Snow Day!

This is our day today.  A white, powdery, perfect snowscape.  So no work for me and no school for the children.  We will be carefully adhering to the 'official' snow day rules of tea, toast and television.  After what feels like weeks and weeks of chickenpox, interspersed with various other ailment, I need some down-time to prepare me.  After all, it's time to take Christmas by the antlers..!

In fact, a couple of Christmassy movies might be just what we need to get us, fully, into the required festive mood.  Earlier this morning I made my usual cranberry sauce, to the same recipe I have made for as long as I can remember.  In fact, the link takes you to a post from 2007 with a three-year-old Christopher helping to stir the berries in the pan, bless his heart!  The marzipan will go on the Christmas cake later today, finally preparing it for decorating at the beginning of next week.  Then it's just a question of waiting for the snow to melt for the final sortie to the shops (to pick up the turkey the Christmas Eve ham, the vegetables and maybe, just maybe, a few little extra treats.  Well, it is Christmas!

Mother's Ruin

"Do not allow your children to mix drinks. It is unseemly and they use too much vermouth."  Social Studies, Fran Lebowitz, .

If you have access to damsons, this is a lovely thing to make at this time of year. Because of the time of year that the damsons start to fall,  it will be ready in time for Christmas and makes a good present, if you are generous and would like to give some away.  It is also great to be able to offer your guests a nip during the cold winter months. It takes a good six to eight weeks, but a little shimmy-shake occasionally is all that is required of you for most of that time.

Damson Gin Liqueur

This recipe also works very well with cranberries for a pleasantly bittersweet liqueur, to be served icy-cold in shot glasses.

450g damsons
450g caster sugar
1 litre gin (inexpensive, even cheap, stuff is fine)

Put everything into a large, clean Kilner-style preserving jar and seal.  Store in a cool, dark place and shake the jar vigorously every day (or as close to that as you can manage).  After six or eight weeks the liquid will be a gorgeous deep purple-red colour and look slightly syrupy.  Strain the liquid from the fruit and bottle.  I pop the gin-soused fruit into bags, and then into the freezer, to use in 'naughty' jams and chutneys later... anyhow, enjoy!

Cath xx

A state of cake-like readinesss

Sorry about the long break between posts but life has been a touch manic of late and I've found myself relying heavily on old favourites rather than developing any new ideas.  I'm glad to see some of you keeping up with me on my new Facebook page too, so thanks - write on the wall or post on the discussion board...

I also had my first baby's SIXTH birthday to contend with - where does the time go?  He was still only a toddler when I started this blog; I remember writing affectionately about the Mr Bump cake I made for his third birthday.  How times change, though, and this year we are ALL about Doctor Who; a T.A.R.D.I.S. cake it had to be! Somehow fittingly, I have never been as proud of a cake I've made and decorated since the aforementioned Mr Bump, so that slightly softened what feels like quite a major blow, in some ways.  He seems, quite suddenly, so grown-up!

I have been a good little Distracted Housewife today and I have made my Christmas cake!  My usual recipe, though slightly fiddled with... Rum & Ginger Fruitcake this year; with dark rum replacing the brandy and the quantity of ginger upped (with 2 tsp dried and 2cm fresh root ginger, peeled and grated).  The cake is now wrapped up tightly in double greaseproof and foil and safely tucked away in my big cake box until just before Christmas.  I'll feed it with an extra tot of rum once or twice (!) before the big day but apart from that it can sit, emanating domestic smugness until I decorate it... now I've just got to think how, which is invariably the hardest part for me! Ideas gratefully received...

Cath xx

Creamy and Dreamy

A proper, old-fashioned cream-style soup is a real joy to cook and to eat.  At this time of year it also allows for judicious using up of leftovers in a way that they seem freshly comforting and welcome.  It's nice, also, when hanging around the house, to have the rhythms that cooking can bring to your life; it is all too easy to allow oneself to flop, unoccupied, in front of the television  at this time of year.  Getting up once in a while to potter in the kitchen provides a focus and, in some ways, an escape.  Here, I've infused the milk with some 'bread sauce' flavourings to the milk to bump up the festive factor!  Making stock with the turkey carcass is an annual job for Boxing Day; most of goes for soup of one sort or another, though I do siphon off a little to make a velouté sauce for a Turkey and Ham pie filling.

Cream of Turkey Soup

500ml milk
1 small onion, peeled and halved
few cloves
few peppercorns
2 small bay leaves
grating of fresh nutmeg
450ml turkey stock
30g turkey dripping (or butter)
30g plain flour
leftover turkey meat, cut into small shreds
a splash of double cream, if you have some to hand (well, it is Christmas!)
white pepper and salt, to taste

Stick a couple of cloves into each onion half, then place all the ingredients into a saucepan and bring just to boiling point.  Remove from the heat and set aside to infuse. Add the turkey stock to the cold milk, then add the fat and flour and bring to the boil, whisking continuously.

When it is smooth and combined, add the shreds of turkey meat and then, when it has returned to boiling point, turn the heat down and simmer until thickened.  Swirl in the cream and then season with white pepper (to keep that creamy beige unspeckled) and add a little salt if you think it needs it.

 Lovely, creamy soup like this with homemade bread, could only be improved upon as a meal by a tranche of this year's Christmas cake and a fine chunk of Stilton... Bliss!

Cath xx

Building the Ultimate...

Ah, the turkey sandwich.  Cornerstone of Christmas; much joked about, often belittled but enjoyed nationwide on Boxing Day.  I have spent a not inconsiderable number of years adjusting and improving my turkey sandwiches and now, I believe, that the once-humble TV snack has reached the apotheosis.  In fact, I spend (almost) as much time looking forward to it as I do to the Christmas lunch itself.  I know it looks a little 'Scooby Doo' but believe me, y'all, it's worth it!  If you're lucky enough to have a few pigs in blankets left over, snaffle them up quick with your sandwich

Cath's Ultimate Turkey Sandwich

The bread should be good, preferably homemade, but at least a decent loaf; no claggy 'plastic' sliced, thank you.  It has neither the satisfying bite, nor the structural integrity necessary for sandwich-construction on this higher plane!

White bread, 2 slices
Butter
Leftover Bread Sauce
Leftover Cranberry Sauce
Turkey meat, sliced (I love the dark meat in my sandwich, but you may be a 'whitey')
Leftover Stuffing, sliced or squashed
Watercress, a generous handful

Butter the bread, then spread one slice with bread sauce and the other with cranberry sauce.  Lay your slices of turky over the top of the bread sauce and cover it with stuffing as best you can.  Pile the watercress atop, then slap of the cranberry sauce-covered slice.  Squash down gently and cut in half.  Slump on the sofa and watch your choice of Christmas special... enjoy!

Cath xx

Why I Love Christmas

 I am so busy, mainly with the children and their very active social lives, that I hardly have time to breathe, let alone blog!  This is definitely my absolute best time of year, because of:

• Making the Christmas cake in October and starting to get excited...
• The Christmas Story
• My Christmas hat 
• The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College, Cambridge 
• Making Paper-Chains
• Wrapping presents 
• Getting the decorations out and adding the new ones to the pile
• Tins of Quality Street  
• It’s A Wonderful Life
• Wishing really hard for snow 
• Collecting holly, ivy, pine-cones and herbs to decorate the house
• Satsumas and Chocolate Coins 
• Reading magazines and making lists, fantasy and reality
• Cuddles in front of a roaring, crackling log fire
• Singing Christmas songs, like, all the time
• Groaning at cracker jokes
• The smell of giblet stock on Christmas Eve
• My children being so excited that they don’t know what to do with themselves
• Drinking to absent friends
• Leaving sherry and a mince pie for Father Christmas.  Don’t forget a carrot for Rudolph!
• That very first bite of Christmas lunch
• The Doctor Who Christmas Special
• My ‘Ultimate’ Turkey Sandwiches and a bowl of Christmas Soup

And that's just for starters!  Hope the season is going well for you, too. 

Cath xx

Stir-Up Saturday

 
I know it's not Stir-Up Sunday yet, but I did our Christmas pudding today. The collect Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord is, anyway, a spiritual entreaty rather than a culinary one, but I like the tradition, all the same.  With the weather as manky as it has been, however, it wasn't as though we were likely to leave the house, so I made my decision and got it ready first thing, then left it in the slow-cooker all day. The first time I made a Christmas pudding I had only an ordinary pan to cook it and filled the kitchen with sticky brown steam in the process, my poor Hubby was horrified! For a few years after that, the pressure cooker proved a much better option, but this year I decided to try using the slow-cooker.  I'm aware that my alcohol 'selection' may look bizarre, but it’s because one year when I made my pudding I didn’t have enough brandy, so I made up this mixture. Result? Best pudding ever, so I stuck with it. Use all brandy if you prefer, though – or all rum is good too.  Don't forget to have everyone in the house stir the pudding and make a wish!

Christmas Pudding

Butter, to grease the bowl
350g mixed dried fruit
100ml brandy
100ml amaretto
100ml dark rum
150g wholemeal breadcrumbs
150g shredded suet
50g self-raising flour
200g dark muscovado sugar
freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
1 large egg, beaten

Butter a 1.2 litre pudding basin and line the base with a cut-out circle of greaseproof paper. Mix all the ingredients together (and see my notes above) and pack tightly into the bowl. Cover with a sheet each of greaseproof and foil, laid together and pleated in the centre. Tie tightly with string and cook, either all day on HIGH in an electric slow-cooker, in a pressure cooker (with boiling water) for 3 hours, or steam in boiling water for 6 hours. Carefully remove from the pan and leave the bowl to cool overnight. Take off the top wrapping and replace with a double layer of clingfilm. Store until Christmas in a cool, dark place.

Cath xx

Is it that time already..?

In spite of my best efforts to pretend otherwise, the Christmas things are fast appearing in the shops and James' birthday is next week.  So today was decreed (by me) to be Christmas cake bonanza day chez nous.  On no other day of the year would a third of a bottle of brandy have been used before lunch, without a drop passing a lip (well, OK, maybe a drop).  My recipe doesn't change much from year to year; coming out like a trusted friend whenever I need a richly fruited celebration cake and I passed on the recipe back in 2007 when I made it to serve as James' christening cake.  Today I made not only our 'proper' cake to decorate for Christmas, but a smaller one to be my part of a competition entry with my W.I. for our local federation's Winter Rally and another half-a-dozen mini cakes to give as small gifts to teachers and suchlike.  All safely stowed away now, double-wrapped in baking parchment and foil, and thankfully no longer taking up mental 'space', so to speak...

Much as I am loath to admit it, I am a total Christmas junkie and have already hauled my Chrismas cutting book down from the highest shelf, started making cards and gifts and dusted off my special Christmas hat (yes, really, I'm afraid) for December 1st.  I did make a batch of my Spiced Apple Chutney with James' help a couple of weeks ago but, as it is already being eaten (out of the jar with a spoon, in James' case), I suspect that I ought to make another batch to be sure of having some left for the festive season!

Cath xx

Christmas in Pictures

It's Coming...

Well, I picked up my (free-range Welsh) turkey from Rob Rattray's in Aberystwyth yesterday and today's the day when preparation really is the name of the game. My jobs have so far included making my giblet stock and stuffing, preparing the sausage-and-bacon rolls for the oven tomorrow and getting Delia's Parmesan Baked Parsnips (from Delia Smith's Christmas) done to the oven-ready stage.

The boys and I had a lovely lunch of scrambled eggs with smoked salmon earlier, though James didn't think much of the salmon and Chris and I were left to eat it all, quel dommage. This has long been the traditional Christmas Day breakfast at my Mum and Dad's, and I should miss it terribly if it didn't figure somewhere over the festive period. With small children, though, Christmas Day breakfast is more a case of "whatever gets you through". Coffee, anyone?

Things are pretty much ready to roll now, all the pre-preparation is done and dusted, the cake is iced and ready to slice and the fire is lit. The Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols is on Radio 4 as I type this and it really feels like Christmas has begun... The only thing left for Christopher and I to do is to put out the annual "snack tray", all those dried figs, twiglets and jellied orange-and-lemon slices that make Christmas nibbling so inviting. The dish of nuts is already seriously denuded; Chris has already discovered just how tasty are raw nuts, straight out of the shell.

We have the same Christmas Eve dinner every year, a ham (this year cooked in Coca-Cola á la Nigella), baked potatoes and vegetables, followed by mince tarts with thick cream. The leftover ham will be great for cold cuts on Boxing Day, it's true, but more than that is the comforting routine that the meal brings; we look forward to it almost as much as the big feat itself and every year another decision is already made. The ham goes on the stove as the aforementioned service starts at King's College, Cambridge and bubbles away gently until suppertime. Potatoes in the oven, veg on just before six and pour a nice glass of red. Merry Christmas to you all, God bless us, every one.

Cath xx

A (Cran)Berry Christmas

Cranberry sauce is one of the essential components of Christmas dinner. I know you can buy it in a jar, but it's so easy to make that it would really seem a shame not to take the opportunity for some casual footling about in the kitchen. In fact, Christopher not only helps, but can pretty much make it himself, under supervision of course. What's more, it can be dealt with early in the week preceding Christmas, so I can get another job ticked off the list. As cranberries seem usually to be sold in 300g bags or cartons, it makes sense to cook the sauce in those quantities too. Yes, there'll probably be leftovers but in this house, a turkey sandwich without cranberry sauce is hardly worth contemplating. Cranberries freeze exceptionally well, so I buy early, then use the berries from frozen . Replace the orange juice with a slug of port if you want a more 'adult' edge to the sauce.

Cranberry Sauce

300g cranberries

200g caster sugar

juice of 1/2 an orange

1 cinnamon stick

Put the cranberries in a pan with 175ml water and bring to the boil. Simmer until most of the berries have burst open (I do think the texture and appearance of the sauce are better if some are still intact). Stir in the sugar and stir over the heat until dissolved, then mix in the orange juice and poke the cinnamon stick under the surface. Leave to cool, then transfer to an airtight container and chill the sauce in the fridge. The cinnamon stick will infuse the sauce with just a hint of spicy flavour , but do fish it out before serving, won't you!

Mulling It Over

It's been a really busy weekend for us; my parents came to visit and, as we won't see them over Christmas, I wanted to give their stay a bit of festive spirit. We went to Aberystwyth on Saturday afternoon and visited the Christmas market; Mum and I both bought some mutton for the freezer and I also brought home some big slices of Welsh Black braising steak. We nipped into Ultracomida to get some cheese before driving home. I was able to pick up my annual cheese treat, a Vacherin Mont d'Or.

Mulled wine is a Christmas favourite, so a good home recipe is helpful if you want to avoid buying the supermarket alternatives of ready-mulled bottles, or teabag things purporting to be an 'easy option'. If you want to take a shortcut (always useful at this time of year), I would suggest the cloth-tied mulling bundles available from Julian Graves. What I would do without JG at this time of year I really don't know, a big sortie for snack foods and spices is de rigeur. This year we are mostly eating their gorgeous (and very moreish) Garlic and Herb Grissini.

Mulled Wine

This makes a lot, but you can use half of it for the chicken recipe below (which freezes very well). Nor do you have to drink all of it in one evening (ahem). If you strain it into a jug it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days to be reheated. You can even microwave it by the mugful if you like... Please don't try to use cheap nasty wine for this, you need something halfway decent or it will just be foul.

2x 75cl bottles red wine
500ml water
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
inch of root ginger, sliced (no need to peel)
2 cinnamon sticks
pinch of whole cloves
pinch of whole black peppercorns
1/2 nutmeg
50ml brandy
50g caster sugar, or to taste

Bung everything into a big pan. Bring to boilking point, then turn the heat down and keep the wine just below simmering point for about 20 minutes. Either dole it out straight from the pan, or decant into a punch bowl if you have one (we were lucky enough to be given one as a wedding present). Either way, serve in heatproof glasses or nice chunky mugs. Mulled wine and good cheese is a great combination on a cold winter's night.

This chicken casserole, which we had for dinner on Saturday night, is something that I first made a few years ago when Hubby's parents came to visit just before that Christmas. Most of the work can be done a day or two in advance, then finishing it off takes only about ten minutes of hands-on work and half an hour in the oven, making it ideal if you want to spend time with your guests rather than your stove.

Mulled Wine Chicken

half-quantity of mulled wine recipe above
5 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
6 small onions, quartered
400ml hot chicken stock
6 chicken legs

Boil the mulled wine, reducing the quantity by half, to concentrate the flavour. Heat a knob of butter and a drizzle of oil in a large casserole and fry the bacon and onions until just browning. Add the hot stock and the (strained) wine, bring to the boil, then lay the chicken legs in the liquid. Cover the pan and transfer to a 200°c oven for an hour.

*At this point you can quickly cool and then chill the chicken for two days, or freeze it for up to a month. Defrost thoroughly, bring to the boil and then proceed as below.*

250g chestnut mushrooms, quartered.

Stir in the mushrooms and return to the oven for 30-40 minutes. Serve with steamed potatoes or rice and some green vegetables. We had broccoli and sprouts from this week's veg box.

Pudding was another Christmas favourite of ours; Mincemeat Meringue Tart. This is my bastardisation of Michael Barry's 'Mince Pie Royale' from his lovely Radio Times Cookery Year. I make an almond pastry for the base, top it with my homemade mincemeat and then pile on meringue made according to the original recipe in the book. Dust it with icing sugar and serve with dollops of thick cream.

Deck the Halls!

We put our Christmas tree up yesterday, after Karl and Christopher went out on the annual buying excursion. We spent the afternoon decking out the tree and the rest of the house, so everything now looks, well, as camp as Christmas. Yay! Proper paper-chains, three trees of varying sizes and no less than seven sets of fairy lights dotted around the house mean that it's begining to look a lot like Christmas. I went and ordered the turkey yesterday as well, a job that had been on my to-do list for a while. I can pick it up a couple of days before Christmas and get any last-minute bits from the nearby greengrocer and The Treehouse while I'm in town, thus saving myself the bustle and indignity of supermarket shopping immediately before Christmas.

It would perhaps be the understatement of the decade to say that I love Christmas. I adore it, and start getting excited about the whole shebang earlier than anyone else I know. I love settling down with my Christmas recipe books, planning what I'll cook, and making lots of lists to do with Christmas. The up side of this is that it's all pretty organised. The down side is that it just makes me worse! This year I have also (finally) got around to setting up a database of addresses so that I can print out all the address labels for our Christmas cards (complete with decorative holly clip-art, natch) and therefore have thankfully not practically broken my wrist by writing all the envelopes out by hand.




We've had such awful weather over the last few days that I was quite relieved to have a dry spell this afternoon so that I could nip out into the garden with my shears to cut greenery for decoration. Some ivy sprigs, round-leaved holly, rosemary branches and bay all came together beautifully to frame the mirror hanging over our fireplace. There's a lovely herbal fragrance scenting the room now, which is even better. It's especially lovely to have an open fire at this time of year; it always seems so festive and welcoming. The garland on the mantel itself is an artificial one with tiny baubles already attached, but I think it looks pretty good and the combination is great. I can't wait to sit in front of the fire with a glass of wine tonight. Maybe I should make some mince pies...

Weekend of Supreme Fabulousness

Saturday morning started early for all of us; Karl on the morning shift at work and off to Y Morlan in Aberystwyth to set up for the Breastfeeding Group's birthday bash, which I've mentioned before. I was helping to (wo)man the cake stall and had also baked the Boob Club a birthday cake. Chocolate cake, chocolate icing, pink and sparkly decorations - after all, there's nothing more girly than breastfeeding, is there?

Everything seemed to go very well and Christopher was particularly excited, not only by having his face painted as a lion, but also by winning win a book on the tombola and a tube of Minstrels in the raffle.

Saturday night was a big night for me and after dinner I did one of my favourite girl things; spending a considerable time getting ready to go out; my first real night out in a very long time. By real, I mean girls, uber-glammed up, ready to party and best of all for me, no driving! Hubby paid for me to taxi it home so that I could do something really out of the ordinary; go into a bar (actually, four bars) and have an actual drink (or 4, or 5). Tequila and tonic being my favoured tipple of late - ice and a slice, natch. I stayed out well past my bedtime and felt fabulous for it - yay!

(Much later)

Today has been a lazy, relaxing day for all of us. Karl's had a day off so we've enjoyed a real family Sunday, complete with full-on roast chicken dinner, with apple crumble to follow.

Our essential trimmings for a roast chicken are nothing new; roast potatoes (still K's job, I'm afraid), bread sauce, lots of veggies and sage-and-onion stuffing. Proper stuffing, which is so easy to make that I'm almost evangelical about it. My mother-in-law demonstrated her fab and very simple stuffing and I was hooked. You can, clearly, adapt this to include different flavours. My most regular departure is to make sausagemeat stuffing by adding 100g or so of sausagemeat to the mixture. In distinctly larger quantities, this is the stuffing I use for our Christmas turkey.

Sage & Onion Stuffing

150g white breadcrumbs
fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
1 small onion, peeled and halved
olive oil

Put the onion into the food processor with about 150ml water and whizz to a nubbly liquid purée. Mix with the breadcrumbs and sage and turn into an oiled dish. Bake for around 40 minutes at 200°c until crisp and browned on top.

Nice & Spicy

The in-laws have been for a flying visit, so yesterday I cooked beef in beer for dinner. Becuase I had to go to a training session for my BFN breastfeeding helpers' course, I got the stew together mid-morning (2 onions, loads of garlic, a kilo of cubed beef skirt and a bottle of Theakstons' Old Peculier), and left it in the slow-cooker, then when they arrived and we all got home, I just had to knock up some garlic butter and make garlic bread to go with.

Today, after they'd left I made a batch of chutney, leaving it to bubble on the stove while I helped Christopher to make a collage. James was having a much-needed nap, having kept me and his Dad up most of last night. Poor little chap has a terrible cold that's really bugging him at night time. This chutney is made with an eye on Christmas; mainly to go with cold cuts and cheeseboards. Heaven. This recipe fills 3 x 450g jars which really need to be kept a few weeks to mature before using. I made 2 x 450g jars and 1 x 400g jar, so that I could put the little extra into a covered dish in the fridge for 'sampling' this evening with some nice Brie. Impatient, moi?

Spiced Apple Chutney

1 large onion, chopped
4 Bramley apples, peeled, cored and chopped
2 handfuls raisins and/or sultanas
400g light muscovado sugar
500ml cider vinegar
2 tsp ground mixed spice

Put everything into a large pan and bring to the boil, stirring occasionally to help the sugar dissolve. Turn the heat down and simmer, uncovered, for a couple of hours until everything is cooked down to thick jamminess. When the chutney is ready, your wooden spoon will (briefly) leave a clear trail on the base of the pan if dragged through the mixture. Ladle into hot, sterilised jars and seal with lids (plastic-coated, because of the vinegar). My jars are all recycled bought ones, mainly from peanut butter, to which I admit a serious addiction.

Hubby's at work late tonight, so dinner needed to be something he can reheat quickly when he gets home. I cooked my chicken version of the curried prawn pilau that is one of my Saturday Supper regulars. The children enjoy mild-ish curry flavours and I'm a bit of a chili wuss, so I use a tikka masala paste. Use something stronger if you like. I make lots of this becuase I have a particular liking for it cold, with a dollop of mayonnaise or even (for total carb OD) enclosed in a tortilla as a rice salad wrap.

Curried Chicken Pilau

1 onion, finely chopped
1 bay leaf
a few cardamom pods, lightly crushed
a couple of dollops of curry paste (see above)
750g diced chicken thigh (or breast, if you prefer)
500g basmati rice
handful of raisins
1 litre hot chicken stock
parsley and possibly toasted flaked almonds, to serve (optional)

Gently fry the onion with the bay and cardamom in some oil and butter until soft. Stir in the curry paste, then add the chicken. Cook until sealed, stirring well to coat everything in the spices. Add the rice and raisins to the pan, then pour in the hot stock and bring to the boil. Cover the pan and turn down the hob. Simmer for 10 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat and leave to stand for 5 minutes.

Lightly fluff up the rice with a skewer or a fork (not a spoon, which will break the rice up into mush) and serve, with chopped parsley scattered over if you like. I like some toasted flaked almonds over it too, but the men of the house prefer not. I toast a few just for me - some for now, some for my 'leftovers lunch' tomorrow. Yummy!

And it's only October!

Some things you just have to make in advance. The essential Christmas ‘big three’ are among them and I like to get these done and dusted as soon as possible. Today I tackled the mincemeat - just the cake and the Christmas pudding left to do.  I'm taking the boys to visit their Godmother at the weekend. It's James' first birthday on Friday, so I sense a big baking bonanza coming on!

Mincemeat

Seriously easy, and the homemade stuff is usually miles better than anything you can buy. This recipe makes three 450g jars to keep for Christmas and three little 200g jars which are useful for presents. I sterilise the jars, and their lids, in diluted sterilising liquid (from the chemists) for 30 minutes, then rinse everything with freshly-boiled water and dry them with a clean linen ‘glass cloth’.


3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely diced
650g mixed dried fruit and peel
175g shredded suet
175g light muscovado sugar
¼ tsp each of ground cinnamon, ground mixed spice and ground ginger
about ¼ tsp-worth of freshly grated nutmeg
zest and juice of 1 orange
100ml brandy

Put all the ingredients into a really big bowl, then mix everything together really well. Pour over the orange juice and the brandy and mix again. Spoon the mincemeat into cooled sterilised jars and store in a cool dark place until Christmas.


For dinner tonight I made Julia's fab butternut squash, potato and cheesy pork chop thing from A Slice of Cherry Pie. I used Y Fenni cheese this time, which was a great variation.