spring pickings

As usual, late August’s warm weather was followed by delightful snow falls in early September.  Looking around the surrounding hills with its sprinkling of powdery snow really does look like some giant has dusted the landscape with icing sugar.  This weather for me is perfect, cold, that bone chilling, bracing cold that I love but with more daylight hours to give you a chance to get out amongst it in the sunshine.  

In the vegetable garden, there’s not too much happening.  Beds are covered with mulch and resting up until the late spring plantings of tomatoes, zucchini and pumpkin.  The green house is where the action is for now, home to trays of little seedlings, growing happily in the longer daylight hours.  I just have to remember to water the fragile little wisps.

Early spring is known as the hungry gap.  Winter crops are all but finished and it’s too early for spring or summer vegetables.

In our garden, there is as ever, that stalwart rhubarb to keep us happy and we have been enjoying rhubarb cakes and crumbles.   Add to this the frenzied egg laying of our hens and you have the makings of that classic partnership; rhubarb and custard. 

Thankfully, in the wild there is a lot to eat for the knowledgeable forager.  The nettle patches are lush and green with new spring growth if you know where to find them.  And I was lucky enough that a friend shared where to find some wild garlic.  Our wild garlic is a different type to the wild garlic known as ramsons you read about in the northern hemisphere.   The wild garlic I picked along the river bank has a narrower leaf shape, but that lovely gentle garlic aroma leaves you in no doubt to what you are picking.

Sunny cold days, a warm fire and good things to eat.   I’m feeling that spring cleaning urge to rearrange the furniture, have a huge declutter and give the windows a wash to let that bright spring sunshine in.  Although I might leave the panes with Spoons muddy paw prints splattered on the glass. 

First I’ll put the kettle on the wood stove for one more cup of tea. 

Pig day

Last winter, I wrote a post about how I took part in the home kill of a pig.  It was a totally humbling experience and one of the most popular posts I've ever written.

That kill was filmed for an episode of GF3, and took three days with lots of stopping and starting and what seemed like dozens of people milling about with metres of electrical cords for me to trip over.  At the end of day three, it was decided to be an annual event, where friends would get together, work hard and divide the bounty of an entire pig.

Yesterday, albeit a little late in the season, as these things are best done in the chill of winter, five us got together and we did it again. A little different this time, no cameras, and the pig was dispatched the day before and left to hang overnight so we could process everything in one day.  This meant I felt a little removed from the entire process this time, it certainly wasn't as dramatic, but it was just as rewarding and respectful.

We kept things a little simpler this time, because of the warmer weather we had to work fast, and not having a smoker handy meant delights such as mortadella were off the menu. As was cotechino as there is plenty of that about, although still we managed a magnificent bounty of food for three families.

From one pig we managed to make a prosciutto, an English style smoked ham, four huge sides of pancetta, guanciale, lardo, salami and coppa.   All of these will take time to cure before they can be shared. Some, like the English ham will be ready in a few days, some things, such as the prosciutto, will take months!

There were also fresh ribs, hocks and fillet to be taken home and eaten that day, plus about 10kg fresh pork sausages.  The ribs are a favourite, basted with a mustardy glaze and roasted for an hour or so until soft and sticky and chewy.  The fresh sausages need a day or two to set before they're ready to eat.  Perhaps I'll pan fry them in a little olive oil, breaking them up with the back of a wooden spoon, then I'll throw in the last of our garlic to fry for a moment, before adding a generous glug of last season's precious passata.  Served over a huge bowl of steaming spaghetti, this is one of my favourite pasta sauces ever.

Right now, I'm boiling up the head, trotters and tail to make that delicacy known as brawn, or head cheese or tete fromage as the French like to say.   I open the lid of the giant stock pot and peek gingerly to see the snout and ears simmering away in an aromatic broth of juniper, bay and pepper.  It's confronting, which to me is a good thing and just as it should be.  Despite missing the dispatching side of the process, I am reminded that I'm taking what many would perceive as waste and turning it (hopefully) into something delicious to share.

Knowing that it's part of an animal in the pot, that lived a good life is a humbling experience for which I am so grateful.  Grateful to feel so strongly connected my food, for the friends who work hard to make pig day happen and of course, most grateful of all to the pig.

Hello Spring, you're early!

It's a bit of rude shock to have spring arrive bang on the first of September.  Sheesh, normally we have several more weeks of cold, severe frosts, often snow and plenty of wild wind during September and October, before the real spring weather saunters in around early November.  But this week, what a doozey, low 20s forecast for the week.  Happy to crack out the tonic water but still, this warm weather is a little too early for comfort.  I'm feeling a little short changed from a proper winter.


I am never ready for spring and now that it's early, I really feel behind the eight ball.  Although, I've been here long enough not to get too excited and start planting the tomatoes just yet, there are still loads of jobs to get cracking with in the garden. But I know (and secretly hope) that King Winter will return with a few more chilly days up his sleeve.



I feel like a hibernating bear who has been woken up too early, drowsy, dazed and a little bit cross, as I was hoping for a few more weeks of cosy indoor time.   Hopefully next week, winter will return, and I can retreat to the warmth of my wood oven, drink more tea, and dream a little longer.





PS. Thank you so much for your kind words about Spoon. I was so touched to read your comments during such a sad time. xx

Ginger cake with golden syrup frosting

This week has been a challenge, full of curve balls, and well, pretty crap really.  The hardest by far was saying goodbye to our little dog Spoon. He ate some poison and we had him put to sleep on Monday.  Utterly heartbreaking.

It's been a tough on all of us, but especially for the children. But after a week of grieving and not really caring to cook at all, today the kitchen called me back, for cake.  Nothing too frivolous, just something simple to make, that is solid and somewhat nostalgic, with a generous wodge of creamy frosting.

Sometimes you need cake to make you feel better, to help to soothe a broken heart. It does help, for a little while.

Ginger Cake with Golden Syrup Frosting 

225g butter

225g brown sugar
200g golden syrup
1 tablespoon molasses
300ml milk
2 eggs
380g self raising flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger

250g cream cheese (at room temperature)
60g butter (at room temperature)
1/4 cup golden icing sugar
2 tablespoons golden syrup

Preheat oven to 150C and grease a 23cm round spring-form cake tin.

Melt butter, brown sugar, golden syrup and molasses in a saucepan over medium heat.  Allow to cool slightly.

Whisk eggs and milk in a small jug, then add to the butter mixture.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour and ginger.  Make a well in the centre and pour in the butter and milk mixture and give it a vigorous mix until smooth. If it's looking too lumpy use a whisk to get it smooth.

Pour into prepared cake tin and bake for around 1 hour or until a skewer comes out clean.  Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from tin, then cool completely on a cake rack.

To make the frosting, using a stand mixer, beat cream cheese and butter together until combined.  Add icing sugar and syrup and beat until smooth and fluffy.

Using a palette knife, spread frosting evenly on top of cake, before making swirly flourishes with your knife.