Raspberry Jam

This raspberry jam is the bees knees, the bears honey, the… well you get it.

Sometimes I ask myself why I keep buying jams and marmelades when it is so easy to make them yourself and with no additives. Crazy hu? Here we are, looking at all the labels, deciphering the fruit contend versus the other stuff and in the meantime, this little recipe just kicked every jam ever bought’s butt. What are we doing? Why are we buying instead of making?

This recipe took the 20 min it said it would take and the outcome is just too good to compare. The lemon balm, and I grow my own, was the icing on the cake really, I would not have thought of that. It really adds a nice flavor touch to the jam.

The only other jams I can compare it to and only because it is pretty much done the same way, with fresh fruit and herbs, sugar and heat and nothing else, is my cousins jams. He has his own company in Italy and he makes the jam your grandma used to make, lots of fruit and taste and no preservatives. He gets the fruit from within the national park back home and his small factory is in the park too, so the water comes from the glacier on the top for his process. These jams are all sold within our area at specialty stores and some of the hotels have them and people stock up on them before the travel back home, because you never had anything like them, unless you make them yourself.

These are my cousins jams. http://www.seibstock-manufaktur.com/en/

Anyway, back to the recipe in The Shire Cookbook, for all the jam lovers out there, give it a try, you will never go back to the store for jam, I promise you that.

Country Loaf

My first ever venture into making my own bread and it was awesome.

Yes I know, I am veering off the path of following recipes as they are listed in the book.  The country loaf appears under dinner not luncheon, but I needed some bread and I thought why not? I am going to go offline with the recipes anyway as I am planning for Christmas. I have decided that as I am having so much fun cooking from this book I will use it to prepare our Yule afternoon dinner.

But, before I will reveal any more, lets get back to the bread… This loaf is so fluffy and crumbly, it goes with everything. I made sandwiches and had it plain, with home made marmalade and we toasted it cut into croutons for our salad.

It has a little sweetness to it, that reminds me of our Easter bread back home. I was glad my boyfriend helped me rolling the dough, it came out perfect. Again a great recipe, simple, easy and to die for…

 

Clotted Cream

I could not resist, this clotted cream recipe looked so good and I “needed” it for my scones.

What a blast from the past this turned out to be. I spent 5 month in England in the early Ninety’s and I remember having tea and scones with clotted cream. It’s such an English tradition, and I have only found it very seldom in other places. This recipe was so spot on and super yummy and decadent, it transported me right back to London and all those memories.

Let me tell you, this is so easy to make, I could not believe it. I made only one pint instead of two, as there is only two of us here at home, but it made plenty of creamy goodness and I think I am going to share it with my friends on Sunday.   They all have worked in London too, so its going to be interesting to see their reactions.

So if you are going to have a Hobbit tea party, you must include this clotted cream, I think even the Elves in Rivendell would agree to have it on their table.

 

Currant Scones

These little beauties came out of the oven this morning for breakfast.

I seem to be on a baking roll these days and instead of waiting a week, since I had another day off, I continued my quest for tasty morsels from Westfarthing…

Now these currant scones are very delicious and I am eyeing the clothed cream recipe to add for the spread. Today I added a little butter and raspberry jam and felt like I was just sitting in Bag End, waiting for Bilbo to come back with the tea. Should I be worried about sprouting some coarse thick hair on my feet? I might be turning into a fat little Hobbit girl? Maybe I’ll turn into Rosie and I’ll angle me that shy gardener from number 3 at Bagshot Row…

Anyway the scones are super light and airy, I munched two of them and do not feel over full. I made them quite small, I think they are supposed to be a little larger, maybe next time I’ll use a different glass to cut them and I’ll leave the dough a bit higher too. So thank you miss Monroe-Cassel for this delight.

If you guys are following my other posts, I suggest you look into getting this little cookbook, you will not be disappointed, I promise.

Rustic Sausages

Two of these rustic sausages for breakfast will get you bustling around all day, I promise.

One more super easy recipe to follow in the making. The only difficulty here was to find some of the ingredients. First it asks for Veal, yes you read right, veal the “politically incorrect meat”, at least here in America. I am Italian and we grew up eating veal, it’s not an excuse, just a fact. And personally I love it, however as I do not eat meat or steaks if you will, a lot, I do not buy it very often, so I had to check a few places to get it. Thank you Whole Foods Markets. The other ingredient was even worse, beef suet, no one I talked to has even heard about it…online you can get it, but I don’t like buying stuff online and food, well nope, not happening. So I did some research and found Manteca, a south of the border item and readily available, the difference is it’s pork fat instead of beef fat. I think I can live with that.

So today I whipped up these cute little wieners and they tasted very nice. I think I will up the spices next time because I like a bit more flavor. Breakfast was served in a jiffy and it carried me through baking a delicious Italian Prune Plum pie from my grandmothers recipe, getting my shopping done and feeding my best friends cat Georgie Boots Buttons, 2.5 miles away and back again…

This cooking though the Shire is really a lot of fun so far.

rustic sausages before frying in the pan

Overnight Porridge

Second Breakfast has knocked on my kitchen door today.

This Overnight Porridge was another super easy and simple meal to prepare. I enhanced mine with butter, raspberry jam, chopped almonds and a touch of cinnamon. It was a very sweet affair.

If anyone has the book and is wondering why I did not make the rustic sausages, it’s because I have to find beef suet, one of the ingredients, and it seems that it is not as readily available as it is in England, so I am doing some research on it. Hopefully I’ll have it soon to go back and make the sausages.

In the meantime I will continue my quest of good Hobbit fare or I might throw in some completely different fantasy world food to mix it up a bit.

One thing I certainly found out for me is, that I am not really a porridge kind of girl, no matter how sweet the toppings are. Don’t get me wrong, it was very tasty porridge, but I find it too mild and boring for my own taste. I am looking forward to the scones on the next page though…

So, on I go with more Shire food, tune in next week for something yummy.

Gravy-Poached Eggs

These Gravy-Poached Eggs where a very tasty breakfast this morning and they did keep me going almost all day. The only addition I did for this was the Thyme for garnish and extra taste, which it certainly accomplished.

This second dish from “The Shire Cookbook” by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel was super easy to prep and execute even though I only made two servings and had to adjust the measurements from the original recipe accordingly. Hobbits are, after all, a very down to earth folk and so they prepare no nonsense food first thing in the early morning.

All in all a great experience and I am looking forward to more of this.