Buttery light vanilla cupcakes with a fresh strawberry filling and velvety crème pâtissière, trust me, they’re so irresistible, you won’t be able to stop at one. It’s not strange that the house is full of so many baked goods at the moment, the vast majority of them produced by me. I’m a natural baker, and…
seasonal
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…
Saffron Spiced Easter Salad
This impressive-looking Easter Salad of Quails Eggs & Hasselback Potatoes with a saffron dressing is actually very easy to make. The rich, velvety dressing can be prepared ahead and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. The rest is really very straight forward with delicious results. Saffron and citrus, the sunshine in all…
Swedish Saffron and Vanilla Buns
It might surprise you to find out that saffron is a very popular spice at Christmas and Easter in Sweden, especially in baked goods. With a glorious splash of honey yellow and a delicious subtle floral yet earthy flavour, it adds a wonderful warmth to these Swedish Saffron and Vanilla Buns. A sweet, enriched yeasted…
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….
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…
Gluten-Free Strawberry & Elderflower Tart with an Oat & Almond Crust.
If you’ve never attempted pastry before this is a great place to start. No rolling pin required, the pastry is simply pressed into the case and baked. The only slightly tricky part is making the creme patissiere. Flavoured with elderflower, this tart is a truly seasonal dessert, gluten free too! Not only delicious, nutritious as…
Sumac Spiced Courgette Dip
It’s virtually impossible to grow courgettes without getting a glut? They grow so very easily and rapidly and virtually pest free. So what to do with them? Well I wanted to share this recipe with you as although it’s not the prettiest dish, it’s packed full of flavour and utilises a fair amount of the…
Courgette, Pistachio & Lime Cake
Some years ago I supplied cakes to a lovely local coffee shop in Marlow. Without doubt this along with my carrot cake were their best sellers. Made with sunflower oil it seems to keep for several days in the fridge without deteriorating, if you can resist! You can also make a dairy free version by…
Cauliflower Cheese Tart
This was ‘I don’t know where the day has gone and I haven’t planned dinner kind of meal’. In fact I raided the fridge in desperation only to find cauliflower, spinach leaves and cheddar cheese to work with. (I always try to buy vegetables in season and cauliflower is superb at the moment). As a…
