The Great British Blackberry Recipe Round Up

After the success of the Great British Rhubarb Recipe Round Up in the spring, Karen at Lavender and Lovage and I are launching a new Linky Party to celebrate the blackberry harvest.  As Karen is in  SW France and I am in SW Scotland, the blackberry season starts and finishes at different times for us, so the Linky will remain open until the 18th of September so everyone has plenty of time to forage in the hedgerows and make delicious recipes with the blackberries you pick.

You don't have to be British to join in and you can use fresh, frozen, canned or any other kind of blackberries that you can get your hands on. It's very simple, here is what to do:


Post your recipe on your blog with a link to Farmersgirl Kitchen and Lavender and Lovage and attach the Great British Blackberry Recipe Round-Up logo as shown below

• If you put your post on twitter please mention @FarmersgirlCook  @KarenBurnsBooth and #GBBR in your message and we will retweet all those we see.
• By entering you are agreeing to let us use an image from your entry on this site, and to pin to Pinterest.
• Please be respectful of  other people's copyright and give credit where it is due. 
• Add your recipe link to the live Linky posted at the bottom of this page.
• Closing date 18th September 2015

Labels: Bake, blackberries, Blackberry, cook, Lavender and Lovage, recipe, The Great British Blackberry Recipe Round Up. bramble

posted by Janice @ 07:00 9 Comments

Garlic Bread and Tomato Bake

You know how it is on a Saturday when you haven't really planned what to eat for lunch?  Then suddenly you find that everyone is at home and looking expectantly for you to come up with something tasty for them to enjoy.

Well that's what happened to me last Saturday.  What could I make? What did I have in the larder and fridge?

Garlic Bread and Tomato Bake
Serves 4

A single garlic baguette
6 tomatoes
4 eggs
100 ml milk
2 tbsp red pesto
75g grated cheddar
freshly ground pepper
A few basil leaves (optional)

1. Pre - heat the oven to 180C
2. Slice up the garlic bread and place in a buttered oven proof dish.
3. Thickly slice the tomatoes and layer over the bread.
4. Cover with 2 tablespoons of pesto.
5. Beat the eggs and add the milk, pour it over the bread and tomatoes.
6. Season with freshly ground pepper and cover with the grated cheese. 
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until risen and golden.
8. Tear up a few basil leaves and scatter over the top.
9. Serve with salad.

And of course Credit Crunch Munch as this is a thrifty dish which will fill up the family at very little cost.   Credit Crunch Munch is run by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla at Fab Food 4 All

Labels: Bake, basil, bread and butter pudding, cheese, Credit Crunch Munch, garlic bread, No Waste Food Challenge, tomato

posted by Janice @ 19:45 24 Comments

Cheese and Wild Garlic Scones

I've been out gathering Wild Garlic again. The flowers are starting to bloom on the plants and soon the leaves will  become more tough and not so good for cooking.  Scones are a really good vehicle for all sorts of flavours both sweet and savoury and the cheese worked really well with the wild garlic.


Cheese and Wild Garlic Scones
makes 6-8 depending on the size of your cutter!

225g self-raising flour
1 level tsp baking powder
50g butter
100g finely grated cheese
30g wild garlic leaves, finely chopped
1 tsp of dry mustard
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1 egg
milk

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C
2. Mix the flour and baking powder and rub in the butter until it looks like breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in the cheese and the finely chopped wild garlic leaves.
4. Beat the egg in a bowl and add to the mixture, add enough milk to bring it together into a soft dough.
5. Dust your work surface with flour and gently pat the dough into a round about 2 cm thick, cut out your scones.
6. Place on a greased and floured baking tray, brush the tops with a little milk.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes until the scones are golden brown.
8. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

Labels: Bake, butter, cheese, Scones, Wild Garlic

posted by Janice @ 20:16 22 Comments

Kitchen Garden Experts - Lamb with Savoury Potatoes - a review

I should be presenting you with Charcoal-Cooked Lamb Rack with Savoury Potatoes, however what you are actually getting is Slow Roasted Lamb Leg with Herby Potatoes.  This dish sums up my difficulty in reviewing Kitchen Garden Experts, let me tell you more...



Kitchen Garden Experts features the chefs and gardeners at twenty of the UK's most exciting restaurants, hotels, pubs and cafes, focusing on how they produce the best fruit and vegetables to appear on their menus.

The TWenty Chefs include:
Raymond Blanc and Anne-Marie Owens at Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, Gill Meller at River Cottage, Sir Terence Conran at Barton Court, Simon Rogan at L'Enclume, Tom Lewis at Monachyle Mhor, Jack Stein at Padstow Kitchen Garden, Skye Gyngell at Heckfield Place,  Carina Continti at The Scottish Kitchen Garden and Ruthie Rogers at River Cafe.

The Author is Cinead McTernan, a horticulturally trained writer and gardening editor of The Simple Things magazine.  She was previously editors of The Edible Garden magazine and worked on  The English Garden and BBC Gardeners' World magazines.

Award-winning photographer Jason Ingram has worked on numerous garden and food magazines.  His published books include the Ethicurean Cookbook.

The Kitchen Garden Expert is a really good read, with lots of great gardening tips and a fascinating insight into the interaction between gardeners and chefs.  However,  I found it incredibly difficult to find many of the recipes that I either had access to ingredients for, or  for which I was prepared to do all the cheffy preparation.  If you have a fabulous kitchen garden full of unusual vegetables and herbs, or you live close to a superb market or greengrocer,  and you have a penchant to cook like a top class chef,  then I think you would really enjoy  cooking from The Kitchen Garden Expert.

Here are a few of the recipe titles:  'Paris Market' and 'Sugarsnax' Carrots with Ham Fat Cream and Nasturtium; Sorrel Frittatta, Whitby Lobster with Quail Eggs and Garden Beans; Winteringham Wood Pigeon with Home-Grown Cabbage and Spring Onion, Plum and Almond Tart.  

If like me you are more of a home cook on the run from work to table then you can still enjoy reading the book and maybe make adaptations to the recipes to suit your ingredients and cooking style, just as I have done, so here is the original recipe for Charcoal-Cooked Lamb Rack with Savoury Potatoes and my adaptation.

Charcoal-Cooked Lamb Rack with Savoury Potatoes
Justin Hammett (Jekka McVicar and the Company of Cooks)
Serves 4

2 racks of lamb (6 bones in each)
salt and pepper
4 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
Edible flowers to garnish (optional)

Red Wine Jus
750ml chicken stock
375ml red wine
Sprig of mint
small sprig of rosemary

Savoury Potatoes
120ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus some for coating ovenproof dish
1.2kg potatoes, Desiree or King Edward, peeled and thinly sliced
250g onions, thinly sliced
4 sprigs of winter savoury
Salt and pepper
500g cherry tomatoes

Roasted Vine Tomatoes
6-7 cherry tomatoes, on the vine
2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
Sprig of winter savoury

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.  Heat 3 pieces of wood charcoal, each 4cm long, over a gas flame until they glow red.  Create a cup shape from a square of tinfoil and leave on one side.  Season the lamb racks with salt and pepper.  Heat the oil in a sturdy, cast-iron casserole and seal the lamb, fat-side down.  Drain off any excess oil.  Put the tinfoil cup into the casserole alongside the racks, and using tongs, carefully place the glowing charcoal pieces in it.  Put the lid on the casserole and place in the oven for 20 minutes.  The juices of the lamb should run pink when pierced with a skewer.  Leave to rest for about 20 minutes before carving into cutlets.  Discard the charcoal and skim any fat from the surface of any juices left in the pan.
2. For the Red Wine Jus, simmer the stock with the red wine and herbs until syrupy and thickened.  Add any charcoal infused juices from the lamb to the jus. Strain and discard the herbs.
3. For the Savoury Potatoes, preheat the oven to 180C. Brush the bottom and sides of a shallow ovenproof glass dish or small toasting tin with olive oil.  Arrange some potatoes in a singe overlapping layer in a concentric circle over the base of the dish or tin. Scatter with one third of the onions and a sprinkling of winter savoury leaves, season with salt and pepper, add one-third of the cherry tomatoes and generously drizzle with 40ml of olive oil  Repeat this process three times, finishing with the onions savoury and tomatoes on top. Season and drizzle with the remaining olive oil. Bake for 45-50 minutes until the tomato skins have darkened and the potatoes are tender.  Remove from the oven; leave to cool for a few minutes.
4. For the roasted vine tomatoes, turn the oven up to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Put eh tomato vine in a small roasting tin drizzle with oil and sprinkle with winter savoury leaves.  Roast for about 10 minutes, until the skins have blistered and the tomatoes softened.
5. To serve, place the roasted vine tomatoes over the savoury potatoes before serving with the lamb and red wine jus. Garnish with edible flowers.



Farmersgirl Kitchen Version
Lamb: Cook your leg of lamb as you prefer.  I seasoned the lamb and cooked  in a roasting tin, covered with tin foil  with rosemary and 1/2 pint of water at 160C for 3 1/2 hours until meltingly tender.
Red Wine Jus: I made the wine jus as per the recipe.
For the Savoury Potatoes: I used small new potatoes and left their skins on, substituted chives for the onions and mint for the winter savoury,  the tomatoes I used were not cherry tomatoes so I sliced them, otherwise as per the recipe.  I added chive flowers sprinkled over the bake before serving.
I didn't add the roasted vine tomatoes.


The lamb was delicious and I would certainly make the red wine jus again, it was a nice change from gravy.  The potato bake brings a summer flavour to a traditional roast meat dish and would be good to serve at a barbeque.  I would probably use less olive oil and add some stock, so that the potatoes soak up flavour rather than oil.

Kitchen Garden Experts
by Cinead McTernan
Photography by Jason Ingram
Foreward by Raymond Blanc
Hardback RRP £20
Published by Frances Lincoln

If you would like to win a copy of Kitchen Garden Experts complete the questions on the Rafflecopter Widget, there are only two, nothing too difficult.  The competition is only open to residents of the UK.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Labels: Bake, Cinead McTernan, Jus, Kitchen Garden Experts, lamb, potato, Raymond Blanc, red wine gravy, tomato

posted by Janice @ 12:00 65 Comments

Credit Crunch Munch - The May 2013 Round Up

#19 Choclette from Chocolate Log Blog for her Mango and Chocolate Cake.

Labels: Bake, Bread, cake, cook, Credit Crunch Munch, Frugal Food, May Round Up, money saving, pasta, Soup

posted by Janice @ 20:38 6 Comments

Stilton, Spinach and Walnut Bake

One of the most fun opportunities which has come my way as a blogger has been the #BoothsCheers Twitter Party. As a #BoothsCheers VIP, every week for six weeks,  I receive a delivery of wines and beers from Booths Food, Wine and Grocery Stores



Then on a Wednesday night, between 7pm and 8pm, it's time to taste the wines and beers, give your views and suggestions for what to eat with the wines using the Twitter hash tag #BoothsCheers. Now we have had forewarning that one of the bottles that will be delivered this Wednesday is a bottle of Croft Indulgence, Finest Reserve Port.  So I thought I should get prepared with something suitable to eat while tasting it.



I rarely prepare meals from scratch during the week, if I did it would be far too late when we finally sat down to eat.  So I tend to prepare meals at the weekend and put them in the fridge or freezer, ready to be popped into the oven to heat through.  I also often make double, so we had this bake tonight (Sunday) and will have it again on Wednesday.

Anyway there is some very obvious word association going on here: Port > Stilton >Walnuts.  I did think about making a flan but in the end decided to make a bake instead.

Stilton, Spinach and Walnut Bake

4 large potatoes
240g pack of smoked, dry cured streaky bacon
4 spring onions, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
500g spinach

1/2 pint white sauce
1/4 tsp nutmeg
250g Stilton cheese
200g 0% fat Greek Yogurt
1 egg, beaten
75g breadcrumbs
50g chopped walnuts

1. Slice the potatoes, cover with a little boiling water and some clingfilm and blanch the potato slices in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Drain the water off and lay the potatoes in the base of an ovenproof casserole dish.
2.Chop the bacon into small pieces and dry fry in a large pan, turn down the heat slightly and add the onions and garlic.  Cook until softened. 
3. Add the spinach and put the lid on the pan, cook until the spinach has wilted.
4. Spread the mixture over the potatoes.
5. Crumble the Stilton and spread over the spinach mixture.

6. Make the white sauce add the nutmeg and season, but go easy on the salt as the cheese and bacon are both very salty.  Mix the egg with the yogurt and add to the white sauce, pour over the rest of the ingredients.
7. Cover the sauce with the breadcrumbs and sprinkle over the walnuts.
8. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 25 minutes at 200C, remove foil and bake for a further 5 minutes to crisp the breadcrumbs without burning the walnuts.

Join me at the Twitter Party by following @BoothsCountry and tweeting with the hash tag #BoothsCheers on Wednesday night 7 - 8 pm, to find out how well my Stilton, Spinach and Walnut Bake goes with this week's special deals. Click through the link to find out more about the 12 Deals of Christmas, the Twitter Party and also the in-store tastings.

Labels: 12 deals of Christmas, bacon, Bake, beer, Booths, BoothsCheers, breadcrumbs, Port, spinach, Stilton, walnuts, wine

posted by Janice @ 12:00 5 Comments