Pattypans Pantry - Food Matters and having a good look around
Whilst in Waitrose earlier on Saturday afternoon I noticed that they have the first of the Seville Oranges for making marmalade in. As I was not in a position to deal with the marmalade making at the moment I did not buy any today but I may well get some in the week as a first batch. I have some ordered from the veg shop in any event and have some plans to as I say make marmalade, Vin D'orange, and some Seville Orange curd for starters.
As I mentioned earlier on - I am taking advantage where I can and getting stuff sorted out a bit at a time. I want the preserves and pantry fully stocked this year as well as the freezers. This includes using the wild larder too not just jams and jellies, but wines and cordials as well.
As I mentioned earlier on - I am taking advantage where I can and getting stuff sorted out a bit at a time. I want the preserves and pantry fully stocked this year as well as the freezers. This includes using the wild larder too not just jams and jellies, but wines and cordials as well.
Talking of marmalade my friend and I were reminiscing about our childhoods yesterday with one of the main topics of conversation being food. My friend J remembered as a child not liking or eating the thick caramelised Seville Orange marmalade as she was not keen on the thick bits and funnily enough I was the same. Our parents' though absolutely loved it. It is now only in our older years that we appreciate the same and enjoy the flavour far more. Something which comes with the years I believe.
Home made marmalade is so useful in the pantry. You don't just use it on toast! It can be used for glazes, i.e. coating a ham with some brown sugar, can be used in a cake, in bread and butter pudding with a tin of mandarin oranges and countless other uses.
Home made marmalade is so useful in the pantry. You don't just use it on toast! It can be used for glazes, i.e. coating a ham with some brown sugar, can be used in a cake, in bread and butter pudding with a tin of mandarin oranges and countless other uses.
When the Seville oranges are in stock at the Veg shop I shall also freeze a couple of batches of prepared Seville Oranges for making a fresh batch of Marmalade at the end of August/beginning of September as well, which can then be stored and used in Christmas hampers. I have a stash for us and a stash for present giving.
Not having the freezers on has impacted on me a lot as if I had any veg left over that needed using up I would often freeze this so as not to waste food which also meant that I could stock-pile some veggies so that if we were in a hurry we had veggies to go. That will all come back into play in due course but having used that facility and relied on it then not had it makes me appreciate things all the more.
There is a much well rehearsed system in relation to food matters in this house which links into other areas in the home, but separately, and together they all work. One thing I do tend to do is prepare one type of vegetable in bulk at a time, then freeze it and build up my stocks this way on a little at a time.
Today I have also bought a couple of cauliflowers, one for veg with Sunday dinner and the other to turn into a Cauliflower cheese. I also have cabbage, leek, parsnip and carrots together with the petit pois bought earlier. I shall add mashed potato and roasties and that should do us nicely for tomorrow's Sunday lunch together with lashings of gravy.
I also bought a tray of eggs (30 eggs per tray £3.55 per tray). I have some baking to do and we also use them as part of a meal. If I can get round to it may well do some pickled eggs during the week as well (will need to get another tray of eggs first though). OH has a partiality for these. However for a just little bigger jar than a jar of jam, for £3 you can buy approximately 6 eggs in vinegar. They are not difficult to do. Traditionally you start to preserve eggs when the chickens go back into lay again in the Spring months, but if you have an opportunity to do them or on economic grounds it would be foolish not to do some for yourself. At £3.55 for a tray of 30 eggs it would be silly not to take advantage.
A lot of people will not buy a tray of eggs as they believe that they will not use them. There is no need to waste them as either whole eggs can be frozen or you can separate out whites from the yolks and freeze them separately and use them up in a baking session.
One of the things I have noticed is that a lot of the supermarkets do cakes of one sort or another and charge the earth for it. People seem to have got out of the habit of baking or do not know what to do. They will quite happily pay at least £2 plus for cake especially if there are children in the house as a treat. They would get far more for their money if they were to have a go themselves. Each time you have a go, you get that little bit better. It is akin to learning to ride a two wheeler bike! I have a bulk recipe for making a Victoria sponge mix in my Kenwood (or similar stand) mixer which makes at least four standard sponge cakes and two pattypan trays of individual cakes (cup cakes). You can also use this mix to fill a baking tray cook it and let it cool and then add some whipped cream and fruit and you have dessert! You can flavour the basic sponges with cocoa powder or drinking chocolate to vary the flavour or add coffee. The links for previous posts concerning this are here http://tarragonnthyme.blogspot.com/2012/10/batch-baking-sandwich-cake-mix.html
and https://tarragonnthyme.blogspot.com/2017/08/batch-baking-altogether-cake-mix.html
When we were younger, as a treat mum used to make us a jelly with some fruit in accompanied by custard. We did not always have cream it was not as readily available. My Nan used to have Gold top milk and every day she used to take the cream of the top of the milk and empty it into a small tub and then come Sunday she would lightly whip it and serve it with fruit and jelly.
Another way of serving jelly and fruit was to tip it into a sponge flan case. You can still buy these. They are basically a whisked sponge mix (Swiss Roll mix). For a Swiss Roll you use a long baking tray and then roll the sponge mix after filling it. With a flan case you grease the metal mould (you can still buy them) and then empty the Swiss Roll mixture into the tin until it is cooked. You then turn it out and let it cool and then fill with jelly and fruit and chill it until ready for use.
A super duper version of this using a sponge flan ring filled with fruit, jelly and ice cream, is to make a Baked Alaska which has frozen ice cream in it and meringue mix which is liberally coated on the outside and then bunged into the oven to brown. This is easy to make and is absolutely delicious a treat for children and adults alike.
Where I can, I tend to buy and preserve food seasonally and follow the monthly preserving calendar for any ingredient in any one given month. However, if you have the opportunity of getting ingredients cheaply it is okay to preserve out of season. Quite regularly at the veg shop they will have apricots and plums (not English) at very good prices so it would be daft not to make use of them and get the most out of them and you can either preserve them or use them in puddings etc. and freeze them. There is so much you can actually do and get so much more for your money.
As food prices appear to be on the increase again and people's incomes are lagging behind again we have to do what we can to keep our families fed and the wolf kept from the door. This is where traditional English cooking really does come into its own.
Catch you soon.
Pattypan
x
There is a much well rehearsed system in relation to food matters in this house which links into other areas in the home, but separately, and together they all work. One thing I do tend to do is prepare one type of vegetable in bulk at a time, then freeze it and build up my stocks this way on a little at a time.
Today I have also bought a couple of cauliflowers, one for veg with Sunday dinner and the other to turn into a Cauliflower cheese. I also have cabbage, leek, parsnip and carrots together with the petit pois bought earlier. I shall add mashed potato and roasties and that should do us nicely for tomorrow's Sunday lunch together with lashings of gravy.
I also bought a tray of eggs (30 eggs per tray £3.55 per tray). I have some baking to do and we also use them as part of a meal. If I can get round to it may well do some pickled eggs during the week as well (will need to get another tray of eggs first though). OH has a partiality for these. However for a just little bigger jar than a jar of jam, for £3 you can buy approximately 6 eggs in vinegar. They are not difficult to do. Traditionally you start to preserve eggs when the chickens go back into lay again in the Spring months, but if you have an opportunity to do them or on economic grounds it would be foolish not to do some for yourself. At £3.55 for a tray of 30 eggs it would be silly not to take advantage.
A lot of people will not buy a tray of eggs as they believe that they will not use them. There is no need to waste them as either whole eggs can be frozen or you can separate out whites from the yolks and freeze them separately and use them up in a baking session.
One of the things I have noticed is that a lot of the supermarkets do cakes of one sort or another and charge the earth for it. People seem to have got out of the habit of baking or do not know what to do. They will quite happily pay at least £2 plus for cake especially if there are children in the house as a treat. They would get far more for their money if they were to have a go themselves. Each time you have a go, you get that little bit better. It is akin to learning to ride a two wheeler bike! I have a bulk recipe for making a Victoria sponge mix in my Kenwood (or similar stand) mixer which makes at least four standard sponge cakes and two pattypan trays of individual cakes (cup cakes). You can also use this mix to fill a baking tray cook it and let it cool and then add some whipped cream and fruit and you have dessert! You can flavour the basic sponges with cocoa powder or drinking chocolate to vary the flavour or add coffee. The links for previous posts concerning this are here http://tarragonnthyme.blogspot.com/2012/10/batch-baking-sandwich-cake-mix.html
and https://tarragonnthyme.blogspot.com/2017/08/batch-baking-altogether-cake-mix.html
When we were younger, as a treat mum used to make us a jelly with some fruit in accompanied by custard. We did not always have cream it was not as readily available. My Nan used to have Gold top milk and every day she used to take the cream of the top of the milk and empty it into a small tub and then come Sunday she would lightly whip it and serve it with fruit and jelly.
Another way of serving jelly and fruit was to tip it into a sponge flan case. You can still buy these. They are basically a whisked sponge mix (Swiss Roll mix). For a Swiss Roll you use a long baking tray and then roll the sponge mix after filling it. With a flan case you grease the metal mould (you can still buy them) and then empty the Swiss Roll mixture into the tin until it is cooked. You then turn it out and let it cool and then fill with jelly and fruit and chill it until ready for use.
A super duper version of this using a sponge flan ring filled with fruit, jelly and ice cream, is to make a Baked Alaska which has frozen ice cream in it and meringue mix which is liberally coated on the outside and then bunged into the oven to brown. This is easy to make and is absolutely delicious a treat for children and adults alike.
Where I can, I tend to buy and preserve food seasonally and follow the monthly preserving calendar for any ingredient in any one given month. However, if you have the opportunity of getting ingredients cheaply it is okay to preserve out of season. Quite regularly at the veg shop they will have apricots and plums (not English) at very good prices so it would be daft not to make use of them and get the most out of them and you can either preserve them or use them in puddings etc. and freeze them. There is so much you can actually do and get so much more for your money.
As food prices appear to be on the increase again and people's incomes are lagging behind again we have to do what we can to keep our families fed and the wolf kept from the door. This is where traditional English cooking really does come into its own.
Catch you soon.
Pattypan
x
I have a sponge recipe that i use for lots of things i turn it into , fruit flan cases , butterfly cakes , chocolate chip cakes , baked sponge puddings, lemon drizzle cake plus the normal sandwich cake , it can be used for a lot of other cakes too xxx
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