A-Hunting We Will Go...

Thank you, sunshine, for making today a lovely day for an Easter egg hunt.  I hid pairs of little foil-wrapped eggs all over my parents' garden (then had to move some to new locations when I spotted my children 'cheating' through the French windows!).

Shoes on, they were handed tin buckets and we all counted 1-2-3-HUNT! Hiding the eggs in pairs implicitly seemed to encourage them to share, and to help one another out rather than simply piling all the eggs they could find into their proverbial 'one basket'.  I will DEFINITELY be doing that again next year.  Hope the good weather holds for the rest of the long weekend... Happy Easter, all of you!

Cath xx

Blowing Raspberries

The raspberries I mentioned on Saturday had been soaking for six days (rather than the usual five, but that's motherhood for you) so this morning I finished off the bottle of raspberry cordial. Diluted with (fizzy, for preference) water, this is a beautifully refreshing drink and not too sweet for my taste - unlike most fruit-flavoured drinks you can buy. Apart from the five-day waiting period it's a quickie and, let's face it, it doesn't ask anything of you than for a bowl to be in its service for a few days. Oh, and for a corner of the kitchen counter.

Raspberry Cordial

500g raspberries (I tend to use frozen ones)
300ml white wine vinegar

Put the raspberries in a bowl (not a metal one, though) and crush roughly. This is why frozen berries can be better than fresh - no juice squirting everywhere! Pour over the vinegar, cover with clingfilm and leave for five days to steep. Line a colander or large sieve with a J-cloth (or a piece of fine muslin, if you happen to have such a thing lying about), then rest it over a saucepan and strain the berries and juice through the cloth until you have all the drips. Try not to 'help' by squeezing and pressing the fruit as it will end up cloudy. Less work, too...

400g caster sugar
250ml boiled water (preferably still hot, but only boiled ONCE)

Add the sugar to the pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the water. Once boiling, turn down the heat and simmer while you skim off the scum that has surfaced. I use a tea-strainer for this, and very well it works, too. Pour through a funnel into a sterilised bottle and cool. Stick the lid on and bung it in the fridge.

You don't need much per drink - maybe a tablespoonful for a tumbler topped up with water, and it is a glorious pinky red. My children are very keen on it and I'm happier for them to drink something like this than regular squashes or fizzy pop drinks as I know what's in it. It may be sugary, but it's all-natural, no nasties.

Drinks for Lazy Summer Days

So we've had a teeny taste of summer. I suppose it's a bit of a case of "get us addicted and then jack up the price", because now I'm sitting watching the rain beating down outside and thinking back to the last few days of sitting in the garden of an evening, with just Radio 4 and a long drink for company.

Looking ahead hopefully to warmer weather to come (fingers crossed, at least) I've made a start on our summer drink supplies. I've some raspberries stewing in white wine vinegar for my raspberry cordial (watch this space...) and fresh lemonade can be made using my Lemonade Base, but this ginger drink can be whipped up whenever and stored in the fridge for all sorts of occasions. It's lovely poured over ice and diluted with water (fizzy or still, your call). In fact, once diluted, it tastes like 'proper' ginger beer, but carries with it none of the problems or effort. It is also rather nice to splash it, neat, into cocktails, pop or fruit juice for an extra hit of fire.

Ginger Drink

Please don't worry about peeling the ginger too scrupulously, will you?

3 large pieces of root ginger, peeled and sliced
1 lemon, zest pared and juice
1 litre water
1 heaped tbsp ground ginger
250g caster sugar
2 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar

Put everything, bar the vinegar, into a pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil (uncovered) for 30 minutes or so, then remove from the heat. Stir in the vinegar and then pour through a funnel into a sterilised bottle. As you can see, I use an old wine bottle. I line the funnel with a J-cloth to stop any bits or sediment going into the bottle. Leave the bottle to cool completely, then stick the lid on and keep the bottle in the fridge.

Rhubarb, What Rhubarb?!

Our rhubarb plant seems to be staging a rebellion. Against what, or whom, I have no idea but the crop this year has been sad to say the least. After last year, with rhubarb jellies and fools all summer long, I don't know what's going on...

So this afternoon I set to the plant and harvested what meagre crop I could, enough to make this cake at least. The mixture itself is made like muffin batter, but I much prefer this in a single cut-and-come-again slab. I grind the hazelnuts myself at home, using the mini-blender - you can substitute bought ground almonds if you'd rather.

Rhubarb & Ginger Cake

340g plain flour
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp ground ginger
100g ground hazelnuts (and see above)

Stir all these 'dry' ingredients together in a capacious bowl.

250g light muscovado sugar
1/4 pint sunflower oil
2 large eggs
1/4 pint milk

Combine all these 'wet' ingredients in a jug, then stir into the dry bowl.

300g rhubarb, diced very small
2 tbsp demerara sugar

Stir the rhubarb into the batter. Scrape into a greased rectangular tin - about 30x20cm I suppose - and sprinkle the surface of the cake with demerara sugar. Bake at 180­°c for 45-50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Cover the surface of the cake after 15-20 minutes to stop it from browning too much. Cool on a wire rack.

Friends of ours got married yesterday, on a truly

glorious June day. I have never been to a nicer wedding, nor to one that took such good care of the youngest guests. The children really enjoyed the arts-and-crafts table set up in one corner of the reception venue, and they loved the fact that they had party bags to bring home! Craig and Amelia - here's to you and your future together. You deserve all the happiness you can imagine.

Just Chillin', Little Bit o' Illin'

Today we spent ALL day in the garden - I only came inside as far as the kitchen to sort out meals. I bunged some bits in the slow-cooker mid-morning so that we could eat a dinner of Beef with Cider & Lemon this evening, avoiding too much time spent stovebound. I took bread, cheese and tomatoes outside for lunch and we took turns in the hammock (though my go was, in general, punctuated by the children jumping on me!)

The only other 'non-essential' thing I went inside for was to keep topping up the lemonade jug. This lemonade base is a fantastic way of having fresh lemonade all weekend, with very little work - and it makes a fab mixer too.


Lemonade Base

2 lemons, roughly chunked up
5 tbsp sugar (or to taste, we like it quite sharp)

Whizz these in the blender with 250ml water. Stir in a further 250ml water and chill the mixture in the fridge.

When you want some lemonade to take outside, strain the liquid from the pulp into a serving jug and top it up with 500-750ml more water.

This is the good bit; return the strained pulp to its container and stir in 500ml water. When you're ready for another jugful, proceed as before with the straining and topping up . Chill it, and let's go round again...You may find, after a few goes, that you need to add another tablespoonful of sugar with the water. I've been regenerating our batch of base all weekend, and little James has a new favourite - fresh, homemade lemonade.

Rainbow Bright

Well, who's been a lucky girl today? A lovely card, handmade by Christopher (with just a little help from his teacher, I suspect), a pretty plate, covered in candy-coloured flowers and a beautiful, bright Zsiska bracelet that I've been coveting for weeks.

On top of all that, tonight we had a really good Sunday roast. Rib of beef with horseradish cream, Yorkshire puddings and lots of veg (including a dish of purple sprouting broccoli; steamed and then tossed, rather fabulously, in garlic butter). Then we had apple and blackberry crumble with custard. Though madame did find the 'waffer'-thin mint tempting, I feel I must go and lie down somewhere now...

A (Cran)Berry Christmas

Cranberry sauce is one of the essential components of Christmas dinner. I know you can buy it in a jar, but it's so easy to make that it would really seem a shame not to take the opportunity for some casual footling about in the kitchen. In fact, Christopher not only helps, but can pretty much make it himself, under supervision of course. What's more, it can be dealt with early in the week preceding Christmas, so I can get another job ticked off the list. As cranberries seem usually to be sold in 300g bags or cartons, it makes sense to cook the sauce in those quantities too. Yes, there'll probably be leftovers but in this house, a turkey sandwich without cranberry sauce is hardly worth contemplating. Cranberries freeze exceptionally well, so I buy early, then use the berries from frozen . Replace the orange juice with a slug of port if you want a more 'adult' edge to the sauce.

Cranberry Sauce

300g cranberries

200g caster sugar

juice of 1/2 an orange

1 cinnamon stick

Put the cranberries in a pan with 175ml water and bring to the boil. Simmer until most of the berries have burst open (I do think the texture and appearance of the sauce are better if some are still intact). Stir in the sugar and stir over the heat until dissolved, then mix in the orange juice and poke the cinnamon stick under the surface. Leave to cool, then transfer to an airtight container and chill the sauce in the fridge. The cinnamon stick will infuse the sauce with just a hint of spicy flavour , but do fish it out before serving, won't you!

Mulling It Over

It's been a really busy weekend for us; my parents came to visit and, as we won't see them over Christmas, I wanted to give their stay a bit of festive spirit. We went to Aberystwyth on Saturday afternoon and visited the Christmas market; Mum and I both bought some mutton for the freezer and I also brought home some big slices of Welsh Black braising steak. We nipped into Ultracomida to get some cheese before driving home. I was able to pick up my annual cheese treat, a Vacherin Mont d'Or.

Mulled wine is a Christmas favourite, so a good home recipe is helpful if you want to avoid buying the supermarket alternatives of ready-mulled bottles, or teabag things purporting to be an 'easy option'. If you want to take a shortcut (always useful at this time of year), I would suggest the cloth-tied mulling bundles available from Julian Graves. What I would do without JG at this time of year I really don't know, a big sortie for snack foods and spices is de rigeur. This year we are mostly eating their gorgeous (and very moreish) Garlic and Herb Grissini.

Mulled Wine

This makes a lot, but you can use half of it for the chicken recipe below (which freezes very well). Nor do you have to drink all of it in one evening (ahem). If you strain it into a jug it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days to be reheated. You can even microwave it by the mugful if you like... Please don't try to use cheap nasty wine for this, you need something halfway decent or it will just be foul.

2x 75cl bottles red wine
500ml water
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
inch of root ginger, sliced (no need to peel)
2 cinnamon sticks
pinch of whole cloves
pinch of whole black peppercorns
1/2 nutmeg
50ml brandy
50g caster sugar, or to taste

Bung everything into a big pan. Bring to boilking point, then turn the heat down and keep the wine just below simmering point for about 20 minutes. Either dole it out straight from the pan, or decant into a punch bowl if you have one (we were lucky enough to be given one as a wedding present). Either way, serve in heatproof glasses or nice chunky mugs. Mulled wine and good cheese is a great combination on a cold winter's night.

This chicken casserole, which we had for dinner on Saturday night, is something that I first made a few years ago when Hubby's parents came to visit just before that Christmas. Most of the work can be done a day or two in advance, then finishing it off takes only about ten minutes of hands-on work and half an hour in the oven, making it ideal if you want to spend time with your guests rather than your stove.

Mulled Wine Chicken

half-quantity of mulled wine recipe above
5 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
6 small onions, quartered
400ml hot chicken stock
6 chicken legs

Boil the mulled wine, reducing the quantity by half, to concentrate the flavour. Heat a knob of butter and a drizzle of oil in a large casserole and fry the bacon and onions until just browning. Add the hot stock and the (strained) wine, bring to the boil, then lay the chicken legs in the liquid. Cover the pan and transfer to a 200°c oven for an hour.

*At this point you can quickly cool and then chill the chicken for two days, or freeze it for up to a month. Defrost thoroughly, bring to the boil and then proceed as below.*

250g chestnut mushrooms, quartered.

Stir in the mushrooms and return to the oven for 30-40 minutes. Serve with steamed potatoes or rice and some green vegetables. We had broccoli and sprouts from this week's veg box.

Pudding was another Christmas favourite of ours; Mincemeat Meringue Tart. This is my bastardisation of Michael Barry's 'Mince Pie Royale' from his lovely Radio Times Cookery Year. I make an almond pastry for the base, top it with my homemade mincemeat and then pile on meringue made according to the original recipe in the book. Dust it with icing sugar and serve with dollops of thick cream.

Stwmp, stwmp, slam

Words are wonderful things, and words that make you feel good are extra special. For me, that means not only the words like "cake", "gin" and "sleep", but alliterations like "luscious lickable lemons" and anything that fools around with sound somehow. Onomatopoeia is, to me, the highest form of wordplay and tonight's dinner bears witness to that. Stwmp (say 'stoomp', like a Yorkshireman describing a tree stump) is derived from stwmp naw rhiw (mash of nine sorts); the name of a Welsh vegetable dish, traditionally served at Hallowe'en, supposedly to ward off evil spirits, but it's good all through the colder months. I don't use nine vegetables, just potatoes, carrots and swede. I have been known to chuck in a bit of parsnip or some shredded leek, but on the whole I stick to this basic 'root vegetable medley' idea. I used to make it for both the boys when they were still gummy-mouthed, newly-weaning babies (where did the time go?). It's great baby food, comforting and sweet, but still filling and nutritious.

Stwmp

The quantities given here are flexible, to say the least. Roughly speaking, I use:

500g potatoes
500g swede
500g carrots
a large lump of butter
salt & pepper

Peel and chop all the vegetables. Steam for half and hour until really soft, then mash with the butter and plenty of seasoning (and hear the fabulously onomatopoeiac 'stwmp' sound as you do) .

Stwmp is a great side dish (tonight, for us, it accompanied a roast shoulder of lamb), but it can also be a great veggie main course; pack it into an ovenproof dish, top with grated cheese and either grill or bake until browned and bubbling. In fact, that's what I'm doing with tonight's leftovers for the boys' supper tomorrow!

Cauli-wobbles

I don't know what I would do without soup anymore; it is such a fab way of getting a lovely meal together quickly. Christopher has been talking about 'soup day' lately, so I suppose all the boys have now accepted it as a fait accompli; Mummy loves soup. As last week's vegetable box contained a large cauliflower, all creamy white and gorgeous, I wanted to do something to make it the real focus of a meal. Cauliflower cheese was the obvious choice, but turning it into this delicately-flavoured, but still very filling, soup meant I could do some of my Cheesy Soda Bread to go with. Christopher has been going on at me to make it again ever since we had it last week, so tonight I finally gave in. Hopefully this will silence the nagging for a day or two). This easily made enough for 4 adults, but the leftovers will make a fine lunch for the children and me tomorrow.

Cauliflower Soup

1 onion, finely chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 large cauliflower, trimmed and separated into florets
800ml vegetable stock
300ml milk

Heat some olive oil in a large pan and sweat the onion until softened. Add the potato and cauliflower florets, turning them in the fat and juices before pouring in the stock. Stir in the milk, then bring to the boil. Simmer for 25 minutes or so, until the vegetables are really soft and falling to bits. You can help this process along by breaking them up with a wooden spoon as they cook. Purée the soup and season it to taste, then reheat if necessary and serve.

It occurs to me that you could fry some spices with the onion at the start if you want to take this in a different direction. Cumin would be my first choice, but I think some garam masala would be a good option too. I sometimes fry up the leftover cauliflower from a roast in garlic oil with a bit of curry powder. The subtle taste of the vegetable seems a perfect foil for the warm spiciness of Indian flavours.

Don't Get in a Flap, Jack!

Flapjacks are one of those easy traybakes that are so useful to have around, for childrens' snacks, hungry moments with a cup of tea or eats when friends come round. They keep well in an airtight tin and I've never met anyone who doesn't like them. Plus, as oats are now regarded as a 'superfood', we can consider them health food (while quickly glossing over the butter and sugar content, hehehe).

The one thing I think you really do need to bake flapjacks successfully is a non-stick baking tin. You still have to grease it, but it does away with the hassle of lining a tin and the immense irritation of flapjacks which collapse when you try to slice them. I've had to turn more than one batch into Peach & Flapjack Trifle.

Flapjacks

250g butter
175g light muscovado sugar
2 tbsp black treacle
350g rolled oats

Melt the butter, sugar and treacle together in a large pan over a medium heat, stirring well to combine until smooth, dark and glossy. Mix in the oats, making sure that they are all fully coated. Tip into a small greased non-stick baking tin and level the surface, as best you can, with the back of a spoon. Bake fo 20 minutes at 150°c. Mark out squares or bars on the surface, then allow the flapjacks to cool completely in the tin, before slicing.

You can vary flapjack easily with sultanas or chopped glacé cherries stired in with the oats. A chocolate topping is also nice once in a while (pour over 150g melted chocolate when you remove the tin from the oven, then mark out squares once the chocolate is semi-set).

I also finally got around to defrosting the damsons and making some jam. Our neighbour's tree rains damsons onto our lawn every year, but I never have time to make the jam when the damsons are in season. This year I froze the fruit, then added a little lemon juice to make up for any pectin lost during freezing. I've also got a huge box of blackberries in the freezer for jam, so I'd better do that soon; I need the freezer space!

And it's only October!

Some things you just have to make in advance. The essential Christmas ‘big three’ are among them and I like to get these done and dusted as soon as possible. Today I tackled the mincemeat - just the cake and the Christmas pudding left to do.  I'm taking the boys to visit their Godmother at the weekend. It's James' first birthday on Friday, so I sense a big baking bonanza coming on!

Mincemeat

Seriously easy, and the homemade stuff is usually miles better than anything you can buy. This recipe makes three 450g jars to keep for Christmas and three little 200g jars which are useful for presents. I sterilise the jars, and their lids, in diluted sterilising liquid (from the chemists) for 30 minutes, then rinse everything with freshly-boiled water and dry them with a clean linen ‘glass cloth’.


3 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely diced
650g mixed dried fruit and peel
175g shredded suet
175g light muscovado sugar
¼ tsp each of ground cinnamon, ground mixed spice and ground ginger
about ¼ tsp-worth of freshly grated nutmeg
zest and juice of 1 orange
100ml brandy

Put all the ingredients into a really big bowl, then mix everything together really well. Pour over the orange juice and the brandy and mix again. Spoon the mincemeat into cooled sterilised jars and store in a cool dark place until Christmas.


For dinner tonight I made Julia's fab butternut squash, potato and cheesy pork chop thing from A Slice of Cherry Pie. I used Y Fenni cheese this time, which was a great variation.

The Good Things in Life

You know the saying, "you don't know what you're missing..."? Tonight's dinner pretty well sums that up for me. Because neither of my parents can stand them, we never had parsnips in the house and I didn't so much as taste one until I was 20. Once I did, though, I was hooked. This soup recipe comes from the peerless Jane Grigson's wonderful book Good Things and is quite simply perfect in its simplicity. I adore this book and, if you don't already have a copy I heartily recommend it. It has recently been republished in hardback by Grub Street. The recipe itself calls for beef stock but, as I didn't have any in the freezer this time, I substituted duck stock, which I did have. It worked very well, too - though I wouldn't want to cook it with anything other than a strong, richly-flavoured homemade stock. As the book was first published in 1971, the recipe uses imperial measurements and I have left it alone. I can't compete with Mrs Grigson; these words are hers.

Curried Parsnip Soup

3oz butter
large parsnip
4oz chopped onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
tablespoon flour
rounded teaspoon curry powder
2 pints hot beef stock (and see above)
1/4 pint cream
chives

Peel and slice the parsnip. Put the onion, parsnip and garlic into a heavy pan with the butter and cook for 10 minutes slowly with the lid on the pan. The vegetables must not brown, but gently absorb the butter. Add flour and curry powder to take up the fat, and gradually incorporate the hot beef stock. Simmer until the parsnip is cooked. Liquidize or push through the mouli-légumes. Return to the pan, correct seasoning with salt, pepper and a little more curry powder if liked (but be cautious: keep the flavour mild). Add the cream and a sprinkling of chopped chives. Serve with croûtons of bread fried in butter and oil.

Note: liquidized soup may need the further dilution of some extra stock, or some creamy milk.

I feel I must confess that we didn't eat the soup with croûtons, but with homemade bread and some chorizo sausage. The spicy paprika flavour is brilliant with this subtly-flavoured, velvety potage.

Mystery Vegetable

This week's 'little surprise' in the veg box was a Patty-Pan Squash. A bit mysterious, not because I didn't know what it was, but because I'd never cooked one before and wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it. Despite looking a bit like a small yellow pumpkin, the skin is thin and the flesh and seeds are delicate, rather like the inside of a courgette. After some pondering, I decided that risotto was the way to go. I like cooking risotto, there's something quite mindless and therapeutic about it, and boy, do I need mindless and therapeutic at the moment!

With some Parma ham from one of Hubby's bargain hunting missions and some herbs from the garden, it was really rather good. I prefer to use the larger-grained carnaroli risotto rice. Put the stock in a saucepan and keep it hot, but not boiling, at the back of the stove while you cook. My homemade stock is salt-free, so James can eat it, but if you use a prepared stock it won't be suitable for babies.

Risotto with Prosciutto and Patty-Pan Squash

25g butter and a drizzle of olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 patty-pan squash, diced
200g risotto rice
splash of vermouth
fresh rosemary, finely chopped
fresh thyme, finely chopped
800ml hot chicken stock
80g prosciutto, cut into ragged strips
20g fresh parmesan, grated

Melt 15g of butter with a drizzle of olive oil in a deep, heavy frying pan. Soften the onion, then add the diced squash and cook for a moment or two. Tip in the rice, stirring to coat all the grains with the fat. Pour in the vermouth and cook for a minute or so to evaporate the alcohol, before adding the chopped herbs to the pan. Then, still stirring all then time, add a ladleful of chicken stock at a time and allow it to be absorbed by the rice each time before adding the next. After you've put in most of the stock, drop in the bits of prosciutto and continue cooking in the same way.

When the rice is cooked through (test as you go, scooping out a grain of rice with a fork), add the parmesan and the last 10g of butter, cut into pieces. Give it all a good stir, then take the pan off the heat, cover it and leave it for a couple of minutes while you finish off any last minute bits.

We had a salad of Little Gem lettuce to go with the risotto, I think the slightly bitter flavour and the crisp texture make this particular leaf perfect with the starchy rice.

A Good Beeting

This evening we had dinner in the garden. Not so much because the weather was good (though it was at least dry), but because we were having beetroot. I had a sneaking suspicion that small children, beetroot and upholstered dining chairs were not a good mix, to say the least! I've never actually cooked anything with beetroot before, but a bunch of beetroot was included in the vegetable box last Thursday, so I searched out some rubber gloves and (finally) took up the challenge.

Because of my total lack of experience with beetroot, except in its pickled form (yuk) or shredded, raw, in bags of salad, I had to fall back on my cookbook library for inspiration. This recipe comes from It's Raining Plums, the book of Daily Telegraph readers' recipes, edited by Xanthe Clay. I had a feeling this book would be fetched down from the bookshelf more and more now that we're getting the veg box, as it has all sorts of recipes for those native vegetables with a tendency to 'glut', exactly the sort I expect to see in the box during their respective seasons.

Beetroot Gratin

800g beetroot
25g freshly grated Parmesan
150ml double cream (approx.)
butter and fresh breadcrumbs

Bake or microwave the beetroot until tender, and peel (or use 700g ready cooked, unvinegared beetroot). Slice thinly. In a gratin dish (at least 900ml capacity), layer the slices, seasoning well and sprinkling cheese between each layer. Pack the beetroot in tightly, press down well, and scatter over the last of the cheese. Pour over the cream, which should come level with the top of the beetroot. Top with breadcrumbs and dot with butter. Bake at 190°c for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

The author of this recipe, one Penny Thomson from Diss in Norfolk, writes that "this beetroot gratin is good enough to eat on its own, or you could serve it with simply cooked fish or meat". I agree; I could easily have eaten just a plateful of this. As it happens, I roasted some chicken legs and cooked some peas to go with the gratin, which was definitely the star of the show.

Why did the strawberry cry?

Because he was stuck in a jam! (boom boom)

As it's almost the bank holiday weekend, half-term to boot and Hubby didn't start work until 1pm, we spent most of this morning doing housework and laundry - getting ahead of ourselves as we probably won't do much this week. Christopher's godmother (and nearly James' too!) is coming to visit us tomorrow. Hubby's parents are also coming to visit - they've booked a holiday cottage nearby and are bringing our nieces to stay for the school holiday. Christopher is so excited about seeing everyone!

I took the boys food shopping this afternoon, knowing I shall have at least one meal to cook for 9 people in the week. I hope to do more, but plans have yet to be made. I've stocked up on planty of sandwich-making things, too, as if the weather hold we'll be off picnicking, I'm sure.

After a busy day, I gave Chris some chicken, potatoes and peas for his dinner. James had the same, puréed a little. For afters, Christopher enjoyed a big bowl of the first British strawberries we've had this year. Not, sadly, ours from the garden yet, but we walked past a display of them and the heady, unmistakeable scent of ripe strawberries was just too much to resist. I've got some more to eat later, too.



As to the garden crop, I'm hoping for a bumper year, judging by the large number of flowers and the small fruits already appearing. Karl is checking them regularly and I don't think it'll be long before he appears at the back window, grinning, clutching the first homegrown strawberry of the year. I still don't think they'll be enough, so I'm already planning a trip to the pick-your-own farm at Penlanlas. I really fancy having a go at strawberry jam this year. That is to say, making it, though I'll doubtless eat more than I should. Story of my life really...

Pirates & Pork Chops

Today, Christopher decided that he wanted to be a pirate - and that meant having a pirate hat, which meant some rather insistent nagging. After I'd given both boys their lunch and got the baby off for his nap, I got down to fashioning some semblance of a pirate hat. I dragged some foam sheets down from the art & craft shelf and cut out a couple of hat-like shapes. Glued together, they were actually quite convincing. I am very proud of the skull-and-crossbones, which I cut out of white A4 printer paper and glued on to the front.

Chris was thrilled and wore his hat all afternoon, most of which was spent dancing around like a loon to 'You Are A Pirate' from the Lazytown CD he got for Christmas. So that's what Karl found when he got home from work.

Flushed with success, I made him an eye patch as well, but beyond suggesting that his baby brother would like to wear it (I think not), Chris was less than overwhelmed. Oh well, it can go in the dressing-up box. When I get around to sorting one out.

Dinner tonight was one of Hubby's favourites - Pork Chops. What do you expect with a name like his? Homer by name, etc... Pork Chops can often be dry, mainly because they are so often sold boneless and trimmed of nearly all fat. Get some good thick chops, with the bone still in and a good slab of fat around the edge. You can always trim it off after cooking, I do - and give it to Hubby, because he doesn't put on weight. Ever.

Cook the chops in a roasting tin with a rack. Season them with pepper and pour some water into the bottom of the roasting tin. I sometimes use wine if I'm feeling fancy, and you can add some herbs to the tin as well if you like. Sage works very well, but also thyme or bay. I wouldn't use rosemary here, as I don't think it works terribly well with pork. Cook the chops in the oven at 190°c for about 20 minutes.
Christopher can't eat a whole pork chop of this size, and neither can I, so we shared one between us. Alongside the chops I served steamed new potatoes with butter and chives, steamed broccoli and some sweetcorn. For James I blitzed some potato, a couple of small broccoli florets into a nubbly sort of purée. He seems to prefer his food to have some texture now, so I whizzed in a spoonful of sweetcorn, too. We all eat loads of sweetcorn, frozen or tinned for most of the year, then we'll go nuts on fresh corn when it comes into the shops later in the year.

This time of year brings a lot of other seasonal favourites to look forward to - and Christopher and I have already been gorging ourselves on early peas, eaten raw, straight from the pod. This is the best way to eat peas and qualifies as something of a family obsession - my Grandad used to grow peas especially for my Nan to eat raw like this. My Mum gets through plenty at this time of year, and I'm going to have to increase supplies to cope with Christopher's voracious passion for them.

Easter Holiday (Phew!)

Well, we've really enjoyed the Easter holiday weekend. I love having family or friends to visit at any time, but especially when we can enjoy some really great festive food together. On Thursday we had a fairly ordinary family meal; our great favourite, Savoury Mince Crumble. On Thursday evening, before we all went to bed, I made some hot cross bun dough (for the first time ever) and left it to prove overnight.

On Good Friday, I finished off the hot cross buns and we ate them for breakfast, still warm from the oven, with butter and a little cheese. They were so good that I was convinced to make a second batch of dough that evening for Saturday's breakfast.

The weather was not as good as had been forecast, and very misty, so we decided to spend part of the day shopping in Aberystwyth and went for lunch at 'Le Figaro', a restaurant which Hubby and I used to go to quite often when we were first married.

For supper that evening I cooked a Fish Pie, with smoked and unsmoked coley, sweetcorn, wilted spinach and wedges of hard-boiled eggs, all coated in bechamel sauce and topped with mashed potato. I served it with some broccoli. James had a small portion, whizzed in the blender and seemed to absolutely love it; opening his mouth, kicking his little legs and shouting for more.

On Easter Saturday, the weather was glorious, so I took my parents and the children to one of our favourite spots for a picnic of rolls, salad, cold meats, eggs, fruit and some homemade bara brith.

We had a fairly simple supper on Saturday night, a casserole of chicken thighs, with sausages and butter beans. I cooked it last week and put it in the freezer so that I could simply defrost and then reheat it , topped with a thick layer of breadcrumbs. A few vegetables were the only accompaniment necessary and then we had Jane's Grapes for pudding, which I had prepared the night before

Jane's Grapes

Small Seedless White Grapes

Whipped Double Cream

Granulated Sugar

Fold the grapes into enough whipped cream to just coat them. Pack into a serving bowl (about two-thirds full) and smooth the surface as much as you can. Cover the top with a thick layer of granulated sugar and chill overnight (don't cover the dish). Just try it...

For breakfast on Easter Sunday, we all had boiled eggs, even Hubby, who didn't have to go to work (hooray!). Christopher and I had made Easter baskets for everyone, which I filled with a selection of small chocolate eggs. We all exchanged eggs and some other gifts, and later spent some time in the garden, before having a lunch of Leek and Potato Soup, homemade Granary Rolls and some cheese (including Drewi Sant, Perl Las, and some Gorwydd Caerphilly).

Leek and Potato Soup

large lump of butter

5 sliced leeks

2 large potatoes, peeled and roughly cut up

1 litre vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

500ml whole milk

Melt butter in a large pan, turn the prepared leeks and potatoes in the butter until well coated. Pour in the stock, add the bay leaves and bring to the boil. Simmer (with the lid partly on) for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are well cooked. Remove the bay leaves and purée. I use my hand-held stick blender, but use what you like. Stir in the milk and heat through. I topped it with a swirl of cream and some chopped fresh parsley.

This soup freezes very well, but you may need to purée it again when you reheat it after defrosting; sometimes it can get a little lumpy with freezing.

The Easter Sunday dinner was the highlight of the weekend for me. We spent some time in Aberaeron that afternoon, so before we left, I prepared the (2kg) leg of lamb by stabbing it and stuffing the slits with garlic and fresh rosemary. I rested the joint on a couple more large sprigs of rosemary in my Silverwood roasting tin and poured over a glass of red wine.

When we got home, when I put it in the oven and gave it a couple of hours at 200°c, adding about 200ml of water to the tin after an hour. While the meat was resting, for 10 minutes or so, I tipped all the juices from the tin into a small pan and added a teaspoon of redcurrant jelly, Simmered for a few minutes, with the meat juices from the carving dish added just before serving.

I served Hasselback potatoes and plenty of vegetables with the lamb and gravy, then we followed it with a lemon cheesecake. This recipe works really well and everyone always likes it. My brother, in particular, is very partial to it and in the past has phoned me from the supermarket to ask what ingredients he needs to make it.

Really Easy Lemon Cheesecake 

200g digestive biscuits, crushed

60g butter

405g tin condensed milk

200g cream cheese

142ml carton double cream

zest and juice of 3 unwaxed lemons

Melt the butter and mix in the biscuit crumbs. Press into the base of a 20cm springform cake tin to form a crust and chill (not you, the tin) while you make the filling. Whisk the condensed milk and cream cheese together until smooth. Mix in the cream and then add the lemon zest and juice. Stir well, but quickly as it will start to thicken immediately. Pour the filling over the base and cover the tin. Leave it in the fridge overnight. Leftovers will keep for a couple of days, unless Graeme's around.

There was enough lamb and gravy left over to make a superlative Shepherd's Pie for our supper tonight, after my parents had embarked on the long drive home.

Shepherd's Pie

1-2 tbsp leftover lamb dripping

1 onion, chopped finely

leftover gravy

300g leftover roast lamb, minced

6 medium potatoes, peeled and halved

butter and milk, to make mash

Cook the potatoes (I prefer to steam them). Meanwhile, melt the dripping in a deep frying pan and gently fry the onion until cooked, but not coloured. Add the gravy, and a splash of water if needed, and bubble for a moment. Tip in the minced meat and mix well, then turn into an ovenproof dish. Mash the cooked potatoes, with butter and milk as you like. Use the mash to top the pie. Rough up the surface a little with a fork and then bake at 180°c for 30 minutes until browned and bubbling hot. Serve with peas.

James had a spoonful of pie whizzed in the mini-blender with a few peas and wolfed it down. It hardly touched the sides. He's turning into a right little greedy guts, that one, can't think where he gets it from...

Traditions (and Roots)

Hubby's day off, so it passed in a blur of taking turns to hold the baby or get jobs done. He mowed the lawn and vacuumed the stairs. I tidied the bedrooms, put some laundry away, finally mended 3 of my skirts and made the Simnel Cake for Easter (using Nigella Lawson's recipe, from Feast, for the second year running). I really enjoy this kind of festive cooking and, while I don't get quite as excited about Easter as I do about Christmas, I love the way that every family forms little traditions of its own around the festivals that matter to them.

I love marzipan, so Simnel Cake is a real highlight of the culinary year for me. I know a lot of people like to have a rerun of Christmas dinner at Easter, but I prefer to make it different, keeping that very special meal to look forward to all year (I'm not joking, I really do). Living where we do, lamb is an obvious choice at this time of year, but nevertheless an excellent one. I've ordered a leg of lamb (Welsh, naturally) from Owain's, the butcher I use in Aberaeron. I'll cook it with garlic and rosemary, though I'm still hoping to persuade the hubster to let me use anchovies as well. Potatoes, of course, and lots of veg to go with, and then pudding. I like to serve something lemony after our roast lamb at Easter, so I've to decide on something along those lines before Sunday...

We had a nice, simple dinner of Pizza, Garlic Bread and Salad this evening. Later on, I finished making the batch of baby food I'd started while dinner was in the oven. James is still very much enjoying his food; making appreciative noises as he eats and even shouting if the next spoonful isn't quick enough to his mouth. This was one of Christopher's favourite meals when he was a baby:

Root Vegetable Medley

1 large potato, peeled and diced
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
¼ swede, peeled and diced

Place all the vegetables in a pan and just cover with water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until very soft. Drain the vegetables, reserving the cooking liquid, and purée. Add as much of the reserved cooking liquid as you need to bring the purée to the desired consistency. Makes 10 portions.

The little boxes came from Lakeland and I can't praise them highly enough for freezing baby food in. I label them using my wonderful Dymo LetraTag which I adore, beyond all reason really. I accept that it might seem a little OTT to some (OK, to most) people, but it makes the freezer drawer very easy to keep tidy and it's a snap to select meals for the following day.

First picnic of the year (hooray!)

It has been a beautiful sunny day here today. Hubby suggested mid-morning, rather on the spur of the moment, that we might go for a picnic. I love picnics! So, I made some sandwiches, chopped up some salad veg and hard-boiled some eggs (essential). I also wrapped the remaining chunk of the Cherry and Almond cake from the other day, then stuck the whole lot in our (rather fabulous) picnic hamper, along with fruit and some drinks.



We drove over to Strata Florida Abbey, on the other side of Pontrhydfendigaid, then found a nice spot and sat down to eat. Christopher had a good run around and climbed on some big rocks (with just a little help from Daddy). James enjoyed the sun and attempted to steal a piece of cheese from his Dad's plate. He's showing a lot of interest in our food now, so it'll probably be time to start weaning fairly soon.

When we got home, the boys all went out to play in the garden and I went into a frenzy of soup-making. I cooked some Split Pea & Ham Soup, for our supper tonight, with a little left over for my lunch tomorrow, and a big batch of Leek & Potato Soup. I boxed that up and put it in the freezer. Homemade soup is one of my most favourite meals and our freezer is usually full of different types of soup. It makes an ideal lunch when we have visitors as it just needs to be reheated, with some bread and possibly a little cheese to accompany it. We have family visiting over the Easter weekend and I like to get as much cooking as possible done in advance when we have guests. I shall get some other bits done over the course of the next few days, I hope.