Well, we have had thunder this afternoon and pretty heavy showers too. Perfect baking weather. I just love being indoors and baking on a rainy afternoon! there's something really comforting about being here warm and dry, while the smell of something scrummy in the oven wafts through the air! mmmmm . . .



Today I baked a Coconut & Lime Cake. It's a recipe that I clipped from the Good To Know Recipes magazine the other day when I was going through my cooking mags. I couldn't begin to tell you what month it was from . . . but it must have been recently as the article is entitled Perk Up Your Picnic!



It's not exactly picnic weather today, but I have to say that some of my most favourite picnics have been held on a blanket in front of the electric fire on a rainy day.



It's fun to do that sometimes . . . just have a picnic where you are! You don't have to worry about bad weather . . . wasps or ants! And the company is always perfect.



This cake is rather scrummy . . . I think you would enjoy it even if you weren't on a picnic . . . but a picnic would make it even tastier . . . just sayin . . .



*Coconut & Lime Cake*
Makes one large loaf cake
Printable Recipe

Perfect picnic food. Moist and delicious with the flavours of lime and coconut!

175g butter, softened (3/4 cup)
3 large free range eggs, beaten
250g of sweetened condensed milk (scant 200ml or scant 3/5 cup)
(This is not evaporated milk, it's the sweet thick stuff)
40g of desiccated coconut (generous 1/2 cup)
the finely grated zest and juice of one lime
175g of self raising flour (generous 1 1/2 cups)
1 tsp baking powder

For the drizzle icing:
the juice and zest of 1 lime
100g of icing sugar sifted (3/4 cup)
toasted flaked coconut to decorate

Preheat the oven to 170*C/ 325*F/ gas mark 3. Butter and base line a 2 pound loaf tin with wax or parchment paper. Set aside.

Place all of the cake ingredients in a bowl. Beat with a hand held electric whisk for several minutes, just until the batter is smooth and pale. Don't overdo it.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top over.

Bake for about 1 hour, or until risen and a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool slightly in the tin, then lift out to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Once cold, whisk together the icing sugar, zest and lime juice to give you a smooth drizzable icin Drizzle this over the cake with a spoon and toss on the toasted coconut flakes. (To toast the coconut flakes, spread it onto a baking sheet and leave in the heat of the oven after you have removed the cake for about 5 to 8 minutes)



The Twinings people recently sent me some lovely herbal teas, which are perfect for afternoon tea, and rug picnics. Their site is really quite nice, there is even a page of Tea Gifts on it, perfect for your tea loving friends. They have a wonderful assortment of black teas, herbal infusions and even Jasmine Pearls Green Tea. Most unusual!



I was sent two of their herbal teas . . . their Lemon & Ginger and their Blueberry & Apple. I was already quite familiar with the Lemon & Ginger one as we already use that one a lot. Especially when we are feeling a bit low and wanting a pick me up. It's a real favourite of ours. We don't drink regular teas in our house for religious reasons, but we do enjoy herbal teas and the Twinings ones are the best. They're made with natural ingredients and I have found them to have lovely flavours without any aftertaste like some of these herbal teas can have.



Actually they also make really lovely chilled drinks as well. You just add about 6 of them to a jub and pour boiling water in. Cover and chill for a few hours, then strain into a clean jug and you have something that's quite delicious and refreshing, not to mention good for you, as well as sugar and additive free!



This was my first time trying the Blueberry & Apple one and it was really lovely . . . very fresh and fruity! It went really well with the cake for our rug picnic! I can't wait to try it chilled!

Many thanks to Orly and the people at Twinings for sending me these lovely teas!

 

There is no end to the variety of berry tarts that you can find to satisfy your sweet tooth, and your greedy eyes on the net you know . . . each one looking more decadent and delicious than the last . . . this is the time of year for berries . . . and as you all know, I am a great lover of berries.

 

No surprise then . . . I also love berry tarts.  This is a recipe that I have had in my file to make for several years now.  I've adapted it from a Waitrose Seasons cookbooklet, from the summer recipes edition for 2009.

 

After having made these the other day . . .I have to confess . . .  they are quite, quite, quite fabulous . . . seriously so.



First there is the sweet dessert pastry, which is slightly sweet, and buttery . . . and oh so crisp.



Then there are the berries.  I used blueberries and raspberries the other day . . . my strawberries being to large to really fit into the shells . . . these are the perfect red, white and blue dessert tarts for summer holidays . . .

 

The creamy custard is unctuously delish . . . light and rich, without being overly sweet.  It is simply vanilla custard folded into softly whipped cream . . . napped over the berries like a lovely . . . soft . . .  little cloud . . .


The three together are totally, utterly, impossibly . . .  irresistable!!  I kid you not!

 

Not only that, but they are the perfect portable dessert.  You can just carry your ingredients to the venue . . . the crisp tart shells, that beautiful custard cream, a bowl of those lucious berries . . . and put them together on sight.  Easy peasy . . . lemon squeasy!



I can't believe I waited three whole years to make these!!  I can tell you it won't be three years before I make the next bunch!!

 

*Mixed Berry and Creamy Custard Tarts*
serves 4
Printable Recipe

Fabulous  fresh berries in a crisp sweet pastry shell and topped with a creamy custard.  Delicious!

200ml of milk (7 fluid ounces)
2 free large range egg yolks
20g of caster sugar (5 tsp)
1 1/2 TBS plain flour
1/2 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
150g of sweet dessert pastry (enough for 4 4-inch tarts)
100ml of double cream (6 3/4 TBS), softly whipped
200g of fresh berries (blueberries, raspberries, etc.  (about 2 cups)

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. 

First make the custard.  Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and bring just to the boiling point, over gentle heat.  Whisk the egg yolks, sugar, flour and vanilla paste together in a heatproof bowl.  Pour on the hot milk, whisking continuously.  Clean pan and return the warm mixture to it.  Cook, over medium heat, whisking vigorously until the mixture thickens and comes to a simmer.  Pour into a bowl.  Place a piece of cling film over top, pressing it to the surface, and set aside to cool completely.

Divide the pastry into four pieces.  Roll each piece out into a round large enough to line a 4 inch loose bottomed tartlet tin.  Prick the bases all over with a fork.  Line with baking parchment and fill with baking beans.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until just beginning to turn golden.  Remove the paper and beans and return to the oven for an additonal 5 minutes.  Remove from the tins and cool compltely on a rack.

Fold the softly whipped cream into the cold custard.  Spoon the berries into the pastry cases and top with the custard mixture.  Dust with icing sugar prior to serving.

 

If you are looking for some more ideas to indulge in on a summer picnic this year, why not indulge in my newest Cookbooklet, The Great British Picnic!  Available  at a bargain price of only £5.  Check it out along with my other cookbooklets by clicking on the Cookbooklets Tab above!

Filled with over 36 new recipes, including several types of flavoured mayonnaises, flavoured butters, beautiful sandwiches, delicious spreads and dips, a tasty assortment of salads, a variety of cool soups, refreshing beverages, picky bits, cakes and general scrumminess, all perfect for celebrating the summer season in a very British Picnic Way. (We are great picnickers over here!) There's something here for everyone, including my "Top Tips for Picnic Success" and "Chic Ideas" for creating a "Very Stylish Moveable Feast!" Interspersed between all this scrumminess, there are witty quotes and my own delightful water colour illustrations! Pick one up today before this offer is quite simply . . . gone!  *pouf*

 

 

Do you ever have a lazy day? You know the type of day I mean . . . a kind of a do nothing day, when you are tired and completely lacking in culinary inspiration.

 

It's the end of the week, and the cupboards are looking pretty bare . . . except for a few veg and some eggs . . . you really need to go shopping, but not right now . . . it's the end of the work week, and to be honest . . . you just can't be asked . . . 

 

You're starving and you want something to eat that's not overly complicated, or that will take oodles of time to throw together.

 

You also want to use up some of that tired looking veg and those eggs that are just about up to their sell by date!  What's a gal to do . . . what's a gal to do . . .



Make a Spanish Tortilla!  Spanish Tortilla is one of those throw together dishes that you can do with just about anything.  All you need is some eggs and some vegetables and cheese.  Easy peasy, lemon squeasy.



They go together lickety split and everyone loves them!  They are fab served hot from the pan, cut into wedges with a bit of salad on the side . . .

 

or cold, and wrapped  up, ready for a brown sac lunch the next day or even for  a picnic.   They are the perfect portable food.



Today I used some courgettes, Jersey Royal potatoes and Blue Cheese I had kicking around the refrigerator.  Yummilicious!



 *Courgette and Blue Cheese Tortilla*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Perfect for a nice light lunch or supper, served with a salad.  Perfect for picnics too.  Just cut into wedges, wrapping each wedge seperately in foil.  You may also cut into small squares to serve as a nibble.

200g of Jersey Royal, or new potatoes (a scant pound)
2 TBS olive oil
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
2 small courgettes, washed and thinly sliced
2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
3 large free range eggs
fine seasalt and freshly ground black pepper
75g of Cashel Blue Cheese, crumbled (scant 3 ounces)

Scrub the potatoes clean and then place them into a steamer basket over simmering water.  Cover and steam for 10 to 15 minutes until tender.  Set aside to cool.

Heat 1 TBS of the oil in a 8 or 9 inch nonstick frying pan, with an ovenproof handle.  Cook the onions and courgettes for 5 to 6 minutes, until tender.  Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.  Remove from the heat and set aside.

Slice the potatoes about 1/3 inch thick.  Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl and season with some salt and pepper.  Gently fold in the potatoes, and the courgette and onion mixture. 

Wipe the skillet clean with a piece of paper towel and add the remaining TBS of oil.  Heat it over medium heat until it is hot and then pour in the egg mixture, spreading the potatoes and courgettes out evenly in the pan.  Push the blue cheese down into any gaps.  cook over a gentle heat for 5 to 6 minutes, until set. 

Heat the grill to high.  Place the tortilla under the grill for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown and set.  Slide out of the pan onto a chopping board.  Cut into wedges to serve.

We had such a fabulous sunny day here today! Perfect eating outdoors day. The Missionaries came over and helped Todd to trim the hedge and I thought I would bake them something filling for their lunch. Pasty's are perfect picnic food . . . filling, delicious and great for eating out of hand.



The pasty has been a staple food down South in Cornwall for a very long time. It's been known as many things through the years . .. . tiddy oggy was one name used and hoggen was another name, which was used in particular when they didn't contain potato.



Many things were used as fillings through the years . . . meats, fish, vegetables, eggs and sometimes you would have a savoury filling at one end of the pasty and a fruit filling at the other.



There are pasty shops all over the UK, where you can just about any kind of pasty you could want nowadays . . . steak and stilton, steak and ale, Lamb and mint, cheese and onion, to name but a few. (I confess to having a certain fondness for the steak and stilton ones and the cheese and onion ones. Oh so scrummy!!)



These here today are a traditional, no frills steak, potato, onion and swede pasty. (A swede is a rutabaga, but you could also use turnip.)



Delicious and tender meat and vegetables encased in a delightfully flakey pastry. They're not as hard to make as some would suppose, but are really quite simple to execute. What's not to like!!!



*The Great Cornish Pasty*
Makes 4
Printable Recipe

Buttery Puffed Pastry, all flakey and encasing a delicious filling of beef, potato, onion and swede. Perfect and totally portable!!!

1 3/4 to 2 pounds of puff or shortcrust pastry
1/2 pound of beef skirt or chuck steak, sliced into very thin strips
1 medium potato, peeled and thinly sliced and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 small swede, peeled and thinly sliced and chopped
1 ounce butter (2 TBS), melted
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 freerange egg, beaten

Roll the pastry out 1/3 inch thick. Cut into rounds approximately 8 inches in diameter. You will need 4. I find a sandwich plate is perfect to use as a template.

Place the potatoes, onions, swede and steak into a large bowl. Season with salt and generously with lots of pepper.. Drizzle the melted butter over all and mix well together.

Divide the filling between the 4 rounds, placing it just slightly off centre. Brush the edges with some beaten egg and fold one half of the pastry round over to cover the filling. Seal shut and then pinch and roll the edges from one edge to the other, giving it a bit of a rope effect. Place onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Pierce the tops in a few places and brush with beaten egg. Place into the refrigerator to ill for about 1/2 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Place the tray of pasties into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 and cook for a further 30 to 35 minutes until well risen and golden brown and the filling is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. You can shield with some foil if you think the pastry is getting too dark.

Serve hot or cold as you like. These are great picnic food!



There is a deliciously Creamy Fish Chowder cooking over in Oak Cottage today. If you are a regular reader of A Year From Oak Cottage, you will want to update your bookmarks, as the url has changed! Thanks!

This week we are finally having beautiful summery weather . . . hot and sunny . . perfect picnic weather. Not the kind of weather that you really want to heat up the kitchen by cooking a roast dinner or some such.



The quicker and cooler the better. It's also portable food weather . . . you know the kind I mean . . . the kind that can be easily wrapped and transported in to the great outdoors where you can enjoy it surrounded by all that is good about nature and summer!



Tortillas are the perfect summer food. Easy and quick to make, they are equally as delicious served warm or cold. They are very easily cut into wedges and wrapped and fit perfectly into a picnic basket. They're also fairy sturdy and can't be too awfully damaged by a lot of jostling around!




They also very versatile. Basically they are not much more than a baked omelette, filled with your favourite scrummy ingredients . . . tasty things like herbs, olives, tomatoes, peppers, onions, mushrooms, chorizo, etc. Even leftover spaghetti and macaroni and cheese make great tortilla fillings.



Beaten eggs with your favourite savoury weaknesses folded in . . . browned in a well oiled skillet until set on the bottom . . . then popped under the grill to brown the top and set the whole thing together.



Cheese is nice. Cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan . . . tuck in your own chosen poison. Today I have chosen simple courgettes and new potatoes from the garden . . . and rich soft lucious dolcelatte cheese. Oh so delicious!



*Courgette and Dolcelatte Picnic Tortilla*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe


Delicious served warm from the pan, or wrapped up and served at room temperature at a picnic. Easy to transport. Goes very well with crusty bread, sliced ripe tomatoes and olives.

9 ounces of new potatoes (You want a waxy potato, a generous half pound), ends trimmed off
and cut into thick slices
2 medium courgettes, ends trimmed and cut into thick slices (zucchini)
5 large free range eggs
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
2 TBS snipped fresh chives
1 TBS olive oil
3 ounces dolcelatte cheese, broken into pieces
Sliced tomatoes, crusty bread and black olives to serve
salt and black pepper

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add the potato slices. When the water comes back to the boil, cook the potatoes for 2 minutes. Add the courgettes and cook for two minutes longer and then drain everything well.

Turn the grill on to high. Beat together the eggs, garlic, chives and season very well with salt and black pepper. Stir in the vegetables.

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet, with an oven proof handle. Pour in the egg mixture. Smooth it all out. Tuck in the dolcelatte cheese here and there. Cook, undisturbed for about 5 minutes, until nicely browned on the bottom. Place under the grill for an additional 5 to 8 minutes, until the top is set and golden brown. (If you pan doesn't have an oven proof handle, cover it with foil.)

Serve warm or cold, cut into wedges along with sliced crusty bread, sliced ripe tomatoes and ripe olives. Delicious!

Nothing speaks spring time to me more than the fresh flavours of tender young fresh asparagus and sweet young freshly podded peas, and here in the UK we have the best asparagus and peas in the world! I don't think anyone could argue with that fact!



Nothing beats the taste of fresh peas from the pod. As a child, I loved being given the job of podding the peas and I think I probably ate half of what I podded, much to my mother's chagrin! Am I alone in thinking that peas taste beautiful raw and fresh from the pod?? I didn't think so!!



The herbs in my garden are taking off like wild fire right now. The thyme and chives are covered with little blooms . . . the sage too has beautiful flower buds just waiting to burst out into colour. This has to be my favourite thyme of year! (every pun intended!)



Here in the UK, we like to make hay while the sun shines and we have been taking full advantage of this recent spate of sunny days, having days out together and taking in all the gorgeous springtime scenery that we can. We often take a bit of a picnic with us to share together in the sunshine.



Oftimes it is just a couple of sandwiches and some fruit, but sometimes it's a delicious frittata like this beautiful springtime offering I have thrown together here.



Tender young spears of asparagus, tasty new potatoes, sweet young English Peas, fresh thyme, chives, farm fresh free range eggs and some crumbled Stilton cheese turn this into a truly British picnic offering.



Colourful and delicious it went down a real treat on our latest sunny day outing!




*Springtime Frittata*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

A beautiful frittata, filled with all the lovely tastes of spring . . . tender young asparagus, sweet peas fresh from the pod, baby new potatoes, along with a smattering of thyme, chives and crumbled Stilton. This is British picnic food!

2 to 3 TBS olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tsp chopped fresh young thyme leaves
150g of podded spring peas, blanched for about 4 minutes and cooled (about 1 cup)
250g of baby new potatoes, peeled and sliced (about 3/4 pound)
1 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
a knob of butter
6 large free range eggs, beaten
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
a handful of fresh chives, snipped finely with some kitchen scissors
2 ounces of good stilton cheese, crumbled

Heat 2 TBS of the olive oil in a 10 inch nonstick heavy bottomed frying pan. Add the onions, turn the heat down to low and season with a sprinkling of sea salt. Cover and allow to sweat, stirring occasionally until the onions are meltingly soft, about 15 minutes. Add the new potatoes and thyme. Cook for a further 10 to 12 minutes, covered, until the potatoes are just tender, stirring from time to time and adding the additional TBS of oil if needed. Season with some black pepper and turn up the heat. cooking and stirring the potatoes until they begin to colour. Toss in the aspagarus. Continue to cook and stir until the asparagus is crispy tender. Stir in the well drained peas. Stir about 3/4 of the chives into the eggs, season and pour this over top of the vegetables.

Preheat the grill.

Cook the frittata over mediium heat, drawing in the edges with a spatula until the base is set. When it is nicely browned on the bottom scatter the stilton cheese over top and then bang it under the grill for 2 to 3 minuttes until the frittata is set on top and starting to lightly brown. Remove from the grill and scatter the remaining chives on top. Serve warm or at room temperature, cut into wedges.

Please Note: If you arfe not fond of Stilton Cheese you may substitute a good Parmesan. Gruyere is also very good.