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Mar. 5th, 2013 02:38 pm
Sawrenn vyghan Kernow
This year, for a change, I remembered St Piran. St Patrick's Day I can always remember because I get a lot of help from my environment. St David's Day always sneaks up on me, but because it falls on the first of the month it never escapes my notice entirely. St Piran's Day, however, is more of a challenge, obscurely occurring somewhere in the two-and-half weeks between them. I seem to always place it later than it is, so if I do get around to looking up the date, I'm always too late already.
Not this year. In fact, I even did something to mark the occasion. At first, I considered making pasties, but then by sheer chance I stumbled across some in the freezer case of a boutique market on Clark last Sunday. Hardly were we back home, however, when the GWO reminded me that we had an event this evening and it didn't make sense to come home for dinner first, so I guess we're having them tomorrow night. I went online to find out what else the Cornish eat and found mention of saffron buns and cakes as a special-occasion food. Further Googling found a recipe so simple even a child can follow it, which is just what I need given how inept I am at yeast-baking. The only problem was that, to get the proper colour, the half-teaspoon(!) of saffron has to infuse in milk overnight, which meant I couldn't start baking until after dinner last night.
As a result, it was 10:30 when I pulled the tesenn safron from the oven. But I was so pleased with it, I ran downstairs to wake up the Old Man (who is, after all, the one among us with Cornish blood) so he could have a slice. In the end, I couldn't resist and ate half a slice myself, reflux be damned. It's really more of a bread than a cake, similar in texture to the roscón de Reyes we make at Epiphany and about as sweet (which is to say not very sweet at all). The saffron not only dominates the flavour but gives it a dark gold complexion. We were out of raisins, so for the "100 g of mixed fruit" I used a combination of currants and dried blueberries, which worked really well (although they did have a certain tendency to work their way out of the dough during kneading and get scorched into inedibility in the oven).
I'll definitely have to mark my calendar next year so I remember to make it again.
Not this year. In fact, I even did something to mark the occasion. At first, I considered making pasties, but then by sheer chance I stumbled across some in the freezer case of a boutique market on Clark last Sunday. Hardly were we back home, however, when the GWO reminded me that we had an event this evening and it didn't make sense to come home for dinner first, so I guess we're having them tomorrow night. I went online to find out what else the Cornish eat and found mention of saffron buns and cakes as a special-occasion food. Further Googling found a recipe so simple even a child can follow it, which is just what I need given how inept I am at yeast-baking. The only problem was that, to get the proper colour, the half-teaspoon(!) of saffron has to infuse in milk overnight, which meant I couldn't start baking until after dinner last night.
As a result, it was 10:30 when I pulled the tesenn safron from the oven. But I was so pleased with it, I ran downstairs to wake up the Old Man (who is, after all, the one among us with Cornish blood) so he could have a slice. In the end, I couldn't resist and ate half a slice myself, reflux be damned. It's really more of a bread than a cake, similar in texture to the roscón de Reyes we make at Epiphany and about as sweet (which is to say not very sweet at all). The saffron not only dominates the flavour but gives it a dark gold complexion. We were out of raisins, so for the "100 g of mixed fruit" I used a combination of currants and dried blueberries, which worked really well (although they did have a certain tendency to work their way out of the dough during kneading and get scorched into inedibility in the oven).
I'll definitely have to mark my calendar next year so I remember to make it again.
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