Category: Recipes

  • Salumi by Ruhlman & Polcyn – Review

    Salumi delivers on its promises. If you want a comprehensive, understandable, useable and enjoyable guide to how to dry cure & preserve meats Italian style, this is it. It’s suitable for the chef, semi-pro or novice home practitioner. I wish that this book had been published a few years earlier to save me some hard…

  • Schug and harissa recipes

    These are a blast for any chilliholic and will add a new dimension to the seasonings on any table. In the northern hemisphere, now is when we need to preserve green & red chillies. If you have a blender or food processor these couldn’t be easier. Chillies and tomatoes are arguably two of the most…

  • Fermenting fruit vinegars at home

      Once you know how to make your own vinegar you can experiment with different flavours. Last year I showed you how to make your own apple cider vinegar. This year, I experimented to see if I could use the same principles to make some blackberry and apple vinegar. I’ve also got into using Kombucha.…

  • Sourdough bread pudding recipe with spices, apricots & cranberries

    The rubbish ‘summer’ weather we’re having prompted a need for comfort food. I had a surfeit of bits & bobs of sourdough loaves in the bread bin, so bread pudding called to me. Instead of just using the normal dried fruit, I wanted some sparkle in the pudding. The vibrant orange of apricots and red…

  • Tarragon vinegar recipe

    My friend Emma has started Project Nosh to eat as many of the edible plants in her garden before she moves. One of the plants Emma wants ideas for is French tarragon (artemisia dracunculus). The dracunculus in the Latin name means ‘Little Dragon’, perhaps referring to the teeth like shape of the leaves or its…

  • Apple custard cake Parisienne

    You’ll love this cake. It has a crispy case;  firm, slightly spiced apple filling and an aromatic vanilla custard topping. What’s more, it’s ridiculously easy to make and you get to play with squidgy pastry. I had a surfeit of apples in the fruit bowl that I wanted to use up and a need for…

  • My Liebster Blog Award

    My heartfelt thanks go to Misky of Misk Cooks for this award. She very generously said: Carl is a renaissance man, a masterful baker and cook, and a constant surprise and inspiration. I’m sure he’s masterful at many things, but that’s possibly too much information. This man has gathered more knowledge into his head than…

  • Asparagus, tarragon and piave tart recipe

    People have enjoyed the luxurious taste of asparagus for millennia. The Ancient Egyptians ate it. And it appeared in The Roman Cookery of Apicius in the late 4th & early 5th Century CE. Asparagus seasonal right now but only for a short period. Also in season is the wonderfully aromatic, anise flavoured french tarragon. As…

  • Vollkornbrot: rye sourdough bread

    In my goody box from Anne at the Felin Ganol Mill was some wholemeal rye flour and chopped rye berries. Along with some sunflower seeds, these are just what you need to make this delicious, hearty & earthy bread. The result was fantastic and we ate it with some very special cheese. The soaked rye…