With all the time during lockdown to show the garden plenty of love, I decided to be adventurous, and inspired by theseasonaltable I sent off for some seeds for Rainbow Chard and something called Salad Burnet.

Salad Burnet Sanguisorba minor is a salad herb that tastes deliciously like cucumber. It’s a lovely addition to salad and sandwiches, especially with some fresh Dill and Rocket. It grew with little fuss and it’s now a permanent addition to the herb box.

The Rainbow Chard came up trumps as well.

I’m hoping it will still be around for picking in the Autumn and Winter when there’s little else in the garden. I still have some of the pickled Wild Garlic flowers left and I’m still hoping to try The Seasonal Table recipe for Rainbow Chard with Fennel, Chilli, Wild Garlic and Rosemary

Meanwhile, plans for Chocolate and Cardamom Rolls for weekend breakfast were derailed by the appearance of Cherries. I love the juicy sweet black ones, but so do the birds and wasps. I picked some from one of the trees at Sharnbrook on Friday and by Monday the rest were gone.

Bitterly disappointed I stumbled across another Cherry Tree with smaller, red and not quite as sweet Cherries. At least there were plenty still there so I picked some of those. It turned out they were much better for cooking. They baked firm with a sweet intense Cherry flavour. They didn’t really need soaking in Cherry Brandy but I’m sure it helped a little! Cherry season may only be once a year but it’s worth investing in a Cherry Stoner which can be used on Olives as well. There’s nothing like a bowl of sweet stoned Cherries.

My recipe for Cherry, Chocolate and Almond Buns is below. It’s not the quickest of recipes but it’s easy to make the dough the day before and once the rolls are cut and in the baking tin just place the covered tin in the fridge for the next day. Take them out in the morning, give them an hour or so to rise to double the size then bake. If you have a timer on your oven, even better. Take them out of the fridge, shove them in the oven, set the timer to start in about an hour and a half then go back to bed and wait for the smell of fresh baking buns to waft your way!

However you do it, enjoy!

Buns and Cherries 1.jpg — Cherry, Chocolate and Almond Buns

With optional Almonds.

160ml Milk at room temperature
375g Strong Bread Flour
50g Sugar
1 tablespoon dried yeast
2 Eggs
140g butter cut into small cubes
1 tsp salt

For the Filling
120g Muscovado Sugar (or similar)
100g grated or chopped good quality cooking chocolate (I use a mix of Green and Blacks Plain and Milk)
180g stoned Cherries, soaked in Cherry Brandy overnight or for a couple of hours
30g sliced Almonds
Around 100g Butter at room temperature for spreading

Add the eggs and milk to the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the flour, salt and white sugar. Add the yeast, making sure it doesn’t come into contact with the salt.

Attach your dough hook and mix on low speed for 1-2 minutes. When the dough is smooth and combined, turn the speed up to medium fast and start throwing in the cubes of room temperature butter a few at a time so the dough hook mixes it in a bit at a time. Be patient this may take a wee while. When all the butter is combined and the dough is smooth, turn it into a lightly greased bowl, cover with film wrap or a damp cloth and leave to rise until it doubles in size. 1 to 1 – 1/2 hours depending on room temperature.

Turn out onto a floured surface and de-gas but not too much. I usually just fold it over itself about 4 times and give it a couple of gentle thumps.

Roll out the dough to a rectangle shape about 1/8th inch thick and about 18 inches x 12 inches or near enough. Slather with the soft butter as generously (or not) as you like. Sprinkle the buttered dough with the brown sugar, drained cherries, chocolate and sliced almonds. Keep the Cherry Brandy liqueur for basting.

Starting with as a tight a roll as you can, roll the dough up along the long edge starting closest to you and rolling away. Once rolled, cut it in two and place inside a freezer for 15 – 30mins until it’s firm. This makes it much easier to cut. Remove and slice into rolls about 1 inch thick and place in a greased baking tin so they’re not quite touching.

Cover again and either leave to rise until doubled in size again, or place in the fridge. If you leave in the fridge overnight, take it out at least an hour before you intend to bake to allow it to rise until doubled in size.

Bake at 160 degrees Celsius for about 40 minutes. Check at 30 minutes and if they look pale turn up the heat to 180 degrees celsius for the last 10 minutes so that they are golden.

Remove from oven and glaze with the Cherry Brandy juice or a little watered down jam. Mine stayed in an airtight container in the cupboard and were still lovely warmed up later in the week. Enjoy.

Seasonal News and Recipes for Summer