Cool as...

Far be it from me to deny anyone an opportunity to have a drink, being attached as I am to wine. But there's something about drinking in the day which I don't like. It's probably the fact that I have two young children curtailing my attempts to see the world through rosé tinted glasses, but tbh, I've never really liked it. Particularly the debilitating inertia that always follows.
So that and the fact I've offered myself up to do children's games at the street party (am I crazy?) means I'll be more or less teetotal for the Jubilee weekend (I'm not a saint, and may be co-erced to have a glass of something fizzy). Well, during the day at least.
So, what to suggest as a non-alcoholic adult drink? I do love an elderflower cordial, but you already know about that. So number two on my list is cucumber. If you don't like cucumber, look away now, this recipe won't interest you. But if do like them, or don't really have an opinion on them, give this a whirl, it's really refreshing, tasty and a great antidote to the usual sickly sweet drinks. Plus it's very easy.
Cucumber sparkle
Start to finish: 2 mins
I'm not going to give quantities, it depends on what you've got and what you like.
You will need:
a jug
a big bottle of sparkling water
splash (or more, depending on taste) of lemon or lime juice, or both. Go crazy.
a few sprigs of mint
a pinch of sea salt, if you want. It makes it more savoury, think the salty hit from tomato juice in a Bloody Mary
alternatively, a little sugar syrup (boil water, add sugar, wait til dissolved) for a sweeter drink
ice - as much as you have/want
Put all the above in the jug, give it a stir to get the flavours from the mint out. Then add...
a cucumber. Slice it really thin for a lovely herby flavour, for a more subtle hit, cut into big chunks

Coronation Chicken

Hmmmm. Coronation Chicken. Devised for the Queen's Coronation sixty years ago, but for me strangely redolent of the 1990s. Who didn't have an M&S Coronation Chicken sandwich for lunch once in a while back when the Spice Girls topped the charts?
I decided to cook Coronation Chicken last week amidst this flurry of Jubilee excitement. There have been loads of recipes for it around with cookery writers giving their top tips. But I confess I've been stalling. It just sounds so gloomy. So old-fashioned. Mayonnaise mixed with mango chutney. Yuk. But I had everything in the cupboard and ended up making this for an afternoon snack, sandwiching the filling  between two pieces of granary bread with some cucumber slices. It is just two slices of leftover cooked chicken, chopped up into bite size pieces and mixed with a spoon of Mango chutney, a spoon of Greek yoghurt (I love Greek yoghurt and find it a good alternative to cream or mayonnaise, when you don't want something to be too gloopy) and a spoon of mayonnaise. I added half a teaspoon of Garam Masala (I think you're supposed to use curry powder) and added it until together, allowing it to marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours before using. It was good. Surprisingly so. And I ate every bit. Would I cook it again? Well, yes I will do for one of my many Jubilee picnics this weekend, but after that? Maybe on the Queen's next Jubilee. God willing.
If you want to make bigger portions (this just makes one sandwich) then multiply quantities above. It would be good with a spritz of lemon, some flaked almonds on the top, and a garnish of coriander. Rice would be nice too.
Takes: 5 mins
Serves: 1
The recipe is in the text above, but you will need...
two slices of chicken
1 dessert spoon of mayonnaise, Greek yoghurt and mango chutney
1/2 tsp curry powder
flaked almonds, lemon, coriander - all nice optional extras

Serve with rice, in a sandwich or pita pocket

Patriotic pavlova

I love a pavlova. They are surprisingly easy and look very impressive. This one is supposed to be in a Union Jack design. Although in truth, the berries were laid in haste without looking at a flag, so it looks a bit more generic. Or that of some new emerging nation. I advise you to be a bit more careful. I saw something similar in one of the Sunday supplements Jubilee specials (Daily cough mumble Mail), but they used a Victoria Sponge, but I'd run out of flour, so I made meringue instead.
I've substituted Greek yoghurt mixed with honey as I find all that cream a bit much and this is a bit healthier.
Serves: 8
Takes: 10 mins to prepare, 1 1/2 to cook, overnight to cool
3 large egg whites (I always buy egg whites in a carton - brilliant)
175g caster sugar
1 level tsp cornflour
1 tsp white wine vinegar
300ml Greek yoghurt
1 tbsp honey
1 punnet strawberries - washed and halved
1 punnet blueberries - washed

Preheat the oven to 140c and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Using an electric whisk, whisk the egg whites until stiff. Then a tspn at a time whisk in the sugar until it is stiff and shiny. In a cup, mix the cornflour and vinegar together. Whisk into the egg whites. Spread the mixture on the baking tray in a large rectangular shape. Smooth down the top as this will make it easier to decorate. Cook for an 1 1/2 hrs and then LEAVE overnight. Don't peek. If you do, your meringue won't dry out properly in the middle.
Just before serving (otherwise the meringue will go soggy), mix the honey with the Greek yoghurt and spread it over the meringue. Then arrange the fruits into a Union Jack design. There you have it, an edible Union Jack.

Picnic pie

We may have come second last in Eurovision, be in the throes of a double-dip recession and wondering whether a week’s holiday in Greece is either a really good idea or a really bad one. But in all this gloom, there is a shimmer of hope. I’m talking, of course, about Queenie and the Diamond Jubilee celebrations taking place over this four-day weekend.

We are very easily pleased, here at Crumbs and have banned any thoughts of beer and circuses, have pushed aside any republican sentiments and are embracing the red, white and blue fever that is sweeping the nation.

We will be having a street party (have a look at our ‘how to’ guide from last year here) and festooning ourselves in bunting.  But mainly we will be expressing our joy of the monarchy by eating. And drinking.

 We are going to a festival in Hyde Park this Saturday and then to Battersea Park on Sunday to watch the 1000-strong flotilla on the River Thames. So this weekend, will be all about the picnic for us and we like to keep things simple.

You don’t need to pack a dozen dishes. This picnic pie is all you need. Throw in a couple of packs of crisps (I prefer crinkle cut salt and vinegar, personally), some pickled onions and maybe a tomato salad on the side. dressed with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Oh and cake and drink, obviously. Tomorrow I will blog about a Union Jack pavlova, whilst my alcoholic sister will tell us about her favourite picnic tipple. We will finish off our Jubilee series with a recipe for Coronation Chicken – an apricot and mayonnaise dish that was invented in 1952. Don’t say we don’t spoil you.

Picnic Pie – serves 6-8

Takes: 20 mins to make, 50 to bake

You will need:

butter, for greasing

1 packet ready rolled all butter puff pastry (all butter is tastier, but if you can only get normal stuff, don’t worry)

4 skinned sausages

1 grated apple, skin and all

1 chopped onion (or half a pack of ready-chopped)

1 tbsp chopped thyme leaves

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 breast ready-cooked chicken – sliced (or you could use ready sliced chicken)

6 slices thick ham

1 egg beaten to glaze 

You could do this in a loose-bottomed pie dish, but I prefer doing it in a 5cm deep and 20cm wide, loose-bottomed or Springform cake tin. If you don’t have one, a deeper dish will work, but the pie lid will be trickier to get on and it won’t look so nice. Look at my picture here, if you don’t believe me.

It freezes well and if you don’t have ham, just use chicken and vice versa. I used wholegrain mustard, but only because I didn’t have Dijon (once cooked, the mustard is less strong and both my kids enjoyed it), but I have a feeling it would be tasty with Branston’s pickle too!

Heat oven to 180c. Butter your tin. Lay out the pastry on a floured work top. Drawing with a knife around the top of the tin, cut out a lid for the pie. Put this to one side. Use the remaining pastry to line the tin, pushing it down so it fits snugly inside to make your own pie case. Leave some pastry overhanging the tin's sides, so you can use it to fix the pie lid on, later.
Make a split up the side of each sausage skin and squeeze all the meat out. Discard the skins and then mix the meat with the apples, onions and thyme. Line the pastry with 3 slices of ham and spread 1 tbsp mustard over the top. Layer on top half the sausagemeat. Then add a layer of chicken. And repeat the whole process again. Ham, mustard, sausage meat, chicken. Then pop the lid on and press the edges of the pastry together with the overhanging pastry that makes up the pie’s bottom. Brush the lid with the beaten egg. Make a couple of knife slits to let the steam out and put in the oven for 50min or until brown on top. Leave to cool for 15 mins and then remove from the tin and allow to cool completely, or eat warm. Either way, delicious.

It ain't half hot, mum

No recipe. No picture. We are on strike/in the garden drinking home-made cherry vodka. Normal service will be resumed next week, when we return with our Jubilee special. See you then. Enjoy the sunshine.

Chick, chick, chick, chick, chicken lay a little egg for me

Our daughters named the chickens. The 4yo wanted to call hers the above, but we managed to talk her down, it being a mouthful and all. It wasn't as if daft names weren't to be expected. Our cats - also named by the girls - are officially called Daffodil Rose Petal Leaf and Michael Woof Woof. Although informally now known as Daffy and Mickey, which most people think is a nod to Disney, and we’re tired of correcting them. I should add that the cats are both boys. Or were pre-operation, at the time of naming. Anyway, the chickens are called Ginger Head and Cherry Treat, which sound slightly like porn stars, but we think they got off relatively lightly. 

We'd been idly talking about getting chickens for a while. We'd had them once for two weeks six years ago, when we lived in central London for a Times piece I wrote on urban farming. And we'd loved them, even though they once commando-ed into the sitting room, pebble dashing the cream carpets with squirty chicken poo.

So recently one Friday evening after a playdate, that involved wine, I found myself the owner of a secondhand green Eglu, that I “won” on eBay for £200.

The next day we all piled into in the car and headed to the darkest depths of south London to pick it up. It wasn't until we got halfway there, that we remembered that Eglus are massive, so my husband and eldest had to jump out at the Wandsworth roundabout and make their own way home. It was a good job they did. It took the seller an hour to dissemble and Tetris it into my boot and another week of it languishing on our kitchen floor before my husband had the energy/courage to put it up.

Now it nestles under the cherry and fig trees at the bottom of our garden, camouflaged almost. 

Four weeks in  it is like we've always had Cherry and Ginger and I can't tell you how much we love them. My 6yo summed it up by saying that it was great having two different sorts of pets - the cats to stroke and play with and the chickens to watch and relax with. And it really is incredibly distracting in the nicest possible way, sitting in the garden or on the sofa at the end of the kitchen in the evening with a glass of wine, just watching them peck and potter around their coop or in the garden.

We chose a hybrid chicken called the Gingernut Ranger, because they are smaller than a normal hen, and good layers. We were rewarded with our first egg - a two incher - after about three weeks and have had one a day - progressively bigger - ever since. There really is something miraculous about a chicken producing an egg. Every day. Respect to our feathery friends. I know it is hackneyed to say it, but is has brought us all closer to nature in a completely Good Life kind of way.

Although they are officially free range, in truth we thought we'd let them out more than we do. Foxes are a chicken-eating menace. I once pulled back the curtains on a Saturday night to find a skanky-suited fox, sitting calm-as-you-like on the window sill. He didn't flinch when he saw me, just gave me an insouciant gaze - a kind of vulpine WHATEVS - before wandering off.

The chooks seem unfazed though and are happy enough pecking at their toy mirror, eating vegetable scraps and digging in the dirt.

To Dry For - Tea Towels

I've just spent £50 on tea towels. I know! FIFTY QUID! I'm not particularly extravagant. I've been known to make entire meals out of a tomato and some breadcrumbs, so spending that kind of money on tea towels does not come naturally.
But these aren't just any tea towels. Some of them are works of art. Others make you laugh. Out loud. (Yes, LOL, really). And they're just a tenner each.
I started looking at the website, searching for some jubilee gear for a blog post, and was immediately hooked. I have now bought birthday presents for all my friends who have birthdays in the next few months. Annoyingly I've already bought a wedding present for a friend, as there are some brilliant/beautiful/funny ones here.
I have discovered that there is a tea towel for everyone. You know that impossible-to-buy-for friend? Bet they don't have a Mr T tea towel. The wine lover who you wouldn't dare buy wine for? There's a tea towel for them too. Dog owners, dish-lovers, dinosaur enthusiasts. You name it, there's a tea towel for them.  I could continue eulogising, but really, ignore me and click here for a full rundown.
I'm not working on commission, I promise.
www.todryfor.com