A new coleslaw dressing recipe
I’m a big mustard fan. I always make fresh English mustard (Colman’s) from powder when we are having steak. I also have a passion for French’s mustard – with sausages ideally. I like the little sombrero hat that acts as a lid and the funny windy, squishy sound when you squeeze the pack. In fact one day when we were preparing lunch one day – soup and sandwiches – I thought Danny’s table matters had really gone downhill. When I heard that sound I thought that he was sampling the soup rather than adding some zing to the...
read moreRecipe to add zest to boiled rice, frittata and other dishes
Simple boiled rice, such as good basmati, or a dish like frittata can be a joy, especially if you add a little something to lift it above the ordinary. In my wilder years, I learned to cook by trial and error after accepting a position in a Chelsea, London household even though I did not have the foggiest idea of even how to boil an egg. Nowadays I would probably be summarily fired after Day Two but this couple were exceptionally kind people. On this blog I call them Smart Wife and Kind Husband. In England, the term Smart means relatively...
read moreBottled fruit: enjoying the bounty seven months later
When I sat down to savour the superb third day of creamy Greek yoghurt and organic blackberries and blueberries bottled last October from our own garden, I just had to take a photo. This is now pasted on the kitchen wall to remind me how good bottled fruit is when I’m caught up in the bottling frenzy that dominates September and October. I do enjoy bottling fruit but sometimes it seems a bit of a palaver if I have other things to do. Sitting by the pond on a clear and sunny morning as the fruit and yoghurt combination burst in my mouth I...
read moreBaby turnip, Romano pepper and continental onion salad recipe. With a homemade walnut vinegar dressing.
Danny and I spent all day yesterday developing a tasty slow cooked spare rib recipe. I reckon that we eventually pulled it off as the dish was guzzled very fast and everything was almost licked clean. You can find our spare rib recipe here. I wanted to serve the ribs with rice and a crisp salad. Finely sliced Oasis baby turnips were top of my list to try. I teamed two turnips with a couple of continental spring onions and a slim Romano pepper. The turnips were sweet and spicy – rather like a more succulent radish. The dressing was a...
read moreTurnip Oasis: a review
Last year Danny was surprised how much he enjoyed raw home grown cauliflower and raw courgette (zucchini) in salads. This year I thought I’d tickled his taste buds further by introducing him to raw home grown turnip. I’m not a big fan of turnips – they are fine in a winter stew but I’d been seduced by the description of turnip Oasis on the Thompson and Morgan site. Turnip Oasis is a new variety of turnip and when eaten raw has the taste of a melon. Danny was dubious about it. “Why would I want my turnips to taste of melon? I want...
read moreBest recipes for leftovers: roast potato, broccoli and stilton frittata recipe
“Are you really up for making a frittata. It’s such a palaver, peeling and boiling all those potatoes.” “I’m not doing potatoes.” Danny was horrified. “But we have to have potatoes. That’s the best bit.” “I’m using the left over roast potatoes from Sunday.” “Oh. I didn’t know there were leftovers.” Ever since Veronica left a comment saying that a frittata is a great way of using up leftovers I’ve been determined to do just that. The problem is that we don’t have many leftovers as they are usually guzzled by...
read moreShitake mushroom and cream sauce recipe
Yesterday Danny bought two T bone steaks from Tennant’s in Newmarket for a treat. He also grabbed a bargain at Waitrose – 150g of shitake mushrooms for 29p. “I’m going to try making a simple mushroom sauce like the one you made to go with the calves liver last week.” The calves liver came from the Tesco CFC. Another treat bargain. I’d thought that my sauce was a real winner but Danny’s sauce won hands down in the mushroom and cream sauce stakes. Now I can see why people are happy to spend two or three quid on a small carton of...
read moreRevisiting oven baked cheese toasties
I was going to write about Darina Allen’s toasties and when I looked the recipe up on the Internet I discovered that I’d written about them before. On Friday, faced with two crusts of bread, a lump of cheese and two bantam eggs I made them again using Andrew this time. They were scrummy. If you are going down the Andrew route put the toasties on the metal tray on the lowest rack and grill for 12-15 mins at 200c. Just enough time to have a shower and dress before brunch! And of course, cheese on toast is the perfect excuse to tuck...
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