Animus - Portuguese Wine - An Aldi Find

At Pebble Soup HQ, we are trying hard to smile but after seven weeks of lockdown, we are really missing our international freedom of movement. We dream of times when traveling will be possible again, but in the meantime we  also recreate the taste of a country from our home. So last week we 'went to' the north of Portugal.
The Douro Valley photo credit RRuiCunha courtesy of the Portuguese Consulat 
No prize for guessing the number one thing visitors bring back from the area around Porto: Port wine of course, a fortified wine produced with distilled grape spirits exclusively in the Douro Valley.
Portuguese Wine, Aldi Animus


At Pebble Soup HQ, Port is not a favourite, but recently we tried Aldi Animus red wine. Animus is not fortified. Still, it is produced in the same area, the Douro Valley, with the same blend of grapes than Port, and let me tell you this wine tasting session was a success. We found Animus to be a great table wine, full bodied at the amazing price £4.99. Highly recommended.

Pairing AnimusWhat do Twitterers think: 



Stay safe, drink moderately and let me leave you with a quote from Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese author: “Life is whatever we make it. The traveler is the journey. What we see is not what we see but who we are.”

Disclaimer: this post is a review commissioned by Aldi in return for samples, no money was exchanged, words and opinions are my own

Currant and Vanilla Loaf /Quick Bread

Vanilla Currant Loaf, quick Bread,
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I published this quick bread recipe 12 years ago, with the lockdown and all things homemade, I thought it was time to give it an airing. 

I love new bread recipes, this one has a very smooth texture which is the trademark of "quickbreads". 

Pay attention here comes the background bit:
Quickbreads differ from cakes which are made creaming butter/sugar/eggs or from breads made with yeast. Quickbreads are often associated with "Afternoon tea" a tradition started by the Duchess of Bedford in the mid 19th century. It is said that the Duchess could not wait from lunch till dinner, don't we know the feeling, so she requested to have a pot of tea with bread and small cakes. Very likely, finding it boring to eat and drink on her own, she started to invite her "aristo-mates" and started a trend.

Tips for you
In the quickbreads family, you will find scones, muffins, sodabreads, teacakes and other fruit or veg loaves such as pumpkin. Dead-easy to make, perfect for beginners, can't really go wrong, remember to sift the flour and make sure that the oven is preheated to 180C (350F/Gas 4) that is all. Ah! and mix the ingredients in the order the recipe tells you, quick breads allow neither anarchy nor cosmic order allowed.

Vanilla Currant Loaf


ingredients
250g plain (9z/ 2cup) (all purpose) flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
60g (2 ½ oz) cold unsalted butter, chopped
115g (4oz/ ½ cup) caster (superfine) sugar
75g (2 ½ oz/ ½ cup) currants
1 large egg
170ml (5 ½ fl oz/ 2/3 cup) milk
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
sifted icing (confectioners') sugar, for dusting, optional
butter or cream cheese, to serve


Method
Preheat the oven to 180C (350F/Gas 4). Grease a 21 X 7 X 8 cm loaf (bar) tin and line the base and sides with baking paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Using your fingertips, lightly rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
Stir in the sugar and currants, then make a well in the centre.

In another bowl mix together the egg, milk and vanilla, then pour into the well in the flour mixture. Using a wooden spoon, stir until just combined.

Spoon into the prepared tin, smoothing the top. Bake for 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool.

Just before serving, dust with icing sugar if desired.
Slice and serve with butter or cream cheese.


Vanilla currant loaf is best eaten on the day it is made, but can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 8 weeks.

This recipe was reproduced from Leanne Kitchen's "the Baker"
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