The annual cherry battle

From now until the tree is bare,we will be in daily battle with the pigeons for the harvest of our cherry tree.  I, being small, pick the ones on the lower branches. The pigeons, having wings, have free access to the top branches and I rely on #1 son's vertical superiority and tree climbing skills to gather all the fruit on the branches in between.

Some of the harvest will find its way into a bottle of vodka, some will end up in ice cream, a great deal will be eaten fresh and, if there is enough, there may be a pot of jam or a bag for the freezer.

Handfuls will be added to dishes sweet and savoury, such as this light and luscious dessert, which, incidentally happens to be be gluten free.

120g butter, melted
2 eggs
120g sugar
60g sour cream
60g ground almonds
100g stoned weight of fresh cherries

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC
Grease a cake tin and dust with flour, tipping out the excess (use rice flour if you want to make this gluten free).

Whisk the eggs with the sugar until the mixture leaves a ribbon trail when you lift out the whisk.
Add the melted butter and the sour cream and continue whisking.
Fold in the ground almonds and carefully pour the batter into the prepared tin.
place in the oven for 25 minutes.  Turn off the heat and leave the tin in the oven for a further 10 minutes.
Leave to cool to room temperature.
This is a fragile thing, delicate as a beeswing, so it's better to serve it straight from the tin, rather than attempting to turn it out.

If you are being posh, do this away from the table, dust each plate with icing sugar, put a couple of stoned, fresh cherries on the side and serve with creme fraiche and an ice cold tot of cherry vodka.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

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.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Taste not waste,

This post is a bit like a recipe, a bringing together of different ingredients and ideas to produce something bigger than the sum of its parts - or at least that's the plan; let's see how it turns out.  It is an amalgam of Januaryism -  miserable weather (it is snowing and raining as I write), still eating the Christmas leftovers, the nagging thought that we should be dieting but its too cold to contemplate restricting our calorie intake, discarded resolutions, scary credit card bills and even scarier bank balances - and a recurrent theme circulating in the media; #tastenotwaste, ie how not to throw food away.

I recently heard the following statistics on Radio 4, and this old Guardian report is roughly concurrent:
In 1957 we spent 33% of our income on food and 9% on housing
It's now 16% on food and 18% on housing.
In other words, we have doubled the proportion of our income spent on keeping a roof over our heads and halved the proportion filling our bellies.

This opens so many cans of worms that you could probably compost our annual food waste in less time than the average wait in A&E for an avocado stone injury.
But this is not an academic treatise, nor am I an economist, so we will leave that discussion to others in more rarified environments than this blog.  But the allusions to food waste and avocados were coincidental; they were prompted by Felicity Cloake's delightfully debunking piece in which she helpfully suggests that avocado flour is "best left to the prehistoric sloth", this in itself being a reference to this article, which, to complete the circle, references "avocado hand".
Having cheerfully dismissed the benefits of avocado flour, Felicity gets down to some much more attractive ways to reduce food waste. She is a clever writer with an ability to cut to the heart of a topic with surgical precision and a devastatingly honed wit.

An upbringing in a less than wealthy Yorkshire household has led me to view food waste as shameless profligacy; each discarded piece of still edible food an act of wantonness akin to "pouring money down the drain"


This is where, for me it all starts to get a bit complicated. Indulge me please, before I share Netherton's own tips and tricks for using up leftover food and a new recipe.

In my opinion there are 2 significant factors at play here and its hard to determine which comes first; a case of the "best before" egg and the "use by" chicken.
So let's start with date labelling.  
Date labelling of food items was introduced in 1950 by Marks and Spencer as a means of stock control and wasn't used as a sell by date until 1973; there has even been speculation that these dates are used by manufacturers to encourage waste and additional expenditure.
Of course, buying habits have changed in the last 40 years to reflect other changes in our daily lives and few people shop on a daily basis or even once a week, so there is something to be said for date labelling.
However, as you have probably worked out, I am with Rose Eveleth on this one;
"...it's probably safe to say that you can ignore whatever date's printed on your food and go for a simple sniff test."

Which brings me to the second factor; a fundamental lack of food education, knowledge and confidence.  As a nation we have lost our connection with food at its most basic.  On Desert Island Discs  recently Angela Hartnett opined that Britain is not a foodie nation; it's not enough to boast some Michelin starred chefs, restaurants listed among the world's best and TV cookery programmes 24/7 when so many households are eating ready meals and takeaways.  I found myself nodding in agreement as she described the domestic cookery of the UK unfavourably with that of Italy. If you have read this blog in the past you will already know what I think of the teaching of food technology in our schools.  Nothing in the curriculum gives kids the confidence to judge for themselves whether or not their yogurt is safe to eat despite what it says on the lid.  Sensationalised reporting of food scares has eroded any confidence their parents may have had and they are growing up to be wary of food, not excited by it.
There is a massive difference between cutting a mouldy crust off a stale loaf of bread and using the remainder for toast or breadcrumbs (never throw stale bread away, you can use it for so many things) and eating undercooked chicken that smells a bit off but isn't green of furry.  The first will harm no-one, the second is salmonella in waiting!
I know that the chances are that if you are reading this, you already know that.  My personal observation is that most people don't, so they throw far too much away.
This doubt/ignorance , together with a restrictive, unimaginative curriculum in schools is one of the key contributing factors to the levels of food waste we are currently witnessing.
Fundamentally, the majority of people simply have no basic understanding of food, cooking and nutrition and it is not their fault.
I don't intend to be sanctimonious and preachy here, I just think we have lost sight of the essentials.
This, to me is such an important topic, way beyond anything I can hope to convey or achieve here.  
I would be very interested to hear your views on this subject.

OK - rant over, here are the Netherton money-saving, food-saving, waste-reducing, flavour-shaking tips:

Brown bananas;
Make banana bread, smoothies and milk shakes or chuck them in your porridge.
Alternatively freeze them for use at a later date in any of the above ideas or remove from the freezer and blitz with a stick mixer for dairy free, sugar free, instant ice cream.
Slice them, dip them in melted chocolate and freeze for bite sized banana choc ices.

Wrinkly apples:
Quarter, core and fry in butter and brown sugar and serve with clotted cream
peel and grate into salads and cake mix.
Core, stuff with raisins and brown sugar and bake in the oven

Limp veg:
As long as your veg have not started to decompose into primeval slime you can chop them up and turn them into soup.  These are generally known here as botbot soup - BitOfThisBitOfThat.
Or add a can of beans or any cheap cut of meat and slow cook for a delicious stew.

Egg whites and yolks:
Egg whites freeze well, so if you have been making custard and don't fancy whipping up a batch of meringues or macarons at the same time, save the whites for another baking day.
Egg yolks are of course essential to custard, Hollandaise and mayonnaise, so get your sauce on!

Eat leaves and shoots - with apologies to Lynne Truss
Cauliflower and beetroot leaves are delicious; broccoli stems are edible, chop them up and add them to soups; tuck into celery leaves as an addition to an omelette.

Citrus fruits:
If you are about to eat an orange, finely grate the zest first and add to a jar of sugar.  Use for puddings, custards and cakes*
If you need the juice of a lemon, zest it first and keep the grated zest in the freezer for enlivening soups, cakes, curries................
And if life gives you lemons in abundance and no time to make lemonade, freeze the grated zest, then freeze the juice in ice cube trays.  

And please, please if there is a neglected fruit tree or bramble hedge near you - harvest the fruit, do not let it go to waste.

Finally, having used half a pack of dried figs and a bottle of wine we weren't keen on to make  Nigel Slater's fig liqueur, I then created a recipe centred around the ambrosial amber liquid and some stale, but not mouldy, fairy cakes.  Think fig trifle meets Queen of Puddings.

5 stale fairy cakes or slices of leftover sponge cake, crumbled.
Some boozy dried fruit, if you've got it.  Otherwise, soak your dried fruit of choice in port, sherry, apple or orange juice for about an hour.
2 tablespoons of sweet wine, sherry or brandy (optional, but sensational)
250ml full fat milk
3 dessertspoons orange sugar* 
2 eggs.

Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC
Lightly grease a 1lb loaf tin.
Put the broken up cake and the dried fruit in the bottom of the loaf tin.
Pour over your booze of choice - I used the figs and the delicious fennel and maple syrup wine from the Nigel Slater recipe.
Pour the milk into a pan and heat gently to just below boiling.
Whisk the eggs and sugar together and then add the warm milk.  You can use your normal sugar, with or without the addition of some grated orange zest if you haven't got a stash of orange sugar in the cupboard.
Pour this custard over the cake and fruit and place the loaf tin in the oven.
Cook for around 20 minutes, until just set.
Serve warm, not hot.

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2018 ©

The tyranny of Twitter

This is what I cooked for dessert last night, a bit of a treat after a busy, busy week.  Staff holidays and a full order book meant we all had to roll up our sleeves and get stuck in in the workshops.  A bit of baking was a great way to relax.

I was inordinately pleased with the result, this was some of the crispest, tastiest pastry I have ever made, so I could not resist posting a picture on our Twitter feed.
I am always (still) surprised and gratified by the response we get to our social media posts, after all, our food shots are quite simply what we eat at home.
The problem (ahem excuse me, don't pretend you're not flattered.  Oh, alright, the nice thing about this is....), is that when the photos turn out well, I frequently get asked for the recipe.
This is only a real problem when I have chucked together a few ingredients from the fridge or the cupboard, more in hope than expectation, and haven't measured anything.

However, this was based on classic recipes, so it's not too difficult to share with you, but I can claim no credit for originality.

Pre heat the oven to 180ºc
Grease a 10" prospector pan or a 10" pie dish

For the pastry shell
4 oz plain flour

2 oz butter

Water

Cut the butter into small dice and toss into the flour.  Rub together until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Add just enough water to bring it together into a stiff dough.

Roll out and carefully place into the prospector pan or pie dish, making sure there are no air bubbles trapped under the pastry.
I simply pricked it all over with a fork, but you can use baking beans if you prefer.
Pop into the oven for around 10 minutes, until it has dried out and is just turning colour.

Remove from the oven and lower the temperature to 150ºC

While the pastry cools, prepare the filling

10 fl oz single cream

2 eggs

3 dessertspoon sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract 

4 oz raspberries

Place the cream into a saucepan and heat gently, until just coming up to the boil.
Whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla extract together.
Pour the hot cream on to the egg mixture and continue whisking to dissolve the sugar.
Scatter the raspberries over the pastry base (it's OK to use frozen fruit and you do not need to thaw it first)
Pour over the custard and return to the oven for approx 25 minutes, until the custard is just set.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before serving.

© Netherton Foundry 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Inspired by a bee

We have some rampant lavender bushes in the garden, planted alongside some beautiful David Austin roses.  Together with the jasmine, honeysuckle and dianthus, these scent the warm evening air to an intoxicating degree and provide us with a summer long supply of cut flowers for the kitchen table.

Whilst providing an olfactory overload for us humans, they also attract all manner of bees and the sound of them buzzing their busy way around the stems is mesmerising and soothing.  As long as I can hear the bees I feel that whatever else is going on around the globe, in this small corner at least, all is right with the world.  There may even be hope for the rest of it.
The bees were particularly active earlier this week, when the sun was warm and the air still and it took ages to capture one of the busy bees bumbling around the flowers.

But as I waited patiently for the moment to click, I pondered the combination of lavender and honey and, having captured this fat fellow's picture, headed back into the kitchen to experiment.

Coming up with the idea of a honey based, lavender scented syrup, I decided on a denser style of cake, which would be drenched in the syrup and served as a dessert.
This also happens to be gluten free and you could quite easily double up the quantities and make a thicker cake, if you wished..... just turn the oven down by 20ºC and cook for a further 15 minutes.

For the cake
120g butter

120g sugar

2 eggs

60g polenta

60g ground rice

2 dstsp creme fraiche

For the syrup

100ml water

3 dstsp honey

8 lavender heads

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC

Grease a cake tin and dust with polenta.  Tip out the excess (you can add this to the polenta you are weighing out for the cake mix).

Cream the butter and sugar vigorously, until very pale in colour.  Add the creme fraiche and beat again.

Add the eggs and mix thoroughly - don't worry too much if it separates.

Fold in the polenta and rice flour.

Spoon the batter into the cake tin and spread out evenly.

Place in the oven and cook for 20 - 25 minutes, until a skewer, inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

While the cake is cooking prepare the syrup.

Put water, honey and lavender in a pan, (our milk pan or 6" saucepan is ideal) heat slowly until honey is fully dissolved.

Bring to the boil and reduce by half.

Strain and set aside.

When the cake is cooked, pierce it all over with a skewer or fork.

Pour over the honey syrup, while the cake is still hot.

I strewed the top of my cake with lavender petals, thyme and hyssop, but a plain top is perfectly acceptable.

When the cake has cooled, gently turn out of the tin onto a plate and then invert onto your serving dish.  This pretty plate is from 1265 degrees north and the flower petals are from our garden.

 

Serve with a generous spoonful of creme fraiche and I reckon a few raspberries wouldn't go amiss.

A note of caution; flower petals are a very simple way of making your dishes look pretty and summery, but please, please make sure that the ones you pick are edible!!  

© Netherton Foundry 2017 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

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

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

Day trip to Kent

A couple of weeks ago, I packed up the blue van and headed south to Kent for the day.
Yes, I know it's a long way, but when you can be sure of a warm welcome at the other end, it's worth the early start.

The motorways, M42, M40, M25, M26 and M2 were all clear of roadworks and "incidents", making the journey smooth and trouble free.

First stop was Pastures New in Rochester to drop off some new stock; a lovely shop with some delightful, hand painted children's wooden wares.  So if you are on the lookout for a very special, personalised present, go and talk to Sue.

A quick drive around the castle, after all why go all that way and not fit in some sightseeing, then off to Faversham.

At the invitation of the staff, I was spending a "Meet the Maker" day at Macknades Farm Shop, an impressive food emporium, cafe and retailer of Netherton wares.
As warm a welcome as my last visit and the coffee lived up to my memories too.

The product display in the shop looks great and, I guess, even without my standing there in my Netherton apron, regularly attracts a lot of attention.
Numerous staff and customers came over to chat and ask questions and a number of purchases were made too.

One lady even spotted our Twitter notification that I would be there and came over especially to me meet me - I felt like a minor celebrity.

Last time I visited Macknades, was in the autumn and I came home with a bagful of seasonal vegetables which were turned into a Selling Road salad.
This time, I couldn't resist the new season rhubarb and I have created this recipe with Macknade's in mind.  I think I shall call it a Faversham Flavourbomb

Social media and the press are currently awash with rhubarb and blood orange recipes, and as fascinating as it is to see trends emerge and take hold, I fancied adding a different element. 

6 stalks rhubarb

2 dessertspoon orange infused sugar (or granulated sugar and the grated rind of one orange)

50ml water

Cut the rhubarb into 1" long pieces and place in a prospector casserole 
Sprinkle the sugar over the top and pour in the water.

Cover with the lid.

Cook over a gentle heat for about 15 minutes,  until the rhubarb is just cooked.  
Taste and add a little more sugar if it is not to your liking.  Be careful, this will have a sweet topping, so don't go overboard.

120g butter

100g sugar

60g black treacle

2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 170ºC

Separate the eggs.

Melt the butter and treacle together in a saucepan, and set aside to cool a little.

Whisk egg yolks and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

If you happen to have a bottle of beer open, add a splash to the eggs and carry on whisking.

Add the melted butter mix to the eggs and whisk again.

Beat the egg whites until stiff and then carefully fold into the egg and treacle mixture.

Spoon this over the cooled rhubarb in the prospector pan.

Place in the oven and cook for 30 minutes.

Serve warm, rather than piping hot either on its own or with Greek yogurt, cream or creme fraiche.

It is lovely and light, but with a rich, sticky toffee flavour.

I reckon this would also work with other sharp fruits such as egg plums or gooseberries, when in season.

© Netherton Foundry 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Sticky fig cake

For reasons that are too tedious to go into, I have been faced with the challenge of creating a vegan menu recently - not something that comes easily in this household, with its love of all things dairy and a passion for fresh eggs.
But I have never been shy of meeting a challenge, be it rock climbing or motorbike riding, so vegan cooking was simply going to go on the list.

Vegan main courses were fairly straightforward, admittedly I haven't come up with a decent cauliflower cheese, but we have had a number of vegan dishes which didn't even register as being of "special dietary interest".
It was puddings that proved the hardest...... you will already have seen a number of puddings on this blog and without checking, I can be pretty sure that every single one contains at least one prohibited ingredient.
It has to be admitted that some experiments are best glossed over, suffice to say that it's lucky some of our garden birds aren't fussy.
However, we did enjoy a treacle tart, with a pastry made from vegetable suet and filo tarts filled with cashew and pistachio cream and topped with poached apricots and, for the purists, maple syrup and the less pure, honey.

That said, the weather is getting colder and we were craving a proper autumnal pud, so the big challenge was to come up with a variation of sticky toffee pudding and this is the result. And for those of you who are not following a vegan diet, I have included the non-vegan alternative ingredients too.
I didn't tell all my testers that this was vegan, just to gauge the response and I am pleased to report that it got an all round thumbs up and surprise when it was revealed to have no animal products in it.

CAKE
4oz vegan margarine (or butter if you don't want a vegan version)

4 oz sugar

1 banana

2 oz soft dried figs
4 tblsp soaked chia seed jelly (or 2 eggs if you don't want a vegan version)

4 oz self rising flour

1 tsp baking powder

6 dried figs for decoration

Preheat the oven to 170ºC
Put the margarine/butter, sugar, banana and figs into a food processor and mix until smooth and fluffy.
Add the chia/eggs and beat again.
Fold in the flour, mixed with the baking powder.

Spoon into a greased 10" Prospector pan or 8½" cake tin
Split open the reserved figs and put them on top of the cake batter
Place into the oven and bake for approx 30 minutes, until the top springs back when pressed with your finger.
Set aside while you make the sauce.

SAUCE

4 oz sugar

Juice of 1 orange

2oz dried figs soaked for 30 min in 6 fl oz hot water. 

Put the sugar into a saucepan over a medium heat.
Cook gently until the sugar has melted and turned a rich brown.
CAREFULLY pour in the orange juice and continue to cook until the caramel has completely dissolved in the juice.
Add the fig purée and simmer for 5 - 10 minutes until it is a consistency to your liking.
Slice the cake and pour over the sauce.  This can served as it is or with cream, (vegan) yogurt or cashew cream.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2016

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Cherry and almond cake

If you are one of our social media fans, you will already have seen tantalising shots  of our brand new Prospector pans, as well as the rather lush cherries that I have already cooked in one.
We are constantly reviewing our range, working out what's missing in our own kitchen and listening to the feedback from home cooks, professional chefs and food writers.
These came about as a result of comments from all of the above - including me.
Update, we have now added a cake tin to the range, which would also work well for this.

Our creative genius put on his thinking cap and I  have to admit the result is not only perfectly functional, but perfectly formed too.  Once again, he has combined beauty with utility.

What I have already found with these - and there will be more to come - is that they are not only useful on the hob, but also in the oven and I am working on a recipe which will see one popped under the grill too. They are equally good for sweet and savoury dishes, versatile, compact and easy to store.

You will also have realised by now that we are great believers in seasonal and local food and enjoy cooking according to what's in season, rather than flown in from other continents.
I appreciate that the political and economic debate about imported food is a vast and polemic topic, with issues such as supporting farmers in developing countries directly through trade rather than aid, air miles, agricultural grants and the globalisation and homogenisation of food cultivation and supply and I leave to experts cleverer than me to continue these discussions.
I am happy to admit that we do not live entirely on local produce and have been known to indulge in mangoes, pineapples, avocados and other delicious imports.

But when local fruit is in season and in abundance, nothing can beat it.  We are fortunate enough to have apple, damson and plums trees in the garden, which where here when we arrived and since then I have added a cherry tree.  The original trees, I guess are pretty old and the harvest is variable but in a good year the crop is sensational.
The cherry tree is prolific, but it's a race with the pigeons and blackbirds as to who gets the lion's share.

  

The bowl of cherries shown above got demolished pretty quickly, but our local farm shop  carries a tempting selection of locally grown fruit, as well as their own fantastic collection of apples and pears, grown in the family orchards.

Last weekend, I could offer no resistance when faced with lush, shiny dark cherries and came home with a large punnet, which I hid from the family in the back of the fridge whilst I figured out what to do with them.

OK, I admit it, I did feel the need to do a quality check on a random sample :-)

I had been avidly reading Ed Smith's supplemental  and yes, I do own up to a little favouritism - have you seen his photos of our pans - and was sorely tempted to do a clafoutis, but having had toad in the hole (recipe coming soon) the day before decided to make something NOT batter based.  I did however heed his advice to stone the cherries and then painstaking extract the kernel from the stones (the noyeux) which have a heady almond flavour, terrifically matched to the cherries.

This is, incidentally a gluten free recipe.

This is what I did with my locally grown cherries.....

2 eggs, 
1 egg white

120g sugar
120g butter, melted and cooled slightly
60g ground almonds
60g ground rice
1 tsp vanilla extract

250g fresh cherries, with the kernels of ¼ of the stones OR 8 fresh apricots

Pre-heat the oven to 160ºC

In a large mixing bowl or food mixer, whisk the whole eggs and egg white with the sugar until it is thick, pale and foamy.
Whisk in the melted butter and vanilla extract.
Fold in the rice and ground almonds

Place the stone cherries and noyeux (optional) or quartered apricots in a 10" prospector pan or cake tin

Pour over the cake batter and place it in the oven.

Bake for 40 minutes (approx) until a skewer comes out clean when dipped into the cake.  If the cake is browning too quickly, cover the top with a piece of greaseproof paper, foil or, as I did, a butter wrapper.

Remove from the oven and leave to stand for around 20 minutes - it will taste far better warm, rather than oven hot.
We indulged ourselves with homemade custard, whipped with Mascarpone cream, but this would be good on its own, with yogurt, creme fraiche, cream or ice cream too.
But to be fair, it would count as one of your "five a day" :-)

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2016

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk