

Nigel's fruit
"And then there was fruit" Nigel Slater And flowers and nuts too. On the cover of this book - a Christmas present that I requested and received from my son and his ex?partner - is - I think - a blurry fig. Inside the cover is a rather beautiful red flower - also in soft romantic focus, but then all of the photographs in this companion volume to Nigel's book on the vegetables in his garden Tender Volume 1 , are taken by his friend and favourite food photographer of the Brit
5 days ago


Fruit fools
"Savlon for the tongue" Nigel Slater That's a somewhat weird, maybe even repulsive or at least unattractive way of describing, what to me and many other English people is the most sublime of desserts - particularly the gooseberry version. ‘Soft, pale, creamy, untroubled, the English fruit fool is the most frail and insubstantial of English summer dishes’ says Elizabeth David and even Claudia Roden - doyenne of Middle-Eastern food describes them as "one of the delights of s
Jan 3


Homity pie
" quiche mistranslated by a rugged, carb-addicted farmhand. " Jimi Famerewa/The Guardian In this week's Guardian Feast Newsletter, appeared this - to my potato freak eyes - a glorious concoction. It turns out it was Marmite and leek homity pie from a guy called Jimi Famurewa who had been messing with (the marmite) a supposedly much-loved British pie of potatoes, leeks and cheese. But I had never heard of it, so my interest was piqued - maybe that was just a marketing plo
Nov 8, 2025


Roast leg of lamb - a lucky dip
"How to roast a leg of lamb to rival even your mum's" Donna Hay Magazine Yet again my heart sank when I opened a page at random in my randomly chosen cookbook - Issue 10 of the Donna Hay Magazine - now discontinued. These days I ask David to choose my lucky dip books because my choices are not really random, for even with my eyes closed I sort of know what book I'm picking. He, on the other hand, has no idea. Issue no. 10 is a winter edition I think, and so a roast is a
Oct 28, 2025


A ramble beginning with oxtail soup
"Rambling talk with an image of air." William Butler Yeats This particular ramble began today, with a question, to which I haven't really found an answer. Well maybe. Although really it began a few days ago with a vague idea for a blog. It wasn't going to be a ramble down highways and byways. It was just going to be a fairly simple exploration of oxtail soup - my ultimately chosen English soup in my very occasional world soup series. The usual thing - a few words about
Oct 20, 2025


Fried bread
"Not to be confused with fry bread." Wikipedia I sat for a while at my desk trying to think of something to write about but gave up and...
Sep 24, 2025


A question about shepherd's pie
On Sunday we had shepherd's pie for dinner because I had leftover lamb from Friday. Whenever we have a roast and have leftovers we...
Aug 26, 2025


Wensleydale and cranberries - why?
"It's okay to like wensleydale and cranberries" reddit - Is it? Wensleydale cheese - the pure kind, is one of my favourite cheeses, but...
Jul 29, 2025


An earl, history and recipes
"Tea, Earl Grey, hot" Picard/StarTrek Well the above quote has nothing to do with this post really, but not being a Star Trek follower I...
Jul 23, 2025


Are we British ashamed of cream buns?
"The fisherman fishes as the urchin eats cream buns, from lust". T. H. White I actually started out with the idea of doing an oddments...
Jul 18, 2025


Rather wonderful but mostly unseen
" Language is a funny thing. Most of us know what good writing looks like, but few of us can actually write good." Ellie It's time for a...
Jul 16, 2025


Upping my sandwich game
"No offence, but I find sandwich recipes pointless. Who needs a recipe for making a sandwich? It’s like looking up a manual before taking...
Jun 2, 2025


Genteel eggs
Coddled, baked, shirred, en cocotte, moulded eggs, egg-in-a-cup - not poached - but I'm confused This all began with this rather lovely...
May 27, 2025


From Aberdeen to Ottolenghi
"At first glance, a rowie looks a bit like an unfortunate croissant that you find in the bottom of your bag, crushed by a bag of apples...
May 10, 2025


A template - scones - savoury ones
I love templates of all kinds. This entire blog is made from a template. Alas it is no longer in Wix's vast library of templates, so I...
May 9, 2025


Onions, potatoes, carrots - comfort
"the heart-warming glow that comes from cooking cheap ingredients slowly." Nigel Slater I'm determined to be better at emptying my...
May 7, 2025


Oatcakes
"are they one step up from the dreaded rice cake in your pantheon of worthy but dull foods?" Felicity Cloake After yesterday's...
Mar 28, 2025


Words in a recipe lead here and there
"Dice a little onion, carrot and celery to the size of Dolly Mixtures." Nigel Slater A typically wry kind of simile from Nigel and the...
Mar 20, 2025


New year - old thing - English muffins
"You don't get tired of muffins, but you don't find inspiration in them." George Bernard Shaw It's January 1 2025 and a quarter of a...
Jan 1, 2025


Apple dumplings
"The crust, unhindered by a heavy filling, expands and flakes like puff pastry. When you cut into each, a trickle of buttery brown sugar...
Nov 12, 2024

