Itsy Bitsy Broccoli Bites for the holidays

With a free morning up my sleeve, I made a batch of these green goodies  for the freezer to have on hand at Christmas time. These nutritious and fun snacks are great for small children to munch on and for adults to enjoy with a cold Christmas drink. If you know you are being visited by young parents over Christmas with little people you will score some serious Brownie points if you produce these little beauties which the kids will love. They don't even realise that they are packed with nutritious green vegetables and no sugar. Finger food and vegetables are essential for healthy children and if they see us eating them as well, they will want them. The Sweet Chilli Jam on the side is strictly for adults only.

The rain has stopped for the moment leaving muggy and oppressive weather, suggesting that more rain is on it's way. The Dove orchids are coming out in bloom again, also a promise of more rain,  so hopefully they are right. According to the BOM reports Cyclone Owen will be bearing down on us this Sunday so batten down the hatches. I am trying to get all of the housework, washing etc done today knowing that over the next couple of days the wet weather could hamper our activities.

To make these little gems, I whizz the broccoli up in the food processor to save time doing all that chopping and then the rest of the ingredients just need to be mixed up, shaped into bite sized balls and put in the oven to quickly bake. So easy and just serve with Sweet chilli sauce or Sweet chilli jam for the adults,  or homemade relish or eat them unadorned! This is my version of Sarah Wilson's clever recipe. I also find it easier to grease my hands with a light layer of coconut oil when rolling them as they can get sticky.

I am putting this recipe up again as I last posted it two years ago and for some reason all of the photos disappeared. This recipe has endured the test of time.

Ingredients:

Makes 36 Bites

2-3 cups of finely chopped fresh broccoli or frozen, thawed and chopped broccoli
1 1/2 cups grated cheese ( cheddar, Parmesan or whatever you have on hand)
3 free range eggs, beaten at room temperature
1 cup flour (plain, gluten-free or almond)
1 teaspoon dried oregano or 1 tablespoon freshly chopped oregano
sea salt
olive oil, coconut oil or butter for greasing (I use coconut oil and put a little on my hands as well when rolling the balls)

Let's cook:

Preheat your oven to 190 deg. C.
Line two baking trays with baking paper and lightly grease the paper.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.



Roll the mixture into bite sized balls and place on the baking trays. Or spoonfuls of the mixture can just be plopped onto the tray to resemble small fritters.



Sprinkle a small amount of dried oregano or black sesame seeds onto each ball before cooking for the rustic look and for added flavour. Reserve the black sesame seed bites for the adults.

Bake for 25 minutes or until golden.



These will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for 4-5 days, or freeze for a few months.



Best wishes

Pauline

Moroccan Chickpea Salad

Here in Mackay, in North Queensland, we are very relieved that the history making fires in our vicinity up on the Eungella range, through  Finchatton Gorge, and at Sarina Beach seem to  have been contained at last.  Last week was a horror of a week, with record high temperatures exceeding 40 degrees, strong winds and widespread fires. Nobody living in our area, ever thought that we would see such destruction in our favourite nearby natural retreats. Friends of ours and former neighbours, were evacuated from their home at Eungella last Tuesday, and came down to Mackay to live until they could return home on Saturday. Ann said it was like returning to a war zone, where not only was the former rainforest vegetation charred black, but the air traffic of helicopters dropping water bombs on the fires, and the fire crews working in the area were creating a lot of noise as well. It sounds like a version of hell. However the emergency fire crews from all over the country have done an amazing job and our local community are embracing them and showing their appreciation in as many ways as possible. What incredibly inspiring people they are. Thankfully as far as we are aware there has been only one casualty to date. One too many. Our hearts go out to all of those who continue to bear the consequences of the fires that are still burning in some areas throughout Queensland, and we are all praying for rain. Thank you to those of you who have enquired if we are ok here in Mackay City. Thankfully we are.

So with all of this heat and the shocking daily news, last week was a low key week with salads being a popular menu item. Shannon and Dan arrived on holidays, hoping to also do some camping, but unfortunately all of the local spots are closed because of the fire danger so they are exploring the beaches and sights of Mackay. Even though they live in tropical Cairns, they seem very impressed with our beautiful beaches here in Mackay, particularly Eimeo and Halliday Bay beaches where they are swimming each day.

This salad was one of the first ones I made for all of us after they arrived. This is a hearty and aromatic dish which can be served as a side dish or as an individual vegetarian meal. The spices make it stand out. Preparing and cooking food is about sharing it with family and friends and my daughter and her fiance are very appreciative to cook for which is lovely. The flavours in this salad develop beautifully if it is allowed to marinate for at least an hour. This is so easy and I know you will enjoy it if you decide to make it.

Adapted from Delicious Everyday

Ingredients:

2x400g cans Australian organic chickpeas (or use home cooked ones), rinsed and drained, or garbanzo beans
1 diced red onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tbs. dried currants
1 preserved lemon rind only, finely chopped
Juice of one lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tbs. soy sauce
1 tbs. ground cumin
1 tbs. sweet smoked paprika
1 tbs. ground cinnamon
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup Greek yoghurt for garnish to serve
1/3 cup pistachios, roughly chopped for garnish to serve
Pomegranate Molasses for garnish to serve

Method:

Place the chickpeas in a large bowl and add the onion, garlic, cranberries, currants, preserved lemon rind, and spices. Whisk the olive oil and lemon juice together to emulsify and add to the mixture. Add the soy sauce.

Toss all of the ingredients together in the large bowl, cover, and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for at least an hour. I left it for the whole day before serving, and it was delicious.

To serve, top the chickpea salad with chopped parsley. Top with the yoghurt and pistachios and drizzle with the pomegranate molasses.

For special occasions, line the bowl with baby spinach leaves and fill with chickpea salad. Unfortunately I wasn't as well organised as usual, (who am I kidding?) and didn't have any baby spinach on hand, so please just imagine that lining the bowl in the photo :)

This could also be served as a filling vegetarian meal.

Bye for now,

Best wishes

Pauline

Curried Beef Lasagne

When I was given this recipe by my lovely friend Julia from Tropigal, I was really interested by it, as it is a fusion of Italian and Indian cooking and I was intrigued as to how the Butter chicken flavours would marry with the Lasagne, cheese and sour cream flavours. You are my valued cooking and reading friends and will know by now, that I generally don't cook with prepackaged sauces etc.,well not if I can help it.  I had told Julia during a recent conversation that sometimes when I am cooking for a large number of people it can be challenging, and not all recipes hold up well to cooking for over 12 people, which can also be quite expensive. 

A member of Julia's family cooks this recipe regularly, and as she is a good judge of what works with food I cooked it. It is so tasty and easy, and basically infallible I think. Quantities could easily be doubled. I think that more economical Butter chicken sauces could be used, with the use of dried herbs, however when in a rush this is so easy to throw together. I think this was originally a Coles recipe but I haven't seen it published.

Another reason I resorted to this recipe last week is that at the moment we are in forecast heat wave conditions here in Mackay and right up the East coast apparently, with much higher that normal temperatures expected to last for the next few days. 38 degrees tomorrow which is unbelievable. It seems inevitable that the air conditioning will need to be turned on for the first time this year. So last week I did all of the Traditional Christmas cooking before the heat strikes this week, which meant looking for easy options for cooked meals. This was one of them.

So my essential Christmas cooking each year includes my Christmas Fruit Cake, the Plum Pudding, and yesterday Mr. HRK and I made a large batch of Mango Chutney from very green common local mangoes. It was so much faster with two people peeling and cutting up the green mangoes, and processing the dates, garlic, raisins and crystallised ginger. After yesterday, I think he could make a batch on his own. I wonder if that will happen one year. It turned out very well so there will be a few bottles for gifts and the rest for family to enjoy, even with this Curried Beef Lasagne, which I have a portion of in the freezer for later on (RON). The bottles just need to be labelled and they will be relegated to the pantry.

Mango chutney starting to simmer on the outside burner

2018 batch of Mango chutney

Serves 6
Cooking time 50 minutes
Ingredients:

1 tbs vegetable oil
500g Beef mince
2 x 300g pkts The Spice Tailor Classic Butter Chicken
160 ml (2/3 cup) beef stock
1 spring onion, thinly sliced (white part only)
1 thinly sliced zucchini (or small lebanese eggplant if you prefer)
A handful of frozen peas
 1 1/4 cups (300g sour cream)
1 tsp cornflour
8 fresh lasagne sheets
1 1/4 cups (100g) finely grated parmesan
Flat leaf parsley to serve
(The zucchini, peas or eggplant are optional, but I like to include some vegetable in most dishes I cook.)

Method:

Heat oil in a large frying pan over high heat. Cook the mince, stirring, for 5 minutes or until mince changes colour and is cooked through.

Stir in the spices and sauce sachets from the butter chicken packets. If you don't like chillies or like it hot, take them out.

Add the stock, zucchini and peas. Bring the mince to a simmer, and then reduce to a low heat.

Simmer, stirring occasionally for 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens, vegetables are cooked and the mince is tender.

Stir in the spring onion.
Preheat the oven to 180 deg. C.


Easy Bechamel Sauce

Combine the sour cream, cornflour and 1 tbs. water in a bowl.

Grease a 1.5 Litre or 6 cup rectangular baking dish. Layer the mince mixture in the dish with lasagne sheets, sour cream mixture and parmesan until the top is reached. Cut the lasagne sheets to fit the dish.

Bake for 30 minutes or until heated through and golden.

Sprinkle with parsley and serve with some salad.



Please forgive any typos in this my friends.  This is a quick post to make this recipe accessible and the heat means I am transferring to a cooler part of the house.

Very warm wishes,

Pauline

Banana, Chocolate and Walnut Cake

 I saw this recipe in the Weekend Australian newspaper, and you know how it is my friends, it lured me in and I had to bake it and it exceeded my expectations. It also helped that I had a few ripe bananas that I needed to use and all of the other ingredients were already in my pantry. This is a popular recipe by Nadine Ingram, who is the pastry chef at a Sydney bakery in Woolloomooloo, called "Flour and Stone", love the name.  I think that this recipe is also published in her latest book, called Flour and Stone. I haven't seen the book as yet but will be looking out for it.

There are a plethora of books coming out right now before Christmas and I am quite excited about a lot of the cooking ones. I read them like normal books, do you as well?  I saw the lovely Maeve O'Meara interviewed on the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Commission) Morning Breakfast show this week, who you probably know as the host of the SBS global cooking shows called Food Safari, which are so interesting. Her latest book based on her recent popular SBS TV series called Food Safari: Earth, Food, Water also looks like a winner. It was a very good interview as well. I am hoping that Santa might come good with a copy of either book this year, and so I will need to be very selective with what I buy for myself. Sadly I don't think Santa reads my blog to take the hint, ha, ha.



Back to the cake in hand. After demolishing two slices of this freshly baked and still warm Banana loaf, Mr. HRK said to me that this is a keeper. Noted my dear, and I will be baking it again. It's a cinch to make and also too easy to eat.

Banana, Chocolate and Walnut Loaf recipe from "Flour and Stone"

Ingredients:

200 g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
100g light brown sugar
3 eggs
200g self-raising flour, sifted
3 (about 300g total) ripe bananas, peeled and cut into small pieces
200g good quality dark chocolate (at least 60 per cent cocoa), roughly chopped
100g walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons demerara sugar, for topping

Method:

Preheat your oven to 170 deg. fan forced.
Grease a large loaf tin with butter, dust with flour and set aside. To play safe you might like to line it with baking parchment.

Using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter and sugars (not the demerara) on a medium speed for 3 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Use a hand held mixer if you are happy to do that.

Beat the eggs lightly with a fork and add gradually to the butter mix.

Turn off the mixer and remove the bowl. Fold the sifted flour through the mixture in the bowl, then add the banana, the chocolate and the walnuts. Mix well.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and sprinkle evenly with the demerara sugar. The sugar gives it a crunchy, crackling, glistening topping. Or you could ice it if you wish.

Bake for 30 minutes at 170 deg. fan forced, and then reduce the temperature to 160 deg. fan forced and bake for another 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Leave in the tin to completely cool. It is much easier to slice up when cool. However if you really want to serve it warm with the chocolate still a bit gooey, just leave it for 30 minutes.



The cake will keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days. In our warm weather though I would keep it in the refrigerator. I cut a few slices off as Mr. HRK was hovering to taste it, and it was morning tea time, and I have frozen most of it for later. To freeze it, you could also cut it into slices, individually wrap the slices,  and put it in the freezer for later.

Cooking Notes: 

Any other nuts can be substituted for the walnuts, in particular hazelnuts if you have them. Toasting the walnuts first makes a big difference to the taste and texture of the nut. I find that walnuts can often make a cake taste a little stale and aged, however toasting them transforms the flavour. It's such a great nut to use, and quite soft.



I always have some frozen ripe bananas in the frig ready to use for cooking. I prefer to freeze them without the skins in a ziplock bag however it doesn't matter.

Best wishes

Pauline

Make Your Own Environmentally Friendly Garden Spray

We have just visited a Mackay Plant Nursery called Country Garden's Mackay, which is new to us but has been there for over 20 years. This visit may just have changed our gardening lives. Frank the owner, is a mine of information, and could hold his own against any of the gardening gurus, including Jerry, the Brisbane gardener on Gardening Australia and maybe even Tom Wyatt from Central Queensland. We came away with  Frank's hand written recipe for an environmentally friendly and very economical garden spray, which Frank says will work on any of our plants to solve most of the pest problems we are experiencing.  There is a nasty little white fly, (not sure of the exact name  I'm sorry) which has been stinging our Pomegranate fruit, our first season, and leaving black spots all over them, stinging our cucumbers and capsicums, and will also cause a myriad of other problems if not quickly discouraged to visit our garden.



This pomegranate flower above has already been stung evidenced by the black spots. Hopefully the pomegranate fruit below will evade the little monsters.



Frank has lots of local knowledge, and knew straight away that this  flying insect is the pest which needs to be eradicated, but in a way which doesn't harm all of the other beneficial insects and the environment.

This super spray prevents mildew, rust, black spot, aphids, white flies, scale, caterpillars and grass hoppers in the nicest possible way.  Use 15 Litres of water as a basis, or  break it down to what you require.

We just halved the quantities to suit the volume of our spray.

Remember this is for your plants, and not to be consumed by humans

Franks's Garden Spray Ingredients:

15 Litres water
2 cups Full Cream milk made up (use powdered milk to be more economical)
75 ml Canola Oil
75ml Dishwashing liquid detergent
4 tablespoons Bicarbonate Soda
A dash of seaweed solution to colour it

Method:

Emulsify the Canola Oil and the Dishwashing liquid by shaking together in a large jar
Dissolve the Bicarbonate of Soda separately in warm water
Add the other ingredients to the large jar of Oil and Dishwashing Liquid and add the Bicarb of Soda to the 15 Litres of water.

Spray you garden once a week with this and you should see results and hopefully no pests or little grasshoppers eating your herbs.

Mr. HRK made up this mixture straight  away and he will always approach something like this in a different way to how I would. Whereas I would have made up the milk carefully, he just added the  powdered milk undiluted, about 1/2 cup, to the Detergent and the Oil, after it had emulsified, added the other ingredients and shook it all up. Then he added that mixture to the water. It probably doesn't matter how it's done as there is a large water base anyway. The great thing about these type of recipes is you don't need to be absolutely exact, however be careful not to overdo the Bicarbonate of Soda.


Mr. HRK and I have had a couple of unfortunate experiences with some Bunnings plant purchases lately. Generally I propagate basil from seeds in my seed bank, but knowing that would take a while and I have been running late this year, I bought a few plants from Bunnings. They have looked a bit sick from the start and have never really produced the nice fleshy leaves which is characteristic of the Sweet Basil plant. I have never had trouble growing Sweet Basil before. Despite the fact that it is probably getting a bit hot for them now, Frank said that basil plants have been carrying a fungus this year, and this is probably being transmitted all over the state with imported Southern Basil plants. Next year the Basil should be ok again. I also purchased a miniature Mulberry tree from Bunnings for Mr. HRK for his birthday present, as he loves mulberries. The leaves burnt straight away when we planted it out, and it didn't look at all well, and has only just started recovering with lots of TLC. We have also just  transplanted it back into a pot when we realised that it will only remain a miniature in a pot. They can grow very big.

We came away from  Country Garden's Mackay  realising the advantages of buying plants which are propagated or struck locally in our area, at a local nursery, and where they have already adapted to Mackay growing conditions.This will reduce the amount of stress suffered when they are replanted into our garden conditions. Australia has quite a harsh Summer, and giving plants this advantage will be much better for them. I try to propagate when I can from seeds that I have collected from our own garden, and each generation will then adapt even better to our local conditions.



Does your windowsill look like this one? My laundry windowsill faces north so is very well lit and quite warm. At the moment I am finishing the drying of coriander seeds which I picked this morning, drying chilli seeds from home grown chillis, and I am growing a celery plant in water from the base of a store bought head of celery. When the celery head has sent out a good sized shoot and has sufficient roots, I'll transplant this into the garden. I've done this a few times and as long as they are well watered they will do well.

On a more positive note, we have had success this year with our two vanilla bean orchid vines. Thankfully the pesty flies don't seem interested in them, but the black ants are. Each morning we are getting two to three new flowers on the vines, the flowers only last 24 hours, and must be pollinated in the early morning before they whither in the heat. These need to be pollinated by hand everywhere that they grow except perhaps Mexico, as the pollinating bee has unfortunately become extinct. We use a toothpick to do this and there are plenty of videos on the web on how to do it, but basically it just means pulling away the blossom petals, separating the piece of plant tissue called the rostellum, and then transferring the pollen from the male anthers to the female stigma.  You know this process  has worked when the pale creamy flower starts to whither, and a green vanilla bean can be seen growing from the flower as in the photos below.

I planted this Vanilla Orchid straight into the ground and it's climbing up the mesh covering the raised vegetable garden. It is quite a vigorous plant.

This one is an older plant and is growing on the Golden Penda tree. I bought this at a market in Bowen. There are still plenty of flower buds on this one.

Orchids are such great value. This one has been flowering for a couple of months.

Now for a food recipe. I am still preferring to eat softer foods, as my mouth is quite tender after the bone graft surgery. I'm not chewing any steak as yet. So these little quiches were delicious for brunch this weekend.  I baked them in teflon muffin trays, and this is my standard quiche recipe which cooks up well into mini quiches as well as a large quiche.

Vegetable Quiche recipe served with spicy tomato relish
Spicy tomato relish recipe
Thanks for stopping by.
Hoping you all have a nice week ahead.

Pauline

Tropical Pavlovas and Pretty Golden Dancing Ladies

My Dancing Ladies are making a lovely golden show this year, with three of them flowering at the moment. They are from the Oncidium Orchid family, and when not flowering don't attract a passing glance at all, like most orchids probably. However when they decide to send out a long spike or two, I get quite excited knowing that in about a month a mass of golden blooms will emerge. These are all originally my Mum's orchids, and have been broken up, repotted and I've learned a lot as I went along.

Keep reading for my Tropical Pavlova recipe below.



I never water the Dancing Ladies at night, as the roots are quite fragile and like the sun to dry them off during the day. I've also learned that they like to grow either in hanging baskets, or in plastic pots with holes drilled around the perimeter of the pot so that the roots can find their way out of the pot to breathe. Despite those little tips, the photo below is of one in a terra cotta pot and it has flowered, although it didn't produce a long spike, but is a very pretty golden shade. Orchids can happily defy all established conventions when left to their own devices.

This one is a darker yellow growing in a hanging basket which needs repotting when it stops flowering.

Below is my Dove orchid, growing on our Golden Penda tree.  It began to break out into delicate white fragrant blooms on Thursday, and by Sunday it was raining. They are the most reliable weather forecaster around. A profusion of these white blooms is a wonderful sight, with the promise of showers to come. Their fragrance is delicate and intoxicating. However, along with the Bureau of Meteorology, they have been known to occasionally get it wrong, just saying, but not very often. If you have a Dove orchid, have you found this as well?

It's Pavlova time.

Everyone loves a good pav don't they, especially for dessert during the Aussie Summer. Pavlovas aren't difficult to make and the wonderful thing is that if by some chance it doesn't work out and has too many cracks in it and collapses, it can easily be converted into Eton Mess, one of my most favourite desserts. Or you can just buy meringues and make Eton Mess from them. This is my
 Eton Mess recipe. Easy peasy. A delicious and easy Summer dessert and ingredients are exactly the same. I believe the original idea came from Eton College in England, when a pavlova didn't work out and was reconstructed to become Eton Mess. I like the story anyway.

I think everyone in Australia and New Zealand for that matter, given the controversy about where it originates from, has their own Pavlova recipe in their cooking repertoire. I've certainly tried a few over the years, however these days my no fuss easy Pav  recipe to go for is this one my friends, straight off the back of the White Wings Cornflour packet. And it's great to know that if I have gluten free guests coming for dinner, cornflour is gluten free. Need to check the vinegar though. It's also nice to know that White Wings is still an Australian company, even though I notice that the ingredients in the packet are packed in Australia from imported ingredients. How does that happen?

I generally keep a container of 6-7 egg whites in my freezer. There is always something I have cooked which only needed egg yolks. Egg whites thaw beautifully for reuse.This recipe makes a marshmallow pavlova, crisp on the outside with a firm marshmallow filling. Yum.

A warning though, don't attempt to make a pavlova if there are rain showers hanging around, unless your air conditioning is on constantly, removing all of the humidity from the air. Pavlovas start to weep after cooking if their is too much moisture in the air, and then you will weep as well. If you intend to eat it straight away it should be ok.

Pavlova Ingredients

6 egg whites

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

6 tsps Cornflour

1 tsp White vinegar

To serve:

300ml thickened cream, whipped

Fresh fruit to decorate, hopefully including a couple of sweet fragrant passion fruit. I used strawberries, kiwi fruit, and blueberries. 

In an ideal world I would have had some beautiful passionfruit to add to the topping

Method:

Preheat your oven to 120 deg. C. conventional or 100 deg. C. fan forced. Draw a 20 cm circle in pencil on a sheet of baking paper. I use a 20 cm cake pan as a guide for this. Place the paper, with the pencil circle side down, onto a greased oven tray. Just a biscuit tray will be fine.

Have your Mix Master, Kitchen Aid or whatever you own ready to go with a whisk attached. I don't think a hand held mixer is really the go for the mixing of a pavlova.

Put the egg whites and sugar into a large mixing bowl and beat with your electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Increase the speed to high and beat for 15 minutes or until the mixture is thick and glossy. Then add the cornflour and the vinegar and beat on low speed  for 1 minute longer.

Spoon the thick eggy mixture onto the prepared and lined tray, spreading carefully out to a 20cm circle to fit your pencilled shape.

Tricky part is over.

Bake in your preheated oven for 2 hours or until crisp. Don't worry if you see a couple of fine cracks in the crust. Turn your oven off. Then cool the cooked pavlova in the oven with the door left ajar for 1-2 hours.

Hold your breath, (just joking) and transfer the pavlova carefully to a serving plate. A miracle has occurred, it will be delicious.

Cover with whipped cream and decorate and enjoy.

Warm wishes, keep smiling and I hope you enjoy your Monday.

Pauline

Spiced Prune Compote

We used to simply call this dish Stewed Prunes, and whilst this recipe cuts back on the sugar and adds more heavenly scented spices, essentially it is a homely blend of stewed prunes, great for the constitution and promoting regularity, if you know what I mean. Cook this very easy combination of ingredients, and you will have a week's worth of delicious dessert at your fingertips, which just keep improving in flavour. It is also delicious served on your morning porridge, especially for those now experiencing cooler weather in the Northern Hemisphere.

As I cook this, I just love the beautifully rich and spicy aromas in the kitchen reminding me of baking Christmas cakes and Plum Puddings. Which reminds me, Christmas is just around the corner, so Christmas cakes should be next week's job.



Ingredients:

500g prunes, pitted or unpitted
1 vanilla bean, sliced in half lengthwise or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 strips of lemon zest
1 tablespoon Port (optional)
2 teaspoons Date Syrup (or substitute Maple Syrup or a mild honey)

Method:

Add the prunes to a large saucepan and cover well with water. Combine all the other ingredients and add to the saucepan.  Simmer for 30-35 minutes, ensuring that a gentle simmer is maintained so that the prunes don't boil dry. The prunes should be plump and luscious when they are cooked. I think they plump up more when they are unpitted. With that though comes a warning to everyone to remove the seeds as they eat them, and of course they should be removed before being given to children.

The flavours of this dish will develop even more over the next few days, if left in a covered container in the refrigerator. Extra honey or maple syrup can be added if you like it sweeter.

Serve with boiled custard, yoghurt, ice cream or whatever you fancy.



Bye for now,

Warm wishes

Pauline