The Cottage Smallholder

  Sometimes I get bored with our old favourites when it comes to rustling up the evening meal. Although the freezer is full of my own ‘ready meals’ nothing appeals. I pick through the shelves and even consider a takeaway. Last night I found a pack of Atlantic line caught smoked salmon – 100g for £3.99 happily Read More »

“How about Wiener Schnitzel for supper tonight?” Danny looked unimpressed. Picking through the freezer I had found some small veal escalopes that I’d picked up from the Tesco *CFC a few weeks ago. One was a little smaller than my hand and the other barely reached across my palm. Wiener Schnitzel seemed the sensible option. Read More »

  Years ago Danny and I had an unforgettable meal in a Soho restaurant. As far as I remember we were the only customers that evening but the restaurant was designed so that we sat in our own little section – the atmosphere was intimate and the food delicious. The star dish of the evening Read More »

A few weeks ago I noticed a new ceramic pepper shaker standing in my mother’s kitchen table. The powder around the holes wasn’t pepper coloured. Intrigued I tapped a little onto the back of my hand, it smelt spicy and tasted strange. “It’s turmeric. It’s supposed to have all sort of health giving properties. I Read More »

A couple of years ago we became addicted to Tessa Kiros’ recipe for linguine with prawns and asparagus. Delicious and almost worth crawling the five miles to Newmarket to buy the ingredients. Tonight we decided to eat Clare’s scrumptious quick spinach and prawn gnocchi recipe and then I spotted that we had some linguine in Read More »

We always buy a ham at Christmas to keep the goose company in the fridge and provide us with endless meals. Starting with ham sandwiches on Christmas day and hot ham with a fresh parsley sauce on Boxing Day. The latter is eaten on trays as we indulge in an afternoon of horse racing on Read More »

About ten years ago I invited Danny to stay for the weekend. This was the first time he met my dog, Fly. A lot more nerve wracking than being invited to meet my mother. I knew that he’d like the cottage but I wanted him to have a really great weekend so I invited a Read More »

Fred’s racks of lamb are always chubby, tender and a real treat. Yesterday I drove back from Essex to find Danny creating a new sauce for a chunky rack. We like to make our sauces in the same pan as the roasting meat. If we get the ingredients right it’s a lazy way to make Read More »

I often turn my collar up and haunt the condemned food section of Tesco. Sometimes I bag a real bargain. Often I find duck legs. The first time I swanked home with this gem Danny was forthright. “it’s all very well bringing home cut price stuff but do you know how to cook duck legs?” Read More »

Just before I met Danny, I went to Ireland for the first time to attend a bread making course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School. For the duration of the course my sister and I stayed at the Shanagarry Guest House which was walking distance from the school, although I think we drove the 200 yards Read More »