Lemon and cardamom shortbread biscuits

I always used to think that shortbread was as simple as 1, 2, 3.
1 measure of sugar, 2 of butter, 3 of plain flour. 
But recently I have been experimenting.
"Testing, testing, 1,2,1,2 testing" not a sound check, but an adaptation of the above formula.
And for these shortbread thins, I have come up with a new variation.  I stick to the old one for thicker shortbread fingers, but these are a crisper, whisper thin version.
Oh yes, I have added a little flavouring too.

The quantities given here will make about 30 biscuits, but as long as you stick to the ratio, you can use ounces, grams, cans of beans or sacks of potatoes depending on how many biscuits you want to make.

Heat the oven to 170ºC

2oz sugar
4oz butter, cubed
2oz cornflour
4oz plain flour
Grated rind of a lemon
Crushed seeds from 6 green cardamom pods

I cannot stand the feel of cornflour, it sets my teeth on edge, so I make these in the food processor.  Simply chuck everything in and mix together until combined to a stiff dough.
Alternatively, rub the butter into the flours until it all resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Then knead into a ball of dough.

Roll out to a thickness of 2mm on a floured surface and cut into rounds (I used a 5½cm cutter and made 30 biscuits). 
Spread them out evenly on a baking sheet and place in the oven.
They will be ready in 15 - 20 minutes, but please, please keep an eye on them.  Although they will be pale in colour and feel soft to the touch, they WILL be cooked.
Remove from the oven at the first sign that they are browning!
Transfer to a cooling rack and they will crisp up beautifully as they cool.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2020 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Cheese and onion pie

Cheese pie - in our opinion, the ultimate comfort food.
We always have pack of emergency puff pastry in freezer and the rest of this can generally be rustled up from the contents of the veg box and the fridge.
Feel free to play around - use any odds and ends of cheese you can find; swap out the onions for those limp leeks that have seen perkier days; if you haven't got any potatoes, try celeriac or squash or forego the root veg altogether and use a couple of handfuls of breadcrumbs.
Apparently we have fairies in the bottom of our garden and we express our appreciation of their presence by using the trimmings of their thyme hedge to flavour our pies - hedge clippings never tasted so good.
None of these measures are crucial, just guidelines.

1 pack puff pastry, we use JusRol all butter puff pastry
3 medium potatoes, peeled
3 onions, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tblsp spoon oil
25g butter
6 sprigs fresh thyme (or a teaspoon of dried thyme if you don't have fresh 
270g cheese, I used a mature Cheddar, but use up whatever you can find in the fridge
1 egg, beaten
Mustard (optional)

Slice the potatoes to the thickness of around ¼" (½ cm) and boil until just cooked - be careful that you don't end up with a pan full of potato soup!

Drain and set aside to cool.

Heat the oven to 200ºC

Put the oil and butter into a frying pan and heat gently until the butter foams. Chuck in the sliced onions and thyme.  Cook for 20 - 30 minutes over a low heat until meltingly soft and starting to caramelise.

Grate the cheese.

Now it is simply an assembly job.

Roll out just under half of the pastry, mine was a 9" x 7" rectangle, but squares or circles are equally acceptable, and lay it on a baking sheet.

If you fancy, apply a thin spreading of mustard, Dijon or grain, to the pastry.

Then start with the potatoes, the onions and finally the cheese, spreading each layer evenly over the pastry leaving a half inch (1¼cm rim) around the edge).

Roll out the rest of the pastry slightly bigger than the bottom piece (it needs to cover the filling).

Brush the edges of the base with beaten egg and then lay the second sheet of pastry over the top.  Crimp the edges to make sure they are sealed.

Brush the top with beaten egg and place in the oven.

Cook for around 20 - 25 minutes until golden brown.

Serve immediately, but do be careful, the insides are like molten lava!!

We enjoyed this one with chilli dusted sweet potato wedges and red, yellow and green peppers cooked in a rich tomato sauce.

Serves 6 -8 people, depending on hunger levels and what you serve on the side.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2020 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Lime and ginger chicken

The Netherton freezer is accumulating pack ice faster than the Arctic is losing it and is in serious need of a de-frost.  We have been waiting for a cold spell, so we can store the contents outside the back door while the freezer sheds more tears than a love struck teenager.

But that seems unlikely, so we are eating our way through the contents.

This can lead to surprises, when unlabelled packages are unearthed and "oh I'd forgotten all about that" boxes resurface.

The latest plundering gave us a pack of chicken thighs and drumsticks, which were enlivened with one of our favourite cocktail combinations  - ginger and lime....... a Dark and Stormy, anyone?

Check out our recipe for lime and ginger in cake form too 

1 kg chicken pieces

2 tblsp lime marmalade

1 tblsp soy sauce

2½cm root ginger, peeled and grated

1 tsp crushed fennel seed

Salt and pepper

Mix all of the marinade ingredients and place in a dish.  Add the chicken pieces and ensure they are all well coated.  Leave to marinade for about an hour, turning from time to time.

Heat the oven to 190ºC.

Tip the chicken and the marinade into a prospector pan ( I used a 10" one) and place in the oven.

Cook for 30 minutes, checking to ensure that the juices run clear.

Serve with rice, to soak up all the lovely sauce and a forest of greens.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire © 2020

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Chocolate and chestnut log

When the junior Nethertons were "studying" food technology in their early years of secondary education, (don't get me started, we could be here for hours), come the end of the first term, it was time to make the Yule log.

And this meant taking in a chocolate Swiss roll and the ingredients for chocolate buttercream - hardly challenging, was it?  Cruel parent that I am, I made them bake their own Swiss rolls, rather than taking in a supermarket one, but at least the "learning experience" was enhanced.

This year we eschewed the traditional log, giving them respite from Swiss roll duties, but as we are all fond of the chocolate and chestnut combination, I created this dessert alternative.

Please note it is VERY rich and this will easily feed 10 people, although it will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days, if you want to make it last!

1 pack/tin unsweetened chestnut purée

100g dark chocolate

170g cream cheese

Icing sugar to taste

1 tablespoon rum or brandy (optional)

2 crumbled meringues (optional)

Melt the chocolate in a bowl, suspended over hot, not boiling, water.

Whisk the cream cheese and chestnut purée together until smooth.  Add a tablespoon of icing sugar and taste, gradually add more icing sugar until it suits your palate.

Stir in the chocolate and optional extras, if using.

Line a 1lb loaf tin with baking parchment, leaving a collar overlap. (You could use clingfilm, but we are doing what we can to cut down on single use plastic.)

Spoon the mixture into the tin and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Lift out of the tin, using the paper collar and invert on to a serving dish.  peel off the paper and decorate/embellish however you wish.

On day one, we had a simple scattering of crushed meringues, but on day two, we smothered the leftovers in espresso enhanced Chantilly cream and a few chocolate shavings. 

Netherton Foundry Shropshire © 2020

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

New Year's Resolutions

It's the end of the year, the end of the decade and time to look forward to whatever the 2020s bring us.  

Nearly 4000 years ago Babylonians made promises to their gods at the start of each year that they would return borrowed objects and pay their debts.

The Romans began each year by making promises to the god Janus, for whom the month of January is named.

In the medieval era, the knights took the "peacock vow" at the end of the Christmas season each year to re-affirm their commitment to chivalry.

So here are a few thoughts about resolutions again. Resolutions so often "inspired" by Social Media.  Yes, SM.  Well, we have a few more SMs for you to ponder at this calendar crossroads.
Smoke and Mirrors, Stylists and Make Up Artists - beware the captivating images of polished perfection pervading your timelines.  Spoiler alert - THEY ARE NOT REAL, they are no more real than operation close ups in any TV hospital drama.   These beautiful images are carefully crafted and constructed, the result of hours of work in themselves and more hours in the gym and the stylist's hands than most of us spend in front of a mirror in a whole month!
SadoMasochism - not a phrase I would have expected to type into our blog and not what you would normally expect to read when you see this phrase.  This refers to the subtle, probably subconscious sadism of the "influencers" parading their idealised lives and showing us what we could all be experiencing, if only we were as beautiful as them.
The masochism of us mere mortals, with our feelings of inadequacy as we view these images, wilfully or blindly ignoring the Photoshopped Stage Management of it all. 
So our best SM advice is to Smile More - A New Year's resolution that we hope to keep.

In a 2014 report, 35% of participants who failed their New Year's Resolutions admitted they had unrealistic goals, 33% of participants didn't keep track of their progress, and 23% forgot about them; about one in 10 respondents claimed they made too many resolutions. 

So how do you go about keeping yours?  How do you stay resolute in your resolutions?

1. Work out WHY you have chosen your resolution. If there is a good reason, there is more chance of sticking to it.
2. Be positive - don't think in terms of giving things up.  Forbidden fruit is always harder to resist, just ask Eve.
3. Be realistic - don't set yourself targets that you cannot meet.  Make the terms of your resolution fluid.  "Read more books" is better than read a new book every month, then finding yourself staying up til 3 in the morning on November 30th, just to say you're on track!
4. Don't beat yourself up if you slip - if you have given up sweets (see point 2), it's not the end of the world if you accept a jelly baby!  Eating a whole bag of them at 2am raises rather more questions!
5. Remember, sometimes it's enough just to be your best self, rather than striving to be a better you

There are going to be challenges next year, of that there can be no doubt, but we will have to face them, come what may.

So in the words of the Serenity Prayer:

Please grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,And wisdom to know the difference.

.....to which I would add:

the perspicacity to see beneath the surface and not be beguiled by social media's falsehoods.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2019 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

The spun iron casserole

You have been patient, we have been busy.

We are pretty sure that you are going to be as pleased as we are and consider the wait worthwhile.

We have been giving a lot of time and brain power to our larger casseroles and slow cookers and listening carefully to your comments, compliments and criticisms.

We have been making the cast iron version for over a decade and as it was the very first Netherton product to be introduced, we hold it in a lot of affections.

However, although we take our inspiration from the ironmasters of the past, those giants of the Industrial Revolution, we have no desire to dwell in the past and we review and refine our designs to meet the rigours of 21^st century life.

“The past is another country; they do things differently there” (L P Hartley; The Go-Between)

And the future, for better or worse, is constantly evolving.

The rise in popularity of induction hobs has been phenomenal.  It is also heartening to see the increasing interest in the beautiful, British made Esse and Everhot range cookers.  And, it seems the two can go hand in hand, with an induction hob fitted to a range cooker, but both demand flat based pans to work efficiently and effectively.

To meet the clamour and call for induction and range appropriate cookware, we decided it was time to bring our casserole into line with the rest of our cookware range.

Thus was born the heavy duty, spun iron 4 litre casserole.

Our large, deep casseroles, which were previously cast,  are now made by the same process as our frying pans and saucepans, bringing the whole range together and better meeting the needs of modern kitchens.

Specifically designed to be used an anything from embers to induction, the flat based, spun casserole performs just like a cast iron casserole.  And we have taken the opportunity to add a beautiful new lid, with a brass highlight to complement the prospector pans.

As ever, we have retained the essentials of the cast design, so that you can mix and match old pieces with the new – the cast and tagine lids will fit the new bowls, the new lid will fit the old bowl.   

Metal spinning is one of the oldest techniques for the production of circular hollow metal components. History records show that the Egyptians were metal spinning nearly 3,000 years ago, during the reign of the Pharaohs. Up until the First World War, only nonferrous metals as gold, silver and brass were being spun. Wartime needs brought about new designs and stronger machines.

Metal spinning involves spinning a flat sheet of metal — usually in the shape of a disk — at a controlled speed. A “spinning mandrel” or tool is used as the basis of the spinning process. The mandrel is made to the shape that corresponds with the contour of the part to be spun, in our case imagine a solid bowl or pan body. A blank is placed between the mandrel and the tail stock of the lathe. Spinning tools, often called spoons,  are used against the blank to shape it around the mandrel or tool.

Metal spinning ranges from an artisan's specialty to the most advantageous way to form round metal parts for commercial applications. 

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2019 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Christmas cookie swap

We have taken part in a social media Christmas cookie swap, organised by Tuscan food writer, Giulia Scarpaleggia.  Whilst this is not quite the same as meeting up social media friends in real life (which has been a terrific experience every time it's happened), this is a plan we can get behind.  We put forward our address and we received 2 additional names and addresses.  We sent cookies to our new Cookie Companions and they sent cookies to us.  And we have never knowingly said "No" to a cookie!
You can see Giulia on Instagram and you can also read here recipes and listen to her podcast here or even sign up for her cookery classes!
As this is a Christmas swap, we went all out and devised a new recipe involving two seasonal ingredients; mincemeat and marzipan.

100g marzipan
75g butter
100g sugar
2 tsp dried, crushed orange peel* or the grated zest of an orange
300g self raising flour
2 egg whites
200g mincemeat
Icing sugar 

* Tis the time of year for mandarins, clementines, satsumas.  Next time you have one, don't throw away the peel.  Dry it in a low oven, then crush with a pestle and mortar or in a spice grinder (be careful you don't end up with orange dust) and store in an air tight jar.  Add to cakes, sauces (it is especially good in a tomato and fennel sauce), hot chocolate and anything else that could do with a little citrussy kick #wastenot.

Pre heat oven to 180ºC 

Cream the butter, sugar and marzipan together and add the egg whites.  Beat well to mix thoroughly.
Stir in the flour and orange zest, dried or fresh.
Carefully fold the mincemeat through the mix.

Place walnut sized lumps of dough onto a heavy duty baking sheet or griddle plate (if you are using one of our pieces of iron bakeware there is no need to grease it, but you may need to grease other baking trays), leaving enough room for them to expand.
Pop into the pre-heated oven and bake for 10 - 12 minutes, until golden brown.  Transfer to a cooling rack - they are fragile when hot, but will firm up as they cool.

Makes 2 dozen

They can be dusted with icing sugar, if you wish.

Please allow us to introduce you to our Cookie Companions:
Sam, who writes about Life in Abruzzo where you will also find her social media links.  Christmas cookies recipes
And, what a treat,  these Italian style biscuits were what she sent us:

Sarah, already known to readers of this blog for her "tempting recipe"  and you can read a lot more of her recipes here

These blueberry, lemon and oatmeal biscuits were delicious.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2019 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk