Homemade Pesto

I have finally felt like cooking again, although still not eating much. I ordered loads of stuff from Riverford this week. We haven't had a box for ages as R couldn't get through it on his own! One of the things I ordered was a large bag of basil, to make pesto with. This is so easy with a Magimix, and tastes so much better than the bought stuff.

Homemade Pesto

150g picked basil
150g grated parmesan
150g pine nuts
6 cloves of garlic
250ml good quality olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Put all of the ingredients in the food processor apart from the seasoning and oil and pulse. Then add the oil in a steady stream as the motor runs. You may not need all of the oil, it depends on the consistency you want. Season to taste at the end.

Store in clean jars, with a layer of oil over the top. It keeps for a while in the fridge, although ours gets eaten so quickly I don't know exactly how long. I think you can freeze it too (maybe in an ice cube tray, and then you'd have portion-sized amounts).

I'm still here

I haven't posted for ages, as I have been in hospital and not really feeling like eating (my family knew I was really ill when I lost all interest in food).

I have developed an unhealthy interest in shows on E4, in particular One Tree Hill and Gilmour Girls, and also have watched a huge amount of tennis. I'm not sure how I am going to cope next week when Wimbledon is over!

I hope to resume normal service soon.

Daylesford Organic, Gloucestershire

We were in the area, and couldn't resist a trip to Daylesford, even though we have been to the shop in Pimlico and it is really expensive. After a quick phone call to my brother for directions we were on our way (probably would have been better to make this decision before we were in the car).

We had managed to beat the lunch rush and so went straight to a table upstairs. Once I had glimpsed the asparagus on the menu there was no question as to what I was having. What arrived was beautifully cooked asparagus, with two poached eggs and a sea of hollandaise. It was all on a piping hot plate, so it was still warm at the end. Probably a perfect May dish, and one I could not have improved at all.

R had a ploughmans, which he did not rave about quite as much as I did about the asparagus, but still looked really good. It consisted of a barely-hard boiled egg, some homemade pork pie, cheddar, ham, lightly dressed salad leaves and pickle and cournichons. All really well done.

It wasn't cheap, at £30 for the two of us with a soft drink each, but it was worth it for the experience and a happy lunchtime. We then hit the farm shop, coming away with a wheat-free chocolate cake, some yummy rhubarb compote and a scotch egg that R raved about and I was very disappointed I couldn't eat.

The Potting Shed, Crudwell, Wiltshire

The Potting Shed is owned by the same people as the hotel we were staying in, and we could see it from our bedroom window, so the walk to dinner was not too onerous. We sat at the bar for a drink first, and the staff we nicely chatty, which I always appreciate. They were also very helpful at finding out if there was any hidden gluten in any of the dishes, and marked up a menu for me especially. I love the beer pumps, which were made of old spade handles - so cute!

I started with sardines with a lemon and caper butter, which were beautifully cooked with the sauce offsetting the oiliness of the fish perfectly. It lacked a little texture, but that is my fault since I couldn't have the toast that they were supposed to come on. R had red mullet fillets with new potato salad and watercress pesto, which was also well cooked and worked well together.

I followed with sea bass with asparagus and hollandaise. I am definitely taking advantage of the asparagus season at the moment, and these were perfectly tender while retaining some bite, and I could have eaten then forever if I hadn't got full! R had chicken leg with pea and spinach risotto, which again he enjoyed.

You may have spotted the similarity to what I ate the night before, and you could see that the same people had input into both of the menus. It was no worse for that though. We were too full for pudding, and I was heartbroken by this point as I got word that Chelsea had been knocked out of the Champions League in the dying seconds.

The Rectory Hotel, Crudwell, Wiltshire

We just had to cancel a long-planned holiday to South Africa at the last minute, and needed to go somewhere in the UK at short notice. Some time on the internet left us with two nights at The Rectory Hotel, followed by two nights in Cheltenham. It was important to have somewhere good to go for dinner, as well as a comfy hotel, and it looked like we could have hit on the perfect place as not only did the hotel have a restaurant with a good reputation, but the owners have relatively recently taken over the local pub as well. One each night then.

We started in the hotel. The menu changes daily, and the chef is particularly keen on local produce, with the menu proclaiming that almost all of the produce, other than fish, is sourced from within a 30 mile radius. The suppliers are named on the menu, and a lot of the vegetables are home grown in part of the pub garden. A good start already.

With the menus and pre-dinner drinks came homemade potato crisps, good olives and rice crackers (a personal favourite). We both went for the same starter, scallops with creamy leeks. The individual elements were very good, but if you ate them together the strong flavour of the leeks completely overpowered the delicate scallops.

I then followed this with chicken leg with mushroom risotto, which was perfectly cooked, retaining a bit of bite. I wish I had room for more than half of the enormous portion! I then followed this with tarragon creme brulee with orange and mint salad. I was slightly dubious about this, but there weren't many options as I'm not eating gluten at the moment. I'm glad I tried it though, as the slight aniseedy flavour worked brilliantly with the sweet creamy brulee. The mint and orange salad was fantastic, and I will definitely be making this through the summer, as it such a perfect end to a meal.

Although there were a couple of things here that could have been improved, all in all this was a well executed meal that we enjoyed very much.

Breakfast the next morning was good too. It annoys me so much how badly breakfast can be done, as it is really a matter of good sourcing. All the elements here were great, and well cooked too, although it could have been a little faster. I really wished I could eat the homemade banana bread too!

Wild garlic risotto

As soon as the recipe dropped out of the freebie bag of wild garlic that came with our veg box last week I couldn't wait to make wild garlic risotto. However, we have been out a lot recently, and eventually the only night that presented itself I had to go to work drinks first. Risotto isn't an instant when you get home dish, so R volunteered to do the cooking.

He hadn't made risotto before, and was amazed at how easy it was.

Small onion
Two cloves of garlic
125g risotto rice (we used arborio)
Glug of olive oil
Small knob of butter
Large handful of wild garlic, roughly chopped
Small glass white wine (125ml)
About 1pt stock (not sure what ours was as the label had fallen off, but probably chicken!)
Small handful of freshly grated parmesan

Finely chop the onion and garlic, and cook gently for about 10 minutes in the olive oil and butter until soft but not coloured. Add the rice and stir until coated in oil. Pour in the wine, and stir until it is absorbed. Then add the stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring gently until it is absorbed before adding the next ladle. Start to taste it when it looks done. The amount of stock needed can vary. When still a bit al dente add the wild garlic. Once the last stock has been absorbed add the cheese and stir, before serving on warm plates.

The garlic flavour in this risotto was subtle and delicious, and I think this was perfect spring comfort food.

The Harwood Arms, Fulham

The jungle drums had started beating that this pub had been taken over by new management. We used to go there fairly regularly when R lived in Fulham, and it has been owned by Geronimo Inns for a few years. We needed somewhere to go before a Chelsea game, so I booked a table.

The menus were brought over with a jug of tap water and some bread in a little hessian sack. My father started with a well-kept pint of London Pride, and there were a couple of other bitters too, so that kept him happy. I had a Fentimans ginger beer, which is one of my favourites, so I was happy too.

We decided that for lunch, and knowing we were having a large meal that evening, we would have two starters each. There was plenty of choice, but the fish platter for two caught both of our eyes, so we started with that. It arrived with toasted sour dough and potato scones, and consisted of some very nice smoked salmon, two croquettes filled with a sort of fish pie mixture, some potted shrimps and some marinated mackerel. It was all very good, with the croquettes and the mackerel particularly standing out.

I followed this with rabbit schnitzel, with leaves and wholegrain mustard mayonnaise, which was on the specials board. It was beautifully cooked, crunchy on the outside with the rabbit taste still coming through. My father had crispy pigs ears with trotter on toast, which he raved about

Unfortunately we didn’t have time to sample some yummy-sounding puddings, so we will just have to go back.

This was a perfect pub lunch. Yes it is definitely a gastro-pub, and some people won’t like the fact that it has very little space for drinking. But the food was perfectly executed, and the service efficient and friendly, even though they were full and on a deadline as virtually everyone in there had to be round the corner at Stanford Bridge in time for kick-off.