Author: Olivia

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Wild garlic pesto

At the weekend we went to the Dales Food and Drink Festival in Leyburn. We had a great time exploring the food hall, listening to music, watching morris men, eating great food and drinking fine beer!
I decided to experiment with a couple of my purchases – rapeseed oil and wild garlic leaves

here is the result
100g ish of wild garlic leaves
50g finely diced shallots
50g pine nuts
150ml rapeseed oil
55g finely grated Parmesan
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of brown sugar
Put the oil, pinenuts, garlic leves and shallots in the food processor and blitz
Mix in the cheese, salt and sugar
Put in sterilised jar(s) and top with some extra rapeseed oil as a seal
Hey pesto

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The French photo blog

We visited The French on 20th April 2013, very much looking forward to another opportunity to eat Simon Rogan’s food and we were not disappointed.  This was also the first time we tried Nyetimber… This has led to an expensive habit, if you haven’t tried it you really must. It is the most stunning British sparkling wine. 

Not photographed 

Nyetimber classic brut 2008 – West Sussex

Butternut squash ‘pebble’ with natural yoghurt 
Photos: not the best quality but a record of the meal.

Manchester ale bread, French baguette, chestnut bread 


Parsnip crisp, smoked eel, pork belly 


Pickled mussel and apple gel on a pastry shell coloured with squid ink 


Beetroot mousse, laxholme goats cheese, salted hazelnuts, apple marigold 


Razor clams, egg yolk, celeriac, roasted crispy garlic and sea herbs 

Boiled sole, onions, truffle, ramsons and onion consommé  


Ox tartare in coal oil, pumpkin seeds, kohlrabi and chrysanthemum  


Fresh crab and caramelised January king cabbage, horseradish sauce, chicken skin and crow garlic 


Early spring offerings, vegetables herbs and flowers with lovage salt ( broccoli custard, carrot purée, salsify, cauliflower, radish, grilled brassicas, pea shoots, chilli garlic sauce) 


Hake fillet, buckwheat, watercress, smoked roe butter 

Reg’s duck, ruby chard, king oyster mushroom, mulled cider, nasturtiums ( duck cooked sous vide then in oven very low then coloured in the pan) 


Chamomile ice cream, chamomile crisp, rhubarb and rhubarb purée, toasted oats, Douglas fir  


Pear, pear granita, pear gel, meadowsweet mousse, rye crisp, buttermilk, linseeds 


Saspirilla parfait, saspirilla meringue, saspirilla soda 


Coffee from a small local roasthouse called Mancoco roastery 

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Hot cross bun pudding

So I thought I’d use up some hot cross buns and made this up- it was really rather delicious….

Prepare the dish:
6 ish hot cross buns sliced in half and buttered
Few dollops of marmalade
Handful of raisins soaked in Cointreau


Butter the dish and layer the hot cross buns, raisins and marmalade

Make the custard:
500ml milk
500ml double cream
3 tablespoons caster sugar
1 large egg
4 large egg yolks

Put the milk and cream in a pan and bring near to boiling point
Whisk the egg, the yolks and sugar in a bowl, when the milk and cream are near boiling pour over the whisked egg whisking continually

Pour over the hot cross buns and leave to soak in for a few minutes.

Cook in the oven for about 45 minutes at 160


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Raspberry bakewell cakes

I was given some beautiful individual cake cases for Christmas and decided to try something different today. Here it is

250g unsalted butter
250g golden caster sugar
280g self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
150 ml natural yoghurt
4 eggs
1 teaspoon each of vanilla and almond extract
Raspberry jam
Flaked almonds
Heat the oven to 160 (fan)
Using a hand mixer, mix the butter, sugar, flour, eggs, yoghurt, baking powder, vanilla and almond extract to make a smooth batter.
Spoon into the cases ( or you could do this as a cake if you like)
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes
Remove and quickly put a dollop of raspberry jam in each case and sprinkle with almonds
Bake for a further 15 minutes ( or until a skewer comes out clean)

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A rather fine steak dressing

So tonight we had steak, delicious steak and sweet potato fries. I tried a new dressing for the steak and it was really rather delicious.

Here it is:
chop 2 shallots and put in a bowl with 2 tsp of white wine vinegar for 5 minutes
add a couple of tablespoons each of chopped tarragon and parsley, a couple of teaspoons of chopped toasted hazelnuts some salt and a drizzle of oil.
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Damsons, pears and plums

There is something exciting about being given plentiful fruit from friends gardens. This weekend I had several bags of damsons, pears and plums and so got to researching and planning. I settled on damson jam and my first go at making muffins.

Damson Jam

My ingredients:
Approximately 4lbs damsons
¼ pint water
4 lbs sugar

My method:
So I make jam the way my mummy taught me and I don’t remove the stones first ( that would frankly be a nightmare!)
1. I put the damsons into a pan with the water and simmer gently until the fruit becomes soft. I find it helpful to press the damsons with a wooden spoon to encourage them to break up and release the stones.
2. When the damsons have broken down it is then fairly easy to remove the stones as they come up to the surface.
(some people put the stones back in the pan in a muslin bag to help with the level of pectin but on this occasion I didn’t need to)
3. I then add the sugar and stir until it has dissolved.
4. Now is the time to bring the pan to the boil and boil rapidly for about 10 minutes until the jam sets when tested. ( I test it by putting a spoonful on a cold plate and checking if it sets when cool)
5. Now is a good time to remove any stones you missed earlier that have now appeared at the surface.
6. I then remove any scum on the surface before potting the jam and sealing it whilst still hot.

This makes approximately 6lbs of jam

Plum and Ginger Muffins


I’ve recently bought some lovely muffin wrappers so I used these for my two batches of muffins.
This recipe came from the Waitrose website http://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/s/spiced_plum_and_yogurt_muffins.html
The recipe was simple and easy. I didn’t have any stem ginger in so I left that out and added a little extra ground ginger. The yoghurt helped to keep the muffins moist but light.

Pear and Ginger Muffins

For this batch I used the recipe in Nigella Express. I didn’t make any changes and it worked well.

I probably shouldn’t boast but my mother in law texted me today to say that my muffin making experiment was a success – they were the best she had ever had! Compliment indeed!

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