Best recipes for leftovers: Simple pork, tomato and sweet pepper risotto
Gliding past the meat counter in the supermarket at the weekend, I noticed a happy man laughing as he tossed a bag of meat into his trolley. I don’t usually stop at the meat counter but the laughter indicated a great bargain. I hit the air brakes of my trolley and spied a half price rack of pork. I have never tasted this before. Smiling broadly I left the counter. Danny roasted the rack on Sunday and we ate half. Delicious, delicate tender meat. The chops on the rack look quite small but three chops are plenty for the two of us. The...
read moreTip top care for tomatoes
“You’ve spent hours on the Internet. What exactly are you looking for?” “I’m trying to decide what disease our tomatoes are suffering from. If I can identify it then we can treat it.” “Why? The great thing about our vegetables is that they are not treated with chemicals.” Having lost fifteen tomato plants to an unfathomable disease (blight?), I just wanted to find out what had gone wrong. I discovered that there were so many tomato plant ailments that my head whirled and I gave up in the end. I...
read moreBaked pork chops with summer vegetables and white wine recipe
“I’ve always been suspicious of those.” I was reaching for some Romano peppers. Curious, I glanced round. The lady beside me was smiling. No one ever talks to me in the supermarket, apart from the staff at the checkout. In an elongated split second I twigged that she was probably chatty, not mad. “Are they very hot?” She queried. “No, they have delicate flavour. Light years beyond the bell pepper.” We talked for a few minutes. Her daughter had flung a pork chop into the garden at seventeen and...
read moreCraster Kippers
It was years before I twigged that kippers are smoked herrings. I’ve never been keen on herrings but I’d attempt a cartwheel in return for a couple of kippers. It would have to be two kippers. When it comes to a kipper you just can’t share. We have Craster Kippers for breakfast on a Sunday. This is the most relaxed breakfast of the week. Comparing notes over the newspapers and savouring every gram of flesh from our kippers. The dogs enjoy the skins. Over the years we have tried many different kippers and consistently the...
read moreA secret garden
There is a plant stand in Fordham, Cambridgeshire. Bang opposite Scotsdale’s Nursery Garden. It could easily be overlooked after visiting the largesse of the nursery garden. That would be a shame because it’s packed with cuttings and baby plants from a wonderful garden. I started buying plants from the stand (40p each or three for £1.00) about a year ago. I became a regular. The photo is of a small border that I planted with bounty from this stand. Everything has flourished. Every time that I visit the nursery garden, I cross the...
read moreFiona’s traditional elderflower cordial recipe
It’s elderflower cordial recipe season once again! Yesterday afternoon I found myself up a tall ladder with a carrier bag, picking elderflower heads. I picked about fifty heads. They are best picked when the sun is on them. I climbed higher and higher to find exactly what I wanted. They had to be perfect with no trace of brown blossom. According to Joanna’s Food brown blossom can foul the cordial. My sister brought a similar recipe back from France. Since I introduced Danny to elderflower and pink grapefruit cocktail, it seemed a...
read moreTransform your pastry scraps into delicious cheesy biscuits
Optimistically, I always save my pastry scraps to make these melt in the mouth cheesy biscuits. They usually lurk in the back of the fridge and are forgotten. Danny eventually hoofs the bag of tired pastry scraps and I feel really bad. We have missed out on a superb delicacy. Today I was more galvanised and made the biscuits whilst I was waiting for a tart to bake. These biscuits are simple to make and everyone loves them. They are a delicious appetiser before a supper party. At other houses they have been served at the end of a meal in lieu...
read moreOld roses: Rosa Rambling Rector. (1910, unknown breeder(s))
This gorgeous frothy rose makes the biggest impact of all the roses in our garden. We open the back door to find it spilling over the first half of the herbaceous border. It has climbed into the plum trees in the garden next door and splashes over the shrubs below like a floral Niagara. It flowers throughout June. For a whole month we savour it from the first buds to the last few handfuls of flowers. “We ought to have our summer party in June.” Danny declares each year. But we never do. The cottage is small, so big parties take...
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