The salami project: step one
Bursting with pride, I opened the small foil parcel and pushed it across the counter towards Fred. It was a slice of my first old fashioned pork pie. Fred sampled the meat. "Good texture. Did you make the pastry yourself?" He tasted the thick crust. "Yes, we did." "When you next make the pies put a little of the seasoning mix for the meat into the pastry. Then the pastry won't be such a contrast to the meat. Sage and pepper is a good combination." "What do you think of the jelly?" "Good. Did you use the trotters?" I nodded. Fred ate a little...
read moreJelly set too hard
I had promised Margaret a jar of our Sloe and Bramley Jelly - great for adding to casseroles, brilliant with game. The sloey edge gives it more bite than a conventional jelly. I gave her a large jar of our Apple Chilli Jelly instead. She looked flummoxed and examined the label. I explained in one embarrassed word. "Iwasmakingthesloeandbramleyjellyanditfailedit'slikerubber." It was probably a mistake to ring my mother when I was making sloe and Bramley apple jelly. She likes to chat and muse about life. Usually I am quite good at multi tasking...
read moreSmart Wife's Perfect Yorkshire pudding recipe
Years ago Smart Wife taught me how to make perfect Yorkshire puddings. I often ruined the joint but our individual Yorkshire puds were perfect every time. Rising like a miniature Tower Of Pisa army, they happily deflected attention away from the teeth challenging meat. On Sunday, Danny suddenly gets serious at around six o'clock and puts on his King Of Roasts mantle. If he is cooking beef I am invited to be his Queen Of Yorkshire Puds. There are three key tips: 1. Make individual puds - I use an individual cake/bun/mince pie tray- they rise...
read moreMurray River gourmet salt flakes
Sometimes I take a straight look at my life. I am usually rumbling along a country road, behind the wheel of Jalopy. "I never thought that I would be breeding keets, living with an Irishman, allowing the giant spider to live in the bath." I never, ever thought that I would be writing about salt. I buck the system as far as salt goes. Danny has high blood pressure so we cook without salt. I have a range of salt for personal use. Low salt if I am feeling virtuous and Maldon sea salt if I am feeling wild and rakish. This was fine until Katherine...
read moreHow to cook cold smoked kippers
Following my post on Craster Kippers, I discovered from Dan at the River Farm Smokery that not all kippers are hot smoked. He had offered me some large olive cans for the kitchen garden so we popped into the shop buy some treats. There were packs of Scottish kippers - ingredients: herrings, salt and oak smoke. When I unwrapped them the next day their flesh was pinkish. We grill Craster kippers for eight minutes. I wasn't sure how to cook these so I put them under a low grill 130c for 14 minutes (skin side down) and served them with a chunk of...
read moreKohinoor: the best home cooked rice that I have ever tasted
A few weeks ago I was padding around Tesco and decided to look at what was on offer rice wise. We always used to use Tilda. Then, feeling a bit tight, I started buying budget rice. This was fine until I cooked some one evening and it ruined the meal. I found this 2 kilo plastic jar of rice with a natty handle for carrying the jar from the larder to the stove (it folds flat for storage). The label proudly states that Super Kohinoor is India's premium Basmati rice. It's fantastic. A doddle to make and the lightest fluffiest rice that I have ever...
read moreHow to avoid making a soggy bottomed quiche
I was given a really good tip today from a quiche maker. She sells quiches to her local deli. "Do you know how to avoid soggy pastry?" No, I didn't. I never make quiche as D is not a fan. I love it and occasionally buy one for a girly lunch. Mysteriously Danny always vanishes with the remains. "Well there is no need to bake the pastry blind (pre-bake). All I do is make my pastry and line the buttered dish. Using a fork, prick the base in several places. Then brush the pastry with beaten egg. Let this harden until it is just tacky. Then add the...
read moreExtend the life of your vegetables
"Ohh," said Danny peering at a box of purple sprouting broccoli, "Will ours be ready soon?" We were waiting at our butchers, Fred Fitzpatrick's. As I went through our list, Danny picked up a tired cauliflower. "You can have that, Danny. It's too floppy to sell now." Danny put it gently back. He didn't want a floppy cauliflower. "Put it in some cold water and it will firm up," Fred smiled. I'd heard about this trick for runner beans but never tested out the theory. So we took the sad vegetable home. We removed the green outer leaves and left in...
read moreThe lazy man's secret that adds extra pazazz to any dish
When we go away on holiday we search for two types of shops, hardware shops and food emporiums. The latter can be supermarkets, outdoor markets, greengrocers or delicatessen. If the country is sunnier than England, we are looking for locally produced herbs and spices. Perhaps it is something to do with the sunshine or the processing but these herbs are so much more pungent and last a lot longer than most of the dried herbs available in the UK. Fifteen years ago I went to Crete for a month and found some wonderful blends of local herbs in a...
read moreIn the bag roast chicken recipe
My friend Carol keeps on mentioning how good game cooked in a bag is. I vaguely remember people using roasting bags in the eighties. Everybody was using them for a few months and suddenly they just fizzled out. Actually, I hate to admit it but I thought the attraction was that using roasting bag was to stop your oven getting so dirty. Until last weekend, I had no idea of their magical effect on food. Carol's advice is sound. Everything that she recommends is good, from tiny tomato sandwiches on a hot summer's day to her own herb baked...
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