In and out of the kitchen

It has been a week of dipping in and out of the kitchen, with no time for leisurely cooking and experimentation.  To be honest, it's been one of those weeks when I seem to have been constantly busy, with no evidence of what I have achieved.  I have had innumerable forms to fill in for all sorts of bureaucratic reasons; quarter end figures to pull together for the tax man; the last of the washing and shopping for our two student offspring to take back to university at the end of their all too brief Easter holiday and a fair bit of pan assembly and packing as we have been short handed in the workshops.  We operate a policy of never asking someone to do a job we would not be prepared to do ourselves, so when necessary, I will roll up my sleeves, don my Netherton apron and start oiling pans, waxing handles, screwing on lid knobs and wrapping, boxing and labelling orders.

Whilst the order book is still never quite as full as we would like it to be, things are picking up, thanks, in part, to you lot, who help us spread the word.  And we have been talking to two exciting restaurants in London - more of which soon, I hope.
But I still need to be selling, selling, selling; finding potential new stockists and the time to talk to our existing stockists.  We know we need to grow to survive, but we do not want to turn into some sort of anonymous corporation, out of touch with those who make us what we are.

Last night, the cupboards cleared by the locust raid of the students, I was scratting about for something for dinner.
We started with leek and Halloumi fritters, with a dish of potatoes layered in a loaf tin with a mixture of yogurt, chopped wild garlic and melted butter and baked in the oven. And then I noticed we had some slightly wrinkly apples in the fruit bowl, bought in expectation and abandonned when their taste did not match their looks.

So with the brevity of Damien Trench in the Radio 4 classic, "In and Out of the Kitchen"; recipe:

Pour 250ml full fat milk into a saucepan and add 4 cloves.  Bring to the boil, turn off the heat and leave for an hour for the flavour of the cloves to infuse into the milk.

Take 4 apples, peel core and quarter.
Melt 50g butter in a 10" prospector pan over a low heat and then add 120g sugar.
Cook continuously until it turns golden brown.
Add the apple slices, cover and cook for 10 minutes until the apples have softened and taken on some of the caramel colour.
Remove the lid and increase the heat.  Cook until the caramel has turned a rich mahogany and most of the juice has evaporated.

Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC

Remove the cloves from the milk and return the pan to the hob.  Heat gently.
Beat in 50g buckwheat flour, a teaspoon of vanilla extract and 100g sugar.  Add 2 beaten eggs and mix vigorously.
Pour over the apples and pop it into the oven.  Cook for 20 - 25 minutes until the top is firm.

Remove from the oven and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
Invert on to a serving plate and serve with clotted cream.

NB because I have used buckwheat flour, this pudding is gluten free.

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