Picking and plucking

On a day that started with me walking to work in -15.5C weater I thought we really need some sunshine and happiness.

What can you find in the centre of town, that is beautiful and you can enjoy in a gastronomic way?

A little path into some unused land

A girl in sandals and a dress

And some elderflowers just wanting to be picked.

They are full of flavour an scent.

You can also find some beautiful wild flowers.

All of this behind the national library on wasteland in the middle of the city.

Once we get home we strip the flowers.

Then we weigh them out.

wow, all those flowers and only 45 grams.

Next we rim the fresh ripe strawberries

Slice them

Then cook with a little sugar (but not too much)

Once they are cooked through you have an elderflower and strawberry jam. Screaming sunshine!

That time of year again

Oh yes! We are back from holidays in Sicily and now it is one of my favourite times of the year. Elderflower time!

This year I am planning to make; Elderflower syrup, Elderflower jelly, Elder-gummis, and Elderflower champagne again...... fingers crossed that no one dies with the last one.

Today I had a couple of free hours, so rather than go for a jog, although after all those Italian pastries that may have been a good idea, I went to my secret spot of elderflowers hidden away from pollution and prying eyes and picked me a quick bag.

 They just smell divine and sweet as it is.

But to that I added some sugar, water, lemon juice and peel, and some citric acid to make about 4.5L of syrup. This will steep for a few days and then be strained and bottled. mmmm I can't wait. Also, I chose some of the prettier flower heads to dry to be used as tea later, in winter.

There are two recipes as follows for these two bottles.
2 x lemons (rind and juice)
990g of white sugar (I have tried brown before but it makes it look off)
20g Citric acid
30 heads of flowers (removing as many stems as you can be bothered)
2L of water

and

2.5L of water
1kg of Sugar
25g Citric acid
2 x lemons (rind and juice)
30-40 heads of flowers

Instructions:
Remove flowers from the stems, you will always have some stems in there but the more you remove the better as they are supposedly toxic. I just use my fingers to pluck them off.
Remove rind from lemon and juice and add to the flowers.
Dissolve sugar and acid in water and get to a boil
Then add the flowers/lemon mixture and continue to boil for at least a minute.
Then set aside to cool, I put it in my big jars but anything you can cover to stop it getting infected would be fine.
After a few days strain through some muslin or just a sieve (the latter will give a more cloudy mixture but still tastes great).
Then add to water, sparkling water or even more fun sparkling wine.

Enjoy!

bzik kulinarny

Sometimes you need to get out of the house for dinner. I know I love cooking, but often you just feel the need to do something else. To find something else to eat. One of our favourite little places is only a few streets from our house and it is called Bzik Kulinarny, meaning 'food obsession'. It is a Polish restaurant but has influences from French and Italian food, and has some really lovely dishes. It actually has the feel of being a restaurant as if in France or Italy and has the feel of quality goods coming in so that is why the dishes coming out are good.

I started with a Czech beer.

What about a beetroot salad?

Steak nice and rare in forest mushroom sauce

Veal in Calvados cream

Simple almost austere decor.

all finished with a wafer thin plum tart.

A little restaurant with a big heart. I hope that gets the tastebuds running wet!

Swerving in Sverige, Maniacal Mariestad

After a brief, two hour, but lovely train ride, John picked us up at the station and gave us a quick run through on the way to the summer house. It really was a marvellous setting, that's M-A-R-V-E-L-L-O-U-S. For all the cricket fans out there. We got to meet Madelene and little Loke for the first time. I think it was just us, but he did manage to belt out some decent screams.

From sad to happy with only the acceleration of a car

but with a bit of playing

he would be back to his dribbling self.

We popped into the house to find that the cat had caught a snake and kindly brought it home for us, minus the head.

Green door, what is that secret your keeping?

Then we thought what would be a really nice thing to do? Yes, like most of the time I think about food. So, I convinced everyone to head into the forest on the back of John's talk of mushrooms and berries. and my word it was a good idea.

hunting for the elusive blueberry and wild strawberry

So far a reasonable haul of wild strawberries and raspberries the odd blue in there too

Then we found a good patch of blueberries

We ended up doing well with the bucket

Then as we neared the house the girls picked some really sweet dark cherries

While the men hunted Chanterelle mushrooms

On return they are in need of a trim and a brush

Here Dr. John shows us the temperate require.

To me the Chanterelle is the prettiest and tastiest mushroom

The golden yellow and the white innards are just stunning

What ever should we do with such a beautiful bunch of mushrooms, as fresh as they can be....

Some eggs in your crepes

And some cream and pepper with your mushrooms makes a great breakfast.