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A Lammas Spread

87044073085829998Welcome to the Lammas edition of the Tarot Blog Hop. This time we have been asked to share something from our table and if you are a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that there’s nothing I love more than sharing a good recipe πŸ™‚ However, since this is supposed to be a Tarot blog, it seemed appropriate to draw a card first to determine the nature of the recipe. Of course, the simplest thing would have been to draw a card from the Epicurean Tarot and share the recipe on the card, but unfortunately I don’t have that deck (I know, how remiss of me!), so I’ve used the Housewives Tarot as the next best thing πŸ™‚I drew the Knight of Cups:

housewives001

Hmm, I’ve done some wine-making in my time but this was not the quick and easy culinary wonder I was hoping for, so I drew a couple more cards just in case and got…

housewives002housewives003the High Priestess and the Seven of Pentacles – now we’re cooking! Something boozy, something sweet and something from the garden πŸ™‚

Then I spotted the girl with the rose on the Knight and inspiration struck – it had to be Rose Petal Champagne πŸ™‚ Now, I won’t kid you, this recipe is not for those who need instant gratification. If you are too impatient to ferment a ciabatta dough for a week, then the year or so required for making wine is going to seriously test you and, if that was not all, you will need some special equipment – demijohns, airlocks, specialist yeast, sterilising equipment etc. That said, it is fun being able to drink your own wine πŸ™‚

If you’ve never made wine before, you can find plenty of sites with basic instructions and equipment info on the web. All I will say is to ensure that you sterilise all equipment to minimise the risk of spoilage – you need to eat an awful lot of chips to use up a gallon of vinegar.

 

Rose Petal Champagne

2 pints rose petals
1lb sultanas
1 1/2lb sugar
1 lemon
1 packet Champagne yeast
Campden tablet

Place rose petals in a bowl and pour over boiling water. Cover and leave for 2-3 days macerating gently with a wooden spoon from time to release the perfume.

Wash and chop the sultanas (you can omit them but your wine will lack body). Strain off the rose liquid pressing the petals and mix with the sultanas, sugar, lemon juice and yeast*. Top up to 1 gallon with water and pour into a fermentation jar (demijohn). Fit an airlock and leave in a warm place until fermentation has stopped (about 3-4 weeks). Rack off the wine (siphon off leaving the sediment behind) into a clean sterile jar and add a Campden tablet to stop fermentation and top up with cooled boiled water. Place in a cool place to clear and mature for a few months. Rack off again after a few weeks if there is a lot of sediment.

*To speed up the process activate the yeast an hour before by adding to lukewarm water with a little sugar.

When ready to bottle, decant 1 pint of the wine and stir in 2 1/2 oz of sugar together with a little more Champagne yeast. Return to the rest of the wine, fit an airlock and put in a warn place for a few hours until fermentation begins. As soon as the wine begins to ferment, decant it into sterilised Champagne bottles**, leaving 2 inches at the top. Fit champagne stoppers and leave the bottles on their sides in a warm place for about a week, after which, transfer the bottles to a cool place for about 6 months. Note that there will be sediment.

**It is very important to use (undamaged) Champagne bottles and stoppers as the pressure build up could cause an ordinary bottle to explode.

I have to admit that I haven’t tried this one as I’ve only every made sparkling wine accidentally and I suspect there are still marks on the basement wall where the corks flew across on a couple of the bottles of mead. (I didn’t stop the fermentation properly before bottling). If you are at all daunted by tackling a sparkling wine first time out then you can omit the secondary fermentation process and just bottle the cleared wine for a still version. I have plenty of rose petals so I’m certainly going to give a Rose petal wine a try πŸ™‚

Still with me? Here is the reward for your patience, an (almost) instant gratification recipe πŸ™‚

Sweet Courgette Crepes

1 large courgette, grated
1 egg,
4 heaped tbsps Plain flour
2 tbsp Sugar
A little milk
Pinch of salt
Cinnamon or your favourite sweet spices (Optional)

This is a sweet version of my latkes and they work very well with potatoes as well. Squeeze out and pour off any excess liquid from the courgettes (if they’re too wet your creeps will fall apart). Mix with the egg, flour, sugar and salt to make a thick batter. Add a little milk or more flour if required. It doesn’t really matter if you make the mix thinner like pancake batter or fairly stiff like for fritters, it’ll still be good πŸ™‚ Β I suggest making one pancake first and then you can adjust the batter mix if it’s not to your preference.Β Heat a little oil in a frying pan and spoon in some of the batter, flatten and fry until golden on both sides. Serve hot with High Priestess Secret syrup* πŸ™‚

*The secret is a secret, but you could try adding a little of your favourite tipple (though not for the kids) πŸ˜‰

I hope you have enjoyed these offerings from my table. To read more from our Blog Hoppers, click on the links below.

 

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1 August 2013

20 Comments to “A Lammas Spread”

  1. The rose petal champagne sounds lovely … wish I was patient enough to try it out. How about at the next TABI conference we have a tasting session!

  2. “Booze glorious booze!” The Rose Petal Champagne sounds delicious as do the Sweet Courgette Crepes. My evening meal pales in comparison (heavy sigh). Would love to hear more about the Rose Petal Champagne when you get round to making some πŸ™‚

  3. I don’t know, a nice marmalade or chutney is quick and uses sweet, alcohol and garden fruit πŸ™‚ Since I *know* I don’t have the patience for wine ! πŸ˜€

    • Well, them was what sprang to mind πŸ™‚ I could have done boozy rose petal jam or any number of quicker things, but I like to set a challenge πŸ˜€

  4. Wow! You transported my Lammas table to France as I was remembering making apple wine and my occasional nervous looks over to the demijohn with the thought, “If it blows look away and cover your eyes.” It never blew, and actually the apple wine became more of an apple liqueur. Packed quite a punch. Newton would be proud as it certainly induced gravity. So, I’m hopping along resonating in your story and the basement says French cave (Kav) and I am pleased as punch remembering wine-making and getting inspired to do it again… and POOF. Crepes! I AM in France! Thanks for the travel! ~ Jordan

  5. Hi Ania! Oh, it *would* be nice to have a tipple with you at the TABI Conference next year! Care to make so we can share? πŸ™‚

    • Well, between the torrential downpour the other day and DD nicking all the rose petals for her scented sachets, I’m not sure I’ll have enough left to make wine, but I’ll see what I can do πŸ™‚

  6. Perfect! I so want to make a sparkling wine and with the rose petals it is oh so tempting. I’ve only made regular wine, and I hear you on the accidental explosions. Thanks!

  7. Ok, there are recipes and there are recipes. But when this is a Rose Petal Champagne recipe, I was lost there and haven’t yet scrolled down. Filed away for use soon…VERY VERY SOON!

  8. Just added courgettes to the shopping list πŸ™‚ my kids will love that πŸ™‚

  9. I think the courgettes would be more my style (have made latkes from the package before but not from scratch). I love using the Housewives Tarot for inspiration!

    Yep, that rose petal champagne looks like quite the long-term project, well beyond my capabilities, but the sense of being in France, as Jordan pointed out, was lovely!

    • You can get latkes in a package? How strange LOL

      • Yep, Ania. Potato latke mix. Every Passover. I learned about it when hubby and I adopted the Jewish holidays into our eclectic mix of spiritual practices (he studied Judaism in-depth back in the 1990s–we are not Jewish by ethnicity). I don’t know if it’s the same as what you are doing, though. It’s like a pancake mix, and you drop spoonfuls into hot oil and fry them. Very tasty! Is there another word for pancakes in Britain? Just thought of that.

        • No, I think pancake is the only British word (crepes are obviously French :)) Latkes are just pancakes but for me the distinction is that latkes only have enough batter (flour, egg & milk) to bind the potato (or other veg) and pancakes are mostly or entirely batter with other ingredients as a filling or topping.

  10. I would love to make this but don’t have the set up area. πŸ˜€ I’ll just come drink yours! LOL. Great entry into the blog hop. I love that you got such a nice mix of cards.

  11. Love me some crepes!! Hmmm….maybe for tomorrow’s breakfast……

  12. Love how you took some “advice” from the cards to choose recipes, and thanks for the Courgette Crepes – definitely an instant gratification girl here πŸ˜€

  13. Awwwww <3 "Rose Petal Champagne" sounds cool! Hehe Be sure that I will try this one πŸ˜‰

  14. I have never seen a recipe for champagne before! Just may have to be brave enough to try it (though I’m not much of a cook in general…)

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