As simple as 123

There is nothing easier than a classic shortbread: 1 measure of sugar, 2 measures of butter, 3 measures of plain flour
Do-re-mi, ABC, simple as 123  (apologies for the Jackson 5 earworm)

But sometimes it's interesting to mess around with the classics.
I know, I know, sometimes it's not, especially when it comes to pop songs (Robson and Jerome, Unchained Melody - 'nuff said)

And much as I love a traditional shortbread, I rather like these too.
I also like Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.

60g sugar
120g butter
30g Greek yogurt
120g plain flour
60g rice flour

Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC 
Cut the cold butter into cubes and rub into the flours until you have a breadcrumb like consistency. Add the sugar and yogurt and bring the whole lot together to a pliable dough.
Turn out onto to a floured board and roll out to the thickness of a pound coin (or euro)
Place on a heavy duty baking sheet and place in the oven.
Cook for around 25 minutes until just starting to colour.
Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack.

We ate ours with some oven roasted rhubarb and thick, homemade custard.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

From the kitchen cupboard

There are weeks when the days come and go in a blur; the washing basket overflows, the dust gathers under the sofa, the dishwasher isn't emptied and somehow there is never a moment to pop to the shops.
It's at times like these that I reach for Claire Thomson's great book The Art of the Larder and pat myself on the back for following her sound advice about a stock of staples from which you can pull together a store cupboard supper.
Two things to note before I go any further;
Do buy this book and when you do, please buy it from an independent book retailer either on-line or, better still,  on the High Street.  I have included a link above to a seller. I note with a tinge of sadness that Waterstones has today been sold to an investment firm.
Today I voted for this great book in the OFM Awards 2018 and if you want to join me, just follow the link.

This recipe is not directly from the book, but it was born within its covers and took its first steps in the Netherton kitchen.  I send it out into the world, conscious of its parentage and ready to be shaped by others who meet it along the way.

This served 2 hungry souls, after a long day at the workshops.

Heat a large pan full of salted water and chuck in as much pasta as you can eat.
Leave it cooking while you get on with the rest of this.

There are few other measurements, make it up as you go along, adjusting and improvising to suit taste and appetite

Rapeseed oil
Cauliflower, cut into small florets
Raisins
Onions, sliced
Hazelnuts, chopped
Breadcrumbs, sprinkled with a glug of oil and baked in a moderate oven
Capers
Parmesan
Parsley, chopped.

Put a generous splash of rapeseed oil in a prospector or frying pan
Warm over a moderate heat.
Add the onions and cook until soft and translucent, then add the cauliflower.
Continue cooking until the cauliflower starts to take on a little colour.
Add the raisins and 1 tablespoon of the pasta cooking water.
Cook for 5 minutes to allow the raisins to plump up and the liquid evaporate.
Add the hazelnuts and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Drain the pasta.
Stir into the cauliflower mix along with the capers.
Scatter the parsley, Parmesan and breadcrumbs over the top and eat immediately.

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

In and out of the kitchen

It has been a week of dipping in and out of the kitchen, with no time for leisurely cooking and experimentation.  To be honest, it's been one of those weeks when I seem to have been constantly busy, with no evidence of what I have achieved.  I have had innumerable forms to fill in for all sorts of bureaucratic reasons; quarter end figures to pull together for the tax man; the last of the washing and shopping for our two student offspring to take back to university at the end of their all too brief Easter holiday and a fair bit of pan assembly and packing as we have been short handed in the workshops.  We operate a policy of never asking someone to do a job we would not be prepared to do ourselves, so when necessary, I will roll up my sleeves, don my Netherton apron and start oiling pans, waxing handles, screwing on lid knobs and wrapping, boxing and labelling orders.

Whilst the order book is still never quite as full as we would like it to be, things are picking up, thanks, in part, to you lot, who help us spread the word.  And we have been talking to two exciting restaurants in London - more of which soon, I hope.
But I still need to be selling, selling, selling; finding potential new stockists and the time to talk to our existing stockists.  We know we need to grow to survive, but we do not want to turn into some sort of anonymous corporation, out of touch with those who make us what we are.

Last night, the cupboards cleared by the locust raid of the students, I was scratting about for something for dinner.
We started with leek and Halloumi fritters, with a dish of potatoes layered in a loaf tin with a mixture of yogurt, chopped wild garlic and melted butter and baked in the oven. And then I noticed we had some slightly wrinkly apples in the fruit bowl, bought in expectation and abandonned when their taste did not match their looks.

So with the brevity of Damien Trench in the Radio 4 classic, "In and Out of the Kitchen"; recipe:

Pour 250ml full fat milk into a saucepan and add 4 cloves.  Bring to the boil, turn off the heat and leave for an hour for the flavour of the cloves to infuse into the milk.

Take 4 apples, peel core and quarter.
Melt 50g butter in a 10" prospector pan over a low heat and then add 120g sugar.
Cook continuously until it turns golden brown.
Add the apple slices, cover and cook for 10 minutes until the apples have softened and taken on some of the caramel colour.
Remove the lid and increase the heat.  Cook until the caramel has turned a rich mahogany and most of the juice has evaporated.

Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC

Remove the cloves from the milk and return the pan to the hob.  Heat gently.
Beat in 50g buckwheat flour, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 100g sugar.  Add 2 beaten eggs and mix vigorously.
Pour over the apples and pop it into the oven.  Cook for 20 - 25 minutes until the top is firm.

Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
Invert on to a serving plate and serve with clotted cream.

NB because I have used buckwheat flour, this pudding is gluten free.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

100 words and one number

Sitting at the kitchen table.
Sunlight as feeble as a new born lamb is struggling to penetrate winter grimy windows.
Steam from a cup of coffee intertwines promiscuously with exhaled breath.
Chilled fingers cradle the cup, absorbing and transmitting warmth, almost, but not quite reaching icy toes.
Toast. Yes, good idea.  Crackling golden surface, puddles of melted butter, blackened crumbs in the butter dish.  A tarry slick of Marmite.
Coffee, toast, radio 4; bliss, or at least it would be if I could stop myself Googling the symptoms of frostbite and hypothermia.
Doorbell, the central heating engineer has arrived.

Treacle tart

I am a firm advocate of the old adage, a little of what you fancy does you good.  Too often we are made to feel guilty about what we eat; I listened to an excellent podcast of a conversation between Diana Henry and Ruby Tandoh and was struck by the sheer joy someone got from finally feeling that they could eat a doughnut in public!
We have been made to feel like pariahs for enjoying our food, whatever it is, for too long and I rejoice that the fad for so called clean eating does seem to be on the decline - the myths debunked and the pseudo science shown up as what Anthony Warner has dubbed "nutri-bollocks".  It is time for intelligent discourse, education and understanding and goodbye to knee jerk reactions (sugar tax) and the unthinking embrace of Instagram ideologies.

A little of this treacle and nut tart is all you need to feel good; it contains gluten, dairy, nuts and a ton of calories and boy, do they taste good!

Felicity Cloake has written rapturously and with far more research than me on this topic and her recipe does sound delicious.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/feb/13/how-to-cook-perfect-treacle-tart 

It is not an everyday dessert and it is also old fashioned; one of those nostalgic memories of puddings past that people like Jeremy Lee and Fergus Henderson have been reviving - as seen mentioned in this month's BBC Good Food magazine.
But every once in a while, this gooey, sweet delight will stick crumbs and smiles to your lips.

Start by making some shortcrust pastry with 120g plain flour and 60g butter.
Roll out and line a 10¼" shallow prospector pan.

Place in the fridge while the oven heats up to 200ºC
Put the pan into the pre-heated oven and cook the pastry case for no more than 10 minutes.

Turn the oven down to 170ºC

Coarsely chop 50g of mixed nuts (or just use your favourite).
Weigh out 80g of sourdough bread, crusts removed, and process into crumbs.
Grate the rinds of 2 oranges
Put 300g of golden syrup in a large saucepan and heat gently until runny.
Stir in the breadcrumbs, nuts and orange zest and mix thoroughly.

Pour this mixture into the pastry case and spread evenly.
Put the pan back into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

When you remove the tart from the oven, the filling will be bubbling like lava on the rim of Vesuvius, so take care.
Allow to cool and serve at room temperature with custard or clotted cream.

Serves 8

www.netherton -foundry.co.uk
Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©