Crumpets or pikelets?

This is like a whistle stop tour of the UK. Most of us know what a crumpet looks like – where I come from a crumpet is called a pikelet – all these regional differences, still it keeps us entertained. A crumpet was posh – a pikelet definitely wasn't! The obvious difference is that a pikelet is thinner than a crumpet.

Speaking of regional differences, it reminds me, over the years I've got some very strange looks from friends when referring to such items as, for example, “oven bottoms” - having reassured them that I was not being rude, I then had to explain what an “oven bottom” was – if you're north of Watford – especially north west of, then you'll know that the name came about because bakers made use of every single inch of their ovens and no dough was ever wasted. They formed the dough into regular shapes and placed on the bottom of the oven – it didn't rise because it couldn't and so was flat top and bottom – hence “the oven bottom”.

Anyway back to the crumpet and the pikelet.

During a recent trip to Bicester Shopping Outlet, the morning snack was taken in the Farmshop Restaurant and Cafe. I'm not the easiest to please with mid morning snacks but was suitably impressed with what I chose, here it is :

It was as good as it looks. If I had one weeny criticism it was that it was a mite heavy and needless to say I had help to finish them – well everyone has to taste. In case it's difficult to see, the crumpets are toasted, covered in cream cheese and then drizzled with honey.

Enter the pikelet. You'll see that it is thinner than your average crumpet and just right for the likes of me. Toast your pikelet and spread with cream cheese - here's my extra twist – drizzle with maple syrup. The strange thing is that I don't have a sweet tooth but the balance of the pikelet, cream cheese and just a hint of natural sweetness is wonderful.

Christmas breakfast anyone?

Christmas late night snack anyone?

Christmas “I'm sick of food and fancy something really quick and easy” anyone?

The joy of the jam …an entrée

An absolute must in my freezer will be a loaf of soda bread – my speedy version. Apart from the fact that it makes the best toast ever so never gets wasted, it's also the base for my next “jam” idea.

I mentioned the soda bread recipe recently in Nothing is ever straight forward (for ease of reference). The recipe mentions a “x” before baking - cut with the cross into four triangular shaped portions – each portion is a called a farl.

A farl is originally Scottish and Northern Irish – it can be soda bread, potato bread or cakes – basically it's a round cut into 4 triangles and authentically cooked on a griddle.

Anyway, back to the recipe – when your loaf has cooled cut it into 4 farls.

Slice one farl into 4 and set aside. Bag and fridge (or freeze) the remaining 3 farls.

Pre-heat a medium sized frying pan. Fry 125g of chorizo on a medium heat until crispy and its delicious oil is released.

Toast your slices of farl, spread with jam, scatter over diced chorizo and drizzle with oil and garnish with finely chopped Romano peppers.

An ideal size for a starter and do not be deceived by the size of the soda bread slice - it is dense in texture and filling!

Here's the finished entrée :

The joy of the jam …

a canapé

What could be more convenient than a jar of jam in the fridge and a packet of flatbreads in the freezer?

Toast your flatbreads and spread with goats' cheese or, if you are not a lover, use what you do enjoy – cream cheese or Boursin would float my boat, then add the jam and finish off with greenery of your choice – rocket would give a peppery hit – if you're not a fan then shredded iceberg, chopped flat leaf parsley or coriander. Conversely you could toast the bread then spread with the jam and sprinkle a crumbly cheese – Wensleydale or Stilton or feta.

Cut into bite size portions to serve as a canapé or pizza style slices for a snack.

If you're not a lover of flatbreads then you could invest in part baked baguettes, sliced or not (incidentally a gluten free version works brilliantly for canapés)

You can make this as easy or as complicated as you like.

Add :

Finely chopped chilli – red and/or green

Olives, pitted and chopped – you can buy them in jars of

different sizes ready pitted and sliced

Mediterranean vegetables, roasted and finely diced

Parma ham, salami or pepperoni cut into small triangles

or any other antipasti that you enjoy

Anchovies, chopped finely

capers, chopped

artichoke hearts

You can get great deals on packets of mixed antipasti at this time of year – really convenient and slim to stash in the fridge or the freezer.

What's up my sleeve?

I just love a recipe that lends itself to all manner of uses.

Here's my first :

Roasted Garlic and Sweet Onion Jam

1 garlic bulb

1 tbsp olive oil

170g sweet onion – finely chopped

85g sugar

85g Granny Smith apple – finely chopped

120ml balsamic vinegar

Here's the make ahead bit :

Baked Garlic

2 bulbs of garlic

olive oil/rapeseed oil for drizzling

2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme - optional

salt and black pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 200c/180f/Gas 6.

Slice the tops off the bulbs and place the in a small oven dish, garlic roaster or foil dish so that they fit snugly. Drizzle with oil and season with thyme, salt and black pepper.

Roast in the oven for about an hour – until the garlic has softened. Squeeze the garlic out of its skin. Add a little more oil , keep in a tightly fitting container and place in the fridge.

You can use the paste in the same way as you'd use fresh garlic – the difference is that the baked garlic is sweeter and ready to use!

The paste will keep in your fridge for one to two weeks or you can freeze in small containers.

Method

Squeeze garlic cloves and any juice into a medium saucepan. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to the boil over medium to high heat, stir occasionally then reduce the heat. Simmer uncovered for 30 minutes or until thickened and again stir occasionally.

Be patient! It will look like it will never reduce and thicken. It does.

This recipe will fill a 370g conserve jar and here it is :

A note about sweet onions. I searched high and low and found them in Tesco – Finest Sweet Onions – a net of 3 for £1.50. You may think a little on the expensive side but I can assure you that they are worth it.

I can hear you saying “so what, it's another chutney” - yep it's good with the usual cheeses, hang around and I'll mention a couple of other ideas!

Take a moment …

ponder… if I was going to offer any advice for the festive season, it would be with one sole aim in mind – to try and prevent you becoming a demented person, disappearing under the weight of wrapping paper and the fancy dressings we now expect – twice the amount of work requiring time that we haven't got to begin with. Which, of course, does not take into account the shopping – on-line or not you still have to plan it. Is there steam coming out of your ears yet – if not it won't be long. It's like a pressure cooker – remember them – you have to release the steam or it'll blow up (only kidding about that).

So, to try and avoid spontaneous combustion decide how your holidays are going to pan out. The more you ponder and plan the less stressful it will be – just sit and think about what you want to serve.

Last year's suggestions on the blog cover everything from breakfasts to suppers, canapés et al, beginning with The dreaded “C” word! - right through to Lunch or Dinner? … on New Year's Day.

I make no apology for repeating – create your own store cupboard/secret stash of ingredients that won't spoil whether in the pantry, fridge or freezer but will enable you to produce food quickly and easily when unexpected guests appear.

This is personal to you because only you know the likes and dislikes of your friends and family. If Great Uncle Fred is the only person who likes Christmas Pudding then why buy a large one when you can buy him an individual pudding – you don't have to buy for the sake of it.

With luck and a following wind you might even finish up sane enough to enjoy it!

My plan …

… is just that – plan – the more you accomplish sat with a pad and pen, the easier life will be.

If you've been following the blog recently you'll know that we've just completed a weeks meal planning – Christmas is no different – actually that's not true, what is different is the outside pressure of bigger, better, more expensive and a huge headache. I'm just saying that if you follow the same planning principles it'll be less of a panic.

If you are new to the blog then I can do no worse than to suggest you have a glance at the suggestions I made last year. I'm not being lazy – at least I don't think so!

I also mentioned at the same time that my family Christmas was a little, shall we say, unorthodox. We chose to eat “chips with everything” - the everything being gammon, turkey, fillet steak and a veggie option too – whatever took our fancy. I have asked my family what they'd like for Christmas Day lunch this year and their resounding response was - “the same as last year – it was great”. We have a treat on Christmas Eve, dinner out, which does make a difference. I have made one or two changes – instead of the chip-pan there'll be a tartiflette and/or a roast potato or three but the principle remains the same – a little bit of what you fancy!

If you are catering for your family and friends I might be inclined to ask whether they really want a traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings – if yes – that's fine and relatively straight forward.

If not, bounce some ideas around – ask your guests what they'd like, but not in such a way that it commits you to providing 12 different main courses and 12 different puddings – I know, I know, I'm exaggerating. I'm just suggesting that you might have been cooking a turkey for 10 years on the trot that no-one enjoys – particularly you!

Just a thought.

I do have a few bits and pieces up my sleeve that I hope will help.

An intermission

I'm interrupting my “gadding about” on location – there's more to come shortly. In case it had escaped your notice Christmas is on the doorstep – again!

In the supermarkets it begins earlier each year, or so it seems to me. Aided and abetted by adverts on the tv showing delectable delicacies designed to tempt us – what did we do before “party food”?

How many of us succumb and ram the freezer within an inch of its life with all manner of stuff that, hand on heart, we will either serve and be disappointed since it all tastes the same, or jiggle it around the freezer for two weeks and then throw it out in the New Year?

The party food fashion reminds me of the idiom “Keeping up with the Joneses” - I suppose you have to be a certain age to remember the phrase – here's my useless bit of information – did you know that it came from a comic strip of the same name which ran from 1913 to 1940?

Wearing a wry smile of course, I can't help but picture a gathering where your party food is scrutinised within a inch of its life by guests, with the imaginary, cartoon style bubble above their head saying “mine's better than yours and it cost more!”

Please don't think I'm being a party pooper nor that I'm saying you shouldn't buy festive treats – just that you give a little more thought ahead of the game to what you buy and what you'll use, rather than a trolley dash hurling in, at random, stuff you can't possibly live without, elbowing other shoppers out of the way, because you have to have the last exorbitantly priced product left on the shelf!

Lets see what we can do.