indigenous to the UK.   The two exceptions are the peppers which are French and land freighted to reduce the carbon footprint and the bananas, clearly from a little further afield, are from Riverford's fair trade community project based in the Dominican Republic.  

The only additions to our box this week are eggs from my mother's chickens (Babs, Mrs Tweedy & Jerfouli) and an awful lot of pasta from the Jazz Hands Pasta bunch (yes, also my mother).  

Whilst I am not a vegetarian (I totally don't possess enough willpower) I do feel that meat should be a luxury not a staple in a healthy, happy diet and summer time is the easiest time to find your vegetarian vibe.

So this week I will be eating simply and healthily and I thought it might be nice to share a couple super simple, seasonal dishes that I will be creating with our haul!

French Bean Salad.

Steam your beans till they are soft but still have a bit of bite, I think 5-7 minutes would do the trick, but just try them.  When you think they're ready, drain them and put into a big bowl.  In a frying pan heat up some olive oil and then fry finely chopped garlic (for the amount of beans in the photo above I'd do a clove or two) until just turning golden.  Pour over the beans and toss them up together.

This is an awesome hot salad but I like it even more when it is cold.  It is a perfect lunch box filler, especially with some chopped cherry tomatoes.

Mushroom Paté.

Another lunchtime favourite in my house.  Finely dice 1-2 cloves of garlic and fry in some olive oil.  Chop up the mushrooms into itty bitty pieces and add to the pan with the garlic.  Add a teaspoon of fresh Thyme.  When looking cooked and dark in colour add a tablespoon or two of ground almonds into the pan and mix up.  If the paste looks too thick then add a little more olive oil or even a little creme fraiche if you have it, if it is too thin then add some more almonds.  Add salt and pepper to taste then spread on toast.

There and back again: a glutton's tale.

So my Monday food post is proving to be a tragic reminder of all the beautiful food stuffs I have left behind.  I have traded in the warm, sticky plums and perfumed tomatoes of Italy for the cardboardy peaches and manky salad of the UK!  

I think the thing that makes most envious of Italy's food culture is the generosity.  Most people in the region grow at least some of their fruit and veg so whilst some may have a glut of zucchini others struggle with the number of plums or tomatoes crowding their gardens.  In England, if you are lucky enough to know someone who grows vegetables in their garden or allotment, you might see a few runner beans once said gardener has fried, baked, stewed, broiled and generally OD-ed on runner beans.  In Italy it means that you get a knock on your door from someone (who may be a friend or a neighbour or someone entirely unknown who simply heard that you needed some figs) holding a basket filled to the brim with the vibrant bounty of their plot.  You may then choose to respond with your own basket of unwanted produce or simply chat in the doorway for at least an hour.  Food is an incredibly social activity.  

Back here in Wales, new people have just moved in to the flat downstairs and I am keeping my fingers crossed they might knock on my door later having heard that I am running horribly low on Basil.

More realistically, James and I are still continuing with our bid to avoid the supermarkets and it feels that every week is both a little more successful and a little bit easier.  Planning our food requirements ahead of time is really the key factor in achieving success; as we can no longer just nip to the Tesco's on the corner we have to make sure that we are well prepared for the week in order to avoid the 'hungry-cranky-house-syndrome'.  Plus, I love planning food for the week - Sunday afternoons spent perusing cookery books together whilst drinking tea never fails to feel perfect.

This week we have even stepped it up a notch and in light of the continuing campaigns over the price of milk we have included dairy products in the list of banned substances from supermarkets; this week our milk and butter is to be supplied by Riverford Organics.  It does cost more, but then, I guess that is kinda the point...

Hope you all have lovely dinners planned tonight.

My Nonna's very special stuffed peaches.

Okay, so no lies, this recipe definitely benefits from the addition of; glorious sunshine, peaches straight from the garden and icy prosecco, but I am sure it is still fine in cooler climates.  My Nonna used to make these every year we stayed with her as children and my gosh I loathed them.  Then one year I was bullied into convinced to 'try just one mouthful' and now it simply breaks my heart a little to think of all the lovely peaches I missed out on over the years.

The Recipe.

• At least 1 peach per person (and probably more if you want to eat them for breakfast the next few days)
• Crunchy Amaretto biscuits, the number depends on the size of the biscuits/peaches - maybe 2/3 per peach half.
• A couple good spoonfuls Cocoa powder
• 1 egg
• Optional: a good glug of brandy

There is no such thing as quantities for a Nonna recipe - it is a 'try and adjust' kinda recipe.  Take your peaches, halve them and remove the stone and lay them out on a baking tray.  Scoop out the peachy flesh (to make room for the stuffing see) and put it in a bowl - do not over scoop though (look at the photo above for a rough guide).  Into the same bowl  mix in the crumbled biscuits and the cocoa powder then add the brandy.  Finally mix in the beaten egg.  Push this delicious paste into the peach halves and put them in the oven.

I cannot really give you an oven temperature or a cooking time as you never, ever, put the oven on for stuffed peaches alone.  They are to fill the gaps in the oven around the bread you are baking or the summer veg you are roasting.  If I had to I would suggest 180-200'C and around half an hour, just keep an eye on them.  You know they are done when the peaches have gone all soft and the stuffing is dry and cracked on top.

.

Eat hot or cold with cream, yogurt, or ice cream or unadorned, for breakfast, lunch or dinner or simply throughout the day.  Look how versatile they are!

An ongoing local resolution.

For a long time James and I have aimed to spend 80% of our food budget locally, a challenge which appears to be becoming ever easier.  There is such a wonderful growing awareness of where food comes from now and it seems to be changing the face of the city I live in.  When I first moved here five years ago, I used to visit the farmer's market more out of a sense of duty than out of an actual desire to go.  It was terrible; five or six miserable stalls and a handful of disappointed die hard foodies looking bleak.  Now Cardiff's Farmer's Market is something to actually be excited about - there is fruit, veg, cheese, eggs, meat, soaps, cider and the most amazing Indian breakfast stall!  Our Sunday morning pilgrimage has become a weekly highlight.

This week I sadly had to go it alone as James was working and the lovely veg man took pity on me (I mean, I did have to carry my own bag) and gave me the courgette flowers that are in the middle of the picture; flowers you can eat are the best kind of flowers.

Camping Tricks // All-in-one bonfire roast.

Barbecues are a thing of the past.  Don't get me wrong, I really do love barbecue food but it's an awful lot of hassle.  Especially when camping and it is drizzling and windy and probably cold.  You don't want to be turning kebabs/burgers/sausages every couple minutes.  I have the answer. 

All that is needed is a couple potatoes, an aubergine, a ton of curly kale, some chorizo and slices of lemon.  Before you leave for camping, mix up some paprika, olive oil, a little salt & black pepper and some thyme ready to pour over just before cooking.  Once all chopped up nice and small, wrap it up tight in tin foil and push (carefully) into the fire (or the coals of the barbecue if you are not in a fire friendly zone).  We cooked ours for about 15minutes on each side and they came out perfectly.  

Then eat straight out the tin foil sat on a cliff top, serving suggestion: cheap pink fizzy from plastic cups.

Accidental Rhubarb Marmalade.

Okay, so confession time, this might have started out as a jam recipe.  Then I got a bit tired, got my oranges and lemons muddled and consequently added the zest and juice of an orange  instead of the lemony-ness intended.  After a little swearing and sulking I realised what I had made was a Rhubarb Marmalade (ish) type concoction which is actually pretty mean.  It is a little on the sweet side, so if you prefer your marmalade a little tarter then you might wish to cut the sugar down a bit.

500g  rhubarb cut into lengths of about 3-4cm (but don't worry too much - it's all going to smoosh down anyway)

350g   jam sugar

The zest of one orange 
The juice of 1/2 - 1 orange depending on size

2 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the rhubarb, sugar and orange juice gently in a large saucepan and stir it gently until all the sugar has dissolved.  Then add the zest and vanilla and whack up the heat.  You need to boil this until the marmalade has reached its setting point (you test this by putting a small dollop of jam on a super cold plate from the fridge then putting it back in the fridge for 10 or so seconds, when you try to push the dollop with your finger, if it wrinkles, you are there)!  Make sure you regularly check whether it has reached the setting point (or make life easy and use a sugar thermometer)!

Once setting point has been achieved, take the saucepan off the heat and let your marmalade settle for a few minutes before syphoning it into sterilised jam jars.


Now, slather good crusty bread with salted butter and a sticky layer of Accidental Rhubarb Marmalade and engulf.