Farmersgirl Kitchen

Thursday, 14 March 2013

St Patrick's Day treat

It's St Patrick's Day on17th of March, and this year it falls on a Sunday, so I expect more people than usual will be celebrating this popular Irish Saint's day with a bit of feasting and partying.

What better way to celebrate than with some lovely Irish produce, like this Burren Smokehouse, Cold Smoked Organic Salmon with Whiskey, Honey and Fennel? The Burren Smokehouse was first established in 1989 by Birgitta and Peter Curtin. They researched the smoking traditions in Ireland and in Sweden and the idea of the Smokehouse was born.

I served the smoked salmon for lunch with salad and some Bessy Beck Smoked Trout pate and some lovely Lakeland Walnut and Treacle Loaf and Rye bread with Figs and Walnuts that I bought from More? The Artisan Bakery at the Marmalade Awards. The salmon was delicious, smoked salmon is one of my favourite things to eat and I have tasted a LOT of different kinds. I would thoroughly recommend this organic salmon which won the 2 star Gold Award at the Great Taste Awards 2010 and picked up three other awards at the same show. It had just enough smoky flavour, a little sweetness from the Whiskey and honey and just a hint of the aniseed flavour of the fennel.

Bessy Beck Smoked Trout Pate from Cumbria

Bread from More? Artisan Bakery

Enjoy some Irish produce for your St Patricks Day feast.

I was provided with the Smoked Salmon as part of a hamper of Irish produce, I bought the bread, salad and Smoked Trout Pate. I was not paid to review these products and all opinions are my own.

Labels: Burren Smokehouse, Ireland, Irish foods, marmalade awards, smoked salmon, St Patrick's Day, Trout Pate

Saturday, 2 March 2013

The Marmalade Awards 2013

These quirky awards were founded in 2006 by Jane Hasell-McCosh with the initial idea of preserving, growing and widening one of the most British of customs – making marmalade. They have gone on to generate a following far beyond Jane’s wildest expectations and allow many different varieties of marmalade to come together and allow the judges the great opportunity to taste them all!
Proceeds from amateur entry fees will be donated to charity. The 2013 beneficiaries are Hospice at Home and Action Medical Research.

The idea of entering and visiting the Marmalade Awards came out of some Twitter exchanges with Sue from A little bit of Heaven on a Plate and Karen from Lavender and Lovage. It's not that far over the border for me to get to Dalemain Mansion near Penrith where the awards are held, so I was keen to attend. I managed to source some Seville oranges and duly sent off my pot of Seville Orange Marmalade.

The Awards are centred on Dalemain Mansion, a Georgian stately home lived in by the same family for over 300 years, which also happens to hold a very rich archive of Marmalade recipes. The courtyard of Dalemain was set up with various stalls selling artisan foods and other related product. I met up with Sue in the courtyard...NO that's not her, that's an Alpaca!!! Sue likes to preserve a little mystery so there are no photos of her in this blog post. Unfortunately, Karen wasn't able to join us, but we were able to meet up with Vivienne Lloyd, more of that later.

I bought some flour from Little Salkeld Watermill, which is located near Penrith, I'll write a little more about their plans for a community buy out of the Watermill soon.

I also bought a couple of fabulous looking and tasting loaves from More, Artisan Bakery. I chose the Lakeland Walnut and Treacle Loaf and Rye with Figs and Walnuts

As well as the stalls, there was a marquee with workshops and lectures and the location of sponsors Mackays of Dundee.

It was soon time to hear the prize winners announced by, celebrity baker and author, Dan Lepard at the front of Dalemain Mansion.

Here are the winners in the children's category

There was quite a crowd outside the mansion despite it being pretty cold standing there.

Paddington Bear was there with his marmalade sandwich.

The hostess of the Marmalade Festival and Awards was also in attendance.

Jane, a self confessed marmalade bore, is passionate about the preserve. As a child she helped her mother make marmalade year-round, a tradition she has continued with her own three children.

Frustrated by an apparent growing decline in the popularity and standards of marmalade making, Jane decided six years ago to hold a small event with her friends, celebrating this most British of preserve and, at the same time, raising money for Hospice at Home. This became an annual event, growing in size every year, and is now the largest of its kind in the world.

And then it was time to enter the house and find out how we had got on with our marmalade entries. I did not have high hopes as I knew mine was over set and the peel was too thick (I'm not patient enough to spend two hours finely slicing peel!) what I didn't expect was that I would have two points deducted for using a 'commercial' jar! There was no mention in the terms of entry of the type of jar to use and one of the the winning entries used the same type of jar. What was really thrilling was how well Sue did with her entries, a gold and two silver stars! Karen also managed to collect a silver, a bronze and a merit for her entries. Huge congratulations to both!

Winning Merry Marmalade in same 'commercial' jar as my entry

The Awards have inspired people from all over the world to get involved. In 2010, 800 jars of marmalade were sent in from countries far and wide including the Yukon - Canada, Japan, Australia, Spain and France. I overheard one of the organisers say that there were nearly 1500 entries this year.

International Marmalade entries

Amazing Marmalade display in the dining room

The rooms were packed and everyone was very friendly, you can just see me (in the turquoise hat) chatting to some poor innocent bystander!

Oh, there I go again, chatting away to people I've never met before, and looking scarily like my mother from behind - eek! Thanks Sue!

In the middle of the 'madding crowds' sat a huddle of judges, tasting and judging marmalade from Britain and Australia for the Marmalashes Award. That's Vivienne Lloyd, author of First Preserves and winner of the 2008 Marmalade Festival, with Dan Lepard to her right.

Pam 'the jam' Corbin was also judging along with representatives from Fortnum and Mason and Mackays, the last remaining producer of marmalade in Dundee, the home of marmalade.

I loved this replica of Dalemain Mansion with the jars of Artisan marmalade in the the 'windows'.

And here I am with a Marmalade coloured VW Beetle outside Dalemain, what a great day out!

The winners:
Amateurs:　Best in Show - Yen-Chung Chong; Man Made dark and chunky - Adrian Young, Canberra, Australia; Man Made Seville -Tom Maier, Compton, West Sussex; Children's (sponsored by Paddington Bear) - Matthew Foster, Stanwick, Northamptonshire and William Preston, Silsden, West Yorkshire; Seville - Margaret Burke, Knutsford, Cheshire; Heritage (sponsored by Mackays) – Mary & Nicholas Hart, Morden, Surrey; International (sponsored by Mackays) Tom Benford, Kyoto, Japan; Dark and Chunky – Elizabeth Maclay, Andover, Hampshire; Merry - Yen-Chung Chong, Brighton; Novice - Jane Boylan, Penrith, Cumbria; Any Citrus - Jonathan Hamel Cooke, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire; Clergy - Rev James Milnes, Macclesfield; Tri-Services - Colonel Kieran O’Kelly, Andover, Hampshire.
Artisan & Commercial Producers: Double Gold - Nase Dobroty
Gold – Nase Dobroty (Marmalade with Interesting Additions Bourbon and Vanilla), Hubble Preserves (Fine Seville Orange Marmalade), Bracken Hill Fine Foods (Savoury Marmalade Orange and Cider), Mary’s Marmalade (Medium Seville and Any Citrus Grapefruit), Radnor Preserves (Medium Seville, Any Citrus Blood Orange and Any Citrus Lime), Mrs Jampot’s Parlour (Savoury Marmalade Clove and Cinnamon), JR Jams (Any Citrus Marmalade Three Fruit), Jammy Bodger (Medium Seville), Jill’s Natural Preserves (Marmalade with Interesting Additions with Somerset Brandy), Love Jam Kitchen (Any Citrus Marmalade Pink Grapefruit), Wild & Fruitful (Savoury Marmalade Thai Lime), Beta 5 Chocolates (Any Citrus Marmalade Yuzu).

To find out more about the Marmalade Awards visit www.marmaladeawards.com.

Labels: A little bit of Heaven on a Plate, Dan Lepard, Fortnum and Mason, Lavender and Lovage, Little Salkeld Watermill, Mackays, marmalade awards, More Artisan Bakery, oranges, Pam Corbin, Vivienne Lloyd

Thursday, 24 January 2013

Homemade Seville Orange Marmalade

I really only like homemade marmalade and have been making marmalade since I was in my early 20s. My mum always made her own marmalade and used to put the peel through the mincer, I would help by turning the handle. When I spoke to her at the weekend she was planning to make some marmalade and bemoaning the fact that she no longer has that mincer!

I managed to source some Seville Oranges and turned to my old favourite recipe from Home and Freezer Digest (regular readers will have worked out by now that I learnt a lot of my cooking from this little magazine published in the 1980s and 90s) I usually chop the peel in the food processor for home consumption, but this time I am entering a jar of marmalade in the World's Original Marmalade Awards and Festival 2nd & 3rd March 2013

This prestigious preserves contest, held at Dalemain in Cumbria, attracts thousands of entries from all over the world. Everyone who sends in a jar gets their marmalade tasted by a panel of expert judges and then gets sent a personalised mark card with feedback on how the marmalade can be improved - or if they are lucky a gold, silver or bronze award. Judges for 2013 include Pam Corbin and the WI.

My friends Karen at Lavender and Lovage and Sue at A little bit of Heaven on a Plate are also entering the awards and you can read more about their marmalade making adventures on their blogs.

Seville Orange Marmalade

Makes 9lb (4kg)

2lb (900g) Seville oranges

4pt (2.3l) water

1 lemon

4lb (1.80kg) sugar

1. Wipe and cut the oranges in half, squeeze out juice an pips. Put pips in a muslin or stockinette bag and tie.

2. Put orange juice in pan with water and lemon juice.

3. Slice peel thinly and add to the pan with pips. Simmer about 1 1/2 hours until peel is soft and liquid reduced by half.

4. Take out bag of pips and squeeze out any liquid into pan. Stir in sugar over low heat until dissolved. Boi8l rapidly to setting point.

5. Cool 15 minutes in pan, stir well, our into warm, clean jars. Cover, seal, label. Store in a cool dry place.

I suspect my marmalade is a little too set to win any competitions but the taste is phenomenal, the tart orange flavour bursts onto your tongue and stays with you for some time after eating. It's not too sweet and I'm really rather pleased with it!

Marmalade is perfect for breakfast so why not try to make some for Farmhouse Breakfast Week. There are lots of ideas for breakfast on the Shake Up your Wake Up website. You can follow @breakfastweek on Twitter and tweet a picture of your breakfast every day with the hash tag #BreakfastWatch. You can also post your photos to Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest.

If you are cooking or baking your breakfast between now and 24th February, remember to link up to Breakfast Club and the good news is...Helen of Fuss Free Flavour s has arranged for one lucky Breakfast Clubber to win a Sharpham Park Breakfast Hamper containing:

Sharpham Park Crunchy Spelt Bran Flakes

Sharpham Park Crunchy Spelt Bran Flakes with Berries

Sharpham Park Crunchy Spelt Bran Flakes with Dates and Walnuts

Sharpham Park Multigrain Flakes

Sharpham Park Multigrain Fruit & Fibre Flakes

Sharpham Park Organic Wholegrain Spelt Flour

Sharpham Park Organic White Spelt Flour

Sharpham Park Organic Baker's Blend Spelt Flour

Sharpham Park Organic Spelt Flour

All you have to do is link your cooked or baked breakfast blog post to the Breakfast Club and we will choose one Breakfast Club entrant by Random Number Generator when the Breakfast Club ends on 24th February.

Labels: breakfast, Breakfast Club, Breakfast Watch, cereal, Dalemain, Farmhouse Breakfast Week, marmalade, marmalade awards, Seville Oranges, Sharpham Park

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Farmersgirl Kitchen

Thursday, 14 March 2013

St Patrick's Day treat

Saturday, 2 March 2013

The Marmalade Awards 2013

Thursday, 24 January 2013

Homemade Seville Orange Marmalade

Seville Orange Marmalade

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