Posts Tagged ‘berries’

Out & about… Autumn

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

It’s been a long time since our last Out & about post – we even missed the whole of summer!

Flower-filled fields feel a distant memory…

…the flowers gave way to autumn leaves…

…mushrooms…

…and berries.


For the first couple of weeks of autumn we had the best of both worlds – sunshine as well as amazing seasonal colour.

We were seeing butterflies until quite late in the year…

…but there was no doubting that summer was over, as the winter-visiting geese were beginning to arrive.

Even the autumn sunshine is now a thing of the past – it seems to have been raining non-stop for almost a month. But now we’re into December, this rain will hopefully turn to snow which will mean a magical white Christmas!

Berry Delicious!

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

Our berry picking has started early this year. We were out gathering bilberries at the weekend. They love acid soil and are found on low-growing bushes in the surrounding area. The berries are small and picking them is quite time consuming – but, be patient, they’re well worth the effort!

We put some in the freezer for future jam making and used the rest of our crop to make this bilberry custard tart. Here’s the recipe:

You’ll need to collect about 225g/8oz bilberries. Remove stalks and stray leaves and rinse in a sieve. Dry carefully on some kitchen towel (Don’t use a tea towel unless you don’t mind it getting stained purple).

Shortcrust pastry
125g/4oz plain flour
pinch of salt
55g/2oz butter, cubed
30-45ml/2-3 tbsp cold water
(or you can buy a pack of ready-made in the chilled section of most supermarkets)

  • Put the flour and salt in a large bowl and add the cubes of butter
  • Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles coarse breadcrumbs with no large lumps of butter remaining
  • using a knife, stir in just enough of the cold water to bind the dough together
  • wrap the pastry in clingfilm and chill for 10-15 minutes before rolling out
  • flour the table and roll out the pastry to about 1/2cm thick and 25cm/10inches in diameter (or large enough to fit over the dish you’re using)
  • carefully lift the pastry and lay it over your dish, moulding it to the bottom & sides
  • cut off any excess bits using a sharp knife
  • pour in the fresh bilberries

Custard
4 eggs
2 egg yolks
475ml/1pt milk
55g/2oz caster sugar

  • heat the milk gently in a pan
  • whisk the eggs & egg yolks
  • slowly add the milk to the egg mixture whisking continuously (make sure the milk’s not too hot or the eggs will scramble!)
  • pour the mixture carefully through a sieve on to the bilberries in the dish

Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas Mark 4. Cook the flan for 45 minutes or until the top begins to brown nicely. When cool sprinkle a tablespoon of caster sugar over the top.

The tart looks fabulous with the deep purple juice seeping into the creamy custard…

…and it tasted good too!

Out & about… October

Sunday, October 19th, 2008

Each day starts with a long walk with the dog. It’s normally a case of put the boots on, grab the lead and go. Our camera is quite cumbersome so it doesn’t get out much. However, last month we decided that we were going to make the effort to take it with us more often on these daily walks.

We’re going to start sharing with you some of the photos that we take when we’re out & about – things that we find beautiful, striking, interesting or fleeting – posting a collection of our favourites each month. This first batch were all taken in & around Todmorden this October.

October heralds the start of autumn with its stunning foliage, fruit, berries & fungi.

We stumbled across this beautiful orange mushroom beside a stream. It must have sprung up overnight – it was so pristine.

We didn’t have to walk far to get this image. These cute, little white-capped mushrooms were growing in a cluster on an old tree stump at the end of our garden.

These amethyst deceivers are plentiful in the local beech woods…

…we picked a few – they’re great in an omelette or salad.

Tempting berries – some edible, some not…

…these juicy elderberries most definitely are – and will soon be turned into jam & jelly.

Todmorden lies in a tree-lined valley, so we get a glorious leaf display around this time of year.

Will one of these grow into a giant oak tree?

After a wet summer, we’ve had much better weather this month. We captured this bee making the most of some lovely autumn sunshine.

This patch of orange crocosmia was growing wild. It looks stunning against the bright blue sky…

…as does this lone, windswept hawthorn tree.

These lovely stone walls criss-cross the fields & hills of the Pennines.

Other fields are divided by wooden fences – they can produce wonderful shadows.

The farms of the area concentrate on hardy livestock – beef & dairy cattle, sheep, pigs and chickens.

October hasn’t all been sunshine. These photos of electricity pylons and a local wind farm were taken under more threatening skies.

And not forgetting a photo of our regular walking companion taking in a view.

Hope you’ve enjoyed this first Out & about post – it’ll be back with more photos next month!

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