The Cottage Smallholder


stumbling self sufficiency in a small space


Shitake mushroom and cream sauce recipe

Posted in Sauces Gravy Dressings, Vegetarian | 5 comments

Shitake mushroom and cream sauce recipe

  Yesterday Danny bought two T bone steaks from Tennant’s in Newmarket for a treat. He also grabbed a bargain at Waitrose – 150g of shitake mushrooms for 29p. “I’m going to try making a simple mushroom sauce like the one you made to go with the calves liver last week.” The calves liver came from the Tesco CFC. Another treat bargain. I’d thought that my sauce was a real winner but Danny’s sauce won hands down in the mushroom and cream sauce stakes. Now I can see why people are happy to spend two or three quid on a small carton of...

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Creamy Enoki and white mushroom recipe. Great, easy starter or side dish.

Posted in Starters and Soups, Vegetarian | 9 comments

Creamy Enoki and white mushroom recipe. Great, easy starter or side dish.

I had a doctor’s appointment late afternoon so I changed out of my ragged decorating garb into vaguely normal human clothes and left work early. As I was working in Newmarket, I could walk to the surgery without the stress of checking that I had the right coins for the car park or worrying about the extra time that I would need to negotiate the massive road works in the High Street. Walking along the street, I was struck by the smell of petrol, diesel and dust for the first time in years. In an instant I was back in Soho (London). Our...

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Late morning brunch: Cheesy mushrooms on toast with a dash of spice recipe

Posted in Snacks Breakfast Lunch, Vegetarian | 10 comments

Late morning brunch: Cheesy mushrooms on toast with a dash of spice recipe

To cut our carbon footprint we decided to combine the post run and the weekly shop and travel to Newmarket in the same car. This meant that Danny had to face an experience that he refers to with tight lipped horror. Saturday supermarket queues. In fact he hates any sort of queue. Even the queue for the tote to collect his winnings. I now refer to queues as moving lines. This seems to calm him. As we drove into the Tesco car park we couldn’t find a space. I knew that unusually long moving lines were already threading across his mind as he...

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Superb field mushroom soup recipe. Created by S

Posted in Starters and Soups | 14 comments

Superb field mushroom soup recipe. Created by S

It’s suddenly got a very Autumnal. A mist was rising just above the paddock grass when I slipped in to deliver The Chicken Lady’s smoked bacon this evening. S welcomed me in, wearing an apron. “The paddocks are full of field mushrooms. So I’m making mushroom soup.” I dallied, watching him wash and scrape the skins. Large flat opened gilled specimens picked just hours before. Happy horses, paddocks and mushrooms go together. I’ve read about this bounty. Around here every field and paddock is owned by someone....

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