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, 31 December 2007
Friday, 28 December 2007
Thursday, 27 December 2007


Christmas lunch with delicious (if I say so myself) The turkey cooked for 14 hours and yet was really moist. There are two theories for this - my brother is sure it was the turkey injector that he bought from Mexico (and which we had all dismissed as a joke) which I had used to inject ginger wine into the turkey whilst it was cooking. I was convinced it was the mascapone and wild mushroom stuffing under the skin! In truth it was probably a combination of both. My mum's Christmas pudding (made to our family recipe) was the best we had ever tasted.
I had some wonderful foody presents which I will share with you as soon as my camera (which died on Christmas Eve) is fixed! What did Santa Clause bring you?
Monday, 24 December 2007

Well Christmas Eve is here and we are almost ready! As you can imagine, the last few days have seen my Aga (which is luckily mended) cooking non stop - 150 mince pies, a ginger beer roasted ham, gingerbread, 15 litres of mulled wine! The turkey is stuffed and is waiting to go in the Aga to slow cook overnight!
The last few days have been lovely. We had Christmas lunch with my Dad and visited Waddesdon Manor with a crisp winter walk - I have not been there since Masterchef and it was lovely to go back and not be under any pressure!! Friday was our village carol concert which included a rendition of the 12 days of Christmas by the village junior choir (the youngest member is 4), all singing solos! They were wonderful. We currently have the "travelling crib" (a wonderful knitted nativity - complete with knitted sheep, shepherds, kings and a knitted baby Jesus in a crib) which travels round the village spending a night with most families, ending up in the Church this evening - assuming that I do not forget to drop it off!

So, as Christmas Eve is drawing to a close, I wish you all a wonderful and heartfelt Merry Christmas with much love to you all and to all your families. Wherever you are tomorrow, I hope that you will be feasting well and that Santa remembers to leave you something nice under the tree. Happy Christmas one and all xxx
Friday, 21 December 2007
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Wednesday, 19 December 2007


Monday, 17 December 2007
Frankincense - some delicious smelling elderflower liquor with cocktail recipes - we will be trying these tonight!
Oh ....and a turkey injector for injecting wine into the turkey flesh to keep it moist! Only my brother could find something like this! He bought it in Mexico! I have to say I am yet to be convinced by this but we will give it a try!
Well I have now finished work for Christmas holidays - how wonderful to have a whole week and a half to get ready for Christmas. The first task was to make the swag for our fireplace - always a tricky task as it is balanced on a series of nails across the top of the fireplace rather than a shelf. Anyway, it was finally balanced and secured with a lot of wire and help from Sacha and we had lots of fun decorating it (almost like having a second Christmas tree!)
I hope that your Christmas preparations are going well and that you are having as much fun as we are!
Thursday, 13 December 2007
Freddie and Charlotte of The Great Big Veg Challenge have move to Q and requested suggestions for Quick Vegetable Recipes. I assume this means there are no Q vegetables and sitting here I have to confess I cannot think of any! So this is a super quick pea and mint soup, stove to table in 10 minutes!
In a large pan, fry a finely chopped onion in 1 tbsp of olive oil with a pinch of salt for 2 minutes until softened. Add 300 grams of peas and a good slug of calvados, sherry or maderia and cook for 1 minute. Add 1 litre of chicken or vegetable stock and a handful of chopped mint. Simmer for 5 minutes until the peas are soft. Add 100ml of double cream or milk and blitz with a handblender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Hey presto - a super quick and tasty supper! Serve with some warm crusty bread.
As always Charlotte's team of dedicated followers and contributors have all come up with wonderful suggestions and she has links to all these recipes on her site.
Wednesday, 12 December 2007
Tuesday, 11 December 2007


Monday, 10 December 2007
Yesterday was our niece's birthday and we had 18 people for lunch, eating in three sittings! My niece had asked for an ice cream cake and loves strawberries (yes I know they are out of season and yesterday we discussed moving her birthday to the summer so that she had better strawberries on her cake next year!) This cake is very quick and easy to make but won't last long as the ice cream melts! Line two 8 inch cake pans with cling film and fill with ice cream - you can use any sort! Leave in the freezer to set, remove from the cake tins, cover with another layer of cling film and return to the freezer until 5 minutes before you are going to serve the cake. Make three sponge cakes in the same size cake pan - once cooled, I topped mine with white chocolate, pink icing, strawberries and white ferrero roche. When you are ready to serve, layer the cake and ice cream and serve immediately.
Friday, 7 December 2007
Today's project was a Knights, Dragons and Princess' cake for a birthday party in London tomorrow. I had to take the cake to London by train, arriving at Kings Cross at 5pm in the rush hour and managed to get it to its destination in one piece. What a relief - I think I must be mad to have even attempted this!
Thursday, 6 December 2007

So what lovely collections do you have? And how many collections are too many?! Can a girl ever have enough wicker baskets?
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
Tuesday, 4 December 2007

Makes 12
500grams shortcrust pastry
flour for dusting
1 jar of mincemeat
Filling 1 - Lemon Mascapone pies
2 tbsp mascapone cheese
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
Filling 2 - Ginger pies
2 preserved gingers, finely chopped
1 tbsp stem ginger syrup
1 tbsp ginger wine
Milk for glazing
Icing sugar for dusting
Roll your pastry out thinly, sprinkle with flour to ensure that it doesn't stick and cut out 12 circles, approximately 3 inches in diameter. Grease a bun tin with butter and press the circles gently in each hole. For lemon mascapone pies, add a teaspoon of mincemeat to each pie and top with half a teaspoon of mascapone cheese and a small amount of zest. For the ginger mince pies, mix 3 tbsp of the mincemeat in a bowl with the preserve ginger, syrup and wine. Place a small spoonful in each pie. Roll out the remaining pastry and cut 12 x 2 inch circles or stars or flowers! Top each pie with a small circle and then brush with the milk to glaze. Bake in a moderate oven Gas Mark 5/180oC/Aga roasting oven below a cold shelf for 10 - 15 minutes, turning the tray half way through cooking, until golden brown. Transfer the mince pies to a cooking wrack and dust with icing sugar. Serve warm with brandy butter!
Monday, 3 December 2007
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