September Musings

I don't know how it happened, but somehow we have gone from summer to autumn, seemingly overnight. I can see the leaves changing colour from one day to the next and each day I am greeted by more of them on the ground. There is a crisp feeling in the air and I can already smell the smells of burning brush and leaves and hear the leaves beginning to skitter across the dry pavement.


Where, just as few weeks ago, I was walking home in the evening in daylight, the sun is now beginning to dip into the horizon past the cottage next door, as I walk down the lane towards my own humble home, the silence broken only by the whisper of bats flying softly overhead and partaking of their early dusk treats, and the soft twittering of birds as they bed down for the night. It will not be long now before I am walking home in total darkness, with only the flashlight to keep me company.



Autumn is my favourite time of year. I love the cooler days and nights. I have never been a real heat lover. Perhaps it is the soft yearnings of my Canadian soul that speaks and tells me I am happiest in the cooler autumnal temperatures. There is something so cosy about walking into a kitchen after having been for a walk outdoors in the cool crisp air. The warmth of the kitchen AGA hits you right away. It just speaks of home to me. Were I at home during the whole day I would always have a pot of soup simmering away on the simmering plate, but alas, I am at work and so must save those pleasures for my days off.



I love all of the autumnal vegetables and fruits that are now showing up in the market stalls and at the green grocers. It is so lovely to see them again. I am a person that loves to eat seasonally. I want my strawberries during the summer months, served up warm from the summer sun with bits of straw still clinging to their leaves, just as I want blackberries fresh from the hedgerows, tasting all the better for having picked them yourself in the autumn. Somehow a Bramble and Apple cobbler just would not taste the same in July or as good as it tastes in September. There is a time for everything and a season under the sun. Our internal clocks tell us what is right and when . . . This is the time for crumbles and soups and tastily simmered things.



I saw some lovely , almost black, Cavolo Nero cabbage at the grocery store yesterday and picked some up. I love it simmered gently on top of the stove with beautiful fresh tomatoes from the garden. I could eat a whole plate of nothing else, but I think I shall cook some lamb steaks to go with it this time . . . a perfect autumn meal.



*Braised Cavolo Nero with Tomatoes*
Serves 4

I love the bitter flavour of this lovely deep green tuscany variety of cabbage. Very similar to kale and chard, it is robust and hearty and the perfect thing to pair up with delicious sweet tomatoes from the garden. This must be the reason they both come in season at the same time, for they are the perfect marriage . . .

400g of Cavolo Nero Cabbage (tuscan Kale)
1 (8 oz) glass of white whine
a healthy handful or two of baby plum tomatoes, (at least two dozen) cut into halves
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and bashed
1/2 tsp of dried red pepper flakes
sea salt
olive oil

Wash the Cavolo Nero very well under running water. Roll it up and shred it with a sharp knife, across the width.

Take a large deep skillet and heat some olive oil in it until it begins to shimmer. Add the clove of garlic and heat only until you begin to smell the fragrance of the garlic. Add the cabbage and some salt. Stir and toss for a few minutes over medium high heat, just until the cabbage begins to wilt a bit. Add the white wine, turn the heat down to medium and braise until the cabbage is soft, giving it a stir and adding some water from time to time if needed.

When the cabbage is quite soft add the tomatoes and continue to cook and braise, just until the tomatoes begin to soften, about five minutes longer. Serve with a drizzle of good olive oil on top.

The Farm market

In a nearby village, on the village green, on every second Friday morning, they have a Farmer's Market. I love Farm Markets and I went a few days ago, for the first time. It was quite a bit smaller than most markets, but the stalls were full of gorgeous produce, meats, breads and pies. I got some really nice looking runner beans along with a beautiful bunch of beets at the vegetable stall. All the vegetables looked so tasty and fresh . . . crisp, round green cabbages with ruffly leaves . . . fat orange carrots, feathery green leaves still attached, lined up in bunches . . . stacks of peppers and courgettes . . . all fresh picked . . . all begging me to buy. I could have easily gotten more, but they would only have gone to waste and so . . . I restrained myself.



The bread stall was no less enticing. The table stacked with all sorts of crusty, rustic loaves, the smell breathtaking, but once again, I restrained myself (which I am regretting now!) There was meat from a farm in Ashford, Burnt House Farm, all beautifully presented . . . quality beef, lamb and pork, all organic from Arberdeen Angus cows, Romney lambs and Saddleback pigs. I picked up some pork chops and lamb for work, and a few packets of minced beef for at home. (she said it had only been minced that morning and it looks really good)

Then there was a stall with Free Range-Corn Fed Poultry The birds looked beautiful . . . rows of fat chickens and ducks, all free range . . . beautiful turkey sausages (their own recipe) minced turkey and turkey burgers . . . and at Christmastime, they specialize in free range Bronze Turkeys, all from Upper Fairlight Farm in East Grinstead. I bought a lovely chicken to cook for the Mr for the weekend and some turkey mince to make them some turkey burgers next week. The chicken, once roasted looked very moist, with a beautifully crisp skin. I did taste one of the wings (cook's perogative you know!) and it was extremely tasty, succulent and juicy, and well flavoured . . . not anaemic like some that you buyin the local supermarkets.

Next there was a pie stall, sporting lovely crisp Fruit Crumbles, juicy Apple pies, Steak and Kidney pies and puddings, Steak and Ale pies, Steak and Stilton pies . . . all beautifully presented with golden flakey crusts, enticing bits of pie juice seeped over the edges and pooled in the corners . . . how could I resist . . . I bought a Steak and Ale pie for our supper one night and a Steak and Kidney Pudding for Todd to savour at a later date (it's in the freezer now) If it's even half as good as it all lookes, he's in for a real treat!

I'd just about exhausted our funds by then and so I tried to creep away without buying anything else, slinking past the stalls, stacked with beautiful homemade preserves and buckets of olives . . . when a voice cried out to me, "Would you like to try our homemade fudge?" I am such a soft touch . . . there was rum and raisin, vanilla, chocolate. . . . and the piece de resistance, candied ginger, studded with delicious little bits of candied ginger. I caved. for how could I, having now tasted, pass this all by. Resistance was futile, and so I bought a bag of lucious ginger fudge. There goes the diet. Mmm, it is so good, all beautifully creamy and buttery with that lovely, hot bite of ginger which pushes it well over the top!

I am now looking forward to Friday morning two weeks from now, and I am going to go armed with more than just a few pounds in cash! I was well impressed with this small country market and I hope that the locals support it so that it continues for a long time to come. There is something familial about a local farm market, like the heartbeat of the village that supports it. It breeds a feeling of community pride, and a sense of belonging to a larger family, a herald of old fashioned values, a feeling of stability, all things sadly lacking in most communities today, in a world where people no longer know who their neighbours are, or much less, care . . . If you have a farmers market where you live I urge you to check it out. You are sure to find some local treasures and . . . I am guessing . . . some new friends in the process!

I have long enjoyed a love affair with cauliflower cheese, that is until I discovered this little gem . . . my love affair has now expanded to include sweet potato with the cauliflower. Delicious!




*Cheesy Sweet Potato and Cauliflower*
Serves 4

This is comfort food at its very best. Lovely, meaty, orange fleshed sweet potatoes combined with beautiful, earthy, cauliflower florets . . . all encased in a rich cheese sauce, crusty bits of grilled cheese gilding the top. What’s not to like!

2 large orange fleshed sweet potatoes
1 small cauliflower, broken into florets
Cheese sauce (see below)
3 TBS snipped chives
Salt and pepper to taste
3 oz cheddar cheese, grated

Bake the sweet potatoes in a hot oven until tender. Set aside to cool for a few minutes. Put the cauliflower into a microwavable bowl, add a few TBS of water, cover with cling film and cook in the microwave for 5 minutes on high. Drain and set aside.

Prepare the cheese sauce as below. Preheat your grill.

Cut the sweet potatoes into wedges and lay them in the bottom of a greased oven proof dish. Drain the cauliflower and spoon it over the sweet potatoes. Spoon the hot cheese sauce over top (you may not need it all). Sprinkle with the grated cheese and the snipped chives. Grill for three to four minutes until golden and bubbling. Enjoy!

*Cheese Sauce*
Makes 1 ¼ pints

2 ounces butter
2 ounces plain flour
1 ¼ pints milk
1 bay leaf
3 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste

Melt the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour, stirring until smooth. Let cook over low heat for one minute to cook the flour then slowly stir in the milk, whisking until smooth. Add the bay leaf and cook over medium low heat, stirring, for about 10 minutes until thickened. Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the cheese and season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Show Us Your Sarnie Blog Event

Who doesn't like Sandwiches? I reckon everyone has their favourite sandwich, from a simple, uncomplicated and humble grilled cheese on white wonderbread, all the way up to a many layered epicurian delight such as a New Orleans grinder on a rustic ciabatta loaf or an artisanal bread. A sandwich is so much more than just some filling slapped between two slices of bread.

I'd like to challenge you all to participate in my first ever "Show Us Your Sarnie" blogging event. Be creative and think outide of the sandwich box. I want you to venture beyond the basic construction of a sandwich and expand your sandwich horizons. All shapes and sizes and flavours welcome. From simple combinations such as grilled bread brushed with a delicious pesto, to the traditional closed-faced grilled cheese and every combination in between. Savoury or sweet, we want to be dazzled by your creations!!!!

Once you've created and posted your entries, please send an e-mail to me at MarieAlice at cheerful dot com by no later than midnight on October 20th, 2007. Please put "Show us Your Sarnie" in the subject line. I will try to post the round up by no later than October 21st, 2007. After that, you will have ten days to check in and vote for your favourite entries, at the end of which time I shall pick a winner, to be announced on October31st, 2007 ! the only request I would make is that you place a link in your post linking it back to my journal and this post. Thanks so much!
Please include the following in your e-mails:

• your name
• your location
• the name of your blog and its URL
• aURL link to your post
• a picture of your delicious creation


Who knows, I may even be able to rustle up a prize or two or three!! Let's all have some fun!! Come on now, show us your Sarnies!

An Autumnal Walk

I had the pleasant surprise of an evening off yesterday, and so Todd and I decided to take advantage of the dry weather and the added bonus of a few extra hours together. We took ourselves off on a long, brisk walk through the orchards with Jess. Although it wasn't really sunny, it was dry, and the temperatures were a lot warmer than they have been these past few days. It was really quite pleasant.



All around us, the fruit trees were just drooping under the weight of the apples and pears and the pickers have started picking them. There was a crisp autumnal feeling about and the air was full of the heady scent of ripening apples. I love this time of year.



The gardens are definitely looking tired now, with all the plants going to seed and getting ready for the cold sleep that lies ahead, but here and there are small pockets of life that is still going on, mushrooms sprouting, berries and nuts ripening in the hedgerows. There are ever such a lot of red berries in the brush this year. Todd says that his mother always said when there is an abundance of berries in the hedgerows it means a long hard winter ahead. We shall see.



When we returned home I felt in the mood for something quick and yet satisfying. I had a large punnet of plum tomatoes that really needed to be used, and a packet of puff pastry . . . so I came up with this rich and satisfying tart. I had bought a lovely little jar of tomato vinegar at the shops a week or two agoand thought it would go wonderfully just drizzled over the top of the warm tart along with some torn basil. The apples we picked up on the ground along the way will have to be saved for another day, and perhaps baked in a crumble or a pie . . .



*Crisp Autumn Tomato Tart*
Serves 4

I had some tomatoes that needed to be used as well as some puff pastry. They just spoke tart to me and so I knocked this delicious one up. It's pretty wonderful what you can do with just a few ingredients.

1 (375g) packet of ready rolled puff pastry
4 ripe plum tomatoes, trimmed and very thinly sliced
1/4 cup homemade garlic mayonnaise
1 cup freshly grated strong cheddar cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Freshly grated Parmesan Cheese for dusting
Tomato vinegar for drizzling
a few basil leaves

Pre-heat the oven to 205*C/425*F. Line a baking sheet with some parchment paper and lay the puff pastry out on top of it. Taking a sharp knife run it along about 1/2 inch from the edges all the way around the sheet of pastry, being very careful not to cut through all the way to the bottom. This will be the rim of your tart. Take a fork and prick it all over inside the edge. Place into the heated oven and bake for approximately 10 minutes, or until slightly puffed. Remove from the oven and tamp down the centre area, leaving the edges puffed.

Spread the centre area with the garlic mayonnaise, covering it right up to the raised edges of the tart. Sprinkle with the Cheddar cheese. Lay the tomato slices over top of the cheddar cheese and sprinkle with a healthy dusting of sea salt and black pepper. Dust the top with some freshly grated parmesan cheese. Place back into the hot oven an bake for another 20 minutes until nicely browned and crisp on the bottom.

Remove from the oven and let sit for a few minutes. Drizzle some tomato vinegar over the top and sprinkle with some torn basil leaves before serving. Delicious!

The Monster of the Garden

Living in a rural setting as we do, the temptation is quite great to want to have a garden that is not only full of flowers, but also vegetables and fruits. We have a small patch of rhubarb in a shady corner of the garden, but, I am sad to say, we have never had much success when it comes to growing vegetables. The soil in our garden is just too poor, and the creatures that live it far too abundant and voracious, for us to get very far with it. I am afraid that I am far too kind and soft to do anything that would prevent them from benefiting our bounty. Besides, I do enjoy watching the little bunnies grazing about our lawn and feeding in the soft light of the early evening.



We have tried, at various times to grow runner beans, yellow wax beans, tomatoes and courgettes. The beans and tomatoes never quite came up to our expectations and I'm afraid that the field mice and bunnies that frequent our grounds gained far more from the experience than we actually did ourselves. We always have enjoyed a fair modicum of success with the courgettes though. So much so, that, they have always grown at a far quicker rate than we can actually get them used up. One year I even grew yellow ones, which were lovely to see and made for a variation in colour, if not flavour.



I don't think there are too many home gardeners that don't enjoy and understand the mixture of pain and pleasure that accompanies bolting courgette plants! Your neighbours quickly learn to both revere and abhor the sight of you and your endless gifts of the lovely green fruits. (One really can only use so much!) There are lots of delicious ways to enjoy them, but eventually the zeal and ability of even the most devoted culinary artist abates and one has exhausted every possible way to cram them into any variety of dishes . . . your freezer is full to the brim with sliced, diced and shredded green beauties, and your husband is threatening to leave the country should another one be placed in front of him to devour. Ahhhhh . . . the folly of planting more than just a few plants is something I know only too well. Over the past few weeks Todd, my husband, has been cajoled into enjoying courgettes in casseroles, stuffed, fried and baked in every possible way shape or form known to mankind. He's a patient man, but I fear even he is about to rebel. Perhaps I can tempt him with just one more gift from the garden . . .



*Courgette Loaf*
Makes 2 loaves

This is a delicious sweet bread that has been kicking around my blue recipe folder for longer than I can remember. I have tried many other versions, but this remains the old standby that I return to time and time again. Moist, fragrant and spicy, this one is a tried and true keeper.

2 1/2 cups caster sugar
3 large eggs
3 cups plain flour
1 cup mild flavoured salad oil (don't be tempted to use olive oil)
2 cups grated courgettes
the grated zest of one medium orange
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-haet the oven to 180*C/350*F. Lightly grease two nonstick loaf pans and set aside.

Whisk the flour, sugar, salt, soda, baking powder and cinnamon together in a large bowl. In a large measuring jug, whisk together the eggs, oil, orange zest, and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients along with the shredded courgettes and stir it all together, mixing it all in well. Pour into the two prepared pans and bake in the heated oven for about one hour, until it is risen, lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pans for 15 minutes before removing from the pan to cook completely on a wire rack. This freezes beautifully and is one of those loaves that gets better tasting and moister every day.

*Note: you can add 1 cup of chopped walnuts of pecans with the shredded courgettes if you wish.



This has been a post for the September "Grow Your Own" event being hosted by Andrea of http://www.andreasrecipes.com/ Come join in the fun!