Aubergine Inspiration

I don’t know about anyone else but I love the colour and I love the vegetable and I love to cook and eat aubergine. Maybe someone on the other side of the pond could tell me why you call them eggplants?

There are so many gorgeous recipes available for using these fine vegetables and I will include my favourites here.
Aubergine Melts at BBC Good Food

Aubergine Curry with Lemongrass and Coconut Milk.

Aubergine & Mushroom Moussaka


Aubergine Salad with Tahini.

Easy Artisan Bread Recipe

Last weekend for some reason I got the notion to make some bread. Perhaps this was as an excuse to lay down my crochet hook for a few hours – which didn’t really happen. Anyway I found this really simple recipe which is so easy to make the only real ingredient required is patience. Anyone who knows me knows that patience is really not my virtue and even I managed this and the results were quite tasty.
I didn’t include any of the herbs as I wanted to see how it tasted before introducing other flavours. It came out really well and next time I would use strong white bread flour rather than just plain flour. Anyway if you need some inspiration for something to do over the weekend give it a try.
Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 2/3 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (optional)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme (optional)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage (optional)

Directions

1. Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine. Add the water and herbs, if using, and mix well. The dough will be very sticky and shaggy-looking. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature for 18 to 24 hours.
2. Generously flour a work surface. The dough will have risen and will be covered in bubbles. Transfer the dough to the work surface and dust it with flour. Fold the dough in half, and then form the dough into a ball by stretching and tucking the edges of the dough underneath the ball.
3. Liberally flour a kitchen towel (do not use terrycloth). Place the dough ball on the floured towel. Cover with another floured towel. Let the dough rise for about two hours [see footnote].
4. Preheat an oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Place a lidded Dutch oven or deep heavy duty casserole dish (with lid) into the oven to preheat.
5. Carefully remove the hot baking dish from the oven. Remove the lid and gently turn the dough ball into the ungreased baking dish, seam-side up; shake the dish so the dough is more evenly distributed.
6. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake until the crust is golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the loaf from the baking dish and let it cool on a rack before slicing.

Source - Allrecipes.com
While I was busy being patient I managed to get another granny square blanket finishes. A welcome ray of sunshine.

Anyway whatever you are doing this weekend have a great one.

Wednesday Night Project 200110 – Burns Night Supper 25-01-2010.

Celebrating Robert Burns
Burns Night, at its best, is a time to be hopeful, striking a balance between life's joys and sorrows. If Shakespeare's poetry scales the heights of poetic achievement, Robert Burns' poetry sweeps the broad rolling plain of common humanity, with all its triumphs and disasters. He writes about hope, courage and the joy of being alive in a world of terror, darkness and fear.
Burns Night recipes
If you're making your own haggis, you'll have to start preparation a day in advance. For a variation on the Bashed neeps, you can make Orkney clapshot (which is often served with haggis). Mix the mashed seasoned swede with an equal quantity of mashed potato and beat well until smooth. This mixture can be put into a pie or gratin dish, thickly covered with grated cheddar cheese and baked in the oven, or under the grill, until browned.
Click here for my own vegetarian haggis recipe.
Click here to make your own haggis.
Click here for a bashed neeps recipe.

Address to a Haggis
Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o the puddin'-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm.
The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o need,
While thro your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.
His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An cut you up wi ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!
Then, horn for horn, they stretch an strive:
Deil tak the hindmost, on they drive,
Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve
Are bent like drums;
The auld Guidman, maist like to rive,
'Bethankit' hums.
Is there that owre his French ragout,
Or olio that wad staw a sow,
Or fricassee wad mak her spew
Wi perfect sconner,
Looks down wi sneering, scornfu view
On sic a dinner?
Poor devil! see him owre his trash,
As feckless as a wither'd rash,
His spindle shank a guid whip-lash,
His nieve a nit:
Thro bloody flood or field to dash,
O how unfit!
But mark the Rustic, haggis-fed,
The trembling earth resounds his tread,
Clap in his walie nieve a blade,
He'll make it whissle;
An legs an arms, an heads will sned,
Like taps o thrissle.
Ye Pow'rs, wha mak mankind your care,
And dish them out their bill o fare,
Auld Scotland wants nae skinking ware
That jaups in luggies:
But, if ye wish her gratefu prayer,
Gie her a Haggis!
Robert Burns

Vegetarian Haggis

Hello Folks,

My unusual Holly bush with trumpet flowers in full bloom, pretty but prickly.

I haven’t been here for quite a few weeks and was eager to get something posted. I’ve been busy with children, more children, relatives coming to stay. Children’s birthdays, decorating and getting ready to go back to school. As well as the usual gardening, entertaining and general domesticity.

In the middle of all this mayhem I had a calling to make a prayer, comfort and healing shawl. This was a pleasure to crochet but in my haste to send it to the intended recipient, I forgot to photograph it which I regret. I don’t know who said it, probably John Lennon but ‘Life is what happens when you’re busy making plans.’

Prayer shawl
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the jewish prayer shawl see Tallit

A prayer shawl, in Christianity, is a piece of cloth blessed in honor of a saint, angel, or deceased person. They are blessed by the clergy and can be informally blessed through prayer by the laity. They are to be given to a person who is ill, injured, or in bad fortune.^[1] They may also be given to people for celebrating events such as childbirth, baptism, or confirmation. ^[2] Prayer shawls are common in Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and Methodist churches.

Further information about prayer shawls can be found at http://www.shawlministry.com/

Regardless of your religion or non religious beliefs creating a payer, healing or comfort shawl is a spiritual process that is unique to each individual.
I continue to be busy crocheting various other projects, cutting up fabrics for my rag rug – the end is finally in sight.

The other day I got a real urge for a MacSween’s vegetarian haggis which I thought could be lurking somewhere in the chest freezer, I was wrong. I’m not a vegetarian but some dishes are too good to resist. I then got my thinking hat on and decide to try a create something that came near to the delicious, crunchy, spicy and beanie texture of a quality vegetarian haggis. I did some research on the internet of various recipes, I looked at what was available in the kitchen cupboards and came up with the following recipe.

Vegetarian Haggis Recipe
1 Medium Carrot – Finely Chopped

125g Mushrooms Finely Chopped

1 Red Onion Finely Chopped

1 Shallot Finely Chopped

750ml Vegetable Bouillon

5 Tablespoons of Red Lentils

2 Tablespoons Red Kidney Bean

1 Tablespoon Butter Beans

5 Tablespoons Nuts of your choice

1 Tablespoon of Soy Sauce

1 Tablespoon of Lemon Juice

1 tsp of Thyme

1 ½ tsp Parsley

1 tsp Paprika

250g oatmeal or finely processed oats

1 egg beaten

1 tbsp Olive Oil.

All ingredients can be finely chopped in any normal food processor giving a finer texture and ultimately a more satisfying haggis. Choose any nuts that you like – In my haggis I used peanuts, pine nuts and cashew nuts. Feel free to substitute any beans of your choice rather than kidney beans. I wouldn’t recommend baked beans I think this would affect the overall taste. I decided to add butterbeans as they are one of my favourites but many people don’t like them.

1. Sauté the onion and carrot for 5 mins in the olive oil.

2. Add the mushroom and sauté for a further 5 mins.

3. Add all other ingredients, and 400ml of the stock, apart from egg & oats and cook on a low heat for a further 10 mins.

4. Next add all the oatmeal and add the remaining stock until desired texture is reached. Continue on a low heat for a further 20 mins.

5. Using olive oil grease a loaf tin or any other suitable ovenproof container. Add the mixture after 20 mins and place in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for a further 30 mins. Leave uncovered if you want a crusty top or cover with foil if you wish to retain a moist texture.

We served this with the traditional accompaniments of mashed potatoes and mashed neeps and it was truly yummy.

For further information on MacSween’s haggis go to http://www.macsween.co.uk/