Recipes for December 7 2013 tea party

Here are some of the recipes we hope people will make  for the December 7, 2013 Tea.  We have sourced these recipes from Jane Austen themed cookery books.

1. BAKED FIGS

A wonderfully quick and delicious dessert.

Allow 2 figs per person.

• Core some apples.  Leave the skins on and cut into 4 mm. slices so that there is a slice for each fig.  Place the slices in an ovenproof or microwave proof dish.
• Cut a cross in the top of each fig and place one on each apple slice.
• Pour into each fig half a teaspoonful of honey.
• Bake in a fairly hot oven (375 degrees) for 15 – 20 minutes until just softened but still whole.
• Serve with creme fraiche, whipped double cream or ice cream.  Scrumptious!

2. CHEESE MUFFINS

50 g/2 oz lard (1/2 stick margarine)

900 g/2 lbs strong white flour (6 cups)

450 g/ 1 lb grated cheese (4 cups)

pinch of salt

50 g/ 2 oz. fresh yeast or 3 tsp. dried yeast

1 pint warm water (2 1/2 cups)

• Cut the lard into little pieces and place in a large bowl.  Sieve in the flour, add grated cheese and salt and use your fingertips to mix the ingredients together.
• Disperse the yeast in the warm water and add to the mixture to make a dough.  Knead it and then let it rest for 10 minutes.
• Roll out the dough mixture on a lightly floured surface to half an inch thickness and cut into approximately 15 four-inch rounds.
• Place on a lightly greased baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  Allow to cool on a wire rack.  To serve, cut in half horizontally and toast them on both sides.  Spread liberally with butter.

3. CHEESE STRAWS

2 ounces bread crumbs (1 cup)

2 ounces plain flour (1/3 cup)

2 ounces grated cheese (1/2 cup)

2 ounces butter (1/2 stick)

a little cayenne pepper and salt to season

• Mix all the ingredients well together and then roll out fairly thickly on a floured surface.   Cut into thin strips about 1/2 ” by 5 or 6″.
• Place on a greased baking sheet and bake in the middle of a hot oven at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes.  The straws should be crisp and pale golden brown like shortbread.

4. CIDER LOAF CAKE

12 ounces mixed dried fruits (2 cups)

1/2 pint sweet cider

2 large eggs

10 ounces (2 cups) self-rising flour

3 ounces chopped nuts

6 ounces brown sugar (1 cup)

grated rind of one orange

• Place the fruit and cider in a bowl and leave to marinate overnight.
• When well soaked bring the cider and the fruit to the boil and then let it cool.
• Whisk the eggs briefly and then add then and all the other ingredients to the cider and fruit.  Mix together and stir well.
• Turn into greased and floured tins (this quantity will make two 1 lb cakes).  Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 325 degrees.
• Remove from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

5.  LYDIA’S GINGER CURLS

7 ounces butter (14 Tablespoons)

8 ounces Demerara sugar (1 cup)

8 ounces plain flour (1 2/3 cup)

1 tsp ground ginger

1/4 nutmeg grated

9 ounces golden syrup

• Beat the butter to a cream with a whisk.
• Fold in the sugar, flour, ginger and grated nutmeg.
• Mix in the golden syrup to form a soft dough.
• On a well floured board, roll the dough out thinly and cut into strips about 3/4″ wide and 5″ long.  Place on a buttered and floured baking tray and bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 – 6 minutes.  Remove from the oven and, before they get cold, curl each strip diagonally round the handle of a wooden spoon to produce a “kiss curl” effect.

6.  MR WICKHAM’S INDELICATE PUDDING

Two 8″ Vienna rolls

2 ounces butter (1/2 stick)

4 oz. caster sugar (1/2 cup)

3 satsumas

4 eggs

2 pints milk

2 fl. oz. Grand Marnier

1 small orange

1 oz. orange marmalade

• Slice the Vienna rolls into half inch slices and butter them.  Layer the bottom of a pie dish with half the bread and sprinkle with one third of the sugar.
• Peel the satsumas and carefully remove the pith.  Separate into segments and put one on each roundel of bread.  Cover with a second layer of bread and sprinkle with sugar and a second layer of satsuma segments.
• Whisk the eggs, add the milk and Grand Marnier and pour the mixture over the bread and satsumas.  Place the dish in a bain-marie (hot water in a pan) and bake in the oven at 325 degrees for 1 hour until set and golden brown.
• Decorate the top with slices of the peeled orange and glaze the whole top with the warmed marmalade.  Place under a hot grill for a few minutes to caramelize.

7.  RICE FLUMMERY

1 pint milk (2 1/2 cups)

strip of lemon peel

1 inch cinnamon  stick

1/4 cup (2 oz.) caster sugar

3 oz. (1/3 cup) ground rice

1 oz. (1/4 stick) butter

4 drops almond essence

• Bring the milk, with the lemon peel and cinnamon stick, just to boiling point.  Remove the peel and cinnamon and then add the sugar and stir until dissolved.
• Mix the ground rice with a little cold milk and stir into the hot milk.  Add the butter and the essence.  Cook gently, stirring all the time, until the mixture thickens and leaves the sides of the saucepan.
• Pour into a wetted mould and leave until cold.  Turn out onto a serving plate and serve with fresh fruit, jam or cream.

8. HONEY BUNS

4 oz. (1/2 cup) caster sugar

4 oz. (1 stick) butter

6 oz. (1 1/4 cups) self-raising flour

1 tsp clear honey

1 tblspn milk

• Cream the butter and sugar together until light in color.
• Whisk the eggs and then add them to the butter and sugar, adding a little flour if the mixture shows signs of curdling.
• Stir in the flour and them add the honey and milk gradually until the consistency of the mixture will just drop off the spoon.
• This will fill about 20 bun tins or cases.  Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.  Allow to cool.

The Icing (for the Honey Buns)

 8 oz. (2 cups) icing sugar

3 dessert spoons clear honey

1 dessert spoon mead or water

• Beat all the ingredients together and then run the icing onto the buns.
• These look particularly pretty decorated with crystallized violets or primroses.

9.  ALMOND AND RAISIN PUDDING

3 oz. suet

1/2 ground nutmeg

4 oz (1/2 cup) granulated sugar

6 oz. (3 cups) breadcrumbs

2 eggs

1/4 pint (2/3 cup) milk

almond flavoring

2 oz. blanched almonds

6 oz. (1 cup) raisins

• Chop the suet and mix well with the nutmeg, sugar and breadcrumbs.
• Whisk the eggs with the milk and a few drops of flavouring.  Mix into the dry ingredients.
• Well butter a 2 pint pudding basin and line the bottom and sides with the almonds and raisins.  If there are any over, chop them up and add them to the mixture.
• Pour the mixture into the pudding basin, seal the top with greaseproof paper and tinfoil tied round with string and steam for 3 1/4 hours.  Turn out onto a serving plate and serve with a sweet sauce.

10.  LADY CATHERINE DE BOURGH’S BRITTLE BITES

1/2 lb. butter (2 sticks)

3/4 lb. black treacle (1 cup)

1/4 lb. brown sugar(1/2 cup)

3/4 lb. plain flour (2 1/3 cup)

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tbsp water

• Place the butter and treacle in a saucepan and dissolve over a gentle heat.  Allow to cool a little.
• Mix the sugar and flour together in a basin, pour in the melted butter and treacle and mix well.  Dissolve the bicarbonate of soda in a tablespoon of tepid water and add it to the mixture.
• Well grease a baking tray and drop the mixture onto it a teaspoonful at a time, leaving room between each one for the biscuits to spread.  Bake in a moderate oven, 375 degrees, for about 10 – 15 minutes until nicely browned.
• Leave for a few minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool and crisp up.  Store in an airtight tin.

11.  SHARP APPLE & HONEY TART

8 ounces (1 2/3 cup) plain flour

3 ounces (6 Tablespoons) margarine

1/2 tsp salt

4 ounces strong cheese

water to mix

1 lb. tart cooking apples

1 good tablespoon honey

milk to glaze pastry

• Make the pastry in the usual way by sifting the flour into a bowl with the salt and gently rubbing in the margarine until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Finely grate the cheese and stir it into the flour.  Add sufficient water to make a good pastry.
• Peel, core and slice the apples for the filling.
• Use half the pastry, rolled out, to line a greased 9 inch plate.  Add the apples and the honey and cover with the other half of the pastry, joining the edges in the usual way, using any spare pieces to decorate the top with the shapes of leaves.
• Brush with milk and bake at 375 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.  (May take longer.)

12. SHEPHERD’S PURSE

2 oz. butter (1/2 stick)

3 Tablespoons black treacle

2 eggs

4 oz. self raising flour (14 Tablespoons)

2 oz. chopped walnuts

4 oz. chocolate chips (or broken cooking chocolate)

• Melt the butter with the treacle and allow to cool.
• Add the eggs and whisk into the treacle mixture.
• Gently fold in the flour, walnuts and chocolate chips.
• Pour into a swiss roll tin lined with greaseproof paper and bake for 20 to 25 minutes at 375 degrees.  Allow to cool slightly and turn out onto a wire cooling rack. (A swiss roll tin is a 9″ by 13″ shallow baking pan.)

The Topping (for the Shepherd’s Purse)

 4 oz. butter (1 stick)

6 oz. icing sugar (1 1/2 cups)

1 Tablespoon black treacle

• Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl.  Add the softened butter and cream together with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Add the treacle and mix thoroughly (add more treacle according to taste!)
• Cover the cool sponge mixture with the topping and cut into 12 to 16 pieces.

13. VEGETABLE PIE

8 oz. rutabaga or turnip peeled and cut into large matchsticks

8 oz. parsnip, prepared as above

8 oz. firm green cabbage, coarsely shredded

8 oz. cucumber, quartered lengthways and cut across into fan-shaped slices

8 oz. carrots, scraped and cut into rounds

6 oz. onions, peeled and chopped

3/4 cup unsalted butter, chopped

1 tablespoon frying oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

8 oz. puff pastry

1 egg lightly beaten

1 1/4 cups vegetable broth

         Parboil the rutabaga and parsnip shreds together, and in another pan, the cabbage and cucumber.  Parboil the carrot rounds separately.   Drain all the vegetables, keeping them separate, and pour the cooking water into a measuring jug.

In a frying-pan, fry the onions in about 2 tablespoons butter and all the oil until just starting to soften.  Add the rutabaga and parsnip shreds and toss until tender.  Spread them over the base of a 5 cup deep pie dish and sprinkle with seasoning.  Put the cabbage and cucumber in the pan, add a little more butter and fry until tender, spread them over the rutabagas and parsnip and season them.  Fry, add and season the carrots likewise.  They should fill the dish.

Set the oven to heat to 400 degrees.  Roll out the pastry into an oval about 1 1/4 inches bigger than the top of the pie dish.  Brush the rim of the dish with egg.  Cut a strip of pastry from the edge of the rolled out shape and fit it over the rim.  Brush it with egg, then fit the pastry sheet over it to cover the pie.  Flute or crimp the edge to seal it.  Make triangular slits in the pie to let steam escape, and decorate it with small shapes cut from the pastry trimmings.  Bake it in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes or until the pastry is cooked through.

While cooking the pie, make a “gravy”.  Measure the reserved vegetable cooking water and add half a vegetable or garlic-and-herb stock cube.  Heat gently to dissolve it.  Add enough simmering water to make 1 1/4 cups of liquid and taste to check the seasoning.  Pour some “gravy” into the pie through one of the slit holes and serve the rest separately

14. WHITE MUSHROOM FRICASSEE

1 lb button mushrooms

1/4 cup water

1 large piece of blade mace

1 strip lemon peel

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon flour

good pinch of grated nutmeg

1 1/4 cups light cream

salt and pepper

freshly made buttered toast

lemon juice if needed

         Clean the mushrooms, trim them and cut off the stalks.  Cut any large mushrooms in half.  Put them in a pan with the water, mace and lemon peel, bring to simmering point, cover and cook very gently until the mushrooms are tender and the liquid is reduced almost to a glaze. (About 1/2 hour)

Mix one egg yolk with the flour to make a smooth paste, then blend in the remaining yolk, nutmeg, cream, and a little salt and pepper.  Off the heat, remove the mace and lemon peel from the pan and stir the egg/cream mixture into the mushroom mixture.  Replace over very low heat and stir continuously until the sauce thickens.

Lay the toast in a warmed serving dish ready to use.  Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning, adding a little lemon juice if needed.  Spoon the mixture over the toast.  Serve hot without delay.