It has been really cold here in the north of England in the last few days and the silver birch, always the first tree in our garden to lose its summer green, is now displaying yellow and copper coloured leaves.
So how to welcome in Autumn? Well I noticed that, with the prospects of tighter lockdown restrictions, our local supermarket has run out of yeast and is showing shortages of bread flour and loo roll. I can’t really do much about the loo roll issue but I can make sure that we have a few loaves of bread in the freezer.
No yeast? No problem. I made a sourdough starter using just flour and water. Within a few days it will be ready for a first batch of sourdough bread and can be used over and over again. providing it is looked after.
Sourdough bread is quite rustic and great for making hot, open sandwiches and dipping in soup.
I also baked the first ham of the season. I made a glaze from fresh orange juice, sugar and cloves. I am not a meat eater but my husband and the cats all said it was delicious.
What to serve with the ham? I did some research online and found a recipe for a very old dish called pease pudding. I soaked some yellow split peas overnight and boiled them with onions, thyme and a bay leaf. Once they were soft I blended them into a rough purée and seasoned quite heavily. Some recipes I looked at suggested adding a beaten egg and boiling the pudding in a cloth until it reaches a cutting consistency. I am guessing this is what turns the purée into a traditional pudding but I really didn’t like the sound of this so I left the pudding in its puréed state.
It was really tasty and filling. I have frozen the leftover pudding as I am thinking that if I thin it down with some stock and add some vegetables it will make a tasty soup.
Using a bay leaf reminded me that I want to make some more herbal incense for Christmas so I have hung up some bay leaves to dry which will take a month or so I guess.
As the evening drew in the cats came back into the house bringing cold, night air with them and we lit our stove for the first time at this end of the year.
