Shrovetide Buns (Egg-free)

While it is pointless to whip up an egg-free dough for a bun filled with an egg-based custard, it makes sense if you remember that Shrovetide buns can also be jam-filled. For these I used extra margarine as well as extra milk to make up for the missing egg in the dough.

This is a wee bit late for the season this year, but here goes anyway..

Ingredients:
- 150 g (¹/₃ lb) margarine
- 1.5 dL (²/₃ cup) whole-milk
- 50 g (ca. 2 oz) fresh yeast
- 5 tbsp sugar
- 400 g (14 oz) wheat flour
filling:
- ca. 200 g (7 oz) raspberry jam
glazing:
- powdered sugar
- optional powdered cocoa
- water

The margarine and milk was heated on low heat in a small pot until the margarine had melted, then transferred to a large bowl and allowed to cool until lukewarm. The fresh yeast was crumbled into the lukewarm milk-and-margarine, then the sugar was stirred in followed by the flour. The dough was kneaded for some minutes, then covered and left to rise for 1 hour.

After rising, the dough was rolled out to approximately 40 x 45 cm (ca. 15" x 18") and cut in 12 pieces. A largish tsp of raspberry jam was placed in the middle of each piece of dough and the dough was folded around the jam and the resulting buns were placed on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. The buns were then covered and left to rise on the sheet for 45 minutes.

The buns were baked for 10 minutes at 225 C (450 F) - and it appears I need to improve my technique for closing the buns as some jam ran out onto the baking sheet during baking.

The buns were served with a freshly applied glazing made by stirring together water and powdered sugar - approximate amounts (for one bun): 1 tsp water + 6 tsp powdered sugar (for a nice chocolaty variation substitute 1 or 2 tsp of the powdered sugar with powdered cocoa).

Chicken & Sausage (Okra) Gumbo

After being recently schooled on the subject of Gumbo, I decided to revisit the subject - sans the maligned Lima beans. However, I chose to stick with the okra as thickening agent this time around, but I vow to return and try out a roux based version.

Ingredients:
- oil
- salt & pepper
- 4 pieces of chicken - ca. 650 g (1.5 lb)
- 2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
- ca. 250 g fresh okra, finely sliced
- 2 red chillies, seeds removed, chopped
- 1 yellow & 1 orange bell pepper, chopped
- ca. 175 g (1/3 lb) sausage, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, mashed
- water
- rice

Oil was heated in a large, deep, pan, and the chicken pieces were salted and peppered before being browned on all sides. The chicken pieces were removed from the pan and the onions and okra were added. The pan was covered for 10-15 minutes with occasional stirring (at which point the okra appeared to have exuded a clear, sticky liquid - this is what's needed for thickening the stew). Then the chillies and bell peppers were added together with the sausage, garlic, 0.5 L (2 cups) of water and the chicken pieces. The pot was brought to a boil, covered and allowed to simmer for ca. 40 minutes.

While the gumbo simmered, rice were cooked in lightly salted water. The gumbo was served with no more rice than for the overall texture to be that of a thick stew.

This was much more appreciated in the little home than the previous version.

Lima Bean Gumbo

Another word for okra is gumbo - and of course it can be used for the cajun dish of the same name. I've been a great fan of cajun cooking since the first time I encountered it, but I've never really tried to make it much myself. This was an experiment somewhat into that.

Ingredients:
- 1 lb (500 g) dried lima beans
- 1 lb (500 g) sliced okra
- 2 chicken filets, cut in strips
- 1 red bell pepper, cut in strips
- 1/2 onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, mashed
- 2 dried puya chilies
- water
- salt

The preparation starts 1 day before...
Put the lima beans in a large pot and cover with 2 L (1/2 gallon) water. Let stand overnight (or at least 6-8 hours). Then drain and set aside.

Cut the ends of the puya chilies, shake out most of the seeds, put in water in a small pot, bring to a boil, turn off and let stand for half an hour to soften - then cut in small pieces.

In a large pot, heat up a little oil, add onion and chilies and stir till onion is translucent. Then add the chicken and the garlic and stir til the chicken is cooked. Add the okra, the lima beans, about 1.5 L (3/8 gallon) water, salt and the bell pepper. This looked at first like a soup and I was afraid I'd added too much water, but after simmering for 2-3 hours the dish had thickened up nicely and I was rather happy with the result, served on a bed of parboiled rice.

Unfortunately Mrs. throat-erator didn't fancy this at all.