Time to cook the Christmas Pudding ...

 I have had the fruit doused in brandy, sitting in the fridge for 11 days now and on a whim, I thought I'd better get that pudding made today!  The recipe my mother has used for probably 50 years is on the packet of Tandaco Suet Mix (above).

Traditional Christmas Pudding
1 pkt 250gms Tandaco Suet Mix
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2.5 teaspoons mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon ginger
4 cups mixed dried fruit
1/3 cup mixed peel (we omit this as there is peel in the mixed fruit - you could add
some more glace cherries)
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1.5 cups brown sugar
2 cups fresh breadcrumbs
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup brandy (we used 1/2 cup!)
1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1/4 cup boiling water
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Combine all dry ingredients, except carb soda and including the fruit, in a large bowl. Add eggs and then the carb soda dissolved in the boiling water. Mix thoroughly until combined.
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Spoon into a lightly greased 2 litre pudding steamer. Cover securely with lightly greased, pleated greaseproof paper and a tight fitting lid.
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Immerse in a pan of boiling water. Ensure water comes half way up the sides of the steamer. Steam for 5 hours. Be careful not to let it boil dry.
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Remove from water and refrigerate until needed. Serve with brandy custard and cream.

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 All the dry ingredients, minus the fruit

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 This is the old enamel pudding basin Mum has steamed the pudding in for as long as I can remember...

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 All the dry ingredients ...

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 I made a cartouche to sit over the pudding to protect it while steaming ... fold a squareof baking paper in halve, then half again then over to make a triangle shape.   With the point at the middle point of the pudding basin, trim the open end so its just bigger than the pan. 

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 Unfold and it should be just bigger than the top of the pan...

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 Okay, now everything but the wet ingredients are all mixed nicely...

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 Now the 4 beaten eggs and 1/4 cup water and 1/2 teaspoon of carb soda go in and everything gets a good mixing...

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 I also put a round of baking paper in the bottom of the pan, just for insurance that it won't stick!  Now, carefully spoon in the mixture, making sure there are no air pockets, pressing down as you go...

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 Now it's time to put on the cartouche, see how it is just big enough to go up the sides of the pan?

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 Next, cover the pan with a piece of baking paper and foil, securing it under the rim with cooking twine.  Also, make a handle with the twine so you can safely pull out the pudding when it is done.

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Have your pot of water heated to boiling... Mum always upends a plate to keep the pudding off the bottom of the pan...

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This is the Renaware stock pot Mum has always used, once again, its very old.  It has a great lid that keeps the moisture in really well, without bubbling and spitting water everywhere.

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Its been on the stove for nearly 2 and a half hours now so by 8.15 tonight it should be ready.  The proof of the pudding will be in the eating ... on Christmas Day!

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Here is the finished pudding after gentle steaming for 5 hours.  Looks and smells great!

Cheers - Joolz xx 

Happy dance !!!

I have located the ingredients and quantities for Regina's French sticks (no knead bread)!  I was having a look at my Blogger Reading List and her blog was listed - My Simple Life.  So I clicked on it and all her posts came up showing the first paragraph of each - the ingredients for the bread just happened to be there, but the whole post can't be viewed!  Happy dance!  I still wonder why the blog closed down....

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Regina’s No Knead Bread Rolls

1 pkt dry yeast (7 gms)

1 tablespoon sugar

375-400 mls warm water

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon butter

600 gms plain flour

Combine yeast and 125mls of the water and stir until yeast is dissolved.  Add the sugar, salt, butter and the rest of the water and stir until all ingredients are well blended…..

Here’s where I lose the rest of the recipe but from memory I think it goes ….

Gradually incorporate the flour into the wet ingredients (or vice versa), only just bringing it together as a rough dough.  Don’t worry if it looks a bit raggy.  Remember, no kneading.

Turn it into a clean, greased bowl and allow to rise for 40 minutes.

Take it out and knead it just to bring it together smoothly.  Now divide into 12-14 balls of dough or into 3 for French stick loaves.

Using a rolling pin, roll each ball into an oblong then simply roll it up to form a small oblong roll.

Allow to rise for about 30 minutes on a baking paper lined tray then bake in a hot oven (about 200C) until golden (maybe 15 -20 minutes – you be the judge).

These are the best rolls ever!

I'm going home shortly to make a batch!  :)

Cheers - Joolz xx

A rather lazy busy weekend ...

 My standard roses have finally 'popped'!  This is Bonica and its a great flowerer.

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 This is my McLeod's Daughters rose and it is my all time favourite.  Big blousey  blooms but they have a little rough tip on each petal.

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 Stunning colour...

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 Those bread rolls that were flops turned out to make really nice toast (and would have made great bruschetta).  All was not lost!

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 Yesterday, I made sausage rolls for a friend of mine who has had a hysterectomy...

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 and some Golden Syrup Biscuits.  This recipe is from Kim at Serendipity Cafe and you can find it here.

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 All afternoon, I had a pasta sauce bubbling away on the stove and I decided to make fresh, from scratch pasta to go with it...

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 It nearly is a two person job so I enlisted the help of hubby to help me manage the pasta machine...

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 My clothes rack made a great drying rack for the fettuccine...

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 The finished product - perfect!  I used 00 Flour (double 0) and 6 eggs, whacked it all in my food processor and whizzed it until it resembled course cous cous.  Then  I tipped it out onto my clean bench and kneaded for a couple of minutes, just bringing it all together.  I wrapped it in cling wrap and let it rest half an hour there.  The dough was great because it went through the pasta machine perfectly.

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 This was my luscious sauce which I made from scratch - for the meat I used a small piece of rump steak, two pork steaks and 4 loin lamb chops and some pancetta.   I cut all this into chunks then blitzed it in the food processor to mince it.  I fried off an onion, 2 carrots, 1 large stick of celery (these three known as a mirapoix) and 2 cloves of garlic.  Once softened, I added the mince mix in and fried that off.  Then in went a tin of crushed tomatoes, a tin of tomato puree (Leggo's) and 2 dollops of tomato paste.  Season with salt and pepper and a good tablespoon of sugar (to sweeten off the tomatoes) and let it come to the boil.  Then turn down to low heat and let it bubble away all afternoon (I guess you could use a slow cooker).  In the last hour, I added a big handful of torn fresh basil leaves and a slug of balsamic vinegar and I had some green beans left over so I tossed them in too! Bellisimo!

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 The pasta cooked up beautifully (but it did take quite a few minutes to become 'al dente'.  Normally, I would toss the pasta through the hot sauce but I wanted to halve the sauce and keep some so I just spooned it over the pasta.  Some parmesan cheese finished it off.

Have you ever made homemade pasta?  - there is no comparison to store bought!

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 On Saturday, as the house was lovely and quiet, I got out my Civil War Era blocks Dear Jane cross stitch.

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 I completed a further 6 blocks - it is quite slow going.  I nearly had a heart attack when I thought that I was 2 stitches out in a block and I thought there would be lots of unpicking to do but the pattern actually had 2 stitched missing from a block and I wasn't thrown out at all!  Phew!  It's will be lovely when finished.

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 A funny to finish off with - we've had lots of rain lately and yes, it does sound like sizzling bacon when I think of it!

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Wait, I forgot to tell you I have baby tomatoes on my tomato plants!  Excited!

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This is a baby Roma.  Grow bambino, grow!

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What did you get up to on the weekend?

Cheers - Joolz xx

Unplugging and giving up ...

It's a cold, blustery day here today. I made these bread rolls this morning but they did not turn out very good...

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They should really look like the ones below, but the dough was a bit too wet and they collapsed during the second rise. I tried twaking another recipe that I have. They still taste good, they just don't look that crash hot!

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These are Regina's rolls that I made and have lost her recipe for. I'd still like to know why her blog suddenly closed down.

They will be fine to enjoy with my slow cooked spaghetti sauce (I am using pork chops, lamb chops, rump steak and pancetta) and homemade pasta that I am making tomorrow.

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Now, I am going to unplug and do some cross stitch this afternoon. I've given up on bread making this weekend!  I will show you my stitching progress later.

Cheers - Joolz xx

Posted with Blogsy by Joolz

Christmas pudding preparations...

 

I started soaking the fruit in brandy for our Christmas pudding today. 

I plan to make it on the 24th November. 

Joolz xx

Weather extremes ...

 

Last week I was complaining that we hadn't had two spring days put together and now this week, we've had lovely weather since Sunday, yesterday reaching 27C.

Today, however, it is expected to reach just over 30C here and the top and west of our state of South Australia is expecting extreme weather of 35C with strong winds. Instant fire danger! Fortunately, a cool change is expected to roll in tonight so hopefully no fires will eventuate. Fingers crossed!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

Posted with Blogsy by Joolz

Time to bake Herman the German Cake ...

 My adventure with Herman the German Friendship cake began back here on the 26th October and today is the day Herman gets baked!  I thought I'd show you the big bowl he's been living in for 10 days.  He needs room to grow!

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 Day 9 - Hermie is fed a 1 cup or flour, 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of milk...

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 Divided into 4 batches after feeding, I kept one to bake today, one to make in 10 days time and the other two I will give away to ladies at work.

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 This was the Hermie clones this morning - they had doubled overnight - ready to be given away.  He's a healthy boy!

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 I stuck to the original recipe and added all the ingredients plus granny smith apples, plump raisins and cinnamon.

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 It made a lovely thick batter...

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 Ready for the oven, topped with brown sugar and melted butter...

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 I used a springform pan so I didn't have to upend the cake out of the tin.  It took quite a while to cook... originally 40 minutes (at about 175C) then I gave it 10 minutes longer.  Skewer test showed it was still gooey in the middle, another 10 minutes and then a final 10 minutes to be sure.  The sugar/butter top has gone quite hard and crunchy (yum).

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I bought it in to work with me and everyone got a piece for their 'smoko'.  Lots of good comments.  Next time I will try a variation on the recipe to see what I can come up with.

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All in all, Hermie was no trouble to have around.  A quick stir then covered up each day took no time to sort him out.  Give one a go, you won't be disappointed - you just need to be home for 10 days straight!

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Cheers - Joolz xx