The value of allotments
It’s been a good week. The BBC Gardeners’ Question Time team advised that we could safely use the soil from our blighted tomato grow bags. So John and I shifted ten of them from the pile in the driveway to the kitchen garden to spread on the bed that has a problem with heavy soil. Then we planted our broad bean seeds in the plumped up earth. Plant your BB seed in November and you will have an earlier, sturdier crop. It will also crop for longer than spring sown seeds as long as you harvest regularly. It’s also an enormous fillip to see...
read moreBiltong
When we visited The Carter Street butchers in Fordham last weekend there were long slim peppered beef sausages hanging in the window. Beyond these was a rack where some dark dried meat was hanging. “There are fifty Southern Africans living in the village. Eventually I had to try my hand at making Biltong,” the butcher confided as he cut us a bit of peppered beef sausage to sample. The beef sausage was very good and we bought one. “Shall we buy some Biltong too?” “Not today.” Danny was firm. By the time I returned to collect a pork...
read moreJake and Beau
I’m working outside at the moment. Two glorious sunny days listening to the owls in the nearby chestnut tree. The house is so far from the road that you cannot hear the cars passing. They move silently, the size of trinkets from a Christmas cracker on a road that is barely a ribbon. There are Labradors here too. Black ones this time. Fiercely loyal, they’re gun dogs trained to retrieve. Jake now has a white muzzle and a wash of grey around the toes. His new companion is the glorious Beau. Low slung, eighteen months old with feet the size...
read moreIs it better to soak dried beans overnight or use the ‘quick soak’ method?
I found some half price braising steak and parsnips on offer at the weekend. Both were tossed into my trolley along with a chunky bag of carrots and a can of Guinness. It’s the perfect weather for a beef in Guinness stew. As I was chopping the vegetables Danny piped up. “Do you know what would be really great with this dish. Some butter beans and the flageolets that were in the Pheasant and Venison Casserole à La Beastley. They were so tasty and packed with flavour.” A year ago Danny would never have dreamt that beans could be good in...
read moreSpiders
There are many more spiders in the countryside than in town. After 25 years I am finally happy to live alongside these arachnids and 99% of the time, I enjoy their company and their transient webs. I used to kill all spiders that I found in the bath in London. Large hairy-legged beasts that alarmed me. I imagined they were on holiday from the drains. Now I realise that they were visiting for a drink and a bit of gentle exercise. After a few weeks in the country I decided to stop killing spiders and try to get accustomed to them. It wasn’t...
read moreDanny’s Belly of Pork slow roasted on a bed of Bramley apples recipe
Danny was upbeat as he swung his car into the space front of the butcher’s shop. “Let’s stop mourning Fred’s old shop closing and enjoy the search for a new butcher. It could be fun.” The Chicken Lady had reminded me that there was a good butcher in Fordham, a fifteen minute drive from Cheveley. This shop specialises in free range local meat. Some of their cattle graze on the stud farms that surround our village. We stepped over the threshold past a long fringe of spiced beef and hunks of biltong. This was an unusual sight in a...
read moreThe best gardening tools
I inherited a lot of gardening tools from my aunt. Gradually over the last fifteen years I’ve enjoyed discovering the benefits of each one. I’ve found drawbacks too. Most garden tools are designed for bigger hands and taller people. Fostering a sizeable family of tools has taught me two things. • If you have access to the correct tool for the job you will work faster. • The range of each ‘correct tool’ is massive. Finding the perfect tool for you within this range will conserve your energy and increase productivity and overall...
read moreEasy creamed potatoes
One of our first culinary clashes was over mashed potatoes. “To be good, they need to be hugely unhealthy with lashings of cream and butter,” Danny announced as he searched the fridge shelves for double cream. “I like them made with a dash of milk and a large knob of butter.” “Milk?” His eyes rolled. We did agree on one point. White pepper is essential. I had always used black pepper but Danny introduced me to the subtleties of white on eggs, swede and potatoes. So we have a small oak peppermill filled with white peppercorns that...
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