Two-a-penny hot cross buns

Easter at Towerwater is a celebration of what the garden gives in abundance. We are blessed with friends who also give of their love and friendship so abundantly. Towerwater is a celebration of a different pace of life. Where time to relax with friends over a home-cooked meal with ingredients from the garden, enjoys preference.

At Christmas, Carol showed us what we were missing by baking homemade fruit mince pies. We have been spoilt for life. It will be difficult to consider buying a store-baked mince pie again.

With stores introducing chocolate, cranberry and even fruitless hot cross buns, I started to question their true commitment to the traditions of Easter. It became clear that their approach to hot cross buns is a profitable exercise of catering for as many taste profiles as possible. In the process the true essence of traditional hot cross buns is sacrificed.

Hot cross buns are traditionally eaten on Good Friday and in the Cape it would be eaten with pickled fish. This year I decided that it would be a treat to enjoy homemade traditional hot cross buns.

That would only have been possible if they were made by someone else, since I am not a keen baker. That is how this year I proposed that our friend Susan should bake them. She and her husband are lately pursuing the allure of perfecting home-baked sour dough bread. Susan accepted the challenge. I could relax in the knowledge that in true Susan style, the tradition of hot cross buns would be researched. The best recipes would be tested and the best-tasting buns would be the ones to grace the Towerwater table.

When Susan revealed her homemade hot cross buns, they were true beauties. Biting into one was pure delight; a celebration of spices and fruit. All who visited Towerwater over the Easter weekend, who were fortunate enough to taste one of the homemade hot cross buns, had to agree that that was how true hot cross buns should taste.

Now I need to convince Susan to make them again next year. After tasting real hot cross buns, how could we ever go back to store-bought ones?

Unfortunately they disappeared as fast as they arrived or else I could have hung one in the Towerwater kitchen to test the English folklore ‘that hanging a hot cross bun in the kitchen is said to protect against fires and ensure that all breads turn out perfectly’.  I was glad to learn that the buns were replaced each year.

I hope to enjoy homemade buns again next year and that the memory of store-bought hot cross buns will soon fade into something of the past. Another memory that has faded is the London street cry that was noted in 1733, “Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs, with one or two a penny hot cross buns.”

Time for Simnel Cake and other surprises

I look forward to the Easter weekend as a time when we celebrate renewal and rebirth. Easter is the most important Christian celebration. It culminates in Easter Sunday when we commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I also enjoy the flavours and fragrances in the garden and kitchen that reminds me of Easter. The air under the oak is heavy with the sweet smell of quinces. In the orchard the pomegranates are huge and some are bursting open, exposing their red fruit like big open wounds. Quinces are known as symbols of love and fertility. Pomegranates symbolise life and death, rebirth and eternal life and abundance. I cannot think of more appropriate fruit to have in one’s garden at this time of year.

The kitchen smells of spices and dried fruit and nuts, but mostly of almonds. A sign that Lent, a period of reflection and a time of fasting, is over.  Easter is a celebration of spices and the fragrances of cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, coriander, honey, citrus peel and almonds, fill the air and flavour the baked goods.

Simnel Cake

Carol arrived on Good Friday with the aroma of spices and marzipan following her in through the front door. She had offered to bake this year’s Simnel Cake, but decided to introduce an additional surprise that honours the flavours of Easter.

Freshly baked Mystery pies 

I love Simnel Cake. The combination of marzipan and fruit cake is like Christmas all over again. In true Carol style, she had to make her own marzipan which is used on top and between the two layers of cake.

As the Simnel Cake was destined for Easter Sunday, Carol’s surprise treat came in the form of small mystery pies filled with almond paste, each decorated with an almond. The almond pies, baked using her grandmother’s pastry recipe, were a pure indulgence at breakfast and a treat at tea time.

Once more, Carol honoured a longstanding tradition at Towerwater with her Simnel cake. A treat she first introduced years ago. This year she introduced a side delicacy of her own invention.

This too will have to become part of the Towerwater Easter traditions. A little pie that reminds one of Christmas in its pastry but that surprises one with the taste of Easter in its almond filling.

A dislocated Easter

On the Thursday before the Easter weekend (Maundy Thursday), barely 4 hours before we had to leave for Bonnievale, I misjudged my step on a traffic island in front of my office and fell. I dislocated my shoulder in the process.

After a gruesome struggle through a traffic-gridlocked city, something that has become the norm in Cape Town but aggravated on that day by a bus-drivers’ strike, Keith fetched me at work and took me to the trauma unit of the new Christiaan Barnard Memorial Hospital.

Following the procedure of relocating the shoulder, I stocked up on painkillers and anti-inflammatory tablets. With my arm supported in a sling for the next six weeks or so, we headed home.

My new motto and my master for the next six weeks.

Joining the Easter exodus belatedly, we arrived at Towerwater after dark. Although I was in pain I was happy to be home, and walking down the steps into the lamp-lit garden lifted my spirits. I was feeling quite sorry for myself at that stage.

I had two days of rest before our big Easter Sunday lunch. Carol visiting for Easter was a big help. Carol is an excellent sous chef and that made the preparation of the 7 course lunch a lot less traumatic. I could not bear to let my injury impact on a lunch that had been a couple of weeks in the planning.

Easter lunch table detail

Luckily everybody contributed to making the lunch a memorable 7 hour long sharing of food and traditions.

I was painfully reminded by my injury of just how many things depend upon one having the use of two arms. My blog writing and food preserving had to be scaled down until I could regain some use of my arm again.

This year our Easter celebrations were nearly dislocated by my injury.  But with the help of good friends we managed the celebrations in true Towerwater style.
 

The pleasure of picking pomegranates

The pomegranates at Towerwater are beautiful this year. The grenadilla is producing another crop. Sunday morning harvests are akin to a blessing on the table at Towerwater.

Some pomegranates were bursting open and I saved the arils for making pomegranate sorbet later. With the ruby-like arils falling into the bowl, I could not help but marvel at the sheer beauty of the fruit.

Fresh fruit provides a sense of luxury in the home. Full bowls decorate the tables like still-life’s waiting to be painted. Pomegranates have fascinated many an artist who has captured the exotic fruit in all its phases. 



Perhaps I should take up brush and canvas and capture this gift of nature, seen in ancient and modern times in many countries, as a symbol of abundance, fertility, and good fortune.

The pomegranate surely brings with it all those aspects to the garden and home at Towerwater. I count myself fortunate to be able to pick my own pomegranates; to celebrate the fertility of the garden by enjoying the abundance of the red ruby arils in each fruit.

The music of falling leaves

And suddenly it is autumn. Dusk welcomes us home to Towerwater on our returns from Cape Town. Gone are the long leisurely evenings washed with daylight that stretched into the late hours.

The sprinkling of oak leaves on the lawn is a clear sign. Nature is striking the first chords of autumn.

Garlic plants

My four different types of garlic plants, Susan Delafield, Rose de Lautrec, Tuscan and Egyptian White, are already standing more than 100mm high. This year, I decided to order the garlic earlier from the Gauteng-based supplier, ensuring that I have a variety of old favourites and some new ones.

Mixed beetroot seedlings

Normally, I wait until April before planting the garlic. But, by April all the best varieties have been sold to the gardeners up North. Their garlic planting season starts earlier than ours in the Cape.

Mixed carrot seedlings 

That is why my garlic bed is now reminiscent of two sophisticated ladies traveling Italy and Egypt.

Fruit and vegetables prepared for juicing

The new beetroot and carrot bed is showing the promise of a healthy crop, with the plants coming up strongly. I have planted Black Nebula carrots along with a mix of purple, white, yellow and orange. To be honest, I prefer the straightforward orange carrot. But the other colours are such fun to have on a plate. It allows me to colour-play with my vegetables.

Beetroot and apple juice

The beetroot I planted is also a mix of white, yellow and purple, just for the fun of it. Last season’s bed of carrots and beetroot are still going strong. But at this advanced stage of their season, I prefer to use them in soups or juice them.

Carrot and apple juice

The garden is still producing healthy pickings of fruit that we either eat fresh, or use with the vegetables to make fresh juice blends.

The pace of the garden is slowing down. A new rhythm is tangible at Towerwater. Sitting under the oak tree, drinking a fragrant cup of Earl Grey tea, one can listen to the music of falling leaves.

Towerwater pear and almond cake

We are blessed with a generous harvest of fruit this season. The sun ripened pears are a special treat. When a friend sent me a message saying that I must try a pear and frangipane tart, I started to explore the recipes. I understood why she thought I would like it, because frangipane is a filling that tastes like marzipan.

I just love marzipan and as much as I would enjoy this delicious sounding tart, I do not regard myself as much of a baker. I needed something very simple. In the recipe book, Cook and Enjoy, by SJA de Villiers, I found an easy apple cake recipe and I decided to try my hand at baking.

The cake before the hot syrup gets poured over

True to my nature, I decided to experiment by replacing the apples with pears and the vanilla essence with almond essence. What I created was something quite delicious, with the taste of pear and marzipan.

Towerwater pear and almond cake

Ingredients:
200ml (4/5 cup) margarine
250ml (1 cup) sugar
2.5ml (½ teaspoon) salt
5ml (1 teaspoon) almond essence
3 eggs, whisked
500ml (2 cups) self-raising flour
200ml (4/5 cup) milk
450g poached pears
cinnamon
25 ml sugar
almond flakes for decoration

Poached pears:

Take a number of ripe pears that are still firm. Peel, core and slice the pears into wedges. Place in pot of water with a suitable length of stick cinnamon and a cardamom pod. Cook until tender but not soft. Let it rest while you prepare the batter.

Method:

Beat the sugar and margarine until creamy. Add the almond essence and salt. Add the eggs one by one, mixing thoroughly. Add the flour and milk in turns and mix thoroughly.

Pour half of the batter into a greased baking pan. Add the poached pears and pour the other half of the batter over the pears. Sprinkle the sugar, cinnamon and almond flakes over the top.

Bake for 25 minutes at 190 °C (375 °F) for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180 °C (350 °F) for the last 15 minutes.

Make a syrup by cooking 75ml (6 tablespoons) sugar, 50ml (4 tablespoons) butter and 25ml (2 tablespoons) lemon juice, together for 5 minutes.

Prick the crust of the bake with a tooth pick or fork when it comes out of the oven and pour the hot syrup over.

Serve hot with cream as a teacake or dessert.

I enjoyed the marzipan taste of this cake and decided that it was perfect for pear season at Towerwater.