I have to confess . . . I didn't eat a lot of lamb before I moved over here to the UK. My sole experience of eating lamb had been when I was a teen. My mother purchased some lamb chops at the local IGA and cooked them for us. Sadly, they smelled like she was burning a woolen mitten when they were cooking, and none of us would eat them.

Since my arrival over here though, I have come to realize that good lamb doesn't smell like burning mittens, and that it tastes luxiously rich and delicious when cooked properly. I love it so much so that Todd and I had lamb for our wedding celebration dinner, and I cook it fairly often.



Most often I cook my lamb cutlets only slightly, so that they are still meltingly pink and succulent on the insides . . . a brief searing heat on both sides of no more than 2 minutes, simply seasoned with some sea salt and cracked black pepper. Not everyone's choice I know, but I do so love it that way myself . . . with a bit of mint sauce on the side . . . and some lightly steamed baby new potatoes and fresh veg. My idea of heaven . . .



Once in a while though, it's nice to break free from the norm and try something completely new and different. When I received these lovely lamb cutlets last week from the nice folks at Abel & Cole I knew just the recipe I wanted to use for them . . . my adaption of one from Sophie Grigson's cookery book, "Country Kitchen." Abel & Cole organic lamb is very special, raised from slow growing traditional breeds, and grazed on lush green grass and wild herbs. Special lamb deserves top treatment, and I knew any recipe of Sophie's would be pretty wonderful.



If you like roasted root vegetables, roasted so that they are sweetly caramelized on the outsides and meltingly tender on the insides . . . combined with eastern spice . . . and topped off with lucious lamb cutlets, then this recipe is for you.

It's fabulous. So fabulous that, although it was supposed to serve four . . . in this house, it only served two . . . *smack*



*Spiced Lamb Chops with Roasted Roots*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is a very tasty, and mildly spiced dish of lamb and vegetables, all cooked together in one roasting pan. It looks like a lot of ingredients, but they go together very simply and with everything being banged together into one roasting tin, there's not a lot to clean up afterwards!

2 heaped TBS of tamarind paste
7 fluid ounces of boiling water
4 TBS sunflower oil
12 small new potatoes
6 carrots
3 large parsnips
3 red onions, peeled and quartered
6 cloves of garlic, whole and unpeeled
1/2 tsp ground tumeric
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp black onion seeds (called kalonji or nigella seeds as well)
4 meaty lamb cutlets or chops
coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper



Pre-heat the oven to 220*C/425*F. Place the tamarind paste in a bowl along with the hot water and sunflower oil, whisking it together well. Whisk in the tumeric, cumin seeds and Kalongi. Mix together well. Peel the carrots in cut them half lengthwise. Peel the parsnips and quarter them. Remove the tough inner core. Peel the new potatoes if desired. Place all the vegetables in a large roasting tin along with the onion quarters and garlic cloves. Pour the tamarind mixture over top and disperse amongst the vegetables using your hands. Cover tightly with tinfoil and then bang the pan into the oven and roast them, covered, for half an hour. Remove from the oven and discard the foil. Give the vegetables a good stir and then bury the lamb cutlets down into them, making sure they are coated in the juices. Return to the oven and roast, uncovered, for an additional 40 to 50 minutes, until the chops are cooked and the vegetables are all very tender and gorgeously caramelized on the edges. (Check once in a while and add a bit more water if need be.) When done, serve immediately with some crusty bread.

Since I arrived in the UK, some 9 years ago now, I have never seen anything but a brown egg. Back home we always paid more for brown eggs, but here they are pretty standard fare. You can get eggs with blue and greenish tinted shells, but they are from a particular kind of hen. (Who's name escapes me at this particular moment!)



I have long been a proponent of buying only free range organic eggs. In fact that is the only type that my local shop sells. (Waitrose) I like to think that I am buying happy eggs, laid by happy chickens. It makes me feel better about what I am eating. They do cost more though, a lot more, but I guess that is the price you pay for hen freedom . . .

I used to work in a hen house grading eggs when I was a young bride many moons ago. They were battery hens. Todd also worked on a battery hen farm, many years ago. We both had to quit as our consciences were really bothered by what we saw. Our hearts just could not take it. they say that the heart can't grieve what the heart can't see . . . but our hearts saw plenty.



When I was a child I could not eat fried eggs at all, or any kind of egg with a runny yolk. My mother had the stomach flu one time and so my dad had to cook for us for a few days. All he could cook was fried eggs. I ended up with the stomach flu myself after a few days and so . . . let's just say, runny eggs were a no go for me for a very long time.

I am actually eating them now and rather enjoying them! Especially with toast fingers, or soldiers as they call them over here . . .

This is my version of egg and chips, kicked up a notch.



*Pan Roasted Eggs and Tomatoes*
Serves 2
Printable Recipe

Simple, economical and full of delicious flavours, this recipe is proof positive that tasty doesn't have to be complicated. You can multiply this to make more servings, but I don't recommend cooking any more than two eggs in the pan at any one time. You could also do individual servings in small skillets and serve them right in the skillet at the table for a unique presentation.

2 TBS good quality extra virgin olive oil
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and smashed
1 (400g) tin of diced plum tomatoes with juice
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 leaves of fresh basil, torn, or 1/2 tsp basil
2 large free range eggs



Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat until hot. Add the olive oil and heat just until it begins to shimmer. Add the garlic and saute it until it becomes fragrant. Pour in the tinned tomatoes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and throw in the basil. Turn the heat down to low and allow to simmer for a few minutes until the flavours are well melded and the tomatoes have thickened a bit. Break the eggs into the pan, leaving some space between them. Cook until the whites just start to set, then pop a cover over top and continue to cook until the eggs are set and done to your taste. (We like them with the yolks a bit runny) Season the yolks with a bit of salt and pepper and serve with toasted bread fingers for dipping.

Early this spring a good friend of ours gave us some tomato plants. She said that she had far more than she needed and wanted to give them a good home.

We didn't have to think twice about accepting them. There is nothing more delicious on earth than tomatoes fresh off the vine, with the warmth of the summer sun still on their skin.



We planted them in plastic pots and right now they are producing abundantly, beautiful little cherry tomatoes, so full of flavour I could eat them just like, well . . . cherries!! A handful of these tasty little gems and I am in heaven!



The other night I made a tasty pasta salad with some of them as well as a roasted cherry tomato sauce to pop into the freezer for another time.

Today you get the salad. Enjoy!



*Incredibly Tasty Pasta Salad*
Serves 6 to 8
Printable Recipe

Not only is this a wonderfully easy side dish for these hot summer evenings, but if you chose to add a bit of cooked chicken or ham, or even some cheese, you would have a really tasty salad main course! The dressing is phenomenal and makes more than you need, but that's ok, once you taste it you will always want to have a bottle of it in your fridge ready to use for other salads! This tangy sun dried tomato dressing will keep about a week, covered, in the fridge

For the Vinaigrette:
1/4 cup (50ml) drained oil packed sun dried tomatoes
2 TBS good quality Balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup (125ml) cold water
1 fat clove of garlic, peeled and minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
pinch of salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
For the Salad:
8 ounces pasta, cooked, drained, rinsed in cold water and drained again
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved
1 medium red pepper, chopped
1 medium yellow pepper, chopped
1/2 English cucumber, peeled and chopped
3 to 4 spring onions, trimmed and chopped
2 1/2 ounces of dry cured black olives, pitted and chopped
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
1 TBS chopped flat leaf parsley



Put all the ingredients for the vinaigrette into a blender and blitz until fairly smooth and well blended. Set aside. Mix the pasta, vegetables and olives together in a large bowl. Add 1 cup (8 ounces) of the salad dressing to the pasta mix and gently mix together. Stir in the Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle the chopped parsley over top and serve immediately. You may make this ahead and keep it stored in the refrigerator. Just add a bit more of the dressing before you serve it.

 

The cottage we live in lies in the beautiful English countryside atop a hillside in rural Kent. We are almost totally surrounded by fruit orchards . . . apples of all varities and pears. It makes for great beauty in the springtime when the air is filled with the sight and smell of beautiful blossom . . . and in the late summer and early autumn, the air is filled with the smell of ripening apples.



We often walk through the orchards as there is a public footpath that runs past our humble home and on through the orchards. Jess, our Border Collie, loves to wander through them with us, quite often with one of the drops in her mouth. Playing ball is her favourite game to play and an apple is just another ball to her . . .



One of the nice things is that we are allowed to pick up the drops ourselves and we often do. I'll bring them home and make a big pot of applesauce if they are cooking apples . . . big green Bramely Apples . . . tart and full of that wonderful apple flavour. Each year I am able to make lots of applesauce with the apples that we find as well as pies, cakes and this delicious dessert, called Eve's Pudding, comprised of scrumptious stewed apples baked beneath a thatch of delicious sponge cake. Lashings of custard are a MUST have, or you can do cream . . . as you wish.



We are partial to custard though . . .



This is one tasty mess that Eve got Adam into . . .



*Eve's Pudding*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This pudding is proof positive that you can create something totally delicious with a few simple ingredients. This is an old English favourite from way back.

400g cooking apples (about 2 1/2 cups)
the grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
75g demerara sugar (6 TBS Turbinado)
2 TBS water
75g of butter, plus more for greasing the pudding pan (1/3 cup)
75g caster sugar (6 1/2 TBS)
1 large free range egg
100g self raising flour (3/4 cup plus 1 TBS)



Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Lightly butter a 1 litre baking dish. Set aside.

Peel, core and slice the apples thinly. Place them into a bowl and mix together with the lemon zest, lemon juice, demerara sugar and the water. Pour this mixture into the buttered baking dish.

Cream the butter together with the caster sugar, until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. mixing it in well. Fold in the flour lightly and then spread the resulting batter over top of the apples in the baking dish.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the apples are soft and the sponge is firm and nicely browned.

Serve warm with lashings of custard or cream!

I'm working on that garden glut of courgettes again. It truly is the monstor of the garden, is it not? One day you look and you see a few that are only finger sized and so you leave them to get a bit larger, and then before you know it, all of a sudden they are the size of marrows!

It's a good thing I like courgettes!

Something else I really like are Mediterranean inspired flavours . . . things like black olives, sun dried tomatoes, olive oil, feta cheese, oregano . . .



Warm flavours . . .

Healthy flavours . . .

Greek flavours . . .



When I was about 10 years old I saw a Disney film called "The Moonspinners," based on the novel of the same name by Mary Stewart. It starred a teen aged Haley Mills and took place on the Island of Crete. That fired an interest in me to visit Greece and indeed, Crete, one day so that I could see this same beautiful place . . .

I have never been to Greece, yet . . . but someday, someday . . .

In the meantime I can taste Greece, and it's really quite delicious.



Yesterday I was inspired to fill some courgettes with some of these flavours, and I have to say . . .

They were really quite tasty! Sitting out at the picnic table under the umbrella, listening to the flies buzz as we dug our forks in . . . one almost felt like they were in Greece . . . the only thing missing was the sand and the sea . . . oh, and the cute Greek Cabana boy . . .

Todd tries . . . bless his heart . . . but, oh well . . . you can't have it all!



*Cheese Stuffed Courgettes*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

These are so easy to make and so tasty! Use a melon baller to scoop out the flesh. Quick and easy.

4 medium courgettes (about 2 pounds)
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 TBS tomato puree
1 TBS chopped sun dried tomatoes
1 TBS chopped dry cured black olives
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 tsp dried oregano
sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste
1/4 cup buttered cracker crumbs



Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. Cut the courgettes in half lengthwise and place on a baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes to soften. Remove the courgettes and scoop out the pulp, leaving the shells intact. Chop the pulp and place in a bowl. Mix together with the garlic, tomato puree, sun dried tomatoes, chopped olives, feta cheese, oregano and salt and pepper to taste. Stuff the courgette shells with the mixture. Sprinkle the buttered cracker crumbs over top. Return to the oven and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until browned and bubbly. Serve immediately.

When I was growing up, one of the favourite treats my mother used to make for us was what she called Cinnamon Rolls. They weren't cinnamon rolls as you would expect them to be though . . . but a deliciously butter scone type of dough, rolled out flat, heavily buttered, sprinkled with a mixture of heavenly cinnamon and brown sugar and then rolled up like a jelly roll, sliced and baked.



They were quick to do and I suppose that's why she used to make them for us. She could have a nice plate full of these warm treats sitting in front of us in about half an hour and boy, oh boy, what a treat they were! After having been tortured by the smell of them baking we could hardly wait to dig in.



My father, being French Canadian, had another pet name for them. He always called them . . . wait for it . . . Nun's Farts!! I know . . . rude eh? My mother hated it, but we always thought it was quite funny . . . even if she did shoot daggers our way anytime we referred to them as such . . .



Only the French could come up with a name like that . . . and I say that with affection. Let's face it . . . if a Nun did fart (and you would have a hard time getting one to admit it eh?) they'd have to smell like cinnamon buns wouldn't they? How could you resist the temptation of eating such a delicacy . . I know I couldn't!! 'Nuff said . . .

You'll have to eat these all on the day, as they don't hold up that well in the waiting and taste best when fresh. Pity that . . . but eating them all on the same day as they are baked has never been a problem around here . . . funny how that goes. You can freeze them, without icing, so no worries.



*Mom's Quick Cinnamon Rolls*
Makes a dozen
Printable Recipe

These are not a yeast roll, but a quick roll made with biscuit dough, rolled out and then spread with softened butter. Sprinkled with a tasty cinnamon sugar mixture, rolled up, sliced and baked, they are a real taste treat. I like to add sultanas and chopped walnuts to mine, and a thin drizzle of icing. Mom never did this and we were happy with them plain, but then you can't miss what you've never had can you?

For the Dough:
2 cups plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
3/4 cup plus 2 TBS milk
For the Filling:
3/4 cup packed soft light brown sugar
2 TBS cinnamon
softened butter
Sultana raisins and chopped walnuts to taste (optional)
To Glaze:
1 cup of sifted icing sugar
a bit of milk



Pre-heat the oven to 205*C/435*F. Butter a shallow baking sheet large enough to hold the rolls, about the size of a jelly roll pan. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut in the shortening with either a pasty blender, or two round bladed knives until the mixture looks like fine bread crumbs. Stir in the milk with a fork to make a soft dough. Turn onto a lightly floured board and gently knead 8 to 10 times. Roll or pat out to a rectangle, 8 inches wide by 12 inches long. Spread with the softened butter. Mix together the sugar and the cinnamon. Sprinkle evenly over top of the butter. If using sultanas and nuts, sprinkle these on now as well. Roll up tightly from the long end as if for a jelly roll, sealing it along the long edge by pinching it together. Cut into 1 inch thick slices and place them onto the buttered baking tray. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until nicely browned. Remove to a wire rack to cool a bit. Whisk together the icing sugar and enough milk to make a loose drizzle.
Drizzle some of this over the warm biscuits. Serve warm. Delicious!

I had some blue cheese leftover from the other day when I made that Summer Vegetable Lasagna. I don't like to keep blue cheese sitting around for very long. I find it very difficult to see if it's gone off or not, so I like to use it up right away.

Can you believe that I had never eaten Blue Cheese in any way shape or form before I moved over here to England? I know! How did I ever get through life without having tasted it before now!



I think I always got put off by the idea of it being a type of mould before. Eating mouldy food has never quite appealed to me, but I have to admit that in cheese, it's very good, at least in this kind of cheese. I love them all . . . Stilton, Gorgonzola, Danish, Cashel Blue, Maytag . . . to name but a few. In fact, when I was growing up I wouldn't eat any kind of cheese at all unless it was Kraft Cheese slices or a powder from out of a blue box. I was too chicken to try anything new. (I'm so glad I grew out of that stage!)



I used Danish both for the lasagna and for this tasty salad dressing. It's tangy without being too overpowering, which is what you want when you are eating blue cheese combined with other foods. Or at least, it's what I want.



I made a delicious salad of sliced fresh pears, cos lettuce, red onion and toasted walnuts for our supper last night and we had this delicious blue cheese dressing poured over top. Yummo!



*Blue Cheese Salad Dressing*
Makes 10 servings
Printable Recipe

One of my favourite salad dressings is Blue Cheese. You can't get a decent one in the shops and so I prefer to make my own. Marks and Spencer used to do a really good one, but you can't buy it anymore, well, at least not around here anyways! Plan ahead as this tastes better upon sitting overnight.

1 cup good quality Mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1/2 to 3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
2 TBS grated onion
4-5 drops of Tabasco sauce
1 TBS lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp salt
a dash of cayenne pepper
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
2 tsp white sugar
6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled



Whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream and buttermilk, adding as much of the buttermilk as you need to give it a good consistency. You want it to be pourable. Whisk in the remaining ingredients. Mix thoroughly. Cover and chill for 24 hours before serving. You may need to add a bit of regular milk if it is too thick. Taste and adjust seasoning before serving.