Caernarfon Creamaries - Dragon 'pwdin'

Today, Back to the Roots goes back to my roots and taste tests a new luxury 'pwdin' from Caernarfon Creamaries in North Wales. Caernarfon Creamaries is a farmer owned dairy co-operative with nearly 150 member farmers from North and Mid Wales. Established in 1938, it now manufactures 10,500 tonnes of cheese and processes another 12 million litres of milk through the dairy per annum. Every year it processes 112 million litres of milk. The co-operative supplies a range of dairy products including cheese, milk, butter, cream and buttermilk to independent grocers, large supermarkets, food service companies and is also available from their website.

The Pwdin Mefus a Hufen Fanila (Strawberries and Vanilla Cream Pots) were bought from a Tesco in Swansea, the puddings were £2.00 for two, on special offer down from £2.75.

An evening spent with Back the the Roots' Welsh correspondent, Ruth Dawson, over these new desserts and a bottle of rose came up with the following review and comments:

Caroline:
"The dessert was a firm cream layered on top of a strawberry compote. The strawberries cut through the smooth cream, but it feels like it's missing a cheesecake base or something with a 'bite'. As you carried on eating, I found the consistency of the cream slightly strange - as if they should have been left out of the fridge for half an hour before serving. Served in little glass ramekins, they must be eaten with a teaspoon because it is so sweet. I thought they were very good value for money, but just so very sweet that I couldn't finish it."
5/10  for a lack of crunch

Two for tea?

Ruth:
You can tell that it contains vanilla pods as it tastes very strong. I found the strawberries a bit bland, and the cream overpowering, making it very sickly. You get a free pot, but I wonder if it is a bit of a waste to have especially made glass pots - Caroline has a slight Gu obsession and has many in her cupboards already! I ate all of it and thought it was really good, just too sweet. It's very heavy even though it looks light. I think a 50/50 ratio of strawberry compote to cream would help. After eating it, we both felt a desperate need to clean our teeth as the sweetness lingered for ages."
6/10 definitely for someone with a sweet tooth

Cream layered on top of strawberry compote

Maybe it's time to try the chocolate version, which is also available from supermarkets now.

Warming chicken, bacon and mushroom pie.

Bake this pie fit for a Hairy Biker. I did in celebration of their new series airing today, 'Meals on Wheels'.

I made this pie after a long day at work. It was ready in 40 minutes, but I did take a couple of shortcuts...


Ingredients:
Chicken, bacon, mushrooms, butter, dried thyme, ready to roll puff pastry, chicken stock, gravy, flour

I had a roast chicken on Sunday with gravy, so I attacked the carcuss and set the left over meat aside after lunch and then boiled up the bones to make stock. This evening I melted some butter and fried the bacon and mushrooms. I rolled the bits of chicken in a mixture of thyme and flour, then added the chicken to the pan along with the stock and whatevers left of the gravy. I Stirred away until everythings mixed, adding cornflour or more stock to thicken or loosen where necessary.

Pop the mixture into a pie dish, lay over the puff pastry and bake for 20 minutes and enjoy this autumnal dish!

New Hairy Bikers: Meals on Wheels

A brand new Hairy Bikers series starts tonight on BBC2. Tune in at 9pm tonight to see the first in a four part series, named Meals on Wheels.

Dave and Si are back!!!

In this brand new programme the Bikers decide to tackle a very serious issue, being the provision of 'Meals on Wheels' to the elderly.

Meals on Wheels dates back to post-war Britain when the country united to deliver hot meals to “the aged and infirm people in the town who were experiencing a difficult time owing to the fact that the able and stronger people who had assisted them were now performing war-time duties.”

The fact that this service is now under threat is even more of a shock considering that in the next 25 years the number of people aged 60 plus is expected to rise to half of the population.

The Bikers are determined to encourage members of the community to engage with their local service, while developing recipes to improve the quality of the meals being offered.

And not that I really want to stand up on my soap box and rant (actually who am I kidding?!), but the subject of the elderly care is close to my heart, and with all the benefit provisions for the unemployed currently in place, we don't seem to be looking after our elders! These are the people who took care of us and probably taught us to cook in the first place!

And apparently Dave agrees with me, saying, "It is a subject very close to our hearts. When we found out that Meals on Wheels were under threat and that we were in danger of losing one of the most important services society can offer."

As a massive HB fan I am very excited, and what else could I do to mark the occassion but bake a pie? My chicken, bacon and mushroom puff pastry pie cooked in my Godmother's pie dish will most definitely cheer up my day. Have a go at my shortcut recipe here.

To celebrate the new Hairy Bikers series

Chicken, bacon and mushroom pie

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

The Classic Cream Tea

A day out in Windsor led to an afternoon classic cream tea in a crooked house on the shortest street in Britain.

A typically rainy September day in England was the setting for a day out sightseeing and shopping this weekend. Trudging through the idyllic, cobbled streets searching for somewhere to have lunch, with no idea of what we actually fancied, was probably not the best idea when hungry and slightly damp. Eventually we decided to go traditional by choosing a classic cream tea at a posh looking hotel near the train station. We were promptly turned away after not having a reservation, but ten minutes later found a 400 year old 'crooked' little tea parlour (called The Crooked House of Windsor) which also served what we wanted.

The tourist price mark up is quite simply ridiculous with a classic cream tea costing £8.25, going up to £15 and £20 (same price as the posh hotel) if you wanted fresh fruit and finger sandwiches tiered with your scones on a cake stand. However it is want of those typically British experiences; sipping tea and spreading jam on a fresh warm scone, while rain tapped at the windows outside.

But when spreading the condiments onto a scone, which do you spread first? The jam or the cream? It is said that a Devonshire cream tea must layer the cream first and then the jam, while a Cornish cream tea is the other way around. There have been heated arguments surrounding this for years (keep your eyes peeled for a exploratory blog post about the debate coming soon!) and discussions as to which region should claim the cream tea as their own and therefore receive a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) like a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie from Melton Mowbray! To be completely honest I tried out both methods and did not notice a difference, so I really don't mind as long as tea parlours like The Crooked House of Windsor continue to make them as soft and melt-in-the-mouth as these were.

The Classic Cream Tea - how do you eat yours?

Unsurprisingly we were surrounded by America tourists,
one of which decided to smile for the camera
 - since I was too busy drinking tea!!