If it was a clambake in Alaska fifty years ago we would have been digging right now. But this is a hot day in Norfolk: two older ladies; one cooking over charcoal, the other doing all the work. Ground Aberdeen Angus, homemade relish, pickles and game chips. Music? Only America's finest will do - Ain't …
Category: me
Summer Cup
Wine and beer are fine but this is a non alcoholic summer cup, made with equal quantities of blood orange juice, fizzy water, plus slices of blood orange and sprigs of mint. Best poured over crushed ice, frozen berries or perhaps a fruit ice lolly! Very refreshing after an afternoon in the sun.
Chocolate Roulade, Julie
This is a family favourite and a must for birthdays and Christmas. It’s from an old recipe book; I’ve reduced the sugar here and find that Cadbury's Bournville gives the smoothest consistency for the melted chocolate, but use chocolate with a higher percentage cocoa content for a darker, richer flavour. The roulade freezes very well …
Joy’s lentil stew
My neighbour Joy is the kind of person who gives of herself utterly. Occasionally, she makes a big pot of something tasty and feeds family, neighbours, friends. The other night she knocked at my door with a still hot container of spicy-delicious lentils and roti. I have made no attempt to obtain the secrets of …
Chowder
My own ancestral link to chowder would have to be the hard tack eaten by sailors. These days there seems to be a lot of cream in chowder, but I don't think cream would have survived for long out on the Grand Banks. More likely a mush of hard tack and water. I imagine the cod fisherman eating saltfish chowder on the outbound journey and fresh cod chowder on the return ...
1234 soup
Faced with the ends of a vegetable delivery it can be hard to think of what to make. Here is an easy and flavourful creamy soup which can be eaten as is or used as a base for chowders and pie fillings. Plenty of possible substitutions - just use what you have left over.
Basic ravioli and mezzelune
I started making mezzelune when teaching English through cooking. Thought I had invented the name, and then saw some in Tesco's a week later. These are finished in the oven - I think it makes for a more delicate mouthful. It's best to choose only a few ingredients, as on a pizza. But here I am suggesting two different fillings and a sauce. If you think making the ravioli is too fiddly, just roll out the dough in thin rectangles and make lasagne instead.
Election night nachos, Virginia
The only time that Mrs. Cooper could be diverted from her subject (which was American History) was if you could get her talking about her former students. They were smarter than we were, way smarter. They were busy graduating magna cum laude, there was not much hope for us
Cognac fig jam, Aspa
If, like me, you’re lucky enough to have an established fig tree in your garden (ours is at least 8 years old), you’ll enjoy picking ripe figs from mid summer into the autumn. 2020 as strange a year as it has been, has produced a bumper crop of figs even in England. We ate and gave plenty away as they came off the tree, enjoying their honey sweet taste for almost three months. I always peel them, though I know some people will wash them and eat them with the skin on.
Brill!
Scophthalmus rhombus, if you prefer, is a firm fleshed mini turbot. This one was caught somewhere off the South West Peninsula. Most cooks seem to fillet or roast in slices but I have gone for cooking it whole here using a reverse braising method.
Cooking for one 