Category: Recipes

  • Nettle & brocciu pasties

    This week’s Short and Tweet Challenge was a dream recipe for me. That’s because it gave me the chance to use so much home produced or foraged ingredients. The recipe was for Dan’s Spinach and Ricotta Pasties. A gorgeous ricotta/mushroom/spinach/garlic/chilli/oregano filling is encased in a tomato & cheese dough. I changed the dough recipe slightly…

  • Spelt, ginger and cardamom cookies

    This is the latest in the Short and Tweet Challenge. I just love using spelt in baking. I add it to yorkshire pudding batter, shortcrust pastry and love it as a percentage in my sourdough bread. We’d made these cookies when we first got Dan’s book and loved them. This time I had a look…

  • Vegetarian Haggis Recipe

    When I tweeted the meat version haggis recipe, I was asked on twitter whether I had a recipe for a vegetarian haggis. I did not and said that I would develop one. I’ve now done this and it’s below. Modesty isn’t going to prevent me tooting my own horn: I think it’s really good. I…

  • Cider vinegar muffins, egg & salad

    I was very keen to have a go at this week’s ShortandTweet Challenge as one of the recipes was for these muffins. And that meant I could use our hens’ eggs in the recipe and the cider vinegar I had made earlier in the year. A bonus was the chance to incorporate some foraged salad…

  • A new haggis recipe from Wales, via London

    Haggis is one of my most favourite savoury meat dishes. It’s spiced and has a nutty smoothness. It’s a great way of using offal and an economical make-ahead dish. Traditionally it’s made with a sheep’s heart, lungs and liver (the ‘pluck’), mixed with oatmeal, suet, onions and spices and packed into the sheep’s stomach. It’s…

  • Chickweed recipes: pakora & hot dressed salad

    I picked a load of chickweed (stellaria media) after I took all the pictures for this post on the 52 Week Salad Challenge. It’s a very versatile ingredient. When at its peak like this it can be easily eaten raw and is also great cooked. As the plant gets older it can get a bit…

  • Haggis Lasagne Recipe

    I made a huge pile of haggis yesterday that we had with pearl barley risotto. To continue the Hibernian/Italian theme, I ‘ve paired it with home-made pasta today. The roasted tomato passata, dried tomatoes and preserved courgettes are all bounty from the summer: saved for a winter treat. I’ll add the recipe for all this…

  • Mutton roasted with amaretti-date spiced marinade

    I’ll confess that I wasn’t planning to blog this recipe. However, the reaction of friends on twitter and the team here was so good that I had to share. And that’s why there isn’t a fab picture of the cooked dish: it got eaten before the camera could record it. Sorry. I wanted to cook…

  • Apple, almond & date cake recipe

    This cake is so simple and stunningly satisfying. It has a crunchy top and moist inside. The flavours are pleasingly complex with spicy sweet/tart apples contrasting with rich toffee-like roasted dates. The spelt flour and almonds give the cake a substantial nutty body. It tastes great warm straight from the oven or cool later on.…