Well, Christmas has come and gone - and I never got on here to blog in the leadup to it. The leftover roast pork is gradually being eaten up, as is the pudding and remaining Christmas baking. Had a lovely Christmas day with just the three of us. Up early as Ginger rose at her usual 5am. Awestruck by her presents! Played with the wrapping paper rather than the toys but has spent the last two days giving them a thorough working over.
Ginger heads for the pile of presents (I hasten to add not all intended for her).
All for me!
Made it to church and then DH baked a lovely roast and made his final pudding and brandy custard preparations. Lunched at 12 and the roast pork (free range, don’t you know) was a definite hit with Ginger!
DH also did potatoes a la Jamie Oliver’s Christmas with butter, Clementine juice (in our case orange) and sage. Yummy.
Pudding was a success – despite it not being his Grandma’s official recipe. We asked her for her recipe as we had so enjoyed a pudding she made a couple of years ago when we spent Christmas in England, she posted us one and the pudding was made; only for her then to tell us that she didn’t follow any particular recipe in making her puddings.
Pudding with garden variety Holly – homegrown cherry tomatoes and rosemary
Grandma's Christmas Pudding
(makes a huge quantity – we made a third of this amount )
225g raisins
225g currants
225g sultanas
200g mixed peel
225 shredded suet (we used copha )
500 demera or muscova sugar (we used brown sugar)
225 fresh bread crumbs
75g plain flour
1 teaspoon nutmeg or cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
40 blanched chopped almonds
1 carrot grated
1 cooking apple, grated
2 lemons, grate the rind and squeeze the juice
3 eggs, whisk with the brandy
150 mls brandy
knob of butter
Add all to a large bowl.
Mix very, very well and leave to stand for a while.
Butter the pudding basin and line the base with paper.
Tip in mixture top with disc of paper and pleat foil to cover the top, tie on.
Cook in the top of a steamer or on a trivet for 5 hours.
Check regularly to make sure it doesn’t boil dry
Store for a month.
Cook for a further 2 hours before eating !!!
Wintery weather made it perfect for a hot midday meal. The rest of the day, boxing day and today have been occupied with reading (Christmas loot), knitting, planning for the year ahead, playing with toys, bread baking, general pottering and watching the rain streaming down our window! A delicious way to conclude the year.
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