Cakey Catering

A close friend recently organised a special event in a local primary school, inviting teachers from all over Devon and Somerset to come along and be inspired to teach bible stories creatively to school children. Claire has been exploring this area for the past year, running a bible story club within a school in cooperation with a local Vicar. She's been busy gathering resources and ideas to share with others and pulled together this event to showcase it all. 

She wanted to provide plenty of cake, tea and coffee on the day and asked me to cater. My first paid catering job! I didn't even go looking for it, so it was rather fun that it found me. 

The event was on a Monday so I spent the day before baking away, preparing lots of cakes and cookies and even some fruit salad as a healthy option. 

I made Nigel Slater's Black Banana and Chocolate Chip Loaf, which is a favourite with Andy and I, and one person who ate a slice said it was the nicest cake she had ever tasted! All credit to Nigel for making such a scrumptious recipe for us all to replicate. If you'd like to try it yourself, click here. We leave out the hazelnuts because we don't like nuts in cakes. I also didn't have any chocolate chips (or rather I'd forgotten that they now live in a pretty jar), so I used a big block of dark chocolate instead, chopped well. 

I also whipped up a quick batch of little plain scones on the day to make into Cream Teas, and a huge quantity of Oatie Crunchies, a favourite family biscuit recipe that I've adapted and am saving for my recipe book.

Then I did some plain little fairy cakes with some defrosted frozen raspberries stirred in, with a yoghurt and white chocolate topping, oh, plus popping candy just because! I love these little cakes. They are so delicious and moist. I believe them to be perfect as the are, without any icing but felt I should make an effort.

Everyone else I know has said the topping makes it go from really good to amazing, so I will share the complete recipe despite my own opinion! Even my Mum and Andy who really don't like sweet icing ate it all up while I scraped mine off. One friend even took my discarded icing to add to hers! 


Then, although I really had enough cakes by now I felt like doing something a bit different to use up some defrosted bags of mixed berries that I had. The day before Andy and I had volunteered to help at our church's stall at a school fete. We hold our church meetings in a primary school and set up a special Smoothie Station serving a selection of freshly made smoothies. There were quite a few bags of ingredients left over so we were encouraged to bring a load home. 



I mixed up a batch of standard cake batter (6oz each of s.r flour, caster sugar and butter, plus 3 eggs, creaming method.) But I left out nearly 2oz of the flour to allow for adding a lot of cocoa, (it was 1 and 3/4 oz of cocoa.) It made quite a sloppy mixture which I then added the mixed fruit to. It was one bag of mixed fruit, defrosted and minus the juice and the strawberries. I don't really like strawberries in cakes unless they are fresh. I folded the berries in gently then divided the mixture evenly between two greased square sandwich tins (cm) and baked them at 180C for about 15-20 mins until the skewer came out clean. When cooled, I spread a layer of raspberry jam in the middle and it was served on the day with squirty cream. It's a deep, cocoaey cake with the added sharpness of the berries, and although it's yummy as it is, a little cream lifts it. It's not actually very rich, and it's delectably soft and moist. 

I've posted separately about the exact recipe for the Raspberry Swirl Fairy Cakes here. 

My wonderful Andy accompanied me on the day, and the extra pair of hands was much appreciated in keeping teapots and cafetieres all topped up, especially as the hot water urn wasn't in the same room as the serving hatch. 



Everyone seemed really chuffed to be given mountains of treats and proper nice cuppas and it was a real delight to serve them all. 

Love Susie 

Yumminess in Kingsbridge.

A dear friend has just moved to Devon, which is really delightful. 

She's now in Kingsbridge, which is even more delightful because it's only an hour away from me, and the town is on the Estuary, and full of wonderful gift shops, cafes, bakeries and delis. 

I visited for the day yesterday and we walked from their new house, with 6 month old baby Isaac in a sling, down the High st.

We were aiming for a particular cafe at the bottom, but wandering down the street took us ages as we wanted to spend so long exploring, popping into each lovely emporium that took our fancy.

The first was Mangetout, a really gorgeous Delicatessen and cafe. I've had cuppas here a few years ago with Andy's Grandma, so it was lovely to peruse their tasty treats for a while. 

I couldn't resist this beautiful packet of pasta. The colour and the design is so gorgeous. It may not be opened for a very long time, if ever! 



We also spent a little while admiring the pies and quiches in the window. I wish I'd bought a whole pile of them, they looked so good. 






We spotted these sweet little Shortbread delights, which were 50p each, and I bought us one each as they looked so enticing. They were filled with a soft vanilla cream and topped with nuts, and tasted like a really special custard cream. 

We nibbled them as we mooched down the street and they helped sustain us until our late lunch. 




There were all sorts of bakeries which we looked in but didn't enter, but I'll have to revisit them soon as I actually tasted some of their wares at Andy's Grandma's house later that afternoon. She lives in the next village and I popped in to say hello on the way home. She provided a very pretty platter of daisy-shapped soft shortbread with a cherry in the centre and some slices of soft lemon drizzle cake. She'd been out that morning to Kingsbridge to select some locally baked treats. Good Old Kingsbridge. If I was looking for a town to relocate to, this would be high on my list! 

The Greengrocer's even sold fresh herbs by the sprig! I bought a couple of kilos of apricots as they were at a decent price, and made jam the next day. 

I wish I could share photos of the lovely Cafe we ate at, but my phone had run out of power by then. But here they are if you'd like to try them out. It's called the Harbour House Cafe, and it's just gorgeous. You go all the way upstairs to a light and airy room and all the way down some outdoors steps if you want to eat outside in their lovely courtyard garden. I had a simple roll for my lunch but it was delectable. A homemade granary roll, warmed and crisp on the outside, with a filling of diced avocado, cucumber and tomato. It was so delicious, I went and bought myself some avocados from the local market across the road. Becky had a gorgeously craggy cheese and leek scone and a wonderful, huge piece of brownie and I've logged it as a place to go to again. They even did a Flat White, so Andy would be chuffed. 

Tangy Pink Plum Jam

Today we popped into our local farm shop to buy some raspberries and strawberries to enjoy eating in the garden, and I saw some lovely magenta plums that made me want to make jam.

I haven't made any jam yet this year and the urge suddenly took me. It's like this with greengrocers; I see lovely produce and want to make loads of stuff we don't really need. I love jam but don't eat a lot of it, so it's a great thing to make and squirrel away for present giving.

Currently though, I'm stockpiling preserves for a couple of events this Autumn. One is the Avonwick and North Huish Apple Fair, which Andy's parents help to run in their village each year. And the other is Devon Open Studios, as I will be opening my house to visitors for a couple of weeks and showing off my drawings and workspace. I will be serving cuppas and tasty snacks, and thought it might help with the costs of the fees if I sell a little home produce alongside it. 

I thought I should also start raising some funds to help with my dream of making a real book with my many many recipes for A Bouquet of Wooden Spoons a reality. I don't yet know how or when that is going to happen, but it's the end goal so saving some pennies for printing might be the best idea. If you'd like to buy a jar of this lovely Plum Jam they are £2.20 each, so let me know!


1kg plums
600g sugar
1 mug water


This recipe is for a really nice tangy jam. I don't like jam to be too sweet so I tend to use less sugar than many recipes. A lot of jams are equal parts fruit to sugar, so I leave at least a quarter out. This time. I left out more than a third. 

So, I started by washing and draining the plums, then slicing them into quarters so I could twist out the stones. I didn't use the stones at all as there is so much pectin in the skins of plums to help the jam set without them. If you are using really ripe fruit you might need the juice of a lemon to help reach setting point, but these were all under ripe, except for two riper ones I kept back to chomp on. 

Once all the fruit is in the pan, set it on a medium heat with a good splosh of water to stop the fruit sticking; about a mug full. Keep an eye on the plums and stir regularly. Simmer away until the fruit is soft and pulpy. Use a potato masher to help break up any large lumps. 



Add all the sugar and stir well on a low heat until fully dissolved. Turn the heat right up and bring to a rapid boil. Keep a close watch and stir very frequently, as plums really want to stick, and you don't want black bits in your pretty pink jam. 

After about ten minutes, when it's looking syrupy and possibly ready, do a plate test. Dribble a little of the hot liquid onto a plate and wait for a couple of minutes before pushing your finger across the surface. If there is any wrinkling, you know the jam will be able to set. 


Remove the pan from the heat and ladle into sterilised jars. Enjoy!

 

BWS Recipe: Chorizo and Chicken Pasta

This is an immensely delicious and very simple meal that I started cooking a few years ago, as a quick dinner when we were both getting home from work late, tired and ravenous.  We originally had it with just Chorizo but added the chicken as a treat one day and find it to be a worthy enhancement. 

When I fell in love with Chorizo and began to cook with it regularly,  I realised that it gives off a lot of fat when fried so I started to put chopped onions in with it to cook simultaneously, as they need a generous amount of oil to become soft and juicy. The onion and Chorizo marriage really makes this dish, in my opinion, giving a moist and flavoursome base to coat the pasta in, meaning no need for a sauce. It's just yummy.

It's quick to prepare and cook, and pretty healthy, really. There's no added oil. The seasoning all comes from the Chorizo too, perfectly salted and peppered.

Serves 2
Prep Time: About 5 minutes
Cooking Time: About 15 minutes. 

Ingredients

2 Medium Onions, halved and sliced. 75-100g Chorizo150g Spirali Pasta (or your choice)2 Chicken Breasts, diced
2 tbsp Garlic PureeFresh Veg (a handful each of baby sweetcorn, mange tout, brocoli)

Method

Peel and halve two medium onions from top to bottom. Slice thinly into semi-circles. These will separate out as you cook them. 


Cut the chorizo in half lenthways then slice across it, about the thickeness of a pound coin, into half-moons. This size means you can fork it in to your mouth without cutting up anything on your plate, and get a decent spread of chorizo through the dish. Quarter moons would also work well, but not too thin. 

Heat a large, deep frying pan on  a high heat with no oil. When hot, tip in all the onion and chorizo together and stir well. Turn the heat down to medium, and stir regular. The oils will be released from the chorizo to coat the onion and keep it from sticking or singeing. Add the chicken and allow to brown before stirring it. Cook gently for about 10-15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is gently browned and very soft. Don't allow it to dry out, turn the heat lower if it's toasting it too much. 

Cook your pasta and add any fresh veg you would like - baby sweetcorn, mange tout or broccoli all work well. If you want to be able to just fork mouthfuls in, cut up your veg into bitesize pieces. Add them a few minutes before your pasta is finished cooking and drain well. 

Stir in the garlic puree to the frying pan and stir well.  
Tip the pasta and veg into the frying pan and toss well until fully mixed and the pasta is well coated in the chorizo oil. 

Tip into pasta bowls and enjoy! 

Half Hand-made Bread Rolls.

Using our fairly basic bread machine, we've been baking a nice dumpy little loaf of wholemeal bread every week for the past couple of years or so, for our church homegroup. We meet at Helen and Mike's house and before we pray or worship or bible study, we all sit down together to catch up round the table over a wonderful soup or stew cooked by Helen, with our donation of the bread.

A larger loaf than usual,which
decided to create this excellent
shape. We've had smooth, dumpy
little loaves and hedgehoggish
craggy ones. Always fun to see
what will emerge from the
machine. 

Other than that we don't eat a lot of bread, or use our machine at all. We really wanted to use it to make some dough and then shape it ourselves to bake in our oven. Some bread machines have a dough setting that stops at the dough-shaping stage automatically, but alas, ours does not.

A few weeks ago though, Andy decided he could figure out from the machine's whirrings and silences when it had finished all the mixings and kneadings and was ready to be shaped. So he set a timer and checked it regularly and was able to extract the lovely squidgy dough at just the right moment.

I particularly wanted to make tiny little wholemeal rolls to go with a soup starter for a very small dinner party I was hosting for my best friend's 30th birthday party. 

Rachael, Ally and Jodie enjoying thoop. 

Ally is vegetarian so I had planned a nice little menu that she would love, avoiding her most hated foods; mushrooms, anything sloppy, anything creamy, 'slimy' potatoes, aubergines and actually quite a lot of other quite innocently nice foods. After countless meals I have now cooked for Ally, I have a massive list of no nos to keep her tummy happy. 




Very pleasingly, the dough worked out beautifully. It was lovely to work with and I shaped each little lump into a funny mushroom, pulling the dough smooth and tight across the top and tucking the ends underneath. It proved well, in the gently warmed grill above the oven I was already using. I baked the rolls at 180C for ten minutes and they came out lightly browned, very tearable, cushiony soft inside, with a goldened bottom and hollow tap.


They were so cute, especially as they were just for the starter, with a little bowl of homemade roasted tomato and garlic soup. I finally had a reason to use my tiniest rosebud plates, that are the size of a coaster! 

The rolls worked out so well we decided we would do it again soon, and just a couple of weeks later Andy suggested doing white ones.

One warm Sunday we decided to do a lazy bbq indoors to eat outside. Andy wanted to try making hand-shaped hot-dog rolls and burger baps, so during the afternoon he got the dough started in the machine. 


If you'd like the recipes, the amounts are at the bottom of this post, but the length of times for mixing and heating will differ depending on the make and model of your bread machine. We're not quite sure how long ours does each bit for, so it might be best to just use the recipes that come with your machine. Or you could let it mix for a while with a dough hook in a stand mixer. It's all worth experimenting with. 

This time we baked them at a higher temperature, being bigger rolls, and we wanted a slightly crisper top. They went in at 210C for ten minutes and came out perfectly cooked. 

They tasted so wonderful, really yeasty, just salty enough, and not too sweet. White and fluffy inside, and deeply golden on top. The hot dog rolls were so soft, just perfect for cocooning a great sausage with mayo and tomato chutney. 

The burger baps were ideal for holding everything in; the perfect width for our burgers and yummy packaging for everything that should go into a burger, except we didn't have any lettuce. So we had smoked bacon, melted Vintage cheddar, sliced warm tomatoes, mayo, tomato and onion relish, and of course a first class beef burger.


We're not really fans of seedy tops or floury coatings, so ours were completely plain, but you can add the extras if you feel like it. We're pretty set with these now. Not sure we'll ever be buying burger baps or hot dog rolls again unless we're desperate!

White
(Put the ingredients in in this order, without mixing.)
Makes a medium 750g loaf, about 6-8 large burger baps, 8-10 hot dog rolls or approx 30 tiny rolls.

260g water (same as 260ml if you are measuring instead of weighing.)
4 tsp olive oil
1.5 tsp salt
4 tsp sugar
1.5 tbsp dried milk powder
500g strong white flour
1 and 3/4 tsp dried fast action yeast


For the wholemeal loaf, use exactly the same quantities, just substitute the white four for Stoneground Wholemeal Flour.