Hot Cross Buns

I love the seasonalityof food.  The different fruit and veg at different times of year, but also the recipies and styles of cooking that fit each season; blackberry and apple crumble seems to fit the mellow fruitfulness of October whilst the red fruit infused bread of a summer pudding with the contrast of clotted cream somehow belongs in August.

That love of seasonality also extends to the food associated with the various festivals throughout the year and particularly Christmas and Easter.  Although we start eating shop bought hot cross buns pretty much as soon as they appear on my on-line shopping list (i.e. Boxing day) I save making the real things until Good Friday.

Like many traditions the making of spiced buns at Easter seems to be something Christians have adopted from pagan rituals.

''The mark is of ancient origin, connected with religious offerings of bread, which replaced earlier, less civilized offerings of blood. The Egyptians offered small round cakes, marked with a representation of the horns of an ox, to the goddess of the moon. The Greeks and Romans had similar practices and the Saxons ate buns marked with a cross in honor of the goddess of light, Eostre, whose name was transferred to Easter.''---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 114)

Whatever their origin they have become firmly adopted as a christian representation of Christs death on the cross and resurrection. I love them. The bready-ness, sweet fruit and warming spices of nutmeg and cinnamon. They are great warm from the oven or toasted with a slick of butter.

The recipe I use is the one from River Cottage although I tend to stick to the traditional spices and fruit.  I also make a thicker flour and water paste for a more defined cross on the top. They taste great and freeze well (although Mr Vitty prefers the shop bought ones...)

A 70's Inspired Dinner Party

When my friend Sue offered to rebind my 1974 Cookery Year the price was for me to teach her to make profiteroles.  I finally got round to paying my debt and Sue and her husband came round for dinner with Sue making pudding.  Profiteroles (a 70s classic) comprised the pudding and it seemed appropriate that the rest of the meal came from the same era.

Menu:

Canapes: Cheese and Pineapple hedgehog; Prawn Cocktail and Guacamole Tartlets
Starter: Cheese Fondue with ciabatta (invented in 1976 apparently)
Main Course: Salmon en Croute
Dessert: Profiteroles
Petit Fours: Mini Madeleines

The menu was more about fun than haute cuisine and we had a great evening

Having promised profiterole excellence I was very relieved that they worked and as one of Mr Vitty's favourite desserts there were never going to be enough of them. Sue went home saying she was no longer apprehensive about making them in the future, so objective achieved : ) .

I also realised how much I enjoy making puff pastry which I did for the salmon en croute.  I've made puff pastry before but for the first time I appreciated the therapeutic nature of the repetitive folding and rolling to make the layers and a  huge sense of satisfaction when it works.  I know that the all butter chilled versions you can buy from the shops are good (and I have an emergency packet in the freezer), but if I have the time I'm always going to make it in the future.

Other elements of the meal could have been better.  Cheese fondue is more difficult than it looks and we didn't like it enough to bother trying to make it again (it's also not good for my cholesterol level!).  I was never going to like the cheese and pineapple hedgehog, but we couldn't do without one for a 70's inspired meal.