Pamela’s perfect pumpkin soup recipe
“Don’t you just love the look of abject fear that appears on the faces of shop girls or fellow shoppers, when they ask if you are making a lantern for Hallow’een and you reply that you are, in fact, going to eat it!” Wrote my friend Pamela. “I made soup with half of mine and will be making more with the other half this evening. Using what I had in – i.e. what was reduced for a quick sale or from the Somerfield basics range – I used spring onions, chilli, garlic, a green pepper, celery salt (which I love in a cheese butty)...
read moreOther people’s recipes: Diana Henry’s Baked Pork Chops with Pears, Potatoes and Onions
We had two rather thin pork chops earmarked for supper last night. I thought that they might be good baked with pears so drifted onto the internet for inspiration and found this recipe from Diana Henry. I like her recipes and my copy of Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons: Enchanting Dishes from the Middle East, Mediterranean and North Africais a well thumbed tome. Her recipe was just what I wanted – throw everything into a roasting pan for about an hour. I didn’t have Roquefort cheese, substituted a teaspoon of dried fennel for the...
read moreThe slow cooker chef: Venison and shin of beef casserole recipe
This is a really easy recipe that I made last week. I forgot to take a picture of the dish so have put up this photograph as it includes a brass deer that belonged to my mother as a child. I love eating venison but it’s so expensive here in the UK. We buy it when it’s marked down in price and stash it in the freezer for game pies and casseroles. Shin of beef is delicious too – slowly simmered for 8-10 hours the gristly meat transforms into a melt in the mouth treat. Combine the two for a casserole that is deeply satisfying on a...
read moreMake your own rosehip tea
“Those two rose bushes beside the back door are totally out of control and need cutting back.” Danny remarked back in June. I couldn’t oblige as I was planning to make tea. The bushes got more and more flamboyant until they were given a harvesting haircut at the weekend. There are lots of roses growing in the cottage garden so we have a profusion of hips for preserving in the Autumn. I usually make rosehip and apple jelly and sometimes rosehip syrup but this year I’d discovered the huge benefits of drinking rosehip tea. This would...
read moreRabbit mushroom and tarragon casserole recipe
Finding myself with 600g of diced wild rabbit and no pheasant to go into a game casserole, I decided to glide onto the internet for inspiration and found this delicious recipe on We Are Never Full. Unfortunately I didn’t have some essential ingredients such as bacon so I made my own version using the tarragon, mushrooms, white wine and cream as a starting point. The slow cooker was busy cooking the shin of beef disguised as a pheasant so I cooked the rabbit very slowly on the stove top. It took over three hours and was wonderful – the...
read moreA great recipe for green tomatoes
It’s beginning to feel quite chilly here so I harvested the remnants of the outdoor tomatoes this afternoon. Gentle warmth on this south west facing windowsill will gradually ripen the green ones that I don’t want to use now. I’ve bottled (canned) masses of tomatoes, pickled some and made passata to last us through the winter. A lot of our harvest has been dehydrated for use throughout the year. I know that I should be developing a green tomato chutney recipe but I’m indulging myself and am going to make Rozanne Hall’s green...
read moreThe slow cooker chef: Apple and Orange butter recipe
“Taste this.” “What kind of fruit is that? It’s gorgeous. It would be great with the duck legs.” With 25 kilos of apples to turn into something delicious that would not put us off apples for life, I was experimenting with orange and apple butter. Simmered for hours in the slow cooker to increase the depth of flavour. The end result tastes tropical, almost like mangoes and apricots and has a wonderful deep orangey colour. Fabulous to use as a sauce for chops, chicken or even fish. A tablespoon would lift the apples in a pie. It’s...
read moreDuck legs with mango sauce on a bed of saffron rice recipe
“What are you doing? I thought we were having plums with the duck.” Danny’s eyes flicked across the green mango skins on the chopping board. I had planned to make a duck leg version of our duck breasts in a fresh plum sauce but have overdosed on plums recently. So when I spotted a pile of mangoes in the fridge – waiting to be turned into Mango Chutney I decided to make a little less chutney and use a plump mango as the fruit base for this recipe. I’m pleased that I did. This recipe is really easy and tastes superb – don’t...
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