Music and Memory

Thirty years ago, a classmate was so upset by the death of John Lennon that he took the day off school. One of the reasons why I've always remembered it was because to his classmates, and many of the teachers, it wasn't that surprising a thing to do, given his well known devotion to the Beatles and Lennon in particular (and he certainly wasn't the kind of guy to miss class without a very good reason). While not at the point of taking a day off, I did have a moment of pause when I heard that the composer John Barry had passed away.

If my memories have a soundtrack, much of it was written by John Barry. He will be missed.

One of my favourite John Barry pieces has to be the theme from Midnight Cowboy but there are so many others to choose from.

Bright Sunday Brunch

I doubt the world needs another food blog , but then again I used to think that about coffee shops and pubs. Still, if it gets me writing again I'm happy , and if you try these pancakes out on a bright, chilly, Sunday morning, washed down with some fresh coffee, it might just make you happy too!



Ingredients:

3 eggs
600ml buttermilk
1 vanilla pod (or some vanilla essence)
300g spelt flour (ideally wholegrain)
150g plain flour
1 heaped tsp baking soda
1 heaped tsp salt

Blueberries or raspberries.

Butter or sunflower oil for frying

Honey or maple syrup to serve

While spelt flour has lots of flavour, it contains very little gluten and hence you need the additional plain flour for added elasticity and a mixture that will rise. Spelt flour isn't cheap but worth it. While the recipe recommends using wholegrain spelt flour, plain spelt flour works just as well.


Method:

Beat the eggs together then add the buttermilk and beat again.

Split the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with the tip of your knife. (Remember to keep the pod itself as you can reuse it to make vanilla sugar!).

Mix the vanilla seeds, flours, salt and baking soda together. Now add your eggs and milk mixture , slowly, and continue to beat until you have a smooth mixture. At this point I should say that I've seen recipes which recommend adding the dry mixture to the eggs and milk , rather than adding the wet to the dry. I've tried both and found that it makes no difference to how the pancakes taste, or the level of effort involved. Provided you work slowly, mix with care and beat thoroughly you end up with a lovely smooth mixture.

Leave the mixture to stand for 15-20 minutes.

Heat your pan with some butter or oil until its just beginning to smoke and then turn down the heat a little.

Using a large serving spoon, place three or four separate (depending on the size of your pan) spoonfuls on the pan and cook until nicely browned on both sides. The trick to turning is to watch for bubbles to form in the mix and then , as the upper surface of the pancake looks as if its beginning to thicken and "dry", turn gently.

If you're going to add fruit , I've found that it helps to use frozen berries. You can add the berries to the batter before you start cooking which is the easiest approach if everyone wants the fruit versions. If not, you can add the berries in the pan, in which case you should quickly add a little extra batter to cover the fruit. A little extra coating of batter will seal in the juices and stop , or a least slow, the berries bursting and juices burning in the pan.

Serving:

You can keep the pancakes warm in a covered bowl as you're cooking further batches. Serve as quickly as possible with all of the goodies you like from healthy honey to delicious (ok so I have to take this one on faith) chocolate and hazelnut spread.

Resurrection Breakfast!

Six months of silence broken, with one simple purpose: the sharing of a new Granola recipe (and a tiny bit of frustration that the size of Facebook posts is so limited).

This is a new recipe which updates a tried and trusted one with a little Nigella inspiration and some optional elements.

Ingredients:

500Gr of Jumbo Oats (Flahavans naturally!).
100Gr Whole Almonds (Optional)
120Gr White Sesame Seeds
120Gr Sunflower Seeds
100Gr Light Brown Sugar
60Gr Pumpkin Seeds
60Gr Wheat Germ
60Gr Wheat Bran
1tsp Nutmeg
1tsp Ginger
1tsp Cinnamon

300Ml Orange Juice
2Tbsp Sunflower Oil
6Tbsp Honey

250Gr Cranberries


Method:

First mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Mix the orange juice, oil and honey together, giving everything a good stiff whisk with a fork until you have a well blended liquid.

Drizzle evenly over the dry mixture and then mix well either by hand or , as I did, with a spatula or wooden spoon until you have a consistent, moist, texture to the mi.

Leave to sit for at least 30 minutes to allow oats to absorb as much moisture as possible.

Spread the mix evenly on a baking tray (I find lining the tray with parchment paper works well and leaves less mess to clean up later.

Bake in a pre heated oven for 30 minutes, checking every 10 minutes and stirring to ensure that the mix is evenly cooked.

This is the slightly tricky bit as is gauging he correct temperature. I like mine quite well toasted so I usually cook in a fan assisted oven at 180C. However cooking for longer , at a lower temperature will give a lighter, golden colour.

When testing the mixture, the main thing is to ensure that it is quite dry but with just a tiny bit of moisture left and no large clumps which might have wet centres.

Unless you have a very large oven, the mix will probably need to be baked in a least two batches. One tip I've found useful is to tip the contents of each tray into a wok as you remove them from the oven, adding a good fist full of dried cranberries, mixing as you go. The wok has the effect of containing quite a lot of heat, allowing the berries to expand, absorbing any remaining moisture in the grain mix.

Leave to stand until cooled to room temperature and then transfer to airtight containers for storage.

Serving:

I usually serve with natural yogurt and some honey.

You can also add some Goji berries to the mix for added colour and a rich source of protein.

Enjoy!