Smy Indoor Garden - Week Three 25/02/11

Here is Smy indoor garden at week three. I have added two rhubarb plants and put all three into a large container. My basil isn't doing too well and I might bring it indoors to see if it approves of a warmer location.

I've pruned off some leaves from the blueberry bush and tidied up the weeds and it seems much happier.

My happy bunch of rhubarb.
Of the seedlings, the rocket continues to thrive and the spring onions are trying to catch up but besides that there isn't too much going on.

In the next few weeks there will be some additions and hopefully more movement on the seedlings front.

And remember...
it's not your chutney...
It's Smy Chutney.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding aka WCBP

The one recipe I have been asked for countless times is for White Chocolate Bread Pudding - WCBP. This is another New Orleans classic recipe and one that I picked up from when I worked at the Royal Cafe. I love all manner of bread and butter puddings and this makes a delicious end to a Sunday roast dinner. It is also ridiculously easy to make, inexpensive and most importantly, people love it!

Here's my recipe for white chocolate bread pudding:

Just as with any bread and butter pudding, thicker slices of slightly stale bread are best. I always stick half loaves of bread in the freezer to have emergency bread and butter pudding reserves. For this pudding we had a nice half loaf of Turkish bread that was ever so slightly sweet.


I always keep bars of good quality chocolate in the pantry, again - emergency pudding ingredients. Break a bar of good quality white/cooking chocolate and divide in half. Half of the chocolate will be used in the pudding and the remaining chocolate will be used later for the sauce. Chop the half into smaller size chunks. This pudding was using half a loaf of bread and will serve 4, if you are making a bigger pudding use a whole loaf of bread and two bars of chocolate, one whole bar for the pudding and one bar for the sauce.

Slice your bread in 2-3 cm slices. For this recipe I used a rectangular shallow dish, roughly 9 x 4. Any dish will do and depending on the size and shape of your bread slices you may want to test that your slices will fit your dish before the next step, cutting them into triangles or wedge them into place until you are happy that your bread and dish will work together and that the pudding will have at least two layers. Then butter both sides of the bread.


Arrange the slices in the dish trying not to leave gaps. Scatter white chocolate in between each layer.....


...and repeat until you have at least two layers and top with a scattering of white chocolate.


Take 250 ml of milk and about 50 ml or so of double cream, 50g of caster sugar, break in two eggs and whisk. If you are using a whole loaf of bread double the liquid sugar and add and egg. This pudding is quite sweet and stodgy so if you don't like sweet puddings you can halve the sugar or even leave it out, I have tried this and it still works.


Pour the mixture all over the bread, making sure that the mixture hits corners and crusts. Ideally the mixture will come right up to the edge but I then take a piece of baking paper and carefully press down to ensure that the mixture covers all the bread and that the slices are even for baking. Now put to side or refrigerate if you are not going to cook straight away, I always try to make it early and leave it a bit and let the liquid soak up.


Cook for 30 minutes at 200˚C or until browned, ideally you want it to be nice and stodgy with some crispier sections on top.


Just before the pudding is done, take another 100 ml of double cream and melt the remaining half of the chocolate on the hob or in a microwave if you are pushed for time. If you are doing a massive WCBP just up the liquids and use more chocolate.

Place portions of the WCBP in bowls and pour a nice amount of the hot mixture on top of the WCBP. I think the pudding is BEST when served with strawberries and I used some defrosted ones here as it's winter but winter berries work just as well to cut through the sweetness.


This is a great pudding if you are having a large dinner party and just want to get the pudding out of the way before hand. I also love it as an emergency pudding that works in summer or winter. It's a total crowd pleaser and one friend Chris famously ate a world record seven portions at one party. I'm not sure I would recommend that but I would recommend you try this recipe as I'm sure you'll love it, I know I do!

and remember...
it's not your chutney...
it's Smy Chutney.

Smy Indoor Garden - Week Two 18/02/11

Here is Smy indoor garden at week two. Not too much happening besides the rhubarb going totally crazy with two new shoots. I must ring Auntie Chrissie as I'm torn over whether or not to "force" them or not. They seem so keen and I would feel cruel sticking a bucket on their heads at this point. I also need to know if it is a good idea or not to buy two more plants from Columbia Road Flower Market and put the three of them in one large container. I know that they will create a lot of leaves and grow somewhat tall. Auntie Chrissie will know what to do but if anyone else has any advice I would love to hear from them.

Also doing well is the blueberry bush with lots of new shoots forming.

I had started two seed trays last week, one of herbs and tomatoes and one of rocket, chillies, chives and strawberries, as seen above. I put a heavy handed dusting of compost on top of the herbs and tomatoes and was concerned that it would be a bit too much for the delicate seeds to handle so I have actually started those afresh. The rocket above is properly going for it and thanks to Kay Sexton for pointing out that is why they call it rocket...I had never thought of that before! But that got me thinking, which came first shooting rockets or edible rocket. Presumably rocket was around first but I was wondering if the etymology was related to fireworks or China. I went over to the Online Etymology Dictionary to see what I could find out:

The first entry for rocket is:

"garden plant of the cabbage family," 1520s, from M.Fr. roquette, from It. rochetta, dim. of ruca "a kind of cabbage," from L. eruca "colewort," perhaps lit. "hairy caterpillar" (the plant has downy stems) and related to ericus "hedgehog," also "a beam set with spikes."

The second entry for rocket is:

"projectile," 1610s, from It. rocchetto "a rocket," lit. "a bobbin," dim. of rocca "a distaff," so called because of cylindrical shape.

I was quite interested to find out that the etymology of both words is Italian and that projectile rockets came not long after edible rocket.

My three gooseberry bushes, as seen above, are now planted and seem to be getting on well. Two of them are year one plants while the third is a year two plant and may fruit this year while the other two will not. Over the past week, the elder gooseberry has been producing some lovely little shoots. Hopefully there will be rhubarb and gooseberry crumble later this year!

Last but not least I wanted to share a picture of some garlic chive seeds that I am sowing which were a generous gift from Kay Sexton, author of Minding My Peas and Cucumbers: Quirky Tales of Allotment Life (which will be published in March). I sowed them today and they are much stockier than the other chive seeds that I am sowing, am excited to compare and contrast the two and am very thankful, thanks Kay! Kay also has an informative and funny blog, Writing Nueroses that you should check out.

Be sure to check back for week three as I'll be going to Columbia Road Flower Market for more herbs, advice and what have you.

and remember...
it's not your chutney...
it's Smy Chutney.

Tower of Love Power - 14 February 2011

I hope that everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day. My One True Love (MOTL) was in New York City last week for work and returned on Valentine's Day and you know, absence makes the heart go silly so I decided to make him an extra lovely meal to celebrate Valentine's Day and his return home. MOTL totally surprised me with a heart-shaped biscuit, a Mac Wonder Woman eye shadow palette and Mac Wonder Woman lip glass! They are amazing and I am so thankful for him and the Mac Cosmetics adviser who noted to MOTL that if he really wanted to make it a special gift he should add a WW lipglass. We don't really buy into the cards, chocolates and flowers routine and have traditionally enjoyed a nice meal together at home. The last time we went out for a meal on Valentine's Day it was all a bit grim and felt like a prison visitation scene. The restaurant was full of tables for two working within a time limit, acting as if a glass plate was between them or with a sense of being watched and/or overheard because the restaurant has tried to cram in as many tables as poss. Let's not forget the pressure from one or both sides of the couple to have THE - BEST - VALENTINE'S - DAY - EVER. Nah, not me me or MOTL.

For my special meal I decided to cook something that I had not cooked for years but is a dish that I hold close to my heart. MOTL says that it is one of my signature dish's but it's not even my dish at all! The dish is the Tower of Power, or as I have adapted the title for Valentine's Day - The Tower of Love Power. This dish was created at the Royal Cafe in New Orleans when I was waitressing there back at the turn of the century. I made some life-long friends, a lot of money and most importantly - a lot of memories. It was sold as a special and there were always contests to see who could sell the most and being a hugely competitive bunch it was always game on. Actually most things at the RC turned competitive from wine sales, nightly sales, sections, first table, last table, big parties, upstairs, balcony, the rotor and who could start getting their shine on the earliest.

The Tower of Power takes a grilled portobello mushroom, tops it with garlic mashed potato, tops that with wilted spinach, tops that with a grilled filet steak, covered in a red wine au jus and for my version I top it off with some fried shallots. BOOM! Tower of Power baby!

So to recap the recipe:
1. Make a nice batch of mashed potato and put to the side. I use Maris Piper potatoes boiled and sieved in a potato ricer, butter, milk, double cream, roasted garlic (roast in their skins and remove skins before adding), salt and pepper.


2. Marinate a portobello mushroom in balsamic vinager, honey, salt and pepper and then grill on each side for 4-5 minutes while brushing with the marinade. Pop in a preheated oven (150˚C) while you prepare the rest.

3. Start the red wine au jus using red wine, a spoonful of Smy Chutney Red Onion Marmlade, salt, pepper, bit of cornstarch and beef stock. Thanks to MOTL's complete and utter passion for stock we always have a very diverse group of stocks in the freezer for gravies and soups but a nice organic beef stock cube would do just as nicely. Leave the stock to its own, stirring occasionally and strain before serving.

4. Slice shallots into rings and lightly coat in a teaspoon of cornstarch. Fry in a bit of groundnut oil and remove when browned and strain on a piece of kitchen towel.

5. Take two excellent quality filet steaks that have been marinated in olive oil, salt and pepper. I also rubbed two tablespoons of Smy Chutney Red Onion Marmalade into the filets, for some extra flavour. Grill the filets on a piping hot cast iron grill for 3-4 minutes on each side for rare to medium rare depending on the thickness of the filets. Once ready, leave them to rest for the few minutes it will take to finish the final step.

6. Trim and wash the spinach earlier so that they are ready to go as soon as the filets are resting. Take 3 or 4 sliced garlic cloves (slice this earlier as well) and fry lightly in a tablespoons worth of olive oil for a minute or so. Remove the garlic before adding the spinach and add salt and pepper. The spinach will wilt and reduce by quite a lot so make sure you use enough, I used about 200g for two people which was a perfect amount.

So to recap:
Grilled portobello mushroom...

Topped with:
Garlic mashed potato and wilted spinach...

Topped with:
A grilled filet steak, fried shallots...

and finished with a red wine au jus.

As puddings are my remit I had made a heart-shaped meringue the previous night, for that recipe see my pavlova post.


Then I took some mango, strawberries and blueberries and blitzed half of them into a simple fruity sauce and spread this onto the meringue.

I took the remaining fruit and free-styled little and large mango hearts, strawberry hearts and blueberries and topped the meringue with them. So here is my Valentine's Day pudding:

I was very pleased to present this to MOTL and he was really impressed. I served this with a drizzle of double cream over the central heart but we tucked in before I could get a photo of the cream covered mango heart. I hope that everyone had a good day yesterday and was good to their friends, partners but most importantly themselves...

and remember...
it's not your chutney...
it's Smy Chutney.

Smy Indoor Garden - Week One 11/02/11

Plants and herbs do not seem to do well inside my flat but there's an unheated area outside our door which catches a lot of sun. I used to keep herbs out there on some wooden shelves and they did really well. I had lent the shelves to neighbours who moved out last week. As soon as I saw the shelves I decided to start a new little project. I knew that I would refill them with herbs but then I thought, why stop there? Ages ago my dear friend Sophie bought me a fantastic book, Window-box Allotment by Penelope Bennett, thanks Soph! It's a beginner's guide to container gardening that is full of all sorts of information outlined in what you could be doing month-by-month. I have dipped in and out of the book over the years but thought as I was picking it up again in January I could, should and would follow it throughout 2011.

Most of my family seem to be blessed with different skills, abilities and knowledge of plants, flowers, fruit and veg. My boyfriend thinks that this has skipped me entirely and charmingly has nicknamed me the Harold Shipman of plants. I reject this distasteful moniker and blame the lack of light and balmy nature of our lovely flat. Also, in the past we have both tried to look after the plants and they've end up getting over-watered. But 2011 is about me reclaiming my green fingers - I vow to look after all our existing plants inside the flat, to expand our plant kingdom to outside the flat and cultivate plants that we can bring back inside and eat.

I decided that I would try to sow some seeds and get some container veg going - tomatoes, rocket, etc. I try to get to Columbia Road Flower Market most Sundays for flowers but last Sunday I went specifically for Smy indoor garden. I always buy herbs from Mick and Sylvia Grover as they grow all their own herbs, give you great tips and are so lovely. I had a really nice chat with Mick and I was telling him how much I've learned about the market from the The Gentle Author and his amazing site, Spitalfield's Life. I asked Mick if anyone on the market sold seeds and he said in his forty years at the market he didn't think anyone had ever traded seeds. I also bought a lovely rhubarb plant and a blueberry bush that are both doing really well.

I found some seeds and supplies and got stuck in. Here is what I have sown thus far:

The first night after sowing the seeds I dreamt that they were unfurling and growing right in front of my eyes, a la BBC time lapse (this one is great!). The next morning there was a wee bit of movement but I will try to post about their progression as a way of keeping a little log for myself. Here are the shelves that my other herbs, fruit and veg are kept on and where I will keep my containers once my seeds have sprouted:

I am really lucky to have my Mum and aunties, as well as the book, to refer to throughout this experiment. Watch this space and hopefully there will be a rhubarb crop with which to make rhubarb crumble!

and remember...
it's not your chutney (or indoor garden)
it's Smy Chutney (or indoor garden).

Smy Mug

I had to post a picture of one of my favourite all-time gifts filled with my all-time favourite tea. It's a Smy Chutney mug filled with sencha green tea. It was given to me by my dear friend Alison and I love it and her! This is the second mug that she has given me and the other one is in steady rotation but now I have a new favourite. Thank you Alison!

and remember...

22 Jan 2011 - Broadway Market Schoolyard

Hello! I've been posting at an appalling rate since Christmas but I have been very busy - haven't we all! I have only been at Broadway Market Schoolyard Expansion (seriously! that is SUCH a mouthful, really wish that it had an easier, more memorable name) twice this year as I've been working on a project and the first week that I went out was during the great big wind gust of 15 Jan and my entire table was uplifted and blown over. Luckily not many jars were broken, at first I suspected that each and every one had been smashed to smithereens. Everyone was so helpful but that's just how lovely everyone is at the market and that's why I wanted to share with you some of the latest traders dahn the market.


First off is Benjamin's Butterflies, whose beautiful jewellery and art are truly stunning, like stop you in your tracks stunning. They are pieces and wall hangings made from butterfly wings. All the butterflies come from the Stratford Butterfly Farm and have all died naturally and the wings are collected from the sanctuary.




The photos do not do them justice and I didn't get any photos of his beautiful wall pieces as they sold out before I could capture them....on my camera.

Next up is Jolly Good Books who have a jolly good selection of books carefully selected by Fiona and Joe. The prices are beyond reasonable and their stall makes perfect sense. Now you can come eat lunch, buy some chutney and terrine for later, buy some cupcakes, coffee and/or organic cocoa then buy some lovely books to curl up with in the comfort and warmth of your own home.

Then we have JK Keepsake where Jasmine offers lovely bespoke embroidery gift keepsakes for baby products, wedding and special occasions. Your special occasion may be that nap you will need after gorging on goodies at the market!

Above is Copperleaf Print who trade in etchings, linocuts and gilcee cards. They are haunting, ethereal and beautiful pieces made by artists Martin and Nesrin Mossop. Their stall is like a mini-gallery so you should come down and have a wander and gander.

Speaking of beautiful products, next we have Mee Time, hand made bath products that are so pretty you may not want to use them but it's what is in the bath products that make them so effective. Jenny's line of soaps, bath salts and scrubs use all natural ingredients and lots of attention to detail goes into the ingredients and design of these beautiful bath products.




There was even a bit of bagpiping going on...all in all it was a lovely day at the market!

I will next be at Broadway Market Schoolyard Expansion in March but can be found at www.smychutney.com or on smychutney@gmail.com

and remember...
it's not your chutney...
it's Smy Chutney.