An update from Plum Cottage!

Where does the time go?!

I'm a little behind with my posts as have been busy with Baby Plum and enjoying a lovely 10 days in the country with my parents. Feeling rejuvenated by 10 days worth of fresh country air and my mum's scrummy food ... it's time to stop sitting on the sofa feeling brain dead and start to get on with things!!

First things first ... Christmas Cake!!!

You may remember me making my boozy fruit back in September ... I have been stirring this lovely concoction of fruit and sloe gin since then and finally got around to making the cake! You can find the recipe for the cake on The Pink Whisk blog. This is the first time since I started baking Christmas cakes (back in 2002, I think) that I have not used Delia's recipe ... and sadly, the first time that my house has not been filled with the beautiful smell of Christmas as the cake bakes. Not to worry, I'm sure it will taste divine - and there will be plenty more opportunities for Christmas smells, I'm sure!!

I have also been avidly watching Jamie's 30 Minute Meals (the joys of being at home at 5.30!) and decided to whizz up some frozen yoghurt. Yum Yum and so easy to make.

Get some yoghurt

Get some frozen fruit

A bit of honey

Chuck it into the mixer and whizz up

Delicious!

My eighth marvellous make has been some sundried tomatoes .... not my homegrown ones obviously (yes, still a little bitter about those!)

Last year I had a fabulous family holiday in Venice

While meandering around the tiny streets, over bridges and down dark alleys, I picked up a packet of sundried tomatoes.

They have been languishing in my cupboard ever since!!

That is ... until the day Mr Plum decided to knock up some pizzas!

Unfortunately I didn't realise that we couldn't just bung a couple of the tomatoes onto the pizza! They needed preparing first....which is what I have now done!

In 15 days time we will hopefully have a jar full of lovely tomatoey-garlicy-basilly goodness!

Ditching Delia ...

It is that time of year again ... the time when people start thinking about Christmas.

It is at this time of year that I start to think about making my Christmas Cakes. Yes, that's plural ... I like to make cakes as presents for friends and family but ... as I am not working this year, I don't have the need for as many homemade gifts for work colleagues ... so will just make the one cake this year....and I always use my trusted Delia Smith cake recipe.

Well, not this year!!

This year I have decided to try a recipe from The Pink Whisk - Ruth is posting this recipe in two parts. The first part is "Boozy Christmas Fruit" which will take 6 weeks of soaking and stirring. The second part will then be posted. I think that I will be soaking my fruit in my homemade sloe gin, rather than brandy.

Have you made your Christmas Cakes yet?

A day spent in the kitchen ...

Today I have made crab apple and herb jelly ....

After what seemed like hours, I finally reached the setting point!

I also made some Rosehip Relish ... I think that I should have de-pipped the rosehips as although it smells wonderful and has a real kick to it - the pips are a bit of a mouthful. Not sure what I can do to rectify this one.

I love the contrast of the vivid red rosehips against the wonderful balsamic and red wine vinegar ... the smell was out of this world!

I have also finally got around to straining my final jar of last year's Sloe Gin. Thankfully, this one tastes very nice. The Spicy one doesn't and will be poured down the sink very shortly ...

I have also made my Christmas cakes! A bit later than normal this year ... but nevermind! Still plenty of time to feed with Sloe Gin. I'll blog about that separately!

I have had such a lovely weekend ... Mr Plum is cooking dinner and I have a pile of ironing to do ready for tomorrow - so I will leave you now. I hope that you have all had lovely weekends too!

Foraging in the Hedgerow

Autumn is definitely here ... I tend to feel slightly detatched from Mother Nature stuck in the big smoke ... so it was nice to go home to the Cotswolds and see how far on Autumn actually is. I love the cooler mornings and beautiful colours. This weekend we headed to the hedgerows to pick some sloes (I'm not making any sloe gin this year, but was picking some for a friend who had given me some blackcurrants in the Summer), some crab apples and some rosehips. I'm looking forward to making crab apple jelly and rosehip relish (from a recipe in my dad's book-more of that later!)

Spicy Sloe Gin

I have used a different recipe for this year's sloe gin ... it is from the brilliant book "A Slice of Organic Life" - this will be my first 'project' from the book!

2lbs sloes

zest of one orange and one lemon

teaspoon of honey

cinnamon stick

2cm ginger, sliced

6 cloves

bottle of gin

Crush the sloes with a rolling pin, or spoon and put into a large bottle/jar.  Add the other ingredients and cover with the gin. Store the jar somewhere dark and cool for 6-12 months ....

Christmas Is Coming....

As today was "the last Sunday in September when I am free" I made my Xmas Cake!  I used the same Delia Smith recipe as I did last year (was lovely and moist!) - but have substituted Brandy for Sloe Gin (2007 batch) and added some chopped dates.  I will be feeding the cake on a regular basis with more S.G ... and marzipanning and icing nearer Xmas.  I can't wait!

Here is the recipe -  Delia's Classic Christmas Cake

Mr Plum the Home-Brewer

Mr Plum likes his homebrew.

The first batch of Yorkshire Bitter was lovely! It made a very nice shandy ... unfortunately we drank it far too quickly!! 

Mr Plum's second batch of home brew went slightly wrong and exploded over him last night.

While in York we visited the York Brewery ... Mr Plum got himself a "Yorkshire Terrier" home brew kit ... we also had a tasting tray of 4 Yorkshire Brewery ales ... they were very nice!  Mr Plum's best friend also gave him another Yorkshire Bitter homebrew kit - so that will keep him busy for a while!

While Mr Plum is making his home brew .. I'm looking forward to this years batch of Spicy Sloe Gin and Limoncello!   The Plum Brewery is going to be busy this autumn...