I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed that when you read this the first rays of Spring Sunshine will still be with us – a sure sign that for us green fingered foodies there’s a whole new array of exciting fresh produce on the way!

This month in the allotment, (fondly known as “The Lotty”), the forced rhubarb is coming on a treat. Perpetual spinach is looking good along with some leeks. Were chitting our potatoes and planting beans and onions at the mo. Check out some latest snaps, we’ve built raised beds and some how the gnome has made its way in there!

From the soil to the water – things are definitely starting to change with the Spring Salmon season now well underway. If you, like me, are hoping to get your hands on some locally sourced, line caught Salmon, (“tight lines” father!) what better a way to pay homage to such a treat than to get the whole fish smoked courtesy of Bywell Smokery or L.Robson & Sons in Craster (of Craster Kipper fame!) Perhaps best served simply on buttered Soda bread with a wedge of lemon and plenty of freshly ground black pepper – Yum!

A random one now but for those of you who thought turkeys were only good for 1 week of the year I was intrigued to discover this week that you can now buy turkey eggs?! Thanks to Clarence Court Turkey Farm these larger than life eggs can only mean a whole new lease of life to the cake baker trapped in us all! Or for OTT pancakes why not!

Fridays are busy days here, we’ve been working hard leading up to a hectic weekend…… peeling over a hundred quail’s eggs = shrivelled fingers!
As the sun made a brief appearance at midday we decided to whack the Barbie on for a great light lunch!

Scallops (the freshest possible)….season….’hoy’ on the HOT barbie for a couple of minutes each side

Pesto…. in the food processor blitz all the ingredients….a bunch of basil, handful of pine nuts, good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, half a clove of garlic, good chunk of grated Parmesan, tbsp red wine vinegar, tsp sugar and seasoning.

served with a good crusty bread and of course a light Sauvignon Blanc (not at work!!!)

Enjoy!

We just wanted to let you all know that we are running a student cookery school over the summer.

It’s a four day programme great for budding cooks, school leavers and students wanting to gain cookery skills. We are running the first class from 26th July 10 if your interested please get intouch for more details, spaces are limited.

We’ve decided it’s time to go all green fingered and start growing some organic produce.
Check out our allotment which is all prepped and ready for (fingers crossed) some delicious fruit and veg to flourish!

Our Rhubarb’s coming along lovely!
Supermarkets are stocking it too!
So why not try our seasonal recipe below… its very easy and as quoted by Mr Botham ‘obscenely good’

You will need:
large bunch of rhubarb… one large orange…2tbsp of caster sugar…good measure of amaretto…amaretti biscuits…1 tub of natural yogurt (Rachael’s is great).

Chop rhubarb…place in pan with sugar… orange zest and juice…2tbsp amaretto and water… bring to boil and leave to simmer for 5 mins…leave to cool.

Simply layer the crumbled biscuits with the cooled rhubarb and yogurt! mmmmmm.

Stay tuned for more scrumptious seasonal dishes!
(hopefully from the allotment!)

We made some yummy sweet canapes today for a pre ‘Whitney’ party!

p.s Jamie’s Spanish feast last night, I’m sure you’ll agree, was mouth watering!