The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
After my epic summer of courgette production, I froze a lot in a grated a chunk form to use over the autumn and winter months in soups and curries. This dish took just half an hour with the courgette and mussels thrown in direct from frozen. This recipe serves four hungry adults. You’ll need 150g […]
A few months ago at The BBC Good Food Show, I was invited to meet the Barber family and learn about their cheddar. I’m a sucker for good British produce and even more of a sucker for family businesses so I could not resist. I was greeted warmly by three lovely gents from the Barber […]
I always have an abundance of lemons in the house but even more so at this time of year. It’s bitterly cold in our old Victorian house and we already have the odd sniffle here and there so a hot toddy with lemon or a squirt in hot water with some ginger is the perfect […]
I’m starting to feel the excesses of Christmas and all this dreary drizzle has really put me off going outside for fresh air and exercise. I’m inspired by all the raw food posts and detox meals but I still find myself drawn to baking, cups of tea and a good book by the fire. That […]
I could not let the last post of 2013 be on anything other than by two favourite things! I must confess to having them both on a regular basis and not just on special occasions but as this will be my last post of 2013, it seems to be a fitting occasion. Perfectly compatible with […]
“Do you think Santa watches Bake Off Mummy?” said my youngest the other day. I wasn’t really sure how to answer that so I obliged with “Of course he does. Someone has to bring Paul a present don’t they?” She laughed but pressed on. “So do you think like Mary and Paul Santa gets a bit […]
Christmas doesn’t officially start in our house til after my birthday on December 11th. No cards. No decorations. No tree. This year we’ve been so busy with after work events, weekends away, school concerts and the general madness of working families that we only just put our tree up yesterday evening. With this come a […]
If you’re a bit sick of mince pies and stodgy pastry at Christmas, this is a nice light version is super easy to rustle up for unexpected guests. You’ll need About 8 sheets of filo pastry 100g mincemeat/mince pie filling 1 apple – grated Zest of 1 orange 50g melted butter Icing sugar for dusting […]
This is a really simple side dish I learned in Morocco at the L’Atelier Madada Cookery School in Essaouria. It’s wonderful with some leftover plan rice or couscous or just some crusty bread. You’ll need 2 medium courgettes 1 clove of garlic finely chopped 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tsp lemon juice. The skin of […]
This was the first tagine I ever made. I learned the recipe from Muna at a wonderful cookery school in Essaouira called L’Atelier Madada. It is much easier than I thought and I use this as a base for so many different types of tagines now. It takes just half an hour to prepare […]
I love this basic cookie mix. It’s a good one for using up odd nuts or pieces of fruit. Pour over some custard and you have an instant dessert More apple recipes
Beetroot was a logical thing to plant in our allotment. We love it so let’s grow it. Looks easy enough. My husband and I got totally sucked in by the different varieties but settled for a traditional round one and the one with stripes running through it that chefs love to slice into delicately presented […]