weekend baking in Remoska

In what? you are asking.  Bare with me, but most of our Czech blogging friends will know exactly what I am talking about.

Poppy seed cake - there are many variation on this recipe; this one comes from one of Rachel Allen's books. I like her no nonsense cooking.

She says in her introduction that she developed this recipe when their German au-pair was homesick for her mum's cake 😊.

                         So, what is Remoska? 

Remoska is an electric mini oven. It was invented in Czechoslovakia (as it was) just before WW2, and it was manufactured during the next 40 years. Its size and simplicity made it ideal for small flats, weekend cottages and even caravans. I remember, when I was growing up, many proud owners of Remoska. My mum never managed to get one (there always was a shortage of something during that time).

"It is the lid that does the cooking" - yes, it is all in the lid. 

There are no settings as such, only "on" and "off" switch. So how does it do it? I have no idea, but it works, you can cook in it most things, and it uses less than a quarter of electricity of a standard electric oven.

With the arrival of modern electric gadgets Remoska was forgotten and the factory got run down through lack of investment. But after 1990 the production started up again and thanks to a certain Czech ex-pat, it has been imported to England for many years now.

I bought mine years ago, but to my shame I must admit that through a lack of space in my kitchen, it does get put away occasionally and "out of sight, out of mind" .

Few months back my main oven was out of action for a while, so Remoska came to its own again, and since that time it has found a proud place in my kitchen again.

It is not a slow cooker, as many people automatically think, in fact very often it cooks faster than my main oven.  

I have also found that most thing retain more moisture in Remoska.

As with many things, there are some tips and tricks to learn, but on whole I have never regretted investing money in one.

So, I just popped the cake tin in, put on the lid and pressed the button. There is no preheating as you would normal oven, again saving on energy.

 25 minutes later

The recipe suggests a vanilla butter icing, but I prefer to use simple lemon icing.

 

It never last for long in our house!

I am happy to share any recipes with you privately; as most of them come from cookery books, 

I don't want to break any copyright laws by publishing them on my blog.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2019

Frida's Flowers and - it's marmalade time again!

I have really got the crochet bug; 

as soon as I finished Mystical Lanterns blanket, I started making Frida's Flowers blanket, also designed by Janie Crow (and originally CAL),

but I am making the "Primavera" version, colours chosen by Lucia from Lucias Fig Tree , which I prefer to the original design.

I am using Stylecraft Special DK, because it is so well priced and they have such a great colour range.

I have started to join some blocks together, but I still need to finish few more.

This project is stretching my crochet abilities, but I am really enjoying it.

By the way, the CAL pattern is free on Stylecraft website, in the original (black background) colour.

I hope to start working on the borders soon.

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And it is that time of year, 

when for a short time we have marmalade oranges in our shops.

There are various methods of making orange marmalade; 

I boil whole oranges (and one lemon) first, changing the water after about 15 minutes, until they are soft, cool them and then go on from there - cut them in half, scoop out the pulp and get rid of pips, weigh it and to every 400g of pulp allow 600g sugar and 500ml of the liquid in which the oranges were boiled.
I mix the pulp with sugar and water first over low heat, and then I add the peel (which I chopped up in the food processor) and fast boil to the setting point.

Job done.....
The result, in my opinion, is slightly sharper and not so sweet marmalade, which we prefer.

Enjoy your weekend!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2010-2019

a word about spelt

Thank you for your interest and comments on my previous post. 

There have been quite few questions about spelt, so I decided to dedicate this post to SPELT.

I have this wonderful book by Roger Saul (the founder of Mulberry, the fashion brand), who lives in Somerset, and some of the info I am going to write, comes from the book.

Spelt is probably the oldest grain known to a man, and it has been grown for around 4,000 years. Carbonised grains of spelt had been found during an excavation around Glastonbury, just "down the road" from me.

Later it became to be also known as Roman army's marching grain . 

It used to be grown around Europe, and it "emigrated" to America with early settlers. In French spelt is l'epeautre, in Italian farro, and German dinkel.

Eventually spelt went out of fashion, and wheat took over, mainly because it has much higher yield, and also it looses its husk during harvesting. Spelt husk is much harder to remove.

Roger Saul tells story how he started to grow spelt on his Sharpham Park Farm near Glastonbury, about 13 -14 years ago, and the motivation behind it, which you can also read on their website (if you follow the link). There was nobody else at that time growing spelt in UK.

In 2007 they opened their own mill, the only one in the world milling solely stone-ground organic spelt.

So why spelt?

Spelt is truly wholegrain; it is rich in vitamins and minerals, and spelt bread contains almost 50% more protein than wheat based bread; basically - it is good for you.

It is lower in gluten than wheat (but not gluten free), so easier on our digestive system too.

Probably because I live in Somerset, I have know about spelt for quite a few years now, and have been using it in my cooking.

Spelt flour, because of its low gluten, is very good for making pastry and cakes; 

it is now my "every day" flour. It has slightly nuttier flavour than wheat.

Long before spelt was generally available in shops, I would buy it in Sharpham shop at Kilver Court, here in Shepton (formerly headquarters of Mulberry, now a shopping centre).  

I have made bread with spelt only; the first experience wasn't good - my fault, I did not read the introduction properly. Because of the lower gluten, spelt bread needs to be supported during baking - needs to be baked in a tin. I made a round loaf on a baking tray - it ended up rather flat. Also, I found the dough  more difficult to handle than wheat dough, but that comes with practice.

I make most of the bread we eat, and I like to experiment with various flours and combinations. I have found that a mix of rye, spelt and strong wheat flour works very well for me, it makes a very good loaf. 

But that is a matter of preference.

I have this wonderful book by Signe Johansen, I have made many cakes from it. 

Many recipes here give you the option to use spelt instead of wheat flour.

I am not suggesting that you rush out and buy the book, it is just to illustrate that the two are interchangeable, so don't be afraid to try it. The only thing you might find different is that you might need to add little more liquid to whatever you are making, than you would normally.

Recently I made a wonderful carrot cake from a recipe in this book, using spelt flour - see my post 16th March. It is the only carrot cake recipe I use now. 

The flour comes in white and wholegrain.

Besides the flour, I also use Pearled Spelt. I use it for making risotto or in soups; you can also cook it and use in salads - it has lovely nutty 

flavour.

They also make flakes (which I have not tried yet) and muesli. I make my own muesli, so I might try the flakes in the next batch.

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2018

Spring in the air and baking Friday.

It has been feeling more like spring this past week, 

and there are little signs of it in our garden.

Unfortunately we are supposed to get a cold spell again this weekend; 

lets hope it is not going to last very long.

Today I decided to make a carrot cake; this is about the best recipe for a carrot cake I have ever tried out; 

made with vegetable oil, spelt flour and lots of carrots.

The huge lemon is a present from our English friends, living in Greece, who visited last week.

While the cake is in the oven, it is time to make some hummus.

This is a very quick job; I am using a very basic classic hummus recipe, but with an addition of some ingredients of my own - 

like fresh coriander and little peppers from a jar. 

I love home made hummus on some fresh toast or a piece of crispbread.

I find that it can keep well in the fridge for nearly a week (but very rarely does 😉).

By the time I clear up, the cake is ready to come out of the oven.

I usually make a simple lemon icing for the top; 

it lasts much better than a cream cheese topping which the recipe suggests. 

Cut up into squares, it keeps well in an airtight container for several days

(well, that's the idea anyway, LOL).

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Not very much sewing is going on here right now, I seem to be "between the jobs". 

Yes, there is the "Quilter's Patch" quilt to work on, but I don't feel I want to get tied to the machine right now, and Quilter's Patch is very much a machine job.

So, I have been doing a little bit of cross stitch on the "Santa's Village" project, and some "doodling " on my machine, to practise machine quilting; 

I will get hang of it one day!

I got very inspired by Gardenhurst, and by Irene Blanck's designs on a whole,

so I have decided to have a go at making my own design.

It is loosely based on an idea from her book, 

I plan to make 4 main applique blocks (about 16 in), but every one different. 

 I have been playing with some ideas.

I can't draw to save my life, but some loose idea is developing for the first block.

Have a wonderful weekend!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2018

snowdrops - what you didn't know (nor did I)

Our small town celebrated its first Snowdrop Festival last week. 

Organized by the local Horticultural Society, the preparations started last year; hundreds of snowdrop bulbs were planted by volunteers on the main roundabout on the approach to the town, and they are all showing their beauty now.

By next spring they will be more established and there will be even more of them.

Why? Because there is a little know connection to the town of Shepton Mallet:

The main part of the festival took part through the High Street, which was decorated with snowdrops in various forms and with stalls selling snowdrop plants; there were workshops for children making drawings and paper snowdrops. Many High Street shops took part too, decorating their windows with snowdrop displays.

I forgot to take my camera, so I borrowed some pictures from Creative Somerset blog and the Festival Facebook.

 

Do pop over to the blog  here and here, to see Helen's wonderful picture, mixed media artwork called "Dancing Snowdrops", displayed (picture above) in the window of One Craft Gallery in the High Street.

What else have I been up to this past week?

It has been a bad last few days as far as the weather was concerned, although our part of the world seemed to have the easiest time. Definitively time to hibernate.

Seville oranges, which had been in my fridge since January, needed to be processed, so time for marmalade.

My way of making an orange marmalade is very simple - cook the oranges, chop it all up and boil with sugar. 

Done. 

Now we can look forward to that zingy freshness on the toast, with fresh coffee, sitting outside in our little garden, on a warm summer morning (yes, I am an optimist 😀).

Chateau Hexagon - I finished the gardens some time ago,

  and last night I finished the chateau also.

It is now waiting to be put together.

The Quilters Patch quilt - I made a start -

block no 1, the "Cosmos block".

Today is a really dull and wet day.

Good day to be in the kitchen and do some baking -  

this is one of my favourite biscuit recipes - Ottolenghi's white chocolate and cranberries.

I wish you all a wonderful Sunday!

©pleasureinstitching.blogspot.co.uk 2017