Poached peaches

It's been pretty busy at the workshops, so I apologise for the writing lull - we've been busy with some exciting export orders for USA and Germany, as well as the the first of the events we are attending this year.
We kicked off the festival season at the Severn Valley Railway Food Festival -  a roll down the hill from us at the Engine House Museum at Highley Station.
Last weekend saw us at the 3rd Shrewsbury Food Festival - bigger and better than ever.

As a result, the cooking front has been low on the priority list, with old favourites that require little thought being the order of the day.

But a picture post on Twitter prompted a request for the recipe for these, so here we go.

4 peaches
250ml water
100g sugar
Handful of dried rose petals
4 heads of lavender

Place the water, sugar and flowers in a casserole dish 

                                           

Bring to the boil on the hob and then reduce to a simmer until the sugar has completely dissolved.

Remove the lavender or it will overwhelm the finished dish.

Slice the peaches in to 8 and add to the syrup, cover with the lid.

                                                    

Poach gently until the peaches are soft - this will take from 10 - 20 minutes, depending on how ripe the peaches are........... check with the tip of a sharp knife.

Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for 20 minutes.

Carefully slip the skin off the peaches and transfer the slices to a serving dish.  Leave the skins in the syrup. they will add color and flavour.

Bring the syrup back to the boil and reduce until thick and "syrupy".

Strain and pour over the peaches.

Leave to cool.

 Decorate with edible flowers and, if you have them, a few raspberries (those are tayberries from the garden in the picture)
Serve either with clotted cream and Amaretti biscuits or Mascarpone with icing sugar and grated lemon rind.... and possibly a glass of fizz.

Serves 4

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

Rhubarb and strawberry cake

I love the combination of these two classic English fruits - yes, I know that rhubarb isn't technically a fruit - the glorious sweetness of an English strawberry contrasting with the sharp bite of the rhubarb.

This works well in pies and crumbles, but as ever, I wanted something a little different and I needed to keep up my 20+ year tradition of trying at least one new recipe a month.

I was lucky enough to receive a copy of Diana Henry's fabulous book Food from Plenty for my birthday last month and was even more delighted when she recommended to me that I start with her apricot and almond cake.
Quite right she was too.............

.... but damn the woman, I am now constantly plagued to know when I am going to make it again.

Soooooooooooo, I decided to have a play around and came up with the following, just hope Diana would like it.

1 large stick of rhubarb - see method
8 small English strawberries
2 oranges
100g sugar

125g butter
125g sugar
2 eggs
170g self raising flour 
2 tablespoons sour cream
NOTE: I tried this with 170g rice flour too for a gluten free alternative  - scrumptious

Finely grate the orange zest and set to one side.
Cut the rhubarb into lengths to fit across a 1lb loaf tin  and place in a saucepan
Add the juice of the 2 oranges along with the 100g sugar.  Poach gently until the rhubarb is soft, but retains its shape.

Taste and add more sugar if needed.  Set aside and leave to cool.

Heat the oven to 170ºC

Beat the butter, sugar and orange zest together in a large mixing bowl until pale in colour.
Add the eggs and beat again.
Fold in the flour and then the sour cream.
Line the loaf tin with oiled greaseproof paper - or use a butter wrapper.
Cut the strawberries in half - or slice them if they are too large.
Carefully lift the rhubarb out of the orange syrup and space it out in the bottom of the loaf tin.  Place the strawberries between the lines of rhubarb. Reserve the orange syrup.

Spoon the cake batter over the fruit and level the top.

Place in the oven and cook for 40 - 50 minutes - or until a skewer poked into the middle of the cake emerges free of gooey mixture :-)

Leave to cool a little and then invert on to a serving plate.

Spoon over the orange syrup and serve slightly warm with cream, Greek yogurt, creme fraiche or, now that you can finally get it here in the UK, Skyr, utterly delectable Icelandic thick yogurt

Serves 8

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk