The Honey & Co. Baking Book - Rose and Strawberry Jam

Today's post is going to be a Honey&Co. related post, and in that vein it should lead in with a Honey&Co. related announcement.

Sarit and Itamar read the babka post guys. And they loved it. Sarit loves the blog. She thinks I'm 'so sweet and enthusiastic and full of love'.Yes, I am still reeling from that happening. It was such an uplifting, positive, wonderful e-mail to come home to after work that I didn't stop smiling for days after. While they did ask that I not share the recipes (since they're copyrighted to Saltyard Books), they loved that I'm planning to give the book a good testing. I really can't think of any other way to thank them for such a mid-week boost. So today, we're going to talk about jam making.

I promise they were redder than that. Damn night time photography.

But first! Let me tell you about my relationship with strawberries.

Strawberries back home are on the expensive side. They cost five times more what they cost in the UK and don't taste...well...they just don't taste of anything really. They don't smell of anything either. I ate them purely because they were exotic...but secretly would crave mangoes while trying to swallow their sour red juices. In a world of papayas, mangoes and a smorgasbord of bananas, strawberries emerge as the 'exotic fruit' redolent of pale skinned, golden haired strangers in lands far away. But in comparison to the juicy longans you could get at the market for a fraction of the price, they seemed a little...blah.

This summer, things changed. The first time I tasted a summer strawberry my world exploded. Color became sound, sound became color the sky split and fireworks went off behind my eyes.  Ok, none of those things happened. But let me tell you it was pretty damn close. Finally. THIS was what all the fuss was about. I got it now. All the hype made sense.

I have spent the past two months gorging on strawberries. These big, juicy rubies have stained my lips and dribbled their juices down my chin and fingers on an almost daily basis. But ( as all good things) summer is coming to an end, and it's taking strawberries with it. In an attempt to bottle my British summer, I tried making the strawberry and rose jam from The Baking Book. Itamar did say at the book launch that if you try ANYTHING in this book, please please please make our jam.

And I can see why.

GUYS
This... I just.... I DIDN'T KNOW JAM COULD TASTE LIKE THIS.

I mean, ok. I have consumed many a jar of commercial jam (Hey Mrs. Bridges! Hello Bonne Maman! How's it going?) before. I have also consumed many home made strawberry jams, lovingly made in big pots by watchful home cooks. But see.... they always just tastes of...well...strawberries. And yes, that is what you ask for when you buy strawberry jam. But it's always just...strawberry. Good...straight up...strawberry.

This jam has ruined me. and the secret touch? Roses. They put rose petals and rose water into the jam. Just...just what? That sweet floral note just makes this jam. It gives your nose something else to concentrate on besides sugar cooked strawberries and rounds out the sweetness of the actual jam. But it's not cloying. There's just enough rose water to get things going.

 I want to bathe in this stuff. I want to smear it on my face. The perfume is unbelievable. My house smells divine. The kitchen and living room have been perfumed with strawberries and roses....this is what Valentine's Day should smell like.

That bubbled up to 3x it's original volume. It was intense.

Making jam is not for the faint of heart. That's not meant to turn you off. Do it. It'll put a little gumption in your soul. And really most of the jam making adventure is stress free, if not a little tedious. Be careful, hulling and preparing that much fruit may give you a sore wrist. Just go slow and take breaks. And read the recipe, the WHOLE recipe at least twice. I missed Sarit's jam making 101 at the beginning of the chapter and that made things a little hectic.  Imagine haphazardly stirring hot sugar and frantically reading how to test if your jam is cooked enough and then burning yourself and running to put plates in the freezer...just...just read the recipe ok? Read it twice. At least twice. You've been forewarned.

The really scary bit is when you start cooking the jam. Sarit insists on boiling at the highest heat possible which makes the mixture bubble up to over twice it's original volume. Play it safe and use the biggest, heaviest bottomed pot you have. And don't fill it to more than 1/2 full. Once you get over the fear of your jam bubbling over and catching on fire it all becomes quite fun. Nothing will make you feel more witchy than stirring a cauldron full of bubbling goo.

Bottled and ready to go!

And that's it! Divide into your sterilized bottles and let them sit on the counter overnight to make sure they seal properly. Spread over warm bread or save it for the winter months when the sun has gone down at 3p.m. and you need a reminder that it was ever there at all.

Chocolate Chunk Banana Bread...and the time I wanted a legit excuse to have chocolate for breakfast.

WHERE DID THE SEMESTER GO???
Seriously guys, this is ridiculous. I could've sworn I started second year just last week. How are we a month away from the summer holidays? How? This is outrageous. Unthinkable. WHAT EVEN?

It's times like these that really frighten me...cause so much has gone past and it really feels like I've barely accomplished anything. Well...maybe a few things. I'm slowly starting to branch out and figure out my own recipes for one thing. It's exciting and wonderful and quite the adventure I must say. Eventhough most times it's less about figuring out the right ingredient ratio and more about working around what I have left in my pantry.

This banana bread was something I've wanted to make for a while. It's very moist and full of rich bananana flavour. A lot of that will depend on how ripe your bananas are. You really need to let them go as spotty and black as you possibly can. Not like the ones in the first picture. I had to wait a couple of days for them to be really ready.  Overripe is the only way to go here. If they reach that perfect all-black stage but you haven't got time to turn them into banana bread, just bung them in the freezer, and defrost when you're ready.

Chocolate chunk banana bread.
- 2 large VERY ripe bananas
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 cup of 1 part vegetable oil and 1 part melted butter (I'm sorry, I know that sounds super weird but that's how it gets so moist without tasting oily)
- 1/4 cup yogurt
- 1 egg
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 150g semi-sweet chocolate, cut up into chunks

+ Preheat oven to 180'C
+ Mash the bananas with the honey and vanilla. Beat in the yogurt, oil, butter and egg.

+ Shift in the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Stir until just combined.
+ Stir chocolate chunks through batter.
+ Pour batter into well buttered loaf pan and bake for 50 minutes or until cake tester in center comes out clean.
+ Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, before turning out onto wire rack to cool completely.

Before we go, wanna see my beautiful Flavours of Malaysia profile picture?

Wanna know what Flavours of Malaysia is? Just click here!! -->

https://m.facebook.com/events/653242064729312

Strawberry and Satsuma Fruit Butter...and the time I wanted to go back to Altnaharrie.

 

It's been a little over a week since I got back from Blenheim. Of course classes have picked up full swing, what with the exams being just over a month away. Flavours of Malaysia is coming up very soon as well, so everyone on the committee is getting ready to release some yummy Malaysian goodness over the town!! :3
 

Needless to say...the stress is building up a little. I find myself constantly in one of those there's-too-much-to-do-so-I'll-do-nothing-at-all type moods, and it doesn't help that I've just found the first 2 seasons of Ugly Betty on Netflix. Somebody give me a shock I need to get out from under my duvet and get my life back on track!!

Sometimes I find myself drifting back to Altnaharrie...long days  spent in that sun flooded conservatory...watching horses and pheasants in the field...strolling to the village co-op to pick up supplies for dinner (which led to a fair bit of improvising on my part, the co-op wasn't exactly well stocked) and most of all to the little kitchen. I spent a week of blissfully sunny days overlooking the garden cooking up little things with too much butter and not enough vegetables. This fruit butter was one of the first things I made there. It was made to fill a Victoria sponge, but there was soo much extra I had it with my granola and yogurt for the rest of the week. Lesley enjoyed it soo much that I made another batch before I left for her to have for brekkie too. :) It's one of those things you just throw together and let blip away on the stove while you have a long, leisurely breakfast. Simple, and delicious.

 

Altnaharrie Fruit Butter
- 200g strawberries
- 2 satsumas
- 2-3 Tbsp sugar ( I used Lesley's homemade vanilla sugar. Adjust according to how sweet your fruits are)

+ Wash, hull and cut your strawberries into halves. Peel the satsumas and cut off the whitish membrane that surrounds each segment. Try to conserve as much juice as possible while doing this.

+ Mix everything together in a medium saucepan and set on the lowest heat setting you can turn your stove to. Leave to cook, stirring occasionally for 45 minutes or until thick and jammy.
+ Allow to cool, then bottle up in a clean jar. Keep refrigerated. Goes great on yogurt, toast, pancakes and in sponge cakes.

Till next time! :)

White Chocolate Apple Crumble...and the time I refused to believe 2014 was coming.

Seriously though, where DID 2013 go? It cannot have gone by so quickly. There must be something wrong with the laws of physics at play here. I absolutely POINT BLANK refuse to accept that it is only a matter of hours until we usher in 2014.

But if we must say goodbye to the year that barely begun, I am going to send it off in style. I wave adieu to 2013 with one of my new signature desserts, my take on apple crumble. I'm very very proud of this recipe. The apples are extra cinnamon-y and not too mushy, there's ALOT of crumble, and it's all very more-ish. But the thing that really pulls it together is the little bits of white chocolate nestled in the crumble. The chunks on top caramelize beautifully and give the whole thing a slightly nutty flavour, while the chunks underneath just ooze and meld the tender apples with the buttery topping.

Please try this, do. It's super simple, I promise!

White Chocolate Apple Crumble

Filling
~ 4 large granny smith apples; peeled, cored and sliced into small chunks.
~ 2 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
~ 2 Tbsp brown sugar
~ 1 tsp honey
~1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch

Crumble
~ 1/2 cup butter
~ 1 cup rolled oats, ground fine in a food processor.
~ 1/3 cup sugar
~ 1 cup flour
~ 1/2 cup cashew nuts, chopped up into wee chunks
~ 100g white chocolate, broken up into small chunks as well (you could use white chocolate chips)

You will need an ungreased 8x8 inch baking pan

+ Preheat your oven to 160'C.
+ Mix all the ingredients together for the filling and set aside while you get on with the crumble.
+ In a seperate bowl, rub the butter into the oats, flour and sugar. When it feels like damp sand, mix in the cashew and chocolate chunks.

+ spread your apple filling into the bottom of your baking pan and top with crumble. Like I said, there is ALOT of crumble. This is nice. This is GOOD.
+ Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, periodically turning the pan if it looks like the chocolate chunks are burning too quickly.
+ At the end of 30 minutes, take the pan out and cover it with tin foil. Pierce the top of the foil so that steam from the apples can escape.

+ Turn your oven up to 180'C and bake for a further 20 minutes.
+ Dish up with warm custard, or (my favourite) cold, cold, vanilla ice cream.

And on that sweet note, see you guys in 2014!

Drinking Coffee... and the time Elisa taught me about carico, caldo, comodo.

Hello Elisa!!! 

Everyone meet my beautiful flatmate Elisa Bevacqua from Calabria, Italy. Elisa and I are having a bit of a tandem culture exchange. I've introduced her to soy sauce, and she's introduced me to Italian coffee.

Glorious, glorious Italian coffee.

One of the more recent things I've learnt from her is the following 'Italian Coffee Doctrine'

Carico: Strong

Your coffee must taste strong. Drinking overpriced dishwater (and honestly I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. My GOOD coffee years are but beginning) constitutes breaking this cardinal law.

Caldo: Hot

Your coffee must be piping HOT. Lukewarm muck that's been sitting around forgotten and cold is absolutely unacceptable. Although... I don't know the stand taken with iced coffee....better ask Eli later. :p

Comodo: Comfortable

Coffee drinking should be done when you are comfortable. You should be seated through the entire experience. You MUST take your time.Good coffee shouldn't be wasted on someone too busy to properly taste it. Drink with family, drink with friends, drink on your own, hell drink with your cat if that's what makes you content. The point is to enjoy your cuppa, not rush through it.

Now all this is well and good to know, but let's face it. Everyone's too busy to actually do all these things EVERY SINGLE TIME you make a cuppa. Sometimes you need a caffeine shot to carry you through to the dawn before your big deadline. Sometimes your only option is diluted dishwater. MOST times the cafe is too crowded for you to do anything but sip your coffee while crowded into a corner.

The important thing is that, every once in a while you take a little time for yourself. Step out of your busy work schedule. Put down the phone, the pen, the piping bag, WHATEVER. Reserve that little parcel of time to properly embody Carico, Caldo, Comodo.

You'll be all the better for it.

Pancakes with a Mixed berry Compote...and the time I fed my academic-daughter-to-be.

No no no...not like that you guys!

Meet Prishaa ( hello sayang!!) My almost-academic daughter. I tentatively adopted her last year, in preperation for when I would hit 3rd year. Unfortunately she had to transfer to Royal Holloway and I lost my only child. :'( It's ok though. She'll come visit again during Raisin and I'll sneak her into the foam fight. :)

She came by for a visit last week and I had her over for breakfast to see how she was doing. Now, as her mama OF COURSE I had to make her a proper breakfast. So I woke up craving pancakes that morning and set about making them only to find that I was missing a few key ingredients.

What to do, what to do?

It's times like these you really curse DRA for not having a sundry shop nearby. Nevermind that they'd probably jack up the prices sky-high, that set-up would probably be a lot more conducive for Saturday morning breakfast moods. Unless of course you're one of those ultra-organized people who plan out their Morrison shops to allow for impulse cooking-sprees. I am NOT one of those people. At all. Hence coming back to my problem.

No milk, no buttermilk, nothing to put on the pancakes once they came off the pan. What else was a girl to do? I blearily wandered down to the DRA bistro and purchased a 'basic breakfast' (or some such drivel) and purchased a HIGHLY OVERPRICED  half cup of yogurt, frozen mixed fruit and coffee for 3 pounds.

It was all worth it though, for these pancakes. Some flour on my counter and a stolen clementine later (Thank you Elisa!! <3) Prishaa and I were sitting down to a lovely mother-daughter breakfast of 

Pancakes with a Mixed Berry and Clementine Compote.

Pancake recipe adapted and halved from Spicy Southern Kitchen

Pancakes ( makes 6, medium sized)

- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

- 1 Tbsp sugar

- 1/2 tsp baking powder

- 1/2 tsp baking soda

- A pinch of salt

- 1/2 of a beaten egg

- 2 Tbsp butter, melted

- 1/2 cup yogurt +1/4 cup water

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- vegetable oil, for cooking pancakes

+ Mix all ingredients together (except vegetable oil) and leave aside for 20 minutes.

+ Get your non-stick pan really hot. To see if it's ready, splash some water droplets on the pan. If they 'dance' (you'll see what I mean), then you're good to go.

+ Wipe the pan with some vegetable oil, spreading it around with a kitchen towel, the ladle out 1/4 cup of batter onto the pan.

+ Cook until the top looks bumpy and is covered with bubbles.

+ Flip the pancake and cook on the other side for a few minutes till nice and brown.

+ Serve up with toppings of choice. Maple syrup's nice if you want to be traditional, although nutella sounds like a decadent option as well. Of course, you could always make the SUPER EASY fruit compote below...

Mixed Fruit and Clementine Compote

- 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries

- 1 stolen (it won't taste the same if you get it through moral means) clementine

- 2 Tbsp sugar (adjust according to how sweet the berries are)

- 2 Tbsp water

- A drizzle of STOLEN honey

+ Put the berries in a pan and to it add the zest and juice of your stolen clementine. Combine with the sugar, water, and STOLEN honey.

+ Heat up the mixture till the sugar dissolves. Continue to keep on the hob and reduce till the syrup is nice and thick.

+ Spoon generously over still warm pancakes.

Happy breakfasting guys!!