Leftovers: Spicy new potatoes and cabbage on the side recipe

Posted in Leftovers, Vegetables and Sides | 4 comments

Leftovers: Spicy new potatoes and cabbage on the side recipe

I’m not a great one for being imaginative about small leftovers. They are usually shoved into the dogs as a relish on the top of their complete dog food. In the past I used to put them into small bowls, hoping for inspiration and they would be forgotten as they were gradually pushed to the back of the fridge. Danny calls these “offerings to the fridge gods” as he removes them two weeks later. Now I’m enjoying using up everything that I can. The little scrappy handfuls are the most fun to transform into something that...

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Washing up

Posted in Cottage tales | 14 comments

Washing up

Years ago I met someone who had been a kitchen porter on a cruise ship. This meant that he had all the lowliest jobs including washing up at the end of the evening. This was the one duty that he loathed. He resented the time scrubbing away whilst the rest of the team were playing pool in the bar. The life was pretty good apart from the two hours a day battling with the pots. So he hatched a plan. There must be something that would eat up all the caked-on food and fat. So rang a friend who was an up and coming research chemist. When he came...

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Walnut Wine – Vin de Noix

Posted in Wine | 7 comments

Walnut Wine – Vin de Noix

Having started the pickled walnuts I still had loads of nuts left over, so I looked around for other green walnut recipes. I was tempted by an Italian walnut liqueur that my last hairdresser makes every year. He buys pure alcohol in Italy and makes enough to last him until the next annual visit. He loved it and his wife hated it. Perhaps a perfect state of affairs when it comes to sharing precious grog. Some recipes suggested that it could be made with vodka but I decided to wait until we visit Italy again and can buy the alcohol. Finally, I...

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Mrs Boss is sitting on bantam hatching eggs

Posted in Chickens | 15 comments

Mrs Boss is sitting on bantam hatching eggs

“Isn’t it weird? When Mrs Boss used to go broody it was a nightmare. Now it’s a joy that she has gone broody again as we need her to raise new stock for us.” Danny was studying the lots of hatching eggs on eBay. We had decided finally to put a clutch of bantam eggs under our diminutive broody hen. Our main flock was bought four years ago and they are well past their egg laying prime. Carol, the Maran hen, is now three and still lays well. She is joined on the egg laying front by Cloud, the gentle guinea fowl hen. The...

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The slow cooker chef: low fat summer vegetable and bean casserole recipe

Posted in Vegetarian | 4 comments

The slow cooker chef: low fat summer vegetable and bean casserole recipe

So many vegetarian recipes are high in fat with an emphasis on cheese and eggs. These ingredients can pull a flagging recipe round in seconds. We sometimes eat these dishes – the cheese and eggs make tham tasty, I’m cooking for an alpha carnivore foodie after all. Last night I woke at three a.m. and mulled. Surely, with a bit of thought, I could make veggie food that’s low fat and delicious. This morning I opened an eye to the promise of thunderstorms. I was suddenly kitchen bound as I’m working on an outside job at the...

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Interblog day out at Audley End

Posted in Reviews | 7 comments

Interblog day out at Audley End

“Lets have an interblog garden visit.” Magic Cochin from the superb Purple Podded Peas blog suggested a couple of weeks ago. Danny was alarmed. “Does that mean that we’ve got to weed the herbaceous borders?” “No it’s an outing to a great garden. It’s going to be the kitchen garden at Audley End. And we’re going to look at the service wing.” “That sounds wonderful.” And it was. I left D happily tucked away in the Rat Room and spent a few hours soaking up the atmosphere of...

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The Pickled Walnuts project. Stage one.

Posted in Chutney and Pickles | 10 comments

The Pickled Walnuts project. Stage one.

“What on earth are you doing, Fiona?” I was sitting on the floor on a large plastic sheet, wearing rubber gloves and stabbing green walnuts on an old bread board with a carving fork. No wonder Tessa was intrigued. I’ve been desperate to get my hands on some green walnuts for years. About 10 days ago I spotted some on a friend’s tree. It was just at the end of the picking green walnuts season. “Take all you like but hurry or they’ll be too hard to pickle.” She picked one and sliced it firmly with a...

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The Indian Runner ducks have gone

Posted in Cottage tales, Ducks, Guinea Fowl | 9 comments

The Indian Runner ducks have gone

Freddie, Tipex and Eric Boss had a final breakfast of French beans, emptied the fresh water fountain and moved to their new and permanent home on Sunday morning. S and Rollo arrived with a sturdy wooden crate in the boot of the Golf. “We’ll catch one each,” S explained as he set up the crate for our return. Secretly, I was a bit concerned. I’d never picked up the ducks or even touched them. They’d pecked gently at my green gardening gloved fingers hoping that they were edible. S is an expert domestic fowl catcher...

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Work and holidays

Posted in Wildlife | 7 comments

Work and holidays

Yesterday I didn’t write a post. I took a holiday from everything and spent a day with Seraphina. Lunch and shopping in Saffron Walden. Tea and cakes at Audley End. Perfect, as we both needed some time out. So this evening I’m sharing something very special. I’m showing you a few shots of the house where I am working at the moment. It’s the quintessential English country house set in an acre of garden and has a good, calm feel. Here, time has stopped still. The job involves repairing and decorating the outside at...

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Courgette glut

Posted in Vegetables | 19 comments

Courgette glut

“Is this from the same plant as that one.” Danny held up the small courgette and its older brother that I had overlooked and was travelling rapidly towards becoming a marrow. He weighed the two in his hands and glanced at me. “I think that we are on the brink of a glut.” The trug had never been weighed down with courgettes before. So initially tiny hands clapped with glee. The chicken poo enriched compost had worked like a dream. Yesterday I was wondering what we could do with them all. They lay in a long tranche in the...

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