week 42 - Lakeland Cookery

The last part of the Cumbrian Trilogy was, unlike many final instalments, a stone cold classic; the cheese scone. It's not a spoiler to reveal that I am currently sans a main oven at home (mainly as I have written about it almost constantly since the fan finally gave up the ghost), and so I made good use of the well-equipped kitchen we had in the Lakes. We even baked a bloody Christmas cake, which the Ewing has been feeding religiously with cherry brandy weekly since we got back home.

The recipe was given a Cumbrian twist by the fact it came from my latest purchase - Lakeland Cookery 'compiled from recipes supplied by readers of Cumbria'. While the original point of #cookbookchallenge was to utilise the many cookbooks I already possess, inevitably I have bought several (exact number unknown. Not that I'd disclose anyway, in case my wife is reading this...) since the challenge has begun. 

I saw this gem in a charity book shop in Kendal, so how could I refuse. And we picked up two St Michael cook books; the height of 80s dependability which adorned the bookshelves in both our mother's kitchens as we were growing up.

The scones received a further local boost by being filled with not one, not two, no not three, but four different types of Cumbrian cheese. The Holbrook (goat) and Fellstone (cow) came from Cartmel Cheeses (picked up after our visit to L'Enclume). While the Thornby Cumbrian Farmhouse (cow) was made down the road from where we were staying, and was left for us by our hosts. The final cheese was a gooey Eden Valley brie, that added some welcome ooze.

Cumbrian Cheese Scones - adapted from Lakeland Cookery

225g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting

pinch of salt

1 tbsp finely chopped chives

1 tsp baking powder

55g chilled butter, cut into cubes (you can also grate if you put into the freezer for half an hour before you need it)

120g hard cheese, grated

30g brie or similar soft cheese, chopped into small chunks

90-100ml milk, plus 1 tbsp for glazing

Heat the oven to 180c with a baking tray inside. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl.

Add the butter to the bowl and lightly rub in with your fingertips to make breadcrumbs. Add 100g of the hard cheese and all the soft cheese and gently stir in.

Make a well in the centre of the mixture and slowly pour in the milk it comes together into a dough.

Flour a surface and shape into a round. Place on baking parchment, cut into six wedges, glaze with milk and sprinkle with the remaining cheese. 

Place the baking parchment onto the hot oven tray and bake in the oven for 15-20 mins or until golden brown and cooked through.

I also made a bonus batch of Buttermere biscuits, and gave some to our hosts next door to say thank you for their hospitality. I was originally drawn to the recipe as they sounded very similar to a Shrewsbury biscuit - a crisp buttery biscuit flavoured with currants and lemon zest - which is one of may faves. When I Googled it afterwards I released the a Buttermere biscuit is a Shrewsbury biscuit. What's in a name? That which we call a cookie by any other name would smell as sweet.

Buttermere Biscuits - adapted Lakeland Cookery 

220g plain flour

110g butter

90g caster sugar, plus more to sprinkle on top

80g currants

½ tsp baking powder

1 large egg

Grated zest of one lemon

Rub the butter into the flour until you have fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the flour, currants, baking powder and zest.

Beat the egg in a bowl and add to the dry ingredients, cutting in with a knife. 

Bring the dough together with your hands. If it's dry, add a little milk or water.

Roll out to the thickness of a pound coin and cut into circles.

Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle a little sugar over the top. 

Place on lined baking sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes at 180c, or until a pale golden.

week 41 - Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook

 

After roast lamb shoulder with onion sauce the previous Sunday, this week it was roast pork. And, again keeping with the theme of local ingredients, the meat - a piece of rolled loin - was bought from W Lindsay in Cockermouth. And it was roasted with apples from the one of the two apple trees in the back garden of the holiday cottage we were staying in. 

The other apple tree was weighted down with cookers, so I also rustled up a Scandinavian apple charlotte for pudding. Like a proper domestic goddess. Served in what a subsequently realised was probably a crystal fruit bowl, found hidden in the back of a cupboard.

The recipes were from the wonderful Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook, also found in the back of a cupboard. First published in 1970, it features such wonders as chicken in aspic and turkey in aspic.  Never too much of a good thing. The most fascinating chapter, and certainly the one ltat has aged the least well, is based around pasta, rice and noodles; with recipes for noodles with a kidney sauce, with added tinned sweetcorn; cold rice salad with tongue and oranges; and , for desert, chocolate shell pudding (pasta shells in a sauce made of cocoa powder); and apple macaroni pudding (yes, apple puree with macaroni).

I have included pictures of both dishes I cooked, just to show the glorious wonder of technicolor. Lord alone knows how they made the food look quite so radioactive, but I would hazard a guess plenty of - subsequently banned - e numbers were involved. Luckily our dishes were artificial colour-free. Still garnished with plenty of curly parsley, though.

Celebration pork - adapted from the Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook

2kg pork loin - rolled or on the bone

Vegetable oil

8 eating apples - cored if you'd like- I couldn't find a corer, so didn't bother

curly parsley

Pre-heat the oven to 220c

Dry the pork skin and score, if it hasn't already been done by the butcher.

Rub a little vegetable oil in the skin, salt generously and roast for 25 minutes

turn the heat down and roast for another 40 minutes

Place the apples around the pork and cook for a further 40 minutes

If after this time you don’t have tooth-scattering crackling, carefully remove the apples, turn the heat up again and check every 5 mins until the skin has crackled.

I served it with carrots, lashings of gravy and colcannon - shredded leeks and cabbage cooked in butter and mixed through creamy mashed potatoes. And a baked apple per person. Three if you're the Ewing.

Scandinavian Apple Charlotte - adapted from the Hamlyn All Colour Cookbook

2½ cups cooking apples, peeled and cored

2-3 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp butter

1-1½ tbsp brown sugar

1 cup bread crumbs

½ cup fresh whipping cream

grated chocolate to decorate

Roughly chop the apples and place in a pan with the sugar and a tbsp of water. 

Cover the pan with a lid and place it over low heat.

Cook apples until they break down into a lumpy puree, stirring occasionally. Add a splash more water if needed

Let the cooked apples cool down completely.

Gently heat butter in a frying pan over low heat.

Add the bread crumbs and mix.

Increase the heat to medium and the breadcrumbs and stir constantly till they become golden brown and are crispy. This takes longer than you think, as you want them to be very crisp, but be careful they don't burn.

Add sugar and mix well. Let the mixture cool down.

Whip the cream in a large bowl until it reaches soft peak consistency. 

Place a layer of apples in the bottom of a serving bowl (or four individual glasses)

Add a layer of crumbs, followed by another layer of apple puree and then another layer of crumbs.

Top with the whipped cream and decorate with chocolate shavings.

Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours before serving.