cooking up a storm at the edge of the world
This cannellini bean stew is a flavoursome and complete meal: cannellini beans, grains, greens and vegetables. It’s the type of hearty, creamy, bean-based dish I crave once autumn sets in. Reproduced, with permission, from At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen (2015) by Amy Chaplin. Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 2.5 hours Difficulty: Moderate …
Sun, sea, sand and a summer fruits loaded picnic cake! It’s really not been much of a summer to speak of, here in Shetland. Saying that, I don’t think the UK mainland has been particularly blessed with an abundance of rays this season either. We’ve had a couple of good weekends – see our camping …
Survey and Excavation of Coastal Archaeology in Shetland 1995-2008 If you were to judge this book by its cover and title you might think it is the latest work of popular fiction; an adventure story set in a wild, rugged and remote island archipelago, a battle between the effects of the passage of time and …
Les enfants cuisinent à la Française. I have recently become obsessed with all things French. #2 on my 40 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 40 is to drink coffee in Paris. Why? Why not? I’ve never been. I had to learn Acadian French in my Canadian school and Paris has always held …
Think bakewell tart, but better. Rainy days mean baking days, no? Our car has been sitting in the car park at our local garage waiting to be looked at for over a week now – the little circle on the dashboard with the exclamation point is staying illuminated while driving and the last time I …
A delicious creamy green soup showcasing the humble broad bean! The first time I’d ever tried broad beans was in a Moroccan inspired chicken tagine recipe some years ago. The only broad beans I could find at the time were frozen ones – and they were awful; tough, rubbery, inedible. These supermarket brand frozen broad …
A refreshing blend of kohlrabi, cucumber, celery and apple. Ah, the humble kohlrabi – the sputnik of the vegetable world – what do we do with you? I have to confess that when this bizarre vegetable first made an appearance in my vegetable box I had to take to Twitter to identify it. I had …
aka Cocoa Zucchini Bread depending on what side of the pond you’re on! It’s veg box season! Each week we get a gorgeous surprise selection of whatever happens to be ready to pick. I’m not fussy with what I get; I’ll work with whatever is in season, but I have to confess that courgettes are …
No electricity, no wifi – 48 wonderful disconnected hours. After our unfortunate attempt at camping on the top of Rona’s Hill, Shetland’s highest hill, for the Simmer Dim (summer solstice), my family (ie: my husband!) inwardly groaned when I suggested we go camping again, this time for the whole weekend. I didn’t bother checking the …
Perfect for those hot summer mornings! These popsicles came about by accident, really. Not being one to refuse a reduced price bargain I found myself with a few punnets of blackberries in my shopping basket – best before that date. They were needing used up. I sat there eating my lunch pondering what I could …
In collaboration with Rennies. The summer growing season is officially in full swing! Poor weather for the first half of this year has meant that many gardens in Shetland have been suffering. Things haven’t been growing as well as they could be and so we’ve only started receiving weekly (instead of fortnightly) vegetable box deliveries. …
Curiosities, Stories and Expert Tips from the Culinary World. James Steen (for those who don’t already know) is an award-winning UK journalist, food writer, author and ghostwriter, responsible for the ghosted autobiographies of Marco Pierre White (The Devil in the Kitchen), Raymond Blanc (A Taste of My Life) and Keith Floyd (Stirred But Not Shaken). The …
Summery, refreshing and slightly shilpet. My children absolutely love lemons. Serve some lemon wedges at mealtime with some salmon or with pancakes and you’ll find my younger two children sucking the juice out of the wedges with positive glee. They’ll nibble away at every bit of the fruit so that there is only a bare …
This light and fluffy gluten-free Tunisian orange cake is soaked in citrus syrup for a fragrant, incredibly delicious bake perfect with a cup of tea. Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 50 minutes Difficulty: Easy Day’s off spent baking I had a proper day off yesterday. I woke early with no imminent deadlines to worry …
My Norwegian mother-in-law’s go-to cookie recipe! I have a confession to make. I haven’t cooked a single thing except for porridge for the kids’ breakfast for nearly three weeks! My mother-in-law had been visiting from Norway for a fortnight, and I’d taken on some extra shifts at work for holiday cover, which meant, to my …
A Scandinavian celebration cake with layers of sponge, cream and fruit. I feel I must apologize for the recipe blogging silence of late. Regular readers will be aware that back in February I took on a part time job in our local village shop – a little something to get me out of the house …
A quick, summery salad dressing made with the Zyliss Easy Pull Food Processor. I love playing with new kitchen gadgets, I really do, so when Zyliss approached me some time ago and asked if I would like to test out their brand new Easy Pull Food Processor I jumped at the chance. Their new manual Zyliss …
#24 Kayak into a sea cave. Complete. Earlier this Spring I completed my one star kayak training with the Shetland Canoe Club, meaning I was qualified to go out on trips with the club this summer. We’ve done a few small (5-6 mile) trips on club nights and I’m delighted to say that thanks to …
This deliciously crunchy, buttery oatcakes recipe is made in true Cape Breton style. Serve with plenty of butter, cheese, or jam and a cup of hot tea to dunk! Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 15 minutes Difficulty: Easy Traditional Cape Breton recipes ‘The Scots’, observed G. Bisset-Smith in 1907, ‘are a notoriously migratory people’. …
Recipe, review & giveaway. Summer, allegedly, is going to hit Shetland on Thursday next week, they say. They also say that this has been the worst summer weather for 30 years. Rain, drizzle, cold… and now fog sits on these islands, preventing flights from landing. The wind has stopped, but oh my the midges are …
