Special Boxing Day Breakfast (scrambled eggs with smoked salmon recipe)
Just before I met Danny, I went to Ireland for the first time to attend a bread making course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School. For the duration of the course my sister and I stayed at the Shanagarry Guest House which was walking distance from the school, although I think we drove the 200 yards every day. Partly laziness but mainly on account of the breakfast, which was excellent and forced one to linger until the last possible moment. The couple who owned the guest house were charming. The husband was a rugby coach for the Irish team and...
read moreDoves at Christmas
One Christmas, my mother took us to Hamley’s in London’s Regent Street. This vast toyshop on six floors was overwhelming. A massive leap from Eden Lily’s toy department in Cambridge. I was about four years old and had my Christmas money to spend. I planned to buy something very special.. The magic department was enormous, with a very long counter and not much on display. I was delighted when I spotted exactly what I wanted in a showcase on the wall. Even better, I had enough money to buy one. When I pointed it out to my mum...
read morePot roast pheasant (gypsy style) recipe for Christmas Eve
A Cottage Smallholder Christmas tradition is pot roast pheasant on Christmas Eve. Partly because it’s in season and is a treat but mainly because it’s bunged in the oven for a good hour an a half whilst I get on with another task such as helping Father Christmas with packing the stockings for the household. F.C. usually stops for a sherry early evening to swap recipes, although it’s awkward manoeuvring the sleigh in the back since we fenced the kitchen garden and shortened the runway (Heathrow take note). Cooking game can be...
read moreEasy marzipan recipe and a few icing tips
I love marzipan. The homemade kind is the most delicious and it’s a cinch to make. My mum used to announce that she’d made it with such a sonorous trumpeting that, for years, I imagined it was a complex procedure. I made it in a matter of minutes and rang her just in case I’d got something wrong. She was a bit crouchy that her secret was finally revealed. Her marzipan recipe is below. Some people prefer cooked marzipan. This is a much more complex process and is covered here on the Delia online...
read moreThe mystery of the missing snow baby
Just after the second world war, my parents were stationed in Germany and bought a small bisque snow baby to decorate their Christmas cake. It was happily waving and sledding on the cake each year for as far back as I can remember. “I’ve kept this snow baby for years,” my mother would say as she soaked the icing off the sled after Christmas. A tiny reminder of a happy time. A few years ago it vanished. I don’t know whether it was on a slice of cake that my sister or I took home after Christmas, or whether it was eaten...
read moreMatthew Rice’s A Year in the Country Calendar
Matthew Rice’s charming paper-covered boxes have delighted me for years. His style, although totally individual, has the comfortable vibe of an Edward Ardizzone’s illustration and the wit of Quentin Blake’s work. When I look at his paintings my heart skips. He just gets it right. I discovered a Matthew Rice calendar a few years ago and fell in love. One year spent with this calendar and even Danny was hooked. This is a must have. So many people that we know just couldn’t do without this fix. My sister and I set out to...
read moreQuick cranberry sauce recipe
Two years ago I made cranberry sauce to die for. It kept for months in the fridge and was wolfed down with everything from goat’s cheese toasties to roast chicken. I particularly loved it with brie in sandwiches. In fact we both agreed that it really comes into its own after Christmas, when it is not jockeying for position with so many other treats. Although I would feel bereft if it didn’t make an appearance on Christmas Day. Cranberry sauce is dead easy to make and it’s quick too. Once you’ve tasted homemade...
read moreLast minute Christmas cake recipe
Over the years we have tried various Christmas cake recipes but the best by far was the one that we made last year, a week before Christmas. We wanted a cake packed with fruit but not a dark heavy traditional type of Christmas cake. We’d had to force down too many slices of these in the past. My Mother used to make us these and bring one each Christmas. Then she decided to buy them. These were worse and not disguised by being fed with lashings of brandy. We’d cut a few slices at Christmas, give her half the cake to take home at the...
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