Gill Osborne - Middle Holly Cottage

We have another shy featured foodie this month, so instead of a picture of Gill we have a photo of the lovely Middle Holly Cottage which Gill runs with her husband Andy, as a country B and B and now Tea Room and Cake Parlour. Despite hailing from other parts Gill loves Lancashire and its produce which she uses extensively in her establishment.

What is your favourite cookery or food book or publication?

That’s difficult bearing in mind I must have over 100 cookery books on my shelf! I mostly use books by Annie Rigg, Rachel Allen, Mary B, Dan Lepard. Pinterest is great and so is the Internet. Plus I do purchase several monthly publications too.

What sentence sums up Lancashire Food to you ?

Good, honest, down to earth and wholesome food, maybe with a few tweaks here and there!

If you weren’t doing what you do now, what would you like to be ?

That’s, easy, I’d love to run my own high street bakery selling high quality bread, cakes and patisserie.

Which piece of kit could you not do without ?

My 35 year old Kenwood Chef, my third arm. I’ve used it nearly every day and it’s only let me down once. In my opinion it was the best wedding present we got!

Who would join you at your ultimate dinner party and why?

Just my family, they’re the most important people in my life. I don’t think I could handle anyone famous, I’d be too on edge and not sleep for days before!

What would you tell your younger self?

Go for it, believe in your own ability, don’t be afraid of what others think, just be your own confident self

Describe your style in three words

Honest, Creative, Confident

What was your latest foodie gadget purchase?

A little Russell Hobbs blender, great for whizzing herbs or bits of anything really. Oh and my microplane greater – every kitchen should have one!

What is your greatest achievement to date?

Opening the tea room at Middle Holly Cottage, my dream to bake for others to enjoy.

What is the worst mistake you have made?

Not going to catering college when I left school, it wasn’t the thing to do then but gosh do I wish I had. Everything I know now is pretty much self taught.

Tell us a secret about yourself ? It may be something we wouldn’t expect !

I was a Rosebud Queen in our village fete when I was 8 years old. I still have the head-dress I wore.

Cereal loaf cake

On this years schedule for the Lancashire Federation of Womens Institute county show one of the set recipes is a Weetabix cake. I remember this cake from my childhood as one that my Nanna would bake, I think she also did an All bran version too which would give a very similar result. I haven't decided as yet if I am going to enter any of the baking classes and do foray with the local equivalents of Mary Berry but in the meantime I baked this classic to remind me how it tastes. Its a pretty easy recipe and the secret is the soaking of the fruit overnight to ensure that the dried fruit is plump and juicy. There are a myriad versions of this recipe on the internet but I am using the classic supplied by the WI (the measurement is in ounces so its old time for sure).

The cake is better if wrapped for a couple of days as it improves with keeping , its great served plain or buttered.

Ingredients

• 2 weetabix or similar quantity of all bran, bran flakes, etc
• 1/2 pint of milk (I used skimmed)
• 8 oz demerara sugar
• 8 oz mixed dried fruit
• 1 egg - free range
• 8 oz self raising flour
• 1 tsp mixed spice ( this is my embellishment or not to schedule in WI speak)

Method

• Crush the weetabix in a bowl, add the sugar, milk and dried fruit. Stir well and leave to soak overnight
• Add the egg and flour and mix well
• Scoop into a lined 2lb loaf tin
• Bake at 160c for 1 hour or so (mine took 1-20 mins) until tested cooked with a skewer
• Cool on a wire rack

I was recently on BBC Radio Lancashire and took a sample of this loaf in with me and it proved very popular with the presenters.

I have been having a rummage in my old recipe archive some of which has been passed to me by my Mum and have found a couple of postcards with variations on a theme for this recipe in my Nanna's writing.

CCC No 12 - We Heart Cake - Joint Clandestine Cake Club and WI Meeting

South Lancashire latest cake club meeting was a first (as far as we know) for the Clandestine Cake club movement, we held our Valentine's Day meeting as a joint meeting with Buckshaw Village Womens Institute, despite only 4 bakers from the cake club attending the meeting, it was a great success with the WI members rising to baking challenge and doing us proud by baking lots of lovely cakes.

The meeting started in the traditional manner with WI business and the traditional song of Jerusalem, we were then entertained by Sue from Heaven on a Plate and fellow cake club organiser to her talk on her "one women's battle with marmalade" and making marmalade to competition standards.

We then got on with the business of the cake club meeting, after a brief introduction on what Clandestine Cake clubs are all about and the social etiquette of such meetings, we also celebrated the publication of the Clandestine Cake club cookbook and two members who have recipes in the book, each signed each others copies.

Now on to the cakes, which included from a golden syrup heart, lemon curd cake, chocolate,rum and cola cake, double chocolate cake, lemon lime yoghurt bundt and magic bean cake  and many many others. All of which were very delicious, necessitating  lots of tea and coffee to be drunk to offset the inevitable sugar high. Baking secrets were swapped and much perusal went on of the cookery book.

Buckshaw Village WI is a relatively young group both in terms of formation, being only just over 1 year old but also in its membership and fortunate enough to meet in a state of the art school in the centre of a newly built village. Everyone had a great evening and lots of cake aways were taken home to share a great cakey evening with family and friends. If you are interested in joining the WI please contact your local federation.

                                                           

My bakes for the evening are both featured in the Clandestine Cake Club cook book, one is my "Magic Bean Cake" recipe and the other a recipe from another cake clubber. I will be making a seperate post as a review of the book, so check this out for the magic bean cake recipe and details of this great publication.

Apple Butter - windfalls for the store cupboard

In the garden the apple season is in full swing, our trees are old and knarled and are the remnants of a much larger orchard for a nearby ancient farmhouse. All the gardens in the local areas have fruit trees, mainly apple or perry pear, but the fields just down the lane also have crab apples and damsons as well.

Given that this year has been the wettest on record (interesting term that as records have only been kept for a few hundred years, I digress) the fruit harvest is very variable and many trees haven't fruited well , that combined with the trees being old, codling moth and fungal diseases means that the fruit is mostly ignored locally.

I like to embrace this harvest and every year when we have fruit in the garden, we make cider (variable quality), chutney, sauce, apple butter and freeze large quantities for pies and crumbles in the winter. We are also lucky that the fallen fruit particularly in cold winters attracts flocks of redwings and fieldfares into the garden to feast on the slowly rotting piles of apples and pears.

This apple butter recipe is based on a Women's Institute recipe and one from River Cottage preserves, its a easy preserve to make and is delicious on toasted crumpets or as a filling for cakes. The proportion of sugar is lower than a jam so its keeping qualities aren't quite as good as jam and it must be stored in a cool place and eaten promptly once opened. Its smells heavenly when cooking as the spices give it a deliciously aromatic scent, which when combined the cider notes is wonderful.

Ingredients

• About 1.5kg apples, cut up into chunks , only discard really manky bits !
• Sugar - Granulated about 800g
• 600ml Cider ( local if you can get it )
• 600ml Water
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves ( you can use other spices it up to you)
• Lots of recycled jars - sterilised (small one's are better so you can eat it all quickly once open)

Method

• Place your cut up apples, cider and water in a very large pan
• Bring to boil and simmer until all the fruit is soft and pulpy
• Pass through a mouli or rub through a sieve to remove the cores, pips and skins
• Add the strained pulp back to your cleaned pan, adding approx 350g sugar for each 600ml of pulp
• Add the spices (whichever you are using)
• Stir and heat slowly to dissolve the sugar
• Once the sugar has dissolved bring to a good rolling boil until the mixture is reduced and spluttering and creamy in texture
• Pot immediately into your warmed sterilised jars
• Cool and then store in cool location until use

National Apple Day was started by Common Ground

 This is also an entry for A little bit of Heaven on a plates Homemade and Well Preserved challenge 

STOP PRESS - I won best in show, amazed and such a lovely lovely prize a signed preserves book from Vivien Lloyd expert chutney and preserves maker and also a WI Judge