Cakes & Bakes: Goosnargh cakes

Goosnargh is a village to the north of the city of Preston in Lancashire, not that far from where we used to live. So, surely, I should have heard of Goosnargh cakes then!

It was while we were listening to the Radcliffe & Maconie programme on 6Music a couple of weekends ago that Stuart discussed Goosnargh cakes; my curiosity was piqued! They’re not cakes, but biscuits; shortbread rounds spiced with caraway and/or coriander seeds. I wasn’t completely sold on the flavours, but thought I’d give them a try.

What are tosset cakes. Granny? Well, tosset cakes is the same as Goosnargh cakes, Garstang Fair cakes, Stalmine Club Cakes, and Pilling Cakes. They’re all the same, but different sizes and different names. Butter and sugar and flour, with spices and seeds, and not too much cooking, that’s all they were and very good and wholesome they were, too, I can tell you.
_{Lancashire Evening Post – Wednesday 27 July 1932}

Usually, I associate caraway seeds with savoury bread or crackers and coriander seeds with curry… not sweet biscuits. As it was a completely new taste experience, I decided to divide the caraway and coriander seeds into two separate batches.

Justin took his first bite (of the caraway seeded version) and exclaimed, “That’s a surprise!”. He explained that he wasn’t expecting a sweet shortbread to have that kind of flavour. However, after a couple more bites, surprise had given way to pleasure!

Once I’d tested both versions, I had to agree. I wasn’t really expecting to enjoy them, but I really did! I’ll be making them again… and perhaps even mix the caraway and coriander seeds next time!

Click here to save the recipe to Pinterest

Goosnargh cakes

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Cook Time 20

Course Snack

Cuisine British

Ingredients

225 g/8oz unsalted butter
125 g/4½oz golden caster sugar plus more for sprinkling
350 g/12⅓oz plain flour
½ tsp ground coriander seeds
1½ tsp caraway seeds

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
Grease or line two baking sheets with parchment paper
Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Sift the flour over the creamed mix, add the coriander and caraway seeds, mix with wooden spoon until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs
Using your hand, work the mixture together to form smooth paste
Take out of the bowl and onto a floured work surface and knead gently so that dough is smooth and ready to roll out
Roll out to about ¼" thickness and, using a circular cutter, cut out rounds of dough
Place the rounds onto the baking sheets and sprinkle the tops with caster sugar
Put the baking sheets into the fridge for 30 minutes/1 hour until well chilled
Pop into oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until just turned golden brown
Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a little more caster sugar
Leave to cool slightly then transfer to a wire rack

Keyword biscuits, shortbread

Ken Law Oldham Landscape original

We’ve mentioned a few times previously that we love the work of artist Ken Law – and have a small collection of his 1960s prints – Hampstead High Street, Tower Bridge and New York Bridges, to date. Well, I was browsing a well-known online auction website a couple of weeks ago – and did a quick search for Ken Law to see if any of his vintage prints were currently for sale. My jaw dropped when this original oil painting appeared before my eyes – only just listed. Straight away I thought, “Oooooh, early 50th birthday present?!”.

The painting depicts Oldham – a Lancashire (now Greater Manchester) mill town about 15 miles from here. Perhaps former mill town might be more accurate now; at its peak, it was the largest cotton-spinning town in the world. Justin grew up in the neighbouring town of Rochdale and often went to Oldham on Tommyfield’s flea market day – and for nights out in his youth! So this landscape is very much in his psyche – and mine too, as an honorary Northerner, residing here for nearly 20 years now.

It’s a classic Northern Industrial scene – factories, terraced houses, chimneys – the Pennine moors in the distance. This picture captures it on a winter’s day, sun low in the sky, snow covering the rooftops and vehicles slipping & sliding down the hill!

Ken used oil on gesso – the surface being painted, scratched and gouged. It’s full of character and texture. We’re still researching, but we think that this painting was exhibited at The Royal Academy in the late 1960s.

By this point, you’ll realise that we can describe it quite accurately and have taken lots of photos – yes, it did become my 5oth birthday present – it arrived today!

I just couldn’t let the opportunity for a genuine Ken Law depicting favourite subject matter slip through my fingers. There are certainly no regrets now it’s arrived – it makes me happy just looking back at the photos in this post.

Much loved already – I’ll always remember when it came to live with us. A real birthday treat!

Rain

We had a lovely long walk last weekend, taking in Blackstone Edge which sits right on the border of West Yorkshire & Greater Manchester (Lancashire really!!).

As we walked along one of the bridleway tracks this striking outcrop of gritstone rock came into view.

Lovely in its own right, but it had a little extra secret to unveil as we got closer.

Expertly chiselled into its surface was a poem entitled RAIN.

We suspected it might have been written by Simon Armitage when we saw the SA, but weren’t sure. Having since done a bit of research, we now know that it’s one in a series of elemental works by him entitled The Stanza Stones dotted around the Pennines. They were commissioned by Ilkley Literature Festival. Other titles include Snow, Mist, Dew, Puddle and Beck.

Ironically, it was a glorious sunny day but the Pennines are certainly no strangers to the watery stuff. It’s a fundamental force in shaping this landscape.

It’s a beautiful poem and we found it very life affirming – and strangely wished that we were standing in the rain reading it – the rock’s surface glistening and droplets running down our faces. Justin read it out loud and we recorded it on a mobile phone – so we’d be sure to have the words when we got home. We needn’t have worried as there’s a lovely book available called The Stanza Stones published by Enitharmon. Justin is a bit embarrassed, but his open air reading has been embedded at the bottom of this post – his Northern accent suits it! 🙂 All that’s missing is the pitter-patter of rain in the background.

We’re now very keen to read the book and visit the other works in this series.

RAIN

Be glad of these freshwater tears,
Each pearled droplet some salty old sea-bullet
Air-lifted out of the waves, then laundered and sieved, recast as a soft bead and returned.
And no matter how much it strafes or sheets, it is no mean feat to catch one raindrop clean in the mouth,
To take one drop on the tongue, tasting cloud pollen, grain of the heavens, raw sky.
Let it teem, up here where the front of the mind distils the brunt of the world.

Click the little triangle on the left to hear Justin reading the poem

Stanza Stones is available from Amazon.

If you fancy giving the walk(s) a go you can download the Stanza StoneS Poetry trail GUiDeMarsden to IlkleyShort family walks and 47 mile trail guide from the Ilkley Literature Festival website.

Cakes & Bakes: Butter pie

Last week was actually British Pie Week so, being big pie fans chez H is for Home, we just had to get involved! We went for the vegetarian variety and decided upon a local, Lancashire favourite – butter pie.

It’s my meal of choice when we get a take away from Grandma Pollard’s, our local chippy. It’s a very humble pie – 😉 – the filling consists of few, very affordable ingredients – potatoes, onions and of course lashings of butter. There are free-to-pick herbs planted all around Todmorden courtesy of Incredible Edible, so we added a bit of fresh thyme too. I’ve not made it before but it proved a very quick & easy dish… and utterly, butterly delicious!

It’s a real celebration of simple ingredients. We served it with stir fried greens, drizzled with a little balsamic vinegar – pickled cabbage is another traditional accompaniment.

Butter pie

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Cook Time 30

Total Time 30

Ingredients

For the pastry
115 g/4oz plain flour
25 g/1oz butter
pinch of salt
pinch of white pepper
Ice cold water 2-4 tbs
For the filling
2 medium potatoes such as Maris Piper or King Edward
1 medium onion
25 g/1oz cold butter made into curls using a peeler
50 g/2oz butter for softening the onions
sprig of thyme woody stalks removed
4 tbs milk

Instructions

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl
Add the butter incorporating using your fingertips or pastry blender until it resembles fine breadcrumbs
Add just enough cold water to make the pastry form a ball
Put the pastry ball into a plastic bag (or wrap in cling film/Saran wrap), press out the air and refrigerate for half an hour
Peel the potatoes and onion, slice the potatoes a little thicker than a pound coin, and the onion into half rings
Parboil the potatoes until just soft but still holding their shape (8-10 minutes)
Sweat the onions and thyme over a low heat in the butter until soft. Stir regularly so that they don't stick to the base or colour
Roll out two thirds of the pastry and use to line a 20cm/8inch diameter round pie dish
Trim the edges using a sharp knife around the circumference
Drain the potatoes into a colander/large sieve and allow to cool
Once cool, layer the potatoes, onions and butter curls into the lined pie dish. Season with salt and white pepper
Using a pastry brush, brush around the edge of the pastry with the milk
Roll out the remaining third of the pastry (also using the trimmings from the base if necessary) and carefully lift it over
Using your fingers or a fork, press the edges of the top & bottom layers of the pastry together
Remove any excess pastry lid with a sharp knife
Make a few holes in the pie top to allow steam to escape
Brush the remaining milk over the top of the pie
Bake at 180ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4 for 30 minutes until golden brown on top
Slice & serve immediately