TRADITIONAL SHORTBREAD

These have so many fond associations for me, I wonder how many batches of shortbread I have made over the years?  So popular in my house I cannot make enough, perhaps because I only do them at Christmas time these days.  I got the recipe from the Mary Berry Aga cookbook and have never looked back! It is now reduced to a sticky note because it is so simple, but I am going to share the recipe here and will do the conversions for my American friends.  I keep meaning to convert to cup measures as opposed to weights, one of these days!

• 8 ozs all purpose flour
• 4 ozs sugar
• 8ozs butter (2 sticks) at cool room temperature, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 4 ozs cornflour (corn starch) or fine semolina
• Metal baking pan, approx 11" x 8" or equivalent (for 2 batches, really no point in making one!)
• heat oven to 350F (or 325F Convection)

Put all ingredients in a food processor.  I actually put in the flours first a whizz for a while to take the place of sifting, then add the sugar and butter last. Do not over-process, stop as soon as it  binds together. Tip into a metal pan that you have buttered (I use Pam for baking) and pat with spoon or your hands til even, should be around 3/4 inch thick.  Prick all over with a fork and bake for around 50 minutes til just tinged golden.  Sprinkle with more sugar as soon as you remove from oven and cut into desired shapes.  Leave to cool in pan, remove and store in airtight container.
Notes:

• I have substituted the cornflour with ground almonds
• you can put dough in fridge for at least half an hour, then roll out to half to 3/4 inch and use cookie cutters for desired shapes. Usually this is better thinner than 3/4 inch so you will need to bake for less time.
• I continue to experiment with the butter temperature. If it is fridge temperature you get very short shortbread, but it is difficult to prick with fork as it all sticks to the fork.  I have resorted to putting in oven for 5 mins to soften then taking out and pricking, seems to work pretty well. I usually take the butter out of the fridge as my first step.
• I have to admit I never do just one batch but my food processor can only deal with one batch, so I do work with these amounts but keep the ingredients at hand and do multiple batches.  Today I did 5, once you have everything out it is pretty quick to keep going!

SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT FOR ME

Knew I wanted something fishy for dinner tonight, had nothing in particular in mind so decided to browse through recipes I have saved.  I find that too often, if I do not cook them immediately they end up in my binder, forgotten!  I found 'Okra and Tomato Stew with Savannah White Shrimp and Sausage'.  Probably meant to be a summer dish but seemed perfect for a wintery evening to me.
First clue was that it is not Okra season but I am not that easily put off, zuccini would substitute nicely.
Recipe worked out pretty well, quite delicious really and who knows how different it would have been had I found okra?  The broth part of my stew was pretty thin and I suspect that okra might have thickened it. But, I simply and confidently laid a soup spoon for everyone to eat the broth and it was really tasty.