Tuesday 14 May 2013

Family Food - Strawberry Drop Scones

I made a couple of wee discoveries this week.

 

  1. If you get to Morrisons early enough on a Monday morning - there are bargains to be had!
  2. My seven year-old self was a culinary genius.

I keep a folder of recipes in the kitchen "library" which contains an eclectic mixture of ingredients, like a lot of my own concoctions. It has loads of Her Majesty, Ma Maw's instructions for creating traditional stews, soups and cakes. There are scribbled PROPER curry and pakora recipes from my 2nd generation Pakistani mate's mum (with substantially reduced green chilli content). There's my Auntie Hannah's recipe for cornflake cookies; my Mother-Out-Law's hubby's Liverpudlian specialty - scouse (not yet attempted).

 

And then there's this.....

 

My Primary School cookery book.

The 4th page - Drop Scones. To most of you (who are undoubtedly wrong) this will mean "pancakes." Again, you are wrong. And since Great Auntie Beatrice passed away 15 years ago at the age of ninety-two, there's no way you can dispute the fact that the thick-batter cakes (which you may cook in a pan) are called anything but DROP SCONES.

And the other key element to my increasingly rambly blog post is that I bought a pack of almost mushy strawberries at the local snoopy-marche for 9 tiny pence! So here's what I did...


Strawberry Panc... I mean Drop Scones

Ingredients

2oz self-raising wholemeal flour

2oz plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

2oz unrefined golden caster sugar

Teaspoon (level) of cinnamon

1 egg

1oz margarine/butter

Splash of milk

Lots of practically foosty (ie over ripe) strawberries

  1. Sieve flours, cinnamon and baking powder (and stir in sugar) together in a bowl.
  2. Melt butter and about 6 or 7 chopped up strawberries in a jug.
  3. Blitz or mash.
  4. Chop up small another few strawberries.
  5. Mix it all together with an egg and enough milk to form a lumpy dropping consistency.
  6. Butter a large, heavy bottomed frying pan. Use a medium to low heat.
  7. Drop spoonfuls of batter mix with plenty space for them to expand.

9. When the bubbles appear on the surface, flip them over. They should be pink with golden crust. If they're black, chuck them and start again with a lower heat!

10. Once that side's golden, take them out and do another batch.

Tips: The cinnamon just enhances the strawberry flavour - you can't taste it as cinnamon at all! Use all self-raising if you prefer, I think it's too heavy if all wholemeal. Any sugar will do! These ingredients are just what I have in my bakery drawer.

Yes, I am still a culinary genius. If you disagree, take it up with Auntie Beatrice.

 

 

Thursday 9 May 2013

Family Food - Pink Porridge

Picture the scene:

5.54am - "Lorr-rry. Dig-ga. Pa's NeeNaw. NeeNaw NeeNaw NeeNaw. Aw done. MUMMEEEEEE! Baba-na." You open your eyes to check the time on your mobile - it's actually 5.54am! You lie watching the lights on the baby monitor, listening to assorted gibberish until 6am, which is, these days at least, an acceptable hour to arise. Because those 6 minutes in bed will ensure a radiant complexion and positively vibrant mood for the rest of the working day.

6.01am - Walking into The Bairn's room - och, alright. We'll let him off this time, because of his wee face and stuff. Look at him! Beaming at this time. Yeah, there may be a crust of bogeys surrounding the button nose, and he may be emitting the foul stench of morning poo - but he's adorable and will only improve following a good scrub.

6.30am - You're sitting on the sofa with a cuppa, increasingly absorbed in Postman Pat ("No honey, it's Pat's Van - not his NeeNaw... I mean fire engine) while policing The Bairn's ever decreasing distance from the TV screen. He's got his Baba-na and a cup of milk - to stave off his hunger until you can face the morning Weetapocalypse.

7.00am - Breakfast!

So here's an alternative to chipping Weetabix from your walls and recovering Rogue Rice Krispies from the Wee Yin's nostrils. Pink Porridge!

Ingredients

A yoghurt pot and a half full of porridge oats

Large tub of yoghurt - or make your own with Easiyo or similar

Some milk

Dried/fresh fruit

  1. The night before, mix together oats and enough yoghurt to form a gloopy mess. Add milk if it seems too thick.
  2. Stir in whatever you like - chopped berries/fruit, handful of currants, seeds....
  3. Put it in the fridge overnight, covered.
  4. Next morning - voila! Yummy sweet flavoured brekkie.
  5. Add milk to loosen consistency if required, serve warm or cold.
  6. Leave dishes soaking til after work. It's the only way. Honest.
I have not attached a photo. Once you've tried this recipe, you'll see why. There's a definite resemblance to up-chuck.

But YUMMY up-chuck! That's a Busyalibee guarantee! If you like that sort of thing.