A quick, short post for @djkirkby who expressed a keen interest in trying this recipe. Very good choice too. I made this last year and very popular it was with friends and neighbours. I think I might alter the recipe slightly by adding maybe 50ml more vinegar and a couple of chopped cloves of garlic, I might also leave out the sultanas… But this here is last years recipe adapted from a Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall original…



Hot Hedgerow Chutney


2 Dorset Naga chillies, chopped (or more to taste)
3 tbsp olive oil
250g (c. 3 small ) peeled, cored and chopped apples
3 medium red onions finely chopped
4 ½ cm finely chopped fresh ginger
1 ½ kg blackberries
200g sultanas
400g sugar
300ml red wine vinegar


1. Soften red onion, ginger and chilli in olive oil for 4-5 minutes.
2. Add blackberries and apples and cook for a further 4-5 minutes.
3. Add sugar, wine vinegar and sultanas, stir while dissolving sugar. Bring to boil and simmer until “chutneyed”.
(To test if a chutney’s ready, run a spoon gently through the chutney. The spoon should leave a trail and no excess liquid should run into it – if liquid quickly fills the trail then it’s not ready. More difficult to judge with chunky blackberries, but I think I simmered this recipe for about 40 minutes.)
4. Whilst still hot, funnel into hot, sterilised jars and seal with lid.



Let it mature a couple of months and then enjoy.

No Comments | In: Recipe | | #

The Theakstons Harrogate Crime Writing Festival is the largest event in Europe dedicated to the celebration of crime fiction. With over 70 best-selling UK and international crime writers and a programme of 20 plus events it’s no surprise that over the last seven years it’s become the place to be for lovers of crime fiction. This year has proved no exception with over 8,000 tickets sold and I wanted to go…


…but I had to work! Then fate intervened, a meeting was cancelled and I arranged to have Thursday and Friday free. I still couldn’t make the Saturday Quiz night or the tweetup arranged by @crimeficreader because weekend work in the form of the Festival of British Archaeology called. But being a glass half-full kind of a girl I decided to head north by train to start my investigation into Yorkshire’s criminal inclinations anyway.


As soon as I stepped down onto the station platform at Harrogate the presence of a criminal element was in evidence!





Despite mixed reviews about its quality I’d decided to risk booking in at the St. George Hotel and Spa (booking via Laterooms.com). My single room was clean, acceptable and cheap. And just as importantly the imposing old building that is the Crown Hotel (the conference venue) was only five minutes walk away. Perfect!





After a shower and change of clothes I headed off to the Crown. The bar was already awash with crime fiction fans, authors, literary agents and publishers. And if I had any lingering doubts that this was the place to be they were dispelled when I met first Val McDermid and later Peter James. The main event of the evening was the Theakstons Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year Award, won this year by R.J. Ellory for A Simple Act of Violence. But fine though Ellory’s writing is, for me he was upstaged by the understated eloquence of Reginald Hill (who received a life-time achievement award) and the power of divination of our host Mark Lawson’s Jack Russell. Forget Paul the psychic octopus if you want to predict the result of next year’s OP Crime Novel of the Year what you need is a Jack Russell.


Next morning well breakfasted and with time to kill before my selected session of the morning I headed out into the bright sunshine to enjoy a long relaxing cup of tea in that most deservedly enduring of Yorkshire institutions Bettys Tea Rooms.





Suitably refreshed I headed back to pick up my ticket for Knitting Needles at Dawn. With the charming and urbane Simon Brett in charge it was no surprise that the diverse authorial talents of MC Beaton, Tony Black, Simon Kernick and LC Tyler entirely failed to come to blows in this ‘cosy versus noir’ debate. But they did provide an hour of entertaining insight into how they viewed their chosen genre.


The white blur centre stage is all my camera phone could pick out of them!





I left Harrogate thoroughly satisfied with my decision to trek north and with every intention of being back for more next year. Beat that for a long weekend: two Festivals, Val McDermid, Peter James, tea at Betty’s and a psychic Jack Russell.


UPDATE 26/07/10: Listen to exclusive audio sessions from the Theakstons Harrogate Crime Writing Festival (including Knitting Needles at Dawn) now up on the Yorkshire Post website.



No Comments | In: Events | | #

This is one of my favourite cake recipes. I’ve had to alter it slightly today though as I realised I hadn’t enough walnuts. So I doubled the original recipe quantities (bar the nuts) and made what was originally a ‘traybake’ into a cake. I’ve just eaten a piece with an americano and it was very yummy.



Espresso walnut squares cake


Ingredients:
280g plain flour
a pinch of salt
280g light muscovado sugar
180g unsalted butter – chilled and diced
2 tsp baking powder
2 medium egg, beaten
6 tbsp very strong espresso coffee, cold
2 tbsp milk
30g walnut pieces
One 20cm square cake tin, greased and base-lined


Method:
Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a mixing bowl. Add the cold chunks of butter and rub with your fingertips until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Set aside 4 tbsp of the mixture. Add the baking powder to the rest of the mixture and mix well.
Combine the egg, coffee and milk in the mixture in the mixing bowl. When thoroughly combined spoon the mixture into the tin and level it.
Mix the nuts with the reserved crumb mixture and scatter over the top.
Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160C fan oven or 180C (350F)/Gas4 for about 60 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch, for last 20 minutes cover the top of the cake with tin foil to stop any burning.
Let cool for 1-2 minutes, then run a pallette knife around the edges of the tin to loosen it and carefully turn onto a wire rack.
Store in an airtight container and eat within 4 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.






The original recipe has half quantities, but double the amount of walnuts (45g of which go into the mixture after the egg, coffee and milk). Bake for 20-25 minutes and when cool cut into squares.
Either way it’s delicious!

No Comments | In: Recipe | | #