Beautiful brassicas

You might remember that I used to write a monthly blog for Francoise Murat Design about season British food. Well,Francoise has had the blog redesigned and its now called Rendez-vous Deco &Jardin,it looks lovely and I’m please to say I’m back doing my monthly feature.

My first piece was on how versatile brassicas are in the kitchen are and how useful they can be in in the lean vegetable months before the UK growing season gets into swing.

You can read the article here,its packed with ideas on how to use brassicas from spicy to [...]

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Talking turkey

turkey displaying plummage

It’s pretty much the hottest day of the year and I’m about to eat a full Christmas dinner in deepest Berkshire. Just what is going on. Especially as I’m not turkey’s number one fan. It’s okay but to date its not had a guaranteed place on my christmas table….

When I was a kid we always had roast turkey for Christmas dinner and it was good,but it never seemed as nice as the excitement it generated amongst everyone else. For me it was never quite a tasty and juicy as roast chicken. Maybe the plethora of trimmings overshadowed [...]

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Lamb-chetta

Rolled and tied lamb with extra herbs tucked under string

Last weekend I was casting around for what to do with some lamb breast and neck I had defrosted and the weather seemed to good for hearty stews. I asked the hive mind that is twitter and carried on flipping though cook books for inspiration. At roughly the same time as I was eyeing up a porchetta recipes Chris from La Hogue Farm shop suggested a herby stuffing and wrapping the breast round the neck.

And so I set out to make lamb-chetta.

I didn’t want too dense a stuffing so I decided to simply use lots of fresh herbs.

[...]

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Soups and Stocks

Roasted root vegetable soup with cheese

Although spring definitely feels like it might be on the way some days are still pretty cold and so a warming soup is just what’s needed,here’s some thoughts on soup I wrote for Francoise Murat &Associates newsletter in January. I think I might just have soup for lunch tomorrow.

January is a funny month. For some people it feels slow and difficult,winter is most definitely with us,its cold and its dark,summer seems such a long way off whichever way you look at it. For others it’s a chance to think afresh of a new year [...]

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Boiled ham,lentils &barley

Boild ham,lentils,barley,cabbage

Often simple food is the best. This is one of the dishes we regularly cooked and i think originally came from Gary Rhodes book Rhodes Around Britain. It really is simple and truly tasty.

We always get a much bigger ham joint than we need so that we have lots left over for sandwiches and shredded in soups.

You need (for the joint):

ham or gammon joint –smoked or not as you prefer water/light stock/wine/cider –what ever mix appeals and enough to cover the joint when its in the pan onion,leek,celery,carrot bay [...]

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Festive menu,part 3 (all about chestnuts)

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Yesterday I told you about the cheese terrine we had for starters today its all about the chestnuts…mainly so you can make the chestnut stuffing from my festive menu but also so I can share my most recent blog for Francoise Murat Design on Christmassy foods and which also includes a fab chestnut jam and a chocolatey chestnut cake…so here it is….. (first posted 8 December the cakes are actually made now!)

One of the wonderful things about Christmas is the fact that there are lots of chances to cook up delicious meals and food gifts for [...]

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Festive menu,part 2 (cheese terrine)

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The first of the recipes from my festive menu is the cheese terrine we had as a starter with Peters Yard crispbreads and a selection of smoked and cured salmon from Forman’s.

The terrine is adapted from a recipe in Delia Smith’s Christmas (the old version I’ve no idea if its in the recently published version). I particularly wanted to use a range of Lancashire cheeses but you could use any mix of cheeses you have and it would be a good way to use up what’s left of a cheese board. It makes a good starter [...]

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ideas…

curry herbs lunch leftovers garden stock sourdough challenge toast cheese suffolk foraging potatoes competition sandwiches #livelocal breakfast chocolate bread Dan Lepard british chicken salad seasonal mayo pasta tomato roast chicken salmon blogging lamb lemon pork twitter wild garlic rhubarb beef asparagus quick summer english chutney soup/stew mushroom spring
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