A New Toy

 I have a new toy, Georgina has given me her camera as she no longer needs it, and it’s considerably better than mine for close up work.

Georgina and Naomi came down for the weekend, it was so good to see them, they brought Yvonne’s birthday presents down, and some things for Fathers Day for me.

As I said before we went to Bistro 46, the food as usual was superb, and Yvonne’s and Naomi’s desert plates were decorated. Fortunately, no singing was required.

On Sunday we had chicken in peanut sauce and potato wedges, which I think I have described to you before.

Wedges, Ready to cook

Chicken in Peanut sauce

Yum!

I also made some bread which, after my sourdough problems, came out quite well.

Old Camera

New Camera

The rain has had one benefit (apart from the slugs!) and that is to bring on the Blackcurrants and Blackberries, it shouldn’t be too long now until jam-making time.

About three years ago, we visited the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall, whilst on holiday, and always wanted to return, as there were bits we didn’t get to see very well.

Also I felt a strange affinity with the place, and I want to know if I was just imagining it.

I do love photographing trees (Does that qualify as weird?) and actually got some very good pictures there last time.

It will be a good place to try the new camera, so weather permitting we are off there next Tuesday. Yvonne is now doing her beading course on Mondays, and she brought some impressive stuff home last week.

Work is really quiet at the moment; I only piloted one ship in my 24 hour shift, at the turn of the year I was doing three or four. That’s a bit of a worry; I can just hope that the Olympics and the aftermath bring an upturn.

Friday Morning

The weather may have been truly awful, but there is one thing that is thriving here in South Devon, you will be pleased to hear that the slugs are alive and well. They have been climbing up my strawberry planter, the sides of potato sacks and even the patio doors in search of sustenance, and finding it at the expense of all my developing fruit and veg. They studiously ignore the enticingly placed slug pellets in favour of anything that I might find edible, so perhaps they’re not so stupid after all. If they could only evolve opposable thumbs they could take over!

They have destroyed my early potato plants overnight, so I had to dig them up, instead of the large crop I was hoping for, this was the result.

However the taste made up for it. And I now had two plastic pots for my tomato plants.

Good news here is that Naomi and George will be coming down for the weekend, it means a trip to Bistro 46 in Brixham for a meal as there are two birthdays to celebrate, and the anniversary of moving here and Fathers Day (any excuse). If you need a fix of mouth-watering menu gazing, check it out here.  http://www.bistro46.com/menu.php

I always have the problem of wanting to try everything, and from experience I know that it’s all fantastic.

Onto my own culinary efforts now, and this time I have tried a lamb and couscous stir fry, also a potato cake with Chorizo and smoked pimenton. In honour of the visit, I made some choc-chip biscuits in the style of Peter Reinhart, as well as baguettes and a boule.

But first, some more of Yvonne’s Beaded creations,

these are hanging decorations for windows or well anywhere you like I guess. As ever the standard is superb, I need a camera with a better Macro lens to really do them justice, but I think you get the idea.

To accompany the lamb I made some flatbreads using Gram flour and Olive oil, with a sprinkling of Za’atar, fried in my cast iron pan.

 The Lamb mince was fried with onion and garlic and tagine paste (a bit of a cheat I know, but I had been at work all night), with added raisins and chopped dried apricots, these soak up any liquid as they plump up.

Meanwhile soak some couscous and when fully hydrated add to the lamb mix and stir.

 Tragically, we had no desert so a store cupboard raid was in order. All I could find was a tin of Cherry pie filling and a savoury pastry case. It was time for some creative cookery.

To counteract the pasty being savoury, I coated the case with chocolate spread?

before adding the pie filling and heating.

Whilst that was going on I made custard in the microwave. It might not have been haut cuisine but somehow it didn’t matter.

I also started my ferment for Baguettes tomorrow.

Poolish

Overnight Rise

Today, in between the bread making, I thought that I would try the aforementioned potato cake with Chorizo, so combining my love of Chorizo with that for Potato.

As usual I fried onions, peppers and garlic until soft, adding sliced Chorizo and simmering until the oil runs,

meanwhile I boiled and mashed some potato, combining this with the veg/sausage mixture in an oiled dish.

 I will cook the cake in the oven for about 20 minutes and serve with some leaves out of the garden (If the slugs are OK with that), tomatoes and a bit of balsamic dressing.

The choc-chip biscuits were meant to be for tomorrow, and I even made some smaller ones for “samples” to try today,

 unfortunately the plan didn’t work as they are so tasty it’s a case of “Just one more” until there aren’t any left. I may have to make some more tomorrow or just pretend that I didn’t make them at all.

The baguettes had a good crumb,

but I’m still having trouble with the scoring of the loaves, I don’t seem to get a good ear. Oh well the taste is more than compensation.

Sourdough Disaster

I'm not to proud to admit it when things go wrong, and maybe someone else can learn from my mistakes, if you are upset by photo's of badly made bread look away now.

I’m in mourning for my sourdough project, which would appear to be in tatters. The trouble is, I tried to do too much (as usual) and lost most of it.

Initially I thought that my starter was not active enough, so I took it out of the fridge and fed it,

12 hours later I fed it again and boy was it bubbling.

Of course that meant that I had about a kilo and a half of starter, so I had to do something with it.

In the end I decided to try an overnight proof and then to make a couple of loaves using my proofing box for an accelerated proof.

Well the overnight loaf went really well,

and with high hopes I made dough, let it rise, shaped it and put it in the box.

 Unfortunately, I left it too long and when I came to turn it out too bake, I found that one loaf was stuck to the banneton, and the other was split and had a dry, hard crust. That’s when I made my second mistake. I tried to re-work and incorporate the dough, looking back I think I should have made rolls or flatbreads, anyway I only succeeded in making bricks.

At least my two loyal dogs liked them.

I have tried to dry some of the remaining starter,

but the hot weather has gone and its not really drying, I have kept a small portion in the fridge and I think that I will go back to what I know best, i.e. polish type focaccia or just plain loaves for a while. The sourdough bread was tasty, but there were so many bricks that I need to step back for a bit and re-think my strategy. I do hate to admit defeat, so I will be back. In the meantime, if any one has any suggestions, please let me know, but for the moment,there’s a Jubilee to celebrate !