Cloudy morning today, but the sun did manage to get through after a while. A coffee first then I could start work.
Today I was making Focaccia as the starter for tonight’s dinner and also a variation on Bread & Butter Pudding for dessert. Scamp had the much easier main course to make which was Sea Bass with Tomatoes and Potatoes. Focaccia is a sloppy dough with loads of olive oil to make it slippy and also sloppy. The first time I made it I kneaded it by hand and I remember chasing this messy dough all over the work surface. Yes, I did learn how to control a very wet dough, but vowed that the next time I’d let Mr Kenwood’s Chef do the hard work. So it was that I added all the ingredients into the bowl and let the dough hook go to work. About twenty minutes later I had a sort of dough and decide I could make it a bit wetter. Bad move. That meant the dough was too wet and I’d to add more flour. Eventually, I had the dough I wanted and I slopped it into a plastic tub to rise.
After lunch and after we’d watched Laura Kuenssberg tearing apart a new politician, it was time to check if the dough had “doubled in size”. Not quite, so I gave it another half hour to be sure and the sun was shining. That was the half hour it needed. It was ready to be slopped out on the work surface again, chopped into two big slippery pieces and stretched out in two baking trays to rest and stretch and grow bigger again with more olive oil in and around it. Another hour later, the sun was still shining and the dough was ready to be prepared for baking. I turned the oven on and poked my finger into the focaccia making big deep holes in it and then adding even more olive oil plus some rosemary, sun dried tomatoes and some sea salt. Then they went into the oven for 20mins. When they came out they looked fine, so guess what I added. Yes, more olive oil and then left them to rest and drink in all its green oily goodness.
I was watching the weather that wasn’t looking quite so sunny but I reckoned I could still get an hour in St Mo’s for some photos. A few minutes later, it was the sound that alerted me. The rain was coming down in torrents and Scamp’s washing was almost dry. Managed to save most of it, but the walk in St Mo’s wasn’t going to happen today. Instead I decided to photograph the rain. That will explain the title of today’s blog.
Later buttered four croissants, spread jam on them and set them aside. Next I beat up three eggs, some vanilla essence and some sugar then nearly boiled some milk and cream before chucking it into the bowl with the eggy mixture, arranged the croissants, tastefully, in a heatproof bowl and poured the creamy-eggy mess on top. Drizzled some sugar on top and stuck it in the oven to do its thing. I’d only made custard!! A bit lumpy in places and a bit thin in places, but custard, none the less! I was impressed. Plonked some rasps on top and there we had dessert.
Scamp only had to fry a fish or two, boil a few potatoes and chuck in some tomatoes. I had created a dessert with my own bare hands!
Focaccia was lovely and sticky. Scamp said it was missing something and I have to agree, I just don’t know what that ‘something’ was.
Spoke to Jamie and heard about swimming in the sea and thankfully the bat survey may now have passed muster with those who know about such things. I bet that’s a weight of their minds.
Tomorrow we may go in to Glasgow on the bus or the train. Oh, yes, and it’s still raining!
