Summer savarin

This is a delightful - she says modestly - summer savarin recipe, using seasonal ingredients.  OK, so that means you won't be able to make it all year round, but that is part of its appeal and you can use the basic mix to create new variations as other ingredients come into season.

I have used foraged elderflowers, picked en route from the workshops to home and fragrant rose petals from the garden.

Savarin
4½oz plain flour
3 teaspoons caster sugar
½ teaspoon dried yeast
5 fl oz sour cream
2 eggs
2 oz melted and cooled butter
Finely grated rind of a pink grapefruit

Syrup
4oz caster sugar
2 oz water
Juice of 1 pink grapefruit
5 heads of elderflowers
A handful of fragrant rose petals (optional)
5 fl oz sparkling white wine

400g strawberries
Juice of 1 lemon
Sugar to taste

Place all of the savarin ingredients in a large mixing bowl and beat thoroughly for 2 minutes.
Cover the bowl with cling film or a clean, damp tea towel and leave in a warm, draught free place until doubled in size.

Quarter the strawberries and place in a shallow dish. Pour over the lemon juice and add sugar to taste.  Leave to steep and allow the juices to run.

Prepare the syrup. Put the sugar and water into a pan - a 7" saucepan is ideal and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Place the elderflowers and rose petals in a large jug. Add the grapefruit juice to the sugar syrup, bring back to the boil and then pour over the flowers.
Leave to infuse.

Back to the savarin mix...... lightly grease a 9½" savarin tin   and pour in the savarin batter.
Cover with cling film or a damp tea towel and leave for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200ºC

Put the savarin ring into the pre-heated oven and cook for approx 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove from the oven and pour over about half of the syrup.  (You can use the rest to make cocktails with the remainder of the bottle of Prosecco).
Leave to cool and absorb the syrup.

Turn out onto a serving plate and pile the strawberries in the centre.

Dust with icing sugar and scatter rose petals over the top - if you happen to have some!

© Netherton Foundry 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Tomato and onion bread

We wanted some tasty rolls for our Bank Holiday weekend picnic, to accompany a rather fine piece of Martin Moyden's Caer Caradoc and this was a great excuse to get out the savarin tin and make an attractive bread ring, to add visual interest, as well as taste, to my new bread recipe.
Of course, you could also bake these on a griddle plate, but this gave them a lovely crust.

10 sun dried tomatoes, soaked in boiling water for 30 minutes

1 onion, finely chopped

1 Tblsp rapeseed oil - as usual I used Bennett and Dunn

1 Tblsp chopped fresh marjoram, I picked mine straight from the garden, but if you haven't got any use 1 teaspoon of dried oregano

1 tsp salt - don't overdo it, dried tomatoes are often salted.

1lb white bread flour

While the tomatoes are soaking, gently fry onions in oil until golden. An 8" frying pan is ideal. Set aside.

Remove the tomatoes from the water and chop them into small pieces

Make the tomato soaking water up to 10 fl oz

Place all ingredients into a food processor, fitted with a dough blade and mix for 30 seconds.

Alternatively mix all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl, turn out and knead for 5 minutes.

Make sure the dough is covered and leave to prove until doubled in size. Either cover the top of the processor with the pusher or a piece of clingfilm. Use cling film or a damp tea towel to cover your mixing bowl.
  

Divide the risen dough into 12 equal pieces and roll into balls.

Lightly oil a large savarin tin and arrange the dough balls in a circle., cover with cling film or a damp tea towel and leave in a draught free place until doubled in size again.

Meanwhile heat the oven to 220ºC

Bake for approximately 20 minutes.  Serve with butter and cheese.

© Netherton Foundry 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Rights and responsibilities

This is not a history lesson, but we should remember that universal suffrage has not been long established in the history of British democracy.

As such, the right to vote, in my opinion, is also a responsibility.  Having been given, by accident of birth, the privilege of living in a free society, we should accept this responsibility and take seriously our part in the running of our country.

Our children are now both old enough to vote in their first general election, which has come much sooner than we could have foreseen.

It is fascinating to engage in debate with them and discuss the issues that are important to them.

This is encouraging to us.  After many years of unswerving political affiliation we are, for the first time, questioning the best and most tactical way to vote, weighing carefully the implications of our choices.  The children may vote differently from us, we may even make different choices ourselves, but the one thing that is certain is that we will all be at the village hall on June 8th casting our vote.  I am proud of their interest, engagement and analysis of the election process.

We recall the politicised days of our student lives; the miners' strike, apartheid, Thatcherism... followed by a creeping apathy which seemed to smother the generations behind us.  It was as if Johnny Rotten had never spat at an audience or sworn on TV.  As if we had never sung along to the Specials as they called for the release of Nelson Mandela.  Casual and organised racism insidiously grew and no-one seemed bothered.

Race riots, youth unemployment and even the more recent introduction of tuition fees and the burden of debt could not galvanise the young.

And then, to our horror, we sat aghast and heard the fateful news that the British public, ill informed by all sides and swayed by unfounded emotion, had voted to take us out of the EU.

This was the turning point.  That their future could be so determined by people who would not live long enough to see the consequences of their action, stirred those who would be most affected and shocked them out of their apathy and inertia.

I am heartened by the number of people who have registered to vote, by a heightened awareness and willingness to participate amongst the younger generation and I can only hope for a more questioning and challenging attitude from the older generations, who should not blindly accept the lead of the press and the personality of individuals.

Individuals cannot run the country, we need a government with the interest of everyone at the forefront of their policies, to protect the vulnerable, to educate, to look after the environment, give the strong the backing to succeed in a socially responsible way, to serve the needs of the nation.

Make your own choices, but make them wisely, and make sure you vote, whether you are 18 or 108.

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Boozy bread pudding

This is not the height of sophistication, it's just a grown up version of one of our all time favourites - bread pudding...... and an excuse to play with our new savarin tins.

You can either eat it warm with custard or cream or leave it to go completely cold and eat it on its own.

100g raisins
50ml rum, I used my own spiced blackberry rum
120ml cider
1 tsp dried yeast
30g sugar
60g yogurt
2 eggs
130g plain flour

Soak the raisins in the rum for at least an hour.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and cider and leave until the yeast starts to froth.
Add the eggs and yogurt and beat well.
Stir in the flour and beat thoroughly.

Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or cling film and leave to prove for an hour in a draught free spot.
Pour the mixture into a 9½" savarin tin or a 10" Prospector pan , cover and leave to prove for a further hour.

During the second prove, pre-heat the oven to 200ºC.
Cook for approx 30 minutes.
Allow to cool a little in the tin and then turn out.

If you serving this as a dessert, you could fill the centre with a mixture of whipped cream and apple pureé.
If you prefer something a little sweeter, drizzle the finished pudding with maple syrup whilst still warm.

© Netherton Foundry 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk