compost heap jelly

Doesn’t sound nice does it?  My compost heaps smell of wilting weeds, wood ash, earth, vegetable peelings and chicken and duck poo.  But it’s not my choice of name, but the one given by Preserves – River Cottage handbook 2.  The name  is because the jelly is made from things that would have gone on [...]

Read Full Post »

dyeing with rhubarb

I pulled the first of our rhubarb at the weekend – and delicious it was too, made into a crumble.  It’s been a couple of years of waiting, since we moved house, bringing with us part of the crown from the old place, and then planting two new plants.. then changing our mind about where they were and moving [...]

Read Full Post »

Chinese new year & valentines

What to do when two things to celebrate arrive on the same day? well.. celebrate both of course.  Not that we *do* valentines of course, but some homemade cards swapped hands anyhow.. For Chinese new year, we cooked at home – and a chance to try out a recipe from my new cookbook, World Kitchen. This is [...]

Read Full Post »

pâté

I do like offal.  Not only is it versatile and tasty, but often very cheap.  When you raise your own animals for slaughter, you receive plenty of offal, and we very much enjoy the treat that is it. For a start, on slaughter day, we have a first taste with a dinner of fresh liver, [...]

Read Full Post »

haw ketchup

As I mentioned in my last post, we had a go at the haw ketchup recipe in the River cottage preserves book, and we are converts. Haws now join the list of wild foods actually worth foraging for.  Not that it’s actually hard to get enough haws.. they are out in masses. I won’t actually [...]

Read Full Post »

autumn forage

I’m a bit nonplussed, underwhelmed even   about foraging. My Dad, an ex boy scout, was always telling us of things we could eat… you know.. like hawthorn leaves. So us kids would dutifully pick a leaf and chew it.. and wonder why anyone would bother.  The truth is, although there are a lot of things [...]

Read Full Post »

apple and blackberry cordial

So, I was thinking to myself, now it is the jamming and preserving end of the year, that a cook can never have too many books on the subject. Not that I am very good at all at following other people’s recipes – but I like to flick through and be inspired by ideas etc, [...]

Read Full Post »

meat

You may have noticed, that I am a meat eater.  I don’t say this apologetically, as I am a thinking meat eater, and am happy with my decision. I have thought about it for most of my life. I grew up in a household that encouraged us to think about it – we always kept [...]

Read Full Post »