Sarah and Mike… Probably

A view across Yeadon Tarn to Leeds Bradford Airport behind the trees. The whole lake was covered in ice and was topped off with about 10cm of snow. The dots on the right are seagulls standing around on the ice. I’ve not done much manipulation on this - the sky above me was as white as the snow, but gave way to blue in the distance.

I took a walk up to Yeadon Tarn at lunch time. It was frozen solid and covered in snow. The clouds above me were white too, but gave way to a little smudge of blue in the distance.

Preparation time:  45 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Serves 8

What you need:

• 100 gm(s) Whole blanched hazelnuts
•  85 gm(s) Unsalted butter
• 25 gm(s) Icing sugar, sifted
•  125 gm(s) Plain flour, sifted
•  1 Egg yolk
•  200 gm(s) Dark chocolate
•  10 Whole cardamom pods
•  284 ml(s) Double cream
•  1 tbsp(s) Cocoa, sifted

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Grease a 23cm loose-based flan tin & dust with flour. Toast the hazelnuts in the preheated oven for 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool, then chop in a food processor or coffee grinder until finely ground.

For the pastry. Cream 60 gms of the butter with the sifted icing sugar, add 40 gms of the ground nuts, then gradually work in the sifted flour. Beat the egg yolk and 1 tbsp water together and add this to the pastry, gradually working it into a ball.

Turn the pastry out onto a lightly floured surface, using your hands, press it out gently into a circle slightly smaller than your flan tin. Carefully place it into your tin (don’t worry if it breaks) and press it around with your fingers until it fits. Trim any excess. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Prick the base of the pastry with a fork, then bake blind for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.

Meanwhile crush the cardamom pods using a pestle and mortar. Remove the green husks and finely grind the seeds. Add the cardamom to the cream and warm gently in a saucepan until the surface is just beginning to tremble, but don’t let it boil. Remove the pan from the heat and add the chocolate, broken into chunks, the remaining butter and ground hazelnuts. Stir until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool, but don’t let it get totally cold. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and place in the fridge to harden (for a couple of hours). Before serving dust with sifted cocoa.

Seasonality: hazelnuts are in season in August and September.

Recipe by: Lizlander

Vegetables: artichoke (Jerusalem), beetroot, Brussels sprouts, Brussels tops, cabbages (red, white and various green varieties), cardoons, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chard, chicory, endive, greens (spring and winter), kale (and borecole), kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsnips, potatoes, pumpkins (and squashes), salsify (and scorzonera), swede, turnips

Fruit: apples, late (egremont russet, blenheim orange, orleans reinette), apples, store (cox’s, fiesta, ashmead’s kernel, bramley), cranberries, medlars, pears (late) (concorde, doyenne du comice, conference, winter nellis), quince, raspberries

Wild greens and herbs: nettles, watercress

Wild flowers and fruits: rosehips, sloes

Fungi and nuts: chestnuts, hedgehog fungus, horse mushrooms, oyster mushrooms (pleurottes), walnuts, wood blewits

Fish and shellfish: cod, crab (brown, hen), lobster, mackerel, mussels, oysters (native and rock), prawns, scallops, sea bass, sprats, squid, whiting

Game: goose (wild), grey squirrel, grouse, hare, mallard, partridge, pheasant, rabbit, wood pigeon

Vegetables: beetroot, borlotti beans (for podding), broccoli (Calabrese), Brussels sprouts, cabbages (red, white, green and Savoy), cardoons, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, celery, chard, courgettes, fennel, kale (and borecole), kohlrabi, leeks, marrow, onions, peppers and chillies, potatoes, pumpkins, rocket, runner beans, salsify (and scorzonera), spinach, squash, sweetcorn, tomatoes, turnips

Fruit: apples (egremont russet, blenheim orange, orleans reinette, cox’s, fiesta, ashmead’s kernel, bramley, blackberries, grapes (English hothouse), medlars, pears (concorde, doyenne du comice, conference, winter nellis), quince, raspberries

Wild greens and herbs: nettles, watercress

Wildflowers and fruits: bullace, crab apples, damsons, juniper berries, rosehips, rowan berries, sloes

Fungi and nuts: chanterelles, chestnuts, hedgehog fungus, horse mushrooms, oyster mushrooms (pleurottes), parasol mushrooms, puffballs, giant, shaggy ink caps, summer truffles, walnuts, wood blewits

Fish and shellfish: cod, crab (brown, hen and spider), eels, lobster, mackerel, mussels, oysters (native and rock), prawns, salmon (wild), scallops, sea bass, sprats, squid, trout, river (ie brown and rainbow)

Game: goose (wild), grey squirrel, grouse, hare, mallard, partridge, rabbit, wood pigeon

Wildflowers in the meadow at Yeadon Tarn, just next to Leeds Bradford Airport taken during a really hot lunch hour.

I went for a quick walk around Yeadon Tarn at lunchtime yesterday. The wildflower meadow is overflowing with delicate flowers that make an excellent subject. I took loads of images, with this being my favourite. The background bokeh is brilliant!

This is the email conversation that Mike had with Andrew today, and says a lot about how the geek’s mind works:

A: What is the ETA for mini Mike?

M: Mike 2.0 is due to be released on 23 August – 9 more weeks!

A: So the bump is still in alpha testing, although the proof of concept(ion) was a success?!

M: Yes. But as we’re increasing stress testing, Sarah’s uptime is gradually decreasing due to the load. I’m looking forward to the release day, but Sarah’s more concerned with the first few months of live feedback.

A: There may be resource hogging issues and conflicts with the other, 3 year old version of the system. It may be a challenge to operate both in parallel. Perhaps an outsourcing deal can be arranged to cover at peak times.

M: It’s long been a requirement that version 2.0 must run in parallel with the 3-year old version, so we can’t simply deprecate it and discontinue support when 2.0 is released, but yes, an outsourcing deal can be arranged from time to time. The release procedure of 2.0 will mean that for a short period, support for the older version will have to be completely outsourced, before making the first attempts to run them together.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 90 minutes

Serves 8

What you need:

1 whole free range chicken
 2 stalks celery
 1 leek
 2 onions
 3 carrots
 2 cloves garlic
 2 bay leaves
 sprig thyme
 sprig rosemary
 2 maris piper or similar potatoes
 2 large sweet potatoes
 5 mushrooms
 to taste crème fraiche
 8 dried apricots
 1 lemon

What to do:

Place the chicken in a large pot along with one carrot (roughly chopped), a stalk of celery (roughly chopped), a leek (roughly chopped), an onion (roughly chopped) and one clove of garlic (crushed).
Cover the chicken in boiled water and add the thyme, rosemary and bay leaf. Bring to the boil on the stove top then turn down and leave to simmer for approximately 40 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
While the chicken is cooking you can set about preparing the veg for the casserole. Peel and roughly chop the potatoes and carrots, slice the onion and celery and crush a clove of garlic (keep together and separate), slice the mushrooms and chop the apricots into halves or quarters.
Remove the whole chicken when cooked and place in a large flat dish - let the juices flow out then tip them back into the pot and leave the chicken to cool down.
Using a sieve poor the liquid containing all the veg and herbs into another pan or bowl and throw away the contents of the sieve (ie all the cooked veggies and herbs) - you have now made some very tasty stock!
Using the big pot again, gently fry the onion, garlic and celery until the onion is clear - best way to gently do this is to turn the heat down very low and put the lid on, checking every minute or so.
Add all the other veggies, pour in the stock and add a bay leaf and the zest of a whole lemon and the dried apricots. You may not need all the stock so don’t use it all at this stage as you can use it to make a soup or risotto or just freeze it to use another day.
Again, bring to the boil then turn the heat down and leave to simmer with the lid on.
Meanwhile, dissect the whole chicken removing all the meat. Throw the meat in the pot with the veggies then leave to simmer away until the potatoes are soft with the lid off.
Serve with crème fraiche and a jacket potato.
This chicken casserole is absolutely perfect for babies who love the sweetness of it.

Recipe by: McGing

Seasonality: carrots are in season from May - December

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serves 2

What you need:

1 head of leaf chicory
 1 tsp(s) honey
 30 gm(s) pine nuts
 1 avocado
 2 chicken breasts
 2 tsp(s) wholegrain mustard
 1 Cos lettuce

What to do:

Slice up the chicken breast into smallish cubes. Heat some olive oil over a medium heat and add the chicken, honey and mustard. Give it a good mix so the chicken gets nicely coated in with the mustard and honey. Cook over a medium heat until the chicken is cooked through and the honey and mustard is starting to char on the outside.

Kahlua, Baileys and Vodka, apparently.

I love this triptych by James. It sums up that awful, um, drink that Stephen bought me. Thanks Stephen!

A picture taken from underneath the flower, with the sun directly above the flower head. I love this!

We’ve had a really sunny weekend. On Saturday, we went to Kathryn and Allan’s house for a barbecue. I took this picture of a flower growing in one of their front borders. Every once in a while, a photo comes along that I just love, and this is one of them. I love the deep blue sky, the sparkling bokeh of the leaves in the background and on the stem, and especially the way the flower’s petals seem to glow.

As soon as I saw the flower and the sky, I knew the photo that I wanted to take. It took a long time (this shot was number 13 out of 16). Crawling on my knees to get underneath the flower, I held the stem in my left hand and pushed the flower head across to block the sun and get a composition without the side of the house in it, while holding my camera in my right hand. Because it was so bright, I could get away with a shutter speed of 1/1250, so there was no chance of any camera shake! I think this is my favourite photo of the summer so far. (Apart from the vintage looking one of Charlotte, perhaps, that Flickr friends will be able to see.)

[ISO 100, f/4, 1/1250, 25mm]