Apricot Lincolnshire (Plum) Bread

Apricot Lincolnshire (Plum) Bread

Over the last weeksI have seen many newspaper articles about the negatives around electronic vehicles, so many in fact that I wonder if there is not a concerted effort to discredit them. As an owner of an electric car I know there are issues with this type of vehicle and I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them to everyone, but the latest stories have been so libellous that I felt I had to put fingers to keyboard, and I am not the only one.

To the surprise of many, the television show Top-Gear, famed for its petrol heads and dislike of electric cars, has actually come to their rescue with a website designed to correct many of the untruths lies around these vehicles. 

As an owner of an electric car here’s my tuppence worth on the subject:

To read the article and view the recipe please click here.

(c)2024 Lincoln W. Betteridge

Butterscotch Pudding

Butterscotch Pudding

Although graphically dated, in my opinion Babylon 5 is one of the best science fiction series of all time. The individual episodes are good and the story arc is even better. Babylon 5 was in fact one of the first series to use a story arc, where the episodes and story destination are defined up-front, rather than being made up as the tale progresses. 

Rewatching the series again now, I was reminded of one of the earliest episodes where an elderly person was found sitting alone in the dark, crying. When asked what was wrong he said “My shoes are too tight but it doesn’t matter, I have forgotten how to dance”. 

Miner’s bridge Betws

I give English classes to primary school children here in the village, and before any tax-collectors come looking, let me also say that I do it for free. I do it of course to improve their English but it is also invigorating working with people who can dance. Children dance, children have a lively imagination, they live in the moment and think little of tomorrow. The world is still a vivid, exciting place…….

To read the rest of the article and view the recipe please click here.

2023 Lincoln W. Betteridge

Malted Wholegrain Cob

Malted Wholegrain Cobb

Today’s recipe explains not only how to make a Malted Wholegrain Cob, but how to make a proofing box to help rise the dough of this, or indeed any other bread you care to make!

I live in Spain, so why do I need a box to keep my dough nice and warm whilst the yeast does its work? Many tourists visit Spain every year, including many elderly people who find it cheaper to live in a hotel here for three months rather than pay their heating bills in winter! Most of the tourists visit the coastal Mediterranean beaches with their hot summers and benevolent winters, they do not visit Spain’s vast interior.

Many towns and villages in Spain are quite high up, the village where I live is at 1,900ft above sea level for example. It can get quite cold here in winter. Calamocha, a large town just down the road, has one of the lowest winter temperatures for a town in Spain….. -30ºC! So yes, a proofing box in winter can be quite handy! After looking at the prices on-line I decided I ought to try and make my own……..

To read the rest of the article and to view the recipe please click here.

2023 Lincoln W. Betteridge

Marinated Labneh Cheese

Marinated Labneh Cheese

As I sit at my computer in early March, I find myself reflecting on the previous day working as a labourer in the one of the vineyards here. It was in fact less arduous than I had envisaged, as it was broken by numerous visits to the local bar, perhaps due to the heat of the intemperately (in the Late Middle English sense) hot days. There was also less heavy-lifting involved because of the vineyard owner’s invention.

We worked in two fields over the course of the morning. The old vines that had to be harvested manually had already been ripped out, to make way for new ones that would be harvested by the grape-picking mechanical leviathans that wend their way over the fields here in autumn. The new vines, all 4,000 of them, had been planted and the posts hammered into the ground. It was our job to install the metal cables the vines would be trained along as they grew. Extending the cables to be attached to the posts is normally done manually, with the heavy rolls of wire being quite difficult to lug around. The vitner had designed a rack for the back of his tractor, with two rotating mounts for the reels of wire. As the tractor moved forward two men, one on either side of the tractor, simply pulled gently on the wires to extend and affix them to the posts!

To read the rest of the article and to view the recipe please click here.

2023 Lincoln W. Betteridge

Patatas Asadas de la María “La Cristiana”

Patatas Asadas de la María “La Cristiana”

For many years we have been conscious of buying local produce. It is almost always better for the environment and it also helps to support our local producers and communities. I suspect that many people don’t really realise the power they actually have. Of course we can all sign petitions and hope to change the world, but simply ensuring we buy local products in a local shop or supermarket can have a significant impact.

My resolve to buy local was reinforced in the final weeks of last year as I started to see more and more products from abroad. The only sugar available in the local shop now comes from Portugal. The local supermarket was selling oranges and cherries from Chille and potatoes from South Africa. How can we justify bringing oranges from Chille when one of the largest areas for the production of citrus fruit is just a couple of hours down the road from here??? They grow cherries in the village here, my next-door neighbour alone has 15,000 trees, but of course you have to wait for the local cherry season and sadly many people can’t……

To read the rest of the article and to view the recipe please click here.

2023 Lincoln W. Betteridge

Escalivada

Escalivada

Often as I work on the computer, like now, I look out through the window to the village below and its backdrop of mountains. For once the scene is shrouded in clouds and there is a dampness in the air. Unfortunately clouds have been a rare site this year and we have had very little water. We are in the second half of October now, yet the temperature today is forecast to rise to 29º. Today’s recipe is something more appropriate for hot summer days, but as winter is slow to arrive it is perhaps still appropriate!

“The tidiest house is not one where they clean the most, but where they dirty the least” is a Spanish saying that I might have mentioned to you before. This particular gem of wisdom can be applied to any number of scenarios; for example we rarely throw anything away, making use of everything we have.

To read the rest of the article and to view the recipe please click here.

2022 Lincoln W. Betteridge

Quick Focaccia

Quick Focaccia

I had family over for a short break at the beginning of July. We cooked over an open fire most days, drank wine from the bodega in the village, and generally had a relaxing enjoyable time. We also travelled around the local area a little, taking in some of the nice local villages as well as a walk up the local mountain, “La Carrasca”. We are glad we were able to show them some of our favourite places, because just a month on not everything is as it was.

One of the areas we visited was the Manubles river valley, starting off with a visit to the town of Moros.

Moros

Moros

Not that long after their visit much of the area was consumed by a forest fire, with the flames surrounding the village and leaving the outer buildings blackened and scorched by the flames. More than 30,000 acres went up in smoke. 

To read the rest of the article and to view the recipe please click here.

2022 Lincoln W. Betteridge

Rosquillos de Soria

We have a “Special Military Operation”, aka “War” in Ukraine at the moment. War has hit parts of Europe again, when most of us hoped, even thought, that it would never happen again. The Ukrainian people are suffering terribly, but many others around the world are also feeling the effects. The conflict is highlighting the problems with globalisation. It might not be the panacea it was believed to be. 

According to my mapping programme, it is 3,453 Km from here to Kyiv. This little mountain village where I live would seem a long way from the conflict, but we are still feeling the economic pinch…….

To read the rest of the article and to view the recipe please click here.

2022 Lincoln W. Betteridge

Buñuelos de Calabaza

The restaurant, the one and only in the town, has just closed down. The owner, Mariano, has retired and it would seem that nobody else is willing to take it on. It is a great shame, but every cloud has a silver lining does it not? Mariano is a friend of ours, and he now has time for other projects. He wants to start making wine!

The local growers now sell their grapes to the local cooperative, which collectively makes and sells the wines. In general they get a better price, but it also means that each farmer has a maximum amount of grapes he can produce. Any overproduction is in fact thrown away, as their own wine-making machinery has fallen into disuse. Any system where food is thrown away always disappoints me. Whilst we have starving people in the world, throwing away good food should be considered a crime. 

An afternoon of cooking with Miami, Mussels in Spicy Tomato Sauce

We live in a small village. Everyone knows what everyone is doing, and half the people are related, quite often to the other half! I get a bit lost to be honest. My wife is good with these genealogical relationships, but even she has found the need to build a family tree for the inhabitants of the village. Anyway……

To read the rest of the article, and to view the recipe, please click here.

2022 Lincoln W. Betteridge

Tostada Estudios

I am sure I have mentioned before just how important food is to the Spanish in general. There are some excellent restaurants in Spain, many have Michelin stars, with some of them being rated the best in the world. The Azurmendi Restaurant in Spain is currently classed as one of the best 16 restaurants in the world. Their recommended dish might surprise you, it is their salad! The secret is in the freshness of their produce, this restaurant even has its own allotment and greenhouses.

To read the rest of the article, and to view the recipe, please click here.

2021 Lincoln W. Betteridge