Ingredients
approximately 300g mashed potato ( we used leftovers from Sunday lunch)
1 portion of smoked trout ( we used Staal Smokehouse)
4 spring onions sliced ( including greens)
Method
Put the mashed potato in a bowl and season.
Flake in the smoked trout and add the sliced spring onions.
Mix together and use a little beaten egg to bind if needed.
Shape into fish cakes.
Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and fry the fishcakes until golden brown on each side.
Yes it is that simple.
Ingredients
1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry
75g fresh curd cheese (I buy Botton dairy from Food Circle York)
small bunch of wild garlic, chopped
1 bunch of asparagus ( I bought local Sand Hutton asparagus)
zest of a lemon
Method
Preheat the oven to 200c
Lay out the sheet of puff pastry onto a baking tray and using a knife, score a border about 2cm from the edge.
Trim the asparagus and cook in boiling water for a couple of minutes.
Mix together the curds, chopped wild garlic and lemon zest, using a bit of lemon juice to slacken if needed.
Spread the curd mixture on the puff pastry within the border you’ve created.
Lay the asparagus on top of the curd mix.
Put in the oven and cook for approximately 35-40 minutes until the pastry edges are risen and golden brown.
Serve warm with a side salad. I lightly pickled wild garlic flowers in cider vinegar and dressed the top of the tart with them.
Ingredients (Serves 2)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 slices of black pudding (approx 250-300g) diced
2 eggs
Method
Turn the oven on to 180c.
Par boil the diced potatoes for a few minutes til not quite cooked (about 7 minutes).
Put a bit of oil in a large frying pan and add the potatoes and the 2 cloves of crushed garlic . Fry, tossing occasionally.
Add the black pudding and continue to cook, stirring occasionally. You are looking for crispy potatoes and crispy bits of black pudding.
Transfer to an oven dish and make 2 wells. Crack an egg into each well and bake in oven until the egg is cooked but the yolk is still a bit runny.
Enjoy.
Ingredients
250g soda bread flour ( I use Mortons)
50g butter
125g Young Buck blue cheese
100ml buttermilk
1 egg
Method
Preheat a fan oven to 200c.
Put the soda bread flour in a large bowl, add the butter and rub the butter through flour to resemble breadcrumbs.
Cut up the Young Buck blue cheese into little pieces and add to the flour mix.
In a jug mix together the buttermilk and egg.
Add the wet mix to the dry mix and lightly bring together ( don’t overwork it) adding a tiny bit of buttermilk if needed.
Turnout onto a lightly flour surface and gently roll or pat to an even depth.
Cut out the scones and put on a tray that has been lined with parchment/ baking paper.
Give the scones a light egg wash on top then bake for 10-12 mins.
NB if you cannot source soda bread flour you can use plain flour and add the salt and bicarbonate of soda. I’d recommend 1/2 tsp salt and 1 tsp bicarb.
I like to serve these with Abernethy butter and some pear chutney.
Ingredients ( makes 4 mini bundt cakes and some muffins)
480g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 ½ tsp mixed spice
200g caster sugar
2 eggs
110g melted unsalted butter
280ml milk
Zest of an orange
100g sultanas
50g raisins
50g currants
50g mixed peel
100g marzipan (plus extra to decorate)
Method
Heat the oven to 170c
Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice in a bowl
In a separate bowl whisk the sugar and eggs together
Add the milk and butter to the sugar and eggs and combine it
In another bowl mix the dried fruit together
Grate the marzipan into the fruit mix and add the orange zest
Fold in the fruit mix and dry ingredients into the egg mix Grease the Bundt tins with butter
Spoon the mix into the mini bundt cake tins
Bake at 170c for 25-30 mins
(I had enough leftover mix to make 10 muffins and baked then for 15-20 mins)
Whilst the cakes are baking, create the marzipan centres by weighing out 4 x 15g of marzipan
make each portion of marzipan in to a ball then flatten slightly. Toast it with a cooks blowtorch
When cooked, cool the cakes in the tins
Once cooled turn the cakes out and place the toasted marzipan in the centre
Ingredients
Leg of mutton
150g Longley Farm fat free yoghurt
Thumb side piece of ginger
2 cloves of garlic
Teaspoon each of cumin, turmeric, chilli flakes and fennel seeds
Juice of a lime
1 teaspoon of tomato purée
Small bunch coriander
Method
Put the yoghurt, spices, ginger, garlic, tomato purée and lime juice in a food processor and blitz
Place the mutton in a large food bag and pour in the marinade. Leave in the fridge for a few hours.
Place the marinaded mutton in an oven dish and cover its foil
Turn the oven on at 140c and cook the mutton for about 4 hours or until tender.
I ‘pulled’ the mutton from the bone and served with flatbreads, salad and coriander, coconut and lime rice
I love making edible gifts for Christmas presents and this is one I’ve made many times. This recipe makes about 24 biscuits.
Ingredients
200g unsalted butter, softened
100g soft brown sugar
200g porridge oats (I use Stringer porridge oats, from a local farm in Bishop Wilton)
100g plain flour
6 tablespoons of mincemeat (I made my mincemeat using the River Cottage apple, pear and ginger mincemeat recipe)
Method:
Heat the oven to 170c
Mix the butter, sugar and flour together, then stir in the oats and mincemeat.
Take small amounts of the mix and roll into balls. You should have enough mix to make about 24 balls.
Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment. Flatten each ball slightly.
I like to sprinkle them with a little Demerara sugar.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden. Take them out of the oven and leave on the tray to cool for 5-10 minutes before putting on a cooling rack to cool completely.
I like to put them in an airtight jar with some ribbon and a nice label and give as a gift.
We discovered Brinkburn goats cheese from Northumberland Cheese Company during an explore of Alnwick Market over Easter. I love cheese. I love goats cheese even more. Coupled with the wild garlic I had just picked and turned into pesto I knew I had the makings of a tasty dish….
so a little experimenting and here is the recipe (It is not a looker but it is delicious and quick):
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1 tbsp wild garlic pesto (see recipe on blog)
35g Brinkburn goats cheese (from Northumberland Cheese Company) cut into small cubes
1 tbsp cream cheese
20g fresh breadcrumbs
Pinch of paprika
150g cherry tomatoes ( preferably on the vine but I used up some I already had!)
olive oil
Method:
Heat oven to 180c
Place the chicken breasts in an ovenproof dish.
Mix the pesto, brinkburn cheese and cream cheese in a bowl.
Spread the mix on top of the chicken breast, covering it.
Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the mix and add a little paprika.
Place the vine tomatoes around the chicken and drizzle everything with a little olive oil.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.
I served this with wild garlic dauphinoise but it also works very well with Nigella Lawson’s rocket and lemon couscous recipe.
I make wild garlic pesto every year. I’ve had a recipe on here for a long time but after a fantastic lesson with Sara Danesin last year I realised I could improve it. In particular using more pine nuts and less olive oil helps the flavour. Here is my reworked version.
100g wild garlic leaves
150g pine nuts
75g grated parmesan
pinch of salt
Good quality olive oil
Put the wild garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan, tablespoon of olive oil and a pinch of salt in a food processor ( I used my thermomix speed 8) and blitz. Scrape down the sides and add a little more olive oil whilst blitzing until you get your desired consistency.
I like mine quite thick and not too oily. You can always loosen later with a little more oil.
store in a sterilised jar putting a little oil in the top to preserve it.
I also freeze some in an ice cube tray for adding to soups and stews later.
We have a lot of rhubarb in our garden and so I make this cake a lot in the summer. It is lovely and moist.
Ingredients:
Rhubarb topping:
50g caster sugar (I usually use golden)
Zest of an orange
300g rhubarb cut up into small chunks
Cake:
150g caster sugar
140 g butter
85g self raising flour
100g ground almonds
1/2tsp baking powder
Juice of half the orange
2 eggs
Method:
Line a 20cm cake tin
Heat the oven to 160c
Mix the cake topping together and leave to ‘marinade’
Put the cake ingredients in a mixer and mix well together (if doing by hand you might want to cream the butter and sugar together before mixing in the rest of the ingredients)
Spoon the cake mix in to the tin and then arrange the cake topping on top. There will be some juice in the cake topping which you can drizzle over.
Bake for 45 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.
