Christmas Crackers

These are amusing enough that I’ve just made them for the third time. Not my idea. I’ve reconstructed the method from a glimpse of a picture some years ago.

Take flat breads, these are done with Lebanese bread. Cut into 6-8 wedges. Snip off the bits that stop them looking like trees (kitchen scissors are the easiest tool for this). Lay on oven trays. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and finely chopped rosemary. Bake in ~160C oven for 10-15min until dry. Cool on racks. Bag up until wanted. I make them to serve with pate, but they are just flavoured crackers really so eat them with what you wish.

The offcuts were tossed with olive oil, spread on an oven tray, sprinkled with a spice mixture and similarly baked until dry and a bit browned. In this case I used cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, chipotle powder, sweet paprika, celery seed. We will eat these as a crispy snack with drinks tonight.

A gratuitous shot of my beautiful Maurice* who’s flowers were gracing the table.

 

*”Maurice Utrillo” A glorious scented and striped rose from Delbard’s Painters range of roses.

Morello Cherries

Hello again. Very long time no post. I’ve been busy travelling, working on gifts and a large project that has so far escaped being posted here. So to get my hand back in, I’ll share with you what I did with my first tiny crop of morello cherries.

Teeny crop. Young tree. First time I’ve had more than one fruit.

What to do with them? Morello cherries are sour, so they are more for cooking with than simply eating. A friend semi dries hers to good effect. So I pitted and halved them, and dried them in a low oven.

How to make better use of such tiny scraps of dried fruit? Toast some pistachios, melt some dark choc with a bit of brandy and mix the lot together. The chocolate siezed but blended into a semi truffle sort of consistency.

I’d not repeat that exact chocolate mix, but the resulting little balls made lovely little morsels. Papa and I demolished them with enthusiasm.