The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
Every now and then I have a canape craze – especially when we have people over for dinner. I make mini food. ‘Pick-up-and-pop-me-in-your-mouth’ food. I suppose it’s an extra challenge to my patience but it’s so satisfying when the results are good. These little pies are a great example and are really very quick to […]
Whenever I have left over egg whites, I whizz up some macaroons. I know that sounds rather pretentious but once you’ve made macaroons a few times, you’ll get into the swing of it. I made these with the leftover egg whites from my Blackberry Curd recipe. YOU’LL NEED 250g icing sugar 250g ground almonds 220g […]
Lemon Curd is fantastic but I have often wondered if it would work just as well with other tart fruits like Blackberry. I found this recipe on the Waitrose website for blackcurrants so I thought I’d give it a go with blackberries. I had a few blackcurrants in the freezer so threw them in too. […]
Ginger is one of those wierd and wonderful foods that works well in savoury and sweet. This is a super easy biscuit. Especially if you do what I do and don’t bother with the rolling! I made these to eat with Lemon Posset from Valentine Warner’s book ‘The Good Table’. You’ll need 100g soft unsalted […]
This recipe is taken from Valentine Warner’s book ‘The Good Table’. His measures but the mthod in my words. It’s super quick and super simple. In his book he recommends eating this with Ginger Thins but I made some Ginger Sable Biscuits instead. He says this serves 12 in 125ml ramekins. You’ll need 1.2 litres […]
This was my first ever attempt at making a preserve and now I am hooked! It was very easy and I didn’t use any thermometers, strainers or some of the other complex things you see in some recipes. It’s not quick to make but as long as you are close by to give it a […]
Now I have been desperate to bake this bread but have always been put off by the long process. I had a go at making a sourdough starter once and the resulting loaf was awful 🙁 So I have been shy to try again. However after reading Lea Harris’s blog post and receiving a starter […]
I think pavlova is one of those glorious desserts which gives a lot for such little effort. My girls like pink everything at the moment, so I made this pink version using powdered food colour. You also don’t have to top with compote as I have done – just plonk the cream and blackberries on top […]
This is the same basic muffin recipe as the Blueberry version. It’s so quick and perfect for freezing. I freeze the blackberries as soon as we’ve picked them too – if there are any left of course! This way they retain their shape really well in the baking process and you get a nice juicy […]
OK so I have to confess that I did not make the Damson jam. I started and then just ran out of patience! I did try it with some Damson compote but it was a bit too runny and gloopy. This combination of flavours is so autumnal and goes perfectly with a strong latte or espresso. […]
As a university student in Aix-En-Provence, I used to order profiteroles every time I went to one of the posh cafes on the Cours Mirabeau. I went back there a few summers ago with my daughters and ordered the same thing – they were hooked! I get a plea at least once a month to […]
I love the flavour of Rose. I think it’s the ultimate in feminine charm and so was a must make for the Naming Ceremony of my friend whose daughter’s name is India Rose. I’ve used a simple Rose flavoured buttercream in this recipe because I made some Rose Cupcakes on the same day but […]