What's for pudding?

This week a special on puddings. One of the greatest compliments which Sam ever paid my cooking was to start liking desserts as they ones I make 'are so nice'. However, the potential for morbid obesity in Kirkstall Towers is now soaring.

Firstly, this week, a clafoutis, which I made from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's bread and pudding Daily Telegraph pamphlet that I have become so attached to.

I didn't technically make a clafoutis, as they are always cherry, apparently, and as the fairly unpleasant looking cherries which you can buy in November cost four quid a punnet, I used plums. So it was technically a flaugnarde. From the ingredients, I thought I was making some kind of plum pancake., but this was like nothing I've ever tried. Sort of like a warm custard, or possibly a pastry free flan. In the words of Greg Wallace, or what I imagine he would say if he got his chops round this: 'soft, sweet with a sharp kick of fruit'.

The second pudding I made was a beauty, but in all the hustle and bustle of taking part in A's Thanksgiving extravaganza, I forgot to photograph it. As you will know, darling reader, once I find a source of recipes that works for me, I'll cook a large number of recipes from it and bore you with them. So we're back to Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet. A, who I think I might have mentioned, is American, throws a magnificent Thanksgiving feast for his lucky English friends every year, and I usually make an American pudding for it. This year I picked banana cream pie. This was quite a bit of work, it involved making some very short pastry, then making a caramelised banana filling, which had huge potential for burning. I went to bed on Wednesday, having let A know that I had filled a pastry case with what looked like banana porridge, quite worried I'd made something inedible. The following evening, I introduced a layer of caramel into the recipe, to sit on top of the banana, (I figured it couldn't possibly hurt) whipped the cream to go on top, and folded in some flaked almonds. You should probably only eat it once a year, along with many of the delicacies on A's menu, but it worked very well.  Greg Wallace (can you tell I'm glued to Masterchef at the moment?) would say 'sweet, rich, creamy, and amazing idea with the caramel, Sally, you are a genius'. 

Whopping Whoopies!

For those of you who are fans of my photographs, you know the ill-lit ones which divide my posts so you can get a rough idea of the aesthetic qualities of the dish, I'm very sorry, there aren't any this time. And, also, hello, it's been a while.

For starters, something so simple, I can barely believe I haven't ever made them: dumplings. These were to go in a buffalo stew. I really couldn't believe how easy they were. Just a combination of flour, suet and water. And so satisfying. I'm very glad I've discovered that there are absolutely no tricks to making these--or am I, this could lead to my rapidly becoming as wide as I am tall.

So, my love affair with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's cooking continues. I have had a month of buying lovely new cookbooks, one of which is River Cottage Veg Everyday. I bought it because I want to eat less meat. Sam is also, currently, of the mind that a bit less meat might be good for us--I shan't bore you with our reasons. Anyway, I made porotos granados a hearty soup of squash, beans (green and canellini) and sweetcorn--straight off the cob, natch! This is quite spicy from the smoked paprika (and I could only find hot not sweet) but it's everything an autumn soup should be: filling, warming, and a bit like a stew, so you don't feel cheated out of your dinner on a cold night.

Ok, and lastly, the second cookbook I picked up in a post payday Amazon frenzy is Dan Lepard's Short and Sweet, an amazing baking bible, beautifully packaged and wonderful in its variety (there are also some savoury recipes in there). I decided to have a go at whoopies, as I like the name and they're not widely available in Leeds (beyond Harvey Nicks).

Some time ago, whoopies were heralded by certain foodie types as 'the next cupcakes', but I think they are nicer as they have a marshmallow filling, rather than diabetes inducing amounts of buttercream on top. I made Lepard's raspberry varient on these half soft cookie/half cake but a bit like a scone American mallow filled treats--although I used blackberry jam for the filling instead. These also had coconut in them. I mis-read a direction somewhere along the line, and instead of having several small and dainty mini cakes, I ended up with eight truly prodigious ones. No matter, they were good, and easy to make--certainly no harder than cupcakes. I would like marshmallow to glue more of my foods together.

So, I am now a mere dinner party away from completing my 111, which is quite exciting. See you next time.