FLOWER POT KITCHEN: CHRISTMAS SIXPENCE PUDDING

28 Dec 2013

CHRISTMAS SIXPENCE PUDDING

THE CHRISTMAS TRADITIONAL PUDDING

This is my top favourite Christmas tradition because my gorgeous 12yr old son, Oscar is in charge of making the family Christmas pudding. We start with soaking all the fruit the night before in a bottle, yes a whole bottle of brandy and then once Oscar has assembled all the magical ingredients in the bowl, he then stirs the pudding East to West following the direction of the thee wise men, then every member of the family gives the pudding a stir for good luck, then Oscar adds his sixpence that he gets from the Royal Mint into the pudding, this makes our Christmas pudding making a really magical time with the added anticipation on who will find the sixpence on Christmas Day and have good luck all the New Year through.

INGREDIENTS

225g currents

225g raisins

175g sultanas

50g mixed peel

175g butter

1 bottle brandy

Chopped almonds

Chopped hazelnuts

Chopped Brazil nuts

Juice and zest of 1 Orange

3tbsp milk

150g self raising flour

1tbsp mixed spice

1 tsp grated nutmeg

150g breadcrumbs

Golden syrup

Black treacle

3 medium eggs beaten

200g dark muscovado sugar

A sixpence

(This year we got a 1944 sixpence which is grandad's birth year)

I have a ritual that we can not make the christmas pudding unless all is well and happiness is in the home, so if all is well the night before place all the dried fruit in a bowl and add the whole bottle of brandy! cover and leave to steep overnight. In the morning drain off the excess brandy and reserve in a jam jar for topping up the puddings later in the month.

Pre heat your oven 170 degrees C, in a large bowl place all the soaked fruit, peel, zest and juice, and milk, mix well. Add the flour, spices a pinch of salt, to be traditional resist the temptation to stir! Melt the butter and add to the bowl along with breadcrumbs, eggs and muscovado sugar.

Now the pudding is ready to be stirred East to West by every member of the household and family, then add the sixpence and give one more stir.

Grease your pudding basin or tin, then this is important, line the base of your tin with a circle of grease proof paper, this will ensure that your pudding does not stick and tear when you remove it.

Take a deep saucepan and place a trivet in the bottom. To cover your basin take a sheet of foil and fold a pleat in the centre, then cover the pudding basin with the folded pleat in the centre, this is so that the peat can unfold as the pudding expands. Place the foil over the basin and then with the some string tie it around the rim, to make handles loop over and tie back to the other side to made the handle, not essential but handy.

TO COOK

Place the pudding basin in the deep saucepan on the trivit, fill with water 3/4 of the way up and cover with a lid then bring to a simmer, place on the lid and simmer for 4 hours.

Once cooked take out leave to cool a little and then turn out and wrap in baking paper, then store in a air tight container. Every so and now give the pudding a drink with the left over brandy.

To serve on the big day place the pudding back into the basin and steam just the way you cooked it, approx 1 hour and serve with a sprig of holly and pour over some brandy.

TO ENSURE THE BRANDY FLAME

Once the pudding is in place ready to serve, take a ladle of warm brandy and light it so that it is flaming, then pour the flaming ladle of brandy over the pudding, this will ensure you have a successful flaming pudding in the day. In my home we all have to sign the figgy pudding song and make a big song and dance about Oscars Christmas pudding!!!

No comments:

LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.