Medical Appointments, Lazy Monday,

Another busy day today, a family doctor appointment at 10 in the next town and then a cardiology appointment at 1 in this town. Not sure about lunch. The receptionist suggested we carry it with us. Have an idea there is a cafeteria in the Medical building where the cardiologist is. There seems to be a place called Fit for Life so maybe we can pop in there, either before or after. We'll see.

For those of you who seem to think Hot Cross Buns are difficult, this is the recipe I use. It is from a cookery book I have had for maybe 60 years. It is called Cookery in Colour. I have made this recipe many times and it worked very well. I have the yeast because I was going to try crumpets. Haven't done so though.

Hot Cross Buns

12 oz plain (all purpose) flour
good pinch salt
1 oz butter
4 oz dried fruit
2 oz candied peel
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 oz yeast *
approx 7 fl. oz tepid water, milk and water or milk
1-2 oz sugar
1 oz sugar for glaze
1 Tbs water

1. * If using dried yeast mix with the sugar and a little tepid liquid. Allow to stand in warm place until soft - approximately 20 minutes, then cream. Continue after this as for fresh yeast.

2. The spice should be sieved with the flour. Cream the yeast with 1 tsp of sugar. Add tepid liquid and a sprinkling of flour. Put into a warm place until the 'sponge' breaks through. Meanwhile sieve flour and salt into a warm bowl, rub in butter and add sugar, fruit and peel. When ready, work in yeast liquid and knead thoroughly. Put into a warm place for approximately 1 hour or until the dough is double its original size. Form into round buns, 'prove' for 15 minutes on warm tray. Before doing this the buns should be marked. Do this with the back of a knife or by cutting thin strips of pastry and arranging on the top. Bake for 10 minutes near the middle of a very hot oven 425°F. If buns are to be eaten straightaway, mix 1 oz sugar and 1 tbs water and glaze with this. If, as so often happens, they are to be warmed again on Good Friday, make up glaze and brush after re-heating.

Source: Cookery in Colour

Have a great day
 

Doctor, Steamer, Hot Cross Buns,

I was supposed to go to the family doc on Friday but wasn't able to. Both of us are having trouble with walking at the moment even though we both have walkers. So I was re-booked for Sunday afternoon. From what everyone says, I will probably be told to take iron pills. Mind you, my blood pressure is pretty low too at the moment. In the end, I had to cancel the Sunday afternoon appointment too. Matt could hardly walk at all and I wasn't much better. Not sure what is the matter with his legs. Need to get to the doctor to find out, easier said than done. Will have to phone firs thing in the morning. Supposed to go to the cardiologist on Tuesday, need to go to the doc first. Everything is a bit of a mess at the moment.

Big disappointment, I ordered a steamer basket for my Instant Pot. When it arrived on Friday, it had  prickly wires at the edges. Matt even stabbed himself on one. Not only that, the eyelets on the handles were not properly attached either. Guess it has to go back. I had all kinds of plans and I have recently watched a SixSisters "how to" as well. I am also planning to make Hot Cross Buns this year. Haven't done so in years, but I have some yeast and all I need is Candied Peel. The ones from the local bakers are pretty good but the crosses are made of icing so when you warm the buns, the icing runs all over. Real Hot Cross Buns are actually crossed or scored deeply with a knife before baking.

Two Sleevers have a whole load of Mexican Instant Pot recipes and I thought this one sounded interesting.

Carne Guisada

1 lb beef stew meat, chopped into large pieces
1/2 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 Tbs ground cumin
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1-2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ancho chile powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
3/4 cup water
1 Tbs corn flour

1. Blend together everything but the beef, water, and corn flour.

2. Place beef cubes into your Instant Pot and cover with the blended veggies.

3. Use the 3/4 cup water to wash out the blender and pour that into your pot.

4. Cook at High Pressure for 20 minutes, and release pressure quickly

5. Turn your pot on to Sauté and get the stew on a full boil. If you have a lot of liquid, boil for 5-10 minutes to reduce the liquid.

6. Make a cornstarch slurry (mix the corn flour with some water), and pour it into the boiling stew and stir until it thickens

Servings: 6

Author: TwoSleevers


Have a great day

Wedding Watchers' Party, Bowling, Fracture Clinic, Easter,

Today, at the bowling alley, a friend asked me about English cookies etc. or things she could take to a wedding party (i.e. watching Prince Harry plight his troth) my first thought was Scotch Eggs, but she was thinking more of things like shortbread which is British if not English. Not being a maker of cookies I couldn't really think of totally English biscuits. She talked about blueberry scones and I said blueberries were not very English. I just googled and apparently they are fast becoming the number one berry on sale in Britain. The wedding isn't til mid May so I suppose I have time to think of something. I did some Googling and came across a few English things here. The Maids of Honour shown here are something I think of as typically English as are ginger biscuits or Brandy Snaps which I always loved as a kid.

I was very disappointed in myself, I had two very good games at bowling today and then messed up the last one. My average went up from 152.4 to 152.6 - not enough. However, the team did take all 7 points which was the best we have done in a while. I keep telling myself to stop bothering about my average, but I guess I'm not listening too well.

Tuesday we have to go to the Fracture Clinic. I suspect this will be the last time. In fact Matt was walking better today than he has been for a while.

Easter is nearly here and I used always to make my own Hot Cross Buns, a traditional food for Good Friday. I regret to say I haven't made them in a while. When we were in North Carolina I couldn't get candied peel which, to me, is an essential ingredient, so I didn't make them, and when we returned to Canada I guess I was too lazy to mess around with yeast. Today I bought some from the bakery where I buy regular buns, having tried a taste, they seemed very similar to me although the cross was made of icing which is not traditional by any means. However, I thought I would post the recipe I used to make.

Hot Cross Buns

12 oz plain (all purpose) flour
good pinch salt
1 oz butter
4 oz dried fruit
2 oz candied peel
1 tsp mixed spice
1/2 oz yeast *
approx 7 fl. oz tepid water, milk and water or milk
1-2 oz sugar
1 oz sugar for glaze
1 Tbs water

1. * If using dried yeast mix with the sugar and a little tepid liquid. Allow to stand in warm place until soft - approximately 20 minutes, then cream. Continue after this as for fresh yeast.

2. The spice should be sieved with the flour. Cream the yeast with 1 tsp of sugar. Add tepid liquid and a sprinkling of flour. Put into a warm place until the 'sponge' breaks through. Meanwhile sieve flour and salt into a warm bowl, rub in butter and add sugar, fruit and peel. When ready, work in yeast liquid and knead thoroughly. Put into a warm place for approximately 1 hour or until the dough is double its original size. Form into round buns, 'prove' for 15 minutes on warm tray. Before doing this the buns should be marked. Do this with the back of a knife or by cutting thin strips of pastry and arranging on the top. Bake for 10 minutes near the middle of a very hot oven 425°F. If buns are to be eaten straightaway, mix 1 oz sugar and 1 tbs water and glaze with this. If, as so often happens, they are to be warmed again on Good Friday, make up glaze and brush after re-heating.

Source: Cookery in Colour

Have a great day
 

My Buggy Story, Easter Lamb,

My bag of diatomaceous earth arrived today, Wednesday, along with the puffer for spraying it into receptacle areas. I think I am beginning to win the battle anyway with my steamer so this should fix my little visitors but good. I sent the building manager another email with a picture of some of my bites. I got a notice saying that the pest control people will be here on the 31st to inspect. That's two whole weeks. It would probably be another whole week before they would be here to treat once again. Meanwhile I am supposed to lie in my bed getting bitten? I am hoping by that date I will be able to tell them where to go with their pest control. I sent them 2 pix, this was one. The line of red is bites.

Today, Thursday, I get to see the orthopaedic surgeon having picked up the CD of my Xray. I am hoping to call in at The Rising Dough bakery for some more Cornish Pasties and some Hot Cross Buns. They make very good ones. For me, Good Friday needs Hot Cross Buns the same as Easter weekend needs a lamb roast. This is half a picture which has always fascinated me, it's from one of my Time Life Cookbooks. It shows the men of a Greek village cooking their family's sheep over a communal barbecue in the street. Meanwhile their wives are preparing everything else which goes with the feast. I don't know if it still happens, but they used to get a young lamb and bring it up as a family pet, then slaughter it at Easter which was symbolic of the crucifixion. I cannot imagine living with an animal and then eating it. I was talking about a programme called Cook Abroad. The chef was in Egypt and they slaughtered the lamb in front of him. It was not shown on film but some years ago there was a travel programme made in the UK and they did show a goat being slaughtered before being eaten. One knows it happens but most of us are unable to watch such things. We like to get our meat in a nice little packet all wrapped up in the supermarket. I am just as bad as anyone else.

I personally never cook anything special for St. Patrick's Day. Nor did most Irish people living in Ireland. It is much more celebrated here I think. I read the other day that the first St. Paddy's Day parade took place in Boston - not in Ireland.

This a recipe from England. I have never heard of browning the roast before you put it in the oven, but if you have time, not a bad idea.

Roast lamb studded with rosemary and garlic

BBC Good Food

If you have time, stud the lamb a day in advance to allow the flavours to really permeate the meat

Serves 6 - 8

• leg of lamb
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
   weighing 2½ kg/5lb 8oz
• 1 garlic
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
   bulb
• 1 bunch rosemary
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 carrot
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  , cut into large chunks
• 1 onion
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  , cut into quarters
• 1 glass red wine (about 150ml)
• 1.2litre beef or lamb
  
  

  
  

  
  

  
   stock
• 
  

1. The first job is to stud the lamb with garlic and rosemary. Use a sharp pointed knife, make at least 30 small incisions all over the meat. Peel 4 garlic cloves, thinly slice them and prod a slice into each incision. Next, pull off small sprigs of rosemary and push into the incisions,too. If done in advance, cover the lamb well and refrigerate. Remove from the fridge 1 hr before roasting
2. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Heat a large frying pan, add a little oil and brown the lamb all over. Scatter the carrot, onion, remaining garlic and rosemary in a large roasting tin, pour in the wine and stock, then place the browned lamb in the tin.
3. Roast for about 1 hr 45 mins. Turn the lamb halfway through so by the time it’s cooked, each side has been in the stock. When cooked, remove the lamb and allow to rest in a warm place covered in foil for about 30 mins.
4. While the lamb is resting, make the gravy. Pour all the stock from the tin through a sieve into a saucepan to remove all the vegetables and herbs. This stock should be rich, slightly thick and have a great lamb flavour. Reduce it a little on the hob if you feel you want to concentrate the flavour, skimming off any fat that comes to the surface. Serve the lamb with the gravy, potatoes leeks and butternut squash

Have a great day
 

Gold Bunnies, The Rising Dough, Donald Trump,

We now have four Lindt Gold Bunnies awaiting the day. Why do we have 4? Well Matt bought a couple but both were plain chocolate which he eats and I don't. Rather than return one for exchange I suggested he buy me two milk chocolate bunnies. Well???  There are three different bunnies, the red ribbon is milk chocolate, the brown ribbon is dark chocolate and the white ribbon is, suprisingly, white chocolate. It's funny how tastes differ, to me plain chocolate doesn't taste of much at all. It is supposed to be good for you, but milk chocolate is my preference. I like white chocolate too although I understand that it isn't real chocolate anyway, I don't know, guess I should Google it one of these days. We are going to Cambridge next week near the Rising Dough bakery and I will get some Hot Cross Buns. They make good ones. Not as good as mine but I am too lazy these days to make my own. Besides which I can buy lots of other goodies there, Cornish Pasties for one. I have never tried making those I confess, but these are so good, I don't think I will bother. They also have good scones which I have made in the past, but these days, I'll go for theirs which taste so good.

This is well worth watching. I was told about this by one of the owners of the bowling alley when we went there on Thursday afternoon.



In England we/they eat a lot of Indian food which is delicious. This is a version of one of the favourites. I found it on Yummly but the recipe originates in Swati's Kitchen. I have all the ingredients other than rose water, but many of you may not. I have put links to a couple of things in case you are unfamiliar with them.

Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani

Six Servings

Ingredients

• Chicken 800gms - 1 kg (dressed, in bone cut into 10 pcs)
• Garlic 2 Tbsp Crushed
• Ginger 2 Tbsp Grated
• Salt 1.5 Tsp (to taste)
• Lemon 2 (juiced)
• Yogurt 1 cup
• Turmeric 1 Tsp
• Red Chile Powder 1 Tsp (more if you like spice)
• Garam Masala 1.5 Tsp
• Coriander 1 bunch
• Mint 1/2 bunch
• Green Chilies 4-5 cut length wise
• Onions 5 sliced lengthwise
• Ghee 5 Tbsp
• Rice 2.5 cups (500 gms)
• Almonds 15 (soaked and skin removed)
• Bay leaf 2
• Clove 5
• Cardamom 4
• Cumin seed 1 Tbsp
• Cinnamon 1" stick
• Saffron 1 pinch
• Rose water or Kewra concentrate 1/4 Tsp mixed in 1/2 cup of water.

Method

Step 1

Marinate the chicken with ginger, garlic, salt, 1/2 of lemon juice, yogurt, turmeric, red chili powder, green chilies, 1 Tsp garam masala, half the coriander and half of mint leaves. Allow the chicken to sit on the counter top absorbing the goodness of all these spice and herbs for about 1-2 hours. Or leave it in the fridge over night. If keeping in the fridge, bring the chicken and marinade back to room temperature before proceeding with next step

Step 2

Deep fry the peeled almonds and keep aside. Also fry the Onions and keep aside.

Step 3

Heat water in a deep vessel and when it starts to boil, add salt, bay leaves, cloves, cardamom, cumin seeds, cinnamon and lemon juice. Add the washed rice and parboil the rice till the rice. The rice should cook about 40% and should still have a bite.

Step 4

In a pressure pan, heat 2 Tbsp ghee (the ghee used for frying almonds and onion works best). Reduce the heat and add the marinated chicken along with half the fried onions and mix well.

Step 5

Layer half the par boiled rice over chicken in the pan. Spread on it remaining (but 1 Tbsp) fried onions, 2 Tbsp ghee, balance coriander leaves, and mint leaves and then layer the remaining rice over it. Sprinkle 1/2 Tsp garam masala over the rice.

Step 6

Spread the saffron strands and rose/kewra water along with 2 Tbsp ghee over the rice. Also sprinkle fried almonds over the rice. Close the pressure pan and allow the biryani to cook for about 30 min on low heat (reduce heat after the 1st whistle)

Step 7

When cooked, mix the rice and meat carefully and garnish the biryani with remaining fried onions, coriander and mint leaves.

Serving Suggestion

Serve this delectable Hyderabadi Chicken Dum biryani with dahi pyaz kachumbar or raita

Have a great day
 

L is for London Broil, Scottish Bakery, Hypoglycemia.

This is going to be quite short as I am a tad under the weather.

Yesterday morning I made some cream of broccoli soup so that we have some for the freezer. Then in the afternoon we went to the dermatologist for Matt to have a check up. All good. Then the Scottish bakery where we bought some more Cornish Pasties which we had enjoyed so much last time, I also bought some hot cross buns as I missed out at Easter. They look to be the real thing. Some of the buns available here don’t taste the same as when I make them or as one buys in the UK. We followed this by going to a friend’s house basically to return some books. At the friend’s I had a couple of glasses of wine, same as usual when we visit these people. Back in the car I started feeling really nauseous. By the time we got home, I felt really rough and found it difficult to make it to the apartment when I stretched out in my lounger. I felt almost drunk. Not on two glasses of wine. Then it hit me, hypoglycemia. Checked my blood sugar reading, sure enough, that was the problem, my reading was lower than I ever remember seeing it, presumably caused by drinking wine, but that has never happened to me before. I will obviously have to be more careful. I talked to the pharmacist and she agreed that I should NOT take my Metformin as its job is to reduce blood sugars. I ate some Nutella (didn’t know but we ran out of honey) and drank orange juice which helped. Once I had eaten a Cornish Pasty I felt much better. So, if you are a diabetic, be careful. I had read that hypoglycemia could look like being drunk, didn’t realise it could feel like it too. So, sorry, this is my blog for today.

This recipe you could call Matt’s signature dish. We first got the recipe from some neighbours in North Carolina and Matt tweaked it a bit and proceeded to make it his own. It has been used to feed many of our friends who then adopted the recipe to use for themselves. One friend always had trouble finding the recipe so I made him up a picture with Christmas themes and the recipe in the centre (it was Christmas time of course) and framed it. I wonder if he still has it. He even tried freezing the London Broils in the marinade and discovered they need to be marinated first and then frozen otherwise the marinade doesn’t work. In Canada they sell a cut of meat which they call London Broil but its not the same thing as sold in North Carolina so we get a local butcher to cut us a large piece of top round which has to way around 3-4 lbs. and be a good 2 inches thick. I have posted this recipe before, but it fits in so well with the letter L that I couldn’t resist posting it again. The recipe says think pink, but we eat it much rarer, the picture is just about how we serve it. Another story about it, we were staying in Florida with family and friends and Matt cooked a couple of London Broils which he was busy carving. There were 4 kids, 2 grands and 2 friends, and the four of them were standing around Matt stealing pieces as he carved them. The mother of the friends came out into the kitchen, saw the meet and exclaimed that her kids “couldn’t eat that” and promptly took some slices and microwaved them to a dull and tasteless gray. She ignored the fact that her children were already eating “that” and apparently thoroughly enjoying it.

Checking Google I found an article by a butcher who said London Broil is NOT a cut it’s a recipe although many places sell it as a cut. They certainly do in North Carolina, if you go into Food Lion or Lowes, they sell meat which is packaged as London Broil. Learn something new every day.

London Broil


5 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup veg oil
1/4 cup of oregano
6 slices ginger, slivered
2 tsp hot sauce
salt and pepper
4 lb London Broil 2" to 3" thick (top round)

1. Mix up marinade. Marinate meat for several hours, minimum 8 hours,  the longer the better, store in fridge and turn frequently.
2. Light barbecue and get it good and hot then reduce heat to medium to cook. Suggest you  remain with meat initially to reduce flare ups. Give it 10 mins on the first side, baste and then turn , then 5 a side until you have cooked for a total of 25 mins.
3. THINK PINK
4. Let the meat stand 10 - 15 mins before carving. Carve at a bias across the grain, not straight up and down.

Servings: 8

Have a great day

Easter, UGG, Lamb

I have just eaten one of my home made Hot Cross Buns, I thought - when I made them yesterday - that they weren't all that successful. However, it tasted great. That's one of the problems with not cooking things with any regularity. I cannot remember the last time I made them. I just read an excerpt about Hot Cross Buns which told me they originated in ancient Greece and were often made as an offering to the gods although in those days, prior to Christianity, they might be stamped with the horns of a sacred ox. This picture is half of one which takes up two pages in my Time Life Cooking of the Middle East. These Greek men are cooking the Paschal Lamb at a street barbecue pit. Probably, the lamb has lived with the family for the last few months before they killed it. The whole event being symbolic of the sacrifice of Christ. The guys are having a bit of a party there, drinking a sip or two of retsina whilst they are cooking. The women, meanwhile, are baking all kinds of breads and pastries probably in the local baker's ovens as their own wouldn't be big enough for the Easter feast. This picture was taken on the slopes of Mount Parnassos near Delphi, but was, certainly at one time, repeated over many areas of Greece, particularly in the islands. There is another picture in the book showing the smoke from many such barbecue pits on Easter morning. The Greek women also prepare kebabs of liver and skewers of organ meats (offal) called kokoretsi, small pieces of which will be offered to anyone who calls at the home whilst the men are roasting the lambs. The delicious smells emanating from these barbecue pits are absolutely wonderful. I cannot speak with total authority, but I know some people from what used to be Yugoslavia (when I was young), practice the same way of cooking their Paschal lambs. I know a Yugoslavian friend of our had such a barbecue for his wedding some 20 years ago. On GMA this morning they revealed a new website where they have all the recipes prepared by their guest celebrity chefs such as Emeril Lagasse, Wolfgang Puck, Sara Moulton, etc. etc. there are, apparently, over 1,000 recipes. This morning Emeril prepared an Easter ham. This is something Matt and I have never understood even after 34 years or living in North America, buying a cooked ham and then cooking it. When we buy a cooked ham we slice it thinly and eat it with Coleman's mustard (very hot). I have never tried to buy an uncooked ham here, but we used to in the UK and then cook it having poked cloves into the skin and such. That was another thing I found confusing, where we lived in North Carolina they refer to a leg of pork, uncured, as a ham???? Churchill said it best, two nations divided by a common language. Another segment on GMA today was regarding UGG boots which are so very popular these days, they say. Apparently, because there is no arch support, the boots are not very good for you and wearing them a lot for long periods puts a strain on your heels and ankles and makes them work too hard which can then affect your knees and hips in later life. Same applies to flip flops, so said the Podiatrist. The report stated that people are wearing them even though there is no snow and it isn't cold. The problem can be alleviated by wearing an insert, either one you buy or a prescribed orthotic. As a note here, as a young woman I used to live in flip flops, I still wear them a lot and I have had a hip replacement. Any connection? Of course Matt has had two hip replacements and a knee replacement and has never worn a flip flop in his life. Go figure. As an alternative to ham, I am giving you a lamb recipe from The Best Three and Four Ingredient Cookbook. This is basically how I cook my lamb although I don't always include the rosemary. I also serve mine with homemade gravy which I have described in a previous blog and mint sauce - English style - NOT mint jelly nor that wishy washy stuff you can buy in a bottle but the stuff you get in a jar which is so thick you sometimes have to mix it with a bit more sugar and vinegar. One thing I would take issue with would be the roasting time, I would cook for 20 mins per lb. I think 25 mins. it would be somewhat overcooked Roast Leg of Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic This is a classic combination of flavours and always popular. Serve as a traditional Sunday lunch with roast potatoes and vegetables. Leaving the lamb to rest before carving ensures a tender result. Serves four to six 1 leg of lamb, approx. 4 lb. 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced leaves from 2 sprigs fresh Rosemary from the store cupboard 2 Tbs olive oil salt and ground black pepper Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Using a small sharp knife, make slices at 1 1/2 in. intervals over the lamb, deep enough to hold a piece of garlic. Push the garlic and rosemary leaves into the slits. Drizzle the olive oil over the top of the lamb and season with plenty of salt and pepper. Place in a roasting dish which is also oiled. Roast for 25 mins per lb. of lamb, plus another 25 minutes. Remove the lamb from the oven and leave to rest for about 15 minutes before carving. Happy Easter.