organic kitchen garden
I don’t often eat desserts at home, so they always feel like a treat. They are reserved for meals out, occasions, dinners at home shared with family and friends. My favourite desserts are generally the ones I associate with nostalgia and home cooking, and it’s a tribute to my Mum’s amazing cooking and baking that… Continue reading Comforting Autumnal Apple Pie Recipe
Anyone who knows me well will know that I love pie. I love pie with creamy mashed potato, doused in thick gravy until the mash begins to dissolve in the liquid and the pie crust starts to soften (to my mum’s sheer horror). I love cutting into fresh, crisp pastry, homemade when I have the… Continue reading 3 things that make a perfect pie & my 3 favourite pie recipes
This is an indulgent and warming recipe to treat yourself to on cold nights. For me, chicken and mushroom pie is ultimate comfort food, and is full of nostalgia. As a child, my favourite dinners were always the kind which came with gravy and veg. In fact at one stage, I wouldn’t even entertain the… Continue reading Chicken and Mushroom Pie Recipe
The ultimate savoury taste of a steak and ale pie I difficult to beat, I love it best when freshly baked: puff pastry layers crackle under the knife, and dark, sticky gravy oozes out onto the edges of the pastry. I love chunky steak, sweet carrots and earthy mushrooms. I love rich saucy gravy edging slowly across my plate, muddling with muddling with creamy, buttery mashed potato. Drooling yet? I am.
Now that Halloween is over, the anticipation of Christmas festivities has moved to centre stage, with shops already sparkling with decorations and gifts. It’s clichéd, I know, but I really do love autumn and winter, especially now, in this little post-Halloween, pre-Christmas limbo. Crunchy leaves in vibrant red, copper and bright gold litter the ground outside, waiting to be walked in, kicked about, enjoyed, and jumpers and boots have made a convincing comeback in my wardrobe. There aren’t daily frosts just yet, but I can’t wait to see the beautiful silver spray of delicate, glittering lace over leaves and spiders’ webs in the morning sun. I don’t think I have long to wait. This morning I had to de-mist the car windows with the heating on max for a good 5 minutes before I left for work.
Before holly, trees, presents and cards, my first whiff of Christmas in the air is always signalled by the reappearance of mince pies in my life. Usually in early November, hopefully sooner. The garish boxes appear in the supermarkets far earlier, but, call me fussy, these can never match up to a home baked mince pie. I’m talking dreamy wafts of Christmas seeping through the house, leading to bites of crumbly, buttery pastry melting away in my mouth to reveal tangy fruits, rich spices and a hint of alcohol, all rounded off with the sweet drizzle of glace icing over the top. The pie in my hand almost falls apart in surrender: ‘eat me!’, and the filling is jewelled with glace cherries so red it’s almost offensive. But it’s Christmas: red goes.
With leaves changing from lush green to burnished gold and silky conkers litter the ground, I can’t help but look forward to cosy nights in with hearty, comforting recipes to fill my belly as I countdown to Christmas. When the weather turns cold, my birthday month (September) is over and the mornings and evenings get darker, all I want to eat in the evening is a bowl or plate of something comforting.