Can you see it in this picture?  This was me, a budding writer, on Easter Sunday, back in 1960.  I was wearing my Sunday best and holding the little white bible my father had given me,as I stood outside of my Grandparent's home in Lawrencetown, Nova Scotia.  I think I was a somewhat peculiar child in a lot of ways.  I loved books, and reading.  I loved food and recipes, and I could be found most days creating mud pies or grass and weed salads  sat on the laundry stoop in our back yard.

 

As a child I dreamt of visiting faraway places, cooking for the Queen, marrying one of the Beatles and becoming a writer and writing a book.  I even remember borrowing a friend's typewriter, much like this one, and penning a few stories on it before tiring of the laborious, one letter at a time, procedure. 

As an adult I have travelled to faraway places, married an Englishman, worked as a personal Chef in a Manor house, gotten to stand in the Cavern in Liverpool where the Beatles got their start, and I have been penning my writings to my loyal readers on not one, but two,  daily blogs . . .  in one form or another over the past 13 years or so.  

I have written many self published cookbooklets and even a full self-published book (Recipes From the Big Blue Binder) over the years but the opportunity to write an officially published book eluded me until last year when the publishing company Passageway Press contacted me and asked me if I would be interested in writing a Cookery Book for them.  They did not have to ask me twice . . . another of my childhood dreams coming true.

A year later and many hours of work on both my part and

the part of my Editor and his team, this is the result!

I proudly present!

 Writing this book has been a real labor of love for me. It is the culmination of all of my years experience as a capable home cook, and as a professional chef, and is based around my love for the UK and all that it has to offer you in the way of good food and tradition.   I have a deep love for my adopted home, its people and its cuisine.  There are over 500 recipes in the book, taking you from breakfast to spur of the moment  midnight snacks! 

 

There are bakes and cakes, and soups and grills and a few surprises as well.  I have celebrated some of our more popular holidays with some tasty offerings, and honored the great British takeaway as well as firm favourites gleaned from a childhood of drooling over feastworthy Enid Blytonesque treats! 

 

I also share a compendium of my years of knowledge and experience in both my home kitchen and and as a working Chef, and I embroidered all of it with a huge chunk of my anglo-loving heart.  I like to think that it reads like a good friend sitting down with you, and sharing a nice hot cuppa  across te table along with a good recipe, or two or three! 

It is available now via Amazon world wide in both the hard copy and kindle versions.  For links please see my upper side bar.

Here are the links to some of the reviews on the book if you care to take a look at them:

The Crafty Gardiner

  

I have a long standing love affair with corn bread of any kind.  As a bread, as a muffin, as a cake, as stuffing  . . .  corn bread and I have had a very long relationship with each other.  

This particular recipe I am sharing with you today is one of my long time favourites!

  

It is a basic corn bread batter, filled with sour milk (for moistness), butter, some corn for added texture, and of course the usual flour, cornmeal, etc. 

But it goes beyond that because, it also has all of the appeal of a corn pudding!

 

You generously butter the baking tin and pop it into the oven while you stir together the bread batter.  

Take the hot pan out, pour in the batter, and then you pour a whole cup of delicious heavy cream right into the middle of it . . . no mixing, no stirring . . .  just leave it be . . .  a puddle of cream in the middle.

 

I'm not sure how it works or why it works, but . . .  that cream somehow forms a delicious rich custard layer in the bread  as it bakes . . . .

 

This has to be my favourite of all the cornbreads I make and it makes a beautiful holiday breakfast when you serve it warm, cut into squares with Maple syrup for pouring over the top.

 

You get the crunch of the cornmeal . . . the moist cake batter, the chewiness of the corn niblets and that rich custard . . .  and then the smoky sweetness of the maple syrup gilding that most delicious lily.

 

It reminds me of one time when we were driving through Vermont, and we were up very close to the Quebec border.  

We were starving because we had been out and about very early that  morning and so we stopped at a little cafe near the road . . .  there was a lake across the road . . .

 

We had beautiful crisp edged pancakes . . .  with a slight crunch of cornmeal in the batter  . . .  with lots of butter and warm Vermont Maple Syrup.  

They were so delicious. So much so that I still think about them today.

 

Nothing has ever quite come close to that memory, but then taste memories are like that aren't they?  

We look at them through the rose coloured glasses of bygone days and romanticise them a bit I think.

 

Everytime I make this I think about those pancakes . . . . so this must be tweaking my Vermont Pancake tastebuds in a good way. 

 In any case, this is very, very, VERY good!!

 

*Custard Filled Cornbread*
Makes 1 8-inch square pan

Printable Recipes 

 

This is the most delicious and moist cornbread you will ever eat.  It goes wonderfully with stews and soups, and to be perfectly honest . . . a piece of this all warm and covered with Maple Syrup is a wonderful, wonderful breakfast . . . one bite and you will be totally smitten.  I kid you not. 

2 large free range eggs
3 TBS sweet butter, melted
(plus extra to butter the pan)
3 TBS sugar
3/4 tsp salt
480ml whole milk (2 cups)
1 1/2 TBS white vinegar
140g plain flour (1 cup)
130g yellow cornmeal, or polenta (3/4 cup)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
 225g tinned sweet corn, well drained (about 1 cup)
 240ml  heavy cream (double cream) (1 cup) 

 

Pre-heat the oven to 180*C/350*F. gas mark 4.  Butter an 8 inch square pan really well with some butter, and then put the pan into the oven to get it hot while you mix up the batter. 

Beat the eggs together in a mixing bowl.  Beat in the butter and the sugar until well blended.  Stir in the milk, salt and vinegar.  Beat well. 

Whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and baking soda.  Mix well.  Pour this mixture all at once onto the wet mixture.  Mix together just until the batter is uniformly moist, fairly smooth with no lumps.   Stir in the corn kernels.  Pour into the hot dish.  Immediately pour the cream right into the middle of the dish.  Don't stir it at all.  Just pour it in and leave it. 

Bake in the heated oven for 50 minutes, until lightly browned.  Remove from the oven and cool for about 15 minutes before cutting into squares to serve.  Serve warm. 

 

   Mmmm . . .  this is so very good.  I hope you will try it at some point in the coming months.  I think you'll agree with me!  Bon Appetit!

 

 

I believe the first time I had broccoli was at a Chinese restaurant, and it was love at first bite.  I can say with impunity that it is one of my favourite vegetables.

 

When I visited Utah several years ago I had occasion to eat in the lovely Roof Restaurant on top of the Joseph SmithMemorial Building in downtown Salt Lake.  I had Deep Fried Pickles and I remember having something, probably a sandwich which came with Sweet Potato Fries. Both were very good and I am sure the sandwich was also, but for the life of me I cannot rememer what it was.

It was such a wonderful experience and the food so good that Todd bought me the cookbook, Recipes from The Roof, the 100th Anniversary of The Hotel Utah ad Joseph Smith Memorial Building for Christmas.  I am ashamed to say that although I have drooled over many of the pages, today was the first time I have cooked one of the recipes.

 

I found myself with an abundance of fresh broccoli and I spent some time this morning going through a lot of my books, looking for something to use it in.  This recipe caught my eye and I was reminded of the lovely visit I had there with my friend Lura and so, I decided to make this soup.

 

This recipe is adapted from the one in the book.  Its very rich.  The original uses heavy cream, but I chose to use single cream.  I just could not bring myself to eat that much double/heavy cream.  My arteries started to clog just thinking about it!

 

I also used low fat cheddar with no problem, and semi skimmed milk.  It still tasted rich and delicious.  I dare say you could even use low fat evaporated milk instead of the cream with no  problem which would take the fat content down even further!

 

In any case this was rich and creamy, simple and quick to make, filled with fibre, and most delicious.  I highly recommend!  (I also cut the recipe in half very successfully so if you are a smaller family you can bear that in mind.)

 

 

 

This is rich and creamy and more than just a bit decadent!  Todd thoroughly enjoyed it and broccoli isn't his favourite vegetable either!  It would an excellent first course for your celebratory meal in the holidays, or even for a dinner party!  Quick, easy and delicious!  Bon Appetit! 

 

I love the autumn when the temperatures start to really cool down and the idea of turning on the oven to cook a meal like this is really something to be looked forward to instead of dreaded!  On days like these you really don't mind heating up the kitchen!

 

This is a recipe you will want to keep in mind for next Sunday afternoon, it is the perfect meal to share with your family after church. It basically cooks itself, so you can pop it into the oven and then go for a lovely brisk walk with the family.

 

Carrots, turnips (the white variety) and apples get tossed together with some oil and herbs and poured into a roasting tin. (I like to line it with foil.)

 

A pork loin roast (skin removed, and I like to score the fat) gets place on top of the fruit/veg mix  . . .

 

A bit of cider vinegar gets poured over top of the roast, and a sprinkle of more herbs and some seasoning and then it gets popped into the oven to roast for about an hour and a half. 

 

The vegetables get all glazed and succulent with some of the juices from the pork . . .  golden edged and sweet . . .

 

The pork is tender and juicy . . .  perfectly cooked.  All you need on the side is some mash.  I do my mash ahead of time and pop it into a casserole to heat up in the microwave.  This time I did a spring onion mash which was perfect!

 

Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5.  Have ready a large roasting tin. 

Prepare all of your vegetables and the apples, and put them into a bowl.  Toss them together with the olive oil, 1 TBS each of the parsley and sage, and a dash of salt and pepper.  Pour them into the roasting tin and spread them out.  Place the pork roast on top. (I like to score the fat first).  Pour the cider vinegar over top of the pork and sprinkle with the remaining parsley and sage. Season with some salt and black pepper. 

Roast in the preheated oven for approximately 1 1/4 hours until the meat it thoroughly cooked through and the vegetables are tender.  Remove from the oven and cover the meat loosely with aluminium foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes prior to carving. 

Todd always likes his with a bit of gravy.  There are no pan drippings to make any with this recipe, so I just use some Bisto . . .  you can't beat a bit of bisto with the Sunday lunch  . . .  Bon Appetit! 

 

I picked up a new cookbook the other day.  Yes, I know  . . .  I couldn't resist.  It was Nigel Slater's Christmas book, The Christmas Chronicles.  

 

I expect there will be a television series to go with it over the holidays, which will be good, but I wanted to make sure my collection of his books was complete.  

 

He had a recipe in it for Brandied Mincemeat that looked quite promising and was quite different than my old recipe for mincemeat.

As well as the regular vine fruits . . .  sultanas and currants . . .  it called for dried apricots and prunes.  I love both those fruits and so I decided to give it a go.  There is also some chopped apple in there, plenty of spice, good beef suet, lemons and  . . .  gulp, brandy!

I found that I had to use almost twice as much brandy as the recipe called for, and hopefully it will all have cooked off.  *hiccup*

 

The prunes dissolved and the mixture was catching on the bottom, and so I just kept adding little bits of brandy to keep that from happening.  

 

The end result was quite tasty however! If you don't want to use alcohol you can use some fruit juice.  Just enough to keep it from catching as you cook and stir it on the stove.  Orange or apple would be great!

 

 

This is what worked for me.  Put the suet in a large saucepan and melt.  Stir in the sugar, half the brandy, the lemon juice and the spices. Stir to melt the sugar. Stir in all of the fruit and the zest of the lemon.  Cook, stirring occasionally, over medium low heat for about 15 minutes.  Check it frequently to make sure it doesn't catch, it if it catching, add additional brandy a bit at a time.  You may not need it all.  Have ready several large sterilized jars or containers.  Allow the mincemeat to cool completely.  Divide it amongst your chosen containers and seal. Store in a cool dark place until needed.

 

It makes quite a lot and so I am set for mincemeat this year!  Let the Mincemeat Fest begin! 

 

Mincemeat and Marzipan Tea Bread. If you like mincmeat you will love this moist and tasty tea bread. We like it spread with cold butter. You just can't beat a slice of this, enjoyed next to teh fire on a cold and windy evening. Comfortingly delicious! 

 

Mincemeat Rolls.  Fluffy buttery cresent rolls filled with tasty mincemeat, baked and then dusted with icing sugar and served warm. A delicious holiday breakfast addition! 

 

Spiced Cranberry, Mincemeat and Almond Eve's Pudding. I combined a mixture of cooked Bramley apple, along with some cranberries and the leftover mincemeat, and then topped it with a buttery almondy frangipane batter. Oh my . . . but this is some good. The tartness of the bramley apple and cranberries, offset the sweetness of the mincemeat just perfectly . . . each mouthful is wonderfully buttery, and sweet and tart at the same time. 

 

Mincemeat Tarts. I just adore these delicious holiday treats! Crisp and buttery pastry encasing a delicious filling of spiced fruits, and dusted with icing sugar. Oh, so very wonderful. It just would not be Christmas without a breadbox filled with these!

 

Mincemeat and Apple Brown Betty.   A delicious mix of mincemeat, apples and buttery soft bread crumbs. Serve warm with cream or ice cream.   Yum!  

 

Holiday Split Seconds.  Called split seconds because they can be thrown together quickly and baked just as quick as a wink. These are lovely additions to your holiday cookie trays. Great keepers and very tasty. 

And that's just for starters!

Bon Appetit!