dinner 25th april – mussels…with wild garlic flowers!

Easter lunch at my mum’s house – bunny cake!

roast lamb – what else would it be?

minted new potatoes, roast carrots and parsnips, creamed leeks, mint sauce and red currant jelly

a feast!

And Bunny Cake!

a lemon curd cake with a lovely bunny, delia’s all in one I think, but with lovely bunny decoration by my mum.

lunch 23rd april

asparagus with soft boiled eggs, bread and parmesan

first asparagus of the year – yum!

dinner 20th april

work has been so busy this week, so quick and easy dinners are in order.

tonight…potted brown shrimps on toast (waitrose wheat and rye…like french poullain)

dinner 18th april

just chicken and leek risotto tonight, quick and easy with left over chicken from the other day and chicken stock made from the bones

dinner 17th april

a 50 day aged steak from the ginger pig with watercress, mini roast potatoes and a mushroom and shallots cream sauce

George does the steak cooking in our house… but I did the other bits

and for pudding….

eton mess with pistachio and rosewater meringues and strawberries – and cream of course!

weekend baking 17th april

little buns – plum and vanilla… recipe to follow

I’ve got a new icing bag nozzle that makes these little stars, I made these buns to practice

…and rosewater and pistachio meringues from the ottelenghi cookbook

the recipe for these is to heat the sugar in the oven before whisking into the egg whites, I’ve never seen this approach before but it worked really well and made some very good meringues

dinner 16th april

roast chicken for dinner tonight with…

roast potatoes and a few left over new potatoes thrown in for roasting too, roast carrots and jerusalem artichokes, purple sprouting broccoli, creamy leeks, and gravy with shallots and garlic

royal wedding cocktails

we’re having a few people round for the royal wedding, not because we’re excited about the wedding but it’s a good excuse to eat and drink all day!

I was looking for cocktail recipes for the occasion and found these…

The Blushing Bride

3/4 oz Tanqueray dry gin
3/4 oz triple sec
1/2 oz orange juice
1/2 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz grenadine

Shake all ingredients hard in an ice-filled shaker and strain into chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with orange zest.

The Newlyweds

1-1/2 oz Tanqueray dry gin
1 oz fresh lemon juice
1 oz simple syrup
3 chunks fresh pineapple
1 small slice fresh ginger
Soda

Muddle fruit and add remaining ingredients, except the soda. Shake hard and strain into tall ice filled glass. Add fizz and garnish with pineapple leaf and pineapple wedge.

see pictures and more recipes here

easy bread recipes for Fran

ages ago I told my friend Fran I would send her some easy-peasy bread recipes, here they are…

parsnip and thyme bread – this one is from river cottage

pumpkin (or any squash) and parmesan bread – this one is from cooking outside the box by abel and cole

these breads don’t need to rise, and can be made really quickly to go with soup

I thought I’d made one in the last year but I can’t find a picture to go with this post (sorry) –  but give a try, it’s great