Thank you Trader Joes's

A common trait of blogs like mine, is that we write about those fantastic moments when we transcend the mundane with some fabulous creation that we hope will inspire and maybe even inspire awe. The truth is, is that most or all of us have many days when we are too busy to cook from scratch. Tonight was such a night. It was a beautiful day today, with an afternoon spent in the garden and pool. Dinner was simple, quickly prepared and amazing. The star was Trader Joe's Korean Short Ribs cooked on the grill with T.J's organic basmati rice cooked on the stove. Both pretty instant and perfect. A salad of beautiful fresh lettuce, sliced baby red peppers, fresh shelled english peas, cubes of roasted butternut (South African style - roasted with cinnamon, brown sugar and butter and left over from Friday night's dinner), cherry tomatoes, crutons and all tossed in a vinagarette. We ate outside, with the 6 & 7 year olds in their pj's and the glow of a beautiful, slow, Sunday hovering. Plates were emptied at high, lip-smacking speed, everyone was happy and no one had to slave away to make it happen. Pretty perfect in my estimation.

Hot Cross Buns

In some parts of the world, Hot Cross Buns are as important to March/ April/ Easter eating as a Turkey is to Thanksgiving, in the USA. Hot Cross Buns are not restricted to Easter meals, but traditionally are only sold around that time of year. What I love is they are cinnamony,  raisiny and slightly doughy; the longing for them makes the pleasure even sweeter when the season rolls around each year. This year I decided to try my hand at them. I consulted a recipe sent by a friend, made some changes (extra cinnamon and cloves, smaller buns) and in my second attempt, I sort of pulled off a close facsimile to the Hot Cross Bun of every grocery store of my childhood. I am finally getting around to adding recipes to my blog, this will be the first. Don't be daunted, the pleasure of eating a warm, fragrant, slightly sweet roll that you have baked yourself is more than worth the effort.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups warm milk
7g/ 1 sachet dried yeast
1/4 cup sugar
60g melted butter
1 egg, whisked
4.5 cups/ 675g bread flour *
1 tsp salt
3tsp mixed spice **
2tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1 cup sultanas/ golden raisins
1/4 cup currants
1/4 cup mixed peel
1/3 cup cold water
1/4 cup apricot jam

1. Combine milk, yeast and 1Tbsp sugar, set aside in a warm spot until frothy - 10 minutes or so.
2. Combine 4 cups/ 600g flour with salt, spices, peel, raisins, currants in a bowl.
3. Whisk together milk mix, butter and egg.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour mix and pour the milk mix into the center, stirring with a wooden spoon until just mixed. Use your hands to bring the dough together. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 10-15 minutes until smooth and elastic feeling. (Don't flour the surface too heavily, you will want the dough to stay sticky and moist.)
5. Place the dough in a bowl, covered with a damp tea towel, in a warm spot to rise (I like to dust it the ball of dough with a little flour as I place it in to the bowl). Let the dough rise until it has almost doubled in size, anything from 30 minutes to a couple of hours, depending how warm it is.***
6. Heat your oven to 390 and grease a 9inch (23cm) pan. Mix the remaining dough and water to form a smooth paste (I prefer it a bit runny so add extra water if thick). Put the paste mix in a piping bag or ziplock baggie which you can snip a corner off of to use a piping bag.
7. Punch the dough down, knead on a floured surface for 2-3 minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide evenly into 24 balls and arrange in your pan. Pipe lines across the buns, going lengthways and then widthways to form crosses.
8. Bake at 390 for 5 minutes and then at 350 for 25 minutes or until baked through and golden on top.
9. Turn out on to a wire rack, warm the jam and sieve it if lumpy (or just avoid the lumps in the next step!). Brush the hot jam over the buns, pull apart when cooled a little but still warm. Eat them ASAP!




* Using bread flour is worth a trip to the baking aisle, it is higher in gluten and is what gives bread it's chewy texture. Believe it or not, most grocery stores stock it.

** For readers who may struggle to find mixed spice in their local store , it is a blend of spices you can mix up yourself and store in an airtight jar. It turns up in my cooking quite often.

• 1 Tbs ground allspice
• 1 Tbs ground cinnamon
• 1 Tbs ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp ground mace
• 1 tsp ground cloves
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground Ginger

***On my second and most successful attempt at this recipe, I had time constraints in that I wanted to serve the HCBs in the morning but knew my house wouldn't be warm enough for the dough to rise as quickly as I needed it to. I did steps 1-5 the night before and let the dough rise overnight. It didn't rise any higher than before but the raisins and currants had more time to absorb liquid producing very moist Hot Cross Buns. I will plan to do this again!

Easter Egg Nest

Easter has always meant a magical, transitional time of year. Growing up, Easter meant the cooling of our days as Autumn approached and a hot African summer receded. In my  New York City days, Easter became Spring and fresh green shoots; with winter-white skin welcoming the sun after months of bitter cold and grey. In Marin, springtime brings warmer days, which combined with still-falling rain produces an almost startling rate of growth. The beauty around us is euphoric, with emerald green grass, deep hued lilacs and the first brilliant California Poppies opening to the sun. The question this weekend was - how does one decorate an outdoor Easter brunch table when the garden is almost humming with beauty and life? How does one compete? (Added complexity - not much time for this project and no planning whatsoever!) The solution was simple and a gift from nature - an intricately woven bird's nest that fell from a tree in our garden was filled with eggs decorated by my 6 & 7 year old sons. We dipped eggs in stain and then added marks with easter egg decorating pens (Paas brand - bought in Target).  The end result was a total that far outweighed the sum of the parts, a magic of sorts.