Pea and asparagus risotto with pea pod broth (or Rise et bise)

I struggle to throw things away, and so it is during pod pea season that I retain piles and piles of leftover pea pods with the intention of making soup. However, on this occasion I  decided instead to use them as a base-broth for a pea and asparagus risotto. Frugal and ingenious I thought, until…

Wild garlic (Ransoms) & nettle pasta sauce

Usually free/cheap food needs a little bit of effort to bring it up to scratch, but Ransoms and nettles are so abundant and quick to cook (you don’t even need to cook the ransoms just add them to salads or sandwiches if you prefer) that it seems ludicrous not to use them. The hardest part…

Chorizo, potato, courgette and goat’s cheese frittata (or egg pizza for the kids)

You can’t kid a kidder. That’s what we always say to our eldest daughter when she tries telling us a little fib. So much so that she’s developed a keen ability to sniff out the slightest porky. And so it is with frittata, which, in a vain attempt to get the kids to eat it,…

So far, pho good… New Year Pho with Leftover goose

I don’t make new year’s resolutions. I would have added ‘anymore’ but I don’t think I ever have. But I do like New Year’s traditions. Especially traditions that use up leftovers from Christmas and feel healthy and reviving. Doubly virtuous! This is the second year in a row I’ve used the goose carcass as a…

A pound well spent – Camembert.

What can you get for a pound these days? Or should I rephrase that? What can you get for a pound these days that once you’ve eaten it makes the fact that it only cost a pound seem utterly absurd?! Camembert! Yes, only a pound. OK, this is only bog standard camembert from a supermarket…

Smoked Haddock and chorizo chowder, with sour cream.

This is the first time I’ve been inspired to post for a few weeks, mainly because I’ve been busy, but also because I’ve suffered a few heroic leftover based failures (leftover Chicken and Chorizo bake with parmesan breadcrumb topping being the worst, don’t ask me how I could have got that wrong!) and I’ve also…

It’s good, but it’s not right… Brawn toastie

When the food namers of yore got together for their annual meat dish naming shindig I can only assume ‘Brawn’ was discussed late in the evening after the consumption of much ale. How about Brawn? Yeah, that’ll do… It’s a name that doesn’t inspire much confidence. The alternative, ‘head cheese’ isn’t much better! As a…

Uber moreish pizza

Good pizza. One of life’s simple pleasures. Born out of poverty and necessity, the two drivers of so much culinary creativity and, like many simple and popular foods, is regularly over looked as something that doesn’t need special attention. Too often have I had disappointing pizza and it’s either the base, the sauce or both….

Bake off – Rounds one and two

Nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition, especially when it comes to baking. This bake off is between me, and…er, me and is being judged by Paul Hollywood who’s manifested himself as a book from 2004, same beard, same hair, different size tummy… Mary Berry, however, is nowhere to be seen… I’ve wanted to…

January food thrift

Let’s be honest we all buy too much food and a lot of it get’s thrown away. I’m determined to change that in our house. A few months back, rather than pop to the supermarket, I decided to do a food stock check to see if there really wasn’t much in the house to eat….