apple and minceat suet dumplings - a little treat for george orwell

apple and mincemeat suet dumplings

How do you submit a recipe for a recipe swap on the subject of LOCAL when your locality seems bereft of any iconic foods? It's time to get creative, or that's what I tried to do recently in a submission for The Guardian's new Cook section and their weekly Readers' Recipe Swap, around the theme of LOCAL.

so excited and just can't hide it . . .

I am so excited, though a bit nervous too, as I was asked by my local library if I would like to take part in their Adult Learners Week programme of events.

I adore libraries. I think they are one of the most fabulous of local resources. It is what makes us civilised! So on being asked to run a taster session on How to Start a Blog,  I could hardly say no. so I said yes. And while I am really excited I am also thinking yikes, what happens if no-one turns up?

a sort of shaggy dog story - saint nigel bounds to the rescue again! braised neck of lamb with apricots and cinnamon

Nigel Slater's braised neck of lamb
with apricots and cinnamon

If this blog post was a song title it would be stormy weather because yet again the capricious British climate strikes again. (Of course if this blog post was a "type" of literature, the less kind might describe it as a shaggy dog story!) 

So yet again, Nature gives us two delightful days of late spring weather - the kind that poets dream of, to be replaced in typical British contrary fashion with bloody gales!

nature's bounty: wild leek and chilli sauce

wild leek and chilli sauce

In harvesting my back garden of a non-native invader, I am ridding the neighbourhood of something that some of my neighbours regard as an annoying little pest and I have a rather lovely mild garlic taste of spring to enjoy. I am talking about the wild three-cornered leeks (allium triquetrum) that have covered a swathe of my garden yet again (this was despite digging them up last spring, although admittedly my attempts were a little half-hearted).

I have already made a wild leek pesto this year. But I wanted to have something that was simpler, without cheese that I could use to marinade meat and fish. A simple combination of merely wild leek leaves, chillies and chillies was something of a winner.

what's in season: may

a little spring saxifraga

A swarm of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly(traditional English rhyme)

Another year and yet again April definitely lived up to its reputation as a cruel month!
Having said that, I awoke this morning on the first of May to bright sunshine. And a hey nonny no. We can only hope that it lasts!

hallelujah! nigel slater's chicken pho soup and bit of a roast chicken revelation!

Nigel Slater's chicken pho soup

You may have been aware of my recent tribulations when my taste buds took a bit of an involuntary sabbatical. I was beside myself, they hadn't even left a forwarding address. I'm not entirely sure where they went nor what they did. Curses!

I can only hope that they had better have enjoyed themselves and that it was all worth it; (perhaps with the taste bud equivalent of louche living and dancing on the tables) because god knows I was miserable without them!

a quick midweek supper: sausage and roasted fennel stew

sausage and roasted fennel stew

For me flattery is when someone requests one of my recipes or meals. It makes me absurdly happy. So last weekend's request for my Sunday lunch accompaniment of roasted fennel stew had me doing a little dance of glee on the inside. For years I was convinced that fennel was an acquired taste; now that I have decided that fennel is a taste that I have acquired it gives me a lot of pleasure that I can introduce friends to the flavours I have started to enjoy and the fact that they seem to like these flavours too is a definite bonus!

the best things in life are free . . . wild leek potato cakes

wild leek potato cakes

I don't know if Bing, Satchmo, Billie, Tony, Doris, June or my favourite Mills Brothers were much into their food or even foraging but when they sang "the best things in life are absolutely free . . ." Perhaps the writers of Pennies from Heaven, Arthur Johnston and Johnny Burke had something else on their mind. But for me it really sums up foraging in my back garden for the dreaded invasive wild leeks which can be quickly turned into a delicious meal, whether it is the main ingredient in pesto, stirred through pasta or in a meaty stew or roasted with the Sunday joint.

intermission: ahem . . . your attention please!

Musical notation photo by Marja Flick-Buijs

Do you like to sing in the bath or shower? Do you warble while you work? Are you passionate about music? Would you like the thrill of singing in a lovely, local choir?

Vox Holloway, a community choir in north London, is starting rehearsals of The Prophet by Harvey Brough, based on the Khalil Gibran book. We are looking for new members.

Rehearsals start Tuesday 23 April, 7.30pm, St Luke's Church, Hillmarton Rd, N7. All are welcome, no auditions, no previous experience required!

stir-fried sambal matah prawns and tenderstem® broccoli

stir-fried sambal prawns with
tenderstem broccoli

So often you come home from a hard day at the coalface (or in my case, slaving over a hot laptop in my study) and really can't be bothered to cook. It is so tempting to let someone else do the work by ordering a takeaway. Yet this quick stir fry takes less time to cook than it does to order and wait for a takeaway to arrive. It is simple, healthy (packed full of Vitamin C) and utterly delicious; full of fragrant Asian flavours. This was also a good way for me to put some of my sambal matah to good use - a fragrant combination of chilli, lime, garlic and lemongrass is the perfect match for prawns and broccoli.

Vaughan Thomas' sambal matah

Indonesian sambal matah

I do love a good chilli sambal and there are as many different sambal recipes across Asia as there are days of the year. Oh where to start? (Although in my case . . . where to stop!)

But I should really start at the beginning. I had started to follow a blog by an ex-pat Welshman, the eponymous Vaughan Thomas, who now lives in Indonesia and who charmingly blogs at Tales from Paddyview about life in the Far East. He very kindly offered me this authentic Balinese sambal recipe, which includes both shrimp paste and lemongrass.