wood blewits: the most beautiful mushroom of all

wood blewits (clitocybe nuda/lepista nuda)

Is there anything more fairy tale than a wood blewit mushroom? I don't think so. With their lilac-blue stems and pinkish violet-coloured flattish caps they are the stuff of fantasy. Also charmingly known as pied bleu in French (blue feet), they grow in leaf litter under deciduous trees in Britain's woodland. I'd love to tell you that I foraged for them myself. But the more prosaic answer is that I bought them in Borough Market, from one of several fabulous stalls that sell wild mushrooms.

poffertjes: Dutch buckwheat pancakes

poffertjes (Dutch buckwheat pancakes

These pillowy buckwheat pancakes are light, delicious and really rather indulgent. Even their name is descriptive; "poffertjes" in Dutch sounds a bit like "poffer-juss," which to my mind sounds like pretty fluffy pancakes.

stuffed delicata squash

delicata squash stuffed with tomato and mince sauce

A few weeks ago I posted about one of my favourite new discoveries, the delicata squash. You'll be forgiven for thinking that I didn't do much with it except stand back and admire it! Gosh, there is really nothing so appealing as a vegetable with a bit of va-va-voom and go-faster stripes.

chocolate covered cinder toffee (honeycomb)

chocolate covered cinder toffee

Chocolate covered cinder toffee (known in some parts as honeycomb, puff candy, hokey-pokey, yellowman or seafoam,  but not to be confused with bonfire toffee) brings out my inner child. I love this stuff and could eat it all year around, not just on Bonfire Night. Making it is part cookery and part science project; (I get particularly excited when you add the bicarb to the sugar syrup and it all froths up . . . see what I mean about pleasing my inner child?) Anyway there is much fun to be had by all, and (my favourite type of science, kitchen science) you can eat the results! A really good explanation for the science and magic bit can be found on The Guardian website.

what's in season: november

Boskoop Rouge apples from Chegworth Valley at Borough Market

The Crossed Apple
1've come to give you fruit from out my orchard, Of wide report.
I have trees there that bear me many apples. Of every sort:

Clear, streaked; red and russet; green and golden: Sour and sweet.
This apple's from a tree yet unbeholden, Where two kinds meet,
So that this side is red without a dapple,
And this side's hue is clear and snowy.
It's a lovely apple. It is for you.

a witches brew soup

a witches brew soup

Of all the food I cooked at Borough Market's demonstration kitchen suitable for a children's Halloween party, the one that got the most visceral reaction was my Witches Brew soup. Unfortunately that reaction was a unanimous "ugh". Where, oh where did it all go wrong? I suspect I was a victim of my own making.

blood dipping sauce (or roasted pepper and tomato sauce)

blood dipping sauce (or roasted pepper and tomato sauce) 

My so-called blood dipping sauce made to go with my Halloween vampire bat wings is merely a variation on my Spanish romesco sauce, but without the nuts and chilli peppers. Because it was aimed at children, I didn't want anything too spicy, but I did want something slightly sweet and tangy. It went down a treat with the vampire bat wings, as well as with the monster bones (roasted parsnips) that I cooked for the Borough Market Halloween cooking demo.

vampire bat wings (with blood dipping sauce)

vampire bat wings with blood dipping sauce

I am sooooo behind with my blogging and have stacks of recipes to post, so forgive me if a load all come at once.

A few weeks ago, a friend asked me to help her cater her small son's birthday party, around the theme of "monsters." I did and the kids seemed to enjoy some truly monstrous creations. By coincidence, Borough Market asked me to fill in for one of the demo chefs who had been forced to pull out of a Halloween-themed cooking demonstration aimed at children. Now I have to admit that I don't have a huge amount of experience of cooking for children. But what I hope I do have is bags of enthusiasm and a tiny bit of creativity.

the lazy girl's favourite squash with go-faster stripes: delicata squash

delicata squash

This stripy winter squash is also known as "bohemian squash" (a name I find rather appealing - I dream in bohemian!)

my favourite slow-cooked tomato sauce

slow-cooked tomato sauce

There is a distinct chill in the air and the path to my front door is slippery with fallen leaves. It is definitely the weather for slow-cooked soups and stews.

san marzano tomatoes (or elvish shoes!)

San Marzano tomatoes (or elvish shoes!)

Coming home from Earth, one of my favourite local grocery shops, clutching a small bag of vibrant San Marzano tomatoes, I wondered if these tomatoes really will taste superior as it is alleged. The proof will be in the pudding, or perhaps a pizza sauce or more likely a simple stew or sauce. I have plans for these beauties, I just haven't finalised the fine detail.

what's in season: october

autumn leaves 2014

Autumn Movement
I cried over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts.
The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper sunburned woman, the mother of the year, the taker of seeds.
The northwest wind comes and the yellow is torn full of holes, new beautiful things come in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind, and the old things go, not one lasts.
Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)