Ingredients Method Heat oven to 180 degrees celsius and line two 20 x 30cm baking trays with baking paper In a medium bowl, mix together masa flour, seeds and the teaspoon of sea salt. Add the olive oil and boiling water. Mix together until all …
Wheewwww so another nearly two months since my last post with some more drama in between. Two further hospital admissions, including one particularly gripping visit to the emergency room with nurses running, grabbing wheelchairs and shouting ‘code two, code two’ into the PA system, three …
I am busy looking after my garden, or is it looking after me? It’s working hard, growing many of my favourite treats, including raspberries, zucchinis and cucumbers.
My rangy, imperfect little beginner’s garden is very restorative. I can nurture my plants and enjoy some success, accompanied by kaka, tui and of course my funny little rescue cats who always appear from nowhere to supervise my activities. We’ve had a sad time with disappointing fertility treatments and I entered summer in a rather glum frame of mind. My garden has helped brighten my spirits.
On Saturday night I had the pleasure of dining at the beautilful Bresolin. There were some truly succulent dishes, including Sichuan-seasoned lamb accompanied by pickled cucumber. My garden is working hard on my own cucumbers but they are not ready yet, and inspired by my dinner at Bresolin, I couldn’t wait to make some pickled cucumber all of my own. 
This is a really simple recipe and it’s great to have a stash of pickled cucumber to jazz up your summer salads or cheese boards. Most of this batch has gone into my work lunches for the week – try it mixed with white beans, diced tomato and fresh parsely for simple, healthy salad.
Ingredients:
1 cucumber, skinned and chopped – I like it diced, but it works equally well in thin rounds
1 cup water
1/3 cup white vinegar
3 T caster sugar
2 t salt
Method:
Mix water, vinegar, sugar and salt together until sugar and salt is dissolved. Add the cucumber and make sure it is all covered with the liquid. Good to go after 30 minutes and will keep for a week, covered in your fridge (as demonstrated here with a lovely beeswax cover I was given for Christmas).
I’m in excellent company – Wallace, Gromit and I all love Wensleydale cheese. Crumbly, dense and savoury, Wensleydale originates from Wensleydale, Yorkshire, where it began life as a ewes milk cheese made by French Cistercian monks. It’s now made across the UK from cow’s milk, …
I truly love posting about dessert. I am a huge fan of baking – we have a rich and rightly-celebrated baking culture in our little country and I am happy to leap in, butter, cream and all. It feels particularly necessary right now, as Winter …
You could be forgiven for thinking my Edmonds Challenge had gone off the boil somewhat…truth is, it had, and for that I apologise. But, dear readers, we are back on the boil, quite literally in fact, as today’s recipe includes broccoli, boiling water and a saucepan.
A while ago, I promised a run of almonds as I worked my way through almond recipes in the ‘A’ section of our national treasure the Edmonds Cookbook, and indeed they did as I grabbled with some new treats, including devilled almonds and almond biscuits.
Today we greet the last entry in the ‘Almonds’ section, Broccoli with Almonds. And can I say, what a delight. Lightly cooked broccoli covered with lemony butter and toasted sliced almonds. Oh yum.
This happy marriage of food with butter and nuts has its own official culinary term, ‘amandine‘, which means food cooked with butter and seasonings and garnished with a sprinkling of almonds.
Edmonds’ own take on this delight, a ‘Broccoli Amandine’ if you like, is a little gem. Easy and tasty, it would be a classy and delicious accompaniment to any supper. I chose to accompany mine with a little brown rice for lunch and can report this was a very satisfactory pairing.
The recipe is below…enjoy.
Edmonds Broccoli with Almonds
500g broccoli, cut into florets
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons lemon juice
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons toasted sliced almonds
Cook the broccoli in salted, boiling water until it is just tender.
In another saucepan, melt the butter and add the lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Drain the broccoli.
Add the almonds to the butter mix and spoon this over the broccoli.
You can tell the state of the economy by the price of a lime, or so the saying goes. What it’s meant to tell you, I’m not sure, but I can reliably inform you that limes in these here parts cost a small fortune at the …