Absence makes the heart grow fonder....here goes!

Bella’s Blonde Rocky Road

We loved making this together, weighing everything ; preparing the tin and of course the results....yummy!

What you need....

Baking tray 23cm x20cm or similar - lined with greaseproof paper

Ingredients...

400g white chocolate, broken into pieces

150g shortbread biscuits, broken in to pieces approx 1-2cm
75g white mini marshmallows
25g white chocolate snowies or buttons
25g fudge, chopped into small pieces
25g rice crispies


To garnish.....

100’s and 1000’s


How to....


Really Easy! Melt the chocolate in a bowl gently in the microwave, or over a pan of hot water.


Remove from heat source. Add all the ingredients to the bowl and stir well until combined..The mixture should be loose, but not runny, if it is too runny...add a handful of rice snaps.


Spoon into the prepared tin, push to corners and level out the mixture.


Garnish with the 100’s & 1000’s. Place into a fridge or place in a cool place overnight, or for a few hours until set.


Cut into squares – makes approx 24

Pasty Wars.....may the fork be with you

As frequent visitors to St Ives..people often ask us.."where can you get the best pasty?"  with completely unscientific reasoning we have assessed and these are the results.

St Ives Bakery: Flaky steak, crispy bottom, salty, swede and potato soft, specks of black pepper, moist inside, nicely browned surface




4 out of 5: meat’s good and flaky pastry but a bit salty


Yellow Canary Cafe: Good chuck steak, crimp well defined, pastry short, good rounded savoury flavour, sliced potatoes, peppery, good all rounder pasty. http://www.theyellowcanary.com/


4 out of 5: well seasoned and nice and meaty, If it had flaky pastry it would be the best.


S H Ferrell & Sons : Packed and well filled with chuck steak which is distributed evenly, very short pastry, potato in cubes not slices, small well defined crimp


2 out of 5: nicely seasoned and well packed but personally I think the pastry is too short


Pengenna Pasties: Top crimp, pale unglazed, moist, sweet but not as much as Cornish bakehouse, obvious swede, steak flavoursome, peppery. http://www.pengennapasties.com/


2 out of 5: pastry is sweet and too short but well filled


Cornish Bakehouse: Pronounced crimp, layers of thinly sliced potato, steak not minced, but clumped, good brown glaze outer, sweet flavour which was unexpected, pastry shorter, peppery


1 out of 5: too sweet and bland

                   KEY to above

Chervil - a herb to watch

With it's knife edge leaves and savoury flavour - after a slight bitter start the flavour grows to a delicate savouryness. Chervil is not used abundantly in UK cuisine, as part of the parsley family, we seem to prefer the more robust flavour of it's curly relative

But this was brilliant in my sunny pasta salad, thrown together with oddments from a trendy new invention of Fore Street Deli....the Allotment Deli.

Sunny Salad...with a nod to another whitewashed seaside

100g (4oz) Feta cheese, cubed

1/2 cucumber, cubed

100g (4oz) Cherry tomatoes, halved

50g (2oz) black pitted olives

1/2 small red onion, chopped

2 x 15mlsp (2Tbsp) chopped chervil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

dressing as you wish, or just a splash of olive oil

Toss all the prepared ingredients together in a bowl - dress as required. add the chopped chervil and the seasoning before serving.

Lush burger........

sunshine, sunshine sunshine...St Ives is looking gorgeous today!

This recipe may be useful this weekend, and of course, my friend Haloumi is a great veggie alternative

Lush burger

What you need...

450g (1lb) good quality minced beef

50g (2oz) fresh breadcrumbs

1onion, chopped very finely

1 egg, beaten

Salt, black pepper and dried flaked chillis

For pimping....

Sliced onions, tomato slices, lettuce, crispy bacon, cheese, avocado guacamole, Stilton, Relish, tommy ketchup, sliced gerkins

How to...

Mix all the burger ingredients together in a bowl, combine well until mixed together and then divide into 4 patties- flatten to 2cm and make round patties.

Brush with a bit of oil, and grill for 10-15 minutes until cooked turning once.

Serve in bun, and pimp with whatever you wish

Food and all that

This week I've been lucky enough to spend some time with my niece and nephew...their mum..Kharis is a huge avocate of allowing her daughter (and when he's old enough, her son) to participate with cooking, as I am with my own child. Funnily enough it was the sight of a 3/4 year old scarlet ballerina wielding a mezzaluna, chopping coriander, which prompted this blog entry.....cooking with children, however simple, is an excellent way of widening their understanding of food, pleasure and sharing...and practically ensure they will survive during later years on a budget....a skill which definately can be learnt..and be honed over many years for nourishment and enrichment of life.....

Naughtiness up the Spice Aisle

Spice up your life...!

I've been a bit naughty, but promise I put them all back.

Have a good weekend.