The slow cooker chef: Low fat Spanish Lamb braised in thyme, garlic and white wine recipe
“Let’s try making the Spanish Lamb in the slow cooker. It will be cheaper than using the oven and it might enhance the flavours even more.” It was better than the oven baked version, with more depth of flavour and the joint remained plump and succulent. This is a great, easy dish for lazy entertaining. Just a few minutes preparation and then you can sit back as it turns into a delicious melt in the mouth lamb. The tantalising sauce tastes as if you have been slaving away for hours. Cooked a day in advance the dish sang. The fat was...
read moreCharity shop bargains
Although my mum gave me a superb giant Le Creuset casserole a few months ago we have no medium sized casseroles for the oven. So when I spotted this wonderful old stoneware crock pot gleaming out from the Cancer Research shop window this morning, I was drawn across the road. The diminutive price tag had me standing beside the till within seconds with the coins in my hand. “Now what have we got here.” The lady counted out the change and glanced quickly up at me. “Is it only £3.50?” “Well yes.” She gave me a long look, perhaps...
read moreOrnamental quince, Chaenomeles or Japonica quince recipes
Every one loves the look of a quince from a tree. The large size, the slight fuzziness on the skin. The smell of a bowl of quinces can scent a room if they are allowed to ripen. A quince plucked from a tree can keep for months properly stored but windfalls need to be used pretty quickly. We were given a quince tree a few years ago. This summer it hasn’t been happy – losing a lot of leaves during July and generally looking peaky. I gave it lots of extra water and it rallied a bit but the quinces are scant and undersized. So the prospect...
read moreSexing the bantam eggs: results of the ring test on the clutch of mixed bantam eggs
I must admit that I felt quite confident about the ring test on the lucky dip bantam hatching eggs that we bought on eBay. The ring test predicted that Dixie and Beatyl would be female chickens. But there has always been something about Beatyl Chick. A certain Tyrone Power swagger and adventurous approach to life in the Emerald Castle and grounds. Last week a teeny mound of feathers appeared on Beatyl’s rump. Hens do have tail feathers too, I reassured myself. Within days these feathers had elongated and a tiny ridged crest appeared on...
read moreWhite soda bread with oatmeal recipe
Just before I met Danny I attended a bread making course at Darina and Tim Allan’s cookery school in Ballymaloe. It was a great course covering a vast swathe of bread making from brioche to Irish soda bread. The days were packed with information and practical sessions. Set in the heart of the Cork countryside, it was an unforgettable experience. After the course finished I spent the weekend at Ballymaloe House. The food was so good that, even ten years later, I still remember the amazing dishes on the massive hors d’oeuvre table in the...
read moreFlowers from the garden: September 2008
I keep on extending the borders in the first part of the garden. This means digging out masses of bricks and rubble, generally a large barrow load to a square metre of soil. I now have two things. A large pile of hardcore and a very pretty border. Over the last two years I’ve filled the new border with perennials from the stand outside the secret garden. We visited this wonderful garden again early this summer when I discovered that the church fete was going to be held in the grounds. The fete was the quintessential English church fete. A...
read moreNew horizons
I drove into Newmarket this evening with that tingle on the skin from a day working in the sun. I’m painting the outside of a bungalow in a sleepy road on the outskirts of Newmarket. A lovely mellow place where I’m entertained by the kind couple and their cats. Endless cups of tea to fuel my work. Perfect. And there’s the view. Built on a hill, the bungalow sits in a large plot set between two horizontal parallel rows of houses. So it looks across an unseen road to the paddocks of a stud. These fields rise on the other side of a...
read moreThe Cheveley Two. Growing butternut squash in a barrel
This year I grew a butternut squash in a barrel on our gravel drive. It’s southwest facing and gets sun all afternoon when the sun makes an appearance. It was my first journey into the world of squash growing. This meant several tense moments reversing at speed as a passenger in Danny’s car. Finally I announced. “If the wheels of your car touch even a leaf of that plant I’ll..” The reversing operation was carolled into a ten foot spurt ending with a gentle roll. He’s cut it fine but rubber tyres never...
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