It’s a small but very powerful change in the way you cook: start from what you have – what’s in season, what’s in excess, what’s at risk of going to waste. So, what got me thinking of this today is the spring glut of spring onions in my garden, and my new favourite breakfast – Korean style sourdough spring onions pancakes. They’re crispy, flaky, flavourful without being too oniony, fast,…
Orecchiette is one of my favourite ways to use (and preserve) eggs. This batch is for a dinner party. Homemade orecchiette, frozen ahead of time and just cooked straight from frozen while the guests are eating starters is a lovely low stress, low cost way to make something special for a tableful of people.
A mix of black-eyed peas, black seeded snake beans and brown seeded snake beans, all home grown and harvested today, about to go in the slow cooker. Protein, fibre, complex carbs, versatility, deliciousness. And a step into a blue zone.
Elder trees are flowering right now and this is so, so very easy to make. It’s a lovely lightly fizzy, not too sweet, mildly alcoholic drink perfect for relaxing with friends over a long lunch.
Colcannon is Irish mashed potato with cabbage, and it is one of those surprisingly wonderful recipes that have you going “aha! I understand how this became a national dish”. It has just four ingredients and like any of those classics that every kid remembers grandma making, there are more versions than you would think possible with so few ingredients. This is mine.
There’s something about sourdough – the simplest of ingredients, the living culture, the soft resilience of the dough as you handle it, the mindfulness in being a day ahead of need – no matter how busy I get it’s worth it. But therein lies the danger. I really do need to cut down the amount of bread I eat! A jar of sourdough crispbread on the shelf stretches the time…
This is so simple, yet it is one of my most used recipes this time of year, when both parsley and lemons are in glut and dinner is often a long slow-cooked soup or stew that could do with some brightening up.