Scones, naans and stew

Sunday was a strange day weather-wise we me and the hubby (and the majority of our neighbours) doing the washing dance – hanging it out, bringing it in, hanging it out, bringing it in…..you get the picture.


One minute it was baking hot and eye-streamingly sunny, and by the time we’d dug out the deckchairs and donned our shades it was pouring with rain. Typical British weather.

Stuck in a limbo of not knowing whether to stay in and grudgingly do housework or brave the great outdoors, I chose to stick the kids with Mr GG for a while (please don’t feel sorry for him – he was fishing on his own for most of the weekend!) while I had a baking day.

I dug out my weathered copy of Leith’s Baking Bible and set to work.

This cookery book really is a bible for all baked goods. From cakes, cookies and croissants to artisan breads and delectable tarts, there is no area that this tome doesn’t cover.

Rushed for time and still in sleepy Sunday mode I decided to make a batch of scones. Scones are so easy to make that even an amateur cook could put them together in five minutes. And they’re relatively low in fat too – until you get to the part when you top them with cream and jam!

I didn’t have any buttermilk as required in the recipe, so instead had to settle for organic semi-skimmed from the fridge – but to be honest this is what I would normally use anyway.

Buttermilk isn’t as widely available as we are lead to believe in cookery books, and the same effect can be achieved by simply adding the juice of a third of a lemon to the quantity of liquid required. This acidity activates the raising agents in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and makes for the lightest, softest scones in exactly the same way that buttermilk does.

The recipe says it makes 6 but feeling greedy and working on the unfounded ethos that a few smaller scones is healthier than a big on, I managed to get about 12 little scones out of the mixture – all of which were glossy, soft and light as air.

I don’t really go in much for cream, so while Mr GG and the little ones slathered theirs in butter, I topped mine modestly with a smear of Duerr’s organic strawberry preserve – which is one of the fruitiest and juiciest strawberry jams around. I also love and often have in the cupboard, Asda’s Extra Special strawberry conserve which has around 50% fruit and tastes like summer.

Scones out of the way and it was time to move onto dinner.

Now, I am a devout meat eater and I love a good piece of steak drowned with peppercorn sauce, or a hunk of lamb shank as much as the next carnivore, but recently I have felt the need to bring more vegetarian dishes to the table.

So instead of the usual roast belly of pork or pot-roasted chicken for dinner I decided to make a Moroccan-style vegetable stew, served with a generous portion of brown rice and Leith’s coriander and onion seed naan breads – followed by rhubarb, straight from my dad’s allotment- how healthy!

The stew was a resounding success and we all felt full for bursting – plus I discovered that my kids’ appetite for chickpeas knows no bounds. A real winner for a filling family supper.



Moroccan-style vegetable stew

Ingredients
2 tins of chickpeas, drained

2 tins of chopped tomatoes (preferably organic)

1 courgette, diced

2 carrots peeled and diced

2 large potatoes peeled and chopped into 2cm pieces

1/2tsp cinnamon

1/4tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsps sea salt

2tsps cumin

1 tsp coriander

2 tbsps runny honey

1 chilli, chopped

A large handful of chopped fresh coriander

A large handful of chopped parsley

1tsp dried mint

Do it:
It's easy. Put it all (apart from the fresh herbs) in a large saucepan and cook on a medium heat for 1 hour. Add the fresh herbs at the end.
Serve with couscous or rice.