Autumn to Winter

I wrote this a decade ago in what for me and mine were far happier times.

I am posting it here but I suspect it will be moved but I am used to that I have a cleaner who is forever moving things.

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It starts when the hedgerow fruits and when they become ready for picking. When we noticed the blackberries were ripe and ready we collected enough to make several pounds of bramble jelly. Then we move on to collecting large bin bags full of bullaces (we collected enough to make 96lbs of jam) whilst out we notice that the sloes were nearly ripe. A lady even older than ourselves stopped to tell us that there was a hedge full of hazel nuts on the nearby village common. She lamented that less than two decades ago all the hedgerow fruit and nuts would be collected by the villagers but now with all the incomers and week-end cottagers they were just left to rot. Several weeks later we went back and directed by the good lady harvested another bin bag full of hazel nuts. The bullaces make a delicious jam and will keep us, and Mrs VM’s W.I., going for most of the coming year and if we could have got more jam jars there was plenty more fruit where that came from. After one more sortie we made just over a hundred weight of jam and a quantity of pie fillings. As to the hazel nuts Cadburys won’t be the only ones covering them with chocolate, some of the rest will be used to embellish home made chocolate cakes and tasty praline. Beth the younger of my grand-daughters is staying with us and has a recipe for ground hazel nuts in fudge and this she is doing as I type with the sound of hazel nuts in a large polythene bag being bashed with a steak hammer in the kitchen.
The sloes for sloe gin were gathered a few weeks later and only chestnuts were left to be collected later in the autumn and this has now been done.
A tip regarding hedgerow fruit for jam and sloes for sloe gin. After washing them put them in the freezer for a few days the action of freezing and then thawing reduces them to a pulp and releases more of their flavour; it also makes the removal of stones much easier.
We have made monthly daytrips throughout the year to the continent for lunch and to buy wines etc. Recently we went on a week end trip to Bruge and on the way back called into a hypermarket in Calais among the things we bought were two very large containers of Olive Oil. On an inclement day we undertook the task of making our own flavoured oils for marinades and cooking. This we usually do in late September. Having trimmed back the rosemary, basil and thyme plants it is best to chop and bruised the herbs before putting them into smaller olive oil bottles and then topping them up with the unflavoured olive oil. A sprig of rosemary, thyme or a few whole leaves of basil being added to their appropriate bottle for decoration. Two other flavoured oils we prepare at the same time are garlic and lemon. For the garlic one large fresh garlic clove squeezed through a garlic press is enough and for the lemon we use just the zest of the lemon. Quantities of the various flavourings are a matter of personal taste but it is as well to remember that more of the flavouring material can be added if the flavour is not strong enough and that unflavoured olive oil can be added if the flavour is too strong for a particular purpose. I know olive oil is not exactly cheap but the price of the flavoured olive oils in the supermarkets is so high that it makes this well worth doing. Similarly we dry our own herbs rather than waste them, not I must admit very successfully with basil, but the chap up the lane who has let his bay tree grow over the top of his garden wall has unknowingly kept us in dried bay leaves for years.
In October I made the Christmas Cake and of course the puddings, a tip for the cake is to make it early thus leaving plenty of time for priming; for this we use cointreau which gives a lovely orangey flavour. October is also the time to to make some hearty soups which can be frozen, a tip for this is to save butter and ice cream tubs for storage, butter tubs for single portions and ice cream tubs for larger quantities. Serve with home made petit pains or Italian ciabatto to make a warming lunch or first course with guest for a meal.
As an extra grate some Parmesan cheese onto a non-stick baking tray scrape into small mounds pop into the oven for a few minutes and voila you’ve got Parmesan chips.

Re: Autumn to Winter

Batch cooking to comes into it’s own at this time to leave plenty of time for the December and New Year festivities and I include a few of my favourites for freezing.

SEPTEMBER PORK

This is the ultimate in comfort foods

Ingredients
One pork Fillet cut into chunks
2 Pork Stock cubes
2 bay leaves
small head of celery
2/3 medium size carrots
several floury potatoes (say 1lb to 11/2lb)
2 medium English onions
1 oz plain flour
1 oz Margarine or butter



Method
Dissolve stock cubes in a pint of boiling water
Pour on to meat chunks in a saucepan bring to boil
Add Bay leaves, carrots cut into cubes, Celery cut into cubes and chopped onions.
Simmer for twenty or so minutes until meat is half cooked.
Add diced potatoes and simmer for further 15 minutes until potatoes have cooked.
Remove from heat
Blend together 1oz plain flour with an ounce of margarine or butter.
Gradually add the liquid from the saucepan to the blended roux
Check the seasoning add the roux to the saucepan stir well and return to heat for a minute or two until it thickens.
Serve
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TARTE AU CITRON

Now this is nectar, food fit for the gods.,

INGREDIENTS

Ready rolled short crust pastry or better still the pre-cooked sweet pastry cases sold by Morrisons
4 medium eggs
8oz caster sugar
3 lemons
284 ml pot double cream (extra thick is best)
15ml Icing sugar (for dusting on the top if you're posh)

Line a 10 1/2 inch tin with the pastry (a loose bottom tin is best) prick the base with a fork and bake blind for 15 minutes (miss this step out if using pre-baked cases)

Bung the eggs, caster sugar, zest from two of the lemons and the juice from all three lemons into a processor or liquidiser for a couple of minutes. Add cream and blend for a further half a minute or so.

Pour into the prepared and cooked pastry case and cook for 45 minutes or until it has set. This is when it wobbles a bit when you poke it gently and has just a hint of brown on the top.
At this point you can serve it, allow it to cool or shove it in the freezer but it is at it's best served cold.

How can anything so simple to make taste so wonderful.

I haven't mucked around with the icing sugar. In all honesty you can glaze the top with lemon flavoured gelatine or do as we do and just take a large curl of lemon zest from the third lemon as decoration.

Serve with a glass or two of Muscadet de Village and think you've gone to heaven.
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SPINACH AND RICOTTA TART

This a veggie dish that I have recently discovered.

Ingredients

2 plain pre-baked plain short crust pastry tart cases as sold by Morrisons (O K if you want to make your own I'll let you).
250 g fresh spinach washed and de-stalked.
3 medium eggs
250g Ricotta cheese
250ml Double cream
50g freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 crushed garlic clove
Salt and fresh ground black pepper to season
1 large bowl of iced water

Method
Pre heat oven to 190C
Place the spinach in a large saucepan with just the water from the washing that clings to the leaves. Cook for two or three minutes until it is only just wilted.
Remove from heat and plunge into bowl of iced water this will retain it's vibrant colour.
In a large Bowl mix together the eggs, ricotta cheese, double cream, parmesan cheese, cayenne pepper, garlic and season with salt and ground black pepper.
Drain the spinach and place in a clean cloth, squeeze out all the excess moisture. Roughly chop the spinach and then add to mixture.
Spoon the mixture carefully into the tart cases.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden and just firm to the touch.

The same recipe can be changed using asparagus or courgettes or shallots instead of the spinach. Asparagus is quite expensive but by snapping the stalks you can use the tender spears for the tart and the remaining base of the stems to make soup for freezing.
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Now a couple of favourites not suitable for freezing

Fed up with chips try this par boil some potatoes (waxy ones preferably) Liquidise an onion put the onion into a frying pan with some Olive Oil and a crushed clove of garlic bring up to a medium temperature add the sliced potatoes fry until golden brown. Absolutely superb when served with a mushroom omelette and a glass (or two) of red wine.
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PORK FILLET EN CROUTE

This is one of my favourite dishes

One whole pork fillet
Short Crust pastry
1/2 LB mushrooms cleaned and chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
medium English onion chopped finely
crushed clove of garlic
1/4 of a cup of sherry
1 Egg separated into yolk and white



Method
Roast fillet in a medium oven for 20 to 30 minutes according to size
Put the mushrooms in a clean tea towel and squeeze out moisture.
In a frying pan heat the butter and oil
Sauté onions
Add mushrooms and sherry and cook until dry
Season with salt and freshly ground pepper
Remove Fillet from oven when ready.
Roll out pastry to form a blanket sufficient to cover the fillet
Smear the mushroom mixture all over the fillet
Place fillet on to pastry and seal the edges with egg white to form a neat parcel.
Brush pastry with egg yolk and return to hot oven (200 to 210) for twenty minutes.

TIP Make sure the pastry is not too thick or it will not cook through

Carve into thick slices and serve with sauté French beans and sauté salad potatoes.
And of course a bottle (or two) of red wine.
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When making beef stew or casserole buy a sirloin or top side (without added fat) joint instead of the already cut up stuff. It might seem dearer but you won't be buying all the fat that seems to get into the pre-cut pieces and you won't be paying someone to cut it up. Cut the Joint into large cubes at least 1 1/2 inch cubes.
When making the dumplings use twice as much self raising flour as suet by weight, a pinch of salt and a twist of pepper and enough cold water to bind the mixture together and now the secret take a tablespoon of the mixture at a time and form very gently in to an oval shape note the very gently drop into the stew and so on cook for a further 30 minutes. The resulting dumplings will be misshapen but will be very light and fluffy. they are lighter because they haven't had all the air squeezed out of them. Rolling dumplings into a ball with your well floured hands might look neater but it squeezes out the air and that ain’t good.
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Now by the last week of November all the presents are bought and wrapped. Wrapping them straight away keeps out prying eyes!!! All the food stuff is bought or ordered. Turkey ordered from a farmer friend, green stuff and veg ordered from our favourite market trader. The freezer is stuffed full. The mincemeat I neglected to say was made a couple of months back. All that remains to be done is one or two pick up runs, And a gentle day’s baking, Cheese straws, mince pies, sausage rolls and meat pasties.

I deplore and detest chicken ping and am a great believer in the Italian slow food culture. It’s sad to see the decline in these natural rhythms of country life. Are people too busy or too idle to bother or is it that the culture of the supermarket shop followed by an evening of soap operas on the box has taken over.
It makes me sad.

The Christmas Cards are designed and I just need to print them out. A local snow scene from a picture Mrs VM took last winter was scanned and chosen. Just got to get a new colour cartridge to finish the job. Oh hell I feel a list coming on.

December is there to enjoy the atmosphere and to watch the headless chickens who left everything until the last moment.

Christmas Eve is a family occasion with everyone, Mrs VM, our daughter, two granddaughters and myself going to the midnight service. Christmas I do what I enjoy I cook and everyone else does what they enjoy.

We are ready bring it on!!!

Re: Autumn to Winter

Excellent VM, you sound well organised and the recipes are mouth watering...

The run-up to Christmas makes interesting reading, no doubt I'll refer back to that!

Re: Autumn to Winter

Yummy looking recipes VM - thanks for posting.
I enjoyed reading your accounts from happier times too - I hope you also enjoyed looking back, though I'm sure there were other less welcome emotions there too.

Re: Autumn to Winter

Happy to remember but always with a tear on my cheek.

Re: Autumn to Winter

To which section - creative writing or food and drink

Re: Autumn to Winter

Be a devil Azz, copy it and include it in both sections.