From the Red Kitchen ~ Main meals

Spicy Chicken Pie

This has become a favourite for Boxing Day tea or a picnic in the summer, relatively easy to make and always comes out well:

First make the pastry, using the hot water method [although you can also use shortcrust for a more crumbly texture]

8 oz plain flour

½ tsp salt

3½ oz lard

4 fl oz milk and water [mixed equally]

Heat the lard in a saucepan gently with the milk and water; when the lard is melted leave to cool for a minute or two.

Put the flour and salt into a bowl and mix.

Stir the warm milk, water and lard into the flour mix and mix well, when it has come together beat till the dough has a glossy shine.

Roll out the dough, cut off approximately a third of it and put this to one side.

Heat the oven to 190 for a fan oven.

Gently place the larger piece of dough into a loose bottom cake tin [appx 20cm wide] taking the dough up the sides of the tin.

Now add the filling as though making a patchwork quilt ~ placing the ingredients evenly over the surface of the dough, usually there is enough to make two layers:

2 raw chicken breasts ~ cut into bite sized pieces

1 pack apricot and almond stuffing [Waitrose sell this]

Third of a jar of spicy peach chutney [Waitrose]

2 tsp Ras El Hanout spice

Place the top on the pie, crimping the pastry around the edge, brush the top with milk and make a small hole for the steam to escape.

Bake at 190 [fan] for 20 minutes then turn the oven down to 160 for a further 20 minutes.

Leave to cool in the tin

This can be eaten warm or cold. 

From the Red Kitchen ~ Snacks and Cakes

Transform a square of pastry for Breakfast!

Take a square of all butter puff pastry, looks plain enough but in a few minutes you can turn it into a real treat!
Use your choice of fillings, from sultana and spice; apricot and almond or my favourite maple and pecan. 
Dependent on how you want the finished pastry to look spread the filling out on the square, then brush the pastry with milk and a little sugar, bake in a fan oven for about 15 minutes on 170 ~ keep watching until its golden brown.

Scrumptious Sultana Slab
This is a great favourite ~ easy to make and a lovely moist cake.

1 lb sultanas
3 eggs
12 oz caster sugar
2 tsp almond essence
8 oz butter
12 oz plain flour
2 tsp baking powder

Put the sultanas in a saucepan, Cover with water, bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. 
Turn on the oven to gas mark 3 / 150 fan 
Mix the eggs, sugar and almond essence in a large bowl.
Drain the sultanas and put them back in the saucepan, add the butter and stir on a low heat until melted.
Remove from the heat and add to the egg mixture.
Add the flour and baking powder, mix thoroughly.
Pour into a greased, lined roasting tin and bake for 1 hour 15 mins, until golden brown [check its cooked by putting a skewer into the middle of the cake ~ if it comes out clean with no uncooked mixture clinging to it then the cake is done] 
Cut into slices when cool enough.

Work in Progress...

Why is it after all the work you put into the garden in Spring, by the time August comes round, when I want to sit and admire the garden, all the flowers seem to have dissolved into the dense greenery that was, only a few months ago, delicate appealing shoots.

There are splashes of colour but not what you would call a highlight, the predominate colour in my shady garden is green:

Scented flowers are pure bonus and greatly appreciated by me, from the kitchen window I can't see these lilies but they are well worth growing:

Will be just my luck that the latest round of thunderstorms will come crashing down on top of these! 
Any suggestions for how to protect the lilies at this stage? It would be such a shame having kept them going through the seige of the lily beetle to lose them now!

Im just wondering ~ should I grow an umbrella plant over the top of them?

The passion flower, has just opened, I think I love it for its detailed layers as well as its colour, and don't rain drops make plants sparkle?

So here is the back garden [the front garden seems to me to be a place that should be kept respectable or made into a show, but for me its not somewhere I can relax] in August:

This was taken at 8 in the evening, too late for the sun's rays. I love the variety of colour and shape in leaves ~ good value I think! 
Really pleased with the lilies and I have a note to remind myself to plant more of them, particularly on the hedge side to brighten a totally green area.

Roses have done particularly well, even if they don't particularly like this free draining slightly acidic soil:
Alpine sunset:

The fuchsias are just coming into their own, some making a better display than others, I have to hope they will survive till next year. 


Sometimes its the shapes as much as anything else that make the interest and the impact, such as the balloon flower, I love the colour of this too but its the fascinating bud and opening flower that I like it for most:

I rather like the variety of fuchsias, shapes, colours and the way they dance in the breeze, although these are not my favourite colour they are making a good display ~ next year they might work well in the flower bed ~ I hope they are hardy! [Checkerboard, they have the RHS seal of approval!]

And then there is my pond, only made last year, it is growing well but still no frogs or dragonflies:

NEWS UPDATE
Look what/who I found today ~ hiding under the water hyacinth leaves:

Sadly the frog has not re-appeared............but just today [5 days later] I have spotted 2 baby frogs jumping around the flower bed..........so that looks hopeful.
The fuchsias seem to respond to weather that is not blazing hot, their flowers bobbing in the breeze are fascinating:

As to the shadiest parts of the garden, ferns and hostas seem quite happy: