Pickles, pears, and puddings

Well the weekend cookery didn't quite go to plan as I forgot to buy chocolate for the chocolate dipped fruits. They will have to be done later - maybe on Christmas eve.

However, I did manage to make a lovely crumbly vanilla fudge without 1. burning the whole of the bottom of the saucepan 2. burning me 3. setting off the smoke alarm 4. swearing. It was even edible!
I felt this to be a significant achievement.

I also experimented with a new pear recipe. I think pears are my favourite fruit.
Well, actually that's not true as I love strawberries more, but they're certainly my favourite autumn/winter fruit.
I've been exploring ways to preserve them for nibbling throughout the year. A few weeks ago I tried drying them in a cool oven, which was pretty good. They turned out chewy, a bit grainy, and very very pear-ish. Nice.

Over the last week or so the BBC have been running lots of Christmas food & drink programmes. In all honesty they're a bit irritating on the whole, but I did watch the Hairy Bikers christmas programme last week, where they made pickled pears. I'm not usually bothered about pickles but the combination of spices in their recipe sounded lovely so I gave it a go this weekend. I made half quantities, as 20 pickled pears seemed a little excessive for just 2 people. They'll be ready to eat in a week, so I'll keep you posted on whether they're edible. They smelt like vinegary mulled wine as they cooked, so I have high hopes.



On the otherhand, my jar has sprung a leak, so I hope that being 100% air tight isn't crucial to the recipe.
I do rather like the Hairy Bikers recipes - their baking programme was good last year and I like their sense of irreverance. Did you see the wedding cake they made? So fun.


But I digress; here's the link to the recipe.
I also fancy having a go at their pretzels recipe. We saw some proper German-style pretzels in Merano, in Northern Italy when we were there this autumn. They were massive and doughy, rather than the biscuity variety we get here. Could be interesting to try.

Also this weekend, my very first attempt at roast beef and yorkshire pudding. The perfect dinner according to Dan. Feeling smug at acheiving perfect yorkshires on the first attempt I decided to use the remaining batter the next day and do sausage and mash with yorshire puds. Sadly it seems that it was beginners luck. The pudding still rose but it was somewhat soggy in the middle. Ah well, you win some,you lose some....