Welcome

Reaching the final of Masterchef 2007 was a rollercoaster of emotion, with huge highs and lows, but I loved every minute and learnt a huge amount. I owe a great deal to John and Gregg who had faith in my ability when I did not believe in myself. Since competing on the programme my life has changed considerably. I now write cookery columns for two magazines, give cookery demonstrations and am just working on my 13th cook book - unlucky number for some but not for me!!! I love all forms of country cooking, using seasonal and locally sourced produce. This blog is to enable me to share with you a few of my recipes and baking ideas. Enjoy Hannah xxxx

Monday 21 September 2009

The sunshine this weekend was glorious and we had what I am sure will be our last lunch of the year in the garden yesterday - lots of smoked and cured fish with watercress salad and German dill mustard sauce. It was a really nice lunch if I say so myself! We also spent a lot of time harvesting from the hedgerows. I have to admit it felt slight odd that it was so hot and we were picking blackberries - normally I am in a winter coat when I do this but I am definitely not complaining!!! We collected Blackberries, Damsons, Rosehips, Sloes and Crabapples by the basket load. All free and all delicious. I spent a lot of time yesterday cooking as you can imagine - Damson and Blackberry Hazelnut crumble, Blackberry and chilli vinegar, Rosehip and crabapple jelly, pickled crabapples to have with cold meat in winter and Damson jam. I froze the sloes so that they are ready to make sloe gin (giving them the "first frost" they need) and also the blackberries so we can have crumbles and pies over the coming months. If you haven't been out picking yet, I definitely recommend it - the trees and bushes are laden this year!

4 comments:

Celia Hart said...

What wonderful hedgerow bounty!

I like the look of the pickled crab apples.

Celia
x

PS have you been to see 'Julie and Julia' yet?

Rita said...

I made my first apple chutney this weekend!

Katie said...

It's so much fun picking bounty from the hedgerows. Didn't know you could pickle crab apples!

Marie Rayner said...

What a beautiful bounty!! I can't wait to see what you did with it all!!