Ginger Icecream with Kumquats

Made for Christmas one year. Takes a bit of time to make/prepare. But so what … it’s special, so you can do it weeks in advance, and just pull it out of the freezer on the day (about 45 minutes before serving).

Winter Solstice (Summer’s coming?) Pudding

Christmas pudding in the family for the years when I ran two allotment plots, and froze the inevitable gluts. I’ve used rasps, blackcurrants, redcurrants, brambles … whatever was in the freezer.

Bramble Sorbet

Clean, fresh, sweet and crisply tart on the tongue. Xmas pud!

A bit time consuming to make – but worth it.  (I’ve also made a variation with apple – recipe here.)

Black Beans (KISS!)

I want a couple of cups of cooked Black Beans for a Christmas dish (no more on that yet). I have bought a bag, soaked and boiled them, but (after setting aside what I really want to use) have a couple of containers in the freezer.

Dilemma.

Chickpeas and Chard/Spinach

Nothing fancy, just a serendipitous combination. Simple, good eating, and satisfying – for the belly, the palate, and the eye.

Two tricks.

• Add fresh chard (which is much nicer, if you can get it/grow it), or spinach just before serving. You want it wilted – maybe only a minute for spinach, a couple of minutes more for chard – still green, still “fresh and vibrant”, but soft enough to “coat” the chick peas.
• And thyme to flavour the tomato sauce.

Lemon and Lime Marmalade

Where else would one look for the basic guide to tweak a little, but the WI? Ah, but even the professionals forgot the most important bit …

Mackerel in Tomato Sauce

Simplicity itself. Especially if you make industrial quantities of Tomato Sauce or Roasted Tomato Sauce for the freezer.

Tweak it – to be light and refreshing on a summer’s evening. Or gut-bustingly soul-healing for a cold and raw autumn meal.

A pound of sprats

After the joy of cooking succulent fresh sardines for the first time last week, I could only fall. Utterly and foolishly seduced by the wink of a near-wriggling-fresh silvery sprat on the fishmonger’s slab. Oh lordy. I restrained myself and “only” bought a pound of the tiny darlings. Foolish when I’m cooking for myself alone?