Sunny day

Generally I feel pretty fortunate to live the life I do, somedays this is especially highlighted. At the moment with the sun shining extraordinaire as the season changes this is somewhat exaggerated. There was the day when me and my girls cycled down to Nailsworh for a Saturday morning shop, legs out, hair blowing in the wind when you can't want to be anywhere else. Last week the hound and I strolled down our lane to get some wild garlic to take home and knock up some pesto to top a soup, bliss.
Actually I'll give you a recipe to make quickly before the season turns,
A handful of wild garlic leaves
Lightly fried pine nuts, a handful
Glug of olive oil
Grated pecorino
Seasoning
Whizz together, I used my hand held blender
Back to the point, one of my highlighted beautiful living on the top of the world days, was the day I had Silvana de Soissons for lunch.
She writes for the Foodie Bugle and here it is http://thefoodiebugle.com/article/cooks/anna-herbert-she-shops-locally
This was a perfect kind of a day for me, a racing around kind of a day, but one of food, shopping and walking. The two big children were dropped at school and me and the smalls dropped the car at the garage. A quick last minute shop in Nailsworth for lunch, Wild White from the bakery, cream from Williams, collect some ordered books from the bookshop, then a quick walk home up the hill home to prepare for lunch. The next child was delivered to school and after some dodgy directions on my part Silvano arrived. As the smallest slept we enjoyed a scrummy lunch of nettle soup, rillettes and salad nicoise. This was followed by a flat but divine chocolate and almond cake and coffee. As Silvano left I raced along our sunny lane to fetch the big kids and reflected on why this was exactly the kind of life I want to lead.

Birthday dinner

The husband has got another year older today, so what better opportunity than to have a day of constant eating.
We started with tea and Easter biscuits in bed. For breakfast I was thinking I would just knock up a half hearted scrambled eggs and bacon, then I remembered I could do better than out. Eggs Benedict is always the dream and the breakfast I yearn to go out for, and mostly disappointed by-last time they had the cheek of serving it with a cheese sauce. We had Henry's delicious home cured bacon with a reasonable attempt at a poached egg with hollandaise on shepherds loaf, good enough. Then for the birthday cake, ok it was only 10am, but why not it was his birthday. The scales batteries had run out so me and the eldest daughter knocked up a fridge cake, loaded with marshmallows, dried apricot and honey. Then for a visit to the great Pittenweem oatcake producers Adamsons. An amazing place selling fine handmade oatcakes from their bakery just on a Monday. The next food stop was at a chocolate shop, Tom needed a coffee and why not have a birthday waffle with the finest raspberry jam too.
Next I managed to persuade the family to head out for a long walk, not even having an ice cream on the way. We did have the oatcakes with some gorwydd caerphilly cheese and chutney. The really highlight was Tom's delicious perfect birthday present of a pack of Tunnock's tea cakes, consumed on a beach as we neared the final destination- a beautiful beach with a pub selling fine local ale and homemade scotch eggs-inevitable.
The next via was a farm shop 'for food lovers', where I got some accompaniments for dinner.
We then arrived home to find hanging and clicking in our kitchen 2 lobsters and 6 crabs. The dinner menu was, consommé from the pot au feu, lobster and local asparagus. The lobster recipe from Elzabeth David involved chopping a live lobster-husband steps in with pig knife,and sautéed with shallots, butter, tomato and wine. Of course with the final addition of butter and some tasty internal lobster bit, divine.
Now for the crap tv and salted caramels, bliss.

edible new nephew

This new nephew is delicious, weighing in at 9lb 11 he is totally scrumptious.  This nephew bought to us three sleepless nights of anticipation and a visit to the Coop for rations- clearly this was worst for his parents.  A long labour demanded a supermarket sweep for some essentials, my first break of independent shopping since November.  

This also called for some cooking, celebration cookies, a Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe from his family cookbook and some restorative chicken soup.

6oz of ox liver

^ Good job I have got a forgiving butcher as a brother in law. " How much of the ox liver did you want?" he asks.  "The whole one? " Just 6oz of the 7kg beast please.  

I am now trying to tackle more of the meat chapter which seems to be a lot of the remaining recipes.  The next recipe on the list is Pot au feu.  This contains a vast selection of meat that I hope will feed us for a week,  I'll let you know how it goes and watch out for the special on ox liver at the Hobbs House Butchery, Chipping Sodbury.

Mushroom soup recipe

I am now so familiar with ED* French Provincial Cooking that I know when I see mushrooms on offer in my local greengrocers that I have a mushroom soup recipe with bread in left to cook.  The said mushrooms were chestnut (my current favourite) at half price which meant I bought double the amount I needed, oops. I decided to triple the recipe as ED's soup recipes often make a small amount, for me soup is something that keeps in the fridge for lunch for a week until you are thoroughly bored of it.
This seems unlikely with this recipe as not only do I obsess about mushrooms but love mushroom soup.  And of course in true ED style the recipe was a resounding success.  My love affair is continuing to grow as all her recipes including the ones with stingy instructions and vague amounts turn out fantastically.  The only crosses in the book for me are ones where the effort out weighs the flavour.
2lb 4oz mushrooms, rinsed, patted dry and chopped small
3oz butter
garlic
parsley
nutmeg or mace
2 slices of bread
3 pints of stock(I used up the last of the goose, chicken or beef could be used)
4oz cream
Soak the slices of bread in a little stock.
Melt the butter , fry the mushrooms, when the juices run add the crushed garlic, chopped parsley, add a little salt, pepper and mace or nutmeg.
Stew for several minutes, enjoy the smell.
Squeeze some of the moisture out of the bread, add to the mushrooms, add the stock.  Cook for fiftee minutes until tender.  Blend to a puree, reheat add the cream and some more parsley.
Bon appetit.

*ED=Elizabeth David

A local purchase

I was in need of a watering can to water all the new seedlings without having to get out the hose.  So, I headed down the hill and of course was thrilled with my purchase.  A galvanised watering can from Nailsworth ironmongers worthy of Labour and Wait in London.

You can do it too

Here is the boy with his first sourdough made with his own starter.  He tells me he made his starter on January 24th from flour and water, within a week it was bubbling out the jar.  So this is his first attempt, he made it on a Saturday night and left it to rise then it was moulded into a basket and left to rise overnight.  Baked first thing on Sunday morning, an unbeatable Mothers Day prize.