Cooks' Corner

[Maggi Young]

Lesley, the Neenish Tarts ( recipe page 1, first post in this thread, pictures two posts above this one) look so tasty as well as being made of scumptious ingredients. Not sure I could achieve such a neat finish.... but I must try.

Helen,
 Don't worry about not being a good pastry cook.... do what Ian's Mum does..... buy a ready made pack from the supermarket and tell us it's yours!  Mother-in-law used to make a really  good shortcrust sweet pastry years ago from a recipe she liked from a TV cooking show (by John Tovey, chef at Miller Howe) and she used it to make the most delicious sweet mincmeat pies at Christmas, which I loved. A couple of years ago I said to her that I really thought that recipe had stood her in good steadas it was still the best.....this was when she confessed that for the previous ten years she'd been using a premade pack of pastry from Sainsbury's and just letting me chomp on happily! I'm sure Canadian stores will have something just as tasty!  Bought pastry is only a little cheat  

[Maggi Young]

Wonderfull thread this.
Had a good laugh and made me hungry too.

Eric

That's good, you can't say fairer than that, Eric! 

[maggiepie]

Maggi, in Australia you can buy ready rolled sheets of frozen shortcrust pastry or puff pastry, 6  to the pack which are separated by some greaseproof paper, so whenever you need pastry for just about anything you just pull off a couple of sheets and thaw and use.
Imagine my horror when I came to canada and the only ready made shortcrust pastry is sold in aluminium pie plates, two to a pack !!!!!!!!!
Puff pastry can be bought in a pack you have to roll out yourself.

When making enquiries about this I was told that ready rolled pastry wasn't needed in supermarkets because all good  canadian women make their own pasty, ANYONE can do it...yeah HAH!!

I 'think' I almost have a food processor version worked out, it has worked a few times for me , I think I 'might' be getting a feel for it.
Would hate to confess how many failures I have had.

[Lesley Cox]

Well of course the "pastry" isn't a real pastry, just a stiff dough to make a short, sweet crust, so very easy really, just cream the butter and sugar, add the egg then the dry stuff. It needs a little kneading by hand to bring it all together, but not much. Or you could use the bought stuff. Or do it in a processor.

[Rodger Whitlock]

A suggestion:

In order to ensure the continued welcome of the Cooks' Corner topic, let's institute a rule that every posting must make some reference to gardening, no matter how far fetched the connection. The trick lies in thinking of connections that aren't entirely obvious.

Is 6 months ahead of Christmas too soon to post a recipe for homemade mincemeat?

ObGardening: Mincemeat is an ideal food for gardeners in the winter, giving them the strength and stamina necessary for such onerous chores as turning over the pages of seed catalogues, contemplating society seed exchange lists, shoveling snow into coldframes, and generally protecting the garden from winter's onslaughts.

ObSouthernHemisphere: the forgoing paragraph does not apply in the Southern Hemisphere.

[Lesley Cox]

Well we in the SH frequently have a mid-winter Christmas dinner too, a party, rather than within a single household, in order to enjoy the mincemeat, turkey, Christmas pudd etc that would be totally irrelevant in mid summer. No doubt the gardeners among us discuss the seedlists etc. Of course it's really just an excuse for a mammoth nosh/boozeup. Flowers for the tables would include Iris unguicularis, snowdrops, hellebores etc, since I must now include some gardening references.

[Paddy Tobin]

Helen, the recipe for white soda bread:

450g/1lb/3 three quarter cups flour (plain flour)
1 tsp sugar
1tsp salt
1 tst breadsoda/bicarbonate of soda - sieved
buttermilk or sour milk: 350 - 425ml/12-15fl ozs/ 1 and a half - 2 cups

Heat oven to 230C/450F/Regulo 8
Sieve dry ingredients and mix.
Make well in centre and pour in most of milk - judge then if you need more or not. The dough should be soft but not wet or sticky.
Bring dough together, onto floured board, knead for a few seconds just to tidy it up, make into a round about one and a half inches deep, cut a cross on top with knife.

15 minutes in oven, lower heat to 200C/400F/Regulo 6 for 30 minutes. Tap bottom (of loaf!) - hollow sound means it is done.
Cool on wire rack, cover with a damp teatowel if you prefer a soft crust.

Butter and strawberry jam at this time of year are perfect.

Variation: add a handful of dried fruit (sultanas, currants, raisins) before the milk to make "currant cake".

Paddy

edit by maggi.... adding the recipe in a pdf for easy downloading for your files....
right click on the title below and "save as".....

[maggiepie]

Paddy, is the flour all purpose or SR, and what is breadsoda?
Is it just soda bi-carbonate?

[Paddy Tobin]

Helen,

I've added to the recipe above to clarify. The flour is plain flour not self-raising. Breadsoda is bicarbonate of soda, as you reckoned.

Here's the recipe for scones that I use.

Plain Scones:

8oz/225g self-raising flour
1.5 ozs/40g butter or margaring
0.25 pint/150ml milk
1.5 tablespoons caster sugar
pinch of salt

Sift flour, rub in butter, stir in sugar and salt.  Mix in milk bit by bit to make a soft but not wet/sticky dough.
Knead enough to bring it together. Roll out to three quarter inch/2cm high and cut with scone/pastry cutter, 1.5 or 2 inch. Gather scraps, knead and cut more etc.

Put scones onto lightly greased baking tray. Bake near top of over for 12 - 15  minutes.

Cool on a wire tray and eat warm.

I find these freeze well if frozen as soon as cool. Usually I make a multiple of the above recipe, four or six times the above and freeze most. Also, I am inclined to use a bigger pastry cutter to give larger scones  - allow a little extra baking time for these larger ones, simply keep an eye on their colour in the over.  They should be a golden colour when done.

Paddy

edit by maggi.... adding the recipe in a pdf for easy downloading for your files....
right click on the title below and "save as".....

[maggiepie]

Thanks Paddy, will give them a try soon.
I don't normally make sweet scones, will have to make some strawberry jam to go with them 

[Paul T]

Mmmmm, Lesley..... those Neenish Tarts look absolutely delicious. 

[annew]

How much is a stick of butter? That is, not dollars but ounces. 

[maggiepie]

Anne, a stick of butter = 8 tblspns, or half a cup, or  1/4 pound.
Since I have been in Canada I find it very convenient buying butter in sticks rather than in a single block.
Each stick has measurements so it makes it much easier to cut off bits without having to do some sums.
A stick is also the exact size needed for use in butter crocks, the ones you put water in the bottom and the bit with the butter sits upside down in the water, can't remember what they are called, but they keep the butter cooler in summer without having to refrigerate.

[Ragged Robin]

What a cool idea 

[annew]

Ah - thanks, Helen.