Gorgeous granola!

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This week, I’ve got a guest blog from Sharon Davies who runs a super business making THE most delicious granola up on Dartmoor, a neighbour of my Hen Pal! 

“My Granola business sort of grew by accident really. I was a trained florist and had my own flower shop for years. Eventually I decided to have a change and ran a B&B business in my home. While I was doing this, I started making my own granola from an American recipe that I’d been given… and my guests raved about it! They wanted to take it home with them so I started making batches and selling it – and the rest, as they say, is history.

“I adore living in the country and have horses, chickens and three Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs and somehow still find time to run the business with my husband Brian.

“I’m a keen forager and fruit and veg grower and am always experimenting with recipes and ideas for new products. We sell a range of granolas and our customers (a very loyal bunch!) often email me with recipe ideas, or product suggestions.

“I’ve recently produced a couple of recipe cards for different ways to use granola and I often go to country shows and farm shops giving demonstrations and the recipes are very popular – it’s great fun and I love meeting people who enjoy my products.

“Granola is very versatile ­– mix it with freshly picked berries, or sprinkle it on porridge in the winter or ice cream in the summer. It makes a fantastic crumble topping or, as here, a great filling in an easy and delicious dessert. Enjoy!

Midfields Granola Strudel

Ingredients

Serves 3-4

  • 1packet filo pastry (you will need 4 sheets to make one strudel)
  • 1 large cooking apple or 2 eating apples
  • Approx 30g granola
  • 30g brown sugar
  • 30g butter for brushing pastry
  • Icing sugar for dusting
  • Baking tray

Method:

Preheat oven to 200ºc (180ºc if fan assisted), Gas mark 6

Take filo pastry out of fridge 20 mins before using, keep covered with damp tea towel to it drying out.

Peel and slice apple thinly, place in bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice to stop apple browning.

Melt butter gently in saucepan. Take one layer of filo pastry and place on baking tray, brush with melted butter using a pastry brush. Take the next sheet, place on top of the first, and repeat the process until you have used 4 sheets of filo pastry.

Place sliced apples in centre of buttered sheets, followed by sugar and Granola. Keep mixture about 2 inches from edge. Fold the sheets of filo over the top of the filling, firming gently with you fingers. Use one or two more sheets of filo crumpled on top of strudel and brush with melted butter.

Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 mins. When cool dust with icing sugar

Serve warm or cold with custard, cream or yoghurt – delicious!

You can find out all about Sharon’s business, Midfields Granola, on her website: www.midfieldsgranola.co.uk

You’ll find a link there to her Facebook page too.

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Hedgerow rummaging again!

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Spring is wonderful and, as I’ve said before, my favourite time of year! All the obvious things like baby birds, lambs and flowers bursting into life are lovely… but one of the most gorgeous things to me is the emergence of beech leaves. I know, a bit weird, but there we are!

One day, the hedge seems dull and uninteresting, speckled with narrow brown pointed buds – the next, it is smothered in delicate lime green tissue paper fluttering in the breeze. Beech leaves are so delicate and so fine and tissue-thin when they emerge, they are just breathtaking.

Goodness knows what my neighbours think as the arrival of beech leaves is yet another reason for me to be spotted rummaging around in the hedgerow, but rummage I must!

Fresh from the tree, beech leaves are a fine salad vegetable, as sweet as a mild cabbage, though much softer in texture.

My friend, Julia Horton-Powdrill – she of the food foraging in Pembrokeshire, uses beech leaves to make a potent liqueur called Beech Leaf Noyau.

Julia says: “Pack a glass jar about nine tenths full of the very young, delicate, clean leaves. Pour gin into the jar, pressing the leaves down all the time, until they are just covered. Leave it to steep for about two weeks.

Strain off the gin which should now be green in colour (although mine is quite often more brown!). To every 500ml of gin add 300g sugar dissolved in 250ml of boiling water. You can add an optional splash of brandy if you fancy it! Mix the warm syrup with the gin and bottle when cold.”

Sounds great to me – cheers!

Joanna

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Dandelion – weed or wonderful plant?

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What do most of us think when we see a dandelion? WEED!!! But wait – this is such a negative view of what is actually a very versatile and edible plant. If we can train ourselves to see it as such, just think how much more relaxed we will be as gardeners!

As we all know, dandelions grow very well in the UK for pretty much most of the year. The dandelion is used by the French and Italians in their cuisine and is even cultivated. Did you know almost all of the plant can be eaten?

The leaves: The leaves of the dandelion plant are best eaten young. The dandelion has a bitter taste similar to chicory that grows stronger with age and leaf colour. Pick the young and tender leaves and you can include them in salads. You can mix them in with other greens such as spinach or cabbage or even use them in a stir-fry.

The roots: The roots are also edible and can be washed (not peeled) roasted and ground to make a caffeine-free coffee alternative. Large roots can also be roasted like small thin parsnips – delicious, but you will need a lot to make it worthwhile. They cook very quickly, so keep your eye on them!

The flower: The flower is really very attractive – I know, hard to see it in this way – but it is! Pull off the petals and scatter them in salad – it looks lovely. Or, you can use the whole flower head as a garnish or dip it in a light batter and deep-fry the flower heads as a snack or starter – they go really well with a hot chilli sauce.

If picking now, make sure you go for the smallest, newest plants. Do be careful not to pick ones have been chemically sprayed. Also avoid picking dandelions by the roadside as they will have absorbed petrol fumes. But if, like me, you have a garden full of them – pick away!

Here’s a simple little dandelion idea for you to try:

Dandelion tea

Most warm herbal teas have a comforting effect. Dandelions are a diuretic and can help to reduce water retention and bloated feelings. Many people find this tea a useful treatment for rheumatism too. The tea also acts as a mild laxative, so don’t drink too much at once!

You will need:

  • 5-6 dandelion leaves
  • Boiling water
  • 1 tsp honey (optional)
  1. Remove any stems from the leaves. Break them into strips and put in the bottom of a mug. Pour on enough boiling water to fill the mug and leave to stand for 5-10 minutes.
  2. Strain, discard most of the dandelion leaves and drink. If you prefer a sweeter brew, add a small teaspoonful of honey.

PS. And don’t forget, guinea pigs and rabbits adore dandelion leaves too!!

Smiles, Joanna

 

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Spinach, Walnut and Gruyère Lasagne with Basil

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Having been fooled into thinking spring had arrived in March, we are all now shivering in this cold and wet April. So, time for some comfort food, says I!

This nutty lasagne is a delicious combination of flavours and an all round ‘comfy’ dish!

Serves 8

You will need:

  • 350g/12oz spinach lasagne (pre-cooked sheets)

For the walnut & tomato sauce:

  • 3 tbsp walnut oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 225g/8oz celeriac, finely chopped
  • 1 x 400g/14oz can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • 115g/40z chopped walnuts
  • 150ml/¼ pint Dubonnet (or cheap port if you prefer!)

For the spinach & Gruyère sauce:

  • 75g/3oz flour
  • 1 tsp mustard powder
  • 1.2 litres/2pints milk
  • 225g/8oz grates Gruyère cheese
  • salt and pepper
  • ground nutmeg
  • 500g/1lb frozen spinach, thawed and puréed (or fresh, steamed and puréed)
  • 2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped 
  1. First, make the walnut and tomato sauce. Heat the walnut oil and sauté the onion and celeriac. Cook for about 8-10 minutes. Meanwhile, purée the tomatoes in a food processor. Add the garlic to the pan and cook for about one minute, then add the sugar, walnuts, tomatoes and Dubonnet. Season to taste. Simmer uncovered, for 25 minutes.
  2. To make the spinach and Gruyère sauce, melt the butter with the walnut oil and add the onion. Cook for 5 minutes, then stir in the flour. Cook for another minute and add the mustard powder and milk, stirring vigorously. When the sauce has come to the boil, take off the heat and add three-quarters of the grated Gruyère. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Finally add the puréed spinach.
  3.  Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4. Layer the lasagne in an oven-proof dish. Start with a layer of spinach and Gruyère sauce, then add a little walnut and tomato sauce, then a layer of lasagne, and continue until the dish is full, ending with a layer of either sauce.
  4.  Sprinkle the remaining Gruyère over the top of the dish, followed by the basil. Bake for 45 minutes.

 

 

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Crystallized flowers – what little gems!

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This week, I’ve asked Julia Horton-Powdrill to write a guest blog. I met Julia on a creative writing course a few years ago, and was impressed by her great writing, humour and enthusiasm.

When not writing, she keeps extremely busy running a number of ‘wild’ businesses including the Really Wild Food Festival and Wild about Pembrokeshire!

Wild about Pembrokeshire is all about foraging and runs wild food foraging walks and day courses and, as Julia says, encourages you to ‘Discover your Inner Forager’!!

Julia’s mission is to encourage people to have a fun day in the countryside or on the coast and help them to identify and make the most of what is available from Mother Nature! She also advises on the legal side of foraging from the wild and how to collect sustainably and responsibly.

To find out more, visit: www.wildaboutpembrokeshire.co.uk

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As everything is fresh and young in the countryside (apart from me!) now is the time to try out a few recipes. One I mean to do each spring but always forget is to crystallize flowers. Gorse, primrose, sweet cicely, wild violets, apple blossom and rose petals can be used, but experiment yourself as long as you know what you are using isn’t poisonous.

Beat an egg white lightly with a fork, paint each petal, immerse or sprinkle over, some caster sugar then leave overnight on a lined tray. Use to decorate puds or cakes or just to eat on their own. Mothers used to crystallize flowers on the stem where they grew then let their children loose into the meadow to hunt for them and eat them… great idea!

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