Tea time treats

On Saturday we met friends for lunch at The Dyke's End in Reach, the pub lived up to it's glowing recommendations. We wanted to try all the 'light lunches' on the menu – so we did! We ordered all six and shared them between the four of us and we had room for 'afters' – sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce. The waitress probably spotted we might be 'trouble' when I was egged on to wear my birthday present . . . a Gisela Graham felt hen tea cosy.


Later in the afternoon we went to Anglesey Abbey to see the water mill. Although the mill was still open the millers were just packing up for the day, so we missed seeing the corn being ground, however we did buy some of the flour freshly milled from Hereward winter wheat grown on the Wimpole Estate south of Cambridge. The bag of flour came with a recipe leaflet, one in particular sounded especially delicious:

Patrick Anthony's Sultana & Pecan Nut Bread
This was demonstrated on 8th July 1996 in Anglia TV's live broadcast from Anglesey Abbey commenmorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of the 1st Lord Fairhaven. It also celebrated his rescue of Lode Watermill from dereliction, it's repair and landscaping. This recipe celebrated his American roots.

mix together in a large bowl:
400g wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon mixed spice
75g sultanas
50g chopped pecan nuts
50g brown sugar

then add:
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
1 tablespoon honey
500ml buttermilk with 2 teaspoons of baking soda mixed into it.
(I used semi-skimmed milk as that's what I had at hand)

mix thoroughly and pour into an oiled loaf or cake tin
and bake at 180C for an hour

serve buttered

Even better, serve toasted and buttered with a nice cup of tea :-)