Trip to The English Countryside

For the next few months I will be living in London and while I'm here I have the great opportunity to travel all over the UK. So far I have only been here for about a week, but this first weekend trip was one to remember. From Stourhead Gardens to the quaint town of Wells, it was a magnificent experience.

The green countryside of Old Serum 

Beautiful Salisbury Cathedral in Gothic style

The beautiful most picturesque Stourhead Gardens with the lovely structure that made its appearance in none other than Pride and Prejudice.

A magical moss covered fence in Stourhead... fairyland for real.

 Myrtles cave 

Ruins of King Arthur's castle 

Anyway just a little taste of the beauty I saw. I will post more as time goes on, just still trying to get settled in this new life of mine! The only downside is a serious lack of cooking, but I guess with this scenery I can handle it. Cheers!

Strawberry rhubarb hand pies

For the long weekend we had some family over for a dinner party. I wanted to make a dessert that represented the fleeting end of summer and so, of course, pie was what came to mind. To me, fruit pies are the essence of summer and always help to boost that patriotic spirit. These little hand pies are the perfect, portable package of an endless summer; a delicious mix of sweet strawberries and tart, crisp, rhubarb. While eating these pies your summer can last all year long.

Ingredients 

Pie Dough:

16T. Ice cold butter 

2 1/2C. AP Flour

3T. Sugar

1t. Salt

2/3C. Ice Water

Begin your dough by cutting the butter into cubes, then return to the fridge to chill while you start the dry ingredients. Put the flour, sugar and salt into your mixer and mix until well combined. Now take your butter from the fridge, with the mixer on low, begin throwing the butter cubes in a few at a time. Let it mix until the butter is the size of peas and the mixture resembles wet sand. Now, with the mixer still on low, pour your ice water slowly into the bowl. A nice, smooth dough will quickly form and then you are done. Pull the dough out of your mixer and form into a rough ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate while you make your fruit compote.

Ingredients 

Fruit Compote: 

2C. Rhubarb (about 4-5 stalks)

1 1/2C. Strawberries 

1/4C. Water

1/3C. Sugar (or more depending on sweetness of fruit)

4T. Flour

1T. Lemon Zest

1 Egg

Sugar 

Begin by slicing your rhubarb and strawberries into manageable pieces. Then simply add your fruit to a pot with the water and 2 tablespoons of the flour. Add all your sugar and begin to cook on medium high heat, let simmer away for about 10 minutes and then check consistency. If your fruit seems too runny add the other 2 tablespoons of flour and bring to a boil to thicken. Lastly, add your lemon zest and take off the heat. Fruit should be soft but still maintain its natural shape. Now, you can remove your dough from the fridge. Generously flour your surface and roll the dough out the about a 1/2 inch thickness. use a large drinking glass or circle cookie cutter to cut out circles of dough. I was able to get about 10 hand pies and used a rather large cutter, lay them on a cookie sheet and fill each with a heaping tablespoon of filling. Fold each pie in half and crimp with you fingers, brush with your egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden brown. They are wonderful warm with ice cream or just cold as a snack.

Chocolate chip cookies with sea salt

These are without a doubt the best chocolate chip cookies you will ever taste. They are absolutely delicious and always a crowd pleaser. Full of rich dark chocolate and sprinkled with a bit of sea salt, this recipe is a winner.

Yummy dough with fleur de sel and my handy scooper.

Ingredients  

2c. Cake Flour

1 2/3c. Bread Flour

1 1/2t. Baking Soda

1 1/4t. Baking Powder 

1 1/2t. Salt

1 1/4c. Butter

1 1/4c. Brown Sugar

1c. Granulated Sugar

1T. Vanilla

2 large Eggs

8oz. Semi-Sweet Chocolate

8oz. 60% Cacao Chocolate

Fleur de Sel for sprinkling 

-Makes about 70 cookies-

Sift dry ingredients into a mixing bowl and set aside. Cream the room temperature butter with the sugars and add vanilla. Mix eggs in one at a time until combined. Begin to slowly add dry ingredients until the mixture is just combined, (don't over mix!!). Lastly chop your bars of chocolate and fold them into your cookie dough. Now the hard part...waiting. Refrigerate the dough for at least 24 hours, so your cookies will bake up nice and round. When you are ready scoop dough out in heaping tablespoons and place on greased cookie tray. Sprinkle each cookie with sea salt and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Let them cool as long as you can bare, and enjoy with a cool glass of milk.

- adapted from Jacques Torres recipe -

Apricot Jam

...

A bundle of apricots fresh from the orchard.

simmering away on the stove.

Today I made a simple apricot jam with fresh apricots from my grandparents garden. It was incredibly easy and making jam is always such a satisfying experience. There was a bit of a mess when it came to pureeing the mixture, but feel free to leave the apricots whole and just smash them a bit with the back of the spoon.

Ingredients

- 2lb. fresh apricots 

- 1c. granulated sugar 

-  A heavy bottomed pot

Pull the apricots in half with your fingers and remove the pits, then simply throw in the pot. Add the sugar and cook on medium heat until apricots are soft, about 10-15 minutes. Once your apricots are the right consistancy carefully pour the mixture into a blender and puree until mostly smooth. Pack in jars and enjoy!