Bread and Butter Pudding

With all the bread I've been making lately, we have a surplus of the brown stuff, and what better way to use some up than a Bread and Butter Pudding. My daughter used to make this a lot when she was still living at home, and so did Yvonne, but I thought that this time I'd have a go.
Again there are no exact quantities, as it depends on your dish size (and your appetite), but the milk and egg proportion is fairly important for a good set.

I lined a casserole dish with butter and sliced enough bread for three layers. All of the slices were well buttered and layered in the dish with sultanas and caster sugar between the layers.

Finishing butter side up and well sugared.

I mixed a pint of milk with two beaten eggs and poured it into the dish, then left it to soak in for a few hours. A couple of times I pushed the bread down to make sure it was well wetted.

It was cooked at 200 degrees for about an hour, until there was no liquid left in the centre.

Even though it was another hot day, it went down well after our Roast Lamb.

Simple

I wanted a simple meal last night, as we weer going out, and I found some of Evergreen Farms Pork and Marmite sausages in the mysterious, never-emptying space that is our freezer. No matter how much I try to make room in it, it never seems to be less than bulging, with everything that you want somehow making its way to the bottom. I need the room as I'm starting to pick the currants and berries, and want to store them until I have enough for Jam.
Anyway I digress, First of all heat the oven to 200 degrees.

In a roasting tray quarter two large onions, and add a few new potatoes. Try to get all the pieces about the same size. Liberally coat with Olive Oil.

Cook for about 30 minutes, then add the sausages and return to the oven,

Give them another 30 minutes, or until the sausages and potatoes are cooked through.

a bit more than this.

It's a bit of a healthy fry up in a way. Very nice with a good mustard and some brown bread.

I must get back to the freezer, there are some delicacies in there.....somewhere.

We went to the Brixham Hap'nin at St Marys Park, a great evening of Beer and Music

it's on again tonight, so we have water bottles filled with Rose Petal wine to keep us warm.

Random things

Just a few bits and pieces here, in no particular order,

I have Sourdough coming out of my ears at the moment, due to my trying to improve my methods, so we have been having lots of Garlic Bread with meals. I slice the bread, spread Garlic paste on it,

Then Butter,

 then bake in a 180 degree oven for 15 minutes, Yum.

I've started getting more veg from the garden, it's all catching up, now we have Peas, Broad Beans and various leaves.

At the risk of offending any veggies who may be reading, here is a plate of Pork Belly with my own veg and some gravy.

Gross eh!!! But very Tasty.

Yvonne made a superb Apple Crumble, with Oats, seeds and all sorts of stuff in the topping.

 
Check out my Cherries, Apples and Roses.
 

 

An exercise in futility.

I was at work a few days ago, and it was early morning. The sun was just up, and looking across the Thames from Gravesend, I could see the four new wind turbines on the Port of Tilbury site. The Port say they will generate half their annual electricity requirements, well this day must have been one of the 182 days that the lights would be off, the air was still and they weren’t moving. Presumably, if they had wanted to open the lock gates, they would need an alternative supply.

Looking down, I could see the river flowing, it was a spring ebb tide and the water must have been doing 4 knots (that’s 2 metres a second) and it will continue to do that until slack water, then it will come back in at 2.5 knots etc. etc.  Twice a day forever. Or at least until the moon disappears.

And I thought to myself, if only they had turned the turbines upside down and stuck them in the water!

Sunday at Work

I thought that today would be a quiet day, WRONG again.
I had a nice little ship away from a berth in Dagenham, it's quite tight inside, as you can see,

I have to back the ship out through the gap you can see on the right.

We got going, and managed to end up  in the right place,

until the bow was clear and we could swing round.

Mission accomplished! The rest, as they say, was easy.
It's about 30 degrees here, but very nice on the river, as you make a breeze with your motion. I have a couple more jobs to do before I can head back to Devon, where lots of work awaits.

There are blackcurrants to pick and jam to make, Rose Petals to turn into wine and lots of bread to bake.

I did a coleslaw type salad, with grated carrot, onion and apple,

for lunch with Pizza before I came up here.

We have Tomatoes as well,

after the slow start, everything seems to be catching up.

Bread wise, I have just delivered Ciabatta to Gravesend and have an order for Sourdough for later in the month. Also a Ciabatta order for Millie in Brixham.

Did I mention the Cherry and Vanilla Focaccia?  If not here it is,

If you want the recipe, just post a comment with your email in and I will send it out.

Everything is back ot front in the garden, the potatoes that I planted in February are not flowering, but the ones I planted in April are just starting. I had to dig one tub of the later ones up as the stems were rotting, I got enough for a meal, or two, although not as many as I was hoping for from three seed tubers.

Also the strawberries are starting to ripen, just got to keep the birds off now

Broad Beans are going to be a sucess, despite the slugs best efforts,

and the blackcurrants are beginning to ripen,

Roast Chicken today, I'll let you know how it turns out.

As it happens, after my last post, I had no other work, there was a job in  the early hours that cancelled, normally they are the ones that never do, but this time it meant an early finish.

Back home, my garden has really taken off, with peas,

Courgettes,

and even a potato

showing up.

I did the Ciabatta for Oats, as well as the usual Sourdough and Soda bread,

before my next shift (and last for a while)

My car is getting more economical as I wear the engine in, this time on the trip from Brixham to Gravesend I averaged 89.6mpg, which is pretty good On the return trip however the figure was lower, I wonder if that's because I'm in more of a rush to get home than I am to get to work?

 I've been scouting out the blackberries, and this year there seem to be a large amount coming, looking forward to Wine, Jam and some Balsamic Vinegar if I get plenty.

These taken variously, but I'm not letting on were or you'll whip them before I get there,not very charitable I know, but the blackberry pickers here are a possessive lot!

There is a new farmers market at Occombe Farm in Paignton today, which might be worth a look, Oh: and I made a no-knead wholemeal loaf.

Ready to bake

Done

I like the idea because there's little work involved, and the dough proves for 18 hours, which gives it a lot of flavour.

I have an order for Millie and Me in Brixham, they are having an Italian evening on Saturday, and I am doing the Focaccia and Ciabatta for the event. All the info on that will be on the Bread blog, so do have a look.