Merry Christmas!

With just over three weeks to go we're getting festive! The Christmas decorations have been bought out for their annual excursion from the shed, the Advent Calendar is straining under the weight of chocolate and the maturing mince meat mix has finally been opened.

We've introduced a new Christmas scone to give you something a little bit different during the Christmas period - orange zest and dried cranberries go fantastically well together and make this scone a real change from the norm.

Please be aware, our last orders for Christmas goods need to be in by 14th December. If you can get your order in earlier, then please do so - this will not only assist us with our busiest time of year, but also help us factor in any future bad weather - we don't want to get caught out by the snow again...like we did last year. All our products can be frozen, so why not order early and that's one less thing to worry about!

Last deliveries are on December 22nd and then we take a well needed break. We'll be open again week commencing 9th January with some exciting new seasonal products including a beetroot and chocolate muffin.............yes beetroot! It's fantastic - really makes the chocolate rich and the sponge moist.

We'd like to wish you a merry and peaceful Christmas and hope that 2012 brings you all you hope for.

Fame at last.........!

Check out the link to ITV West Country news tonight:

http://www.itv.com/westcountry-west/gluten-free-bakery47242/

The soup is finally here!

Better late than never! The pumpkin & butternut squash soup's recipe has been finalised. It's a fantastic warming soup - ideal for these colder days now that autumn has well and truly set in. We'll leave the soup up for as long as pumpkins are available locally.

All the other Autumn products are still available until week commencing 7th November when we then start on the 'Season to be Jolly' products (can't quite say the 'C' word until at least after Bonfire Night!).

Remember postage and packaging is FREE for all orders of £65.00 and over.

We completed 'F' and 'G'

Sorry it's been a while since I posted but we have been hugely busy in the kitchen which is obviously good, but leaves me little time to update my blog and facebook!

During June (I think......!) we figuratively went to France with our gastronomic travel buddies! Jackie cooked a superb French Onion soup, Boeuf Bourguignon and Tarte Tatin. It was absolutely delicious and of course all gluten free. We guessed it would be France and were going to turn up in outfits but then thought we would look really daft if they fooled us and went to Fiji or The Falkland Islands instead!

So for our turn it was 'G'. When we did 'C' we thought about Cyprus, but decided to save the Mediterranean food for Greece instead. We started with hummus, taramasalata (not GF so not for me!) olives, and tatziki with GF pitta bread which was actually ok. I must learn how to make my own but was really short of time so didn't get a chance.

Having tried not to fill up on the appetisers, we then had peppers and tomatoes stuffed with rice, feta, pistachio nuts and spices. This was really lovely but by now we were full!!

For main (yes we were still eating.....) we had moussaka. I'd never made it before and my only memory of having it was in Corfu circa 1987! Then it was obviously served with chips because that's all us Brits eat abroad!! LOL! In a truly dignified fashion we had a lovely fresh Greek salad consisting of tomatoes, onions, cucumber and feta with fresh mint chopped in. 'Twas beautiful.

Still stuffed with gritty determination we then went on to dessert after about another hour and many coffees later. I pinched a Jamie Oliver recipe but made it gluten free. It was a honey and pistachio nut cake. Really nice and light, but because we were all so full I have three quarters of it in my freezer for another day.....life is so tough sometimes.

Unfortunately food and alcohol got the better of us on the night and we forgot to take any pics so here's a pic of the leftover cake!

So in a couple of weeks we're off to 'H'. We have challenged our friends to make a Hungarian meal just like Ferenc's mama makes but I think they may balk at that! The gloves are off........!

Engerland Engerland Engerland!

For our turn at ‘E’ we cooked a 1970’s English meal! Rather than experience Egypt or Ethiopia or any other exotic location, we opted for a tongue in cheek trip down memory lane of those meals we were served as kids and later on aspired to eat in the Beefeaters of our day.

Aperitif
Martini, shaken not stirred with a lemon twist.

Canapés
A veritable platter of 70’s fine dining – cheese and pineapple on a stick, plain crisps, celery and cheese spread, gherkins, and pickled onions.

Starter
Prawn cocktail (had to be!)

Main
Steak, sauté potatoes and salad (consisting of that eclectic mix of lettuce, cucumber and tomato – what a taste sensation! So much so that Sean flatly refused to even have some as memories of salads of childhood days came flooding back).

I attempted a cheese fondue which was a complete disaster. The cheese went like chewing gum. According to the recipe if you add bicarbonate of soda to it, it will break down and be edible again………..but that didn’t happen! It was really awful, but Ferenc gamely had a bit. I tasted it and that was enough for me.

Dessert
Knickerbocker Glory – took me right back to my first memory of one. We went to Butlins in about 1977 and I had one in a Wimpy in Bognor Regis. I couldn’t eat even half of it – not sure that impressed my mum as I wasted most of it! However, it was lovely as an adult. I put fresh strawberries, raspberries and tinned peaches at the bottom then a scoop of vanilla and scoop of chocolate ice cream. Topped with a little double cream, sprinkles and of course a glacé cherry. It was really lovely.

True to form we served Blue Nun wine with the meal – did we really used to drink that????

Irish coffees to finish and we were well and truly stuffed.

Next is ‘F’ – could it be France? I’m not cooking so who knows. Now to plan ‘G’……..

Denmark

We had the pleasure of travelling to Denmark for ‘D’ – not literally of course, but our lovely friends made us a three course Danish meal. We had SMØRREBRØD, that’s open sandwiches to you and me. We had fish, ham, cheeses, pates and all manor of exciting toppings. Us being us obviously stuffed ourselves on the first course and then struggled with the second!

Main was Frikadeller (meatballs), Kopenhavn Kartofler (Copenhagen potatoes – my favourite), Danske Stil Porrer (Danish style Leeks), Braiseret RØdkål (braised red cabbage) and Hvidkaal Med Kommen (Cabbage with caraway seeds). I wasn’t that fond of the cabbage as it had a lot of cream in, but the red cabbage and potatoes were lovely.

Pudding was a rice pudding (RisengrØd), but instead of being made with pudding rice and served hot, it was made with long grain rice and served cold. Jackie served it with cherries in brandy which complemented it beautifully.

All in all another great feed! It’s soon our turn to do ‘E’………..I’m planning the menu already!

Alphabetical world food tour

It’s been quite a while since I last posted……..Christmas now seems like an eon ago.  Now that the daffs are out, the bad weather has faded into the dim and distant past!

Since then, in the interests of world relations (actually – it’s more of an excuse to try new food) we have embarked on an ‘alphabetical around the world food tour’.  It all started when friends of ours decided to celebrate the World Cup last year with the food of the country England were pitted against.  We had burgers and fries for the American game; for Slovenia we cheated a bit and had Hungarian food (helps when my husband’s parents are Hungarian!); and for Algeria we ate a twist on Moroccan lamb.  Unfortunately I can’t remember what we ate in Stage 2 and then we got knocked out…………..so that ended that!  Although we did have paella for the final followed by a Dutch pudding of Malva (a bit like a sponge pudding) and a Dutch apple and berry pie.

So, we were talking to our friends at Christmas time and decided to do something like that again, but with a theme.  We came up with an alphabetical world tour.  At the beginning of the month we have to pick a country and cook typical fayre from that country.  It's a secret which country we have decided upon until we arrive for dinner.

We kicked off the proceedings with an Afghan meal.  I found a terrific website for Afghan recipes http://www.afghancooking.net/afghan-cooking-unveiled/afghan-cooking-recipes--all/   

We ate:

Mini afghan kebabs with coriander & mint chutney

Bolani – Afghan potato & spring onion turnover

Sabzi – Afghan spinach

Lawang – tumeric braised chicken in yoghurt

Challaw – Cardamom rice

Falooda – Afghan Sundae

Cardamom almond brittle

Awb e dundawn– Rosewater & cardamom cookies

Kilche Birinjee – Afghan butter cookies

Everything was obviously made gluten free.  For the Bolani I made wraps with the following recipe:

2 cups (240ml) cold water
1.5 cups (approx 190g) gram flour
1 cup (approx 130g) tapioca flour

Pinch of salt and pepper.

I have to say these were my favourite.  The Falooda was probably my least favourite and the cookies didn’t work very well gluten free at all.

It was our friends’ turn for B and we travelled to Barbados (well actually we walked about 200 yards around the corner, but one can dream!)  We arrived to be handed rum punch (phew – it’s a hard job!).  Starter was Bajan shrimp & fish skewers with a mango & chilli dip;  followed by jerk chicken, rice and peas.  Then dessert was baked bananas and pineapple with Barbadian cream.  Absolutely delish.

It was our turn for “C” two weeks ago.  We deliberated over Cuba, Cyprus and China but in the end decided on Chile.  There is a wealth of Chilean recipes, but I was taken aback to discover that a lot of the food (particularly the desserts) have a German influence and therefore are pastry based.  This is not such an issue except when you are making all the meal gluten free!!  I decided to try and make Sopaipillas - a flat circular deep fried 'bread' made of pumpkin and flour – so I experimented on my poor long suffering husband and sister in law.  They weren’t that good without the gluten!  The menu we settled on was as follows:

Pisco Sour – a bit like a Margeurita (very very yummy!)

Tortilla chips

Hacienda onion salad

Chilean salsa

Pebre (again a salsa)

Estillo Sarita (avocado shrimp ceviche)

Pollo Arvejado (Galician chicken)

Porotos Granados (Chilean bean stew)

Chilean rice

Torta de Hojas – which is a layer cake made with pastry and filled with caramel, walnuts and brandy.  This did not work GF – the pastry recipe did nothing to complement the rest of the ingredients. It would probably work fantastically with a puff pastry recipe (one for another day!)

Empanadas – these are like a cross between a jam tart and a jam doughnut and were absolutely gorgeous.  The recipe I used was http://www.ehow.com/how_4509867_fruit-jam-empanadas.html

So off to “D” next – but I don’t have to cook this one.  The question is, what am I going to do for “E” – answers on a postcard please!