Chicken a la Alexandra

Me, hubby and the woof are caravanning on the Welsh border so whilst hubby surveys other caravanners in their habitat I last night spied on twitter a little recipe that took my fancy by @Hollywood_wife

Very kindly after a few exchanged tweets I have the recipe to try in the caravan tonight.  The lady in Gerard's bakery in Chirk let me have all her breadcrumbs today a lovely lady apologised for lack of crummage due to not many customers wanting sliced bread and in the second shop the local butchers where I purchased some very lovely chicken thighs I received another apology this time for having to pay 5p for every carrier bag.  Yes over the border in Wales shopkeepers have to charge 5p a bag and are quite embarrassed to do so.  I did tell them that down South it happens and depending on the quality of the shopping bag what used to be known as the St of the famous supermarket charges 5p or 10p.

Now in the local village garlic salt was not available I could have had Malaysian Pink salt or a blue salt so I opted for garlic mayonnaise as mayo was one of the ingredients.  So skin off my thighs (I wish although did walk 3 miles yesterday) I marinaded in garlic mayo, paprika and whole grain mustard.

Rolled in the Gerard's bakery fresh bread crummage seasoned with normal run of the mill salt we baked. I had mine with mushroom rice, hubby had his with Chinese rice....well the convenience store had variations of the microwaveable stuff on offer £1 a pack and since we have upgraded the home on wheels we have a microwave a novelty and useful when you wake up in the night it's digital display tells me if morning is nigh.

Back to the chicken very yummy in fact could bbq it if eating alfresco, not quite warm enough! Thank you Alexandra for the recipe we enjoyed very much. Xx

Horticultural show results

This weekend I supported the Wellingborough and District Horticultural Show by entering the cookery and floral art...results as follows:-

Cookery

Blackberry and strawberry jam with a hint of rosé water - 3rd place
Lemon curd - 2nd place
Gooseberry chutney - 1st place

Victoria sponge - 2nd place (used Jo Wheatleys recipe from Home Baking) - I lost 1st due to the quality of my jam!

Flower arranging

I gained a 1st, 2nd and 2 x3rd places.

My last competition this year is the Malvern Autumn show much sadness that the WI bakery competition has been cancelled still floral art bring it on....my category Dazzling.

And the Winner is....

Me.  Imagine my surprise when I was announced the winner of Jo Wheatley's Cheesecake competition.  I have been so excited, even my ward manager renamed the last bits of the cheesecake (Amanda's Award Winning Lavender and Honey with peach cheesecake).  Its all gone and was very yummy.

I have my prize I am all booked onto a class in November now (thank you Jo for repriving myself with husband as the class was originally on my 1st wedding anniversary). 

I cannot wait to go to Jo's Kitchen and make lots of lovely things.

If you would like more information about Jo's classes then visit www.josblueaga.com

Now for this week, well I am making rosewater meringues to take camping this weekend.  With some whipped cream and strawberries who could ask for more....picture later in the week.

Honey and Lavender Baked Cheesecake a la Jo Wheatley

I am in baking and jam making mode at the moment.  I was given a couple of pounds of gooseberries and redcurrants at the beginning of the week, and so after topping and tailing all the gooseberries (I am not the most patient person in the world!) i made a batch of Gooseberry and Redcurrant Jam and also Gooseberry Chutney....thank goodness mother cried as she had used all the Blackberry Chutney up....not sure using it as an accompaniment to shepherds pie works, but my mothers taste in food has always been a bit off the wall.

Now to today, Jo Wheatley won the 2011 Great British Bake Off (Hail Queen Mary and Mr H....cannot wait till it reappears).  I have been following Jo on twitter and I liked what I read so went out and got one of her books.  Jo's book "Home Baking" published by Constable & Robinson ISBN 978-1-47210-935-4 is full of wonderful bakes, with easy to follow recipes and using ingredients that won't break the bank.

I have decided to enter Jo's Baked Cheesecake competition  http://www.josblueaga.com/2013/07/a-passion-for-baking-home-baking.html  I used the recipe on page 74. As I am allergic to ginger I replaced the ginger, so added into the main cheesecake recipe 3 tablespoons of organic honey; replaced 75g of the 175g of caster sugar with lavender sugar and added a few bits of fresh lavender flowers.  I replaced the ginger nuts with digestive biscuits....but aside from that I followed the recipe to the letter although i did nearly forget to put the sour cream and sugar on but speedily noticed as I took from the oven.  I then drizzled with dark fairtrade 70% melted chocolate, decorated with segments of flat peaches (which have a white flesh and delicious), and garnished with a few little sprigs of lavender.  The cheesecake is amazing, in fact I knew the flavours worked well when I licked the bowl out (has to be done)....so here is my finished product.  It serves 8 and glad to say they would be 8 generous portions, thats also what is fab looking at other recipes they are generous not mean portions...after all when its good home cooked food you want to enjoy it.

If you have been watching Masterchef this week well as Janet Street Porter I am not usually the best at presentation, my husband always says the food tastes good but presentation is to be desired....well I think the girl didn't do too bad on this occasion.

A NAFAS Area Demonstrator

Well finallyI retook my NAFAS Area Demonstrator test.  I trundled up to the Mercia and North Wales Area on what was the start of the warm July weather with mum.  Nervous - yes.  Four days later I learnt I had passed, and done the best ever in the plant material ID that i had ever done.  So now I am available for demonstrations to flower clubs.  I am based in the South Midlands area, but happily go out to North Midlands; East of England; BB & O and also further afield.

Here is my first piece from my demo Music

What do you do with a frozen blackberry or two.....

As the new crop of blackberries is well on its way, we still had a tub full frozen from last year.  As this year I will be taking part in also the cookery section of a local horticultural show, I thought lets make some blackberry orientated entries.  Unfortunately there weren't enough blackberries to fill my blackberry chutney pots, so will have to enjoy that on our own, however i did have my first entry ready Blackberry and Strawberry jam with a hint of rosewater.

Recipe

800g of blackberries and strawberries
800g of preserving sugar
3-4 tablespoons of rosewater
juice of one lemon

Prepare the fruit with the lemon and rosewater, and cook to soften in a large saucepan.  Add the sugar to dissolve and bring to a rolling boil for approx 10 mins.  Leave for 15 mins to cool and skim off the skin.  Sterilise your jars and put in oven to make hot and decant and immediately seal.

A short leave of absence

Sorry to all of you who were following me but i am about to return after a hectic few months of demos, floral art competitions and weddings. I have lots to share and also the exciting news that I passed my Area Demonstrator exam a couple of weeks  ago.To whet your appetite for all things food and flowers here are two pics from my trip to Gardeners World live in June. I won an RHS bronze award for my floral art entry and me and mum had the pleasure of taking tea with the one and only Mary Berry. I have some fab recipes and floral pieces over the next few months. Also in September some very exciting wedding flowers. Amanda x