Raspberry Roulade - My opinion on that is…

swindon web TV

2012-05-01T15:56:00.000-07:00

I have had a great day today! I did a little filming with Swindon Web TV at a lovely garden centre near Swindon called John Toomer.
I did a little interview with a charming chap called Alastair Greener for the online TV channel last month at Stanton House Hotel in their Yakiniku restaurant. We had an excellent experience in this unusual setting grilling our own meats and eating them with pickles and all things Japanese! They asked me if we could get together and do a cookery slot each month so today was the start of a great friendship with Swindon web TV, Alastair and me.
When I arrived at the garden centre, I was greeted with a beautiful backdrop of vegetable seedlings, herbs and flowers. Setting up amongst the rosemary and lavender the weather cleared and we got on with the shoot.
Arkells are a local brewery to me. They brew all sorts of beers and today I decided to use one of them, Wiltshire Gold, for my recipe. A beautiful light summery ale with a malty, sweet yet hoppy flavour. Really nice! So a quick spring dish seemed just the ticket.

prep time 15 minutes
cooking time 25 minutes
serves 2-3

2 tbsp goose fat or olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2 large chicken breasts or even better, 6 skinless thighs
6 chantenay carrots, in 1/4's
2 sticks celery, thickly sliced
2 sprigs thyme
400ml light ale
1 tbsp black treacle
sea salt and black pepper
8 spring onions
1/4 spring cabbage in wedges
2 tbsp chopped curly parsley

Heat the goose fat in a large deep frying pan. Cook the onions for 5-8 minutes until just starting to colour. Add the garlic and cook for a few minutes more.
Add the chicken and cook on a high heat to colour. Scatter in the carrots, celery and thyme then pour in the beer. stir through the black treacle, season then simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
Add the spring onions and cabbage, cover then simmer for a further 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the parsley, stir it through then serve the chicken with a lovely dollop of mash potato and perhaps a cold glass of cider.

This is so easy. One pot cooking at it's simplest and lovely for now with the cold, damp weather threatening us daily!
Change the recipe to suit you, adding seasonal vegetables and perhaps swapping the beer for cider.

biscuit or cookie?

2012-04-29T14:21:00.002-07:00

The term cookie really irritates me. About the same amount, actually, as when someone calls a cupcake a muffin. There are differences, aren't there? I don't mind any or all of these name tags but it would be great if they were attributed to the correct thing!
I believe that the term biscuit originates from the Middles Ages and from the word bisquite. It also takes roots from the word bescuit which, in somple terms means twice cooked. So in essence the sweet round thing called a biscuit should be crunchy. Cookies are soft.
I made some really great biscuits today. It was that rain again, it keeps me baking! I also had some oatmeal in my cupboard which I wanted to use up along with cranberries, too and so I decided to get cracking!

makes about 12
prep time 15 minutes
cooking time 12-15 minutes
75g butter
75g soft brown sugar
1/2tsp vanilla extract
75g oatmeal
75g plain flour
75g dried berries

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Line a baking sheet or 2 with parchment.
Cream the butter and sugar together. I like to use a fork as when you get to the flour stage, it presses in really well. Stir in the vanilla and then pour in the flour and oatmeal.
So, using the fork, press the mixture together vigorously until everything starts to come together in to clumps of dough. Lastly, add the berries and then bring everything together using your hand.
Roll the dough in to bobbles about the size of a walnut and place on to the baking sheet. They will spread, so give them a healthy amount of room! Use a fork to flatten the dough then bake for 12-15 minutes until the biscuits are golden. Serve with a steaming cuppa!

Harley loves having homemade goodies in his lunchbox and it's great as I know exactly what he is eating! Much cheaper than ready made, too!

Gotta love the rain!

2012-04-27T06:40:00.003-07:00

Today took a lovely, unexpected turn. My friend's daughter spent the morning with us and then the rain decided to visit too! All a fabulous recipe for doing some baking, me thinks!
I have a really small house with 2 cupboards full of baking ingredients, both of which get topped up when I write recipes. So I dug deep down and found all sorts of jewels. Well, maybe I mean many bags of opened flaked almonds, pinenuts and cranberries amongst other things!
We decided that some florentines would be the ultimate thing to make and extremely easy too.
When you make these, use whatever you fancy! There is such a cornucopia of dried fruits available now, tailor the recipe to your favourite ones! Similarly, the chocolate could be milk, plain or white but just please make sure you use a good one! What I have not told you to do tho, is use tempered chocolate. So what will happen is that the chocolate will bloom. Now, all this means is that you will see white streaks in the chocolate, but don't worry, it is just the cocoa butter rising to the surface. You can buy ready tempered chocolate, but actually, I think that the florentines wont last long enough to warrant it!!

makes 10
prep time 10 minutes
cooking time 10-12 minutes
50g butter
50g demerara sugar
50g golden syrup
50g plain flour
125g mixed dried fruits and nuts
250g good chocolate, melted

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Melt together the butter, sugar and syrup. Stir in the flour, mixing well then add the fruits and nuts.
Place teaspoonfuls on to the baking tray spreading them well apart.
Bake for 10 minutes until golden.
Let them cool and then coat the flat side with chocolate. Leave it to set, then munch away with a cup of delicious tea or a glass of rivesaltes.

~These florentines are lovely to wrap up as a gift - if you can bear to part with them!

retro living

2012-03-01T15:48:00.000-08:00

In our house, what could be classed as retro food has never really gone out of fashion! I love the kitsch dishes of the 70's and 80's, they bring back good memories of some of my childhood food revelations!
Whilst shopping today, I spotted shell on prawns that Harley was keen on buying for our lunch.
I was going to eat the little chaps cold with some lemon but looking at them shot me back to about 1987 when I worked in my Dad's hotel in Cornwall. We used to cook copious amounts of shell on prawns in various guises but my favourite will always be garlic butter. The intoxicating smell of the shells cooking in the hot butter, warming up all of the essential oils in the prawns, that produces such a beautiful smell.
So, a big lump of butter goes in to a large frying pan. Melt it until it starts to bubble a little then throw in a couple of crushed cloves of garlic. Add the prawns and cook for around 5 minutes. Lastly, just before serving, scatter in a handful of chopped parsley and a squeeze in half a lemon. Stir well and serve with lots of crusty bread and a finger bowl! Lovely.

Back then, a measurement of prawns in a pub was often in a half pint or a pint glass. A dollop of mayo and the obligatory finger bowl as mentioned before. Placing it down in, you would live in the hopes that the customer doesn't think it is some kind of weird soup!
Prawns also put me in mind of my first cat. He used to love the empty shells that came back from the restaurant. He loved to crunch them even if they were covered in chilli! It sounds a little like Fawlty Towers sketch to me!I wonder if there was ever a health inspector eating at the time!!
Anyway, Harley never had any prawns today, he wanted a peanut butter sarnie!

left overs!

2012-01-24T15:45:00.000-08:00

It seems a crying shame to me to put any sort of food in the bin! And there is something inherently satisfying about making a meal from bits and pieces left behind from headier times.
I love making a really simple soup with a cooked chicken carcass. Just strip off any left over cooked meat, bubble the bones in water with some vegetables - if you want. Then dice things like carrots, onions, mushrooms, leek, courgettes softening them in some butter or olive oil, then pour over the stock adding some woody herbs. Simmer until the vegetables are tender adding some rice to thicken. Season well and serve with some crusty bread. If you didnt want soup, perhaps just adding the rest of the cooked meat to a risotto or make a lovely retro fricassee!
Tonight I fancied some rice so I just made a kind of jambalaya. I love one pot cooking!

to serve 2...
chop up a good handful of each celery, onion and courgettes and soften in a generous glug of olive oil. add a crushed clove of garlic if you fancy and cook for a moment more. if you have any, slice some chorizo at this point, it will really add flavour, so let it fry out so it starts release its oil. add 3 good handfuls of basmati rice along with a teaspoon of smoked paprika and stir to coat everything in the oily juices. pour in stock to a ratio of double stock to rice and add a little extra stock cube if you want! throw in some herbs like bay and thyme then season and simmer for about 10 minutes. scatter in some peas and sweetcorn if you have some and then any cooked chicken left from the carcass. Some prawns straight from the freezer, too, then bubble for around 10 minutes adding a little more stock if you think it needs it. serve with nothing more than a chilled glass of sauvignon!

gifts for friends!

2012-01-20T16:28:00.000-08:00

I love nothing more than taking something home-made as a gift when invited out to supper. Quite often, taking wine or a bottle is kind of redundant as the host will have most likely shopped for everything anyway!
So, our friend whom we visited tonight, really loves shortbread and brownies. And luckily for me, particularly the ones I make. So my son, Harley's choice was to take some shortbread. I bought butter and a bar of good chocolate to make it chocolate chunk and once Harley was ensconced with his best friend playing hotwheels, I set about in the kitchen. Finding no caster sugar I decided to use light muscovado sugar for the matter in hand, which turned out to be delicious! The texture and flavour was very different and the colour rich and golden. We liked it so here is the recipe! I use a tin that I don't need to grease, but you may need to if you are unsure of yours.

1 cold pack butter, diced
325g plain flour
125g light muscovado sugar
100g good chocolate, milk or dark

Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.get a swiss roll tin ready.
place the butter, flour and sugar in to a large bowl and rub in using your fingertips until all of the butter has been rubbed in to the flour. This is not so easy as a scone or pastry, say as the ratio of butter to flour is high.
Once all of the lumps of butter has been rubbed in the mixture will start clumping together. Scatter in the chocolate at this stage and then mix it through the crumbly dough.
Spread the dough evenly over the tin and then press it down hard with the heel of your hand, evenly as you can and making sure you go around the edges with your finger tips.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden then remove from the oven and sprinkle a little more sugar. Cut in to small pieces about 3cm square and leave to cool.
Wrap in a clear bag and tie with some coloured raffia or ribbon. Pass on to your friends with pride!

blast from the past

2012-01-15T14:38:00.001-08:00

New Year's resolution....write more blog posts!
Anyway, out at my friend Sally Ann's house for lunch today was a fun affair. Not only did we visit people we love being with but we ate great food and met their crazy Aunt Liz.
We have heard so many incredible and unbelievable stories about her, it was good to finally put a face to the name. Seventy something and from a farming background, she was lively and fascinating. and pretty eccentric too. Sally Ann had told me that Aunt Liz ate woodcock brains on toast and was also under the impression that I was very in to offal and had also brought some of her books to show me. Yeh, thanks for that Sally Ann!

Well the upshot was that one of the books Aunt Liz had brought, was a book that the family cook, Violet Buckingham had written and noted in during her service with the family 70 years ago. It was so very good to see a piece of history like that with newspaper clippings and recipes noted down. It certainly made me come home and want to write everything I do down in a book to pass on through the family. Aunt Liz had also brought with her 2 scrap books with recipes from magazines and some written by her grandmother and mother. But I dont think anything I stick in to a scrap book will be as interesting as how to make an omelette in the 1960's by a 12 year old in a paisley shirt!
It was a truly wondrous recipe account of her life, and I loved leafing through everything!
And I am definitely going to get my pritt stick out and get collecting myself!

recipe writers

2011-09-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

It certainly has been a while..... life has been hectic over these past summer months! The school holiday has flashed past and I have felt I have not spent enough time doing all of the things I had planned to do with Harley. But really I am not grumbling! I must be doing something right to be so busy with work.
I am still writing recipes for Borough Market and copy for their magazine, too, called Market Life. I really like writing for them, amid all of controversy, as the producers really believe in what they are selling which is evident walking through the arches of Borough. I have my regular work for Waitrose which I have been doing for many years now and then I have a few other regular clients like Roddas and Kallo . But over the summer John and myself have been working on a new baking magazine. I have written some of the recipes but the bulk of the work has been photographing all of the recipes within the magazine which has been a brilliant undertaking. Sourcing Christmas props has been fun yet challenging and we have been getting in the Christmas spirit.
Something I find particularly irksome though, are the quality of the recipes. There are other professional writers on board but the quality of their work is really terrible. Recipes that don't work, missed ingredients and quite frankly, recipes that are not nice.
I know that food is often based on the fact that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but some of these recipes leave you cold...... What I really find astonishing is that most of these people present a client with substandard recipes and want to be paid. I cant imagine they have any pride in their work. When the recipe is submitted it comes with a photo. Well it makes you wonder whether people can actually cook. One of the recipes we have photographed has been giving us grief for weeks. We are going to re-shoot it as the photo is frankly not representative of the recipe. We are trying to iron out these issues.
Anyway, when the magazine comes out, the recipes will work. They have been tested and sorted out!
So, please, if you are going to write a recipe and don't want the food stylist to get ratty trying to make it work, then do it properly!

olive oil!

2011-05-05T16:29:00.000-07:00

Olive oil is a funny thing! We all know that it is good for us, lower in saturated fats and all that. But it seems to have got out of control and a bit centre of attention showing off in dishes where it really should not be! Recipe writers plonking it in a curry say. Well it's not the right flavour so just does not sit right.
With all the chefs using olive oil and the nation being told that extra virgin is much better for us, people - and chefs - are using it for what seems like everything. Even down to frying eggs! But extra virgin has such a strong flavour it truly overpowers things. It holds all the health benefits we are being told about but other oils can show interest in cooking too!
Take mayonnaise for example. Make it with extra virgin and the result will be an over-powering, oddly coloured concoction that wants to be the fore front in the taste stakes leaving behind the crab, lobster or egg you are pairing it with. Try making it with 3/4's ground nut and top up with olive. Do your dressing in the same way. Take a jar, place 2 heaped teaspoons of dijon in it. Add the juice of half a lemon, a good splash of water, sea salt and black pepper and then about 150ml of oil other than extra virgin. Mix blended olive with groundnut or rapeseed, say. Shake well. Oh! What is that I can taste? Is it my tasty lambs lettuce salad?!!
Stir it through pasta at the last moment, dip crusty bread into it, drizzle it over buffalo mozarella, but please give up cooking your curry or beef stew in it!

stock photography

2011-04-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

Last night I spent an interesting and utterly addictive hour looking at stock photography. I really could not believe how awful most of it is!
My photographer husband has recently done some talks to a design company about the benefits of having bespoke pictures for food and after looking at stocks ones I can clearly see why!
It has kind of been a mystery to me -as a recipe writer and food stylist - as to why a magazine, for instance, would use a stock picture that does not quite equate to the recipe as it is not a true representation of the recipe for starters. But really it is not cost effective at all, is it? A photographer and home economist can get through a good 8-10 different shots depending on the styling. Those pictures can then be used for anything for as long as they are needed. No time limit or even stipulation as to where they can be used. From those shots there will be more than 1 picture, too. So a day's shoot could produce dozens of pictures.
The level of photography in a lot of these pictures is flat and contains no flair or creativity. The lighting can be wrong, shadows in many of the wrong places! And the food styling is dire. I wonder if the food stylist has any pride or even skill?
Can these photographers call themselves professional or are they just amateurs hoping to make a bit of cash on the side? It is so easy nowadays to buy a professional camera and with all the money kicking around many people are thinking they can just jump on the band wagon. I am happy to say, though, that out of the dozens of pictures I stared open mouthed at, not one had actually been downloaded!
Maybe designers have sense after all!

children and food

2011-02-13T14:52:00.000-08:00

It makes me feel quite ratty when I hear people saying that good food is wasted on children. I was watching a programme not so long ago and the person cooking - I sadly cannot recall who - gave their opinion that children don't appreciate good ingredients and what they were making should be saved for adult consumption only.
This evening I cooked some fish which was most certainly not my best attempt at supper but I realised at 6oclock that I needed to cook as it is a school night so the food needed to be on the table at 6.30 ish. And oops, nothing in the fridge either! So I roasted some fish from the freezer only to be met with distaste at the fact it was too dry and did not taste of much. These comments came not from my husband but Harley, aged 8! Admittedly, I have never deprived Harley of anything. I have always given him what we eat and tried to teach him good values that should surround food.
It makes me feel proud when he is critical and analytical of his food. I really want Harley to understand and know what he is eating. He hates the smell of Macdonalds, wont eat ketchup and is not bothered that I wont let him have crisps in his lunchbox. I can hear the chatter now of you thinking that it is all down to parental influence and I think you are right. But how do all children learn anything? Through adults who lead by example.
I would most definitely want Harley to prefer Green and Blacks to Cadbury chocolate, say. At least then I know his taste buds are in perfect working order!

Borough Market

2011-02-09T15:55:00.000-08:00

First off, sorry to have been so long away! That really is rather lax.
Things have been steady since the new year began with writing taking the forefront in my work.
Last year, I was really lucky to have been asked by Borough Market in London to write a series of recipes for them. Recipes for their magazine and website too, bringing together the traders with a perfect marriage of ingredients and personalities.
Now, living in Wiltshire presents a whole different load of experiences to living in London. I am comfortable amongst the rolling hills and rarely venture into the big smoke for a variety of reasons. But a visit to the market to meet the traders was compulsory so I got myself together and made the trip. Sadly it left me with withdrawal symptoms when I left it behind!
John came with me along with his camera and we spent the day being guided around the most atmospheric and wondrous food market imaginable. Not only were there people selling street food but there were farmers, small producers and smiling faces too.
The market is situated under old railway arches just next to the London Bridge tube station and encapsulates anyone's love of food into one space. I really would love to be able to shop there every day, and I am sure many do. We started off by eating some amazing seafood at Shellseekers. Hand dived oysters and scallops either to take home or eat there and then. I opted for the scallops, cooked with a little bacon and served on a crisp salad in a scallop shell. mmmmmmm...! We then tried cider from Newforest Cider company, cheese from countless delicious stalls, walnut oil from Olivology and the list goes on. As we meandered around the market, it really became evident that there is a genuine love and passion emanating from the traders. This really comes through when you eat their wares. Something you can't get from a supermarket.
So my inspiration for the recipes is never ending. Ideas keep swimming round my head and I can taste and smell the market each time I recall the visit. It's so exciting, realising the ideas gleaned from the market into a dish. And then knowing the recipes are accessible and they work! Check them out on the website!
So get down there if you can. But you definitely wont want to leave!
ps. go to the ginger pig for one of their sausage rolls!

Christmas tidings!

2010-12-21T15:27:00.000-08:00

Something I never do is have family or friends for Christmas at home. We always go to my Dad's actually, where we spend most of the time talking about food, preparing it and eating it! Excitingly, this year we have 4 guests coming to our abode - where the three of us get in each others way as it is! Along with 2 neurotic cats it should be fun. But the aspect most anticipated for myself is the fact that I get to cook. And hopefully someone else will wash up! Classic turkey, stuffed under the skin with copious amounts of Yeo valley butter and herbs, cooked on a high heat entombed in foil. Goose fat potatoes, some good stuffing and one would hope not a sprout in sight. I really like classic flavours executed well at Christmas. For someone who is always having to think of new recipe ideas I like to keep a little to the straight and narrow sometimes! But alongside the turkey lurkey, we are having roast belly pork too. My preferred method of cooking it is to boil it first for about 30 minute, just in water, with a few bay leaves, some peppercorns and some sprigs of a punchy evergreen herb like rosemary. Pat it dry really well before roasting for around 2.5 hours until crunchy and incredibly tender. Use the stock to make some gravy while you are about it, too! Great vegetables like leek au gratin and buttered greens will round off the feasty proceedings, oh! and dont forget the stuffing. Just crumble cooked chestnuts and mix together with toasted almonds or macadamias, breadcrumbs and dried cranberries or cherries. bind with an egg and press into a tin. Use your eye to create the ratio of ingredients you think look right for you, after all, cooking is kind of a blueprint of your personality. Bake for 30 minutes whilst your turkey is having a little rest!
All I think it that you should not get too over zealous about cooking special things unless you feel totally confident. Christmas is a time to indulge, yes, but also to make the most of family, friends and yourself.

mincemeat

2010-11-29T16:09:00.000-08:00

Christmas is a magical time of the year, not only for the spirit of the season but also the food and fun. Preparing for it is half of the fun and increases the anticipation somewhat! I have just made my mincemeat in readiness and what I love about it is that a seed of an idea can be recreated into a flavourful creation without a recipe. Just an idea of perfect friendship and balance can end up in jars of home-made heaven. It is great for gifts too, just a tag, no need for wrapping, the contents is beautiful and speaks for itself.
From as early as the fifteenth century, mincemeat has been made. But traditionally it would have been with meat. Nowadays, just the beef suet remains of this relic of our past cookery. Meat and fruit were popular during Medieval times and spices too, with spices being used by the rich to show wealth, hence these flavours being turned into a pie. Our tastes have come a fair distance in some respects but still we turn our backs on fusion food and look to our past.
The kind of ingredients I like to add to my mincemeat are dried cranberries, cherries and perhaps even blueberries. Fresh fruit will ferment so the idea of gently cooking the mincemeat for a couple of hours is a good one. So to get you on your way, dig around in your cupboard and bring out all of your dried fruits. Pick the ones you would like to combine then add into a large bowl in what ever ratio you like. Nuts are good too, so choose those if you like. Add some suet, beef or vegetable around 1 to 5. Lemon and orange zest and juice are good, then sugar to taste. Light brown or Light muscovado work well. Lastly, add some spice. Mixed will do but invest in a good one. I bought some from an amazing stall in Borough Market not too long ago. The difference was astounding. Fragrant and heady. Macerate for a day then warm in a low oven for 2 hours. This will melt the suet and coat everything, stopping the mincemeats need to run away out of the jar. pack whilst still warm into warm sterilised jars, seal, then sit back and enjoy the moment!

time well spent

2010-11-25T17:18:00.001-08:00

First off, sorry about the different sized fonts. I copied and pasted the recipes from an old document which did not work as expected......! Ooops, too late at night to change it now! Anyway....

I had a fantastic day yesterday working with disadvantaged families in a local school. School funds are a bit of an enigma. I am going to find that out more as I have just been appointed a school governor! But I work with schools under the extended schools brolly where money is allocated to children who have less and need input for whatever reason. So yesterday was about bringing families together, working as a community, appreciating what we do have and giving to those who need it. This may not be giving something material but knowledge and suppport is important in this equation too. 8 families got together in the school hall and made 2 dishes that they then could take home and eat. First we made a simple sausage bake.... just an enormous sausage roll really!

Autumn sausage puff pastry bake

400g sausage meat

100g cheddar, grated or crumbled

1 medium apple, grated

fresh herbs of your choice ie chives, sage, parsley

1 pack puff pastry

1 egg, whisked

Squeeze together with your hand the sausage meat, apple, cheese and herbs until well combined.

Cut the pastry in half and roll out each piece until 1/2cm thick. Fold one piece gently in half and cut at 1cm intervals across the fold leaving a 2cm border on the remaining 3 sides.

Spread the sausage mix over the whole piece of pastry leaving a border. Brush with egg then lay the cut piece over the top matching up 3 sides then unfold to cover the sausage completely. Press the edges down well, then eggwash all over to give a lovely shiny finish.

Bake at 200˚C for 40-45 minutes until risen and golden.

we then embarked on the simplest of cheesecakes after which licking the bowl was most definitely obligatory!

Chocolate and orange cheesecake

serves 2-3

7 large biscuits like digestive or hobnob type biscuits

1 heaped tsp cocoa powder

40g melted butter

3 tbsp greek yoghurt

1 tub cream cheese

2 tbsp icing sugar

juice and zest of 1/2 orange

1 satsuma, peeled and into segments

1 flake

Crush the biscuits in a freezer bag. Add the cocoa and give everything a good shake. Pour in the butter and massage into the crumbs. Gently shake it all out of the bag into a dish and press down with the scrunched up freezer bag.

Mix together the rest of the ingredients and pour onto the biscuit base. Top with the Satsuma and crumble over the flake. Chill for a couple of hours before eating.

These recipes, whilst they may seem ordinary or mundane, were loved by the children and parents that made them. The enjoyment of seeing all these families together, doing an activity they would never do is so important for all involved. I do hope I carry on working with families like these as my time could not have been better spent than enriching the lives with food of these fabulous families.

chocolate lovers!

2010-11-21T16:51:00.000-08:00

Chocolate is a bit of a niggle for me!. When I speak with people about it I am always in shock about the kind they like. I am sorry to say I am just a chocolate snob. I only like cocoa from South America, I only like milk with no less than 34% solids and I don't like chocolate that says it's chocolate when it clearly is not! It's like Macdonalds saying they are a restaurant when they are clearly not!
I did a workshop with some kids yesterday and the recipe was chocolate based so whilst the pudding was in the oven I decided to do a chocolate tasting. The young girl I was working with went out to get some from the shop floor and came back with Lindt 90%, Green and Blacks Butterscotch - could this be my favourite! - and a Cadbury with a name I can't recall. Bliss or something? We broke up the bars into bowls and had the children taste them. The 90% was received quite well considering they children were only 6! The feeling in your mouth is so dry from such a high cocoa content but it is fabulous to cook with, so rich, with good quality cocoa beans which have obviously been fermented properly and made with care. Some of te faces were classic though! The Cadbury was just horrid. It tasted of sweetness. No hint of cocoa and the nuts in this one were the only saving grace. The Green and Blacks, delectable but sadly as it is now owned by Cadbury it does not hold the same feeling for me any more, but that crunchy butterscotch and deep flavour......mmm, well anyway! The children just loved the Cadbury. We did not tell them what it was and still they loved it. I felt saddened as I wondered how unrefined tastebuds seem. Or have they always been that way? I kind of thought that many are brainwashed by Cadbury, or coke or sweets but actually, I now am pondering that perhaps as a nation our taste buds are receding as so many of us are used to eating rubbish. I think this could be a theory, but then again it may not!

edible gifts

2010-11-11T12:49:00.000-08:00

I really can't have been more lucky this year. Whilst our country trickles along in a recession I have been so busy with work I don't know what to do with myself! But as we move on towards Christmas I really want to get more organised and keep a little time for myself as one of my favourite gifts to give to the people i love is, of course, food. Not only does making the gift make you feel good if you love cooking but packaging it and then giving it is terrific too. You can package loads of things up. I recently went to a fantastic new market stall in Par MArket, Cornwall and bought some cornish sea salt with flower petals in it. A pretty jar, some raffia and a homemade label and away we go! Even a jar of jam that you made earlier on in the year with a little pretty fabric. Keep any interesting bottles and one of the easiest edible gifts is flavoured oil. Buy a good olive oil. Sterilise a bottle by placing in a warm oven for ten minutes. Warm the oil until just about body temperature, adding some thick slivers of lemon zest or lush sprigs of rosemary, thyme and peppercorns. Pour into the bottle, gubbins and all then seal with a cork.
Then give with love.

heavenly chocolate

2010-10-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

It’s most certainly coming up to the time of year when our thoughts are turned towards chocolate. The shops are stocking up for Christmas! And I don’t care what men say about not eating it as I know this to be an untruth! Amongst many I know anyway! The nights are turning cold and dark now and a good piece of chocolate suits the mood. But for me, I need a bar of chocolate that does actually taste of more than sweetness. The cheap brands like Cadbury just taste of sugar with not a hint of cocoa. It’s interesting to do a little taste test. A bar with around 26% cocoa solids compared to a bar with 34% solids. The difference is immense. A good bar of dark chocolate should really contain at least 60% cocoa solids. So it’s quite a funny thing when you look at Bournville - which used to be the only dark chocolate available - as it only contains 39%, so hardly more than a quality bar of milk. Use high cocoa solids for cooking and the flavour of your chocolate creation will be astounding. And along the same tracks, a good cocoa makes somewhat of a difference too. These sorts of chocolates are often on offer. Why not spread your wings and go for change! Fairtrade too, if you can. But interestingly, my favourite chocolate, Green and Blacks, is now owned by chocolate giants, Cadbury. This upset me immensely. And I had said I would not buy it, but my taste buds got the better of me. Green and Blacks selling out…….. shame. But the cocoa's flavour overcomes me. the rich intricate flavour of the south american cocoa bean is so different to one grown in Africa, say. compare Divine against G and B's. A real difference.

Try this, melt 200g dark chocolate with 125g butter and 175g sugar. Whisk in 3 large eggs and 2tbsp ground almonds then pour into a 18cm tin that is greased and dusted with almonds. Bake at 180°C/gas mark 4 for 25 minutes. Cool then serve on its own or with cream. serves about 8. Make sure you have a good coffee to offset the sweetness or a well chilled glass of Muscat. Enjoy!

a morning of film

2010-10-07T12:07:00.000-07:00

Ages ago, John said we should be shooting some basic skills videos to go on my website. As is usual with us, it took us an age to get it together and then now we have, we have seen other websites doing the same. An idea is rarely original, is it? Or perhaps we were being bugged!

We had a fun day shooting 5 little videos. Basic skills seem easy to someone like myself who cooks for a living but simple things like chopping an onion are only easy when you know how. My house is relatively small, just a Victorian terrace affair, but the dining room really lends itself to the purpose of film. The day was glorious which helps, too, as John only uses natural light for all of his photography. Sometimes we do a shoot in seriously dull conditions and I find it a constant source of amazement how the picture turns out. To my eyes impossible and to the camera's and operator, easy! We have gone for the homely look, nothing too clinical, but hopefully easy to understand and informative.

So, 5 little videos in the morning and hopefully we can get it together to do some more soon. Look out on my website as we will be posting these up in the very near future!

cooking with kids

2010-08-20T15:19:00.000-07:00

Getting busy in the kitchen with your children can earn them more than just some delicious biscuits. To many though, it is only a rainy day past-time to keep curious fingers out of mischief with edible delights to show for it. But the art of cooking forms the very heart of our fundamental understanding of food. And the many facets of it weave off in all sorts of directions.

So, to begin with, a simple cake or biscuit holds four or five everyday ingredients, all with different tastes and textures, too. Flour from the wheat fields, butter from a cow, eggs from a chicken. No tigers or zebras in sight! And when a child is able to experience a key skill like rubbing in, all manor of emotions are let out. It’s soft, squidgy, silky, sticky. Warm, cold, oh no! it’s yuk. They don’t want to put their hands in, some love it, others are plain scared. But we all need to start somewhere! Sadly mud pies seem to have had their day, hence the consternation when some children are asked to touch the ingredients. They are often taught it is dirty. But the feeling of kneading a batch of warm bread dough is brilliant and one of the most enjoyable workshops with a group of excited children. It doesn’t really matter if it is not kneaded to 8 minutes. It’s the experience that counts.

The alchemy of the recipe starts to become apparent as soon as the first ingredients are introduced to the bowl. Rub the butter in and achieve golden flour with the rich smell of butter. Add the egg and find the mixture may curdle and look like porridge. The addition of self-raising flour will almost instantly produce air bubbles giving the children a chance to see it all happening.

A child’s senses are being bombarded and made to work hard! Not only senses, but they are on a huge learning curve. Following a recipe – with some help maybe! - which will help improve reading and maths and fractions play an enormous part too. Weighing out and measuring are hugely important and used in plenty of activities aside from cooking. Food provenance and sustainability - real buzz words of our time – along with seasonal produce and eating locally are all topical too. And quite apart from all of that, the children will develop motor neurone skills and be disciplined to listen and concentrate. Social skills, too, are an integral part of cooking and eating. Sitting around a table with some great food and your family brings on a sense of interest and develops conversation! Many cultures do business at the table and the heart of many home is the kitchen with smells of baking bringing on feelings of nostalgia, security and comfort. How many times have you heard to bake a loaf of bread if you have someone coming to view your for sale house.

So teaching your children to bake a biscuit could be more far-reaching than you think. We need cooks for the next generation. Ones with old-fashioned, essential skills with a modern take. These skills which can then be applied to baking, making and concocting.

But with all of these things comes an acceptance from us as adults. The ones who have to clear up the mess! Children need to be guided sometimes but need to do it themselves. How can they possibly learn if you take over. It doesn’t matter what shape the biscuit it or how the cake is iced. They will love it and love you for it! The sense of achievement for ones so small is obvious on their little faces. And then the realization that food tastes better when you make it yourself!

Freedom is the kitchen is ace!

Networking

2010-08-18T15:43:00.000-07:00

It's a funny thing how technology goes. I can't keep up with it myself. Good job I have my husband John to keep me in line with it all! Something I am not so keen on is a social networking site like Facebook but I have decided to take the plunge and have joined linked in and twitter. Why not follow me, so I am not left out and get bored with it! I will try and tweet interesting stuff, not just when I am hanging out my washing. It most definitely will be food related!

Jamaican Bananas

2010-08-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

Forget your street cred! We turned all a little food retro today.

we were at a friend's house lately, and we had, o ice-cream I think it was. So on the table, we had a tub of ice-cream, some fruit like strawberries and blueberries, a bit of choccy sauce and a can of Anchor squirty cream. I don't think I have had this since my Dad used to make me Jamaican bananas when I was about ten ( a long time ago!)

I did not want to admit it but it was lovely! So Harley and I bought a can - on his insistence of course!- for us to have on, well, anything or even nothing. So tonight, he had a hot chocolate with copious amounts of squirty cream. I am not saying that it is any comparison to Roddas clotted cream. It has it's own unique taste!

Try it, you wont regret it.

Jamaican Bananas

serves 2

50g butter

50g soft brown sugar

2 large bananas

a good glug of rum

Melt the butter and sugar in a large frying pan. Slice the bananas add to the pan and stir gently to coat in the toffee mixture. Cook for around 4-5 minutes to soften the banana. Throw in the rum, flambee then serve with cream. One of the best instant puddings alive!

Come rain or shine

2010-08-11T16:40:00.000-07:00

There is nothing like a barbecue really, and I know I have harped on a few times about them but they are always different, easy and sociable. We have spent the last week in Cornwall staying with my Dad. The weather has been rubbish and I have not been too much on the healthy side, but we did manage to get to the beach for a barbecue. And a swim!

Homemade burgers, good sausages, big beef tomatoes that have been seasoned well and a glass of cold white is certainly delicious. Even Harley partook in some Freixenet. It was fortuitous that my step-mum had forgotten the wine. This meant a little jaunt to to Veryan and found a fab little village shop with quaffable chilled wine.

We certainly were keeping a British stiff upper lip as it was not warm August weather but the chocolate brownie we ate afterwards made up for it!

Melt 2 bars of Green and Blacks 70% chocolate with 150g butter. Whisk in 2 eggs along with 250g demerera sugar. Next mix in 125g self raising flour until everything is well combined then pour into a greased 22cm square tin. Experiment with scatterings of white chocolate chunks, pecan nuts or marshmallows. Leaving plain is good too, then bake at 180C for 15 minutes.

Wizard.

in the arctic

2010-07-14T14:06:00.000-07:00

We had a fantastic barbecue on Saturday with some of our closest friends. Simple food, well cooked by John and enjoyed by all of us. Needless to say that we had a mammoth amount of food left over!

So changing the subject a little, I am not a big fan of bread. I adore making it but don't so much enjoy eating it. It's mostly too wodgy and actually, I shouldn't eat it as I am annoyingly intollerant to wheat. But we went to Ikea recently and I bought some arctic bread from there. I had used it before when I worked for my good friend Jem in Bristol. It is a soft, flat bread. Just about 1cm thick and really soft.

So back to the barbecue - but lets fuse the two subjects together. We had some little chicken and chorizo skewers left over from the party so we cooked them until sizzling then filled one of these

fabulous little breads with crispy lettuce, chicken, roasted tomatoes, rocket picked from the garden and a scratch of mayonnaise. All of this made a truly delicious supper, in the garden, with my family. Priceless.

glow baby, glow!

2010-07-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

We know a family that have a farm up on the Ridgeway. They have two boys with whom Harley gets on really well and a pretty fab living space. They invited us up there last week as it is glow worm season. I didn't even know what a glow worm was until I saw one on Springwatch this year, so I was really excited to go and see them - perhaps! I thought it was a fantastic opportunity for Harley too. Even though I try to expose him to as much of the natural world as possible there are some things that, unless you are in the know, you wont ever see.

So we arrived at Sally Anne's house to be greeted by a big group of junior young farmers having an interactive talk with insects. Preying mantis, locusts, giant land snails, you name it, Sally Anne has it. However, what caught my eye was what was hanging over the sink. A fresh honeycomb, still in the frame, straight from the hive. I have never tasted honey like it. Even with the wax, the taste was pure ambrosia. The texture even will never be experienced from a shop bought one.

Not only has Sally Anne got all these insects - and her family! - but she has a barn owl. So we saw him being fed too with a chick from the freezer. Defrosted of course! As well as chicks Sally Anne produced a snake from these chilly climes. Beautiful in it's frozen form. You couldn't make it up could you?!

What a fantastic evening that could probably never be recreated.

Oh! and the glow worms! We saw 2 only. But I would probably have never have had the opportunity to see 1 so I think we are all pretty privileged. Especially when Harley held one too. And who cares that we were home at 1am!