Enjoying the Cherry Season

As soon as this sign appears in our village, you know that the cherry season is with us. Even though the season is short, we try to make the most of the cherries, and this year they are really big and juicy.



Some left-over chocolate cake can be made into a simple Black Forest trifle, no recipe as it's one of those things you just throw together.
In the bottom of a serving glass, or dish, I spooned a little chocolate ganache (chocolate sauce would be just as good), on top of that I put some chocolate sponge. I then added some halved and stoned cherries that had been marinated in a few tablespoons of kirsch (pour the juice and liqueur over the sponge). Top with some lightly whipped double cream and some grated chocolate.

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This content belongs to Nicisme at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2009 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.

Thirsty? Try a Raspberry Cooler!

We have more raspberries than we know what to do with lately, and one easy way to use them up is to make a raspberry cordial - a sweet, non-alcoholic fruit concentrate that is diluted down with water/lemonade to taste.

This went down a treat in the mini-heatwave we had last week, and is a great way to use up the smaller, softer, more manky raspberries that you might not want in your desserts.





Raspberry Cooler
Adapted from the BBC Good Food Magazine

350g fresh raspberries
200g caster sugar
1 lemon sliced
1 orange sliced
225 ml cold water

Ice and cold or sparkling water/lemonade to serve. See note at end.

Put all the ingredients (raspberries, sugar, lemon, orange and 225 ml water) in a large saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring often.

Leave to cool. Pour through a sieve, pressing the mixture down well with a spoon to extract all the juices.

The syrup can be stored for up to one week in the fridge.

To serve, pour a little of the syrup into a glass, top up with water (still or sparkling) and ice.

Note: You can also dilute this with lemonade or a mixture of lemonade and sparkling water if you want it less sweet. The lemonade we get here is quite different from that in the US. Ours is a sparkling lemony beverage, and can be replaced with something like 7-Up, Mountain Dew or Sprite.

(Printable Recipe)



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This content belongs to Nicisme at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2009 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.

Anyone for Tennis?

It's been a busy couple of months, school is almost finished for the summer and the British strawberry season is here. I have an overload of beautiful garden raspberries and these little tarts are one way to use them up.
I used Dorie's sweet tart dough from this post and filled the baked cases with a little whipped double cream. Just add ripe, summer fruits.


Little pastry cases ready to bake


Filled with strawberries, raspberries and a few blueberries

Wimbledon
Last Saturday, my 15 yr old son took me to Wimbledon! His name came up for tickets at our tennis club, and because the person in front of him swapped his tickets for No. 1 court tickets, we got seats on centre court. Although I've been a few times before, these were really good seats, not too far up and just behind the royal box - which was interesting because they had quite a few members of our Olympic gold medalists as guests, including Sir Steve Redgrave, Sir Matthew Pinsent, Dame Kelly Holmes, and Sir Chris Hoy along with other members of our winning cycling team.


A view of some of the outside courts

The weather was wonderful as we walked around - you can get right up to the edge on the outside courts - the sound that the racquet makes as it hits the ball is electrifying.


Getting up close on the outside courts


Finding your way around


Henman Hill

We sat on the famous 'Henman Hill', which was filled with anticipation as our man Andy Murray would be playing later, then headed off to centre court for the main matches.
These were the matches we saw and the results:





Centre court, absolutely packed


Our man in action


That famous roof

Even if you are not a great tennis fan, going to Wimbledon is a fabulous experience - and you don't have to be on the best court to have a great day (but it sure helps!)

Summer BBC Good Food Show - part 2

Here is a small selection of photos, in no particular order (although I am a sucker for cookbooks and kitchenware) from the stands at the Summer BBC Good Food Show. The food part of the show was a bit smaller than last time, but there was an added bonus of a huge gardening and horticultural section, in conjunction with Gardeners World.


All the cookbooks you could want



A selection of cookware from Cooking Marvellous



All natural Cream Cutie



Crunchy potato crisps from Tyrrell's



Organic products from Nudo



Avocado oil from Olivado



Organic yogurt from Rachel's Organic



Onion Marmalade from The Truckle Cheese Company



Organic bread mixes from Glebe Farm



Handmade cheeses from the Lymn Bank Farm Cheese Company



Interesting breads from The Continental Bakery



Blended herbs and spices from Spicentice



French sausages



I recognise this muesli from Kellogg's



Free range eggs from the Cowran Estate



Selection of pies



More cheeses


Kitchen appliances from Miele



A stand from the gardening section

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This content belongs to Nicisme at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2009 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.

BBC Good Food Show with Miele!

I must be one of the luckiest food bloggers around! Due to other commitments, I had missed out on Miele's St. Patricks Day experience back in March, but this was an invitation to go the Summer BBC Good Food Show on a Saturday and I was free! After my fabulous experience last November with Miele, I was really looking forward to going, and it didn't disappoint.

On arriving, we were met and looked after by 3 Miele/Forever Better representatives, who I would like to say a big thank you to, and especially Steph, for all her hard work that went into organising the day.
It was brilliant getting to meet these other food bloggers:
Jules - Domestic Goddess in Training
Celine - Black Salt
Jan - What Do I Want To Cook Today
Naomi - Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried
Sylvie - A Pot of Tea and a Biscuit

Anne -Anne's Kitchen

Sunita - Sunita's World


A food demonstration by Simon Rimmer

First stop was the Summer Kitchen demonstration by Simon Rimmer. It's interesting to hear the patter and see what the chefs are cooking. I would be extremely nervous, cooking in front of a massive, hungry, foodie audience - but Simon was cool, calm and very funny as he demonstrated his 3 dishes, steak tartare, a fish dish and banana tarte tatin.


Simon cooked steak tartare


And fish

Next up was a coffee stop behind the scenes, and a photo opportunity with the top chefs as they relaxed before their turns on the various stages.


Seeing the gorgeous Gino D'Acampo, Simon Rimmer and the Hairy Bikers, backstage


Hairy Bikers on stage


Gino D'Acampo's turn

After lunch, we had time to wander around the stands before we met up at the Miele stand to see the latest in fabulous kitchen appliances.


Look at those faces - that is serious kitchen appliance envy, from Anne, Naomi, Jan and Sylvie


Gorgeous kitchen hob, complete with retracting salamander. In the right side of the photo is a fabulous wok cooking zone - the photo below shows the way the hob is indented to hold the wok.




Steam ovens


Range of ovens

Now for the most nerve-wracking and exciting part of the day! All the food bloggers got to cook at the brand new Miele Cookery Experience. Our presenter was Sophie Michell and we made steamed Thai scallops and Thai lemon sole - which was stuffed with crab, then steamed and served on top of a spicy mango salad. The food was from the sponsor Sainsbury's, and it was all cooked on beautiful Miele appliances, including the new steam ovens. We even got to sit down and eat the food at the end!


The kitchens all laid out, ready and waiting...


Side view of the kitchens


The lovely Sophie Michell showing us what to do


Jules and myself, slicing the mango (thanks for taking the photo Steph!)


Phew, Jan is smiling - she's so laid back!


My Thai lemon sole, stuffed with crab, then steamed and served on top of a spicy mango salad


Sunita's gotta do what a food blogga does best!


Myself, Anne, Jules, Sylvie, Jan and Sunita - at the end of a super day!

Time for goodbyes and a last look around the show. The traffic was kind and I was home at a reasonable hour, and of course I took my new Miele cookbook to bed, food porn at its best!

Thank you again Steph and the Miele team for a wonderful day out!



As there are lots of photos, I'm going to do a round-up of some of the food stands and their products in the next post.

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This content belongs to Nicisme at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2009 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.

Farmers' Market - Horsmonden, Kent

This is the first article in an occasional series about the farmers' markets in my area, also highlighting the Local Food Advisor.
Local Food Advisor is a wonderful website with a wealth of information on finding local food in your area of the UK. Just type in your postcode to find your nearest farmer's market, or look for award winning producers, local food restaurants and even vegetable box schemes.



Horsmonden Farmers' Market, Kent is a bi-weekly market that is held on the village green in the spring and summer. During the winter months, the market can be found in the newly renovated village hall.
It was started by three local mums and is now in it's 3rd year. There are around 25 stalls selling local produce, with occasional and seasonal stallholders popping in at various times of the year. There is a great range of produce, including breads, meats, fish and vegetables - there is even a refreshment stand operated by a different local charity every fortnight.
All the produce on the stalls is set on ice to keep it fresh and cool.

For more information on Horsmonden Farmers' Market, visit their website or the Local Food Advisor website.

Here are some of the stalls that I visited and their produce. I've put the stallholders websites where I can, but some stalls haven't got theirs up and running yet.

First stop was the Birchden Farm asparagus stall. Just a week or two left in the British asparagus season so I made the most of it and bought a large bunch of the thin stemmed asparagus.



Free range organic eggs.





Of course the tea isn't locally grown, but the Revolution Tea company is just in the next county of E. Sussex. The tea bags are re-useable, made from 100% biodegradable infuser bag, filled with full-leaf teas. You can get 3-4 cups of organic tea from them. I bought a box of the green tea.





Fresh fruit and vegetables from Market Gardener



A selection of Mediterranean olives, consisting of garlic with herbs and chilli, semi-dried tomatoes, artichokes, antipasto, smoked chilli jelly, rose harissa and pesto, from Milbank Olives.



Traditional top quality beef, lamb and pork from Farmer Palmer's Products.





If I had to choose a favourite stall it would be Stratta. I could spend a good hour trying all their special fruit vinegars and oils. They are a lovely luxury, and once you have tasted them, you won't be going back to the supermarket stuff. I particularly like the raspberry vinegar, but they are waiting for this season's raspberries to make the vinegar, so I chose the morello cherry one. It is fabulous! You can actually taste the fruit in these vinegars and you also get a leaflet full of recipe ideas.
As well as sweet fruit vinegars, Stratta also produce fruit balsamics, savoury vinegars, herb infused oils, preserves, and ready-made dressings.





Next stop was David Westphal's 'Scrumpy Sussex' Traditional Cheese Dairy.



Traditional smoked meats, game and fish - from VJ Game.





Fresh fish from Lee's Fish Tank, mainly selling locally landed fish from Rye Bay.

Posh Puds, a great selection of home made puddings, cakes, savoury tarts, pizzas and pies.

Fresh organic produce from Chun Farm, which is a Soil Association farm in Horsmonden. They specialise in a wide variety of organic salad vegetables, soft fruit, herbs and Kentish cobnuts, when in season.

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This content belongs to Nicisme at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2009 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.
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Garden Update + British Asparagus

Redcurrants beginning to ripen

The sun is shining and everything in the garden is looking good. Veggies are planted and various fruits have been spotted.
I'm really excited as our mirabelle tree is absolutely loaded this year, compared to last year when we could count them on one hand. As soon as they ripen I'm going to be out there picking the ones I can reach, before the birds enjoy their feast.


Hoping these mirabelles don't get eaten by the birds


Tiny apples appearing


One of 24 chilli plants that we have growing

The British asparagus season is here, so for a few short weeks we are enjoying the delicious spring spears.

I like to throw a few onto the bbq, then brush with a little butter and seasoning before eating - delicious!




Er, how did a lone roasted potato get onto the barbie? Lol, not from me!


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This content belongs to Nicisme at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2009 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.

Is It Time For Ice Cream?

With the weather warming up and the evenings becoming longer, ice cream days are here again!
I want to SCREAM really loudly about this one, as it's soooo easy - 5 minutes to prepare for freezing and it's yet another recipe that you don't need to use a machine for.



But before I get on to the ice cream, I want to show you the chocolate cups I came up with. You really need some silicone moulds for these as the chocolate shells pop out of them without any fuss. I've used sphere and pyramid moulds.
Melt about 50g of dark chocolate and pour into a piping bag made from baking parchment or use a ready made one with a very small (no. 2) nozzle. You can also just use a teaspoon to drizzle the chocolate into the moulds, less clean up this way! Drizzle the dark chocolate in a random fashion over the inside of the moulds (or you can do some proper designs) and leave to set in the fridge.
Melt 100-200g of good white chocolate and brush the moulds until well covered. Leave to set. You need to coat the moulds with several additions of the white chocolate to make a firm shell that won't break.



You can now add the ice cream, or use them to hold summer fruits or mousse as in this recipe from Jen at Use Real Butter. Just make sure that if you are adding anything runny that needs to set, put the moulds onto a baking sheet or plate, and fill them up BEFORE lifting into the fridge/freezer - lesson learnt the hard way!!



Now, the best part - the ice cream!
David Lebovitz says that "this is the world's easiest ice cream", and having made it a few times now, I have to agree. It's just melted chocolate, milk, banana, Baileys and rum, blended together and frozen. No churning, no stirring, no nothing!
I used half cream and half semi skimmed milk and swapped the rum for Frangelico - delicious.
Thanks David for a great recipe!



Chocolate, Banana and Baileys Ice Cream
Adapted from this recipe by David Lebovitz

2oz (55g) dark or milk chocolate, broken into squares (I used milk chocolate)
3 tablespoons (40 ml) milk, whole or low fat (I used semi skimmed)
3 tablespoons (40 ml) cream
6 tablespoons (80 ml) Baileys Irish Cream liqueur
1 medium banana, peeled and thickly sliced
1 tablespoon (15 ml) dark rum (I used Frangelico liqueur)

Melt the chocolate with the cream and milk in a microwave, stirring every 15 seconds - or melt in a bowl over a pan of simmering water.

Using a blender, blend the melted chocolate/cream/milk mixture, the Baileys, the banana and the rum (or Frangelico) until smooth.

Pour into the chocolate shells, or other moulds or even a plastic container and freeze for at least 4 hours.

(Printable Recipe)



This is my contribution to this month's Sugar High Friday, being hosted by Zilla at Climbin' the Walls. She's asking for wheat free desserts to be submitted by 25th May 09.

This event was created by Jennifer at The Domestic Goddess. You can see all the previous themes here.



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This content belongs to Nicisme at Cherrapeno. All writing and photography copyright N Fowers © 2007-2009 unless otherwise indicated. All rights reserved.