The Cottage Smallholder

Ooops! I made a vast mistake on my chicken wings post. I blame the fact that I’ve been immersed in my new activity of painting on silk. No this is not 17th century style miniatures of Danny and The Min Pins, beautifully exercised with teeny tiny brush strokes. Rather this is me having primary school Read More »

We can’t buy chicken wings in the Newmarket Waitrose. Some people think that wings are a waste of time. Even my mum says “They have so little meat on them. The other day I was given two at a lunch party. We were all scraping about politely for the meat.” I agree with the Min Read More »

  If I was only allowed one type of meat for the weekly Sunday roast for the rest of my life, I would have to choose chicken. Roast chicken is so versatile and adaptable. I never tire of cooking and guzzling it. And of course it’s a great excuse to make bread sauce and play a Read More »

  I was surprised to hear that despite the recession the number of people eating out has shot up in the UK. I’m not sure whether this is people visiting places like Pret for a snack or proper sit down eating out with napkins, main courses and hovering waiters. Danny and I rarely eat out. Read More »

  For years I thought that risottos were hard to make. I’d order them in restaurants and drool over the creamy rice with bite. I reckoned to cook the rice like that would take real skill. Oh how wrong I was. Risottos are easy. It would take ‘real skill’ to ruin the rice. Risottos are Read More »

  Why chicken thighs again? For one thing, it makes a succulent, tasty and economical meal. Also, Fiona split her jam making over two days, which is a great idea because it is then less of a major task. The house is filled with the aroma from the two jam saucepans. One has wild plum Read More »

  Well how did the cockerels taste? Massimo is in the freezer as I chose Alphonso to star in our first eat your own chickens post. I decided a slow cook method was probably best so I christened The Giant Thermos that I bought from the church fete this year. I also tried to use as Read More »

  Roast chicken thighs were never something I looked forward to, or could ever countenance as I prefer white chicken meat and always avoid brown. That was a fact until we tried this amazing recipe that was posted on the forum by Shereen, who lives near Belfast. She credits her sister in law, JennyB. Well Read More »

  Yesterday, I sent Danny into town with £5 and carte blanche to “buy something tasty for supper”. You may agree that it is a bit of a risk to ask a man to choose my kind of treat (prawn with spaghetti, scampi and chips, a take away Indian meal for two for a fiver) Read More »

  The best piece of kitchen equipment that I bought in 2008 was my slow cooker. I found mine in a sale at Tesco and had no idea how much more flavoursome slow cooking can be. So why did I buy one? I had been seduced by Angela and the thought of slow cooked steak and Read More »