Copper pudding pot

Autumn; bronze, gold and copper are the colours we most associate with this time of year.
A nip in the air, the turning of the leaves, darker evenings, dewy mornings, harvest moon and harvest festivals, mists and mellow fruitfulness, all the clichés and all the symbols of the change in seasons.  Get your sweaters and warm socks out, the temperature is falling and we are heading into the kitchen for some comfort cooking.

Can you imagine yourself in the Downton Abbey kitchen, making dinner for royalty? If so, you would most certainly want one of these beauties.
Designed in collaboration with Regula Ysewijn, renowned for her books on baking and puddings, this is our traditional tin lined, solid copper pudding pot.  Perfect for sweet and savoury puddings, particularly a traditional steamed pudding.
It even has 4 notches on the rim for your string handle to pull it out of its steamy bath!

Regula is one of the most multi talented people we have ever met - a graphic designer, beer sommelier (well, she is Belgian!) food writer, food historian, TV presenter, as well as being a judge on Belgian Bake off, she has also appeared on Inside the Factory here in the UK, talking about the history of the Bakewell tart.  Her first book, Pride and Puddings, has pride of place on our kitchen book shelf and more than a couple of pudding mix splodges on the pages.

We've been trying ours out with some new recipes, including this light as air, yogurt and plum pudding, using some delicious desert plums, foraged from a tree near the workshops.

120g Greek yogurt
120g sugar
2 eggs
120g self raising flour
250g poached, sweetened plums

Whisk the yogurt, sugar and eggs together.  Fold in the flour.
Grease the pudding pot and put half of the mixture in.  Carefully lay the plums on top of the mix

And then cover with the remaining batter.

Place a sheet of greaseproof paper or foil over the top of the pot and secure with string.
There are lots of handy hints about how to make a string handle, which will make it easier to take your cooked pudding out of the cooking pot.

Sit the pot on a saucer or trivet in a deep saucepan and add enough water to come half way up the pot.
Cover with a lid and bring the water to the boil.  Steam the pudding in the pan for 1¼ hours.
Carefully remove the pot from the pan, take off the paper or foil covering and invert the pudding on to a serving plate.
Serve warm with extra yogurt or double cream.

Time to start thinking of the Christmas puds!

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2019 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

First wild garlic of the year

It's incredibly early this year - I don't think I have ever seen the wild garlic coming up in February, but tonight I picked my first small harvest along the banks of the River Severn.

I've got loads of ideas to try out, but when we posted a video of tonight's dinner on Instagram, the response was phenomenal, so I've decided to share this one straight away.

To be honest, it's not really a recipe, I haven't weighed out the ingredients or meticulously timed anything.
This is just a simple, throw together sauce that's ready in 15 minutes.

Large handful of wild garlic, washed
3 large, ripe tomatoes
2 tblsp olive or rapeseed oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
1 tblsp white wine vinegar
50g butter

Put a panful of your favourite pasta on to boil.

Roughly chop the garlic and blanch with approx 100ml boiling water.
Blend to a puree.

Put the oil into a frying pan and heat gently.
Chop the tomatoes and add to the frying pan. Fry gently until starting to soften.
Add the salt, sugar, vinegar and garlic puree.

Simmer until the pasta is cooked.
Strain the pasta.  Stir the butter into the tomato sauce and when it has melted, add as much grated cheese as you fancy - anything you can lay your hands on - I used a mature Cheddar tonight.
Pour over the pasta, mix well and serve.

 © Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2016

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk