Clotted Cream Diaries

Hake cakes for chilly day....

2012-02-11T23:26:00.000-08:00

We took a rare day off today as we've got friends staying with us from London. We've been blessed with some beautiful days since Christmas and it's easy to see why so many people decide to holiday here out of season. We wandered up to the shop to fill our baskets with fresh Cornish hake for tea, sausages for tomorrow's breakfast and a few beers to celebrate our friends arrival. After a wander around Samson Hill and a stroll along Rushy Bay we decided to walk to Tresco. Every now and again the tide between Tresco and Bryher is so low you can walk between the two islands without getting your feet wet....

We went for lunch at the New Inn on Tresco which was filled with other hungry islanders who had done the same thing. On the boat back we watched the crisp afternoon sun starting moving west and we knew we'd made the mistake of one layer too few as our hands started to freeze. We shuffled home across the beach as quickly as we could our coats pulled high around our necks. When you're that cold there was only one thing I could do with the fish I bought earlier. Something cosy and warming.....

Hake fishcakes with garlic and lemon mayonnaise..... (served 4 chilly people)

400g of hake fillets (usually about 2)

800g potatoes

a knob of butter

2 gherkins

a little flour

For the mayonnaise

1 egg yolk

sunflower oil

4 garlic cloves

a squeeze of lemon

Peel and boil the potatoes in salty water. When they are cooked take of the heat and drain. Put them in a bowl with the butter and mash. Add the chopped gherkin and season.

In a pan put a little water (about a cup or two for the fish to sit in.) Bring up to simmering point and add the fish. You don't really want the water to cover it. Let it cook half way up the side of the fish then carefully flip over and take off the heat. Leave for five or ten minutes. Remove from the water and peel off the skin and flake into the potato. I try to create big chunks because once you start mixing it all breaks down. Carefully mix together the fish and potatoes.

Shape into fish cakes (about 12) and dust with flour. Fry in a mixture of sunflower oil and butter. Carefully flip over when it is browned. I had to do this in two batches. Pop in a 180'c oven for another 10 minutes.

While it's in the oven make the mayonnaise. Put the egg yolk in a clean bowl and give it a whisk. Slowly start dripping in a little oil at a time while continuing to whisk. (This takes a while). If you want a measurement for the oil it should be somewhere between 150ml-200ml but I tend to go less rather than more. But keep tasting it to see if it looks and tastes like mayonnaise. Crush the garlic with the salt and add to the mayonnaise with a squeeze of lemon.

Serve the hake cakes with a wedge of lemon, some steamed spinach and the mayonnaise.

A dream come true....

2012-01-23T22:35:00.000-08:00

It's a odd thing when all your dreams come true. It's something you don't expect and when you get it you feel a bit uncomfortable. I've been battling with a secret for months. We've done what I always wanted to do which was to move back home to the Isles of Scilly. Even writing that feels a bit like tempting fate. But it's happened. I am here. I'm sitting in front of my computer in my new house, the sun is rising over Tresco and oyster catchers are dancing around Green Bay. I'm home.

This is our new home. It's perched on the north end of Samson Hill on Bryher overlooking Tresco. I grew up watching it out of my window. I remember exploring its beautiful gardens drenched in fuchsias, agapanthus and hydrangeas. I loved its uphill drive way before you got to the little blue cottage at the top. I can't remember when it wasn't occupied anymore and the garden started engulfing itself. The flowers were buried by brambles and gorse and the driveway closed off. However, a couple of years ago there was talk that the house was being knocked down and rebuilt and the other half said if moving to Scilly meant living at that house then we should go for it. Finally in December we were allowed in.

We're going to run it as an eco friendly B&B (www.samsonhill.co.uk). I get to cook for a living...and I am so excited. And terrified. But we get to wake up to this everyday....

The work is incredible. Every muscle and bone aches as we try and reclaim the garden from years and years of brambles. But the plants are still there, succulents, fuchsia bushes, agapathus and echiums. They are just tangled in thorns and a lot of rhodedendrom. This is going to be the vegetable patch...This was before we started clearing.

And here it is....
I have two months before our first guests are in. I need to master croissant bakery and how to make a perfect bed. But it never stops being amazing and I keep pinching myself.

Padstow Christmas Festival in pictures....

2011-12-04T11:49:00.000-08:00

Drifting away....

2011-11-30T11:16:00.000-08:00

At work we have a post show meeting. We finish playing the news jingle, make sure the next programme is underway and then discuss how the show went. On Monday it went a bit like this....'So who wants to start....what did we really like about this morning's show?' Me: 'Yeah great show. Can I tell you all about my dinner at the Driftwood on Friday night....' then for about 15 minutes I launched into a full scale review, course by course. Cue weatherman with his head in his hands. Presenter shaking his head trying to work out what I'm going on about. But I couldn't help it. That's just how good The Driftwood is. You want to tell everyone about it.

I'm so over excited by just how great Friday was that my written review will be rubbish. Because even when I think about how to describe it the sentences in my head speed up and phrases like 'yummy crumbly stuff' and 'a red sauce thing' keep making an appearance. Basically it was fantastic. The only thing I will go into detail with is the pudding. I don't really order puddings mainly because I love cheese so much. So I ordered the cheese board and the other half went for a chocolate pudding under the agreement that I could have a spoonful.

It was a chocolate mousse (although it could have been a foam it was so light) a chocolate ganachy layer, puffed rice and then....salted caramel. Not just any salted caramel but the best I have ever tasted. I had my one designated spoonful. Then I went in for another. I think I even managed another swipe before my other half threatened some kind of scene if I didn't return it to his side of the table. Oh God I miss that pudding.

So The Driftwood closes for a couple of months from Friday as it does every winter. And I need something to fill that pudding shaped hole. So I made my own salted caramel pudding. No where near last Friday's effort. However when the other half thought his father in law had polished it off he did almost cry...so it can't have been that bad.

Banana and salted caramel chocolate cheesecake....(serves 8 but probably more...)

2x 200g tubs of cream cheese

250g mascarpone

3 tbsp condensed milk

1 vanilla pod

2 tbsp icing sugar sieved

1 pkt chocolate digestives (I think it was 200g)

100g salted butter

4 bananas

2 tbsps golden syrup

50g butter

2 tbsp dried milk powder

2 flake bars

a little melted chocolate

Crush the biscuits in a food processor. Melt the 100g of butter and add to the crumbs. Push into a cake tin with a detachable base. Chill for an hour or so. To make the salted caramel melt the butter and syrup together when it starts to boil take off the heat and sieve in the dried milk. Give it a good stir and put to one side.

In a bowl put the cheeses, condensed milk, sieved icing sugar and vanilla and give it a good stir. Once the base has been chilled slice the bananas onto the base and drizzle over the salted caramel. Spoon the cheese mix over the top and sprinkle with the crushed flake and the melted chocolate.

Ideally leave it overnight in the fridge. I only left it four hours and it was spooned into bowls. It still tasted awesome but didn't look very cheesecakey. By the next day it was much firmer.

Thanks again to everyone at The Driftwood for a brilliant night.

The Driftwood, Portscatho, 01872 580644

Bonfire Night cake....

2011-11-06T05:27:00.000-08:00

It's a race against time. Wasps vs me on who can get through the most apples and pears.

Yesterday I made a delicious apple coleslaw with red cabbage from the Cornish Food Box Co. I sliced it with grated apple and carrot and a few slices of spring onion. It didn't even need a dressing it was so crunchy and sweet. This cake was made for bonfire night. It's not a cake for a birthday or a special occasion. It's just one of those cakes that takes about half an hour so when you fancy a cup of tea and a slice it's there hot out of the oven.

Toffee apple cake (8 slices, 6 if you're as chubby as me)

3 eggs (172g)

172g self raising flour

172g soft brown sugar

172g butter

2 medium apples (don't bother peeling, just core them and chop into chunks about the size of sugar lumps)

10 cubes fudge

Preheat the oven to 180'c. I weighed three eggs in their shells and it came to 172g so weight all the other cake ingredients to exactly the same weight. If your eggs weigh more or less alter the amounts for the flour, sugar and butter. Put the butter and caster sugar in a bowl and mix together. (I usually pop the butter somewhere warm to soften it.) Add a beaten egg one at a time. (If it curdles add a little of the flour. Then add the rest of the flour and give it a good mix.

Add the apple and fudge and spoon into a lined 8 inch tin. Pop in the oven for about 30 minutes or until a knives comes out clean.

Cool on a cooling rack for as long as you can.

I managed to take a photo of a piece with no 'toffee' in at all. #rubbishblogger

Da Bara Sour dough toast with nduja and mozzarella

2011-10-03T08:14:00.000-07:00

There's almost something unsettling about walking along a Cornish beach in October wishing you hadn't worn jeans. Normally I'm kicking myself for not packing enough layers but this weekend it was the opposite. It was one of those summer weekends when you spend so long on the beach that your hair curls with the salt and your skin starts to smell like sand. We came home last night beach worn and although we'd had barbecue earlier we were hungry.

Da Bara Sour dough toast with nduja and mozzarella.....(serves 2)

It must have been the sunshine that meant we craved something hot and fiery. I sliced four pieces from the Da Bara sour dough bread we bought the day before from the Fifteen Farmer's Market and toasted it. I then spread each slice with a teaspoon or so of nduja and popped it in a 170'c oven for about 5 minutes. (This is very hot so just use a scraping if you don't want to burn your mouth!) I chopped up a selection of different tomatoes and mixed them with basil and some of the mozzarella.

I then put handfuls of the salad on top of the toast and we washed them down with beers, our lips tingling.

* For another nduja recipe try here

Fifteen Farmers Market.....

2011-10-02T10:50:00.000-07:00

Sunshine, food, a free weekend. The Fifteen Farmers Market couldn't have hoped for a more stunning weekend.

Paul Ainsworth was doing a demo there when we arrived. The marquee was packed out...We bought some delicious Da Bara white bread.

And some amazing mozzarella.

The most exciting part was that they were selling nduja which I'm pretty sure you can't get anywhere else in Cornwall. I am now fully stocked up and will blog what we did with it tomorrow.

Feeling blue...

2011-09-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

When last year Cornish blue was crowned world champion it seemed as if Cornwall had found it's crowning glory for cheese.

And Cornish blue has to be one of my favourites. It's mild and creamy and great for cooking with. However at the Cornwall Food Festival I found this little star. It's called Blue Horizon and is made by Treveador Farm Dairies. It has quite a kick to it and a delicious rind.

Definitely one for the shopping bag....

Spicy chorizo....

2011-09-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

It's one of the most exciting new arrivals at the Cornwall Food and Drink Festival, Deli Farm's new spicy chorizo. I had seen them mention it on twitter and had to go and buy some.

It's fiery and pepper but the heat doesn't hide the flavour of the pork. It doesn't disappoint.

The Food Festival Cook Off.....

2011-09-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

My colleagues James and Debbie were kicking off the food festival with a culinary cook off. It was a bit like Ready Steady Cook. They were given a huge bag of Cornish ingredients (duck, mackerel, cider, rapeseed oil, vegetables, ale etc) and have to make a dish in 40 minutes.

Luckily they had help from chefs Paul Ripley and Paul Harwood.

James made pan seared mackerel fillets with crushed new potatoes with garlic and garlic. Served with cavelo nero and purple sprouted broccoli with rapeseed oil and chilli.

Debbie made pan fried duck breast with cavalo nero and crushed potatoes with an eton mess.

James was triumphant!

Menus - Cornwall Food Festival.....

2011-09-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

So I mentioned last night about the Magnificent 7 and the six course menu they made as part of the Cornwall Food and Drink Festival. I managed to wrestle a menu of one of the people who went and I thought you might like a look....

Deli coppa croquetas, Cornish Duck pastilla, Spiced Cornish crab on nimkis, Chybucca roasted pear and gingerbread (Neil Haydock- The Hotel and Extreme Academy, Watergate Bay.)

Pork, pigeon and rabbit terrine, beetroot, apple, smoked bacon and hazelnut (Ben Tunnicliffe- Nansloe Manor)

Orange, salt cod, onion and black olive salad (Paul Ripley- Rick Steins Seafood Bar)

Sea bass and bacon, barbecued sardine and tomato ketchup with homemade hog's pudding and crispy egg (Nathan Outlaw- Restaurant Nathan Outlaw)

Venison loin 'n' pie, cabbage, Cornish pancetta, carrot (Paul Ainsworth- No. 6 in Padstow and Chris Eden Driftwood Hotel)

Three Year old Davidstow Reserve Cheddar selected by Nathan Outlaw served with Crellow Kea Plum and Catshead Cheese

Tonka bean pannacotta, strawberry and black pepper sorbet, crackling chocolate wood (Nigel Tabb- Tabbs)

Origin coffee or Tregothnan tea with pralines made by Nigel Tab

Magnificent Seven.....

2011-09-22T08:40:00.001-07:00

Imagine sitting down to dinner and finding out the people cooking for you are Cornwall's elite. Paul Ainsworth, Chris Eden, Neil Haydock, Nathan Outlaw, Ben Tunnicliffe, Paul Ripley and Nigel Tabb. It's a Cornish food blogger's dream scenario but for dozens of lucky people it's a reality tonight. The Cornwall Food Festival kicks off with the Magnificent Seven...a six course course meal cooked by seven of Cornwall's most talented chefs.

So as I'm not there I thought I would do my own Magnificent Seven. Seven things I'm looking forward to about the Cornwall Food Festival....

1. Jude Kereama at Kota.

I compered on of his demonstrations a couple of years ago when he made these delicious chocolate puddings. I remember the audience tasting them and all I could think about was whether it was socially acceptable to snatch a few extra bowls before they could. Jude is doing a demonstration on Friday at 1115am.

2. Deli Farm

Deli Farm is selling its wide range of dried meats and is launching a new spicy chorizo at the festival. I love buying some and taking it home for lunch with some bread and salad.

3. Sausage Demonstrations

I used to love the Abbey at Penzance when Ben Tunnicliffe was a chef there. He's since moved on to The Scarlet and is now at Nansloe Manor (where Brad and Angelina recently stayed apparently!) I've been looking at the menu a lot online so I will have to go sometime this winter. Ben is doing a masterclass in how to make and cook sausages with the Kernow Sausage Company.

4. Cooking

I love coming home, bags heavy with great produce enthused about what to cook. This year there might be a lot of fish involved. Last year it was all about cheese.

5. Food box
The lovely people at the Cornish Food Box Company will be at the festival for the first time. I ordered my first box at Christmas and am still loving them. I'm just finishing off the last of last week's vegetables...lovely fat spring onions and a round cucumber.

6. Fish

On Saturday at 14.45pm Annie Silbert, a local fishmonger, is doing a 'Taking the Fear Out of Fish' masterclass. I have a lot of fear Annie.

7. Nathan Outlaw

Always brilliant to watch. Always makes fantastic food. A food festival must. Sunday at 1430pm.

* My lovely BBC Radio Cornwall colleagues will be there too compering. Give them a big clap.

Cornwall Food and Drink Festival 2011...

2011-09-21T09:41:00.000-07:00

It seems as if autumn is here. There's a waft of cider in the garden as I scramble to pick up the fallen apples dodging the fizzing ones I didn't get to in time. The sun's streaming onto the mud on the creek while the wind is knocking off leaves which hit my head making me jump as I think another angry wasp is attacking me for stealing its fruit.

The Cornwall Food and Drink Festival marks this coming of autumn. A massive harvest festival of farmers, local producers and chefs. Crowds crush into the marquee on Lemon Quay in Truro tasting what's new this year and coming out laden with cheeses, hams and breads.

My colleagues James and Debbie are starting the festival off going head to head using produce on sale at the festival. James is already convinced he'll lose, so go along and clap for him.

There's more than sixty producers there, as well as masterclasses and events. If you can't get there you can always listen to what's going on on BBC Radio Cornwall when Martin Bailie presents his show there from 3pm.

The Cornwall Food and Drink Festival starts at 9am on Friday and I'll be blogging some of the best bits...

The Trengilly Wartha Inn....

2011-08-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

The thing about hidden gems is that they are far too hidden away. This afternoon I've spent a sulky afternoon on Gyllyngvase Beach at Falmouth. It was too crowded for me, too many children kicking me in the head as they ran past waving their spades around. And that's why beaches like Treen are so special...because they are so blooming hard to get to most people don't bother. And it's the same with lunch venues. This morning I spent about an hour driving along every single track road around Port Navas, Constantine and Gweek trying to find the Trengilly Wartha Inn. It gives clear directions on the webiste. I just couldn't find it. 'User error,' my boss would say.

I was going there to meet up with my husband and his triathalon training friends. I was three more fist shakes away from giving up and driving home when I saw the sign and finally made it.

We sat outside in the burning sun enjoying the gorgeous gardens and lovely drinks. We mostly ordered ploughmans. Me, Cornish blue and the husband a mixed cheese one.

The hidden gem in the ploughmans was the delicious homemade pickles. It's rare you hear people enthusing over pickled cauliflower but it was completely wonderful. Sweet, spicy and crunchy. I think the other pickle was cucumber, it had small lumps of chilli which gave a great bite.

Two of the cyclers had lovely pots of rusty red fresh crab with all the same pickles and bread. We seemed to have a lot less salad than the others, having a plate of leaves but they were dressed so beautifully we didn't mind. The chips even came with homemade mayonaisse. I'm not sure I've ever been to a pub that does that. It was one of the best lunches I have had in a long time. A real hidden gem. I'll be back..if I can find it.

Trengilly Wartha Inn, Near Constantine, Falmouth

01326 340332

Ploughmans £9.20

Rice way to spend a day....

2011-08-08T06:23:00.000-07:00

There were ten of us huddled under the branches of a tree just above the cliffs at Mylor. Big fat raindrops were falling and the leaves were doing little to protect us. We'd wandered down to watch boats out on the water for Falmouth Week. A little damp we retraced our steps along the coast picking bit fat sloes for Christmas sloe gin. Back at the harbour The Cornish Curry Company had a stall making paella and crab cakes. I didn't have enough money but I did have a mouthful of the crab cakes. They were fantastic.

The Cornish Curry Company let us shelter under their tent as more rain fell. Despite the rain it was a perfect Sunday.

Coming soon...The next part of the 'how to self cater a wedding' guide.

How to self cater an afternoon tea wedding (part 3)

2011-08-01T01:29:00.001-07:00

I've always been a big fan of the type of eating where you have lots of little things, sweet and savoury. So for us an afternoon tea wedding was the perfect option. We liked the idea of people sitting around eating with their hands and chatting.

Afternoon Tea Wedding Sandwiches

Hillside Farm egg mayonnaise on brioche

Local beef rolls with horseradish

Asparagus Rolls

Smoked trout on beetroot bread

Finding mini brioche rolls was one of the hardest things. My older sister took control of this. At first she tried making mini brioche to see how easy they are before realising that actually it would be easier to get a baker to do them. She uses a lovely baker in Bristol and went along to Marks Bread in Bedminster. He designed some mini brioche rolls for us to use for the egg rolls. They were cooked fresh on the Monday morning. My brother in law brought them over to Scilly on Monday afternoon. We then froze them and defrosted them overnight on the Tuesday (the wedding was on a Wednesday). They were delicious and were truly one of the yummiest things about the wedding. I loved the sweet and savoury combination. I couldn't have enough of them.

The story of the brioche is a valuable one when weighing up which jobs are worth doing yourself when self catering an afternoon tea wedding and which ones are worth spending money on. When planning the wedding it seemed a perfectly sane idea that I should get up early and bake bread (beetroot and white rolls) on the morning of the wedding. 'I'll enjoy it' I told my mum. The day before the wedding I hit my wall. My mum asked Zoe at Bryher Shop to make the white rolls. (She did a far better job that I ever would have.) And we used sliced bread instead of beetroot bread. (Who needs pink bread anyway?)

My sisters made all the fillings the day before (egg mayonnaise, roasted beef etc) and I asked some trusted friends to put the sandwiches together on the day. They did an amazing job and I'm told they each did a separate part. For example one thing to remember is when handling smoked fish it's best just to have one person doing it so there is no chance of the smoked fish taste ending up on the beef sandwiches because if you hate smoked fish you will taste it a mile off.

Afternoon Tea Wedding Cakes

Mum's homemade scones with Hillside Farm strawberry jam and Cornish clotted cream

Chocolate cupcakes

Brandy snaps

Chocolate and coffee eclairs

Meringues

The cakes were also chosen because they were our favourites but also because they can be made in advance. The scones were made the week before by my mum and then frozen. (We simply defrosted them on the day and warmed them in the oven.) The brandy snaps were also made the week before and kept in tins. They were filled with cream on the day. The meringues were made the week before by my mother in law. (She makes the BEST meringues.) They were made on the mainland then shipped over to Scilly in tins. And my cousin made the chocolate cupcakes. These were really popular and I wish I could share the recipe- but it is hers!

Money Saving Tips:

Make things when you can. Homemade meringues cost hardly anything to make but are expensive to buy. Plan in advance...keep an eye out for good deals of cake cases, cake stands etc. I saw the cake stands I wanted in January half price. I didn't order them in time but I guessed they would be back on sale sometime over the next 6 months. In May they finally dropped to the half price deal I saw before. I bought all the ones left in stores in Cornwall and got my sister to buy the rest in London. I saved nearly £100.

What I'm glad I did:

I'm glad we asked some of the staff from the local hotel to help serve. The chef came up and warmed the scones, laid out the sandwiches etc. They were fantastic. I can't even write how grateful I was for their help. Just fantastic. (They also became invaluable with a small hog based incident!) Also getting someone else to make the bread saved me from a nervous breakdown.

What I shouldn't have done: Know when you have taken on too much. And also realise there are a million jobs you won't have thought of so either delegate jobs, change your plans or buy in. Don't try and add baking to the day of your wedding. I spent months planning this meal and thought I had covered everything. I hadn't...and I was really really organised. The kind of organised that means people roll their eyes a lot and mumble 'bridezilla' under their breath. You will never be able to guess just how tired you will be when planning a self catered afternoon tea wedding.

Next post: The drink- how to choose welcome drinks and calculate how much booze you will need when self catering an afternoon tea wedding.

Food photos by Kim Hawkins. Other photos by David McNeil

How to self cater an afternoon tea wedding (part 2)

2011-07-27T08:24:00.000-07:00

When you are planning a wedding and you're reading wedding magazines and blogs, you find yourself saying this phrase a lot 'it won't be like that at my wedding.' For me it was whenever brides said they didn't get to eat much at that their weddings. I've always been a huge fan of wedding canapes and was determined we would be able to enjoy them. It was simple. We would have our photos done in the morning. Then we'd arrive at the reception with everyone else and we'd be able to relax and enjoy the food we had work a hard on. However, it rained. It rained hard. One of my bridesmaids told me 'every raindrop is a drop of good luck.' I must be the luckiest girl in the word because it hadn't rained like that for a long time. So I missed out on the canapes but I'm told they were fantastic.

The canapes were the only thing that we changed pretty much on a monthly basis and in the end it came down to cost. We had to chose canapes that suited all diets, that were delicious, that were easy to make but most of all didn't cost a fortune. Unfortunately the other person that missed the canapes was our lovely photographer David McNeil. There was a window of sunshine and we were having our photos taken outside so he didn't manage to get any shots of the canapes. But he did get some of the production.

Canape number 1: Halzephron herb dip with Bryher crudites

This is a great canape for vegetarians. We hired shot glasses and made up a mayonnaise based herb dip. You can buy halzephron herb dip sachets here. We bought squeezy bottles and squirted the dip inside each one. Then cut a selection of five crudite we bought off the Hillside Farm vegetable stall the day before. We chose mini carrots, french beans, mange tout, pepper and courgette. We then decorated with a nasturtium petal. We would have also decorated with a borage flower but they didn't flower in time. My mum assures me, a month on, she has a very impressive borage bush. I loved these canapes. I thought they looked summery and light and fitted in with our colourful flowers and our love of growing vegetables. I also liked them because they were a combination of Cornwall and Scilly...just like us.

Canape number 2: Tomato, basil and buffalo mozzarella squewers

This was something else that didn't quite go to plan. We had chosen this because of the spectacular tomatoes you can get from the stall on Bryher. Our family eats them like sweets. Unfortunately they weren't quite ready the week of the wedding so Zoe at Bryher Stores ordered us some in and they were delicious. We bought those small buffalo mozzarella balls, sliced them up with halved tomatoes and basil and served on a squewer.

Canape Number 3: Cheese and Pistachio Shortbreads

Both the above canapes had to be done on the day and were probably the most expensive due to the mozzarella and the hiring of the glasses so I needed canapes that had lower cost ingredients. My sister made these for us the Christmas before we got engaged and I loved them. They are insanely cheap and easy to make and can be made the day before. (The dough can be made in advance and chilled.) She was meant to make 140 and ended up making 700. There still didn't seem to be many left!

The recipe is a Delia Smith one.

1oz unsalted shelled pistachios

1 and a half oz strong white flour sifted

1 and a half oz unsalted butter

1 and a half oz grated parmesan

a pinch of cayenne pepper

salt and pepper

Chop the pistachios in a mini chopper. Then mix them with all the other ingredients in a medium bowl. Rub until it starts to form a dough and bring it together into a ball. Transfer to a board and knead lightly and then roll into a sausage shape about 7 inches long and wrap in cling film and chill in the freezer for half an hour.

Preheat the oven to 170'c. Slice the log into discs about half an inch wide and spread over a baking sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes until they start to go golden around the edges. When they are cooked, put on a cooling rack and store in an airtight tin.

Canape Number 4: Sausages with honey and mustard

These were chosen simply because I love them and could eat hundreds. I ended up buying the sausages from Marks and Spencers because I decided making them with cooked sausages was easier and quicker. They were just marinated in honey and wholegrain mustard the day and then cooked in the oven until hot and sticky.

Canapes Number 5: Sausage Rolls

Before I realised I needed to pay for things like napkins and glasses and welcome drinks... I wanted to hire china spoons and have a teaspoon of Bryher crab on each spoon with a small squirt of lemon mayonaisse. My mum rarely interfered but she did put her foot down here and said she thought we should have sausage rolls. After a brief moment of bridezilla snobbery I realised 1) I love sausgae rolls 2) My mum makes the best sausage rolls in the world 3) Everyone loves sausage rolls. 4) They are easy 5) They are a cheap canape.

She has not yet shared the recipe so I have no idea how they are made except I know it is flakey pastry and uses meat from sausages and not sausage meat. I know she made them the week before and they were individually frozen. They were then cooked from frozen.

Money saving tips: I bought some plain trays from a Habitat sale and Ikea for the canapes to be served on and some herbs to decorate them. Luckily my sister liked the trays and wanted them for her wedding so I bought half and she bought half and we shared them. We were very lucky to have her wedding so close by because it meant we could share vases, decorations etc. It's another benefit of having no fixed colour scheme...people will happily donate their decorations. A lot of the ingredients I bought in advance (honey, mustard, mayonnaise etc) so I wasn't saddled with a huge bill in June.

What I shouldn't have done:

Looking back I probably should have had four canapes and they should have all been cold. Even though it was raining and a bit chilly it was a summer wedding and cold canapes would have been fine. Even though I didn't get to eat them I did see some and they looked wonderful. They were economical, simple, tasty and easy to eat.

** None of these canapes could have been done without my fabulous sisters and brother in laws, my wonderful cousin and the Team Bramble girls. They did the chopping, slicing, cooking and marinating. And they acted as if they were loving every minute even though they were probably cursing me under their breath. Thank you all! (I will do another blog about having the right helpers.)

Coming soon....The afternoon tea.

How to cater an afternoon tea wedding (part 1)

2011-07-25T07:42:00.000-07:00

If you are reading this blog you may well be thinking about the possibility of self catering your own wedding. So get ready. Get ready for the look of horror as you tell people you are cooking

your wedding feast. Your friends, family and even your vicar will probably tell you you are bonkers...and you probably are. But self catering your wedding means you have completely free reign over what you and your guests eat, it means you can invite as many people as you like and you can save a lot of money.

Over the next few posts I will take you through how we planned, budgeted and designed our wedding menu and hopefully give you a few tips on what to do and definitely what not to do.

I might as well start with the engagement. After the proposal, after all the smiling and kissing and texting and celebrating, we went out for a meal. After the standard argument about why I order the hottest pizza and then ask for it with no chillis we made a list of priorities for our wedding. It looked a bit like this...

1. Lots of friends and family

2. Great, no fuss, simple food

3. Lots of amazing drink

4. A very tight budget (£5000- this changed but I will come to that later)

5. A fun and informal day

We talked about food. The other half was keen on pasties. We both wanted easy food that everyone would enjoy and wasn't too formal. We quite quickly agreed on canapes, with an afternoon tea and a hog roast in the evening.

We wrote up our guest list. It started at 220. It was finalised at 155 (now do you understand the self catering?). So the first job was to decide on how much we had to spend. We allocated about £1000 of the budget on food which is about £6.60 each. If you've started getting quotes from caterers you'll realise this is a fantastic price and you are probably thinking 'scrap the caterers I'm doing it myself.'

So stop. Stop and consider whether you want to spend the day of your wedding making canapes with one hand and applying mascara with the other? Do you want to spend 4 days after your wedding washing up? Do you want to be buying mustard six months before your wedding because it is on special offer? Have you got an amazing team of family and friends who will get up at 630am in the morning to help? Caterers are worth every penny. I've helped out a caterer at weddings and she can do what I could never achieve. But we didn't have that choice. If we wanted our friends to be with us, this was our only option.

Part 2 is all about the canapes. Why I chose them and how they were made.

All photos are by the fairly wonderful David McNeil

Port Eliot Festival In Pictures....

2011-07-24T10:34:00.000-07:00

My yummy tomato and mozzarella salad from the Fifteen Cornwall pop up restaurant. This was summer in a box.

A boy showed me how to do a Rubik's Cube in a minute. It involved a lot of equations and fractions. I nodded a lot.

Wedding Day....

2011-07-10T00:40:00.000-07:00

It's done. I am a married woman. I'll blog all about how it went, how to (and how not to) self cater a wedding and all the recipes in the next few weeks. But I'm on honeymoon now and I'm enjoying the Scilly sunshine.

Our yummy wedding cake.

Fifteen Cornwall..

2011-06-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we had my 'pre wedding girly lunch' at Fifteen Cornwall. It was fab. The food was wonderful, the service was second to none.

Maybe it's the weeks of soup and rice cakes but I'm still dreaming about their treacle tart.

Meating a standard....

2011-06-20T09:50:00.000-07:00

I am seriously craving red meat. Last night I ate scrambled egg, snarling, with dagger eyes at the other half who was tucking into a steak dinner. The steak he eats could soon be changing, actually the name of it could. Beef and lamb from the Westcountry could end up getting Protected Geographical Indication status.

Like clotted cream, Cornish pasties and Cornish sardines it would mean the meat would have to meet a certain criteria before it can be sold as Westcountry Beef or Lamb.

A 12 week consultation has now started and people's opinions will be put to the European Commission for a final decision.

If you would like to find out more, you can view the consultation document at http://www.euprotectedfoodnames.org.uk/News/tabid/158/Default.aspx.

Any comments on the consultation should be submitted to Irene Bocchetta ADAS, Woodthorne, Wergs Road, Wolverhampton, WV6 8TQ, or emailed to Irene.Bocchetta@adas.co.uk.

Rare treats...

2011-06-17T23:01:00.001-07:00

Ok, so my promise to spend less time on bunting and more time on blogging hasn't exactly worked out the way I'd hoped. We've also been moving house so it's taken us a while to get organised. Two weeks today I'll be standing on Penzance quay waiting to get on the Scillonian. Now doubt it will be 30'c in what will be just the beginning if a two week heat wave (#completelydelusional).

I've been dieting hard. I've lost 2 stone 1lb now and I'm hoping to loose another 8lb by the wedding. So as you can imagine blogging about eating sticks of baby corn and tomato soup isn't exactly exciting. However we are having our honeymoon on Scilly as well and I'm going to make up for all those lost calories. I give it 48 hours before I'm off to St Mary's. Lunch will probably be at Dibble and Grub and afternoon tea at Juliet's Garden. We had a cream tea there two weeks ago and it was fantastic. We sat in the sunshine overlooking the harbour (it seems a long time ago now.)

If we stay over the night maybe we'll head to St Mary's Hall Hotel. It's launched a brand new menu that focuses on classic British ingredients, with rare breeds meat raised on the hotel owner’s own Gloucestershire farm taking a lead role.

Dishes on the new menu include Roasted shoulder of Ryland Lamb, served with braised savoy cabbage, bacon and a redcurrant jus, slow roasted belly of Gloucester Old Spot pork stuffed with sage and apple served with braised red cabbage and new potatoes, Gloucester fillet steak, and roasted fore rib of Gloucestershire beef.

The rare breeds meat also makes its mark on the hotel’s bar menu with Ryeland Lamb Burgers with Cornish wild garlic, served with crispy battered onion rings and a yoghurt and paprika oil dip and a classic Cottage Pie. (Book me a table now!)

As well as the rare breeds meat the restaurant also features fresh crab and lobster caught in island waters.

For more information on Spirit Bar and Restaurant and St Mary’s Hall hotel click here or call 01720 422316.

In a flap....

2011-05-12T06:53:00.000-07:00

Did I tell you I'm a complete bridezilla? I'm living, sleeping and even eating weddings. There's just 8 weeks to go and reading through my blog I can't believe I've hardly mentioned it. Everyone around me doesn't have that luxury as we spend far too long talking about napkins and table plans.

But the truth is I don't care. I love wedding planning. I'm glad we are self catering. It means we get to make every single decision ourselves. With just weeks to go I need to start trialling the canapes and cakes and I'll start blogging them to get your opinion.

For now here is a yummy flapjack recipe.

Clotted cream butter flapjacks (makes about 12)....

125g clotted cream butter (normal butter is fine)

1 large pinch of Cornish sea salt

125g soft brown sugar

125g golden syrup

200g porridge oats

Pre heat the oven to 180'c. In a heavy pan put all the ingredients except the oats. Bring to the boil.

Stir in the oats.

Grease and line a baking tray and spoon the mix in. Pop in the oven for about half an hour until just browned.
Leave the cool in the tray. Slice into squares.

Easter chocolate biscuit cake.....

2011-04-20T07:15:00.000-07:00

This is Easter. No not August, Easter. Sunny wonderful spring time. I'm off to Scilly for 2 weeks to enjoy Bryher hot cross buns and my mum's Easter nests. See you in May xxxx

Easter Chocolate Biscuit Cake....(Makes about 8 slices)

6oz butter
8oz galaxy chocolate
4 tbsp syrup
1 mars bar
1 caramel bar
1 bag of mini eggs
1lb digestive biscuits

On a very low heat melt the galaxy, syrup and butter together. You might need to give it a good mix with a spatula to make sure the butter and chocolate melt together.

Crumble the biscuits into rough chunks. Take the chocolate mix off the heat and add the biscuits. Give it a good stir to make sure the biscuits are covered in the chocolate mix. When it's covered add the other chocolate bits. I left the caramel chunks whole and the mars bar in big chunks so it didn't melt away but actually I should have chopped the lumps in half because they didn't melt at all!

Press into a foiled of cling filmed tin. Push the mini eggs into the mix. Press down and pop in the fridge.

The Rising Sun, St Mawes.....

2011-04-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

Last week we took the water taxi from Falmouth to St Mawes. It was one of the many sunny evenings we've had recently. Boats were darting around the harbour while gig crews practised around the mouth of Carrick Roads.

We ate at The Rising Sun. Everyone else ate football sized fish and chips I had a thick wedge of grilled hake with sun dried tomatoes and balsamic.

We drank wine and beers while the sun streamed through the window. It was perfect.

Early time of spear...

2011-04-14T08:04:00.000-07:00

The asparagus season has started three weeks early in Cornwall. Usually it would be the end of April or beginning of May but this week people have started seeing asparagus in their vegetable boxes.

One farmer I spoke to yesterday said he started to see signs at the beginning of March. It's all down to the cold hard winter and mild spring (he says).

I'm jealous. I didn't get vegetables this week. I'll have to head to Truro Farmers Market tomorrow and see if I can get some.

For asparagus recipes see here and here

Great British Menu....

2011-04-14T06:59:00.000-07:00

Later this month Paul Ainsworth from Padstow is going to compete in the regional rounds of Great British Menu.

It will be on BBC 2 at the end of the month. The chef that makes it through to the final will be fighting for the right to serve one of the dishes at The People's Banquet- a street party for 100 deserving members of the public.

I've never at eaten at his restaurants (Paul Ainsworth at Number 6 and Rojano's In The Square) but I've had a lot of long ad gushing reviews from friends....so no doubt he will be there until the end and so he should.

Watergate Bay.....

2011-04-12T06:52:00.000-07:00

I am enjoying this sunshine. I'm enjoying the barbecues and the eating out. And wiggling my toes in the sand.

At the weekend we went to Watergate Bay and ate at the Beach Hut.

It was officially better than being abroad.

The Beach Hut

Watergate Bay

01637 860543

Porthleven Food Festival....

2011-04-09T04:11:00.000-07:00

Could there have been a better day for the Porthleven Food Festival? Sunshine reflecting off the water, the warm air clinging onto the smell of barbecued fish. The festival is a complete delight.

This year there was a stand of Turkish food. There were huge crowds around it. I left empty handed as I only had £3 left so missed out on their £4 salad plate which would have been great on the beach this afternoon.

Hope's Bread were also there. I bought two fluffy pesto, tomato, pepper and olive focaccias.

But its real highlight are the array of street food stalls. Big bowls of mussels, barbecued fish, Cornish sausage rolls and vats of noodles.

I enjoyed the festival a lot last year and it's only got bigger and better.

Boconnoc Spring Flower Show....

2011-04-03T08:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend it was the Spring Flower Show at Boconnoc. About 8000 people descend on the historic estate. There's every flower and plant you can think of.....camellias, rhododendrons, trees and shrubs. The colours are beautiful. It also has a wonderful food tent with an unusual selection of pasties!

Today there was a new stall (for me) the 'Bellamama Deli". It's website says it's been around since 2009 but it was the first time I've seen them at an event. It's so refreshing to see a deli with so many homemade goodies. I had a slice of the spinach and feta filo pie for my lunch but there were also delicious looking chorizo, red onion and chilli quiches and some amazing scotch eggs.

I'm definitely going to plan a walk around Lostwithiel so I can head their for a proper picnic. I'm still thinking about their millionaire's shortbread.

Bellamama Deli, Fore Street, Lostwithiel

01208872524

Stalker....

2011-04-02T02:34:00.001-07:00

I got a shock last week. I was told that my rhubarb was ready. My poor forgotten rhubarb left to its own devices over the winter months. It knew spring was coming and was bursting with pink shoots when I finally caught on. It made the most delicious pudding.

Rhubarb and vanilla sponges (serves 2)..........

4 rhubarb stalks

2 tbsp light brown sugar

1 large egg

50g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

50g caster sugar

50 soft butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

Chop the rhubarb into 2cm chunks and put in a pan with the brown sugar and a couple of tbsp of water. Put on a low heat and leave to soften.

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Mix all the sponge ingredients together in a small bowl. Butter a ramekin with melted butter and pop in the fridge for a couple of minutes. Butter again. Spoon the rhubarb mixture into the ramekin. Then add the sponge.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Carefully turn out and serve with custard or clotted cream.

Seabass with chorizo and sweet red onions....

2011-03-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

This is the last of my blogs about Arty Williams' Fish Masterclass at The Cove in Falmouth.

I learnt a lot in the two hours and have already eaten a lot more fish since. I'd like to thank the people at Cornwall Food and Drink who arrange for me to go on the course as part of Spring Feast Fortnight.

Seabass with chorizo and sweet red onions....(serves 2)

2 seabass fillets (make sure the fishmonger pin bones them)

a little oil

2 red onions

150ml red wine

3/4 tbsp redcurrant jelly

1 tbsp apricot jam

1 tbsp brown sugar

juice and zest of 1 lemon

4 slices chorizo.

Preheat the oven to 180'c. First make the red onions. Slice the onions thinly. Put all the ingredients except the onions in a saucepan. Reduce the liquid until syrupy and sticky. Add the red onions and turn the heat to low. Stir well and cover. After 10 minutes remove the lid and cook until the mixture is sticky and sweet. Put aside.

Heat a pan with a little oil. Place the fillets skin side down. Cook for a few minutes and then pop in the oven for a few minutes more. While the fish is in the oven, fry the chorizo.

Serve the fish with the warm onions and chorizo.

Crustacean Celebration......

2011-03-27T00:18:00.000-07:00

There are some foods which just scream spring to me. Crab is one of them. There's nothing like that first crab sandwich of the year. Thick white bread with yellow mayonnaise spread across it and just a dusting of sea salt. Although the last week has seen everyone in Cornwall raiding their cupboards for flip flops the evenings are still biting cold and a sandwich won't cut the mustard.

Arty Williams at The Cove made us a crab soup at his Spring Feast Fortnight Fish Masterclass. It was garlicky and hot with lumps of sweet crab and lobster. He swirled a brown crab brandy cream on the top and floated a fish mousse dumpling in the middle but that is a step to far for my cooking abilities. Anyway the healthy broth alone will make those springtime shorts a little more bearable!

Crab Soup (serves 6-8)

200g white crab meat (Arty picked his. I cheated as I had some already.)

olive oil

1 onion

1 carrot

1 celery

1 leek

1 fennel

1 parsnip

1 potato

1 bulb of garlic

4 tomatoes blanched and de-seeded

1 chilli

a handful of mixed herbs

For the stock:

2 crab shells (I simply went to the fishmongers and asked for some shells. They were happy to give me a bag full. Thanks to Seabourne Fish in Penryn.)

1 carrot

a quarter of a white cabbage

2 stalks broccoli

half a red onion

(I don't think it matters what vegetables you use- as long as they don't fall apart- but I'd put onion in there whatever the combination)

First make the stock. Preheat the oven to 180'c and roast the crab shells for about 10-15 minutes. Pop them in a large pan (mine wasn't big enough!) and pour enough cold water just to cover them. Add the vegetables and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 30 minutes (making sure you skim off any scum).

Drain through a colander and then through a sieve. Set aside. Discard the shells and vegetables.

Chop the garlic bulb in half horizontally and brush with oil. Pop in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until the garlic is soft.

Chop all the vegetables into small pieces. In a really large pan on a low heat fry all the vegetables except the potato and tomato. Let it fry for about 15 minutes making sure it doesn't catch.

(This photo is just to show you the stock- it makes a lot more than this!) Pop the garlic cloves out of their shells and mash with the back of a knife. Add to the vegetables.

Add the potato and continue to fry until the potato is soft enough to eat. Pour the stock in and cook through. Add the crab and tomato and let it warm through then add the herbs and serve.

Take part in Cornwall Spring Feast Fortnight by clicking here. You can eat out at some of Cornwall's best restaurants for fantastic prices. There are also various courses- like The Coves'- to take part in.

2011-03-24T09:14:00.000-07:00

My stomach is grumbling. Loud angry grumbles that force the people around me to stare awkwardly. I'm at The Cove's Fish Masterclass., organised as part of Cornwall Food and Drink's Spring Feast Fortnight. It's 6.30pm and it's still warm at Maenporth. Barefoot children are dancing around a jumping dog while the Cove's customers watch them with chilled glasses of wine in hand. There could be no better week to launch the Spring Feast Fortnight. It's balmy and warm and everyone at the Masterclass is up for learning how to prepare and cook Cornwall's fish superstars.

We learn how to pick a crab with our senses. It was Arty's use of sound I found most fascinating. He cut the crab by listening to the sound of the knife against its shell. Later he sliced fat scallops and marinated them for us to eat raw. I couldn't wait to get home and make them.

Scallop Ceviche....(serves 4)

12 scallops

1 garlic clove crushed

half a chilli finely chopped

1 heaped tsp palm sugar

1 tbsp fish sauce

1 and a bit tsp nut oil

half a tsp finely chopped ginger

1 and half limes

1 and a half tbsp olive oil

Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Make sure the sugar has dissolved. Slice the scallops horizontally into three thin slices. Pop in the marinade and leave for a couple of minutes. Share out between four plates and serve.

There were so many good tips and recipes that I'm going to have to blog about the course in three parts. The Cove does courses like this throughout the season and Arty will convince even the biggest fishaphobe to start filleting!

If you want more information about The Cove call 01326 251136 or read this blog post.

Pandora Fire....

2011-03-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

So sorry to hear about the Pandora burning down. It's a bit of a Cornish institution and great for a post row drink. I walked down to Point Quay earlier and the smoke was drifting up the creek.

Scarlet Wines.....

2011-03-09T07:11:00.000-08:00

Every time we pass Scarlet Wines at Lelant my face is pressed up against the car window. My voice gets a bit winier as I asked for the twentieth time 'Can we go there soon?'

'Yeah', the other half answers knowing I'll be distracted soon by somewhere else I want to visit. But I haven't forgotten yet. I still want to go there. (Please take notes...) Now it's got a new tapas menu and I'm hoping that that might be enough to get him there. Spanish food made with Cornish ingredients....seriously good.

At the moment you can have roasted beetroot and blue cheese dip, cheddar fritters, pheasant croquettes with tomato and orange chutney and mussels with pancetta, capers, olives and herbs. Convinced yet other half?

Scarlet Wines, Lelant 01736 753696

scarlet-wines.co.uk

Flipping out.....

2011-03-07T06:46:00.000-08:00

We had a heated debate this morning, my boss and I. It was all over pancakes. She doesn't seem to like them and seemed completely non plussed by Pancake Day tomorrow. (Or should I say Shrove Tuesday?) Whereas I get excited by any event. Valentine's Day, St Piran's Day, Christmas all fill me with excitement. I even look forward to giving foods up for Lent because it means trying new things. (This year I'm being brutal- goodbye ice cream, puddings, booze). So as I wave farewell to puddings I made these yummy pancakes in the true spirit of Shrove Tuesday using up Christmas leftovers.

Brandy Butter Pancakes (serves 4)

4oz self raising flour (this makes fluffier pancakes, if you want thinner ones use plain flour)

1 egg

225ml milk

pinch of Cornish Sea Salt

vegetable oil

1 jar leftover brandy butter

Sieve the flour and salt. Add the egg and milk and whisk until you have a creamy batter. Pour a little oil in a frying pan (you only need a very small amount.) When warm add 1/8 of the mixture and swirl the pan to cover the base. Leave for a minute of two until the batter has dried. Use a fish slice to flip it over. (Don't even attempt to flip- I have the burns and the greasy stains to prove it's a bad idea.) Put the pancakes somewhere warm.

Put the frying pan back on the heat. Wait until it's really hot then and add 4tbsp brandy butter. It will sizzle and quickly turn into a sticky toffee. Stir to make sure it doesn't burn.

Pour over the warm pancakes.

St Piran's Day....

2011-03-04T04:57:00.000-08:00

Happy St Piran's Day!

Tomorrow is the saint's day of St Piran- the patron saint of tin miners. Don't the the story? He is said to have landed at Perranporth in the 6th Century having floated on a stone from Ireland. He is said to have brought Christianity to Cornwall and discovered tin mining. The Cornish flag reflects the tin discovery. So this weekend eat pasties, drink ale and celebrate with the Cornish. (Or just visit some of Cornwall's amazing restaurants/food producers).

St Piran's Day Events/Celebrations:

St Piran's Day march in Bodmin from 1030am on Friday.

The Crown at Penzance is cooking up a traditional Cornish raw fry on Saturday 5th for St Piran's Day. Raw fry is a traditional dish containing swede, onion, potato and bacon and it's delicious! Have a bowl and a pint of Cornish ale for just £6. Cornish shanties are encouraged!

Langmans Restaurant in Callington is holding a St Piran's Day dinner tonight and on Saturday.

It's a six course tasting menu which will be a feast of fresh produce.

There's a fun day at Redruth Rugby Ground from 11am tomorrow (Saturday). There will be stalls, go karts, music, a bar, music and food from 11am.

Get the best Cornish Produce at Truro Farmers Market on Saturday. It's on Lemon Quay on Monday. There will also be a St Piran's Day Parade.

All's fair....(Fairtrade Fortnight)

2011-03-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

I feel I'm a bit schizophrenic about my food ethics. I always try to buy local, I try to buy organic but fair trade isn't something that I have given much thought to. I buy fair trade bananas because I remember watching a documentary when I was 18 about banana pickers and I vowed never to buy another non fair trade banana again. But that has been the extent of my involvement.

But I suppose fair trade is similar to buying local. It's all about better prices for people, local sustainability and making people pay fair prices for food.

I've heard a lot about the Cornish Tea and Coffee Company. They are based in Pannier Market in Truro. Someone recently bought me some fair trade coffee from there. Although I don't drink coffee I love the taste so made this lovely cake as fairly as I could....

Fairtrade coffee and hazelnut cake....(makes 8-10 slices)

4 free range eggs

8oz/250g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

8oz/250g fairtrade brown caster sugar

8oz/250g butter

1 dsp fairtrade coffee with a big splash of water (sieve into a bowl)

2 tbsp toasted hazelnuts

For the icing...

4oz/125g butter

8oz/250g sieved fairtrade icing sugar

2tsps fairtrade coffee with a medium splash of water (sieve into a bowl)

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Grease and line two 8 inch cake tins. In a bowl mix the butter, sugar, flour, baking powder and eggs. Mix until fluffy. Add the coffee liquid and mix through the batter.

Split the mix in two and spoon into the two lined cake tins. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.

In another bowl put the butter (that you have left to soften for a while) the icing sugar and the coffee. Mix until completely combined. Place on cake on a plate. Spread a little of the icing on top. Then place the other cake on top. Paint the rest of the icing on with a palette knife or flat knife. Toast the hazelnuts (if not toasted already) and sprinkle on top.

Eat with a cup of steaming hot tea...(fairtrade of course...)

Spring Feast

2011-02-26T01:41:00.000-08:00

There's something special about those first meals you eat outside. The first picnic outside of the car, a long awaited plateful of asparagus, that Easter roasted spiced lamb. Spring is one of my favourite food seasons, beaten only by summer.

My garden diary is out on the table again. Lists are being scribbled on receipts. My gate needs fixing after being pulled apart in the winter storms. The ground is calling to be dug over. I keep getting emails about Cornish rhubarb for sale and even local lettuce and I'm filled with panic about the state of the allotment.

But spring is just around the corner and this year it means even more. An Easter holiday on Scilly, two of my closest friends weddings and the our hope for the future.

So until the allotment is underway I will have to rely on others. Cornwall Food and Drink is organising its first Cornwall Spring Feast (Friday 18th March- Friday 1st April). Basically loads of Cornish restaurants are designing amazing spring menus for just £14 for two courses. They are also organising events like food foraging and cheese tasting.

Make sure you have a look at their website to find out how to book and who is taking part. There are so many great chefs participating it's hard to decide which ones to go to.

Crab pasta.....

2011-02-24T00:45:00.000-08:00

There is sunshine on my back as I write, warmer than any day this year. Holidays makers and children off school dance along the road outside, their winter coats undone and their gloves in their bags.

Later I go to the beach and think about taking my shoes off to dig my toes in the sand....

I am loathe to say it but it feels as if spring is in the air. Then the bite on my cheeks reminds me that it's still February. That feeling of springtime makes my tummy rumble for something summery. My Cornish Food Box delivered me a large packet of freshly picked white crab meat. After eating some on buttered toast the rest went into a pasta tea.

Crab spaghetti with capers (served 4)....

250g/8oz spaghetti

250g/8oz picked crab meat

1 tbsp olive oil

1 bunch spring onions

3 tomatos

1 handful parsley

2 tbsp capers

1/2 red chilli

1 lemon

In a pan fry the chopped spring onions and the chopped chilli. Scoop the seeds out of the tomato and chop into small chunks. Add to the onions. Cook the pasta in boiling water for about 10 minutes until soft. Drain. Add the crab to the onion mix and carefully mix through on the heat. Add the capers and the zest and juice of the lemon.

Toss through the pasta and sprinkle parsley over the top.

Pasty pride....

2011-02-22T23:26:00.000-08:00

From now on you'll only be able to buy Cornish pasties that have been made in Cornwall. It basically means you won't be eating something you think is a Cornish pasty then you take one bite and realise some muppet has put peas in there. (Although they can still be baked elsewhere in the country they just need to have been prepared in Cornwall).

The term has been given PGI by the European Commission.

It now puts a bit of an end to arguments over what makes a genuine pasty. The Cornish Pasty Association says it has to be shaped like a 'D' and be crimped on the side. It says the filling should be made up of 'uncooked mince or chunks of beef with swede, potato, onion and light seasoning.'

Now you might be hoping that I would do a Cornish Pasty recipe. Frankly I'm too scared to try them. I know far too many people who make amazing pasties and would never give me the recipe so I just rely on them!

If you are coming to Cornwall this year head to Phillps at Hayle. They make the best pasties by far (but be hungry because they are the size of a dinner plate!)

The Hub, St Ives

2011-02-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

When you walk in flip flops down the hill into St Ives on a hot day it's hard to believe you're not abroad. One of the memories I will always keep from Cornwall is that first breathtaking day I saw Carbis Bay.

In St Ives there's always somewhere or something to eat. Whether it's fish and chips or and ice cream on the front or a four course meal. Apparently The hub has completely redone its menu after a big refurbishment.

According to Hub owner Richard Boon you won’t find anything fussy on the new Hub menu – it’s about simple and uncomplicated food using the best seasonal ingredients available with an emphasis on great taste.

During the day, the Hub has also introduced a range of freshly based cakes, brownies, cookies and pastries to complement the coffee, made from the Hub’s team of fully trained Baristas.

Frankly, I struggle to get the other half anywhere that doesn't sell enormous burgers and it looks like The Hub won't disappoint him. The team have spent month researching recipes for the burgers and have a range of options including Classic, Cornish Cheese, Blue Cheese, Spanish, Italian and Barbecue.

But for me it was the promise of homemade scotch eggs that caught my eye. Roll on sunshine...I'm coming to St Ives....

For more information on the new Hub menu, visit www.hub-stives.co.uk or call 01736 799099.

When the chips are down...

2011-02-13T02:02:00.000-08:00

This morning I sat with my head on the steering wheel of my car at 645am in the pitch dark and pouring rain. I'd hardly slept last night because the wind was howling around the roof of our flat. Rowing this early is as close to hell as you can get. It's cold. It's wet and everyone's grumpy. An hour later and everyone's smiling, buoyed by exercise. We're all happy to be returning home. Now I'm back into my pyjamas with a hot water bottle. On a day like today comfort food is the only option and what better than a bowl of chips?

This week's National Chip Week and I decided to give chips a go as I don't think I have ever made them from scratch before. I still had a big jar of duck fat left over from that roast duck last month so I gave it a go....

* Please be really careful with deep frying anything. Obviously only for adults and don't leave the pan!

Triple cooked Cornish duck fat chips......

2 medium potatoes

enough duck fat to half fill a pan

Cornish Sea Salt

Scoop the fat into a saucepan and put over a very low heat to melt slowly.

Wash and peel the potatoes. Cut into chip shapes. Pop into a pan of boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain and place on a clean tea towel to cool. Once all the fat has melted increase the heat until it starts to bubble. Add a little bit of potato to test. If it sizzles carefully add the chips. Fry for about 5 minutes until they are light brown. Carefully scoop out and drain again. Turn up the heat again. After about a minute carefully lower the chips in again. Keep a really close eye on them and when they turn a rich brown, take them out.

This only took about a minute for me. Turn the heat off. I wouldn't move the pan until it's cooled quite a lot.

Sprinkle with Cornish Sea Salt and serve with garlic mayonnaise. These are crispy and delicious and are everything chips should be.

Boxing Day.....

2011-02-10T06:54:00.001-08:00

I've started to get a vegetable box again. I'd forgotten what it's like to have a whole box of goodies delivered straight to you. Deliciously wonky sweet potatoes, a dusty turnip, earthy potatoes in a paper bag, two emerald leeks and two golden parsnips.

We've already eaten polenta and black pepper sweet potato wedges this week. Had a stir fry with crispy leeks and am planning on some duck fat chips. But I was a bit stumped about what to do with the parsnips.

This is a great starter recipe for vegetarians or to have as a canape. I served them with some Halzephron Red Onion Marmalade....

Parnsip Puffs with Red Onion Marmalade....

2oz/50g strong white bread flour

1 cup cold water

2oz/50g butter

2 eggs

1 medium parsnip (top and tailed) grated

1 tsp wholegrain mustard

a few drops of Worcestershire sauce

Preheat the oven to 200'c. Sieve the flour and put to one side. In a saucepan put the water, Worcestershire sauce and chopped up butter. Bring to the boil. Take off the heat and add the flour. Beat with a flat wooden spoon. In a different bowl beat the eggs. Add a little at a time and continue to beat until you've added all the egg. Stir in the mustard.

Line a baking tray and drop a tsp of the mix on the baking paper.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until brown and crispy.

Drum roll please...

2011-02-08T06:11:00.000-08:00

And the winner is......

The Rose in Vale in Mithian!

Menu:

Line caught St Agnes Sea Bass, root vegetable and Camel Valley Nage

Homegrown Jerusalem artichoke froth with herb dumplings

***

Lobster ravioli with seared local scallops, lobster, ginger and cucumber

Twice baked Cornish goat's cheese and Silverwell goat's milk souffle with mustard grain cream

***

Pressed pork belly layered with homemade black pudding, roasted pork tenderloin wrapped in local smoked bacon, apple and thyme sausage, braised pig cheeks, fondant potato, parsnip puree and Cornish cider reduction

Char grilled vegetable terrine on celeriac and potato rosti with tomato sabayon and Parmesan crisp

***

Baked dark chocolate and hazelnut tart with goat's milk ice cream, chocolate tuille, caramelised hazelnuts.

Cornish Catering Challenge....

2011-02-07T06:40:00.000-08:00

I love competitions. My whole family does. My mum is one of those people who is quiet and lovely but put her in a quiz and she'll be the first to push a pregnant woman out of the way to answer first. (That actually happened.) I'm entering a lot of them at the moment. Camera competitions mostly so I can start blogging recipes again.

Today it's the Cornish Catering Challenge. Six teams of chefs design a menu and compete against each other to create the best Cornish menu going....

This year Falmouth has got a strong showing (not surprising as the town has so many great restaurants.) Taking part are The Green Lawns, Falmouth Beach, The Pandora at Mylor (last year's winners) Rose-in-Vale near St Agnes, the Coldstreamer at Gulval and the Ferryboat from Helford .

BBC Radio Cornwall's Daphne Skinnard is compering the event and according to his tweets Nathan Outlaw is one of the judges.

Good luck to all the competitors and those tasting the dishes. That's how I'd like to be spending my day! I'll let you know the winner tomorrow.

More information here.

Apologies....

2011-02-06T10:51:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry there's not much blogging at the moment......no camera.

I'll be back asap. Enjoy this lovely picture of Scilly instead. Much better than food!

Pride goes before Cornwall...

2011-01-24T09:28:00.000-08:00

The English way is to play things down. To apologise when we do something well. To always let others take the limelight. Cornwall is the opposite. It's proud of its coastline, its people and itself. And so it should be. So it was great to see that Cornish food is starting to be recognised.

A new book claims that Cornwall (and the rest of the South West) is challenging London's culinary throne and is where gourmet talent is being fatted up! The new edition of the Devon, Cornwall and South West England Lonely Planet Guide says it's streets (or coast paths) ahead of other areas in terms of cuisine.

The guide says rising stars are being trained by our celebrity chefs and the nurtured talent means more Michelin stars should be on the way. (How has the Driftwood at Portscatho not got one?) But let's face it we're not just leading the way in fine cuisine. Our cafes, pubs and restaurants are also better than any other area. I've never had a better roast than at the Victoria Inn at Perranuthnoe and you can't get better crab cakes than at The Lewinnick Lodge near Newquay.

The guide reckons Paul Ainsworth at No 6 in Padstow is one of the top five restaurants. I've never been but have heard great reviews. (My mum met him when she went to Padstow last year. I was very excited as I am a bit of a chef groupie!) Apparently Jude Kereama, the man who makes the best chocolate fondant in the world, also gets a mention.

This year I need to be a bit more adventurous. I need to try more restaurants. Any suggestions gratefully received.

The Warehouse, Falmouth

2011-01-18T22:39:00.000-08:00

It seems like everyone is eating fish this week. Jamie, Gordon and Hugh seem to have inspired everyone to buy mackerel and coley. I am completely clueless about fish to be honest. I can cook shellfish but when it comes to actual fish I have no idea what I am doing. I keep meaning to do a course so I can learn how to fillet and cook fish without it becoming over cooked and tasting like wall paper paste.

I had already made it my New Year's Resolution to eat more fish when eating out. Last night I had the opportunity as I went to The Warehouse in Falmouth for the first time. I've heard a lot about it and lots of people have said the fish is fantastic.

I decided to start with crab cakes. I am obsessed with crab cakes and at least in Cornwall you can get them in most cafes and restaurants.

They were peppery and hot and came with a spiky sweet chilli sauce.

If I hadn't made a New Year's Resolution I'd have probably had the steaks as they looked fat and tender. Instead I opted for the Cornish sole with garlic butter and tartare sauce. My father in law warned me "it's a hard work fish" and he wasn't wrong. The in laws filleted them perfectly whereas mine ended up looking a bit of a wreck with bones everywhere! It was delicious and once I'd got the hang of it loved the meaty flesh.

I didn't have puddings although the boys had a fat blackberry and apple pie with custard and a chocolate brownie with chocolate sauce.

The staff are fantastic and food delicious. If you're in Falmouth and you fancy some fresh fish it is definitely worth a visit.

A three course meal is about £18-20

The Warehouse, Customs House Quay

01326 313001

Star light....

2011-01-18T05:15:00.000-08:00

St Enodoc's Nathan Outlaw has been given a second Michelin star as the guide published its list of honours today. Nathan has two restaurants up at Rock, the Restaurant Nathan Outlaw and the Seafood and Grill.

A newbie on the list is the Pony and Trap in Chew Magna, near Bristol (hopefully I'll convince my sister to try this out this weekend when I'm up country!)

Read more about Nathan Outlaw and his delicious recipes here

Love a duck.....(part 1)

2011-01-07T09:59:00.000-08:00

"We loved your enthusiasm, never lose that". I remember being told that after (another) failed job interview. At the time I brushed it off focusing on everything I had done wrong. But over the years I've realised that a little bit of enthusiasm can go a long way. Roger from the Cornish Duck Company seems to live by that mantra. I meet him at Farmers Markets and food events sometimes and his enthusiasm for his duck products is infectious and you can't help but get your wallet out. He's always inviting me up to the farm to have a look around and I've finally done it.

It was about as muggy a day as you could pick. The fog was as thick as the mud on the ground. But it didn't seem to worry the ducks. After weeks of freezing temperatures they were probably just happy they could splash about again.

And Roger's enthusiasm rubs off on anyone around him. The ducks he cares for are outstanding to eat. The fat is thick and crispy when roasted and the meat tastes like it's had a happy life. If you're eating out in many of Cornwall's restaurants and you see Terras Farm duck then order it and you'll taste just how amazing Cornish produce is.

Perfect Roast Duck (serves 4)......

1 medium Terras Farm duck
1 tsp Cornish sea salt

Make sure you remove the giblets! Put the duck in a large bowl and pour a kettle of boiling water over the top. Carefully lift out. Preheat the oven to 180'c. Put the duck upside down (breast side down) in a baking tray and season with a little salt. Bake for about an hour and a quarter until the juices run clear. Then carefully turn over and bake for another 20 minutes or so.

Leave to rest for 20 minutes. Then carve. I served this with some of the boozy cranberry sauce leftover for Christmas and a little of the pan juices.

Cornish gem: The Cove, Maenporth

2011-01-03T23:08:00.001-08:00

It's 730am and I'm still lying in bed. I have a crumbed plate hiding among the covers from this morning's toast and an empty tea mug on the bedside table. Normally I've already done an hour's work by now so it's a little strange to be going in later this week. Normally over Christmas and New Year I do a couple of days on, a couple of days off. But this year (with a little help of the leave angel) I managed to get a whole 10 days off in a row and it felt like the Christmas holidays I used to get at school.

Yesterday we had that feeling of dread knowing it was the last day of the holidays and went for a walk at Maenporth near Falmouth. It was a fantastic day, warm and still and we decided to have an last minute lunch at The Cove. It's not the first time I've been there. My housemate and I used to drive down there on summer evenings and sit in the sun drinking a gin and tonic. The Cove sits at the top of the beach and it's difficult to be given a bad table as most look across the bay. When eating there the best thing to go for is that tapas. It's not the usual tapas you get at most places but often just smaller versions of their main meals. It means you get to try lots of the menu.

We chose three dishes and some bread. This was an ideal amount for lunch. (Although as I am greedy and my stomach has had a hardcore workout over Christmas, I could have quite easily eaten four.) The first dish was Cornish pork belly with tomatoes and chorizo stew. This was the shining light, smokey and spicy with pork that fell apart on your fork.

You can't visit the cove without eating the fish dishes and the seafood thai green curry was delicious. The fat scallops held their own among the coconut sauce. The bowl was almost licked clean.

Lastly we ate fat king prawns with a really garlicky aioli which we dunked our bread into to finish the meal.

The Cove isn't expensive. The tapas and drinks came to about £20 and the views are worth that alone.

The Cove, Maenporth Beach, Falmouth, TR11 5HN (01326 251136)

New Year....

2011-01-02T05:42:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year! We ate Mexican food and played games.....

It was a good way to start a year!

Flip side....

2010-12-27T01:16:00.000-08:00

I woke up at 430am on Christmas Day but lay on the sofa watching Christmas films waiting for the other half to wake up. Finally at 7am it got too much and I woke him, sliding into the bedroom wearing festive socks shouting "It's Christmas!". (I am very irritating in the morning.) He took it quite well and we opened our stockings. His first open was a magic garden. He was given one last year and loved it.

My first present was some fancy weighing scales which I love.....This morning I made pancakes or breakfast and christened them.....

Breakfast pancakes with cinnamon and honey butter (serves 4 generously).......

8oz self raising flour
1oz butter
1oz sugar
9floz milk
1 pinch salt
2oz extra butter
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 heaped teaspoon honey

Put the flour, butter, sugar, salt and milk in a bowl and mix together into a batter.

Grease a frying pan or griddle with a tiny bit of oil and drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the hot pan. Once little bubbles form flip over with a fork or fish slice.

Put a pan on the hob and add the extra butter, cinnamon and honey. As soon as it bubbles take off the heat. Mix together.

Pop the pancakes on a plate and pour the butter over the top. Sprinkle with a little icing sugar if you like. I add a pinch of sea salt over the top.

Get left-over it...

2010-12-26T03:01:00.000-08:00

There's two days a year when a fry up is essential. Boxing Day and New Years Day. What I love about Christmas fry ups is your have a whole fridge full of leftovers to be creative with making a standard fry up so much more fun. And when you're dressed is festive PJ's with a hot water bottle up your jumper it makes the cold weather a lot more bearable....

Leftover fry up cakes......(serves 1)

2 cold roast potatoes

4 cooked sprouts

3 cold roast parsnips

1oz/25g butter

Chop the cold vegetables into rough chunks.

Press together with your hands into a small cake shape.

Melt the butter in a pan and carefully place the cake in the pan. Let is cook for 2 or 3 minutes without moving otherwise it might fall apart. Carefully flip over and cook until brown and crispy.

Serve with a poached egg and Primrose Herd bacon. (Just a word on the bacon, I bought 4 packets from the Cornish Food Box and it is completely fantastic. Buy buy buy.)

Hamming it up....

2010-12-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

My Christmas Cornish Food Box arrived today.....

I now have a fridge full of fresh smoked bacon, sausages, elderflower fizz, treacle pudding...the list goes on. In the box was a 225g pot of honey and I wondered if it was enough for my Christmas Eve ham....But it was so thick and treacle, it was just perfect. (Don't be put off by the amount of ingredients because you can wing most of them...read on).

Christmas Eve ham with honey, cloves and chestnuts........(serves 5)

1.5kg ham

fennel seeds

2 onions

4 bay leaves

2 leeks

allspice berries

peppercorns

a few cloves for the ham jacuzzi

3 satsumas

225g Cornish honey

4 tbsp demerara sugar

1 handful vacuum packed chestnuts

1 more handful of cloves

Place the ham in a large, heavy saucepan and cover with water. Add anything in the fridge you think might make a lovely stock. I used a couple of red onions with the skins still on, a sprinkling of fennel seeds, allspice berries, a couple of crispy old leeks, some satsumas chopped in half and some bay leaves.

Bring to the boil and boil for 1 hour. Carefully remove from the pan and pop on a draining board. After a couple of minutes get a sharp knife and run a criss cross pattern over the fat. Press the cloves into each diamond. Pour the honey and sprinkle the sugar over the top. Sprinkle the chestnuts into the honey that has run off the ham.

Put in a pre heated oven (180'c) for about 20-30 mins.

Slice and serve with salad and jacket potatoes. Spoon a little of the melted honey and chestnuts over the meat.

A mere trifle.....

2010-12-21T11:19:00.001-08:00

The drama is what I love most about Christmas. Everything being sparkly and glittery. Houses being covered in twinkly lights, people being covered in sequins, drinking champagne at 11am and eating chocolate at 11pm.

On Sunday we met up for a last meal together before Christmas when everyone goes their separate ways.

We ate roast dinner with each of us bringing a different part.

I was in charge of the pudding and copped out completely by making a cheat's trifle. But I got out the gold spray and silver bowls and added a bit of Christmas drama...

Easy peasy Christmas trifle......(serves 10)

250g frozen berries (mine we all picked in the summer #smugface)

1 small jam jar of cherry conserve

2 star anise

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 shop bought Madeira loaves

1 litre posh supermarket vanilla custard

600ml double cream

1 handful silver balls

gold edible spray

Slice the cake into 1 cm slices.

Layer in the bottom of a large glass bowl. Defrost the berries in a pan. Add the spices and stir in the jam. Spoon half the warm berries on top of the sponge. Add the rest of the sponge and then the fruit mix. Leave for an hour or so.

Spoon the custard over the fruit and pop in the fridge for a couple of hours. Whip the cream until it is soft and marshmallowy. Spread over the top of the custard. Sprinkle the balls over the top. Then give it a light spray with the edible gold.

Check it sprout.....

2010-12-19T06:36:00.000-08:00

We've decided to spend Christmas Day with the in laws and I have no involvement at all. It's the first proper Christmas I have spent without my family (2 years ago I had to work but that doesn't count.) No Christmas dinner cooking to do. No stormy boat rides home. It feels completely weird.

Last night we had a mini Christmas dinner with Team Bramble (a group of friends we holiday with on Scilly every year.) We exchanged gifts.....lots of homemade goodies.....

I've already eaten most of the chocolate truffles I was given.

But even though I'm not involved in Christmas dinner I'm still making dishes here and there to remind me of home.

Sprouts with Creme Fraiche.......(serves 4 as part of Christmas dinner)

20 sprouts

1 large leek

1 oz butter

2 tubs creme fraiche (I forgot to check the actual size but it was these ones!)
1 handful breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Cut off the woody bottom of the sprouts and slice each one vertically into three. Slice the leeks thinly. In a pan melt the butter. Over a low heat fry the leeks and sprouts until they start to soften.

Add the creme fraiche and let it bubble over the heat. Pour into a heatproof bowl and put in the oven for 10 minutes or so until the breadcrumbs have browned and the dish is bubbling.

I could easily eat this on it's own and would be great for dairy loving vegetarians.

Sprouting positive....

2010-12-18T22:36:00.000-08:00

While the rest of the country seems to be waist deep in snow we've missed the best of it. Note the word "best" as snow can only be a good thing. (I'm conveniently forgetting the people stuck for hours on planes and snow bound pubs up country.) We've had bursts of it which leads to bursts of excitement in our household only to be met ten minutes later with disappointment and another ten minutes of checking Internet weather forecasts.

At least it's made the allotment look a bit less "horrendous mess" and a bit more "shabby chic."

I had high hopes for the sprouts being ready for Christmas but they are no bigger than the size of maltesers.

Brussels Sprouts in brown butter with chestnuts and Cornish sea salt.....(serves 4)

About 40 sprouts (10 per person is plenty)

2oz Roddas Cornish butter

1 handful of vacuum packed chestnuts

1 good pinch Cornish Sea Salt

Chop the hard bottoms off each sprout. The top two leaves should fall away but if they don't, gently peel them off. Pop in boiling water until just tender.

Drain and pop into ice cold water until you need them. In a pan melt the butter until it foams. Add the chopped chestnuts and stir around until the butter starts to turn a brown colour. Add the sprouts and toss around for a couple of minutes until they are warmed through.

Sprinkle with the sea salt and serve.

2010-12-17T05:14:00.000-08:00

The smell of fudge is dancing around the kitchen. There's a huge black cloud hanging over the town about to spit out fat snowflakes. I say spit but that makes it sound unwelcome. It's not. I've been waiting for the snow all week.

Today is the first day of Christmas. The day I make fudge for Christmas presents.

The flat is decorated now. All the presents are wrapped (apart from the fudge)....and I'm not sure what else I'm meant to be doing except enjoying myself. I've managed to cram in four parties this weekend....if the snow allows....

So until those begin I'll sit back and enjoy the snow.......

Chocolate Coin Spice Hot Chocolate......(makes one mug)

Place three large chocolate coins in a mug. Measure out a mug of milk and place in a saucepan with a clove. Bring to the boil (but don't let it boil.)

Fish out the clove and pour over the coins. Stir until all the chocolate is melted. Top with mini marshmallows and a pinch of ground cinnamon.

Boxing Day.....

2010-12-09T05:58:00.000-08:00

I'm wearing socks in bed now. Socks, pyjamas, a jumper and occasionally a hat. When I leave for work in the pitch black morning I have told hold on to the rails as the frosted wooden steps turn me into Bambi on ice. I'm holding out for a white Christmas when I can wear pretty wooly coats and bobble hats and enjoy the snow instead of muttering under my breath.

You can't get much more Christmassy than the Victorian Christmas Market in Truro at the moment. Why do the Victorians seem more Christmassy than us? (Thanks to my friend Lisa for these photos).

I love Truro. I lived there for 3 years and would happily move back if the thought of moving wasn't so hideous. On Tuesday night I was invited to my lovely friend Tor's new business launch. It's called the Cornish Food Box Company and at the moment is only available for Truro but is bound to spread across Cornwall soon.

The idea is basically that you pick and choose the Cornish food you want, then they put in a box and deliver it to you! I can't wait to do my Christmas order. Duck from the Cornish Duck Company will definately be on the order form for Boxing Day!

Crumbs.....

2010-12-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

I thought I would show you the snow that hit Cornwall last week.

The landscape looked amazing! I stood at Redruth Railway Station looking down towards Carn Brea and it looked spectacular. These photos are at Perranporth and were taken by our lovely friend Stella.

I had loads of bread left over from Padstow Christmas Festival that I had forgot to wrap up. We used some of it toasted with baked beans...the perfect Sunday tea. But in the spirit of Christmas organisation I decided to make bread sauce to freeze....

Clotted Cream Bread Sauce (serves 8)

250g/8oz stale bread (ripped up or in crumbs, it doesn't matter)

1 and a half pints milk

1 red onion

3 bay leaves

20 peppercorns

20 cloves

leftover nutmeg (those small bits, too small to grate)

a dash of clotted cream

Put all the ingredients (except the bread and cream) in a heavy saucepan. Warm up until it starts to steam. Then take off the side and leave for a couple of hours. Strain through a seive and warm again. Stir in the bread and beat. Add the clotted cream with some salt and pepper.

Serve warm, or pop in the freezer. This is awesome in turkey sandwiches.

On the sauce....

2010-12-05T04:27:00.001-08:00

It's just me and the other half for Christmas dinner. I've got 10 days off in a row...a complete record but I'm working on Christmas Eve and won't be able to get back to Scilly as flights stop in the morning. And even though everyone around me keeps telling me to buy Christmas ready meal I have already started cooking for us. Because for me Christmas dinner is important. It's a milestone. So this is my freezable cranberry sauce....

Boozy spiced cranberry sauce.....(enough for 8 with Boxing Day sandwiches)

600g cranberries
300g jam sugar (or any sugar- I can't see it really matters)
a splash of wine
1 star anise
1/2 cinnamon stick
10 peppercorns
10 allspice berries
1 satsuma chopped in half

Put all the ingredients in a heavy based pan on a medium heat.

Heat until the sugar is dissolved, the cranberries have popped and it's all jammy. Leave to cool until luke warm. Fish out the star anise, cinnamon, peppercorns and berries if you can be bothered.

Freeze for a month if you want to.

Padstow Christmas Festival....

2010-12-04T09:23:00.000-08:00

It was autumn when I last blogged. Now there's snow on the ground, ice covered windscreens and hats, gloves and mustos have become the norm. This weekend it's the Padstow Christmas Festival.

There were 100 santas running through the streets for Cornwall Hospice Care.

But the heavens opened we were covered in bittery cold sleet, leaving santas hats soggy and tutus looking a little limp. Luckily there was a hot coffee and a mince pie to warm us up afterwards. And a turkey paella!

I'm loving Halzephron's new labels....(and their cranberry jelly with chillies- yum!)

I'll be back tomorrow with a proper blog....

A shred of hope....

2010-10-08T22:24:00.000-07:00

When I put on weight, I can stand to go near the scales. I put it off and putt it off until I eventually climb on and it's usually not as bad as I think it will be. This week I braced myself and headed back to the allotment after turning my back on it for a few weeks.

The vegetables I planted back in July have survived well without my weeding and watering. And I came home with this....

I also bought how armfuls of bluey green cavolo nero leaves. They are fantastically delicious. This is great with partridge or duck.

Cavolo Nero with honey toasted hazelnuts (serves 4)

4 big handfuls of cavolo nero

a knob of butter

1 handful hazelnuts

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 pinch salt

Shred the cavolo nero into thin strips with a sharp knife. Melt the butter in a pan and add the cabbage.

This will take only a couple of minutes. It will transform the bluey green leaves, turning them a vibrant emerald. In a pan toast the hazelnuts. As they start to toast add a tbsp of honey and mix through.

Add to the cavolo nero and stir through. Add the vinegar and salt and serve.

Apple and spice and all things nice....

2010-10-06T08:13:00.001-07:00

There will be a time when autumn has gone. The allotment will be empty, the trees will be bare.....

The flowers will have wilted and it will be harder and harder to make spur of the moment dinners.

Our glut of rosy pink apples means we're having a lot of apple based dinners. But I want to make sure the apples last through January and February.

Today is Callington Honey Fair so I'll have to honey recipes this week in its honour.

Honey roasted pork loin chops with spicy apple sauce......(serves 4)

4 pork loin chops

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp allspice paste

3 llbs/ 1.3kg apples

1 star anise

half a cinnamon stick

1 bay leaf

half a tsp fennel seeds

1 heaped tbsp honey

1 heaped tbsp demerara sugar

Preheat the oven to 180'c. Put the pork in the oven for ten minutes. Mix the honey and star anise together and brush over the pork.

Peel and core the apples and chop into large chunks. Put all of the other ingredients in a pan with a little water. Bring to the boil. Try not to stir it too much as it's nice to keep the apple chunks whole.

Let the pork cook for another 10-15 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Cheese please....

2010-10-03T07:07:00.000-07:00

This weekend it's the Boscastle Food and Drink Festival- or Bostfest as it's known. Most of you probably know about Boscastle because of images of cars floating into the harbour when it flooded in August 2004. That summer I was making fudge on Scilly and turned on the radio to hear the unfolding chaos.

A year later I was working on the mainland and went up to Boscastle to see how the village had recovered. It's a beautiful village and the people there are lovely. It was hoping to head up there this weekend for the food festival but the rain came in and I retreated to my duvet.

Here are some photos from the festival's website...

I was hoping to see a Nathan Outlaw demonstration again. So instead I decided to make his yummy apple cheesecake recipe. It's not quite as he did it but was the best my memory could muster!

Apple and fairing cheesecake (serves 6)

1 box of Cornish fairings (or make your own- see here)

4 apples

caster sugar

25g/1oz butter

300g/9oz cream cheese

300ml double cream

1 vanilla pod

75g/3oz caster sugar

Mix the cheese, cream, vanilla and sugar and beat together. Pop in the fridge until you're ready.

If you're buying the fairings crumble them into crumbs. If you are making the biscuits follow the recipe above but make one giant fairing.

When cooled, crumble.

Peel and core the apples and cut into eighths. In a pan melt the butter. Add the apples and shake every now and again to stop them catching. When they soften a little add a tbsp or two of sugar and coat the apples. After a couple of minutes take off the heat and cool.

Start to assemble the cheesecake. In the bottom of a bowl sprinkle a layer of biscuit. Then layer some apple over the fairing crumbs. Then pipe some cream cheese mix over the top. (I have no bags left so had to spread it over.) Layer this again and finish with some crumbs.

I'm off to his grill for my birthday...maybe I'll get to try the real thing!

Pot luck.....

2010-10-01T04:55:00.000-07:00

You might think that going for a surf in Cornwall is easy. It isn't. First comes several hours of looking at webcams and weather websites for conditions. By the time you've done that the tide has changed so you have to wait for it to turn. The comes a long drive to check out various different beaches....

At Praa Sands there was a lot of sucking the air through the teeth and head nodding as if he was having a conversation with the water.

Normally after 20 minutes of this he is in the water and I'm a surfing widow left to read a book or enjoy the sunshine...like lots of other surfing widows...

Boys as well!

But this day there was no surfing....there was an attempt at kitesurfing on the north coast then there was several hours of looking at webcams again for tomorrow's forecast...

So I made the other half and his fellow surfers a stew made from ingredients at the Cornwall Food and Drink Festival.

Surfers Stew (Sausages, honey, rosemary and apple stew) serves 4

10 chunky pork, honey and rosemary sausages

2 large apples

2 red onions

500ml Cornish cider

1 litre vegetable stock
Cornish rapeseed oil

2 bay leaves

1 heaped tbsp flour

Just to warn you there's going to be a lot of apple recipes in the next weeks....I have a few to get through...

Peel and chop the onions into rough chunks. In a large pan warm the rapeseed oil and add the onions. Fry until softened a little, stirring all the time.

Spoon into a bowl. Add a little more oil and put back on the heat. Chop the sausages into thirds and add to the oil. Fry until browned a little.

Add the onions and the bay. Peel and core the apples. Chop into chunks. Stir around. Add the sieved flour then the cider and stock.

Leave to boil for about 30 minutes or until thickened. Season if you want. Serve with jacket potatoes and salad.

Cornwall Life Food and Drink Awards....

2010-09-29T06:43:00.000-07:00

Something's changed. The sun is out but there's a chill in the air. An amazing autumn light. Salads are being replaced with roasts. Sorbets with baked apples. There's a balance in autumn that only seems to be matched in spring. Blackberries and apples, partridge and juniper. The days are bright and the evening sunsets brighter....

Yesterday it was the Cornwall Life Food and Drink Awards 2010. What I love above awards is that you find hidden gems, sometimes right on your doorstep.

Here are the winners...

Best Restaurant: Bustophers Bistro in Truro

Best Entrepreneur: Bill and Sally Lugg, Primrose Herd

Best Food Producer: Trevilley Farm, Newquay

Best Butcher/Meat: RJ Trevarthen, Penryn

Best Country Pub: Angarrack Inn, Hayle

Best Farmers Market: Sennen (I have got to go here...I've heard it's amazing!)

Best Drinks Producer: Polgoon Vineyard

Best Independent Food Shop: Trevilley Farm, Newquay

Best Chef: Arty Williams, The Cove, Maenporth

Best Organic Farm Product: Gear Farm Shop, Helston

Cornwall Food and Drink Festival Part 3

2010-09-27T07:08:00.000-07:00

If there's one phrase I hate more than others in the supermarket it's "ripen at home". I get angry and start shouting at my avocado "Ripen at home? Ripen it yourself". Pears are one of my biggest bug bears. They seem to have a ripe time of about 20 minutes. Hard, hard, hard, hard, ripe, mouldy. But there is that fantastic 20 minutes when you bite into a ripe pear and you remember how amazing they are.

At the food festival I managed to get my hands on some perry....

(It took a lot of free samples before the other half let me buy the perry.)

Goats cheese and pears with perry dressing.....(serves 2)

2 x Cornish goats brie (70g each)

2 pears

1 bottle (500ml) perry

4tbsp Cornish rapeseed oil

salt and pepper

2oz caster sugar

1/2 oz or 10g butter

brazil nuts

crackers

Pour the perry into a small saucepan and reduce until there is only tbsp left. This takes about 20 minutes.

You should be left with a bright yellow sticky sauce. Spoon into a bowl and whisk in the rapeseed oil and salt and pepper.

Leave aside until you need it.

Peel your pears. Take out the cores and slice into eighths.

Make a sugar syrup out of 1 cup of water and caster sugar. Pop in a pan and heat until dissolved. Put to one side. In a pan melt the butter and add the pears. Fry but keep the pears moving around the pan. After a couple of minutes add 3 or 4 tbsp of the syrup. Cook until soft, always

keeping the pears moving.

Brush the goats cheese with the dressing. Put under a hot grill until they start to melt. Then turn off the grill but leave the cheese underneath it.

Place the cheese and pears on plates. Pour the dressing over the cheese. Serve with the biscuits and nuts.

Cornwall Food Festival Days 2 & 3

2010-09-26T09:50:00.001-07:00

I learnt something new today. When cooking mackerel you should put it in a cold pan. It makes the skin crispier. I didn't know that. And that's what I love about the Cornwall Food and Drink Festival you come away feeling creative and excited about food as if it's all new. This year my favourite new find was this...Cornish rapeseed oil.

It's delicious. I made a dressing this morning for a lunchtime salad (that I'll blog about later this week) and I'll rave about it then. I've just poured it over jacket potatoes with Cornish Sea Salt for an extra crispy jacket. There were so many great products...

And everyone I asked said they had done amazingly well. At a time when people are cutting back on spending money the Cornish thought "stuff that, I need sausages." These are my kind of people. "So I can't afford to put petrol in my car at least I've got enough yarg to last me until Christmas." (2011.)

I spent a lot of money on booze. The other half pounced on the boozey ginger beer when I got home...luckily I had some yarg to distract him with...

Alcoholic ginger beer pudding with ginger sauce......(makes 12 portions, but 6 of you will eat it!)

1 bottle of Beaumonts Alcoholic Ginger Beer (500ml)

200g/7oz dates

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g/4oz butter

2 eggs

200g caster sugar

200g self raising flour

2 tsp dried ginger

For the sauce.....

100g/4oz butter (salted)

1 small pot double cream (142ml)

200g demerara sugar

1 pinch Cornish Sea Salt

1 tsp dried ginger or 1 tsp ginger syrup

Before we launch into the recipe I forgot the most exciting part of today. I made the other half wait for half an hour so we could push to the front and watch Nathan Outlaw's demonstration. Unfortunately three 70 year old women were faster than us (and had lethal handbags) so we had to settle for second row.

He made scallops with squash, bacon and grapes. Then mackerel (with the crispy skin) and lemon mayonnaise. Then an apple and sugared pistachio cheesecake. Oh. My. God. I have never hated being lactose intolerant more than today. Anyway. Where was I? Ah yes pudding. Preheat the oven to 180'c. Then put the dates in a bowl. Warm the ginger beer and pour over the dates. Add the bicarbonate of soda. Leave for 1 hour.

You can leave them whole or break them up a little with your hands. In a separate bowl cream the sugar and butter.

Add the eggs one at a time and mix in. Add the flour and ginger and fold. When mixed, add the date mixture which should be cool by now. Place in a buttered tray.

Cook for 40 minutes or until firm.

In a pan put the butter, sugar, cream and ginger. Put over a low heat, stirring every now and again.

When it's turned a caramel colour and all the sugar has dissolved add the sea salt. Cut the pudding into squares and top with the sauce....

Cornwall Food and Drink Festival 2010 Part 1

2010-09-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I spent a lot of time thinking about blogging. I spoke to lots of people about blogging. And I wrote a lot about blogging. I spent so much time on blogging I couldn't face blogging. I was doing a talk at Rick Stein's Seafood School for the Charted Institute of PR Professionals about ways to get stories into blogs. I met lots of lovely people as enthusiastic about Cornish food as I am.

So apologies about my disappearance. But now I'm back and why? The Cornish Food and Drink Festival 2010 of course. Three days of Cornish foodie loveliness.

I went to watch the BBC Radio Cornwall cook off and got to try some of James Churchfield's and James Nathan's pumpkin veloute with crispy leeks. It was fantastic. Then I dusted off the wallet and started spending...

So now I have the recipes...I just need to shake off this blogging/cooking block and start thinking....

2010-09-08T07:12:00.001-07:00

At home (on Scilly) we have some family staples. Foods we love and can eat over and over again. And they never taste the same without the family around. Spaghetti Carbona made with just spaghetti, bacon and scrambled egg. "Chicken creme fraiche" chicken, creme fraiche, lemons, spring onions. Lemon Lapis, that's meringue, lemon, cream and condensed milk. And finally Bryher Stores' Blackcurrent Pie. It doesn't need to be served with anything...just the pie. Crumbly sweet pastry covered in caster sugar and then a sticky jammy blackcurrant filling that sticks to the back of your spoon (and your mouth if we've heated it up for too long.)

Bryher Stores is closing at the end of the month and the blackcurrant pies will be no more. And it feels like a chunk of our childhood is over. It was the first place I tried an ice cream on a stick (a Feast!). It was 40p and I thought it was the most amazing, modern invention ever. And I've eaten copious amounts of sweets from its shelves my favourites being fruit pastilles. Bryher Stores was the only place that seemed to sell blackcurrant fruit pastilles. There's nothing more likely to put me in a bad mood than buying standard fruit pastilles to find 6 greens, 4 yellows and one orange. But there they sold 11 blackcurrant pastilles the way it should be.

So imagine my excitement this week in Tesco when there, nestled between the Jelly Tots and the Opal Fruits (don't make me call them Starburst) I found a perfectly silver wrapped packet of blackcurrant pastilles.

But "fat girl in a wedding dress" popped into my head and I decided to make my own. "Much healthier" I decided jollily as i skipped down the aisles. "I have all those blackcurrants in the freezer I stole from my friends garden when I knew he was out. They will be even better and healthier."

So were they better? Find out at the end of the blog.....

Blackcurrant Pastilles (makes 30 or so).......

250g/8oz blackcurrants

75g/3oz caster sugar

4 gelatine leaves

extra caster sugar

Boil the sugar and the fruit in a pan for a few minutes until soft and syrupy and the whole house smells like Ribena. (Don't worry if they have little stalks on.)

Leave to cool then push through a sieve. Keep the juice and throw the pulp away. Soften the gelatine leaves in cold water until floppy. Stir the floppy leaves into the juice and stir until dissolved. Pour into a china baking tray. (So it's about 1-2cm thick).

Chill overnight. Turn out on to a board.

Cut into little squares and dust with caster sugar.

Answer: OK so these were tasty and would be nice with coffee after a meal. BUT the sugar on the outside turns syrupy quite quickly so you have to do it just before you serve. And although the blackcurrant taste was delicious and fresh...I'd still pop down Tescos and buy a tube.

2010-09-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

Looking around the allotment this week I've realised there's still a lot of life in it. I've been spending so much time thinking about the winter and how to look after it once it starts getting cold that I've forgotten there's still meals there waiting to be cooked....

Unfortunately some people haven't forgotten... (note big caterpillar sizes holes.)

Going back through my garden diary I've realised some of the first inhabitants were the fruit plants. Blackcurrants, redcurrants, rhubarb and strawberries. The only fruit bearing plants have been the strawberries which have rarely made it out of the allotment.

But the blackberry hedges around the allotment have provided enough to keep me going.

Blackberry Jelly Cumbles (Serves 4).......

250g frozen blackberries

3 sheets gelatine

75g caster sugar

25g/1oz butter

55g/2oz plain flour

25g/1oz brown sugar

Put the gelatine in a bowl of cold water until soft. Put the fruit and sugar in a bowl with a splash of water. Once melted boil for a couple of minutes.

Leave to cool a little then push through a sieve with the back of a spoon letting the juice flow into a bowl.

Pour the juice back into a pan and add the gelatine. Put over a low heat and stir until dissolved. Leave to cool for 20 minutes. Pour into four glasses.

Put in the fridge and cool overnight.

In a bowl mix the flour, butter and brown sugar into crumbs. Pour on to a lined baking tray and bake in a 180'c oven for 15 minutes until golden. Leave to cool. Sprinkle over the jelly.

It's like two puddings in one!

2010-09-02T09:14:00.001-07:00

As the Newlyn Fish Festival marks the end of summer.....

The blackberry season marks the beginning of autumn in Cornwall. My fingers are purple and thorny, my ankles stinging nettle stung and my freezer full of frosted berries. Blackberries are my favourite freezable fruit. Perfect for shaking into a pan for jam or crumbles. They're small, the size of 5p at best, not the 50p sized ones you get in supermarkets.They are harder too and more autumny.

So now my blogs will be tagged as autumn and is if the season knew it was coming we've had the sunniest day in weeks....

Blackberry and white chocolate cookies (makes 20)....

100g/3oz butter

100g/3oz demerara sugar

100g/3oz caster sugar

200g/7oz plain flour

1 pinch sea salt

1 pinch baking powder

1 egg

100g/3oz white chocolate

1 small handful of blackberries (frozen)

Soften the butter and add the sugars. Mix them together. Add all the other ingredients except the chocolate and fruit. Combine with you hands.

Add the chopped chocolate and fruit and carefully mix in. Split the mixture in two and roll into two sausages and slice into fat coins. Place on baking paper.

Bake in a preheated oven (180'c) for 15 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack.

Bank Holiday Salad.....

2010-08-31T06:36:00.001-07:00

I love Bank Holidays. Three days of mooching. Waking up late, eating cooked breakfasts. This weekend we went sailing from Restronguet (in between Falmouth and Truro.) We sailed down to Falmouth. I even held ropes, tied knots and turned winchy things. I felt very Howards Way.

We went into the harbour and ate pasties and fish and chips. On the way home we fished. All we caught was seaweed and half an oyster shell.

Remember those slow roast tomatoes I cooked last week. They made an appearance again in an evening salad. But spot the mistake. I took the photos before adding the slow roasted tomatoes.

Double Tomato Bulgur Wheat Salad.......(serves 1)

1 handful bulgur wheat

10 slow roasted tomatoes

5 normal tomatoes

50g feta cheese

1 handful basil

1 handful parsley

1 inch cucumber

half a lemon

1 tbsp olive oil

Put the wheat in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil for 10 minutes for until soft. Chop the feta, slow roast tomatoes, tomatoes and cucumber into small chunks.

Chop the herbs and add to the other ingredients. Drain the bulgar wheat and add to the salad. Mix with the tips of your fingers. Squeeze the lemon over the top and add the olive oil.

Bean there, done that.......

2010-08-28T23:15:00.000-07:00

There's nothing that sums up summer more than a cream tea. A great fat dollap of clotted cream on a jam spread scone. This week is National Cream Tea Week. (Does that mean we get to eat them everyday?)

And although I love cream teas, I love cooking with clotted cream as well. So when Roddas gave me some clotted cream to enjoy I tried to make the most of it. And anyway it's difficult to enjoy a cream tea when the weather is like this.....

Cornish Beans.......(Serves 4)

A good handful of fine green beans topped and tailed (about 40)

2 tbsp clotted cream

4 slices of streaky bacon

Pepper

In a pan of boiling water drop the beans and cook for 3 minutes until tender. Chop the bacon into small pieces and fry in a hot pan until crispy.

Drain the beans and pop back into the pan. Add the bacon, pepper and cream and mix together. Serve with some roast chicken or even pasta.

This was before I mixed them together. It looked prettier!

Crumble Grumble....

2010-08-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

Now when I get up in the morning it's dark. There's no sunrise. No joggers. Just me in the dark. And as the earlier morning glow has gone so has my summer craving for salads, fish and barbecues. I want warmth, slow cooking, roast dinners, pork chops. The lovely people at Roddas kindly gave me some clotted cream a while ago and my other half thought Christmas had come when he came home to some crumble..........

Rhubarb and Brazil Nut Crumble (Serves 2 normal people, 1 hungry boy)

5 rhubarb sticks chopped into cubes
a splash of water
2 heaped tbsp demerara sugar
3oz/80g plain flour
1oz/25g porridge oats
2oz/55g demerara sugar
2oz/55g butter
1oz/25g finely chopped brazil nuts

Preheat the oven to 180'c. In a pan over a medium heat put the rhubarb, water and 2 tbsp sugar.

Let it bubble away for about 10 minutes until soft. And set aside in an oven proof dish.

In a bowl put the flour, oats, nuts and sugar. Rub in the butter with your fingers until crumbley. Spoon on top of the fruit.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with some clotted cream.

Cornwall Food Festival 2010 Preview

2010-08-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

A month today I'll have a purse full of money, an empty cupboard and a blog ready to be written as it's just a month to go until the Cornwall Food and Drink Festival 2010.

My favourite chef Chris Eden from The Driftwood at Portscatho will be cooking there. (Mental note: must book birthday meal there). Again I could go on and on about how much I love the place...but you can read it again here.

And the lovely Ben Tunnicliffe formerly of The Abbey in Penzance now of The Scarlet Hotel at Mawgan Porth. Two years ago he did an amazing beetroot and blue cheese salad. It was incredible.

Exhibitors include some of my favourites Roddas, Roskillys, Healeys Cider Farm, Deli Farm Charcuterie and the Cornish Sea Salt Company.

I'll also be visiting The Cheese Shop stall to stop up on some non cows milk cheeses to keep me going. While the other half enjoys indulging in as much brie as he likes!

Crispy Cornish Brie with Sweet Chilli Sauce (serves 2).....

1 small Cornish brie (about 125g/5oz)

1 egg

1 handful of breadcrumbs

3 tbsp plain flour

1 pint of vegetable/groundnut oil

4 tbsp sweet chilli sauce (I must blog the recipe for this one...)

Pour the oil into a heavy based based and heat for a minute of two. Cut the brie into six triangles. On 3 plates put the beaten egg, flour and breadcrumbs.

Roll each chunk in the egg, then the flour, then the egg again, then the breadcrumbs. Test the oil is hot enough by putting a small chunk of bread in. If it fiercely sizzles it's ready. Carefully put the brie pieces in two at a time until golden brown. When all six after cooked split between two plates and serve with the sweet chilli sauce.

Toffee Apple.....

2010-08-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

The next time you tuck into a bowl of your favourite ice cream beware of where it comes from. Apparently an ice cream's place of origin affects your mood. Food psychologist Greg Tucker If you eat American ice cream that contains lots of bits in it makes you feel busy and a bit like a "modern teenager". This made me laugh as me and the other half often have teenager style fights with spoons over a tub of Ben and Jerrys Cookies and Cream.

If you're dipping in to Scottish ice cream Tucker thinks you get feeling of indulgence. Again I'm sceptical. I generally feel indulgent when I'm tucking into any tub of ice cream because I tend to eat the whole thing in one sitting.

And on to Cornish ice cream which makes you think of beaches and the seaside. Hear I am not at all sceptical because, of course, Cornish ice cream is the best in the world.

My moody is dreamy and happy today- not because of ice cream- but because at last we have a sunny day. OK that might be an exaggeration. Sunny patches perhaps. So I used to Cornish ice cream to make a happy, dreamy, seasidey, beachey pudding....

Caramelised Apple with Honeycomb Ice Cream....(serves 1)

1 cooking apple (look at my massive bowl! Goodbye courgette recipes, hello apples)
3 tbsp icing sugar
1 small chunk of salted butter
1 scoop of Kelly's Honeycomb Ice Cream (you can get it in Tescos I think- if you live outside Cornwall)

Slice the top and bottom off the apple and set aside. Peel your apple.

Cut around the core and push it out with your fingers.

Slice the apple horizontally into rings. Warm some butter in a large pan. Dust the rings with the icing sugar and place one at a time in the foaming butter.

Cook for a couple of minutes on each side, flipping over carefully when they start to go a bit gooey at the edges.

Stack them up with the biggest ring at the bottom. Put the apple "hat" on the top.

Serve with a big scoop of honeycomb ice cream.

Slow food.....

2010-08-21T23:34:00.000-07:00

There's nothing that smells as summery as a deep sniff of a handful of tomatoes, warm from the greenhouse. I love the smell of the plants, the fruit, the sunflower yellow flowers. This summer the tomatoes have been disappointing. Only half the plants have survived. None of the beefsteak tomatoes, only the tiny cherry red and orange ones have made it to August and even then they are no bigger than wine gums.

Most of the time I'm eating them off the plants while searching for cucumbers among their grow bags. But yesterday I decided to cook with them. This week I grabbed a mouthful of my bosses lunch off her desk....a salad with some slow roasted tomatoes in it. 100% delicious.

Slow Roasted Tomatoes........

About 20 cherry tomatoes
A drizzle of olive oil
salt
pepper
fresh oregano
1 small clove of garlic
fresh thyme

Preheat the oven to 150'c. Place the tomatoes in a baking tray and drizzle with some olive oil. Put in the oven for 2 and a half hours.

This is what they will look like after an hour.

After 2 and a half hours the tomatoes will look like this....not dried out and chewy but soft and intensely tomatoey. Take out of the oven. In a pestle an mortar crush the garlic, herbs, seasoning with a little olive oil and pour over the tomatoes. On their own they are amazing with some toast or toss through warm pasta or a salad. (See next blog post!)

Dash and crab....

2010-08-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

It's like Harvest Festival in our flat. Every nook seems to be bursting with beans or over flowing with flowers.....

Snacks are green beans and meals are 90% vegetables.

Once a week or so I'm all vegged out. This week I wanted pizza. Pizza with no vegetables on it. (Apart from salad, that's not a vegetable in my book.)

Crab and Chilli Pizza......(Serves 1)

I've done recipes for pizza before here. I'm just too lazy to type it out again.

So this time follow the same based and sauce mix. You just need these....

75g/3oz dressed crab

Tabasco sauce

1 handful watercress

1 tbsp pesto

100g/4oz mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 200'c.

After making the base, placing it on a lined baking tray and spreading the sauce over the top add teaspoons of the crab. Tear the cheese and scatter around the pizza. Splash with tabasco sauce (to your taste!).

Pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Dress the watercress with the pesto. Once you've taken the pizza out of the oven top with the watercress.