Displaying items by tag: Thurston

A strange name for a cafe, but a delightful setting overlooking the orchard at Harvey's Garden Plants in Thurston. Outside you can watch the chickens scratching and I like it best early in the morning for a decent coffee. Plenty of homemade cakes and baked goods are also on offer, plus some gluten free and 'free from' choices too. The salads could be a little more inspiring than quartered tomatoes and sliced, unpeeled cucumber though.

• the orchard
• lunchtime
• a simple cafe menu
•  

We really enjoyed having Amy, our work experience student from Thurston Community College, this week. She showed us her favourite recipe: Birdy's Brownies! 

Birdy’s Brownies!

Ingredients:

• 185g unsalted butter
• 185g cooking chocolate
• 85g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 100g best dark chocolate
• 3 large eggs
• 275g golden caster sugar

Method:

1. Cut 185g unsalted butter into smallish cubes and tip into a medium bowl. Break 185g cooking chocolate into small pieces and drop into the bowl.
   Melt over a pan of boiling water.
2. Turn the oven on to 160C/conventional or 180C/gas, so it has time to warm up. Using a shallow 20cm square tin, cut out a square of non-stick baking parchment to line the base.
3. Now tip 85g plain flour and 40g cocoa powder into a sieve held over a medium bowl until all lumps have gone.
4. With a sharp knife, chop 100g of dark chocolate into chunks (rough squares) on a chopping board.
5. Break 3 large eggs into a large bowl and tip in 275g golden caster sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar until they look thick and creamy, like a milk shake
6. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse and gently fold together with a rubber spatula. Plunge the spatula in at one side, take it underneath and bring it up the opposite side and in again at the middle. The idea is to marry them without knocking out the air, so be as gentle and slow as you like – you don’t want to undo all the work you did in step 4.
7. Hold the sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and resift the cocoa and flour mixture into it. Gently fold in the powder, in the same figure of eight action as before. Finally, stir in the chocolate chunks until they’re dotted all of the way through.
8. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, scraping every bit out of the bowl with the spatula. Gently ease the mixture into the corners of the tin and paddle the spatula from side to side across the top to level it. Put in the oven and set your timer for 25 minutes.
9. Leave in the tin until cool. Once cool, cut into small squares or triangles.
   • melt choc and butter
   • stir until glossy
   • sieve flour and cocoa
   • place eggs and sugar into bowl
   • whisk until fluffy
   • chop the chocolate
   • mix melted choc and eggy mixture
   • add flour, cocoa and chopped choc
   • pour into tin
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Thurston School parents have been invited for lunch on 29^th June - £2.60

Moroccan Inspired Tagine of Lamb

or

Chickpea and Potato Samosa with a

minted cucumber and yoghurt dressing

Spicy Couscous

Sesame Seed Loaf

Cauliflower, Garden Peas or a Mixed side salad

Wild Berry Fruit Fool with Shortbread

or

A piece of fresh fruit

More of a focus on health and safety, we did vegetarian and made baked 'falafel' (no oil, no salt) with cous cous, orange, kidney bean and sweetcorn salad. Made me want to go for a Macdonalds. What happened to school kitchens - and chocolate crunch with pink sauce? We weren't obese in those days...

Hola! A new sign outside the Victoria in Thurston.  Are they really Spanish? Love the sign and can't wait to find out.

Lovely food. I had their version of Welsh Rarebit with salad and the most delicious piece of lemon cake filled with home made lemon curd with greek yoghurt on the side. Mum had a bacon sandwich in ciabatta-type bread and a piece of plum and orange cake. They say they use their own produce and it shows  in the moist yellow cake made with their own eggs. We both had their own fresh apple juice. And they  have some really nice plants too. Not your usual garden centre.   www.harveysgardenplants.co.uk