Red Pepper and Chilli Jam Recipe
Image – Red Pepper Garlic and Chilli Jam When I visit Seraphina on the Isle of Wight I always fit in a trip to The Garlic Farm. They have a good restaurant and a wonderful little shop packed full of foodie delights, and of course garlic in all its forms. This is where I had my first taste of their Red Pepper, Garlic and Chilli Jam. I put two jars straight in my basket. My Red Pepper, Garlic and Chilli Jam is inspired by their delicious savoury jam. It is such a versatile preserve – spread on oatcakes with a little cheese on...
read moreRecipe for rare fillet steaks with a green peppercorn and cream sauce
I spotted a fillet of beef joint on the Tesco butcher’s counter. It had a good dark colour and I reckoned that it would taste great. As a payday treat I asked for two small fillet steaks about 2cm/0.8 inches deep. I rushed home with the bounty – Danny would cook the steaks and I’d make the green peppercorn and cream sauce. Green peppercorns are sold ‘wet’ in small jars of brine. They are crunchy and reasonably hot but don’t have the kick of dried black peppercorns. I love them. One of the easiest sauces to make is a...
read moreRecipe for quick and delicious horseradish and mayonnaise sauce
Photo: ©Marie Iannotti Danny found some thin steaks to flash fry on the CFC recently. Having been holed up in bed with a bug for a few days I fancied some lean meat – so one of these was a perfect introduction to something a bit more substantial than soup. We ate the steaks with low fat oven fries and a simple tossed salad. Just before everything was about to be served I decided that I’d like a piquant sauce. Mustard or horseradish would be too strong so I mixed a little horseradish with mayonnaise and came up with this sauce. Simple,...
read moreRich ragout sauce recipe for the slow cooker or crock pot
Spaghetti bolognaise is a favourite in the cottage. Our recipe is high on vegetables and low on meat – delicious and economical, it’s difficult to tire of it. I cook it in the slow cooker and freeze it in bags flattened to about half an inch (one and a half centimetres) so that it can be gently unfrozen in a frying pan (lid on) when needed. No waiting for defrost! The slow cooker/crock pot really enhances the flavours of this dish. I’ve tried cooking it on the stove top but it just doesn’t taste as good. In March this year I didn’t...
read moreIn search of a good salad dressing
Over 20 years ago, when I was married to my ex-husband B, we went to supper with one of his old college friends. Let’s call her Lucy. She had lived in Italy for a while and this is where she’d met her Italian husband. We’ll call him Maximus. They had a little girl – very pretty and bright so I think that Bella would be a good name to protect her privacy. Somehow the evening was awkward. Perhaps they had had a row? Possibly we had – I just don’t remember. They were living in a rented flat. Maximus didn’t speak much...
read moreNew flavoursome spaghetti bolognaise sauce recipe cooked in the slow cooker/crock pot
Danny is picky about pasta. Won’t eat macaroni and the thought of penne has him panicking that I might actually have finally got up the nerve to cook it for him. “I like linguine, spaghetti, angel hair.” “Tagliatelle?” “Maybe.” I don’t ever mention ravioli since this terrible disaster. We eat a lot of spaghetti bolognaise. Frozen in flat ziplock bags it takes just half an hour max from freezer to plate. We’ve been eating versions of our patent recipe for years and I decided to see if I could make it tastier. I have to let...
read moreTwo easy apple sauce recipes
Apple sauce is so easy to make and it’s versatile too. Fabulous with pork, duck or goose it can also be added to cakes, pastries, used in crumbles and as a topping for cereals or yoghurt. Here are two apple sauce recipes. One making apple sauce from scratch and the other using leftover apple must from making jelly. Way back I would have chucked the apple must but now we are trying to use everything that comes our way and it’s fun. There’s a word of warning though if you are an apple sauce making virgin. Having made your own apple...
read moreSimple nasturtium seed tartar sauce recipe. Seasonal food.
I had a hankering for scampi yesterday and mid meal decided to run up a quick tartar sauce. We made quite a few small jars of pickled nasturtium seeds last Autumn. Fiddly to gather but well worth the effort as they pickle well and they taste like hot capers but with more of a satisfying crunch. Towards the end of the season the nasturtium seeds get much larger and hotter! Danny doesn’t like capers but he loves nasturtium seeds – pickled and raw. As speed was of the essence I just doled out a tablespoon of mayonnaise and added the...
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