When my alarm woke me up at 5:55am my day was supposed to be filled by driving the entire length of Shetland to Sumburgh Airport and then taking the flight out to Aberdeen for a hospital appointment, I managed to make it to the Belmont ferry terminal, in south Unst. Apparently there was some kind of disruption which meant a Saturday service was in place and the 07:30 ferry I was meant to catch would be an 08:25 at the earliest, not nearly enough time to make my check-in so deeply disgruntled I turned the car around & drove home.
As Rich had taken the day off, he did the school run and ran some errands whilst I had an hour to descend back to earth from the stratosphere I was still orbiting in! There is nothing better to salve the soul than immersing yourself in a good book and the one I had on the go was Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, a modern day Romeo & Juliet love story between a zombie and a girl. We have the DVD of the film but as always the book turned out to be far superior. Two coffees, a chocolate biscuit and a couple of hours later I felt human again - excuse the pun!!
After lunch I decided that I really should do something productive, so, as I had been to Lerwick on Wednesday and had a fridge full of ingredients I thought I would spend the afternoon making and baking.
*****
First came homemade Christmas mincemeat. Richard likes shop bought mince pies best but as they range between £2.50 and £4 for 6 in the local shops he will have to have mine! I used a variation of a Delia Smith recipe with just what I had in the store cupboard, although I did buy a lemon and a baking apple in the town.
1 baking apple peeled, cored & chopped fine
3 1/2 oz vegetarian suet (I sieved off the flour before weighing)
4 oz currants
9 oz combination of mixed dried fruit & sultanas
1 oz mixed peel
2 oz glace cherries (quartered)
6 oz light muscavado sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
4 tbsp orange juice (from a carton)
If you want alcoholic mincemeat you could replace the orange juice with whisky, brandy, rum - whatever you prefer.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and leave for 12 hours or overnight before packing into sterilised jars. This should make about 2-3lb.
The smell in the kitchen was divine, a citrusy, spicy Christmas smell that had me feeling more than a little bit nostalgic.
*****
Next came the ice-cream. This recipe came with my first Magi-mix ice-cream maker and it has remained a firm favourite with all of us even though the maker long since sprung a leak and has been replaced with an Andrew James one which I find much superior. Today the ice-cream maker had remained in it's box and I have reverted to the old fashioned method of production, simply because of the quantities I was making.
1200ml double cream (2 x 600ml)
2 x 397g tins of condensed milk
4 tsps. vanilla extract.
I tipped all the ingredients into a large bowl and whisked it with an electric hand whisk until it became light & fluffy. I then transferred it into 3 polythene containers (about the size of Carte D'or tubs) and popped it in the freezer. I usually take it out and whip it half way through freezing but to be honest I don't think this is necessary for this particular recipe. (It is a must with custard based ones).
Wonderful on it's own but we intend to save some to put on warm mince pies
*****
My third job was just a 'quicky', chopping leeks and popping them in individual bags for the freezer.
I'll use these for a hearty, warming Leek, Chicken, Bacon, Butter Bean & Pasta soup and when I do I'll post the recipe. It's one of my own and every time I make it I throw something else in but it's always delicious.
*****
And finally Dark Chocolate and Sweet Potato Cake. On the whole I use the recipe from my Good Housekeeping cook book, only replacing the chopped milk chocolate with dark chocolate chips and omitting the almonds. It's purely a matter of personal taste.
This is a moist, rich, spiced chocolate cake and you shouldn't be put off by the sweet potato. One for the freezer and one for our tummies!
It always make me glow when a day starts as a disaster and ends as a success.
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