On the Gravy Train … A short while back British Onions sent me a “Gravy in a Box” kit containing, well, everything you’d need for excellent gravy – onions and some other interesting ingredients such as mushroom ketchup, Marmite, mustard and Worcestershire sauce. They’re trying to work out exactly what makes the perfect onion gravy; [...]
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It’s Beginning to Feel a lot Like Christmas! December is here again, and lurking temptingly around the corner is Christmas. For the foodies amongst us this spells a time of intense activity – cakes, puddings and preserves to be made, meats to be sourced, food orders to be placed; and, on top of that all [...]
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Salt of the Earth Millionaire’s Shortbread, is also known as Wellington Square and according to Darina Allen, Protestant Cake. Whatever you call it, it is a firm favourite of mine. Biting into one of these delectable bars is like enjoying both a cookie and a chocolate bar at the same time, I suppose they’re a [...]
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This week is National Cupcake Week here in the UK. It runs from 13th – 19th September. It’s only the second year of this event organised by the British Baker Magazine to highlight the joys and delights of all things cupcake. Truth be told I’m not really a cupcake fan. I’d rather munch on a [...]
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“The Only Thing to do with Good Advice is Pass it On” Oscar Wilde Clodagh McKenna’s Cork Beef Stew from The Irish Farmer’s Market Cookbook is a real favourite of mine and is a frequently made winter warmer of a dish. Generally I’d served a big bowl of it alongside some fluffy mashed potatoes or [...]
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Deep Purple The other evening I had a huge desire to bake something, no surprises there then, with the lovely punnet of blackcurrants I had sitting in the fruit bowl. Blackcurrants (ribes nigrum) have grown in the British Isles for over five hundred years and this year they have been grown in my garden! Now, [...]
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Vegetables For Dessert Don’t mistake rhubarb for a fruit; although it is often cooked to eat as a dessert and commonly combined with other sweet fruits, rhubarb is technically a vegetable, it’s a member of the polygonaceae family and related to sorrel. Rhubarb is an excellent crop to grow in Britain, enjoying cool climates and [...]
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The arrival of tender stalks of asparagus in my weekly vegetable box delivery signifies summer is nigh upon us and indicate a rapid splurge in seasonal availability. Gone will be the days of hunting out new and adventurous ways with the curly kale, savoy cabbages and cauliflowers, which lets face it even the most dedicated [...]
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“Soup is cuisine’s kindest course. It breathes reassurance; it steams consolation; after a weary day it promotes sociability, as the five o’clock cup of tea or the cocktail hour.” Louis P. De Gouy, The Soup Book (1949) The vibrant bright orange colour of this silky soup has got to be enough to put a smile [...]
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“Bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. The countries are the soup, the meat, the vegetables, the salad but bread is king.” Louis Bromfield, American novelist (1896-1956) Oh sunshine where have you gone? The weather has been a little challenging of late, to say the [...]
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The first time I came across stifado was a young teenager on holiday in Corfu, from the first taste I was hooked. Strangely enough though until yesterday I had never cooked the dish at home. I don’t really recall much else from that trip to Corfu, other than a great many hill walking trips, but [...]
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