cinnamon

A promise is a promise . . . I often get irritated with people making promises and then failing to keep it. They either suffer from loss of memory or act with a carelessness that’s equally hard to handle.

But even a promise made in idle chatter should be kept. Or you should be careful not to make any promises – no matter how lightly you treat it, it will come back to haunt you. I often experience a feeling of abandonement when someone breaks a promise. Or I get the idea that that person does not value or respect me enough to make good.

The worst is breaking a promise to a child. One often underestimates a young child’s ability to understand or capacity to remember. I don’t know about you, but I never want to it to be said of me that I disappointed a child.

And not only children . . .  A couple of days ago I went through my posts and saw that, with the bread recipe, I promised my recipes for apricot jam and chicken liver paté. I forgot. I’m sorry.

The apricot jam is made with dried apricots so you don’t need to grow your own orchard or deny your children some fresh fruit so that you can have jam. (I buy my 500 g bags of dried apricots at Atlas Trading Store – they’re a beautiful orange gold.)

This is what you’ll need

450 g dried apricots

1.7 litres water

Juice of 1 lemon

1,4 kg sugar

50 g flaked almonds

knob of butter

This is how you do it

Put the apricots in a bowl, cover with the water and leave to soak overnight. Place the apricots in a large pot with the soaking water and lemon juice. Simmer for about 30 minutes until soft, stirring occasionally. Remove the pot from the heat and add the sugar and almonds. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, the add the knob of butter. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 20 – 25 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent sticking. Test for a set (if you use a thermometre the temperature should reach 105°C). Or you can test it like this: before you start with the jam, you place a saucer in the fridge so that it’s completely cold. Drop a little jam on the saucer. Allow it to cool and push your fingergently through it. If the surface of the jam wrinkles, setting point has been reached. Be sure to remove the pot from the heat while doing the test so that the temperature doesn’t rise and the jam become over boiled, which weakens the setting property. Remove any scum with a slotted spoon. Leave to stand for 15 minutes. Pot and cover.

Chicken liver paté

This is what you’ll need

500 g chicken livers

2 onions, peeled and chopped

2 cloves of garlic

6 strips of rindless streaky bacon, cut into pieces

4 tablespoons of butter

1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs

1 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley

2 teaspoons mustard powder

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons brandy

½ teaspoon Tabasco

Salt to taste

2 tablespoons of melted butter

This is how you do it

Melt the 4 tablespoons of butter over medium heat and slowly fry the onion, garlic, bacon and livers. Add the rest of the ingredients (except for the melted butter) and braise until it’s cooked. Use a hand mixer and until you have a smooth mixture. Pour into little serving dishes with a thin layer of the melted butter on top of each dish. Let it cool down completely in the fridge before you serve it with freshly baked bread or herby toasties.