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Barbelith Women's Institute

 
  

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Goodness Gracious Meme
10:38 / 16.06.04
And we really must must have one of these:

With crystal wine glasses, Wedgwood fine bone china on a backdrop of Gordon Tartan and crisp white linen [...] Manufactured from Willow of the highest quality which comes from sustainable, farmed sources. The willow has been treated, varnished and hand woven.
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
10:43 / 16.06.04
That has to be the sexiest picnic equipment I've seen in many a year. BiP, you may just be perfect.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
15:12 / 16.06.04
And it's terribly terribly WI as well. Bonus.

What else? Scones, cucumber sandwiches, a cake... Can't have tea from a thermos, too vile...
 
 
Ex
15:19 / 16.06.04
Enquiry - I would like to picnic this weekend. I'd usually whip up a quiche, potato salad, some bread, biscuits etc. (I'm a domestic cyborg) but it's so blasted hot.

Any ideas for picnic things that don't involve having the oven on all day? Preferably things that make me look skilled and impressive without getting sweaty and irate. Help me, Women (of all genders and sexes).
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
15:28 / 16.06.04
Hmmm...

Tabbouleh - no heat required at all, as far as I recall... Greek salad ditto... vegetables and dips... rocky road or similar fridge cake... cheese and bix I suppose, but they wouldn't be home-made... fruit salad or fruit and yogurt/cream bits

Buy some Turkish flatbread stuff if you can get it, it will save you having to slave over the stove and is much nicer than sliced white. I can't think of any other cakey/scone/bread type things, but it might be worth noting that you can bung bread etc. in the oven and then leave it there while you get away from the heat in the other room... it is only finicky stove-top stuff that is a pain in this weather (as I learnt last night - jam on the hottest, muggiest day of the year was not a very intelligent move...).
 
 
sleazenation
15:28 / 16.06.04
There is plenty of skill in the assembly of a particularly flavoursome salad... sadly as I do not possess such skills, so i wouldn't be too helpful in defining what they are...
 
 
Ex
17:01 / 16.06.04
Many thanks, expecially for the tabouleh idea. I did try to grow my own mint once, primarily to have a ready supply for tabouleh, without buying it in little bags with Jamie Oliver leering from the packaging.
Mint is a weed, I was told. It'll take over your garden!
It died.
 
 
grant
18:19 / 16.06.04
KKC: ... Can't have tea from a thermos, too vile...

Hot water in the thermos, separate pot for brewing the tea when and as needed.
 
 
ONLY NICE THINGS
19:44 / 16.06.04
No good. The water has to be just off the boil, not simply "hot". We need a small primus stove.
 
 
Grey Area
20:53 / 16.06.04
Tea on a primus stove? I'm having a vision of the next BarbePicnic culminating in a horde of thirsty people who are nevertheless proud of completing the first private launch of a primus stove into lower earth orbit.
 
 
Triplets
23:44 / 16.06.04
How about something hot and flaming?

 
 
Goodness Gracious Meme
00:36 / 17.06.04
Does involve heat, but not too much/for too long. Did this on Sunday and it was pretty tasty and filling:

Mushroom/Avo/Pepper Pasta Salad
1 chilli - chopped finely, discard or keep seeds to taste.
3 cloves garlic - chopped finely
Olive Oil
3/4 tbspoons pesto
Tub sour cream
3/4 four assorted peppers, halved or quartered lengthways, ie so they lie flat
2 avocados, chopped into chunks
punnet of mushrooms - sliced
olives - I prefer black, but use what you like.
Pasta - something like conchigle(sp?) is good -cooked and laid aside.

Method

1.Preheat grill to high.
2.Put pepper pieces under grill to blister - about 15-20mins.
3.Fry garlic/chilli for a couple of minutes
4.Add mushroms, pesto and fry for 10mins.
5.Leave to cool.
6.Place Peppers in cold water. Peel and chop into chunks.
7.Mix pasta/mushrooms&any leftoever oil/peppers/olives together with sour cream.

if you have time,chill overnight.

Add chopped avocado, mix and serve.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
10:16 / 26.07.04
Another 2lb of strawberry glue - how does one know when jam has reached the correct temperature to set without a) purchasing a jam thermometer or b) testing the ruddy stuff every 30 secs on a frozen plate? (Cannot rely on the timings given in recipes as they are all too often just plain WRONG).

Not that I dislike strawberry glue, but it is frustratingly difficult to spread...
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
10:28 / 26.07.04
Practice, plus starting with marmelade may help as it's a lot more forgiving. My mother cooks jam on instinct and finds that the combination of smell, surface texture and consistency while stirring is enough.

Then again, I spent many childhood breakfasts with fruit soup or slices of heavy blackcurrant jam on my toast including one memorable occasion when at the age of ten I popped the jam out of the mason jar and cut it with a steak knife.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
15:14 / 26.07.04
I think I was just a bit fraught, as I was using a saucepan which is a bit too small, and in the earlier stages of boiling the jam frothed all over the top of the cooker, which was rather disconcerting. So when the ruddy stuff actually started setting I got a bit over-excited and left it for a couple of minutes too long, 'just to make sure'. Oh well...
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
06:19 / 27.07.04
Why doI get this feeling you aren't using an appropriately heavy-based saucepan?
 
 
STOATIE LIEKS CHOCOLATE MILK
07:53 / 27.07.04
Making jam always seemed like a piece of piss when my mum used to do it... maybe I could ask her for some tips.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
10:52 / 27.07.04
It is quite a heavy-based pan, actually. But it is not a preserving pan. It's just too small to take the makings for 2 lb jam and not boil over during the frothy stage... I do have an enormous pan which I bought to make jam in, but it is too big (and probably too thin, I now discover...). It would hold curry for the starving masses.
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
11:09 / 27.07.04
TBH my dad makes excellent marmalade in a thin pan, but it is very large and he does make it in large quantities.

What recipie are you using, you could modify it to be a little more forgiving (by which I mean slower setting).
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
12:10 / 27.07.04
Well... 900g strawberries, 700g sugar, leave overnight; heat until the sugar has dissolved, then add the juice of 1 lemon and put up to the highest heat; when it has reached a rolling boil, boil for 8 mins or until setting point is reached (this actually takes at least 20 mins, especially if your jam froths all over your cooker). Leave to stand for 15 mins, adding a bit of butter if it is scummy. Pot.

It's fine once it's reached the rolling boil and has stopped frothing, I just misjudged it... practice makes perfect, etc. etc.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
11:54 / 09.09.04
Ooh, a year since we started this fine institution.

Bumping to remark that I made apricot jam last night (and didn't overboil it for once). In a wok.

I feel like I'm living on a knife edge here...
 
 
HCE
18:20 / 09.09.04
Request for menu suggestions. Specs: need to provide breakfast for 15 people. Breakfast to be prepared at home and transported to work, where it will sit for for an hour or more before service. Service to be buffet-style. No facilities for reheating exist. Small amount of refrigeration space exists. Am willing to wake up at 4am to bake, as well as any prep that can be done the night before.

Thank you.
 
 
Kit-Cat Club
08:06 / 10.09.04
Hrm, tricky. Lordy.

Er - various fruit salads? E.g. a sort of general fruit salad, a dried one (where you poach the fruit in water with a bit of preserved ginger and some of the syrup from the ginger jar). You could then use the small fridge space to keep yogurt or similar dairy/dairy subsitute products cool.

Muesli etc., same idea, but no cooking required (except you could toast nuts and so forth)

Tricky...

Buns would be nice, and would keep all right under clingfilm, I reckon. Currant buns or something similar (I remember in Houston being given orangey Chelsea buns for breakfast - they were delicious)
 
 
Axolotl
08:24 / 10.09.04
You could go all american and have american muffins. Everyone likes american muffins. You could bake these the night before no problem thus negating the need to get up early.
 
 
pointless and uncalled for
08:31 / 10.09.04
Go with the fruit salad as KKC suggests but freeze some juce as icecubes. Chuck these one when you lay it out and the salad should be nice and cold when it comes to be eaten.

Compliment this with some nice fruit scones and some bread and cheese. Keep butter pats and prepared cheese int he fridge and also maybe some thinly sliced ham rolled up all fancy.
 
 
HCE
14:42 / 10.09.04
These are very helpful suggestions, for some odd reason a fruit salad hadn't occurred to me at all, and I like the ice cube idea. Thank you everyone.
 
 
Sekhmet
18:04 / 10.09.04
Another thought: try offering biscuits (in the American sense: the flakey kind, not cookies), butter, various jams & jellies, honey, and for something a little unusual, salsa. This has gone over well at some brunches I've had. Peach-chipotle salsa, in particular, is fab on biscuits.
 
 
HCE
21:04 / 10.09.04
I'm mad about chipotle, can't wait to try this. Is it something you've found in a shop somewhere? Or is it a commercial jam touched up with a bit of sauce?
 
 
Sekhmet
23:15 / 10.09.04
The ones I've tried have been from the store, but I think I have a recipe somewhere if you feel like concocting it yourself - I'll have a look and post it if I find it.
 
 
HCE
16:45 / 16.09.04
Ok, the breakfast's tomorrow, and at the moment my plans include:

Fresh fruit, such as looks good at the market
Small sandwiches: walnut bread with honey & mascarpone, cream cheese with cucumber & dill, ham with some kind of sauce yet to be determined
peach-chipotle jam with biscuits ? (recipe please!)

Any other suggestions? Some other kind of baked good possibly?
Ginger scones with Devon cream
Green tea with mint & honey
Black tea
Fresh orange juice
 
 
Sekhmet
17:06 / 16.09.04
No peach, but I found one for apple-chipotle:

Apple Chipotle Jelly
1-2 tablespoons minced chipotle chiles
2 cups apple juice
6 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup cider vinegar
1 3/4 oz box dry fruit pectin -- (such as Sure-Jell)
(If using dried chipotles, soak them in 1/2 cup warm apple juice for 30 minutes, then remove the stems and mince the chiles. If using canned chipotles, mince them. For a milder jelly, you can remove the seeds.)
Combine the sugar, remaining apple juice, vinegar, and chipotles in a large heavy saucepan, and stir to mix. Simmer the mixture over medium heat, stirring gently, until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 5 minutes. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Stir in the dry and liquid pectins and boil for 2 minutes. Skim well. Pour the mixture into sterile jelly jars (3 1-pint jars or 6 1-cup jars) and cover tightly. Invert the jars for 10 minutes then reinvert. Shake the jars from time to time as the jelly cools to evenly distribute the pepper pieces. The jelly will keep for several months in a cool, dark place, unopened. Refrigerate it once it is opened.
Makes 6 cups.

I would imagine that you can take almost any regular fruit jam or jelly recipe and add some chopped chiles to it. I've had jellies made with jalapenos before as well. Depending on how spicy you'd like it, be sparing, particularly with chipotles, and especially with habaneros!
 
 
Sekhmet
17:12 / 16.09.04
I just realized my first suggestion was actually for a salsa rather than a jelly... basically that would just involve chopping two or three peeled peaches, an onion, a few cloves of garlic, and a chipotle, perhaps with some cilantro for color and pep, salt and pepper, and the juice of half a lime or lemon. Mix well and let flavors blend. You can simmer it in a pot if you like, but it's just as good fresh. Also makes a good corn chip dip or topping for poultry or pork.
 
 
HCE
22:41 / 16.09.04
Thanks so much for all this information, I'll let you know how it turned out!
 
 
HCE
14:29 / 17.09.04
Utter fucking disaster!! I wake up at 4:30 in the morning to commence baking biscuits, shortbread cookies, and ginger scones (after going to no minor trouble and expense last night to acquire not only the baking ingredients but also jams, mascarpone, acacia honey, and so forth). I set the oven to pre-heat and lo and behold -- the entire apartment fills with smoke, and I realize that my roommate, with whom I had a long and detailed discussion about my morning baking plans, has neglected to clean the oven, though he mentioned only a few nights ago he would need to. I'm sure I've endeared myself to my neighbors by clanging around the kitchen with every window open.

I am utterly livid.
 
 
Sekhmet
19:06 / 17.09.04
Oh, my... Poor dear...



What happened with the breakfast? Did you have to cancel?
 
  

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