Finally, after a little bit of rain the wild blackberries (or brambleberries) are starting to swell and close to being perfect for picking! I always pick too many, so after soaking and drying I bag up and place in the freezer.
Some days only pasta will do and some days it’s nice to get a little creative about what to serve up with your lashings of comfort inducing pasta! This recipe balances the comfort of pasta and a creamy sauce with the summery flavours of Burren Smoked Trout (buy it here), garden peas and spring onions.
Continue reading “Smoked Trout Tagliatelli with Creamy Mustard Sauce”
I absolutely love an affogato as a desert! If you have excellent ingredients to start of with, then this is a quick mid-week desert that screams of luxury but takes just minutes to assemble.
This dish makes for a lovely light dinner on a warm sunny evening! Tasty, zingy, smokey and piquante it just about hits all the tastebuds smack in the mouth!
This is a much lighter take on the classic American version of Chicken Parma, perfect for a late summers evening!
Continue reading “Chicken Parma with Corn Salsa and Baked Potato Chips”
Part of this meal is highly controversial. No, not the pork; and no, it’s not the Bean Casserole. It’s the Celebration Sweet Potato!
Continue reading “Maple Drenched Aromatic Pork with Celebration Sweet Potato and Bean Casserole”
<groan> OK, bad joke, but it always makes me giggle – that’s just me and my silly sense of humour! But, it does get me nice and quickly onto the topic of new found love of Mexican Food, and it started out like this….
Continue reading “Think Mexican Food is Nacho Thing? Let’s Taco ‘Bout it!”
I knocked this glass of heavenly loveliness the morning before heading off on a short trip and was desperate to use up some left over ingredients. Turns out, my leftovers are actually little miracles waiting to be born. Continue reading “Mango, Coconut and Lime Smoothie”
All of a sudden the weather has changed and the nights are becoming noticably shorter. It’s not quite woolly jumpers, beef stew and roaring fires kind of weather yet, but there is no doubting that even my tastebuds are noticing the change in weather and veering towards the more comforting flavours of autumn. This is the best time of year to mix the end of the summer with the start of the autumn with your flavours when cooking in gentle preparation for the winter coming. I think that this dish delivers completely on this need.
Continue reading “Harissa Spiced Cannon of Lamb with Fruity Cous Cous and Chargrilled Courgettes”
If you like your beef barely cooked and you are lucky enough to have access to a quality craft butcher, then beef carpaccio is the dish for you!
Finally, after a little bit of rain the wild blackberries (or brambleberries) are starting to swell and close to being perfect for picking! I always pick too many, so after soaking and drying I bag up and place in the freezer.
Try this simple but tasty jam which you can make from frozen berries for a little bit of luxury to spread on your toast or homemade scones, mix in with your yoghurt, spoon over ice cream or swirl into a comforting bowl of warm rice pudding! The vanilla gives this jam a luxurious velvety flavour.
Ingredients:
Method:
Place the berries, lemon juice and water into a large non-stick pan and bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat and simmer the fruit mix uncovered for about 20 minutes.
Add all of the sugar and stir continually over the heat until the sugar is fully disolved.
Add in the vanilla seeds and the halved pod.
Bring the mix back to the boil and leave to boil uncovered stirring occasionally.
Cook the mix for anything from 15 minutes to 30 minutes until you get the right consistency.
The jam should coat the back of a spoon and feel sticky to the touch. Under cook it and it will not set in the jar when cooling and overcooking will make it set hard in the jar and become inedible.
When the jam is at the right consistency dig out the two halves of the vanilla pod and discard.
Sterilise your jam jars – this recipe will fill about 4 of the “Bonne Maman” jam jars.
Fill the jars with your jam when it is hot and fill.
If you properly sterlise your jars, there is no need to add the silicone seal.
These jams will keep in your fridge for about 4 months quite happily.
Label up your jam, and decorate as frivolously as you dare….and Enjoy!
Maybe it’s the fact that there is no denying the nights are getting shorter and, despite the Indian Summer, there is a chill in the evening air but my thoughts are more and more turning to comfort food and nothing says comfort to me more than a great big hug of a pudding! This baked cheesecake recipe is not for the faint hearted – it is extremely calorific! But with the flavours of far flung Asia it will still get you thinking about the long hazy days of summer whilst preparing your hips and waistline for a long cold winter!
Continue reading “Triple Chocolate, Ginger, Lime, Mint and Chilli Baked Cheesecake”
Did you have a roast chicken for sunday lunch? I bet it was tasty! But maybe you have some meat left on the carcass and you’re wondering what to do with it instead of feeding it to the dogs or throwing it in the bin? Well, let me help you out with my quick and easy “throw it together” recipe for an awesome caesar salad!
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