As you know part of the inspiration for this blog is the wonderful Mary Berry, she is the cookery part.
Her story is on BBC2 this evening at 20:00 hours (8pm) in the UK.
We will be cooking one of her recipes this weekend.
Tuesday 29 January 2013
Bread in less than an hour
The couple of posts this week are going to be separate food and separate flower posts.
During the week I work so sometimes the only times I can show off my floral creations is through my demonstrations at Flower Clubs, and WI's etc.
Also feeling slightly under the weather and halfway to losing my voice sometimes the last thing I would want to do when I get home is cook. However last night I fancied some home-made bread, but forget the yeast and waiting for it to rise I made this bread in under an hour which included the cooking time. A lovely chunk was taken to work with me today to have with my soup.
The recipe was for Soda Bread and although I have made the Nigel Slater version this one was from Paul Hollywood's - How to Bake book.
I did amend the recipe slightly and instead of buttermilk I used low fat natural yoghurt and it was just as good, probably slightly less calorific too.
So with some flour, salt, bicarb and a tub of natural yogurt, some stirring and kneading in the bowl and 35 minutes in the oven here is the result.
The Soda bread recipe can be found in the book How to Bake by Paul Hollywood which is published by Bloomsbury
During the week I work so sometimes the only times I can show off my floral creations is through my demonstrations at Flower Clubs, and WI's etc.
Also feeling slightly under the weather and halfway to losing my voice sometimes the last thing I would want to do when I get home is cook. However last night I fancied some home-made bread, but forget the yeast and waiting for it to rise I made this bread in under an hour which included the cooking time. A lovely chunk was taken to work with me today to have with my soup.
The recipe was for Soda Bread and although I have made the Nigel Slater version this one was from Paul Hollywood's - How to Bake book.
I did amend the recipe slightly and instead of buttermilk I used low fat natural yoghurt and it was just as good, probably slightly less calorific too.
So with some flour, salt, bicarb and a tub of natural yogurt, some stirring and kneading in the bowl and 35 minutes in the oven here is the result.
The Soda bread recipe can be found in the book How to Bake by Paul Hollywood which is published by Bloomsbury
At the weekend it will be an abundance of entertaining with floral arrangements to complement some lovely food....one of the creations will be Poachers Pie just to whet your appetite. I will also do a step by step of ingredients needed for your floral arrangement.
Stir Fried Duck
On Sunday I cooked for tea the Stir Fried Duck recipe, however I couldn't put on the orange day lilies as they only had pink in the shop....didn't work :-(
Day lilies are an edible garnish used in and to garnish chinese cookery. I will say the Stir Fried Duck was lovely and incredibly simple to make too.
For more details of Kathy Brown's Stir Fried Duck recipe with Day Lily her book Edible Flowers is available through her website.
For details of Kathy's garden visit her website at http://kathybrownsgarden.homestead.com
Sunday 27 January 2013
A very girly treat...iced rose petal cake
Well I went to bed with snow on the ground and following a good nights rain with the sun out and the birds tweeting outside it is positively spring like. The bulbs are once again poking their heads out of the ground, and the hellebores are waiting to open in all their glory.
Yesterday you saw the crystallized roses, and today (in between watching the Australian Open tennis - bad luck Andy) I made Kathy Brown's Iced Rose Petal Cake.
Kathy Brown has a garden not a million miles from where I live and opens it up every year, this year I am definitely going to go...it rained heavily the last time I attempted it Aside from having a wonderful garden, she bakes lovely things using flowers.
This is a pure afternoon treat, so here adorned with crystallized pink roses, and draped on the cake stand with fresh pink roses and dendrobium orchids here it is.
Dad is on his way round for a couple of slices as they missed out on the victoria sponge yesterday.
Yesterday you saw the crystallized roses, and today (in between watching the Australian Open tennis - bad luck Andy) I made Kathy Brown's Iced Rose Petal Cake.
Kathy Brown has a garden not a million miles from where I live and opens it up every year, this year I am definitely going to go...it rained heavily the last time I attempted it Aside from having a wonderful garden, she bakes lovely things using flowers.
This is a pure afternoon treat, so here adorned with crystallized pink roses, and draped on the cake stand with fresh pink roses and dendrobium orchids here it is.
Dad is on his way round for a couple of slices as they missed out on the victoria sponge yesterday.
For details of Kathy Brown's Iced Rose Petal Cake her book Edible Flowers is available through her website.
For details of Kathy's garden visit her website at http://kathybrownsgarden.homestead.com
Tonight we are having her Sitr-Fried Duck with Day Lily recipe which we will feature the result of in a future post......something to look forward to.
Saturday 26 January 2013
Beef Bourginon and a potted orchid
Well the snow is thawing thank goodness.....let's hope we have no more as pretty as it may look, it brings chaos and as I well know last Friday made my 45 minute journey home from work into a 3 hour nightmare.
Tonight we have a warming beef bourginon which we will eat with some creamy mash whilst accompanied by a lovely orchid colleagues where I work brought me several weeks ago as a good luck gift as I went onto another department for a 6 month secondment.
Michael my husband had always wanted one of those crock pots which you can use to start casseroles etc on the hob and transfer to the oven. My mum and dad got him one for christmas and he has been longing to use it so tonight is its first outing.
The recipe we used is the Beef Bourginon recipe by James Martin from his book "Masterclass" Make Your Home Cooking Easier. I spoke with the said chef a couple of weeks ago I rang in and asked a question on Saturday Kitchen about what we should do with frozen blackberries, we had lots in the freezer. Didn't do the crumble (as yet) but did adapt the panacotta he did on the show using blackberries it wasn't half bad and it set too.
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Tonight we have a warming beef bourginon which we will eat with some creamy mash whilst accompanied by a lovely orchid colleagues where I work brought me several weeks ago as a good luck gift as I went onto another department for a 6 month secondment.
Michael my husband had always wanted one of those crock pots which you can use to start casseroles etc on the hob and transfer to the oven. My mum and dad got him one for christmas and he has been longing to use it so tonight is its first outing.
The recipe we used is the Beef Bourginon recipe by James Martin from his book "Masterclass" Make Your Home Cooking Easier. I spoke with the said chef a couple of weeks ago I rang in and asked a question on Saturday Kitchen about what we should do with frozen blackberries, we had lots in the freezer. Didn't do the crumble (as yet) but did adapt the panacotta he did on the show using blackberries it wasn't half bad and it set too.
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The Beef Bourguinon recipe I made tonight was from the book "Masterclass" which is available through
James Martin Website (would make an ideal gift).
Victoria Sponge and some pink roses
Its a bit of a treat to have husband here with me on a Saturday as he is normally at work, he has got some holiday and is a huge fan of the steam railways and has had the last few days off to visit the steam gala at the Great Central Railway, but after another lot of snow last night we decided to have what we call "what normal couples do on a Saturday day"...which entailed having a lie in and popping to the supermarket. Today I decided to cook us a lovely Victoria sponge.
The recipe I used was Victoria Sponge by Nigella Lawson from the book "How to be a Domestic Goddess". The only difference is I decorated with some strawberries and used strawberry jam. The sponge was delicously light and cooked perfectly as per instructions in the recipe.
I placed my remaining roses from my bunch into a lovely little jug for a simple floral adornment to place by the side of it taking me away from the cold snow to a lovely perhaps sunny spring or summer day and having a few girlfriends round for a girlie chat and a cup of tea and a slice of cake.
My friend down the road broke her arm in the snow last week, and for a treat hubby walked a couple of slices down to her and her husband for their tea too....the text from her said "Thank you, yummy!".
The recipe I used was Victoria Sponge by Nigella Lawson from the book "How to be a Domestic Goddess". The only difference is I decorated with some strawberries and used strawberry jam. The sponge was delicously light and cooked perfectly as per instructions in the recipe.
I placed my remaining roses from my bunch into a lovely little jug for a simple floral adornment to place by the side of it taking me away from the cold snow to a lovely perhaps sunny spring or summer day and having a few girlfriends round for a girlie chat and a cup of tea and a slice of cake.
My friend down the road broke her arm in the snow last week, and for a treat hubby walked a couple of slices down to her and her husband for their tea too....the text from her said "Thank you, yummy!".
Victoria sponge and strawberries with some lovely pink roses for a simple adornment
Recipe for the Victoria Sponge was by Nigella Lawson and from the book "How to be a Domestic Goddess".
Crystallized roses
Welcome to my first cookery and floral post. I have been excited about this all week since the concept of this blog began. I have some exciting things to share with you next week, and am in the process of just dotting the i's and crossing the t's to gain permissions to share some very famous recipes in full with you so that I can show you how to complement the food you cook with some wonderful flowers and you will be able to have a go from scratch too. I will have a recipe and a floral design recipe on each post along with a photograph of the dish I have cooked and the floral design I have created....and of course for the recipe there will be credit where credit is due.
Until then this weekend I am cooking some recipes from the books of the famous cooks that grace our tv screens and bookshelves. To help you I will put the name of the recipe and the reference from the book it comes from and you can dust it off your bookshelf or perhaps you might feel so inclined to buy the book and have a go yourself.
But first crystallized roses. Tomorrow I am making a cake which will use these but I have to make them today as they ideally need to be left overnight to dryout.
For the cake you will need 3 roseheads and the petals from a rosehead. You will need one egg white, a pastry brush or a fine artist brush (an unused one) and some caster sugar. Paint the outside of the rose and get the brush into the inside petals of the rose and the top and then sprinkle with caster sugar. For the petals paint each side and cover in caster sugar. Lay on some baking parchment to dryout for around 24 hours. Don't drench the rose or petals with the egg white.
These flowers will last after the drying out period for approx 2-3 days.
I am using pink roses this weekend with a few dendrobium orchids for the Sunday posts, just for very simple adornments, next weekend we will do something a bit more interesting.
Until then this weekend I am cooking some recipes from the books of the famous cooks that grace our tv screens and bookshelves. To help you I will put the name of the recipe and the reference from the book it comes from and you can dust it off your bookshelf or perhaps you might feel so inclined to buy the book and have a go yourself.
But first crystallized roses. Tomorrow I am making a cake which will use these but I have to make them today as they ideally need to be left overnight to dryout.
For the cake you will need 3 roseheads and the petals from a rosehead. You will need one egg white, a pastry brush or a fine artist brush (an unused one) and some caster sugar. Paint the outside of the rose and get the brush into the inside petals of the rose and the top and then sprinkle with caster sugar. For the petals paint each side and cover in caster sugar. Lay on some baking parchment to dryout for around 24 hours. Don't drench the rose or petals with the egg white.
These flowers will last after the drying out period for approx 2-3 days.
I am using pink roses this weekend with a few dendrobium orchids for the Sunday posts, just for very simple adornments, next weekend we will do something a bit more interesting.
Tuesday 22 January 2013
Let's Eat......and smell the flowers.....
Constance Spry (5 December 1886 – 3 January 1960) was a famous British educator, florist and author. In 1921, she was appointed headmistress of the Homerton and South Hackney Day Continuation School in east London, where she instructed teenage factory workers in cookery and dressmaking, and later flower arranging.
Mary Berry, CBE (born 24 March 1935) is a British food writer and television presenter. She has published over 70 cookery books, and more recently is well known for being one of the judges on BBC programme - The Great British Bake Off.
Me, (born 2 November 1967) a wife, administrator and freelance florist and floral arranger.
We all love to eat whether it be a satisfying meal for one or entertain with a cosy meal for two or a more formal meal for friends and family. Apart from the food looking good enough to eat we also want to make our table look nice and usually once the table or tray is laid it is adorned with perhaps a single stem rose; a few flowers from the garden or a more elaborate centrepiece. This blog is combining the two food and flowers and to make everyday a pleasurable entertaining day.
The recipes that we will use in this blog are from names we all know and love and that reside in paper or hardback form somewhere on our bookshelves, some are my own creations. The premade food is easy to get hold of and tasty too. The floral creations will be made by me. So let's eat......and smell the flowers.....
Mary Berry, CBE (born 24 March 1935) is a British food writer and television presenter. She has published over 70 cookery books, and more recently is well known for being one of the judges on BBC programme - The Great British Bake Off.
Me, (born 2 November 1967) a wife, administrator and freelance florist and floral arranger.
We all love to eat whether it be a satisfying meal for one or entertain with a cosy meal for two or a more formal meal for friends and family. Apart from the food looking good enough to eat we also want to make our table look nice and usually once the table or tray is laid it is adorned with perhaps a single stem rose; a few flowers from the garden or a more elaborate centrepiece. This blog is combining the two food and flowers and to make everyday a pleasurable entertaining day.
The recipes that we will use in this blog are from names we all know and love and that reside in paper or hardback form somewhere on our bookshelves, some are my own creations. The premade food is easy to get hold of and tasty too. The floral creations will be made by me. So let's eat......and smell the flowers.....
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