White Soda Bread with Seeds – Too Many Cooks ...

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With two cooks in the house, sometimes my mental inventory of stores doesn’t tie in with what is (or, more often, is not) in the cupboard. I’ll often be half-way through baking a cake and I’ll reach for the eggs only to find that my beloved must have made a giant omelette for breakfast because the dozen or so that were there yesterday have vanished. 

White Soda Bread with Seeds - merely a delivery device for peach jam

Today, I had a hankering for brown soda bread to go with my friend Penny’s incredible Peach Jam. There were a few obstacles in my way, namely no brown flour, and no oatmeal – the two main constituents of my brown soda bread recipe. I could have sworn there was some there last time I looked... hmmmmm.

This white soda bread was a total experiment. I added the seeds to make it seem half-healthy.

A quick and easy bread for when you're in a jam...

Soda bread is normally cooked on a baking sheet. This is quite a wet mixture so I’ve used a 2LB loaf tin.

For one 2LB loaf you will need...
...  to pre-heat your oven to 200°C

1 teaspoon olive/sunflower oil for the baking tin

Dry ingredients

500g plain flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon salt

125g mixed seeds (I used 50g pumpkin, and 25g each of brown linseed, sesame, and sunflower)

1 tablespoon runny honey

400mls buttermilk

1          Rub a 2LB loaf tin with the olive/sunflower oil.

2          Place the flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and seeds in a mixing bowl, keeping back about a tablespoon of the mixed seeds. Stir the runny honey to the buttermilk, and add to the dry ingredients mixing just until no dry flour remains.

3          Transfer to the prepared baking tin and level the surface before scattering with the tablespoon of seeds you reserved. Place in the pre-heated oven and set your timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes has elapsed, lower the heat to 180°C and continue baking for a further 15 minutes.

4          Take the loaf from the oven and remove the tin. A cooked loaf will sound hollow when tapped on the base.

5          Leave to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.



Always seek out the seed of triumph in every adversity                  ~ Og Mandino

... like making bread out of nothing when your other half has raided the stores    ~ me

As I’m writing this, my beloved has started cooking his demon chicken curry.  I wonder when he’ll discover that I’ve used the last of the yoghurt... and the cardamom... and the chillies... J

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Asian Smashed Cucumber Salad – Bish ! Bash ! Bosh !

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Is cucumber really at its happiest cut into slippery slices, the sole, straight-laced player in a sandwich for a prim tea with the vicar? 


Doesn't it secretly long to luxuriate in a dish of cool yoghurt, garlic and herbs as part of a classic Tzaziki? Wouldn't it be happier doing the backstroke in a bowl of Gazpacho? 


On its own, it is nothing. With the right company, it can be a star. Here, it is smashed into rough-edged chunks to join the riot that is Asian Smashed Cucumber Salad. Smash ! Mix ! Serve !

For a cucumber salad with personality you will need…

2 English cucumbers (long, narrow, smooth-skinned), ends removed

Dressing ingredients

3 tablespoons groundnut oil or sunflower oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 red chilli (hot is best, but go mild if you must), very finely chopped

1 small clove of garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon of caster sugar

2 tablespoons of very finely chopped spring onions

1 teaspoon of very finely chopped fresh ginger (optional)

To serve

a handful of coriander leaf (cilantro)

1 teaspoon of toasted sesame seeds (optional)
salt, to taste

Bish (well, bash really)

Bish:  to prepare the cucumber, place on a chopping board and bash with a rolling pin, mallet, or other suitable object, until broken (but not mashed). Discard any seeds that come loose and cut or break the cucumber into bite-sized pieces. (You may want to cover the cucumber with a clean tea towel to prevent splashes, and bits escaping).

Place the pieces in a colander, and place the colander in a bowl. Put a plate or saucer on top so that it is in contact with the cucumber. Weigh it down - with food cans, a water-filled saucepan, whatever - to help squeeze out the excess juice. Set aside for about 30 minutes while you make the dressing.

Bash: For the dressing, simply mix together the ingredients – I put them in a jar with a screw top lid, and give it a good shake.

Bash (well, mix really)

Drain and discard the juice from the cucumber and place the pieces in a shallow serving dish. Pour the dressing over. Cover and place in the fridge. Leave to bask in the reflected glory of the dressing for a few hours.

Bosh: When ready to serve, mix through the coriander leaf (and scatter with the toasted sesame seeds, if using). Taste and add a little salt and a touch more sugar only if necessary.

Bish, bash, bosh (but mostly bash, really).

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