This morning I woke to autumn sunlight pouring through the bedroom window, and mist rolling over the fields. It felt chilly when I opened the back door to let the dogs out. I adore this time of year when the days are still warm but the nights are drawing in, it’s a cosy feeling. Last…
Foraged Food
Wild Garlic & Nettle Tart
Wild Garlic and Nettle Tart – a wholegrain pastry base, with a creamy, savoury custard filling and foraged greens. As regular readers may have noticed, I go through obsessive periods with either certain dishes or ingredients. So, you’ll be unsurprised to see that you’ve had two different wild garlic recipes from me recently. However, unlike…
Braised Cod with Wild Garlic Emulsion
Braised Cod with Wild Garlic Emulsion – this vibrant dish is the ultimate celebration of spring, combining succulent cod, zesty wild garlic emulsion with a citrus dressing and tender new season asparagus. Spring is the time to forage for this versatile plant. With its fresh, garlicky aroma, wild garlic or allium ursinum has an unmistakable…
Nettle & Pine Nut Parcels with Whipped Feta
This recipe for Nettle and Pine Nut Parcels with Whipped Feta marks the start of the spring foraging season. They’re relatively quick and easy to make, using some store cupboard ingredients. Bronzed and crisp flaky pastry bites, filled with new season nettles, sautéed onion and garlic, with a hint of spice from the smokey paprika….
Laminated Wild Mushroom Ravioli with Parmesan Sauce
There are few things more satisfying in life than eating a delicious bowl of fresh pasta – even more so if you’ve made, rolled and filled it yourself. You need little equipment; a worktop, a rolling pin, a sharp knife and lots of elbow grease. A pasta machine will make life easier, particularly if you’re…
Panna cotta with Rosehip Coulis
Panna cotta is possibly the most delicate of all desserts, an extremely fragile mound of cream and milk, occasionally dusted with vanilla, and set with the merest amount of gelatine to just hold its form. The main ingredient is of course cream, so don’t use anything less than the best, a good organic double cream…
How to make Rosehip Jam
Autumn brings a whole host of delicious fruit for us to cook and preserve. Among them are blackberries, crab apples, sloes and rosehips. Well, what are rosehips? They’re the fruit of the rose plant, orangey-red in colour, ready and ripe to pick in early September in the UK. The most common rose hips are from…
Elderberry & Pear Frangipane Tart
I’ve taken this classic French tart and added a delicious flavour twist. If you read my last post you’ll know that I prepared Elderberry Poached Pears, a simple and delicious dessert. However this takes them to another level. Crisp, buttery shortcrust pastry filled with almond cream and those glorious deep magenta pears. It’s an enticing…
Elderberry Poached Pears
I love to forage as autumn arrives, it’s not just about finding free food, I feel a real connection with nature. Our ancestors foraged for almost all of their food, but this fell by the way side with the agricultural revolution. However in the last decade, foraging has made a big comeback. No longer a…
Slow Cooked Duck with Pickled Blackberries
This mouthwatering slow cooked duck recipe is a simple one, resulting in juicy tender meat with a crispy skin. A perfect balance between the sweet blackberries and the acidic pickling vinegar. I have served the duck legs with roasted carrots, hasselbacks potatoes and greens. The bonus is that this dish tastes better the next day…
