Becky Bakes…

…quite a bit like Christmas – not least because several of our neighbours have installed hundreds of multi-coloured flashing fairy lights which brighten the gloom for several hours each day. Not subtle enough for me, sadly, but our decorations will begin to appear very soon if I get my way. A small tree on the balcony, decked with tiny golden bells, gives a glimpse of our contribution to the parish carol safari. Have you noticed our new picture on the website? You might just see a jar of Christmas cookies lurking behind the remains of the mincemeat…and have you spotted Lego Santa trying to find the tea cosy chimney? The chocolate log in the foreground is a clue to a “children’s special”. Remember we’re all children of our parents 😉 Decorations courtesy of our local cookshop, we are trying very hard to support our local independents and are lucky to have so many. The loss of M&S and EWM has been a blow, but the town will thrive if more small shops get the chance to have a go. So preparations are beginning, lists being written, turkeys sourced and the braised red cabbage done and in the freezer – that’s a bonus recipe you’ll find on the Christmas Specials page. Be in touch, let me know how it’s all going and enjoy getting ready for this special time. xx

I promise you that I am not a political person, but the recent governmental plans for the 3 tiers within England have left me so cross. The advice which followed – don’t play board games at Christmas, celebrate outdoors (in December?), delay your celebration till next year – all of this is absolutely ridiculous. Don’t we have a brain of our own? Can’t we weigh up the risks to our families without this type of advice? So we are all in one of three tiers, many of the towns previously in tier 1 are now in tier 3, how did that happen? My only experience of tiers up until now has been of the wedding cake varieties – there really is no other valid use for them. I’d hoped that we might have been told (by SAGE – the 3 Wise Men in my book) that whilst the situation is bad, we must continue to reduce our social interaction with other people. We understand the implications of reckless behaviour and if we are kept informed in a “straight-talking” way, without sound-bite slogans,we could all maintain the restrictive actions needed to reduce infections. So, dear reader, to calm myself I decided we need a bonus recipe to keep up our spirits, Mincemeat Eccles cakes, which are very tasty and melt in your mouth. The full recipe will be on the website later today, but you just need to cut circles of puff pastry and put a teaspoon of mincemeat in the centre. Wet the edges and bring them to the centre to seal, a bit like a fortune cookie. Turn the parcel over and flatten. Put on a lined baking tray, prod with a fork, brush with water then sprinkle caster sugar on top. Cook for 15ish minutes until darkly browned and crispy. What a relief to find some comforting normality in these strange times – a sense of perspective when all around us are either panicking or denying the situation. Be sensible as I know you will and stay safe peeps. Bx

Have you had a chance to look at this week’s recipe and video yet? It’s for slow-cooked ragu, also known as bolognese in this country and is a recipe I gleaned when cooking with Giovanna in her outdoor kitchen near Parma. Little did we know, when the video went live, that there was already an argument raging in one of the daily newspapers. It seems that someone had shared their “perfect” bolognese recipe and it had caused uproar among many of the readers. The inclusion of a red onion as well as “lots” of red wine didn’t go down too well and eventually the chef Gino d’Acampo waded into the row. He described the definitive Italian ragu, and – thankfully/happily – it was just as I make it too! We differed slightly on the tomato though – he prefers concentrated paste where I prefer to use tinned tomatoes. Giovanna had used her own home-grown bottled tomatoes and took me into her garden to show me row after row of the many varieties she grew, each for a different purpose. So on that day, as well as the delicious ragu we made pasta – tagliatelle and ravioli which was filled with a ricotta, lemon and thyme mixture.Then we made pisarei – gnocchi made with stale bread and boiling water, thickened with flour…not something I’ve recreated to be honest, but the ultimate way be economical and waste nothing. So there we are , dear reader, ever at the forefront and totally topical!

One of my earliest memories is of a very large chicken being delivered by the butcher ready to cook for Christmas dinner. It came complete with giblets which sat in a bowl of water ready to be cooked and used for the gravy. I was fascinated by this bowl of weirdness and it took many years to find out what they actually were. In the intervening years the mass production of poultry has meant that this country now eats more chicken than any other meat and my family certainly adds to those statistics. It’s seldom out of the news, with criticism of farming methods and anxiety over hygiene – only yesterday an alert was issued for avian flu and salmonella in 3 ranges of eggs sold in two supermarket chains. Remember Mrs.Currie? A good friend will often ask the question – “what’s for dinner – chicken?” and at least once a week the answer will be yes. I have a great many recipes to call on since it’s one food all the family enjoy. So earlier this week I was talking to young friend about the economy of roasting a chicken to enjoy with lots of vegetables, then have some cold the next day and going on to make soup using the carcass for stock. “Oh! How do you do that?” There then ensued a long typed method which became far too complicated. So the solution was that we should make a video and show younger people how to do it. It’s not a pretty process but the result is always delicious. So you have the scoop, dear reader – look out for this one on Christmas eve as the perfect way to use the last of your turkey.

Last week a lovely friend was discussing friendship cake – do you remember it? Many years ago I was given a jar of brown sludge, which was the starter, and a sheet of instructions. We had a young baby and my head simply didn’t have the capacity for something else that needed to be nurtured. I’m not sure what happened to the sludge but I certainly don’t remember it turning into a cake! This time though, I decided to resurrect the recipe and give it a go. I began with flour, milk, sugar and 3 tablespoons (yes, big ones!) of yeast.It then bubbled away on the worktop for quite a while, eventually arriving at the moment to share it. By sheer coincidence that was also day 1 of Lockdown #2. So we set off with it suitably packaged and a degree of anxiety that it would be met with reluctance and a sigh. But on that day it turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. Two and a half hour later I got home, put the kettle on then sat and pondered. Friendship and cake. A perfect combination.

Go? Usually at this time of the year my preparations for Christmas are well under way. This year hasn’t been a whole lot different as I had already been buying “things” when I saw them. You know how it is, if you don’t get it when you see it, it will be gone when you go back. In addition to that I’ve also “embraced” on-line shopping – to a small extent. As things stand though, as a family of 7 we may not be able gather as a group and now we hear of further restrictions looming who knows what the situation will be by the end of December. So what’s to do? Well I’m going to continue to prepare in the hope we may see some of them at some time. Sprouts are a must on my shopping list, to be cooked in that special way (fry a small onion, chopped, with some snipped streaky bacon, add halved sprouts. After 2 mins add a splash of stock and some single cream; lid on, 5 mins and you’re done – just a twist of nutmeg and that’s it) As far as The Tree goes, that will be left to others and becomes a riot of colour with no theme or regard for shapes and sizes. The control freak in me stays well away, instead master minding a more elegant creation. Last year it was sprigs sprayed silver (evidence still on the conservatory floor..)then held in a wide vase by hundreds of marbles and glass pebbles, then finally hung with tiny silver and pale blue baubles. Quite ethereal. We can still do all this even if not together, we must make the best of whatever situation we find ourselves in. So, dear reader, it really will be a case of ready, set, GO!

My goodness, the Bake Off is stirring up emotions! Pastry week set a challenge with pasties – the pastry, the filling and even the correct number of crimps. It came as no surprise that the contestants all did it their way and the one sent home had, honestly, made samosas. But following the programme the level of criticism and the arguments that raged across social media were vicious……just scroll by people! Remember these programmes were made several months ago and your anger is not going to make one iota of difference to the outcome of the contest. I must say though, that I feel GBBO has lost its’ way and has clearly struggled to find recipes to contest – some of them are so far removed from normality that they aren’t dishes anyone would want to try at home. A Cornish pasty should have offered a way of testing everyone’s ability to make good shortcrust pastry which then has a tasty filling of potato, carrot, swede, beef and onion. It’s all in the seasoning too. Did any of them do that? No.

It’s definitely here – the sweaters are on, so are the socks. We’ve had a mixed week with sunshine and showers. If it rains much more into the already over-flowing pond we will have escaping fish across the lawn. Speaking of which the grass is now green and a massive clump of honey fungus has appeared where a long gone tree was felled. Thankfully the sneezing and coughing from the tech-team is subsiding and we’ve made two videos this week which are ready to share with you when November arrives. These were greeted with a better response than my chutneys of last week! In an attempt to mask the odours I lit scented candles and that just made them cough even more….Anyway how about a bonus recipe? A true winter warmer for these chilly evenings. Into the bottom of an ovenproof dish layer a chopped onion, chunks of courgette and pepper with peeled garlic cloves and tomatoes. Sit two sausages per person on top and cook for 40 mins at gas 6/200C, then add half a pint of stock into which you blend a dessertspoon of tomato puree. Turn the sausages over to get them evenly browned and return to the oven for another 15 or 20 minutes. Serve with pasta, potatoes or rice. Hey presto! Baked sausages.

I was so looking forward to this week’s GBBO as it was bread week and that’s Paul Hollywood’s speciality and in the past he has introduced us to some inspiring new ideas. Do you remember the 8 strand plait? Or was it 10…..? Anyway, this week the contestants first had to create 2 varieties of soda bread. Fair enough – we have a brilliant recipe that lots of you tried out and is still one of our most popular videos. But it seemed that flavour and ingredients had to be so completely unexpected that ,honestly, there wasn’t one produced that I would want to try. So, on to the second dish – the yeasted mixture – and it was bagels. OK, they are interesting as they need to be boiled before baking.. tricky at the best of times. But they were to be coloured like rainbows.Why? It’s well known that before tasting anything, we eat with our eyes. The colours were so livid, what were the colourings made of? We, as a family, have experience of rainbow coloured ice cream which had a disastrous effect on our children’s digestive system. Say no more. It seems Mr.Hollywood got himself into deep water too for not properly explaining the meaning and use of rainbows in popular culture. Anyway, how would smoked salmon and cream cheese look on those bagels? Dreadful I think. So the third challenge for the contestants was to make some kind of picture using bread. Really? Are we going to try that at home? Dear GBBO, I fear you have lost the plot.

Earlier this week a young friend asked me what was my favourite gadget. Without giving it too much thought I replied that I’m not a gadget person and that I don’t appreciate gifts with plugs on… ! We recently had a trip to Norwich where I enjoyed perusing all the kitchenalia in the Lakeland store but walked past the spiralisers and nutri whatnots, only buying paper cases and toothpicks. So it was during this week, when I’d made a batch of soup, that I went to my machinery cupboard and took out the stick blender – that’s it! My favourite gadget. I’ve had it for many years and used it frequently as it also has a mini chopping thing (perfect for making breadcrumbs) which is run by the detachable handle. Then the tall narrow part twists in to the handle too and since it’s plastic doesn’t scratch any pans when resting on the base and drawing in the lumps of vegetables through the arches around the base. Am I giving you a picture of this thing ? My runner-up in the usefulness stakes would be my food processor closely followed by the apple segmenter – useful for pears too – which came from Pampered chef and other makes can be found in most supermarkets these days….but the mango cutter ? Hasn’t seen the light of day for a while. What about you ? What would your most useful gadget be ?