Whilst visiting my friend Carron recently at her seaside home in Shoreham by sea, we stopped to look at a quaint little tearoom called Teddy's. As the name would suggest, the tearoom is based on a teddy theme, namely a teddy bears picnic, a lovely place to eat scrumptious homemade cake especially with children.
Afternoon tea, a quintessential British affair seems to have started when the 7th duchess of Bedford is said to have complained about 'that sinking feeling' during the late afternoon. At that time it was usual for people to only take two meals a day, breakfast and dinner at around 8pm. The solution for the duchess was a pot of tea and a light snack, taken privately in her boudoir during the afternoon. Later friends were invited to join her and other social hostesses quickly picked up on the idea and the practice was moved to the drawing room. Before long all of fashionable society were sipping tea and eating sandwiches in the middle of the afternoon.
Afternoon tea is something we associate with autumnal and winter afternoons, a cosy affair with roaring fires, toasted crumpets, tea and cake, and here in England tea rooms have once again become very fashionable.
There has been a surge in popularity for homemade cakes, move over Mr Kipling! The TV series, The Great British Bake Off, has seen us all rushing out to buy Mary Berry cake shifters, we may not be cooking our dinners but we're knocking out cakes in abundance.
Not much of a cake-maker myself I do love a delicious tea, give me a selection of sandwiches, hot buttered crumpets and homemade sausage rolls and I'm putty in your hands! I came across this novel idea for sausage rolls via a Lorraine Pascale recipe. A bit tricky to begin with, the art is in cutting your pastry into thin strips, and whilst mine didn't look quite as polished or perfect as Pascale's They were really good.
Sausage rolls
Recipe
8 outdoor bred, good quality sausages
320g puff pastry
1 beaten egg to glaze
Over a medium heat, gently fry the sausages for 10 minutes, turning often, until golden all over
Transfer to a plate and leave until cool
Preheat the oven 220c/gas 7
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry
Using a sharp knife cut out 1cm wide strips across the width
Simply wrap the strips around the sausages like 'mummies' bandages, use a couple of strips per sausage
Once all the sausages are wrapped, brush with beaten egg and place in the oven
Cook for about 20 minutes, until golden
I had some pastry left so I cut it into circles, I mixed some dry fruit, stem ginger, orange juice and grated orange zest in a bowl, sprinkled with nutmeg and placed the mix in the centre of each circle. I pulled the pastry up around the mixture and made little parcels, I egg washed them with the remaining egg, sprinkled with sugar and baked for 15-20 minutes. The gooey mixture seeped out slightly, making these lovely and sticky.
Not as pretty as Mr Kipling's but they were exceedingly good!
And who can resist a hot buttered crumpet?
Especially smothered in cheese, a real teatime treat
'If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise. If you go down to the woods today, you'd better go in disguise. For every bear that ever there was will gather there for certain because today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.'
Love Donna xxxxxx
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