Chicken pies and Mashawa Farm

Leaving Hesselwood House really hurt.  I lost my enchanting childhood playground.  The orchard, the rose garden, the driveway ‘island’ where I’d spend hours day dreaming, whilst lazing on the garden swing under the shade of a Jacaranda tree. Not only did I have to leave Hesselwood House, but I had to leave Mama and Bumps and move to South Africa.

Mama and Bumps soon moved further north.  Close to the Zambia border to a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it town called Centenary – a tobacco farming community and 150 kms from a decent town. They moved into a large, unattractive and dull looking farm house with a cracked and empty swimming pool and a dry dusty garden.  My heart broke.  I hated it when I first saw it.

Mama, always the trooper with true British resolve, rolled up her sleeves and put an army together to transform the house into what our family lovingly knew as Mashawa Farm.  Mashawa means rainbow in Shona, and with the myriad of flowers and trees Mama planted, it was a rainbow – an oasis in the surrounding tobacco fields.

I left a run down farm house and returned in the summer holidays, to a fresh white farmhouse with lush green lawns, flower beds bursting with agapanthus with massive purple flowers, and blossoming honey suckle and jasmine trailing through the garden fence.

When I’d arrive for my summer holidays, Mama often prepared a ‘welcome meal’ for me – chicken pie and homemade tomato relish.  They were delicious cold, and the relish a perfect partner.  Here is Mama’s recipe for chicken pie…the only thing I’ve changed is add the lazy step of shop bought puff pastry.

Ingredients (makes four pies)

§         2 chicken breasts

§         500 ml full fat milk

§         2 finely chopped leeks

§         1 grated carrot

§         1 tablespoon butter

§         2 teaspoons corn flour mixed in a little water

§         Salt and pepper

§         1 beaten egg

§         Role of puff pastry

  

How to make

§         Heat the oven to 180 degrees, and grease a baking tray with a little butter.

§         Poach the chicken breasts, grated carrot and leeks in the milk until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken and chop finely.

§         Add the corn flour mix to the milk and allow to thicken – stirring all the time.  Return the chicken to the sauce, add salt and pepper to taste and add in the butter.  The mixture will be quite thick.

§         Use a saucer to cute rounds out of the puff pastry, egg wash around the edges and spoon the chicken mixture into the middle of each pastry round. Fold over, and crimp the edges with a fork.  Make a cross in the top of each pie and brush with an egg wash.

§         Bake in oven until golden – around 30 minutes.

YUM…

Linda's milk tart

After two perfect years living with Mama and Bumps, my Dad decided it was time for me to join him in South Africa. Leaving farm life and saying goodbye to my grandparents was a time of intense sorrow for me. Months passed in between my visits to them, but this was eased with their annual trip to South Africa.

They'd pack up the grey Opel  with the red leather seats, and tootle 1 700 kms from Salisbury to Johannesburg.  Mama would do most of the driving - not necessarily because of Bumps' prosthetic leg - more likely because she preferred to be behind the wheel and in charge!

It was during one of these trips, that Mama came to know our neighbour - Linda.  Linda was Afrikaans and spoke little English.  Mama of course only ever spoke the Queen's language - so how they communicated was interesting to say the least!

Linda made the most divine milk tart - or melk tert as it's known in South Africa.  Mama loved the dessert and asked Linda for the recipe.  But due to the language barrier - and no-one in my family really understanding Afrikaans, the only way the recipe exchange took place is by Linda making the tart and Mama watching and taking notes. 

Here's a photo of her hand written recipe, taken from the recipe book she left me.

The delicious creamy tart, with a cinnamon dust topping is sublime either warm or cold. You wont find a SAffer (South African) who does not know the traditional melk tert.

Here is Linda's recipe... YUM


Ingredients:

2 dessert spoons melted butter
1 cup sugar (I use brown sugar for the gorgeous caramel flavour)
3 eggs separated
1 cup flour
1 level t-spoon baking powder
1 t-spoon vanilla essence
4 cups full fat milk (I substitute 1 cup for a cup of cream)
Ground cinnamon and nutmeg for the top

How to make:

Bet egg whites until stiff.
Beat the egg yolks and sugar until creamy and double in volume.  Add the melted butter.
Add the vanilla essence to the milk and sift the flour and baking powder.  Add milk and flour alternately to the egg mixture.
Fold in the egg white, pour into a greased Pyrex dish and sprinkle cinnamon and nutmeg over top.
Bake for 40 minutes on 180 degrees. (I bake in a bain marie)

Utterly delicious.

For something aittle different...I heat the milk and soak two rooibos tea bags in it for a delicious flavour - you can use Earl Grey tea bags if you like.

Valentine's cake

The week before Valentine's Day meant helping Mama bake pre-ordered raspberry cakes. Rich dark chocolate cakes with a white topping, raspberry filling and little homemade chocolate hearts as decoration. Her cakes were always in demand, and in between her marmalade business and chocolate fondant orders, her celebration cakes were a hot topic in the Borrowdale community.

On a large white painted kitchen table (the same one my Dad was born under during WW2), Mama would lay out a treasure trove of delicious ingredients like fresh eggs collected from the chicken huts that morning, fresh farm butter, chopped dark chocolate and a large bowl of home made raspberry jam-like sauce.

Squashed in between the white table and the kitchen sink, was a tall white bar stool.  And on this I would perch.  My bare feet swinging back and forwards as I waited my calling as the raspberry jam-like dispenser. Onto cooled rounds of dark chocolate cake, I'd spoon exactly two dessert spoons of the liquid ruby syrup. A second round of chocolate cake, sandwiched in the sweet, tart raspberry centre.

With a dramatic flourish, Mama would sprinkle silver dragees on the cloudy white lemon cream cheese topping, and gently place the home made chocolate hearts 'just so'.

Biting into a silver forkful of moist, rich and tangy lusciously chocolate raspberry cake...luxurious lemon flavoured cream cheese frosting squishing out the corners of my mouth - yum.

Mama's Valentine's Day cake

What you need

For the cake

• 200 grams best quality dark chocolate, melted
• 180 grams cake flour
• 250 grams butter
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 300 grams dark brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 100 mls buttermilk

x 2 round cake tins

Best quality raspberry jam

For the cream cheese frosting

• Zest of 1 lemon
• 200 grams icing sugar
• 250 grams cream cheese

How to make

• Heat oven to 180 degrees, grease the two baking tins.
• Beat sugar and butter together until pale, add eggs one at a time.
• Add in all other ingredients and mix lightly with a metal spoon and pour equal amounts into the 2 greased baking tins.
• Bake for 40 minutes, or until  skewer comes out clean.
• Allow to cool, then spread a generous amount of raspberry jam on the bottom layer, place top layer on top.
• Mix the cream cheese, icing sugar and zest of the lemon until smooth, spread over the top of the cakes and decorate with chocolate hearts and fresh raspberries.

Ahhh....

The apple tree

Songs evoke memories.

I often find myself humming a tune I haven't thought of in ages.  My mind picks at distant memories, as tender as the silk threads of a cobweb.  I stop for a moment and try to put the memory together.  My heart swells and a smile tweaks at the corner of my mouth... ah I do remember.

Don't sit under the apple tree with anyone else but me, anyone else but me, anyone else but me...  The music of Glenn Miller loudly filled our farmhouse regularly on a Saturday morning.  Bumps would sit  on the veranda, under the fibre glass roof; next to the orchids and gig his tin leg in time with the music.  Whenever he caught sight of me watching him, he would pull up his shoulders and do a great version of what today - would be seen as embarrassing dad dancing.  I loved it. He was all you could ever of wanted from a grandfather. We'd listen to chattanooga choo choo and (I've Got a Gal In) Kalamazoo.  I imagined being that girl in wherever Kalamazoo was...although I wasn't sure what a pipparoo was.  I still don't know to be honest.

We probably got through half a record before Mama would turn down the volume and join us, her apron smelling of fresh baking. She'd sit down and gently fan her face, the damp soft grey curls drying in the heat. Elevenses was served with Glenn playing softly in the background and a fresh cup of tea to go with our cake.

One of my favourite tea cakes was Mama's lemon and apple drizzle cake.  Thick slices of soft buttery cake, covered in a sharp sweet icing. If I could bear it... I'd break off a piece and share it with one of the four dogs sat at my feet, jowls slobbering in anticipation.  If the dogs did not move fast enough, a cheeky miner bird would swoop down and steal it right from your hand!

Even though her recipe book is still in cargo and 'parked' in the docks waiting for customs to do whatever it is they need to do, I remember the recipe.  It's a simple yet gloriously delicious tangy treat. 

Perfectly Yum.

Ingredients

• 200 grams soft butter
• 200 grams soft brown sugar
• Zest of one lemon, and it's juice
• 4 eggs
• 250 grams flour
• 1 t-spoon baking powder
• 150 grams apple puree

For the drizzle topping: mix the juice of two lemons and 100 grams icing sugar into a smooth runny paste

Method

• Heat oven onto 180 degrees, grease a loaf tin
• Beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy
• Add eggs one at a time - putting little flour in if the mixture separates
• Add all other ingredients and gently mix, pour into loaf tin and bake for 40 minutes until top springs back
• Let cake cool completely before drizzling icing over

Serve and enjoy!  YUM 

In the blink of an eye...

Forgive me father for I have sinned...it's been 12 months since my last blog...

How time does fly when you move half way across the globe.  Long months spent waiting for visas, finding a job, rebuilding a home, learning the fine art of negotiating round-a-bouts and settling into my new wellies.  My family and I are 100% committed to life on 'Mud Island'. Mushy peas, bangers and mash, crumbles, Yorkshire pudding, pubs, rain, mud, more rain and a bit of brass monkey weather is now our life.

A big change from Africa.  And I would be lying if I told you I didn't miss it.  I do.  The smell of the rain on a dusty road, the sounds of approaching thunder, the sound of Christmas beetles and the hot African sun turning my pale skin from lilly white to fire engine red.  But I can tell you that we don't regret the decision to move to the United Kingdom.

My blog has always meandered down the hazy childhood memory lane of life in Zimbabwe and growing up on an African farm.  I may be thousands of miles away, but Africa is in my blood.  I will always be African. 

My Mama's recipe book is in cargo, docked at Southampton.  I so need the inspiration of my Mama's handwritten notes urging me to feed my soul as much as fill my family's bellies with something yum. 

I can't wait to start sharing and reminiscing and I guess... there will be some new adventures along the way.

Hope you come back soon for a visit...don't know 'bout you, but I'm desperately seeking something yum!

xxx

Roasting bag chicken and radish salad



When I was growing up, my Dad used to roast the Sunday chicken in one of those silvery plastic oven roasting bags.  It would steam up into the shape of a over blown balloon, keeping those gorgeous chicken-y flavours tightly wrapped up.

With much pomp and ceremony, Dad would gingerly poke a hole in the bag and with the snap of the wrist slice the bag open to release the mouth watering delicious aroma.

These bags disappeared from my sight for a while...but I have recently re-discovered them and now I too can look like a magician as my son stands and watches me flick the wrist and release that comforting smell of roasted chicken. 

Picture: terinex.co.uk

To be honest, I can't remember Mama ever using a roasting bag.  But my Dad made the best roast chicken (sorry Mama) and he never once made a roast without these brilliant bags.

I used one just last night.  Our family is trying to eat more healthily and I am struggling to come up with recipes that are low in fat, tasty and most important...can help me sneak in veggies for my dear "non-vegetable loving" husband of mine.

Give this a bash...just be careful not to over cook the chicken breasts or you will land up with a piece of old leather.

Steamed chicken with fresh radish salad

What you need: (serves four)

• A large oven roasting bag - or make a parcel out of wax paper
• 4 large free range chicken fillets
• Make a rub of 1 t-spoon of salt, ground black pepper, paprika and dried sweet basil
• About 8 radishes
• 1 medium cucumber
• Handful of seedless green grapes
• A little ground nut oil
• Chili flakes
• A table spoon oyster sauce
• 1 t-spoon honey
• A squeeze of lemon juice
• Boiled new potatoes

How to make:

• Rub the chicken with your homemade rub and place in the bag evenly spread apart
• Tie up bag tightly and place in oven for 30 minutes on 180 degrees heat
• To make your dressing mix the oil, honey, chili flakes according to how hot you like it, oyster sauce and the lemon juice and set aside
• Grate the radishes and cucumber together and leave to stand for a few minutes, then press down to remove excess water
• Add the sliced grapes and give it all a good toss
• To plate up slice the new potatoes and lay as a base, remove the steamed chicken (be careful of the steam!) slice and lay over the potatoes, drizzle some of the juices from the oven bag over the top
• Place your radish salad on the side and drizzle with the chili dressing

YUM!

In honor of the lentil



Picture from link below

To be honest.... I can't remember my Granny ever serving up lentils.  So my love for them is really something of a mystery!

The humble pulse/bean/gem of fibre whatever you wish to call it has been found in my cupboards in neat rows of perfectly aligned cans.  Shocking I know... cans of all things! 

I could not be bothered after a busy day to soak and boil....I'll just whip out the can opener and I am but a few minutes away from a great meal.

Husband dear can't stand the stuff.  He is a true "hunter" and eats meat, meat, meat and now and then a potato or two.  Thank fully my son has an appetite of a gannet and will eat just about anything I place in front of him.

Lentils are good for the heart, they stabilise you blood sugar and are jam packed with vitamin B.  Still, no way would my dear Mama of served lentils - I think she used them only when making a tart base that needed blind baking!

Baked beans of course, were a staple lazy weekend supper option and Mama would serve them up with her homemade tomato sauce piled on top of hot buttered toast and a generous grating of fresh farm cheese.

Bumps of course would rub his hands together in glee as he sang out " beans, beans, are good for your heart... the more you eat the more you fart" and he was not wrong.

Here is my take on Mama's beans on toast.

What you need: (serves 3)

• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 30 mls olive oil
• 1 t-spoon sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 can lentils
• A small packet of Haloumi cheese
• 1 table spoon butter
• Hot buttered toast
• some chopped parsley
• A dash of Tabasco sauce if you like

How to make:

• Heat the olive oil in a wide shallow pan and add the tomatoes, sugar, salt n pepper and allow to simmer for 15 minutes till nice and thick
• Drain and rinse your lentils and add to the tomato sauce, turn down heat and allow to rest there whilst you grill your haloumi cheese
• Turn on your grill and lightly oil a baking sheet, slice your haloumi cheese into thin strips and lay out on the baking sheet - grill until golden and bubbling
• Get your toast ready, stir in the table spoon of butter into your lentil mixture and spoon generously onto the hot toast
• Lay strips of grilled haloumi over the top and sprinkle with parsley and some Tabasco sauce

YUM...and good for you!!

To read more about the benefits of lentils... click here

Bitter sweet

Time, where does it go?

First of all, let me apologise for the very long delay in updating my blog.  I shan't come up with cockamamie excuses...but will make an early New Years resolution to update more often.

Secondly, I want to share some sad news with you.  A dear old friend of my late father passed away today.  I was out in the sunshine pruning my roses and took a break from the heat to pop inside and read a few emails, one of which brought tears to my eyes.

83 is a good age.  Uncle David was a fascinating man to know and his horrid taste in tea I have mentioned in previous posts.  He passed away at midday today.  No more Uncle David in person, but my what a life he had!  Such a rich and adventurous life.

Although almost blind towards the end, Uncle David remained sharp and quick witted, always with a smile and a joke.  He would not want tears or sadness, but for now that's what I have.  Maybe tomorrow I will think back on his wonderful sense of humour and smile again, remembering his poems and stories and funny little songs.

I can't think of a decent recipe to share with you today.  Uncle David always said I was so much like my darling Mama and that I had her cooking talents.  He had many a meal at my Mama's table in the good old days of Rhodesia.

Every year I would go into great detail sharing my Christmas menu with him, his reply would always be how just hearing the menu being read out to him (thanks to Ian) would cause a great 'salivation"!

I will miss him greatly.

Here's for you Uncle David RIP.

Don't weep at my grave,
For I am not there,
I've a date with a butterfly
To dance in the air.
I'll be singing in the sunshine,
Wild and free,
Playing tag with the wind,
Whilst I'm watching over thee.

Merry Christmas to all of you, once again I am reminded of how fragile life is - let us stop wasting time moaning and groaning about what we don't have.  I am grateful for the blessings of the love of family and my dear friends who enfold me in their love.

Yule log...chocolate and cream delight!

By now, our dense and moist Christmas fruit cake is well past half way to drunk. But we need a few  more weeks of bathing in spoon fulls of Sherry, before our cake is ready for icing. So in the meantime...

Photo: Mary Berry "The Good Food Channel"

I feel in the mood for chocolate...erm - ok when am I not in the mood for chocolate?!

But this time round, I want squishy, gooey and creamy chocolate heaven all rolled up in what's known as a yule log!

Mama never had a short supply of chocolate.  After all, a chocolate maker needs plenty of supplies and not even I could make a dent in the mountain of chocolaty slabs stashed away in the pantry.  Mama would make her yule log with a mix of dark and milk chocolate, and we would make decorations out of white chocolate.

In the kitchen, was an enormous wooden table, painted in white enamel and as far as I understood - came all the way with Mama and Bumps when they sailed from England to Rhodesia.  Underneath this same white table, was where my Dad was born.  It was in the middle of a bomb raid and Mama and her Mother could not "nip off to the hospital" - and so that's where my Dad was born!

It was on this table that we would place all our ingredients, and where I was in charge of breaking up the chocolate for the cake.  By the time I was finished snapping bits off a huge chocolate slab, my hands were coated in melted chocolate (nothing like working with chocolate in the middle of summer) and my mouth bore the mark of the much used "one for me" and one for the cake...methodology.

After the yule log was decorated and icing sugar dusted over the top to look like snow, we would invite the neighbouring ladies over for afternoon tea.  Sitting under the flowering Flamboyant tree, sipping on English tea, savoring the intense chocolate festive cake and listening the chattering of Mama's friends is a memory from deep within my heart.

A beautiful cake, one that should always be eaten soon after baking!  So worth the effort!

What you need:

• 1/2 cup sifted cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 eggs, separated
• 150 mls milk
• 200 grams dark chocolate, melted
• 100 grams icing sugar
• 300 mls cream whipped
• 250 grams milk chocolate
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 200 mls single cream
• 100 grams white chocolate

    How to make:

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees  and grease a Swiss role tin. Line with waxed paper and grease paper.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.
• Beat together sugar and egg yolks at high speed until light and fluffy.
• Add the milk, melted dark chocolate and flour mixture into egg mixture.
• Beat egg whites till soft peaks form. Fold into the batter. 
• Spread batter in prepared pan; smooth top.
• Bake until set, about 12 minutes.
• When still warm, turn cake out onto a clean tea cloth. Remove waxed paper. Trim off any crispy edges and starting with a long side, roll up cake, Swiss roll style and leave to cool.               
• When cooled, gently unroll the cake and spread the whipped cream over cake - leaving space on the sides as the cream will squish out... place on your chosen serving tray with the "seam" down.

To ice the cake: 

• Melt the milk chocolate and add the cream and butter and stir until glossy and smooth.  Leave to cool until a "spreadable" consistency. Spread over the cake. Run a fork down the sides of the cake to form wood patterns.
• Melt the white chocolate and drizzle over the cake.  Dust with icing sugar and adorn with holly - serve and enjoy!

YUM!!!

 

The Christmas cake chronicals

The delicious smell of nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and sherry are all beacons for the coming of Christmas. My tummy just grumbles at the thought!

Photo: Good Food BBC

Learning the joy of making Christmas cake, I would stand next to Mama and eagerly watch as the measured out quantities of sultanas, raisins, dates, glace cherries, glace apricots and an assortment of nuts.  She used to place them in individual bowls - ready and prepared for the magic of marrying so many ingredients together.

Just like we carefully choose a gift for someone we love, so would Mama choose only the best ingredients she could find to put into her famous Christmas cake.  I loved how the nuts would clatter against the side of the ceramic mixing bowls.  I loved the smell of the sherry soaked raisins and sultanas, drunk little plump gems bursting with naughtiness. I loved the sharp citrus fresh smell of lemon and orange zest and the deep pungent smell of cloves.

Mama would mix the butter and sugar in her (now) ancient Kenwood, add in the fresh farm eggs that I had collected myself and she would allow me to spoon in the flour with the same silver table spoon that now rests in my kitchen drawer.  I was in charge of rolling the marzipan balls, which added a surprise of delicious sweetness to her cake.

When everything was mixed and poured into a lined baking tin, I would proudly open the oven door for Mama for her to place the iconic symbol of Christmas on the middle shelf. And there it would morph from a sticky and gloopy dough into a dense, moist and sweet bringer of joy!

For the next three hours the house would fill with the heavily spiced scent of baking Christmas cake.  I would peer through the oven door, longingly wanting to get closer to the smell - as of taking a gulp of the scented air would satisfy my tummy rumbles.

At last the time would come and our cake was ready to greet the world!  Once cooled, we would carefully wrap it up in brown paper linings, after dousing it with a good bit of sherry - and tie it with string.  I always got to hold my finger over the knot so Mama would be able to make the bow.  Then in the pantry it would go to rest until a week had gone by and it needed a topping up of sherry. 

Each time we topped up the Sherry, Mama would greet the Christmas cake as if it was something with a heart and a soul. She would murmur how lovely it was and what a beautiful job it was doing at getting tastier each day.  A week before Christmas, we would decorate the cake and then there was no more pantry for it!  The cake was on display under a lace cover - demanding attention from any visitor popping over for a cup of tea.

When I make this recipe for my family now, the familiar smell of the deep earthy spices, citrus zest and cheeky sherry fills me with such warm memories.  I hope these smells bring a smile to your face too.

Mama's Christmas Cake

What you need:

• 1 cup of:
• raisins
• golden sultanas
• mixed fruit peel
• halved glace cherries (green and red if you like)
• chopped glace apricots
• chopped dates
• Zest and juice of one lemon and one orange
• 100 grams roughly chopped walnuts
• 100 grams roughly chopped brazel nuts
• 150 grams ground almonds
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 t-spoon each of nutmeg, cinamon and cloves
• 350 grams butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 150 grams flour
• 1 t-spoon baking powder
• 1 t-spoon soda bicarb
• 1/2 t-spoon salt
• A little boiling water
• 150 grams marzipan
• a few glugs of Sherry or brandy

How to make:

• Soak the raisins and sultanas in the alcohol over night - use orange juice for an alcohol free version
• An hour before you beging making your cake chop the dates into a bowl and sprinkle over the soda bicard.  Pour a little hot water over so that it bubbles and fizzes - this will turn the dates in to a sticky goo - which is what you want
• Mix the butter and sugar together till soft and light
• Add in 1 egg at a time - adding a little flour to stabilise if needs be
• Add in all other ingredients (except for the marzipan balls) and mix until well combined
• Grease and line a deep cake tin, pour in half of the batter
• Scatter the marzipan balls on top of the batter and the scoop over the remaining batter
• Tie a pleated sheet of baking paper over the top of the cake tin to prevent it burning and bake in the oven for around 3 hours on 150 degrees
• When the cake has been in for 2 1/2 hours - remove the baking paper cover and put back into oven for the remainder of the time.
• Allow to cool before turning out and dosing with sherry.  Only when completely cool, wrap in brown paper or baking paper and store in a cool dark place.
• Dose once a week.

Next blog.... let's ice it!

Christmas stocking cookies

For far too many years I thought buying gifts was the way to go, but the lights have come on ("at last" my hubby would say) and the thoughtfulness of making a gift far outweighs anything shop bought.

Mama and Bumps never bought me gifts.  They made me gifts.  How I wish I could go back in time and show more appreciation for my home made treats, or beautiful old books passed down to me with hand stitched covers.  I still have my sewing basket Mama made me.  It is adorned with hand made raffeta flowers and inside it lies an envelope of needles -untouched and treasured.

Bumps used to give me "driving lesson vouchers" - see cowpat blog... or a box of pellets and permission to use the pellet gun - under supervision of course.  He would draw funny faces on over ripe paw paws and we would spend hours at the bottom of the garden - far away from Mama's sight and earshot, shooting the hell out of paw paw faces.

Me, Mama and my Daddy

In my stocking on Christmas morning I would find a pretty package of delicious butter biscuits, painstakingly decorated with assorted colour icing and little silver balls.  These biscuits came in all shapes, but my favorite ones were the white kitty biscuits with little ribbons tied around each neck and silver balls for eyes.

Now that I am older, I cherish the time it took to make these gifts.  Not just any old batch of cookies bunged in the oven and placed in a cellophane bag, but each biscuit a treasure on its own.  Each one carefully decorated, every dot of icing specially thought out and each perfectly tied bow showing how much I was loved. 

That is what made my two very special Christmas with Mama and Bumps so wonderful and unforgettable - their time, effort and genuine love for me shown in every action.

Mama's Christmas biscuits

What you need: (makes 10 kitty biscuits so double as needed)

• 2 cups of plain flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• A good pinch of salt
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1/2 cup milk
• 100 grams cold butter

To ice:

• Icing sugar and assorted food colourants
• A little water
• Thin ribbons, silver balls, 100's & 1000's, anything you like!
• Box or gift bag to wrap them in

How to make:

• Sift the flour, icing sugar, baking powder and salt twice.
• Cut in the butter using a butter knife as your hands will warm the mixture too much.
• Pour in the milk a little at a time because you want a stiff dough not a sloppy one.
• As soon as you have a nice ball of dough, roll out using a rolling pin till about 5cm thick.
• Try to handle the dough as little as possible.
• Use your choice of cookie cutter and cut out shapes.
• Place on a greased biscuit tray and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes on 180 degrees until a pale golden colour.  Take out of oven and let cool.

To make the icing:

• In separate bowls make up batches of icing using icing sugar, food colourant and tiny amounts of water. You want a lazy dropping consistency so you can drizzle over the cookies.
• Decorate biscuits as you like! 

Chocolate Enrobed Florentines

It's cloudy outside today and there's a bit of a nip in the wind.  I adore the approaching thunder storm, that's one thing Africa knows how to do perfectly! 

Mama's garden

The rumble of thunder making it's way over the fields is another memory I hold dear.  Sitting on the farm veranda under the fiber glass awning, smelling the approaching rain.  The world becomes quiet and almost holds it's breath as it waits for the anointing fresh rain.

Mama would be down by the roses measuring out natural fertilizer to feed the greedy roses, which they would drink up to ensure a flush of magnificent blooms in time for Christmas.  I would call out to her warning her the rain was coming and urging her to come away from the growling thunder.  Only when the first splatters of rain placed diamond droplets in her hair did she come in and we would watch the magic of an African thunder storm.

Once the rain had gone as quickly as it had arrived, sunbeams would burst from the clouds and the garden would come alive.  Birds would be fluttering around drying in the warm sun and the beetles would start their tremendous cacophony.  Anyone born in Rhodesia would know the sound of Christmas beetles - they are almost deafening!  They always arrived around November and would carol us into the Christmas season. 

Mama always made her Christmas cakes in the first week of November.  I have the ingredients ready and waiting in my pantry.  Just waiting till I can turn the calender page over as if an unwritten rule gives me the thumbs up to make the Christmas cake. 

The preparation for Christmas was filled with nutmeg smells and cinnamon flavours.  Mama's Christmas list included buttery mince pies, all spice biscuits in angel shapes, mulled wine and Chrismassy Florentines, just to name a few.  Tradition is tradition and Mama never faltered in preparing traditional Christmas eats and treats to hand out as gifts.

The next few blogs will be dedicated to the experience of Christmas in our Geddes farm house... First up, here is Mama's Christmassy chocolate-enrobed Florentines.

What you need:

• 40 grams butter
• 100 grams caster sugar
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 100 mls cream
• 150 grams mixed dried fruit and nuts.  Mama used flaked almonds, glace cherries, dried apricots and glace pineapple. Chop the fruit up into tiny bits.
• 30 grams of dark chocolate
• 30 grams milk chocolate
• 1/2 teaspoon all spice

How to make:

• Melt the butter and sugar in a pan until a golden brown colour
• Add in the flour, spice, dried fruit & nut mix and add the cream - mix well
• Grease a muffin pan, use a teaspoon to measure out the correct amount per round. Pat down to flatten
• Bake for 15 minutes on 180 degrees, until golden brown
• Leave to cool for a few minutes before turning out of the muffin pan
• Melt the chocolate and dip one half of the Florentine in the dark chocolate and allow to set, then dip the other half in the other chocolate.
• All I can say is YUM!!!! 
• Great to give as a gift too!

Sip...not slurp

Mama and her Mother

Mama was 18 when she was sent to "Finishing School" in Switzerland. Off she went with one suitcase, by boat and then by a very long train journey to live in a strange country for one year to learn poise and elegance where young women were given a more "complete" education.

Can you imagine a time when young women were sent to learn a variety of social and etiquette skills all for the hopes of attracting and keeping a husband?  Such activities I would most probably find trivial and annoying these days. But to be absolutely honest, it does sound so very quaint and ladylike does it not?

On the days when I was asked to polish the silver, Mama would teach me the difference between a fish knife and a salad fork or which glasses you must use for red wine or which one to serve an aperitif from.  She spent ages trying to teach me to fold a starched napkin into a lotus flower, something I still can not master or see the point of... 

I learnt to use the side plate to your left and to use the butter knife to cut your bread into dainty bite size pieces. I learnt how to sip soup from the side of the spoon and not to slurp or to put the whole spoon in your gob! She was ever to patient with me and I often reminisce of the grace of meals served at a beautifully set table. 

My drawers (not the knicker ones) are full of mismatched cutlery of stainless steel.  My family eats dinner from laps most evenings and I don't think I own a fish knife of any sort. Although I do know which wine glass to use for red or white wine...I normally grab the one that has the most capacity.

So in honour of sipping... and not slurping - here is Mama's roasted vegetable soup with home-made croutons.

What you need:

• one cup of each vegetable cut into chunks (choose as you like)
• carrots
• potato
• parsnips
• butternut
• onion
• A little oil
• 1 litre chicken stock - or stock of your choosing
• 500 mls cream
• Salt and pepper
• Stale bread - sourdough works great
• Knob of butter
• Parmesan cheese - grated
• Handful fresh chopped parsley

How to make:

• In a large roasting dish - rub some oil and a good bit of S&P over the veggies
• Roast in a hot oven (200 degrees) for 30 minutes or until the veggies are golden and crisp on the edges.  Allow to cool a bit - but don't turn off your oven.
• Blitz the roasted veggies in a processor until smooth - add a bit of your stock to loosen up.
• Pour into a large pot and add in your remaining stock and allow to simmer slowly on the stove top whilst you prepare your croutons.
• In the same roasting dish you used for the veggies, break chunks of bread into bite size pieces.
• Sprinkle over a little oil and dot butter all over the pan.  Sprinkle with some S&P and the Parmesan cheese.  Bake in still hot oven till golden and crispy - toss occasionally.
• Whilst the croutons are crisping, pour the cream into your vegetable/stock mix - check your seasoning and heat through.
• Pour into pre-heated soup bowls and arrange the crispy croutons on the top.
• Sprinkle with fresh parsley and YUM!

Chocolaty crumbly hugs

I have another funny story to share. 

This photograph was taken from a large painting that hung in our living room.  It has been in the family for years and it was the reason my mother married my father.

The story goes as follows.  My father worked in a bank in Salisbury as an office clerk.  A friend arranged a blind date between my Dad and my Mother - who was under the impression that Dad was a Bank Manager.

Although there were no romantic sparks of undying love-at-first-sight they went on a few more dates before Daddy took Mother home to introduce her to Mama and Bumps.

As they walked into the living room, Mother noticed the large castle painting on the wall and mentioned how pretty it was.  Daddy, as a joke said "yes, that's our family home".  Little did anyone know that Mother took this seriously!  A short while later they were married and the family teased Mother for ages about "the family home".  You can see on the photo - Dad even wrote that down!

They were married for 12 years, and as I mentioned before - the best thing that ever happened was when they divorced and I went to live with Mama and Bumps. During the big "D" ...and to be honest for as long as I can remember, Mama used to make my Dad Romany Creams when we was feeling a bit down. 

They were like chocolaty crumbly hugs of happiness.  Although I always asked... Mama would not allow me to make the fork indentations on the biscuits until I was in my teens.  I was however always allowed to lick the spoon and use my fingers to scrape out the heavenly chocolate batter.

Mama's special Romany Creams - the cure for any heartache

What you need:

• 2 cups of cake flour
• 230 grams butter
• 1/2 cup dessicated coconut
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 tea spoon baking powder
• 3 table spoons good quality cocoa (I substitute this for a large slab of dark chocolate when feeling flush)
• Large slab milk chocolate
• 1/2 cup cream

How to make the biscuits:

• Cream butter and sugar until pale and creamy
• If using cocoa, dissolve in a little hot water.  If using the dark chocolate - melt over a bowl of steaming water.
• Mix all ingredients together so form a firm dough.
• Roll into walnut size pieces and place on greased baking sheet, press each one down with a fork to make a pattern like Mama did
• Bake for 10 minutes on 180 degrees and allow to cool.

How to make the cream filling

• Heat the cream on the stove - don't allow to boil. 
• Break into it the chocolate and stir till glossy and melted. Allow to cool.

Sandwich two biscuits together using the cooled and thickened chocolate cream. Dust with cocoa powder and serve with a fresh pot of coffee...YUM!