by goodshoeday, on July 23rd, 2010
At last the English fruit season has arrived. The gooseberries and strawberries are in full flow and the raspberries, cherries and currants (black, red and white) are all just starting to come into their prime. For all these fruits when the season starts and end is inevitably affected by the weather and where you are in the country, some have much longer natural seasons than others and making the best of each while you can is what its all about.
I like them fresh of course, or cooked in compotes, sauces and pies and some preserved to bring a little summer [...]
Continue reading Mostly berries, some cherries and currants
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by goodshoeday, on July 18th, 2010
I just looked up E17 on wikipedia…..where it tells me that it can refer to:
A European road route that runs from Antwerp to Beaune, via a whole bunch of places including Arras and Reims
A British pop band, originally called East 17
A version of the window stacking software Englightenment
A postcode in the E area of London (E = east)
A Japanese visual sci-fi novel called Ever17
A type of Edison screw on light bulbs witha diameter of 17mm
And a British submarine of WW1
Well I never and I just thought it was the postal district adjacent to mine famous for its dog track (now [...]
Continue reading E17, the food, the place, but mostly not the band
by goodshoeday, on June 30th, 2010
Its very nearly the end of the the elderflowers for this year, in fact in some parts of the country I’m sure they are already gone gone gone. But in a few places there are still some good ones to be found so if you are quick you might be able to grab a few flower heads and make cordial, champagne or…guess what……yes flavoured vodka.
Somehow I seem to have gathered a reputation for all things flavoured voddy and a few people have asked for the method for doing an elderflower one. So here it is:
6-8 good size elderflower heads in [...]
Continue reading Elderflower rush
by goodshoeday, on June 25th, 2010
It’s late spring (well it was when I wrote and it was published, we’ve now just edged into summer) and a time many of us associate with lamb, in fact, it’s common to think of lamb as a traditional dish for Easter. A moment to pause and think about this should make us wonder why? Easter can be as early as 22 March and as late as 25 April; and we mostly all know that spring is when lambs are born so how are these lambs old enough to be ready to eat by Easter? Well they aren’t. The lamb [...]
Continue reading Mutton dressed as lamb, why not go the whole hogget
by goodshoeday, on August 16th, 2009
Last weekend the twitter wires were buzzing with foodies claiming to have found superbly ripe blackberries in and around London. Seemed a little early to me but people were twitpic-ing them and they looked good. I was still doubtful but thought I’d take a chance and see what I could find.
oops I spilt some!
We found loads and loads and loads and loads of bramble bushes and plenty of smallish under ripe blackberries. No big fat juicy ones as other claimed to have found. I was beginning to think perhaps they were all having me on and had been foraging at their local supermarket…..
I wasn’t prepared [...]
Continue reading In season: blackberries
by goodshoeday, on July 27th, 2009
Last week I took part in Dan of Food Urchin’s dinner blogging challenge (called ‘Where’s my pork chop?’). Basically I cooked him some dinner and in return I got, well these:
There’s loads of potatoes, beans and courgettes hiding under the kale
I’m going to be blogging what I cooked for Dan in a separate post so check back for that in the next few days. Here I want to tell you some of what I’ve done with the veg so far.
Dan had been down to his allotment bright and early on the day of the [...]
Continue reading Feeling flowery in veggie heaven
by goodshoeday, on July 12th, 2009
Of what? Of cherry plums. What are they then?
The simple answer is they are plums that look like cherries and the trees can be found planted in many a street and garden mostly across the southern half of the country.
But you want to know more than that don’t you? Well then if you are sitting comfortably I shall begin.
© Danielle Harlow – Fotolia.com
We’ve lived in our house for nearly 12 years and when we arrived the garden was a bit ramshackle. It had been nice at one point I’m sure but the previous owner was rather old (he had lived his whole life [...]
Continue reading An unexpected glut of cherry plums
by goodshoeday, on March 24th, 2009
It was the first day of spring on Saturday and the weather ran exactly to form – sunny and warm but with a slight bite to the wind. We all wanted something for lunch that fitted in with the weather – salad would perhaps be too summery and at first we though that soup would be too hearty. What we needed was something that was fresh enough to keep the mood of spring and summer to come but warming enough to take the edge off that wind.
After some time spent flipping through cookery books I found a recipe for pea [...]
Continue reading A pea soup for spring
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