BACON AND LENTIL SOUP

Good Morning to you,

Do you remember this song?

Oh listen to the falling rain,
Pitter patter, pitter patter
Oh, oh, oh, listen to the falling rain
Pitter patter, pitter patter

The Rhythm of the Falling Rain

by The Cascades

If you know this song, I feel sure, you are now singing the first verse, 

"Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain, 

telling me just what a fool I've been, 

I wish that it would go and let me cry in vain

 and let me be alone again."

The reason this very old song popped into my head, was because all day yesterday, the rain did not stop tumbling down from the sky. It is that time of year, when the rain can fall relentlessly.  So all our lightweight jackets have been packed away, until the warmer weather returns.  It is now time, to get out my mac, brolly, hat and wellies, which will help to keep me dry when I have to go outside to splosh about in the rain.

So, because the weather has been awful, I have a very warming soup to take away that Winter or should I say, Autumnal chill,

a bacon and lentil soup.  Soups are certainly a favourite in this house during the Autumn and Winter and we do tend to eat a lot of different types of home made soups.  I make large batches, so that I can freeze some for the days when I am busy and would rather not cook.

...... but today I am in the mood for cooking, and of course, I could not cook without some music to listen to. The  music I have chosen is  a little different to my normal taste in music,

O Brother, Where Art Thou?  Have you ever seen the film?  George Clooney plays the part of Everett Ulysses McGill..... don't you just love that name.  I won't tell you about the film, as I don't want to spoil it for you, just in case you do decide to watch it, but I have to tell you, it is a fabulous film. 

One of the songs from the Cd is "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and it is one of the many songs which George's granddad (my husband George and not George Clooney, just in case you thought I had inside family knowledge about George Clooney!) used to sing to him, when he was a little boy. The wheel turns and George sang the same song to our girls when they were little and they loved the song. It was Natasha who told us about the film, because she was thrilled when she heard the song "Big Rock Candy Mountain". I love "I'm in the Jailhouse Now" sung by the Soggy Bottom Boys.... what a fabulous name for a group.  

Now, it is the time for me to put on my apron and organise my ingredients.... at the moment I am listening to "You are My Sunshine" whilst I lay out my ingredients...... don't you just love that song.

I have to tell you before I start, that I have used dried pearl barley, split peas, split lentils and marrow fat peas, so I had to soak these overnight.  I thought it useful to tell you now, but of course if you prefer to save time, you can use tinned, but with much less stock and much less cooking time, but I have to be honest, I don't think you will be rewarded with the same flavours. Plus it is much more economical to use dried pulses and peas.

INGREDIENTS

75g (3 oz) pearl barley

75g (3 oz) yellow split peas

75g (3 oz) red split lentils

75g (3 oz) marrow fat peas (optional)

9 salad potatoes

2 onions

5 carrots

150g (6 oz) bacon lardons 
2 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 tablespoons of olive oil

3 litres of chicken or vegetable stock

HOW TO MAKE 
BACON AND LENTIL SOUP

THE EVENING BEFORE

Place the dried pearl barley, split peas, lentils

and marrow fat peas 
(from now on I will call this the broth mix)

into a large bowl and cover

with water.

Allow to soak overnight

THE FOLLOWING DAY

Rinse the soaked broth mix thoroughly with

fresh water.
I tend to do this a couple of times.

Place the broth mix into a saucepan with 3 litres of chicken stock

and bring to the boil,

reduce to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes.
Remove any froth which appears with a slotted spoon

MEANWHILE

Peel and chop the onions

and set aside.
I used my food processor to chop the onions
as I wanted the onions to be quite finely chopped
for this soup.

Peel and chop the carrots

and set aside

Peel and chop the potatoes

and place in cold water until needed.

 I used  lardons
but if you are using  bacon,  cut into small pieces
and place in a pan and cook until
brown.

Remove and set aside

Place the olive oil into the same  pan

and

Add

the chopped onions and cook until translucent
Add
the tomato paste and cook for a minute
Add
  the chopped carrots and coat
with the olive oil and tomato paste

When the carrots are coated, add the chopped
potatoes and again coat with the 
olive oil and tomato paste

Carefully add the lardons and vegetables to the
pan containing the broth mix.
I tend to add a spoon at a time to prevent any
liquid splashing on me.

Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes

Add the salt and
freshly ground black pepper

When the soup has cooked
I tend to let the soup stand in the saucepan,
with the saucepan lid in place,
for 45 minutes, to allow the soup to thicken
and to enhance the flavours.


Serve in your favourite soup dish

and

Enjoy

There are just a few thoughts.  I have used marrow fat peas as George loves them, but you can substitute any bean of your choice. 

I did not salt the broth mix as the salt can make the skin of the dried peas hard, so I prefer to season at the end of the cooking time.

I also used a salad potato as they tend to hold their shape when cooked so that you have chunky potatoes in this soup.... which George loves. 

I mentioned that I simmer the broth mix for 45 minutes, now this is an approximate time as I have found that on other occasions, when I have made this soup, I have had to simmer the mix for an hour.  It all depends on the age of the pulses and peas, the older the pulses and peas, the longer it takes for them to  cook.

This is a lovely soup, sometimes we eat it just as it is and on other occasions I will make small dumplings and add them to the soup, but whichever way you decide to enjoy this soup, I feel sure, you will not be disappointed.

So take care of yourself, and I will see you on Sunday.

This week I will be joining,

Miz Helen's Country Cottage

and
Karen from Sew Many Ways

CHOCOLATE AND COCONUT CAKE

Good Afternoon to you,

Close your eyes and imagine,

a beautiful tropical island, with white sandy beaches. The sky is a glorious shade of blue, with not a cloud in the sky. There is  a gentle breeze blowing,  and you can hear the leaves of the coconut palms, rustling in the breeze. Between the coconut palms you can see a hammock, which is ready and waiting for you to lie upon. 

Now doesn't that conjure up a glorious image.

Well, I have to tell you, if you have not already guessed, this was one of the adverts for "Bounty" that fabulous chocolate and coconut treat. Can you guess where this is going...... oh yes,  not only do I love chocolate, but I absolutely adore coconut.

No, I do not have a Bounty to share with you today, but what I do have, is this  fabulous Chocolate and Coconut Cake.

When you eat this cake, let your imagination take you to that beautiful island. 

My apron is on (can you tell I'm excited to make this cake) and my choice of music really should be, something with a little Caribbean sound  to it, but, not today,  what I am in the mood to listen to,  is,

The Beatles. I'm sure I don't need to tell you anything about The Beatles, suffice it to say this album is fabulous.  I can sing every word, of each of the songs, and my favourite songs are, "Drive My Car", "Michelle" and without a doubt "In My Life". I have to tell you that the other songs run a close second.

The first time I heard the Beatles sing, was when we lived in Yorkshire, in the early 1960's and if my memory serves me correctly, they were on Granada TV, and they were singing Please, Please Me. I think the final LP I bought of the Beatles, was the White Album, which I still have today. Listen to "Blackbird" it's so lovely. When all is quiet, there is nothing like hearing a blackbird singing it's tune in the evening..... it is just so very beautiful.

The music is playing and as I mentioned, my apron is on.... I told you I was excited about making this Chocolate and Coconut Cake, so it is time to organise the ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

175g (6oz) unsalted butter

175g (6oz) caster sugar

175 g (6 oz) self raising flour

3 medium eggs

5 dessertspoons of hot water

150g (5oz) dessicated coconut

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

pinch of salt

HOW TO MAKE
CHOCOLATE AND COCONUT CAKE

20cm (8") round spring form cake tin,
butter and line the base of the cake tin
with parchment paper

Pre-heat the oven to 160C

Cream together the sugar and butter
in a bowl,

until light and fluffy

Whisk the eggs together

Sift together the flour and salt.

Add  half  the whisked eggs and half the flour 

to the creamed butter and sugar mixture
and fold in using a metal spoon.

When  fully incorporated add the 

second half of the whisked eggs and flour
and
again fold in gently until  mixed together

Add the coconut,

vanilla essence

and

5 tablespoons of hot (not boiling) water

and gently mix together

Place the mixture into the lined cake tin

and bake

for

50 minutes - 1 hour

or

until the cake is golden in colour

and baked thoroughly.

Allow the cake to cool for five minutes
then remove from the tin.

Place on a wire rack and allow the cake to cool
completely.

Remove the parchment paper from the base of the cake.

THE CHOCOLATE GLAZE

225g (8 oz) plain chocolate, 70% cocoa solids

250 ml (8 fl oz) double cream

25g (1 oz) unsalted butter

Break the chocolate into  pieces

and place in a heat proof bowl

with the unsalted butter

Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water,
and melt the chocolate and butter.
Stir until smooth.

Remove the bowl from the heat 
and stir in the cream.

Leave to cool

I leave mine to cool for 25 minutes and during

this time the glaze will thicken,
stir now and again.

Whilst the cake is still on the wire rack,
place the rack over a baking tray
to catch the chocolate glaze which will
drizzle down the cake.

When the cake has cooled,

pour the chocolate glaze over the Coconut cake

and let it drizzle down the sides.

Grate chocolate to decorate

Now, how fabulous does this cake look.  This is a beautifully, moist cake which we sometimes eat just as it is, or if we are feeling really decadent, we drizzle some cream over the cake.

Now let me tell you a little bit about this recipe. I must have had this recipe for about 30 years and it was given to me, by a 13 year old girl called Sally.  Sally used to live next door to us and one Friday, she returned home from school with a Coconut cake which she had made in Domestic Science. It was her first foray into baking and she was so thrilled with the cake, that she brought a few slices around, to share with us.  The cake was moist and so gorgeous, that I asked her if she would mind sharing the recipe with me. She was over the moon, firstly that we all loved the cake and secondly that I wanted to make the coconut cake.  So she went home and wrote down the recipe on a sheet of paper for me. I would say, it only took her 15 minutes before she returned and  presented me with her handwritten recipe..... which I still have today.  It is a little dog eared from being used so much, it even has splatters on it.  I have written this recipe down in my cookery book, but do you know I know this recipe so well, that I don't really need to look at Sally's recipe, but I love to get out the sheet of paper listing the ingredients and method, because when I do, I remember Sally and the sense of achievement which, was written on her face when she shared her Coconut cake with us. I lost touch with Sally over the years and I often wonder, if at the age of 43 years, she still makes this Coconut cake for her own family.

The only tweak I have made, is I add a little more hot water and I add chocolate glaze, to make this the perfect cake for us.

Isn't that the joy of cooking or baking, changing a recipe to suit your families needs and the pleasurable past memories which surface, when baking a cake or creating a family meal. That is one of the reasons I love cooking, I remember things which I had forgotten about, and once I start cooking, up pops all sorts of memories.

Take care and I will see you on Wednesday.

This week I will be joining,

Karen from Sew Many Ways
and
Anyonita from Anyonita Nibbles

APPLE, BLACKBERRY AND PLUM CRUMBLE OR IS IT CRISP

Good Morning to you,

Two years ago, we decided to plant some miniature fruit trees in our garden.  One of the fruit trees we chose, was a Plum tree. We did everything to welcome the new Plum tree into our garden. We dug a large hole, added feed, placed the tree in it's new home, added a stake for support, filled in with soil and we remembered to heel-in the tree, and of course, we watered it well.  We knew that the first year, would be a settling-in year for the young tree, so this year, when Spring arrived, we waited with great anticipation for the Plum tree to be smothered in beautiful blossom..... but do you know, not one blossom showed it's face, as the weather was so awful.  We have had lots of  leaves on the tree, but no fruit, so hopefully,  next Spring, the weather will be kinder to us and we can enjoy beautiful blossom, followed by fruit  to  make pies and crumbles.

Which brings me to what I am making today,

What would you do, if you had two Bramley Apples left in your store cupboard?

Would you make apple sauce?

A tinsy, winsy apple pie?

A crepe stuffed with  apple and cinnamon?  

These are all very nice, but, it is Autumn and one of our favourite Autumnal puddings is,

an Apple, Blackberry and Plum Crumble.  I had the two Bramley apples in my store cupboard, some blackberries in the freezer, so I just needed to pop out and buy a punnet of plums.

I've made a cup of coffee and I have chosen my music to listen to,

and it is, Fleetwood Mac.  Now this is the original line up with Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and Jeremy Spencer. Do you remember the instrumental 'Albatross', it is such a beautiful piece of music. 

My favourite LP of Fleetwood Mac's  would have to be Rumours. Do you know I could not find the Cd cover,  I found the Cd itself, but not the cover.  I just know it is going to turn up in the most oddest place.  I am going to be looking for something else, and I will find the cover instead. Does that ever happen to you? I thought it would be fun to show you this 1968 Cd cover..... oh my, how young we all were.

The music is playing, so it is time to pop on my apron and organise my ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

CRUMBLE OR CRISP

225g  plain flour

110g salted butter

50g  rolled oats

75g demerara sugar

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

FILLING

2 large Bramley apples

300g blackberries

450g plums

3 tablespoons of sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

METHOD

180C oven temperature

1 large pie dish, 
25cm (10") wide and  8cm (3") deep

Place the flour and salted butter in to
 a food processor

and

pulse 6 or 7 times,
until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs

Place the oats, sugar and cinnamon

in a large bowl

with the pulsed flour and butter

and mix together.

Set aside until needed

FILLING

Wash and dry the blackberries

Wash, de-stone and chop the plums
 into bite size pieces

Peel, core and chop the apples,
I tend to chop them roughly the same size
as the plums

Toss the apples in lemon juice
to stop them turning brown

Place the fruit in a pie dish

and sprinkle over the Demerara sugar

Cover with the crumble mix

and 
bake for 1 hour 20 minutes
or
until the crumble is golden brown
and you can see the fruit juices
bubbling around the side of the dish.

enjoy on it's own
or with

cream.

Doesn't this crumble say Autumn to you, with it's beautiful rich colours.

Now, I serve mine with cream, but there is a certain someone in our family, who feels that the traditional way to enjoy crumble, is served with custard.  I do agree, as I love custard with crumble, but do you know, it is not the homemade custard which I enjoy the most, you are going to be surprised to learn, that it is Bird's Instant Custard!  I think it is a relic of my childhood, as I love the thick consistency and I especially love the skin which forms on the top of the custard as the custard cools. 

I wonder, what are your favourite instant foods, which you loved as a child and still enjoy now?  It will be fun to hear about them.

Before I go, I wanted to mention a couple of things to you. Firstly, that you will have noticed that I have used salted butter for the crumble.  This was because I had a packet in my fridge, but normally I would use unsalted butter. Having used salted butter, I did not add any salt to the crumble. Secondly, this is a large amount of topping for the crumble, but that is how we enjoy our crumble, lots of fruit and lots of crumble.  You can reduce the amount of crumble if you prefer.

Oh yes, there is one other thing, I always taste a little of the fruit to check to see how tart the fruit is.  I am glad I did, as the plums I used were quite tart, so I added a little extra sugar.  

So take care and I will see you on Sunday,

This week I will be joining,

Yvonne at StoneGable

and

Miz Helen's Country Cottage

ROASTED BEETROOT OR ROASTED BEETS

Good Morning to you,

"You like potato and I like potahto

You like tomato and I like tomahto

Potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto,

Let's call the whole thing off".

written, by George and Ira Gershwin

The reason I am singing a verse of this song is, what I know as beetroot, my American friends,  know  as beets and whilst I was thinking about the difference, which I now believe there is no difference at all, the difference is just the name, "Let's Call The Whole Thing Off", popped into my mind..... and do you know, I can't get this song out of my head.

Have you ever listened to "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" sung by Fred Astaire?  Find the song on YouTube and I guarantee you, it will make you feel happy and you will want to put on your dancing shoes and dance around the room..... or at least as I did, dance around with slippers on.

But I am digressing, I do love eating beetroot, and I had a real fancy for it, so I took a trip  to the market to buy a few bunches.

When buying the beetroot, it reminded me that one of the many vegetables which Gramps grew in his allotment, was beetroot.  I remember Ivy would always slice and pickle the beetroot to enjoy during the winter months. Pickled beetroot was always added to the Sunday tea table, but because the beetroot was pickled, it was too acidic for me. Now I am older,  I do enjoy pickled beetroot, but do you know, my favourite way of eating beetroot is just simply roasted with olive oil and sea salt, skinned, then eaten with a salad, some pasta, or even on it's own.

So today, I am going to share my love of beetroot with you,

I added pasta, sun dried tomato pesto, which I had made, and some beans which I had left in the fridge, I then topped it with the chopped beetroot and that favourite ingredient of mine, grated Parmesan cheese and we had an enjoyable  lunch.

Of course it wouldn't be right if I did not share the music I was listening to whilst I roasted the beetroot. It was none other than,

The Divine, Bette Midler. Listen to her singing "In My Life" and "Hello In There"....she is just fabulous.  Do you remember the film Beaches.... oh dear, did I laugh and cry during the film.  I have watched it a couple of times now, but only when George isn't around, as he has a knack of making me laugh at the crucial moment, when tears are about to fill my eyes, which of course, just spoils the film.  I think you know by now, that George is very mischievous. Having read that sentence back, it sounds a little odd, as you would think that I would prefer to laugh, rather than cry, it's just that I do get so engrossed in films.

So if you are ready, I will pop on my apron and really there isn't much organising of ingredients today.

INGREDIENTS

4 beetroots, the weight does not matter

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 teaspoon of sea salt

METHOD

Heat the oven to 180C 

1 small baking tray

Cut the leaves and stems from the top of the beetroot

Remove the root from the bottom, but do not

 cut  too close to the beetroot 

as you do not want the beetroot to bleed.

Wash the skins carefully

Brush a baking tray with olive oil 

then brush each beetroot with olive oil

Using 1 teaspoon of sea salt

sprinkle over the beetroot.

Bake in the oven

for 1 hour 15 minutes - 1 hour 30 minutes

but up to 2 hours if you are using larger beetroot.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Now don't be disappointed, I can see you looking at the

beetroot and thinking, well, they started out as firm

vegetables and now they look like dried prunes!

Do not be deceived, because under that crinkled

skin, lies the treasure..... just wait and see.

Now here's the trick, make sure you wear rubber

gloves.  I used disposable gloves, because as delicious

as these beetroot are, they will stain your fingers

when you start to peel and handle them,

and  trust me

you do not want to be walking around with red

fingers nails for the next week.

Although having said that, if you want "scary" looking

fingers for Halloween, feel free to dispense with the gloves.

Still using the disposable gloves, chop the beetroot
 into bite size pieces,

then, sprinkle with sea salt and black pepper

and

enjoy them as a side dish

or as we did,

with pasta, beans, sun dried pesto and Parmesan Cheese. I shall tell you how good this dish is......  George enjoyed seconds.

Beetroot or beets can also be boiled, but again, be careful not to damage the beetroot when removing the stems and stalks. If you damage the skin when washing the beetroot, then you will find the beetroot will bleed into the water.

Now, I have no experience whatsoever in preserving or canning beetroot or beets, but I know a lady who does.  Pop over and visit  CeLynn at CeLynn's Sunflower Patch  and you will find a step by step guide to canning beetroot or beets.

Take care, have a lovely week and I will see you on Wednesday.

This week I will be joining,

Karen from Sew Many Ways

and

Anyonita at Anyonita Nibbles