Melt Candles

Banished these never ending winter blues by lighting up a Christmas present, a gorgeous dark & decadent Melt Noir candle. The house is filled with the most intoxicating scent of rose & bergamot, and I am dressed as Phantom of the Opera in a velvet cape & purple silk shirt.*

Having logged on to their website to order some more I was amazed to see they’re a Lancashire company too. Not all flat, caps & Old Spice up North we’re actually a very talented &  beautifully scented county full of delicious things.

*This may be a lie

http://www.themeltco.com

http://www.theashtonlancaster.com

Comfort Eats – Baked Cheese

 

With this Siberian wind you’ll be glad of the extra pounds this simple dish adds to your BMI.

Simply put a small camembert in an ovenproof dish. Splash over a little white wine & press a few slices of garlic into the cheese.

Place in the oven at gas mark 6, 200*C for 20 minutes.

Remove & serve with toasted bread & a fresh salad of apple & rocket.

http://www.theashtonlancaster.com

Morning Moanings

From now on I’m only holidaying in the UK. Yes I’ll miss the feeling of sun on my face, warm breezes & crystal clear seas. I’ll never get to taste an expertly mixed martini in Manhattan or laze with an iced tea on a Long Island lounger. But the consolation for this sacrifice is a day started properly.

This holiday commandment has been provoked my a mini break in Amsterdam, a carefully researched trip, lodging booked on the strength of Tripadvisor reviews & mention of an amazing breakfast.

Looking forward to a spread as extensive & carefully compiled as my own dawn exertions, I tripped out of bed raced down the stairs. But what greeted me was not a sideboard groaning with breakfast delights & a menu of hot possibilities.

No. It was a continental. Abbreviation for ‘we didn’t really feel like getting up too early.’ The only redeeming feature was the jam, Tiptree. Obviously acknowledgement that for all things breakfast it’s best to buy British.

www.theashtonlancaster.com

 

 

 

Breakfast in Bed – Without the Crumbs

Breakfast in bed is meant to be the ultimate in indulgent treat. A luxury reserved for anniversaries & wedding mornings. However it can also be an utter nightmare. Balancing a small tray loaded with coffee and orange over  just laundered bedding, a lie in ruined by uncomfortable bed crumbs. So here are a few golden rules if you’re treating a loved one this weekend.

My Mum used to get the dubious pleasure of breakfast in bed every Mother’s Day. A concoction of spilt juice, lukewarm tea and great uneven slabs of lightly charred toast. Feigning delight but no doubt thinking about just what horrors that awaited downstairs or if the kitchen was on fire? Rule 1 – clear up after.

What to serve? Hopefully having reached the breakfast in bed point you’ll know the recipient fairly well. But just in case you don’t you might want to check they’re not vegetarian before presenting a plated pile of piggy bits. For those awkward mornings, waking up with a vague recollection of the night before & with a stranger lying next to you, might I suggest a fruit plate & a smoked salmon & cream cheese bagel. Minimal effort but impressive enough to warrant a phone number should you want it.

Smoked salmon is the only fish that should make an appearance in the bedroom whether on a bagel or with scrambled eggs. Other fish are just too stinky to consider. Baked beans should be avoided for the same reason. “Thank you for my breakfast, but it’s just racked up a £100 dry cleaning bill.”

The best bedroom food can be eaten with fingers or one handed and this needn’t limit you to bacon buns or bowls of cereal. A stack of pancakes with strawberries, maple syrup & vanilla yoghurt can easily be tackled with a fork. Toast never makes trip from kitchen to bedside well. Pre butter & it’ll arrive soggy & soft. Leave them to do it themselves & crumbs everywhere, makes for an uncomfortable lie in. Which option ever you choose it’s likely to be cold and disappointing, never good thing in the boudoir.

So rather than face the trials & tribulations of breakfast pleasure giving why not leave it to the experts? Book a stay in one of our Grand Rooms and we’ll bring a brilliant breakfast to your room. Book online at www.theashtonlancaster.com & why not take advantage of our ‘Not just a 1 night stand’ offer?

p.s. And for those of you lucky breakfast recipients please remember eating naked only looks good in the movies.

Life’s Too Short to De-Vein a Prawn

 

Like boy scouts a landlady is always prepared and there are a few ingredients I always have in for emergency suppers. These are things that with the addition of a few store-cupboard ingredients are quick, cause minimal washing up and look as though you’ve spent hours in the kitchen. They need either to have a really long shelf life or be quick to defrost without ruining. Halloumi’s a great example as is smoked chicken. This one I knocked up last night using another, raw king prawns. You can make this dish even less effort by not de-veining the prawns, I always do if it’s for guests but otherwise what’s a little prawn poop between friends?

300g shallots or brown onions diced

1 x 400g tin of crushed plum tomatoes (or I really like tinned cherry tomatoes)

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 red pepper, diced

100g chopped piquante peppers (from a jar, you’ll find them with the olives)

1.25 litres veg/chicken stock

250g frozen peas

500g paella rice

32 raw king prawns

Start by heating a good glug of olive oil in a large saucepan, add half the shallots and cook on  a low heat until softened. Add the red & piquante peppers & paprika and cook for another 2 minutes . Add the tomatoes and stock and leave to simmer for for 20 minutes.

In a separate pan soften the remaining shallots in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Add the rice & stir to coat all the grains in oil. Stir the rice into the tomato mixture & simmer on a low heat stirring occasionally for 15 minutes.

Add the prawns & frozen peas, bring back to a simmer, cover with a lid & leave for 5 minutes. Check the prawns are pink and cooked through & check the rice is just the right side of al-dente before spooning into large bowls. Finish with chopped spring onion, parsley & lemon wedges. Serve with a mixed green salad & good bread. Serves 6 (or 4 in my house.)

www.theashtonlancaster.com

The 1st Rule of Supper Club…

I’m not a chef, I’ve never been on a cookery course & I have no aspiration to run a restaurant. When I opened in Summer 2008 I thought it’d be a glorious Summer, people would arrive in soft top sports cars. I’d welcome them with a glass of something chilled & fizzy. They’d ask about dinner & I’d say “well there’s a choice of restaurants in Lancaster, it’ll be a lovely walk through The Park. But if you didn’t want to leave this sun drenched paradise I have some just baked bread & a lovely selection of local delicacies – I’ll put you together a platter.”

In reality July was damp, dark & dreary. My first guests were 5 businessmen who’d spent the day being buffeted by the wind on a golf course at The Open. Looking desolate at the prospect of another soaking in The Park and unimpressed at my offer of Sauvignon Blanc & a deli board I retreated to the kitchen to knock up a pan of spaghetti & meatballs. Mamma’s secret recipe did the business & they tottered off to bed happy  little golfers.

And that’s how it continued. People arrived cold, tired, hungry & I fed them meatballs. Then they came back, so I had feed them something different. Indian style salmon with tomato & lime, slow roast lamb with crushed potatoes & rosemary, chicken with chorizo & chickpeas joined the list of family favorites.

So started Supper Club, no restaurant, no menu or choice*, it’s not ‘dinner’ it’s a wholesome & hearty supper.

It’s Monday to Thursday only. A main dish, side/salad & home baked bread – dessert & coffee if you fancy – £25.

Served at 7 (although stuff happens & I often run late.)

Let me know in advance if you’d like to eat & if there’s anything you don’t eat/like.

*If your really fussy & even close friends don’t invite you for dinner Supper Club might not be for you!

Marmalade Chelsea Buns – Via Dan Lepard

I really didn’t need a new cookbook for Christmas but Santa obviously saw the stack of Guardian Weekend magazines & Observer Food Monthlies stacked perilously on top of the fridge (as well as the numerous pages ripped from various foodie magazines.) Santa saw that the most dog eared, batter splattered, crusty crumbed items were Dan Lepard’s How to Bake column from the Saturday Guardian. Thinking a festive copy of Dan’s book ‘Short & Sweet’ might lead to a New Year tidy of the ever growing, quaking, shaking stack of paper he got the elves to dispatch a neat tidy book via the magic of Amazon.

On Christmas Day it was hastily opened and page after page greedily devoured. Pages marked and the spine bent as future baking plans were hatched. But after reaching the appendix & thinking something was amiss this little brat realised that his favourite recipe had been left out. Dan how could you not find space for Marmalade Chelsea Buns?

So sorry Santa, the books lovely and I’ve just about managed to squeeze it onto the groaning kitchen bookshelf, but the perilous paper tower survives the Spring clear out.

So here’s the missing recipe for a brilliant breakfast bake, enjoy!

675g strong white flour

1/2 a vitamin C tablet crushed to a powder

1 tsp salt

50g softened butter

375ml boiled milk, cooled

250g marmalade, I use Hawkshead Relish Company’s 5 fruit

1 egg, free range obviously

1tsp instant yeast, I find Doves the most reliable

75g brown sugar

200g currants

In a mixing bowl combine the flour, salt and vitamin C powder. Rub in the butter

In a separate bowl combine milk, yeast, 175g marmalade and egg. Add the sticky mixture to the dry ingredients & mix to a dough. Leave the bowl covered in a warm place for 1 hour.

This is what I love about Dan’s baking there’s almost no need to knead! So long as the ingredients are combined & left to rise sufficiently that’s enough.

Flour your worktop, knead the dough for 10 seconds, cover & leave for 15 minutes. Roll the dough into a 40cm square. Spread the remaining marmalade over the dough, sprinkle with the sugar & raisins & roll up into a tight roll. Slice into 3cm rounds and place on a lined baking tray cut side up & touching slightly.

Rather than get up at 5am to have these ready for the breakfast buffet I make them the night before. Cover with a tea towel & leave them in a cool place to rise overnight.

Then in the morning heat your oven to 200*C Gas Mark 6 & bake for 20 minutes.