Your Spring garden is lovely - and may I say that I can almost smell the Gariguette strawberries from here. Am very tempted by the Charlotte so will be on the menu for Spring here in Melbourne later in the year.
We arrived in the SW in late April in both 2022 and 2023 and will do so again next year. I cannot wait - for the fat white asparagus and the truly stunning strawberries that continue to improve with the warmth of May.
We were in Bordeaux on a very warm afternoon in mid May '22 and talked to a couple of young women from the USA who were holidaying there. A wave of Gariguette scent arrived from the nearby market stalls. They could not identify it. I told them to run, not walk, to the strawberry stall and buy as many punnets as they could. We left them gorging themselves on the ripe red ambrosial fruit.
If I was cooking lamb this Easter I would definitely try marmite, even with reservations. However, it is just the two of us for Easter Sunday so we will be having roast duck. Any ideas for that would be welcome. BTW, I made the mustard chicken last weekend. It was superb really tender and very tasty. I will be bookmarking the recipe. Thank you.
I am so delighted you enjoyed the mustard chicken. As for the duck, Jamie Oliver does a recipe I like with five spice powder and marsala gravy - pretty sure it's online. Whatever you choose, I hope you have a wonderful Easter.
My Durham grandma always made this salad for Sunday tea. She was a brilliant but underrated cook and baker, making bread every Saturday until her later seventies. I used to be sent early to pick up the Sunday papers for the family, the Observer for us, Sunday Times for my grandma Shaw who lived next door, and the News of the World for grandma Pop, who exchanged it for a bag of fresh bread buns. Sunday breakfast was bacon sandwiches and the bread buns with marmalade.
Judi, thank you so much for sharing this wonderful memory. My Welsh great grandmother, who lived in County Durham, used to make French horns in the coal range wrapped around cones of newspaper.
I had an Aunty Dolly too. She was a hoot. She was a great aunty really. My Grampy’s sister. She and my Gran never liked each other and the passive aggression at Christmas was a wonder to behold.
My Auntie Dolly was my great aunt too, and also a hoot. She used to tell us what we thought were terribly scandalous jokes when we were quite small. For example, What's the definition of an opportunist? Have you never had a pee in the sea? How we laughed.
Goodness that lamb looks utterly FILTHY in such a good way. I think Marmite has rather eclipsed Worcestershire sauce as the magic ingredient in everything. I love the way it restores the salty fatty loveliness of the peanut butter of my youth. Honestly, just try it.
I love my mandoline beyond words, though I accept that there has to be more wastage left than I am happy with to save my fingertips. Potatoes I usually slice with a knife, but carrot ends go into a bag in the freezer, along with withering bits of celery, those half and quarter bits of onion you have when it’s more than you need etc etc, leftover parsley stalks, and other desiccated herbage, to go into the stock pot. I feel like I am absolutely nailing this life when I can literally throw a carcass into a pot and empty a bag of frozen good things on top of it, chuck in some water, peppercorns and a bayleaf and flick a match at it.
Now, I love salt and I love Marmite and I love peanut butter so I expected the Marmite peanut butter to be my next favourite thing, but I found it inedible. And I don't say that about a lot.
I do just the same with my peels and ends of things - highly satisfying!
I am so sorry that PB&M has not hit the spot for you. I wonder if it’s a chemical thing, like coriander, and the two together produce some odd compound (tell me you were bad at Science without telling me you got a C at GCSE)?
OMG! I had no idea that salad was a thing. My mother's from Sunderland and she & my grandmother regularly made that salad to serve with meat. I just thought it was a weird family thing when growing up in Worcestershire.
Oh heavens, I can vouch for just how divine this is. Now a regular at our table. I think I even dared to serve it to you, Debora. From your own cookbook. What a massive cheek/compliment.
Your Spring garden is lovely - and may I say that I can almost smell the Gariguette strawberries from here. Am very tempted by the Charlotte so will be on the menu for Spring here in Melbourne later in the year.
We arrived in the SW in late April in both 2022 and 2023 and will do so again next year. I cannot wait - for the fat white asparagus and the truly stunning strawberries that continue to improve with the warmth of May.
We were in Bordeaux on a very warm afternoon in mid May '22 and talked to a couple of young women from the USA who were holidaying there. A wave of Gariguette scent arrived from the nearby market stalls. They could not identify it. I told them to run, not walk, to the strawberry stall and buy as many punnets as they could. We left them gorging themselves on the ripe red ambrosial fruit.
I’m so so so trying this this weekend! Yummy
I really hope you enjoy it!
Love this dish. Just so good and so easy.
Thank you so much, Clare.
If I was cooking lamb this Easter I would definitely try marmite, even with reservations. However, it is just the two of us for Easter Sunday so we will be having roast duck. Any ideas for that would be welcome. BTW, I made the mustard chicken last weekend. It was superb really tender and very tasty. I will be bookmarking the recipe. Thank you.
I am so delighted you enjoyed the mustard chicken. As for the duck, Jamie Oliver does a recipe I like with five spice powder and marsala gravy - pretty sure it's online. Whatever you choose, I hope you have a wonderful Easter.
And the same to you too.
My Durham grandma always made this salad for Sunday tea. She was a brilliant but underrated cook and baker, making bread every Saturday until her later seventies. I used to be sent early to pick up the Sunday papers for the family, the Observer for us, Sunday Times for my grandma Shaw who lived next door, and the News of the World for grandma Pop, who exchanged it for a bag of fresh bread buns. Sunday breakfast was bacon sandwiches and the bread buns with marmalade.
Thank you for your reminder of my childhood.
Judi, thank you so much for sharing this wonderful memory. My Welsh great grandmother, who lived in County Durham, used to make French horns in the coal range wrapped around cones of newspaper.
I had an Aunty Dolly too. She was a hoot. She was a great aunty really. My Grampy’s sister. She and my Gran never liked each other and the passive aggression at Christmas was a wonder to behold.
My Auntie Dolly was my great aunt too, and also a hoot. She used to tell us what we thought were terribly scandalous jokes when we were quite small. For example, What's the definition of an opportunist? Have you never had a pee in the sea? How we laughed.
Quite simply yum. If I was at home this weekend I would make this-just for myself!!
I hope you do get to make it sometime... Especially just for yourself, which is without doubt the finest audience.
Goodness that lamb looks utterly FILTHY in such a good way. I think Marmite has rather eclipsed Worcestershire sauce as the magic ingredient in everything. I love the way it restores the salty fatty loveliness of the peanut butter of my youth. Honestly, just try it.
I love my mandoline beyond words, though I accept that there has to be more wastage left than I am happy with to save my fingertips. Potatoes I usually slice with a knife, but carrot ends go into a bag in the freezer, along with withering bits of celery, those half and quarter bits of onion you have when it’s more than you need etc etc, leftover parsley stalks, and other desiccated herbage, to go into the stock pot. I feel like I am absolutely nailing this life when I can literally throw a carcass into a pot and empty a bag of frozen good things on top of it, chuck in some water, peppercorns and a bayleaf and flick a match at it.
Now, I love salt and I love Marmite and I love peanut butter so I expected the Marmite peanut butter to be my next favourite thing, but I found it inedible. And I don't say that about a lot.
I do just the same with my peels and ends of things - highly satisfying!
I am so sorry that PB&M has not hit the spot for you. I wonder if it’s a chemical thing, like coriander, and the two together produce some odd compound (tell me you were bad at Science without telling me you got a C at GCSE)?
Haha!
so going to do this ❣️for easter
I hope you like it! When are you all next down? X
I'm down next week shooting for Languedoc wine- I have see marseillan on the agenda so will keep you posted.. xx
Great! Let me know your movements and if you have room on your dance card... X
OMG! I had no idea that salad was a thing. My mother's from Sunderland and she & my grandmother regularly made that salad to serve with meat. I just thought it was a weird family thing when growing up in Worcestershire.
It is A Proper Thing! Proper northern, and therefore part of your heritage, D 😉
A part I need to know more about. I got into trouble for calling a batch of my mother's Singing Hinnies Welsh cakes last summer. :)
Oh dear!
Oh heavens, I can vouch for just how divine this is. Now a regular at our table. I think I even dared to serve it to you, Debora. From your own cookbook. What a massive cheek/compliment.
You did! And very good it was too. I certainly took it as a compliment. 💛
Sounds delicious...although, the husband is mint averse, and we are both Marmite averse, so I would have to change just a tad.😊
Ha! I promise it doesn't taste of Marmite... Though it might take you a long time to use up the rest of the jar.
Exactly 🤣