Chicken wrapped in Parma Ham

It has been a very exciting weekend in our household as Imogen eagerly awaited her letter on Saturday morning telling us whether she had got in to Loughborough High School or not. She seemed completely unphased and I think we were more stressed than she was!

Suffice to say she got in so the worrying is now over - lets hope her little sister gets in in a couple of years!

Her friend Danni came over to stay and I was given strict instructions on what to cook! Chicken stuffed with Boursin wrappen in Parma Ham with a lovely white wine sauce. This was vary naughtily accompanied by homemade chips and a healthy serving of broccoli and went down very well!

Just need to find a house to buy now and all the stresses are over!

Marco Pierre White's Glorious Soups

Just a random quick entry here to say that we had the Irish Colcannon Soup (the Glorious range) which was a real winner! The great thing about these soups is that they are packed with flavour and texture and are a meal on their own without having to find a bread roll to go with it!
The Irish Colcannon has lots of leek and potato and is (not quite) as good as homemade (!) but is certainly a great alternative if you are struggling to make your own every now and then.
Enjoy!

Cake!

Well, it has been an eventful weekend as Imogen sat her entrance exam yesterday to get in to Loughborough High School. Competition is pretty fierce so all we can do now is wait two weeks to see if she gets a place.So, with that out of the way Scarley thought it would be nice to make and decorate a cake wishing her "well done" for taking the exam..I think I've just been conned into making a Victoria sponge with a tenuous excuse!

I tried Delia's Victoria Sponge many years back and was very disappointed. My friend Lolly suggested Nigella so that is what I have used ever since! It is in her "How to Eat" book and hasn't failed me yet!

Here are some photos of work in progress as well as the finished article!

Vanilla Mart

Following on from the recent blog post regarding The Garlic Farm, the next store cupboard essential was to source and buy was some vanilla pods.

I do frequently use vanilla in a number of desserts such as Pannacotta, Crème Brûlée or straightforward custard. I prefer using vanilla pods, rather than vanilla essence, as I think that the presence of the tiny black vanilla seeds makes the dish so much more appealing. The downside is that buying vanilla pods from the supermarket can be very expensive. Two small pods costing in the region of £4 - £5 and both used in one dish.

I recently discovered a company selling vanilla via the internet. Vanilla Mart offer 10 premium pods for £5.25, 20 pods for £9.00 or 50 pods for just £16.50. Even more discounts for larger quantities and postage for all orders, is free.

I ordered 50 pods from Vanilla Mart on Tuesday and they turned up today, only 3 days later. I'm delighted to report that they were approximately 20cm (8 inches) lon, twice the size of the supermarket variety, and felt soft and juicy. If their aroma is anything to go by, they will be full of flavour too.

It looks like guests at our dinner parties will be subjected to a variety of vanilla based desserts for some time to come - not that anyone has complained in the past.

Note to self - I must upload some of my favourite recipes soon.

The Garlic Farm, Isle of Wight

This year, one of our New Year's Resolutions is to find new sources for some of the ingredients we use most often when cooking at home.

First on the shopping list was some garlic, not the small, expensive bulbs that are found in the supermarket, but big juicy bulbs of garlic direct from the producer.

Two years ago at the East Midlands Food Festival we bought a plait of Garlic from one of the exhibitors who had come from their farm on the Isle of Wight. A quick internet search, led us to the website of The Garlic Farm, based on the Isle of Wight.

The website is clear and informative, packed with plenty of tips for growing, storing, and cooking with garlic and of course plenty of garlic to buy.

We ordered two 10 bulb plaits at the cost of £10.90 per plait, plus £4.75 for standard delivery. Sure enough 4 days later, the box arrived from the farm, containing the two plaits, nicely packaged within tissue paper and securely cushioned within the box. An accompanying information leaflet also advised the best way to store the garlic before use.

The plaits were well tied and the large, firm garlic bulbs and I anticipate that they will be juicy and flavoursome. Can't wait to try them out sometime soon.