All posts filed under: DO NOT USE

Baked eggs with ibérico ham and parmesan

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Most of you will know that we got three beautiful hens a few weeks ago. Only one of them is laying so far and the eggs have been quite sporadic, until recently when we’ve been getting one every day. Although we currently have 5 Bantam eggs sitting in our egg rack, I have to admit that the eggs in this recipe aren’t from our hens, they are from my boyfriends parents hens down in Chichester. We had some ibérico ham in the fridge that needed eating so I made a delicious dish of baked eggs with ibérico ham and parmesan for dinner. This dish is exceptionally easy and fast – it only takes about 15 minutes from start to finish, if that! Serve with a couple of slices of bread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Ingredients 2 large cloves garlic 6 slices of ibérico ham (or enough to cover the pan that you want to use) 4 large free range eggs sprinkle of curly leaf parsley – about 4 …

Riverford Oraganic Farm trip

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Veg boxes delivered to your door. Some people love them, others think they’re a bit of a waste of money. I’m going on various conversations that I’ve had with people over the last couple of years. Yes – that’s how long I’ve been ‘thinking’ about getting one but I hadn’t managed to get around to it. Until now. Until I took a visit to Riverford Organic Farm in Devon. I was invited on a press trip along with a group of bloggers and journalists. The email landed in my inbox entitled ’24 hours of wild garlic’ and before I even opened the email, I knew that whatever greatness lay inside the body of the email was going to appeal to me. And it sure did. The email was aptly titled, we were to leave London at 7pm on Friday evening and return at 8pm on Saturday evening. OK, so maybe we were away for 25 hours but I’ll blame that on the delayed train. The lovely ladies at Story PR provided us with an astounding …

Easy wholemeal seed and nut loaf

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This recipe is adapted from a fantastic Delia Smith recipe. It is incredibly easy and tastes delicious warm from the oven, smothered with salted butter. I made this to accompany a fantastic BBQ that we had over the ferociously hot Easter weekend. Ingredients 285g wholemeal flour, plus a little extra for the top of the bread 1 tsp salt 1 tsp light muscovado sugar 1tsp easy bake yeast (this is half of an easy bake yeast sachet) 200ml tepid water 100g mixed nuts and seeds (save some to sprinkle on the top) Method Pre-heat the oven to it’s lowest setting 1. Warm the flour in the oven for about 10 minutes, then turn the oven off. 2. Put the warm flour into a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the salt, sugar and yeast over the top. Mix thoroughly. 3. Make a well in the center and pour in the tepid water. Take a wooden spoon and mix the water into the flour gradually to form a dough. 4. Mix with your hands until you have …

My new Silkie hen

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I went to Chichester over the weekend to stay at my boyfriends parents house. They have a few hens happily roaming around their garden but wanted more so we took a trip to the farm. What I didn’t realise was that we would end up buying three and bringing them back to London with us. My boyfriend spent all of Saturday fashioning a pen for them so that we can keep them on our roof. They’re a cute little trio but my favourite is Silkie. She is a young’n at the moment but in three or so months we can expect her to lay delicious Bantam eggs. I’m in love.

Pearl barley summer salad

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Pearl barley is simply barley with all of the bran removed. Similar to wheat in terms of nutritional value, this chewy grain is perfect in stews and soups. I have just started using it in salads as it gives a great texture and fills you up! It’s also extremely cheap (around 50p for 500g) so provides a delicious meal without breaking the bank. This recipe was inspired by my recent trip to Petersham Nurseries. The delicious salad that I had there was made with faro but I substituted for pearl barley as it is more widely available. I’m also substituting my usual olive oil for a lighter and less fruity oil, rapeseed. This adds a light nutty and earthy flavour, which I think works better in a salad. It also contains 50% less saturated fat than olive oil so better all round really. Ingredients (serves 4) 150g pearl barley 6 vine ripened tomatoes, quartered 1 tbsp sunflower seeds 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds 1 small butternut squash, cubed 6 flat mushrooms, sliced Rapeseed or olive oil …