Strawberries
One of the best cakes that I’ve ever tasted is my mum’s sponge cake with a wicked filling of strawberries and whipped cream. In fact when she was making this filling she discovered how to make butter with double cream and an electric whisk. So I was doubly blessed. Many varieties of strawberries with the best flavour don’t travel well. So you won’t find them in the market or supermarket. Waitrose tried stocking some old English varieties one year but the shelf life was so limited that they gave up. The great thing about growing...
read moreThe slow cooker chef: Broccoli and watercress soup recipe
“I bet we’re the first in the world to be having broccoli soup and flash fried squid for breakfast.” Danny dunked a chunk of crusty bread in his soup. With me still at home we tend to have a late brunch these days but yesterday was the first day that we’d gone wild and had soup and seafood. I’d bought the broccoli in the market. Two giant heads for a pound. As the vegetables don’t have a long shelf life we ate broccoli with the skirt of beef stew and the rest was chopped and popped into the slow cooker to make soup. I’d also...
read moreThe secret challenge
We’ve had a secret challenge at the cottage this past year. In the old days when oil was cheap we were wanton with our central heating. Our 900 litre tank was filled up four times a year. In October last year we worked out that four fill ups might cost as much as £1600. It was quite a shock when we did the maths. For the first time ever I decided to shop around for the best price. In the end we saved £60 on filling the tank. Up until then I’d used the same supplier for 25 years – but he just couldn’t offer a similar discount. Then...
read moreThe slow cooker chef: Warming winter stew with skirt of beef and baby carrots recipe
Last year my friend Jo mentioned skirt of beef. I’d never even heard of the cut before let alone spotted it in the butchers. “If you slice it very fine, it’s wonderful in a stir fry. And even better it’s so cheap.” I’ve since discovered that it’s the traditional meat used in Cornish Pasties. Although my Cornish pal Tessa uses chuck steak. Last week I went to the market to buy some vegetables – they are always knocked down in price at the end of the day. I bought two large bunches of baby carrots for a pound – these would...
read moreNow’s the time to plant Summer and Autumn raspberries
John was horrified when I decided to turn half of one of our vegetable beds into a raspberry and soft fruit cage. “It’s taking up so much space!” Close questioning revealed he didn’t like raspberries. I love them. A small dish of raspberries sprinkled with a little vanilla caster sugar is the perfect end to a meal. And of course there is the delight of raspberry jam, jellies, wine, gin and vodka. The health benefits of soft fruit such as raspberries make them an essential part of a balanced diet. But if you have to buy them they are...
read moreThe roast that went wrong
This happened over 30 years ago when I was living in Chelsea with Smart Wife and Kind Husband. “Now Fiona I have an old friend coming up from the country for Sunday lunch. She’s a gourmet cook. So the meal has to be excellent.” Oh fatal words. Smart Wife opened the fridge door to reveal an enormous joint of beef. “I went to the expensive butcher in Tite Street. It cost a bomb but I’m sure that it will taste delicious. There’s always a better flavour with a decent sized joint.” The Sunday dawned. By this stage I’d got...
read moreHow to make your own recycled biodegradable bag loader in seconds
It’s back to those pesky leaves again. The jute sacks are filled and the vegetable stall in the market is putting aside onion and carrot sacks for me to collect next week. There is now a special leaf mould composting area behind the green house. I struggled loading the bags with my leaf collectors – how on earth could I keep the mouth of the bag open? In the end I just used one collector. It was a palaver. Sitting by the pond sipping a cup of sweet tea I remembered seeing an upright bin bag at Notcutts. It contained a plastic sleeve....
read moreChristmas piccalilli recipe
For years I was tempted by the cheap jars of yellow piccalilli on the supermarket shelves. I’d take one head clearing taste and the jar would be put smartly at the back of the cupboard to wait until it was swept away in a hearty Spring clean. Last year we tasted Magic Cochin’s homemade piccalilli. It was everything that I’d imagined piccalilli could be and more. It is so good that they are only allowed a jar a month to salve that certain piccalilli yearning. And I’m ashamed to say I had two helpings from the January jar. This...
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