Showing posts sorted by relevance for query bread pudding. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query bread pudding. Sort by date Show all posts
We took advantage of the warm sunny weather on Saturday morning and decided to take a trip with our Mitzie in tow to Llangollen in Wales. Llangollen (pronounced Clang-gock-lyn) is one of my very favourite places on earth to visit. It has a rough rustic beauty that is quite breathtaking to say the least. With more sun than Cornwall and less rain than the Lake District, it is no wonder that this beautiful little gateway to Wales is one of the most popular Welsh destinations in the North West.
It hosts the the famous International Music Eisteddfod where singers and dancers congregate from every corner of the earth each year amongst a multitude of other activites . . . but we go just to walk around and take in it's beauty.
As we are going up to Cumbria for a week in September and bringing Mitzie with us, we thought it would be a good experience for her to come along with us today, and she didn't mind a bit. It is probably less than an hour's drive from us here in Chester and is always very busy and we thought it would get her used to being around crowds and to travelling in the car for more than just to the dog groomers and the vets!
We always like to take a nice walk along the river in Llangollen. It is so pretty and filled with mini white water rapids, flat rocks you can walk on and lots of birds and other wildlife. Our friend Colin swears he saw a Kingfisher there last summer when we took him and Jo (his wife) there, but . . . he was the only one.
Mitzie enjoyed it very much, even if her nose was to the ground for most of the time. (she is such a sniffer!) She didn't even bother to chase the ducks, which I was happy about. I have come to realize that she is a bit timid of other animals, especially cats and large birds and of course dogs that are larger than herself. I don't think the sheep in Cumbria will be a problem.
WE always like to visit the old railway platform. There is an old Steam Engine there and you can take a trip on the old Steam Railway if you want.
Today there was a 1960's event going on with lots of old cars and vehicles, people dressed up in pschcadelic clothing and all sorts.
The classic cars were beautiful.
And there were quite a few of them. I was particularly fond of this old Mini. One of my first cars ever was an old green Austin Mini Station Wagon, that I never really did learn to drive properly . . . but I had a lot of good laughs in it anyways, with it slipping out of gear, etc.
Of course we must stop for refreshments when we are there. This is our favourite tearoom. It's very quaint inside, and of course you can also choose to sit outside on a nice day, as we did today. It's so pretty. We feasted on
Cheese on Toast on Brown Bread
And Todd enjoyed some Bara Brith, which is a traditional Welsh Teabread, and really scrummy.
Mitzie just enjoyed laying next to our table and watching all the people having fun. She did also get to enjoy the odd crumb which fell her way. I think she charmed a lot of people today, which was nice. I would hate to have an obnoxious dog.
When we got home I surprised Todd with another treat that I picked up for him while we were there. A good old fashioned Bread Pudding, which would differ quite about from some people's ideas of bread pudding. This is a very old recipe which was originally devised to help to use up the stale bread way back in the day. Todd's mum apparently made wonderful bread puddings . . . all stodgy and spicy and chock full of fruit and spices. Todd has very fond memories of his mum's puddings, so he was well pleased when I set this little gem down in front of him today. (The recipe is from the National Trust Complete Traditional Recipe Book, by Sarah Edington, another gem!)
*Bread Pudding*
Serves 6
A thrifty recipe devised by old bakeries to use up yesterday's bread. You can create your own mix of dried fruit. (candied peel, crystallized ginger, chopped prunes and dates, candied cherries, chopped dried apricots, sultanas, currants etc.)
425ml of milk (1 1/2 cups)
150ml of cold strong tea (1/2 cup)
4 ounces butter, melted (1/2 cup)
1 TBS mixed spice**
3 large free range eggs, beaten
350g of mixed dried fruit (3/4 pound)
450g of fresh bread crumbs (1 pound)
Combine the milk, tea, melted butter, beaten eggs, mixed spice and dried fruit. Combine together well. Stir in the breadcrumbs and leave to soak for an your or overnight if you wish.
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8 by 11 (2 inch deep) pan and line with baking paper. Butter the baking paper. Spread the soaked mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Cool and serve cut into squares.
And if you so fancy it, here's a look of a short film I took of some fit kayakers that came down the river whilst I was standing there enjoying . . .
And another short film of Todd and Mitzie down on the rocks. If yoy listen very carefully you can hear the water, so nice to listen to.
If you are a long time reader of my foodblog you will know that at present I don't have a working oven.
Well . . . I can do a few things in it, but not anything precise such as baking cakes, cookies or roasts. Not quite what I was hoping for a holiday weekend!
I did want to cook us a bit of a special meal, including a dessert. I have a cookbook by the Australian Women's Weekly, entitled "Slow Cooking."
It is a fabulous compendium of recipes to cook long and slow, in the slow cooker (crock pot), stove top or in the oven.
I had flagged this Chocolate Fudge Pudding a long time ago, and I thought to myself, there is no time like the present!
I have made Chocolate Fudge Pudding in the oven many times, and its a real favourite, but I had never considered doing it in the slow cooker.
There is also a rice pudding recipe in there I would like to try as well as a bread pudding. Watch this space.
I didn't want to drag out my large slow cooker however, nor did I want to have to deal with oodles of leftovers, so I threw caution to the wind and halved the recipe.
With great success I might add! It worked out beautifully, and was done in roughly 3/4 of the time.
I would start checking it halfway through the recommended cook time just to be sure.
Chocolate Fudge Pudding has always been a real family favourite of ours.
Its the kind of pudding that goes together simply and then bakes itself pretty much, with the end result being a delicious fudgy cake type of pudding (much like a steamed pudding)
Along with a rich chocolate sauce that bakes like magic at the bottom of the pudding.
I have never met anyone who doesn't like it, including my husband who says he hates chocolate desserts, but managed to put away two helpings!
It is best served warm . . .
When my children were growing up they liked it with cold Vanilla Ice Cream. My husband, he likes his with cream. Its delicious either way!
Chocolate Fudge Pudding
Yield: 6
A delicious gooey chocolate sponge pudding that makes its own sauce. This cooks in the slow cooker. You can very successfully cut this in half for the smaller family or smaller appetites.
ingredients:
- 90g butter (3 ounces) (6 TBS)
- 180ml milk (3/4 cup)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 190g caster sugar (1 cup)
- 225g self raising flour (1 1/2 cups + 2 TBS)
- 2 TBS good quality cocoa powder
- 1 large free range egg, beaten lightly
- 200g soft light brown sugar (1 cup, packed)
- 2 additional TBS of cocoa powder
- 625ml boiling water (2 1/2 cups)
To serve (optional):
- pouring cream
- vanilla ice cream
instructions:
- Butter a 4 1/2 litre (18 cup) slow cooker bowl. Melt the butter in the milk over low heat. Let cool for several minutes and then stir in the sugar and vanilla. Sift together the flour and first amount of cocoa powder. Stir this into the milk /butter mixture along with the egg, mixing all together well. Pour into the buttered slow cooker bowl.
- Sift together the brown sugar and remaining cocoa powder. Sprinkle evenly over top of the batter in the slow cooker. Pour the boiling water evenly over all.
- Cover and cook on high for 2 1/2 hours or until firm. Remove the bowl from the slow cooker. Let stand five minutes and then spoon out into bowls to serve. Pass the cream or ice cream!
Store any leftovers in the refrigerator and then reheat gently in the microwave when you go to serve it. This always goes down a real treat and its nice to know that you can cook it in the slow cooker without heating up the kitchen. Its also nice to know that you can cut the recipe in half and it will still turn out delicious!
It was really nice to have a holiday away, despite all the rain, but it was ever so nice to come home again too. Home always feels extra special nice when you have been away from it for a while, don't you think??? Home is where you hang your heart.
I brought home half a loaf of a country farm bread that I had picked up at the Farm shop the other day, and I wanted to use it all up before it went moldy. So today I thought I would make the Toddster one of his favourite puddings . . . a tasty bread and butter pudding . . .
Except I decided to add a bit of a twist. I thought to add marmelade, and then I thought . . . (you all know what happens then, don't you?)
The lights went on and I remembered my mother's delicious Feather Squares. She only ever made them at Christmas . . . the bottom being a delicious buttery sponge, spread with raspberry jam . . . spread with a sweet meringue and sprinkled with coconut and then toasted all scrummily brown. Oh, they are so good!!!
I decided to make my bread and butter pudding in honor of those lovely Feather Squares and so I made it with raspberry jam sandwiches. I added a bit of fresh lemon zest to the custard and then I sprinkled the top with some flaked and sweetened coconut.
Oh my, but doesn't that look positively scrumdiddlyumptious???
I thought so too!! And the best is . . . it tastes even better than it looks!!
*Raspberry Feather Bread and Butter Pudding*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe
A fancified bread and butter pudding based on my mother's Raspberry Feather squares. Nostalgic and scrummy.
8 slices of stale bread (use a sturdy loaf), crusts trimmed off
(Feed to the birds)
seedless raspberry jam
softened butter
2 large free range eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 heaped dessertspoons of golden caster sugar
1000ml of whole milk (4 cups)
the grated zest of one unwaxed lemon
a handful of flaked coconut
Make 4 raspberry jam sandwiches using the bread and jam. Butter the outsides and cut into quarters. Arrange in a shallow, buttered baking dish, fitting in snuggly.
Beat together the eggs, vanilla, sugar, milk and lemon zest. Pour over the jam sandwiches in the buttered dish. Allow to sit for about 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Sprinkle the soaked pudding with the flaked coconut. Cover loosely with foil and then bake in the oven for about 35 to 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for 15 to 20 minutes longer, until risen, set and lightly browned. Don't worry if it falls after you take it out of the oven. That is supposed to happen.
Over at the Cottage . . . delicious Skillet Beef Burritos.
(My Easy Bread)
One of the consequences of there only being two of us in this house and eating most of the time is the fact that we have a difficult time using up a loaf of bread before it goes stale.
I really like good bread and a good loaf of bread can be somewhat expensive, so I don't like for any of it to go to waste.
It only makes sense to have a few things up your sleeves that you can do with it . . . like bread pudding and such. I hate waste, don't you?
This is a cookery book I have had for a while, by Tamasin Day-Lewis. It's a jewel. It's filled with lots of lovely recipes for dishes that are not only economical but also delicious.
Recipes such as this Bread Soup, which she admits to originally pinching from Anna Del Conte.
I love cooking and the beautiful chemistry that happens when you throw ingredients together. Sometimes it is so amazing.
Who would ever think that with a few ingredients such as olive oil, stale bread, chicken stock, garlic, parsley, chilli flakes and some seasoning you could end up with a delicious soup???
And that is exactly what this is . . . a magically delicious soup! Made from simple ingredients, put together in a simple manner.
Of course it stands to reason that if you are only going to be using a few ingredients, you will want them to be the best you have. Use a good sturdy loaf of bread, a crusty country loaf, several days old.
A good chicken stock, well flavoured.
Homemade is good, but if you don't have that, a good quality store bought one works well also.
The best extra virgin olive oil your money can buy. It matters.
Fresh parsley and fresh garlic. Sea salt, freshly ground black pepper. A good cheese for grating.
Something very magical happens. Trust me on this. It's absolutely gorgeous! A new favourite! Simple. Easy. Delicious and Quick!
The most delicious soup from nothing but stock, bread crumbs and a bit of garlic, parsley and seasoning. Oh, I do love recipes such as this which help to celebrate simple ingredients and methods in a most delicious way. I believe in Italy this is called Pancotto. You will want to use a good quality rustic styled bread loaf for this, preferably a couple of days old.
freshly grated Pecorino cheese to serve
Heat the olive oil,
dried chilies, garlic and parsley in a heavy bottomed saucepan. Saute
for about 30 seconds until you can smell the garlic.
Tip in the bread
and cook, stirring frequently, for 3 to 4 minutes, until the bread
begins to turn golden brown. Add the hot stock. Cover and simmer for
half an hour.
Taste the soup and adjust seasonings as
necessary. Serve ladled out into hot soup bowls with lashings of
grated Pecorino cheese on top.
I do so love my computer. Having a computer has added such a special dimension to my life. I have met some really special people via this medium and been able to experience a lot of really wonderful things that I might not have had I not been the owner of a computer and the author of several blogs!
I have always stored my photos on photobucket and pay a hefty price for the priviledge. That is where I keep all of my food photos and normally it's worked very well for me . . . until a couple of days ago. I literally have not been able to get the site to load for me, which is very frustrating for me as almost all of my food photos are on there, and I can't get at them! Grrrrrr!!!! I am really hoping and praying it is a temporary blip!
Anyways, all of the recipes and reviews I have in my queue to post will have to wait until I can get access to my photos and I am really hoping that will be soon, or else I will be spitting feathers . . . and trust me, you do not want to see that! It ain't pretty!
Thankfully I had the wherewithall to upload a few photos to my google account the other day and so I can show you this fab recipe here today. It's like a type of strata . . . a bread and egg pudding, sort of like a savory bread pudding.
They make excellent use of stale bread and other bits. The other day I decided to make it like a BLT sandwich and it worked out fabulous! This was soooooo tasty.
I simply made some sandwiches with some stale bread, filling them with crumbled bacon, grated cheddar, finely sliced leeks and some slices tomatoes . . . place them into a baking dish and then poured a savoury egg custard mix over top.
It was so delicious and went down a real treat with a nice mixed salad with a French Vinaigrette. Super duper tasty! I love that it was also quite thrifty and I made good use of a stale loaf of French bread, and a few other bits that needed using. I love it when that happens!
*Bacon, Cheese, Tomato & Leek Pudding*
Serves 4 to 6
Printable Recipe
Kind of like a savoury bread and butter pudding made with Bacon, Cheese, Tomato and Leek sandwiches. You can use sliced onions if you don't have any leeks. It's quite delicious!
a stale french loaf
(You will need at least 14 slices)Kind of like a savoury bread and butter pudding made with Bacon, Cheese, Tomato and Leek sandwiches. You can use sliced onions if you don't have any leeks. It's quite delicious!
a stale french loaf
2 ounces (1/4 cup) butter, softened
1 large tomato, thinly sliced, and cut into half moons
6 slices steaky bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 medium leek, washed, trimmed and very thinly sliced
1/2 pound of strong cheddar cheese, grated (about 2 cups)
3 large free range eggs
1 TBS Dijon mustard (can use grainy if you have it)
1 pint of whole milk (2 cups)salt and pepper to taste
Butter a 10 inch glass pie dish.
Spread each slice of the bread thickly with butter on one side only. Mix together the sliced leeks, grated cheese and crumbled bacon. Divide 3/4 of this mixture between half of the slices on the unbuttered sides. Top each with two half moons of tomato. Place another slice of bread, buttered side up on top. Cut in half and place into the pie dish cut side down, to fill the dish. Sprinkle with the remainder of the cheese mixture.
Beat the eggs together with the mustard and milk. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over top of the sandwiches. Allow to stand for half an hour before cooking so that it can absorb as much as possible.
Preheat the oven to 160*C/325*F/ gas mark 3. Bake the pudding in the heated oven for about 45 minutes, until a knife inserted near the centre comes out clean. Allow to stand for about 10 minutes before cutting into wedges to serve. A salad goes nice with this.
Here's hoping that photo bucket is working tomorrow!
I am so excited to be able to tell you this morning that I have finally finished my fourth Cookbooklet. Entitled Recipes to Keep it is a little goldmine of my all time favourite recipes, the ones that I turn to again and again, indeed my family favourites, gleaned from a lifetime of cooking for my family and loved ones.
40 pages containing over 40 new, never before posted recipes from my big blue binder that contain some of my all time favourites. Recipes such as Cindy's Portuguese Gumdrop Cake ( a must for our Christmas larder each year for over 20 years!) , Runny Butter Tarts (a fail proof recipe I have been using for over 30 years for the best butter tarts you could want to eat), Onion Patties (who needs to go to all the faff of making onion rings when you can just drop them as simple patties!), The Best Ever Tomato and Meat Sauce, and a whole lot more. Destined to become your family favourites too . . . in short, recipes to keep.
It's available now as a PDF Download, mailed right to your home, and at the same low price as all of my other cookbooklets. You will find the link up there on underneath my header on the page called Cookbooklets!
Thanks for visiting and have a great day!
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