Festive Shortbread

There is something very English (or Scottish I should say!) about shortbread at Christmas. It appears in beautiful tins and packages in every food store around this time of year but it is so easy to make yourself and so much better than anything you can buy. This recipe is from Martha Stewart. Apparently she made this at the request of Ralph Lauren many years ago as holiday gifts for his friends and he always adored eating it! If it's good enough for Ralph then it's good enough for me!

Here's the finished shortbread cooling on a wire rack.

  

My addition to the recipe is to add the seeds of one vanilla pod to the butter when it is creaming. The vanilla flavour makes them more seasonal I think.

240g of room temperature, unsalted butter is creamed for about 5 minutes, with the seeds added for the last minute. You should be able to make out the black flecks in the creamy butter here.

The dry ingredients are then added; 2 cups of flour, 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt and 3/4 cup of icing sugar, all sifted together first. Add slowly to the creamed butter with the mixer on slow speed too.

The mixture is pressed into a 10-inch, loose bottom, fluted tart pan using clingfilm until it is smooth. Chill for about 30 minutes, cut into 8 wedges, prick with a fork and bake at 150 degrees celsius for about an hour, or until the shortbread is golden brown and firm in the centre.

A video of Martha Stewart making the recipe can be found here. The shortbread will keep for a couple of weeks in an air-tight container bit it's so delicious it probably won't last that long!

Braised Red Cabbage

I could not contemplate Christmas dinner without braised red cabbage. I always make it well in advance because it freezes so well and reheats beautifully on the hob. This recipe is Nigella Lawson's and it is the first time I have made it. She loves to add pomegranate to everything at Christmas so this cabbage is braised with red onion, apples, all spice, pomegranate juice and a little red wine vinegar which was my own addition to balance out the sweetness. You can find the recipe here. The house smelt of Christmas for the 3 hours it was cooking. I popped the whole thing in the oven at just under 150 degrees celsius for just over 3 hours, stirring now and then, rather than simmering on the stove top. Either way, the first taste went down very well so I think this one should be a winner. One red cabbage will serve at least 10 people as part of a big meal, probably more, so it is also very economical. I freeze it in two batches so there is some for another meal early in the new year. I hope you give it a go!

The finished braised red cabbage after just over 3 hours in the oven.

A Christmas Outing

This Sunday we made our annual visit to Hinton Ampner, a National Trust property in Hampshire near where we live. Accompanied by friends who had never visited before we were looking forward to seeing the house decorated for the festive season and soaking up some Christmas atmosphere.

  

The house was lovingly rebuilt and restored by its owner, Ralph Dutton, after a devastating fire in 1960.

There is something beautiful about the Hampshire countryside as autumn fades into winter.

A wonderful choir sang carols on the grand staircase.

The house was decorated to reflect the song The Twelve Days of Christmas. Nine pairs of shoes represented nine ladies dancing.

Each pair contained a beautiful flower arrangement.

This stunning tree had twelve drummers drumming around the base.

Another tree, this time in the window of the dining room.

I was very taken with this impressive table setting of seven swans-a-swimming.

Exquisite flower arrangements added a very festive feeling to each room.

I like arrangements that include things you could find in the woods. They are very natural and unstructured.

By the main entrance a sparkling tree welcomed hundreds of visitors. It was a very relaxing afternoon.

Dream Christmas inspiration!

If you are looking for ideas for stylish entertaining and home decor this Christmas look no further than this special issue from the editors of Homes and Gardens. Dream Christmas (£4.50) has some wonderful festive decorating schemes, 70 pages of recipes (although nothing especially unusual) and real inspiration for your table settings.

I was delighted to see a 'Christmas at home' article featuring one of my favourite designers, William Yeoward, as well as a beautiful seasonal table setting using my very own Jasper Conran dinner service from the man himself! I shall certainly be taking his lead this year when I serve Christmas dinner at home to my family. 

This is the best of the bunch of Christmas specials in my opinion and well worth the price. I shall be keeping mine for future reference without a doubt.  Festive entertaining will become a prominent feature of this blog as we head deeper into winter. Curl up and enjoy this magazine in the meantime. 

The new Waterford crystal mixology collection

I was very taken with the new Waterford crystal 'mixology' collection following a visit to the Wedgwood shop in Barlaston today. It is beautifully displayed under a £6,000 chandelier so you really can't miss it! The collection includes a stunning range of barware suitable for those of us who like a cocktail, and to be honest who doesn't?

The collection really catches the light by the window and this shows off the colours to good effect. I covet the argon blue tumblers which are £115 per pair. The other colours are talon red, neon lime and circon amethyst.

 

The cocktail glasses are very art deco. A coloured set of 4 matching glasses is £225. Beautiful matching decanters are £240.

The collection is the perfect marriage of traditional and modern - the ideal Christmas present or a decadent treat for yourself!

For stockists and more information visit uk.wwrd.com

Julie Reiner, the owner and Beverage Director of Manhattan's Flatiron Lounge and Brooklyn's Cover Club has designed some exclusive cocktails to go with the range of glasses. Look out for the ingredients and preparation instructions in-store and online.

Happy Halloween!

I hope your preparations for Halloween are going well. I just wanted to share this beautiful picture of a selection of gourds and pumpkins I saw in a local shop. Nothing says Autumn quite like this kind of image and not only do they make excellent decorations for the creepiest night of the year but they are then delicious to eat too. Roast them and put them in a soup or add to a basic risotto recipe - irresistible!

For the best Halloween ideas visit www.marthastewart.com or try to track down her special 2013 Halloween issue of Living.

A visit to Biddulph Grange gardens resulted in some suitably ghostly discoveries as we explored the grounds...

This skeleton was trying to crawl out of his grave! 

This warning adorned the entrance to one of the buildings in the grounds.

Inside, this horrific scene greeted us with a soundtrack of screaming and ghostly moaning.

This giant urn supported a huge evil pumpkin head!

Ornamental Grasses in Autumn

Since a traditional lawn is simply not an option in my garden, I have planted many different varieties of ornamental grass all around it, taking care to check whether they can cope with heavy alkaline clay and partial shade.  Thankfully a number of beautiful forms can, and I haven't shied away from the larger types amongst these, as big and bold statement plants in a small garden can create dramatic space illusions.  Grasses are particularly good for this, as most have soft, trembling leaves that simply caress you as you walk by them, and most die back each winter so shouldn't take over the garden (pampas grass, of course, is an exception on both fronts!).    I love the waving leaves of ornamental grasses through the summer but for me their best feature is the stunning plumes they throw up each autumn.  These can be left on the plant as it fades to brown over the winter, providing fluffy structural interest in the bleaker months.  I cut back all of the ornamental grasses pictured below to a few inches each March.  They sprout anew shortly afterwards.       



Cortaderia selloana pumila, dwarf pampas grass, without a doubt my favourite large grass in the garden.  I simply adore the huge, soft, plentiful plumes that shine and sparkle when the sunlight glows through them.  Though dwarf, this variety reaches 5-6 feet easily with a wide radius of sharp, tough, evergreen leaves which make for a challenging March cut-back, so it's not for every small garden.  But I would not be without it.      

This miscanthus is a much more delicate grass than the pumila in every way but is equally resilient, reliable and beautiful. Again the sunlight catches the plumes which creates a striking contrast in this largely shady green border.

In the foreground another miscanthus, a dwarf form called 'Nippon', throws up beautiful reddish plumes against the fountain of soft panicles emerging from the floppy foliage of anemanthele lessoniana. 

Italian Feast Part 2

It never feels like a party until the table is laid. I've gone for a slightly more formal table this time with a crisp white table cloth and the platinum chargers from our Wedgwood dinner service.

The vintage-style blue candle holders pick up the predominant colour of the rest of the room. Lay the table early in the day so there is one less thing to worry about.

 

Below is my favourite napkin fold and I have put a small menu card on each place with a fragrant sprig of rosemary cut from the garden to add colour and interest. This gives a slightly rustic feel and stops the whole table looking too clinical.
 

With a napkin folded into quarters to make a neat square, lay it down with a point facing you. Fold the top corner down about half way towards the centre. Turn everything over and fold the two side corners in to just overlap at the centre. Turn back over and you're done!

The menu for tonight features some recipes I have shared with you before on this blog such as tuscan mashed chickpea crostini as a canape, tagliarelle with white truffle butter as the starter and a chocolate and amaretti torte for dessert. The main course is a herb-baked loin of cod with creamy Parmesan polenta and green beans with garlic and all of this is followed by a hearty cheese board with rosemary crackers, dried figs and chutney.
 

Post party note: I think the food was enjoyed by all and whilst it may not have been 100% authentically Italian it vanished very quickly! Much lively conversation and laughter were the highlights of the evening - along with a lot of Prosecco! I hope you'll feel encouraged to give some of these dishes a try yourself. Buon appetitio! 

Italian Feast Part 1

Work has been very busy hence the lack of posts here but I can only go so long without a party so this Saturday I am hosting an Italian feast for friends and neighbours, two of which are our fairly new Italian neighbours. Am I mad cooking Italian for Italians? We shall have to wait and see on that one but I thought it would be fun to share my preparations for the big event in the next few posts. I wanted to start by mentioning white truffle butter.

Here's the packet of truffle butter - I buy two at a time and keep them in the freezer so I always have some for the recipe that follows.

Have you come across this amazing ingredient? It's butter laced with real white truffles and it has the most divine flavour. I haven't found it in any shops outside of London yet but it is available from Truffle Hunter in the UK. Click here for a link to their website. They also have a shop on Amazon. 100g is just over £6 but a little goes a long way and it is the star ingredient of my first course for this weekend's dinner party. 

I love the picture on the box from Truffle Hunter. All their products look scrumptious. When my current white truffle oil that I bought in Italy runs out I will be trying theirs for sure.

I'm making Tagliarelle with White Truffle Butter as the starter. It's an Ina Garten recipe and you have to taste it to believe how something so simple can be so delicious. Prepare the ingredients and it comes together in a few minutes whilst your guests are seated. 



If you can find Cipriani tagliarelle there is nothing like it! Waitrose used to stock it but you can find it on line.



The pasta comes wrapped in tissue and only takes 3 minutes to cook. It is like eating silk!

The recipe will work with other pastas but because this pasta is so light it compliments the rich sauce with Parmesan and chives so well. What else can you do with truffle butter?

1. Rub truffle butter under the skin of a chicken or turkey before roasting.
2. Melt it in a pan before cooking scrambled eggs. Yummy!
3. Use as a base for a bechamel sauce which you can use for mac and cheese or cauliflower cheese.
4. Melt it into mashed potatoes.

To be honest it's brilliant in most dishes that use regular butter so give it a go. Just remember that black and white truffles are very different and often not interchangeable. I do prefer white truffles but then I love anything Italian!

Popovers for brunch

Popovers are something of an American institution but are not so well known over here. We might think of them as Yorkshire puddings (which they technically are I suppose!) but in America they are eaten either as a sweet treat with butter and jam or for brunch as part of a cooked breakfast. The oldest known reference to a popover comes from 1850 and the earliest recipe appeared in a book called Practical Cooking by M. N. Henderson in 1876.

Today I treated our guests to popovers for breakfast, split and filled with creamed spinach and served with crispy smoked bacon and fried eggs.

 

I ordered the popover pan from American as they are very difficult to find in the UK. It worked brilliantly and it's non-stick.

 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. My popover recipe involves whisking 1 1/2 cups of plain flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Gradually add 1 1/2 cups of milk, whisking all the time. The batter will be a bit lumpy but that's fine. Then slowly whisk in 3 large eggs. I do all of this in a big measuring jug so I can then pour the batter into each of the popover cups. Fill them just over half way. The great thing is the the pan does not need to be preheated. Cook the popovers for about 30 minutes but remember they rise a lot so make sure you allow them room to expand in the oven. Cool for a minute when cooked then remove from the pan, slice with a serrated knife and fill with creamed spinach. They can of course be served with sweet fillings too or for afternoon tea, which I have yet to try.

Here's one popover filled with creamed spinach, served with crispy bacon and a fried egg. Delicious!

These local eggs come from rare breeds so they are all different colours. They look so pretty that I like to have them out on show.

End of summer colour

As an unusually dry and sunny UK summer abruptly gives way to a typically cold and wet autumn, the flowers still in bloom (some of which are pictured below) offer a welcome reminder of warm, bright days.         

Sedum spectabile, a beautiful autumn flowerer whose spent heads have winter interest too.    

Bedding pelargonium in vibrant pink.   

Rhodochiton, a very curious and allegedly perennial climber purchased appropriately enough at the Unusual Plants Fair at the Gilbert White house in Selbourne in early summer.   Slow to flower, this plant is now covered in these strange dangling flowers, seen here at various stages of development.  They have the given the plant two common names - the one I prefer is 'Purple Bells'!   

A pelargonium adored by Victorian gardeners for its clashing colours, Mrs Pollock is now quite hard to come by.  I love its tri-color foliage and vintage garden feel, but I've found it to be quite a fussy madam and not very generous when it comes to flowers!  

Another Victorian garden favourite and staunchly reliable, the perennial Gaillardia flowers relentlessly, providing pollen for bees and colour for the vase all summer long.  This is a two year old plant.  

Yet another Victorian favourite, calceolaria integrifolia, the 'slipper flower'.  This yellow perennial brightly marks the entrance to the garden and provides delicate cut flowers for smaller vases.        

 Gypsophila, for accentuating delicate cut flower displays. 

A cheery summer pansy mix which has brightened this permanently shaded corner of the garden all summer long! 

 

The climbing rose Danse de Feu usually gives two displays of its deep red flowers, one in June and one in August, as here.  

This shrub rose is breathtakingly beautiful in flower - but I'm afraid I can't remember its name!  If you know it and you can post here, I'd really appreciate being reintroduced!   

Up-cycling Part 1: The Linen Cupboard

 Several pieces of furniture in our home started out life as something else but have now been up-cycled to take on a new function or identity. One of our guest rooms is decorated in a duck egg blue colour and this cabinet (below) graces one corner of the room. It's a Queen Anne style cabinet, probably dating from the early 1900s and used to be used as a display cabinet in a relative's lounge. It was a dark wood piece of furniture but as it is not especially valuable and was not in keeping with the style of its new home it was quickly transformed. An undercoat was applied first and then this beautiful vintage duck egg blue paint was applied on top. The handle was also replaced. It is now used as a linen cupboard and a place to store and display some other household items, such as my collection of vases.

   

The French wine box underneath is used to store a mixture of cutlery, wrapped carefully in linen and tied together.

There is a surprising amount of space for storage here in what is a relatively small piece of furniture

I have quite a collection of table linen, napkins and cocktail napkins which are stored here in sets. I thought it would also be quite nice to display my sets of napkin rings by Wedgwood and William Yeoward rather that keeping them in a box. On the top shelf is a bottle of linen spray by Jo Malone which has a wonderful citrus aroma and it is great sprayed lightly on napkins before laying the table. It adds a little touch of luxury and a beautiful fragrance when they are in use.

I always keep a spare scented candle in the cabinet to keep everything smelling fresh. The one on the middle shelf is black lily by True Grace.

The vases are a mixture of antique and contemporary. I love having different shaped vases as I always have fresh flowers somewhere in the house and each one suits a different type of arrangement. I think they look pretty on display and it makes choosing the right one much easier! The little bud vases on the middle shelf look lovely at each place setting on a dinner table, holding a single rose stem.

Here's a view inside the cabinet. Although these are all useful objects they look pretty when organised and displayed neatly.

These French wine boxes are easy to find on-line and are useful for a whole range of decorative storage purposes.