Oriental marinade

Enjoying this glorious weather?
We certainly are and have been using the chapa in the back garden as often as we can.

This is an oriental take on a barbecue and the marinade can be used with all sorts - we had tuna, sea bass and aubergine.  But you could also use this marinade with beef, pork, chicken, tofu and mushrooms, anything that will take up the marinade flavours.


1" fresh ginger, grated
1 tblsp runny honey
3 tblsp soy sauce
1 tblsp fish sauce ( you can omit this if you want to make a vegetarian/vegan selection)
2 tblsp sesame oil 
1 tblsp rice wine vinegar

Mix all the ingredients together and add your chosen protein; the vegetables don't need to be marinaded, they can simply be dipped in the marinade just before cooking.
Leave to marinade for an hour or so.

Light the fire under the chapa and wait until the griddle plate is good and hot.

Place your marinaded food on the griddle and cook until nicely browned.  Turn over and cook on the other side - this should only take a few minutes.

We accompanied this with a salad of soba noodles, carrot and cucumber with a peanut and chilli dressing................and a very cold beer!

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Rhubarb, golden syrup and ginger cake

A lot of fuss is made of the beautiful, pink, forced rhubarb from the Yorkshire rhubarb triangle.  More especially perhaps in these days of Instagram, its blush so photogenic, the colour "popping" on the screen.

But I think I prefer the thicker, greener stems of field grown rhubarb, with its astringency and bite.  Of course, it does need to be tempered with sugar, I defy anyone to tell me they like unsweetened rhubarb, even in savoury dishes.  It also combines joyfully with other flavours; rhubarb and strawberry crumble is a firm favourite here.

This cake is a variation of a much loved steamed sponge and is a light and luscious foil for the tart rhubarb topping.

2 long sticks of rhubarb
Sugar to taste
120g butter
120g golden syrup
2 eggs
120g self raising flour
1 tblsp ground ginger

Heat the oven to 180ºC
Cut the rhubarb into thumb sized pieces and place in an oven proof dish.  Sprinkle liberally with sugar, you will have to decide for yourself how much you need, I used a couple of tablespoons.
Place in the oven for about 20 minutes until it is soft, but still holds its shape.

Set aside while you make the cake mix.
Lightly grease a 22cm cake tin 
Beat the butter and golden syrup together until light in colour and thoroughly combined.
Beat in the eggs.  Really beat in the eggs, then beat a bit more.
Fold in the flour and ground ginger.
Spoon the cake mix into the prepared tin and level it.
Carefully place the cooked rhubarb on top of the cake mix and put the tin into the oven.
Cook for 20 - 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.
Serve at room temperature with cream or ice cream.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

SUGAR - a discussion

This is somewhat controversial, but I have to admit that I don't agree with the sugar tax, but the problem I am having is how to explain why without sounding privileged, patronising or plain nostalgic.
But please bear with me, you can have your say at the end.

I am not disputing the fact that we have a health crisis looming, if not already with us, created by a growing number of people who are overweight, with all its attendant problems. Sadly, I do not have a simple solution, but that I think is the essence of it; it's a complicated issue and the answers are not easy.
Yesterday I tried to buy a bottle of standard lemonade, it would have been easier to score a rock of crack!  And possibly cheaper, I resorted to an "artisan" drink from the farm shop.

To me, the key problems with the sugar tax on drinks are that it is only addressing one source of calories - diet Coke and a Big mac anyone; the alternatives to sugar bring their own concerns (I would not willingly consume aspartame and I certainly wouldn't advocate giving it to children); "diet"/sugar free drinks do nothing to re-educate the palate, nor do they encourage moderation - quite the opposite in fact,  - hey, no calories, I can drink as much of this fizzy pop as I like - the body doesn't cope well processing calorie free food and drink "Refined and processed sweeteners are unrelenting in their ability to entice you to overeat and yet, don’t provide satiation, satiety, or nourishment."
What's more, I think they taste nasty, but that's a purely personal preference.

In my (humble and non qualified) opinion, there is a huge educational hurdle to be tackled.  
Here's the nostalgia bit; when I was young, many, many moons ago fizzy drinks were the exception, the treat, rather than the norm.  Anyone else remember sitting in pub gardens with a bottle of pop and an packet of crisps?  But for huge numbers of people, a Coke or energy drink is their drink of choice and they are consuming several a day.  Cutting back on the sheer volume consumed would be a start.
The sugar free drinks are as sweet as their sugared alternatives, which means that palates are accustomed to these sweet tastes and this means that there is an expectation that sweets, chocolates, cakes, ice cream, yogurts and breakfast cereals will fulfil the same craving.
Don't get  me wrong, whilst I am more or less immune to the appeal of chocolate, I love an ice cream as much as anyone.  But my point is this, why tax sugary drinks, when so much else is laden with sugar?   can we find a way to make so called "adult" cereal appeal to a wider audience? 
As an experiment, I changed the cereals available at our annual Scout camp from Sugar Puffs and Frosties to Weetabix, Rice Krispies and Shreddies and hid the sugar bowl.  The only request for sugar was from an adult and I made them eat their breakfast round the back and out of sight!  The kids were excited to be camping, outdoors, hungry and didn't even notice the missing sugar bowl.  The chocolate biscuits were replaced with big bowls of fruit to which they could help themselves, without having to ask, to as much as they wanted.  No complaints, so it IS possible.

Somehow, and as I said, I don't know the answer,  we need to encourage moderation, subtly adjust the nation's palate, educate by stealth rather than the use of blunt instruments.  It's easy to go on about how things used to be, but that doesn't help us now.  But honestly, is a tax on lemonade really the answer?

The next post will be a recipe for cake.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Buttermilk and golden syrup pancakes

It's not every Bank Holiday that we get the chance to breakfast outdoors, but with the temperatures soaring to record breaking highs this weekend, we decided to make the most of the glorious weather and cook and eat as much as possible outdoors.
The chapa is one of our favourite items at home, because you can cook such a variety of things on it, using very little wood for the fire and when normal weather service is resumed, you simply take off the legs and use it indoors on the hob and in the oven.

Ours is regularly used for Scotch pancakes and I use a recipe from a 1970s cook book.  But on Saturday morning I remembered half a tub of buttermilk in the fridge and came up with this variation.

120g self raising flour
1 egg
200ml buttermilk
50g butter
50g golden syrup


Place the butter and syrup in a pan and warm over a gentle heat until the butter melts.
Put the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the egg and buttermilk.
Whisk gently until all the flour has been absorbed into the liquid ingredients.
Pour in the melted butter and syrup and whisk well.

Leave to stand while you light a fire under the chapa (or, in inclement weather, heat the griddle plate over a high heat on the stove.)

When the chapa/griddle is hot, wipe the surface with a thick piece of kitchen towel smeared with a generous dollop of butter.

Drop the mixture onto the hot plate, about a tablespoonful at a time.

Do not touch them for 2 minutes, until the underside is golden and the top starting to dry out.  If you poke them too soon, you will just end up with a gooey mess on your slice and on the chapa plate.
When the underside is cooked, flip them over and carry on cooking until that side is also golden.

Serve warm with Greek yogurt, jam, bananas, blueberries, strawberries, maple syrup or whatever else takes your fancy
I have been using the 15" chapa and griddle for these, but we also do a 12" version, which you can find in the Outdoor Section (chapa) and the Baking section (griddle) on our website.
You will also find the legs as an add on accessory if you already have a griddle plate 

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

The vicissitude of Spring weather

Spring got out of bed on the wrong side yesterday; stomped downstairs, then turned around and flounced back to her room, slamming the door petulantly and sulking for the rest of the day. Meanwhile we were all left shivering in the shadow of her mood. The archetypal mardy teenager of the seasons.

Outside the rain streamed down like the tears of a lovelorn teenager.  

And then today she nonchalantly reappeared as if nothing had happened - fresh as the proverbial daisies, whose heads have finally appeared on newly greened fields of mud, their open faces catching the warmth of Spring's guileless smile.

A view of Netherton's spring garden

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk