Family, food, travel, gin and a touch of hysteria…
Currently Browsing: FOOD
Posted by
English Mum |
Dec 22nd, 2011
Everything you need to know about spiced and glazed Christmas ham – small or big!
To skip all the waffle and just get to the recipe, feel free to scroll down.
It will be no surprise to you when you hear me say that I love Christmas. LOVELOVELOVE Christmas! But often I find that Christmas recipes involve huge amounts of food. There’s generally only the four of us for Christmas lunch, plus maybe my Mum, so to turn to Nigella’s Christmas book and find her recipe for Christmas ham...
Posted by
English Mum |
Dec 18th, 2011
Jaffa Cake Christmas Trees
So you’re going to love this. No, really, it’s a winner.
How about…
Home made jaffa cakes? Wait… wait…
In the shape of Christmas trees!
I know, right?
If, like me, you’re now wild with excitement (or even if you’re not) do have a go at making these little beauties. They taste absolutely fab and can be made in normal paper fairy cake wrappers if you’re not imbued with quite as much Christmas...
Posted by
English Mum |
Dec 17th, 2011
Icing your Christmas cake: the marzipan and fondant icing layers
Okay so last time we saw your Christmas cake it was stashed somewhere wrapped in parchment or foil and being occasionally sloshed with a bit of booze. Now it’s time for the final push… the decoration!
Making your own marzipan (or almond paste) is really easy. There are recipes everywhere so I won’t bore you with that bit. You can also pick up a block of marzipan at your local supermarket....
Posted by
English Mum |
Dec 8th, 2011
Spiced apple yoghurt cake and waiting to see if I won the X Factor…
So this weekend is the big X Factor final. As you know I work with Yeo Valley and I’ve really enjoyed their ads this year – their ‘boy band’, The Churned, has frankly been better than a lot of the actual acts!
If you missed it (or just love The Churned), the advert will be playing during the X Factor ad break this Saturday. And on Sunday, the winner of the Yeo Valley singalong competition...
Posted by
English Mum |
Dec 7th, 2011
Good Fork Hampers
Next on my Christmas Countdown: another cracking idea for a Christmas present – how about sending a rather yummy hamper full of foodie goodies? The Good Fork is a new online food company bringing together lovely food from the Med in deli-boxes, together with food provenance stories and quick and tasty recipes. I love an entrepreneur and lovely Virginia has taken her love of good food and turned it...
Posted by
English Mum |
Dec 1st, 2011
English Mum’s Big Christmas Bakeoff!
Altogether now… ‘Chriiiistmas time…. mistletoe and wiiiine…’
Yes, it’s now December so all mentions of Christmas are totally justified. YAY! In your face, bah humbuggers!
And so, henceforth, forthwith and without further ado, I give you a BRAND NEW BIG CHRISTMAS BAKEOFF!
Leisure Range Cookers have been working with gorgeous chef Jo Pratt and have produced some fab, easy...
Posted by
English Mum |
Nov 29th, 2011
Easy peasy Christmas pudding (gluten free if you need it to be)
Okay, okay, so we’ve missed Stir-up Sunday, but honestly, it doesn’t matter. If you still fancy doing a bit of lovely therapeutic stirring in the kitchen for Christmas, and filling your house with delicious Christmassy smells, there’s plenty of time. PLUS this one’s so easy I absolutely, faithfully promise you that it will turn out absolutely perfectly. How about that for a guarantee?
As...
Posted by
English Mum |
Nov 25th, 2011
Fish on Friday! Gorgeous kedgeree
So as you know I’m involved with the Fish is the Dish project, a fabulous endeavour from Seafish.org encouraging families to eat more fish. Basically I get challenged every couple of weeks to cook with a different fish ( love it when my delivery man appears at the door clutching my parcel – it’s like a fish version of Christmas). This week it was beautiful fillets of undyed smoked haddock...
Posted by
English Mum |
Nov 22nd, 2011
Roast figs with brown sugar and cinnamon, inspired by Diana Henry
I absolutely love Diana Henry. Her book ‘Food from Plenty’ is one of my absolute favourites, so I was delighted to be offered a copy of her ‘Roast Figs, Sugar Snow’.
This book is just gorgeous. It’s all about Autumn and Winter, and the ingredients: figs, pumpkins, maple syrup, chestnuts, cranberries, quinces, are so evocative of the seasons. It’s like a massive warm...
Posted by
English Mum |
Nov 14th, 2011
Trout with a lime and caper butter sauce
I’m REALLY enjoying this Fish is the Dish project. They send a ‘fish parcel’ every couple of weeks and I get to cook with all sorts of really beautiful fresh fish.
This week, it was some gorgeous fresh trout from a company called Dawnfresh. The colours were absolutely amazing. We all gathered round oohing and ahhing at the beautiful skin (and then had a big family argument about how to...
