Category Archives: Cooking

Born again sausage making

Posted on January 5, 2013 | 2 comments

Many years ago, we used to make our own sausages. Then a series of house moves and a very busy time in both our lives forced a pause in such hobbies. But I remember the product with some fondness, and thought it was worth having another go. Our small mincer and sausage stuffer had long ago disappeared, so with my fondness for gadgets, I bought replacements albeit secondhand on eBay. This time I’ve got a mincing attachment for the Kenwood mixer, and a rather larger stuffing machine.

082a
Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Cooking

Tagged , ,

Pear and Pecorino Ice Cream

Posted on October 15, 2012 | 2 comments

A month ago I got an ice cream machine. I’d been fancying making ice cream again for a while, and the growing number of lovely fresh eggs from our allotment hens inspired me to keep an eye open for an ice cream maker. This time, though, I wanted a machine with a built-in freezer, not one where you have to find freezer space for a bulky ice bucket.

Then this Gaggia Gelatiera came up on eBay:


Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Cooking

Tagged , , , , , , ,

Another batch of bread

Posted on July 19, 2012 | Leave a comment

Three old favourites for the bread making this time. I’ve put the recipes at the end of this blog entry.

First up is the Toastie, based on an Elizabeth David recipe, and a long time favourite from when our children were small. Adding a little potato flour alters the crumb size to give a bread that’s ideal for toasting, and soaks up the butter. Not perhaps a health food, but great for breakfast or high tea.


Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Cooking

Tagged , , , ,

Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee

Posted on June 4, 2012 | 2 comments

A while ago, I wrote about the wonderful coffees from Has Bean. We’re enjoying the monthly subscription just as much as ever, but we’ve also discovered another gem, at Costco of all places.


Continue reading →

2 Comments

Posted in Cooking

Tagged , ,

Pork pie r squared

Posted on May 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

The pork pie saga started with a thread on Allotments 4 All about offal. One of the contributors posted a link to a recipe for Finnish blood pancakes. I’d never heard of such things, but my Swedish brother-in-law confirmed that Sweden has them too. And we got to talking about brawn and other delights.
Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Cooking

Tagged , , , ,

Has Bean Coffee & Gadgets

Posted on March 1, 2012 | 1 comment

I do enjoy a nice espresso. In fact, I have to admit that I enjoy even quite ordinary coffee. In one job that I had I was much amused to find that staff at the local Starbucks had nicknamed me “Double Espresso Macchiato”. You know you’re an addict when …

Home brewed coffee can be a world away from the High Street coffee chains. A much-loved Gaggia Classic lives on the worktop in the kitchen, and I normally have some decent-ish beans in the fridge. But this Christmas, I was given some presents that have taken the coffee experience a big step forward.


Continue reading →

1 Comment

Posted in Cooking

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Caraway & Orange Cake Disaster

Posted on October 30, 2011 | 3 comments

I’m not normally an envious sort of chap, but I would very much like to have as good a cake baking ability as my sister. Her cakes and pastries are in the award-winning category, light, with a uniform crumb, and delicious. Last time we saw her, we were treated to a slice of lemon drizzle cake, and I determined to have a go at one myself.

And, although I say it, it wasn’t too bad. It was a long way from being perfect, but it was OK. And so, emboldened by my limited success, I tried a simple recipe from River Cottage Baking, contained in a little booklet of sample recipes given away by the Telegraph last weekend.

Disaster. Do you really want to see a picture?
Continue reading →

3 Comments

Posted in Cooking

Tagged ,

Pumpkin Marmalade

Posted on October 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

Next to the chicken run Jean planted a bed of courgettes, squash, and pumpkins.  The courgettes did moderately well, but in any case you rapidly tire of even a modest harvest of courgettes.  The Festival squash did brilliantly, and we’ve discovered that roast squash is a delight.

Which leaves the pumpkins.  Two decent sized Halloween pumpkins, plus one smaller one, which have now ripened to a lovely orange colour.  But what to do with them?  We have a very nice recipe for pumpkin and goats cheese, which I’ve written about before, but what else?  I decided to try making pumpkin marmalade.
Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Allotments, Cooking

Tagged ,

Not as green as he’s cabbage looking

Posted on September 26, 2011 | Leave a comment

Jean has grown some lovely red cabbages, the first of which we cut and ate yesterday.


Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Allotments, Cooking

Tagged , , ,

Bread and salt

Posted on September 2, 2011 | Leave a comment

We bake our own bread. It’s not always beautiful, but it’s always delicious.

But the food fascists are on my trail. Some ghastly little committee of busybodies called “Consensus Action on Salt and Health” is pressing for targets on salt in bread to be reduced from 1.1% to 1%.
Continue reading →

Leave a comment

Posted in Cooking, Politics

Tagged , , , , , ,