Friday 23 June 2017

Not feeling too clever today (plus recipes added)


I am glad I took some photos of my roses yesterday because today it has been raining from breakfast time and they will be looking very sorry by tomorrow.  This is one of the tub ones (the David Austins I have bought) - Raubritter.  It is one of my favourites.  I first saw it when we visited an Antiques Fair at Cothay Manor in Somerset and was determined to have one here.



My so-called Graham Thomas, which doesn't seem to be yellow enough. Anyway, it is beautiful.



Up the front of the house is my first rose planted here, the climber Albertine.

One recipe tonight:

CHEESE SCONE TOPPING FOR BEEF COBBLER

Prepare your base as you wish it - plain minced beef and onion, or if you have unexpected guests, stretch it with tomatoes/mushrooms/baked beans/taco or spicy beans - whatever.

CHEESE SCONES

225 G (8 oz) S-R Flour
50g (2 oz) margarine
150 ml (1/4 pt) milk
75 g (3 oz) grated cheese
beaten egg

Sieve the flour with 2.5 ml ( 1/2 tsp) salt and rub in the margarine.  Add the milk and mix to a soft dough.  Roll out to a 38 x 18 cm (15 x 7 inch) rectangle.  Sprinkle with the cheese.  Loosely roll up the dough from a long edge, cut into slices with a scone cutter and arrange around the meat mixture in the oven dish.  Brush scones with beaten egg and sprinkle with a little more grated cheese.  Bake in oven (200 deg. C/400 deg. F/ Gas 6) for 30 minutes.

DORSET APPLE CAKE

8 oz (225 g) self-raising flour
4 oz (115 g) butter
4 oz (115 g) caster sugar
8 oz (25 g) cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped (you can use eating apple if that's all you have available)
Grated rind of one lemon
1 medium egg, beaten
2 oz (60 g) sultanas (optional)

If you want the ginger version, add a handful - a couple of ounces (60g) of crystalized ginger - either the ready to use strips, or chopped up lumps or the balls in syrup chopped up.  Makes SUCH a difference to the flavour.

Set the oven to 375 deg F or gas mark 5.  Put the flour into a large bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.  Stir in the sugar, apples, lemon rind and egg and mic well.  Add the sultanas, if desired, and ginger.  Put the mixture into a well greased 8 inch diameter cake tin and bake for 30 - 40 mins until golden in colour.  Serve warm as a pudding or eat cold.

DORSET FAIR GINGERBREADS

3 oz (85 g) butter
3 oz (85 g) soft brown sugar
4 tablespoons golden syrup, warmed
6 oz (170 g) plain flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
1 level teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger (though I always use a little more)

Set oven to 400 deg F or gas mark 6.  Cream together the butter and sugar in a bowl and add the golden syrup, flour and all other dry ingredients.  Mix well to form a firm dough.  Roll out on a lightly floured surface, form into about 30 small balls and place 4 inches apart on greased baking trays.  Cook for approximately 10 minutes until golden brown.  Cool slightly before transferring to a cooling rack.

Enjoy your baking.

Despite a good night's sleep I am still feeling tired and woolly-headed.  NOT something I want to be carrying over for tomorrow, which has an early start and a busy day involved in the equation.


11 comments:

  1. I love the look of your Raubritter rose and have just had a quick look at the DA website. I'm glad to hear you also grow roses in tubs. I grow R. Lavender Lassie and R. Floribunda in two very large terracotta tubs which are placed either side of a wooden bench underneath my work room window. When my brain starts to overheat I make a cup of tea and go outside to sit among my roses. The bench sits on gravel which is smothered in self-seeded lavender, Mexican fleabane and purple-leaved violets. Love the idea of a savoury cobbler and I should add that when my mum used to do her Sunday afternoon baking sessions I was always chief washer-upper!

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    1. Ah, the DA website - don't Go There!! It's temptation beyond endurance. My Christmas present for the first few years we lived here, was a bare-rooted rose which arrived in November. I still remember sitting in the garden and going through the catalogue and making a looooooong short list. Your garden sounds beautiful and somewhere very special to relax. I hope you try the Cobbler recipe. My chief washer upper these days is . . . me! Though on this occasion the OH stepped up to the mark, bless him.

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  2. What a treat to see your post today.
    Roses I miss all my Roses I had in my garden.
    Yours are beautiful.

    cheers, parsnip and thehamish

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    1. Hi parsnip. What a shame where you live now isn't suitable for roses. I hope my photos, though second hand, continue to bring you pleasure.

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  3. The roses are beautiful - I can almost smell them! :) Meal sounds tasty - will make a note as I could easily adapt it to a veggie version and you can't beat cheese scones.

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    1. RR - they have a wonderful perfume, each of them. It would be very simple to make a veggie version of the Cobbler. Let me know how yours turns out.

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  4. I have Albertine just outside my landing window. Wherever I have lived I have had an Albertine - she is one of my favourites, not least because of her delicate scent.

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  5. I think your Graham Thomas (which should be yellow only) is Abraham Darby ! I have two and they look like your pink rose with a touch of peachy yellow in the middle :)

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  6. Best time of the year when roses appear, not so good at naming them as you, but I think my 'Compassion' should come into the house! Will try that cobblers recipe looks good, meatwise or vegetarian.

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  7. Thelma - I can remember all my roses bar a couple. One of the Ramblers I have is a French name Madame somethingorother, and the yellow floribunda by the gate escapes naming. The others I bought regularly down the years and took ages deciding WHICH one to have for Christmas, so their names have stayed in my memory.

    I hope you will enjoy the Cobbler when you make it.

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  8. The roses are beautiful - I can almost smell them, really great!!

    goldenslot
    goldenslot

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