Courgette and Sultana Wine UPDATE

Here we go, seven bottles of Courgette and Sultana Wine. This will need to lay in the wine rack for at least 3 months before trying it.

Let's hope it tastes ok...

Lavender Shortbread

After our trip to Hitchin Lavender I thought I'd would try experimenting and cooking with it. We has friends over for dinner today so I made lavender Creme Brulee originally. It was all going very well until I forgot there were in the open. Burnt Creme Brulee.

Undeterred, I thought I would try something else. I came across a nice simple recipe for lavender shortbread. We love shortbread so I just had to try this. The lavender in it is really subtle, but a nice little addition.

Lavender Shortbread

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar (granulated is fine if you don't have caster)
2 tbsp very finely chopped lavender florets (fresh or dried) - freshly picked from Hitchin Lavender
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint - from the allotment
2 1/3 cups plain flour
1/2 corn flour
pinch of salt

How to make it:
Preheat your over to 160°C

In a big mixing bowl cream together the butter, sugar, lavender and mint.
Mix until it is light and fluffy (or until your arm hurts).
Add the flour, corn flour and salt and beat until it is all mixed in.
Divide the dough in half, flatten it out a bit and wrap in cling film. Stick it in the fridge to chill until it is firm.
Sprinkle a little flour on a surface and roll out the dough to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. use a cookie cutter or whatever you want to cut out the cookies
Lay out on some baking paper lined oven try leaving about an inch between each cookie to allow for expansion.
prick each a few times with a fork. you can create a pattern if you want to maybe.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until pale golden, but do not allow to brown.
When cooled a little place them on a cooling rack and sprinkle over a little sugar.

Original recipe can be found here

Rhubarb Chutney

If you have filled up on rhubarb crumbles, try making some chutney. It's dead easy to make and keeps for ages if stored in an air tight jar. It goes very well with mackerel.

I'll try to find the recipe to share with you.

Rhubarb and Okra Sweet and Sour Soup

We have an abundance of rhubarb, as is custom for this time of year. I wanted to try something besides the usual crumble, so in my search I came across this Vietnamese style recipe and just had to try it. It is perhaps an acquired taste, as it is quite unusual to begin with, bit after a few spoonfuls I loved this soup.

Rhubarb and Okra Sweet and Sour Soup Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp crushed garlic
4 tomatoes, quartered
1 tsp gia vi (or a mix of 2 parts sugar, 1 part black pepper, 1 part salt and 1 part garlic powder) <- I did this
1.5 litres water
3 rhubarb stalks, cut into 3cm chunks
2 tbsp fish sauce
50g okra*, halved, deseeded and cut into 1cm rounds
½ pineapple, cut into 2cm chunks
1 tsp sugar
1 spring onion, chopped
1 tbsp chopped coriander

*Okra - you can buy this in the supermarket. They are also known as 'lady's fingers' and look a bit like large green chillies (you can see them in the middle of the photo). They produce a sticky kind of liquid when you cut and cook them.

How to make it:

Heat the oil in a saucepan and stir in the garlic, cooking until fragrant.

Stir in the tomatoes with ½ tsp gia vi. 

Pour in enough of the water to cover, then bring to the boil.

When the tomatoes are soft, add the remaining water and bring back to the boil, then add the rhubarb and cook until very soft. 

Stir in the fish sauce and sugar, then add the remaining gia vi.
Add the okra and pineapple, cook for 15 minutes, then sprinkle with the spring onion and coriander. 

The original recipe can be found here