Going back in time…

I took a trip down memory lane today!

When I was 7 and in primary school we made Jewish potato latkes for Hanukkah and today I thought of making them.

😊I went straight back in my mind to the classroom with all my friends and my teacher trying something new that tantalised my taste buds😊

Potato latkes recipe

Ingredients

3 large red potatoes, peeled & grated

1 small onion grated

1 large egg

Salt to season

Olive oil

Method

Place the grated potato and onion into a colander and squeeze out excess liquid

Mix the egg and salt in a bowl and stir in the potato and onion mix

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a small frying pan and press the mix into the pan on a low heat

Wait 2 to 3 minutes and carefully flip the latke over

Cook on both sides until golden brown

A Spicy Chipotle Tomato Sauce

The perfect sauce for your gnocchi. Smoked Chipotle chilli flakes with fleshy tomatoes crushed with garlic salt and pepper and a little bit of rape seed oil. Which in turn gives you a wonderful aromatic spicy and yet tantalizing sauce for any pasta dish!
All you do is blitz all the ingredients and gently cook through to fuse all the flavours.

INGREDIENTS 

1 tin crushed/whole tomatoes

1 medium white onion

2 garlic cloves

1 tbsp rapeseed oil 

2 pinches chipotle dried flakes

1 tsp garlic salt

Ground black pepper to taste

Dried Oregano to taste 

Salt to taste 

METHOD 

Blend the tomatoes, onion and garlic cloves together

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan. Sprinkle in the chipotle flakes, pepper, dried oregano  and garlic salt as the oil heats up

Keeping on a slow heat, pour the tomato blended mix. Season with salt, stir and cover the saucepan

Cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally 

Serve with gnocci or your favourite pasta

Enjoy!

Fruit, Grow, Cook And Preserve Your Own

I was very happy to receive the new book FRUIT by Rosemary Sassoon.  A very kind gesture and a pleasure to read. Thank you!
The book is such a practical guide on how to grow, cook and preserve your own fruit.  This topic particularly interested me as we have planted an apple tree very recently alongside a beautiful lush raspberry bush, which actually yielded some berries late last year.

Our apple tree, blossoming for the very first time.

It is such a wonderful moment when you are able to pick fruit from your very own garden.  Simply eat it or use it in numerous cooking dishes.  As Rosemary so nicely puts it, “We cannot grow everything we eat, our climate amongst other things are against us….We cannot claim to be totally self-sufficient, but we can do our best.”

Raspberries getting ready!….

The book goes through all the fruits that can be grown in an English garden in order as it comes into season.   Small compact advice easy to read and lots of thorough ideas on how to grow and preserve the fruit that we have so carefully nurtured.  Some gardening books are very much written in a very instructive style but this one is up to you on how to follow and it’s really from the heart.  You can see how Rosemary has devoted all her life to her garden and fruit.

If you are of the older generation, you may be used to your parents or grandparents growing their own veg and fruit in allotments or their own gardens.  Now everything has become so convenient and we can purchase anything we desire from the local supermarket or shops. However,  I think it’s time to go back to our roots and literally plant some fruit! There is nothing quite like fresh fruit that blossoms, grows and ripens in front of your very own eyes.  The taste in comparison to what is sold is incomparable.

Thank you Rosemary Sassoon for igniting my passion for growing fruit all over again!  What shall I plant next?….