A Day at River Cottage

Last Wednesday I was very lucky to get the opportunity to spend a day at the iconic River Cottage in beautiful Axminster, in East Devon. After watching the original TV show originally headlined by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for many years, since the beginning really, to get the chance to spend a day there was really one of those golden ticket moments! I had it penciled in my diary for what seemed months and even more luckily managed to tie it in with a few days holiday with my auntie, so the night before unsurprisingly I didn't sleep very well, think I was a bit too excited perhaps!

The actual River Cottage itself is a 17th century traditional long house, which was somewhat derelict 9 years ago but has been lovingly restored by the team there and the certified organic smallholding farm now has around 16,000 visitors a year! Within its 90,000 acres of land there's a mixture of livestock,fruit and vegetables, plus flowers and herbs, all for use within the farm's employees and visitors. There's now a wind turbine to generate energy and they use well water only, along with some special reed system for waste disposal.. Its all about sustainability, and what they can't produce comes from local farms. There is also now under the River Cottage banner a number of 'canteen's' (I had a rhubarb fumble last year which was quite divine!)  and the on site cookery school and courses which holds a whole host of things to do from foraging to fishy feasts, oh a restaurant for special occasions and you can arrange corporate events. Something for everyone!

I am lucky enough where we are in Surrey to be a little bit rural but part of me does crave the River Cottage, sustainable farming lifestyle, though I am not sure physically my body could manage so much to have my own farm! Despite not living anywhere near Devon, it has always held a very special place in my heart, having been lucky enough to have family in Devon, I have had many a holiday there! I grew up knowing neighbouring farms and opportunities to see happy livestock and it was a joy to see the happy animals at River Cottage, and of course the rather stunning views!

Our day was a mixture of food styling - cooking - eating and a tour of the River Cottage farm. A good day in all! Crop rotation is in full force and I learned why there are flowers tucked in with the veggies -  its all part of the organic pest control, with the flowers attracting the birds n bugs they will hopefully leave the good stuff for us humans to enjoy!

The beautiful grounds and kitchen garden at River Cottage - I so want one of those gorgeous swing seats in a future garden! The gorgeous orange hue of the pumpkins also reminds my halloween is coming around fast - where has this year gone?!

Our Food styling workshop was run by the lovely Lucy from Capture by Lucy - its a new blog for me too devour her beautiful photography and I picked up a lot of tips and advice - hopefully it will improve my own photos, especially with the dreaded winter light coming! I did get a bit concerned over finding out red is hard to photo on white... I may have bought just  the night before a new set of crockery which is er, red and white! We shall see!!

Among the photos below you will spot some rather unusual coloured yellow raspberries - they are known as 'All gold' and as they look 'unripe' the birds leave them alone! They are lovely though and I was glad the birds had left us plenty as my group devoured their fair share of them!

After the tour of the farm and building up a good appetite we enjoyed a lovely, very tasty lunch of Dexter beef ravioli with an end of the summer vegetable stew - the beef was unctuous and so, so tasty! Followed by a heavenly pudding of vanilla icecream with roasted damsons, crmble and fennel infused meringues! Despite really needing a nap after all that lovely food it was time to make my very own soda bread and butter with the group head chef Gill Mellor- I added violets, rosemary and fennel seeds to the butter - it was so easy, if a little joyously messy to make, definitely something to do now I am back home! It was really good to be able to make butter from scratch and use the leftover buttermilk to make the bread! 

Though a slight interval for me ended up getting to ride in HFW's red land rover to go and move my car! I thought the ride down hill in the tractor trailer was kinda fun but the ride up in the land rover holding onto the seat for dear life beat it hands down for saying my prayers!

So after a non stop whirlwind of a day it was time to say a fond farewell - fortunately the sat nav made a smoother journey on the home run compared to the mornings 30 minute detour via Dorset! It really was a thoroughly enjoyable day and despite my shyness I did enjoy meeting and talking to lots of lovely bloggers!

Many thanks to Foodies 100 and River Cottage!

You can check out some other blogs of the day over at:

Tin and Thyme

Taming Twins
Simply Food

Veggie Desserts

Penelope's Pantry

Disclaimer: I received my ticket free with no obligation to write a positive review

Recent eating In and Out and sandwich trays!

The past few weeks I have not been very good at writing down recipes as I make them up, I am 3 weeks into my new job, which I really enjoy but as I spend most of my day on the computer now, using my own at home is not so tempting! Whilst I have however learned how to make pretty pictures in Visio, its not as so much use to my blog! Do bear with me whilst I get back in the swing of things! I do have a rather lovely stuffed pepper recipe once I find where I wrote it on...

So in turn, for this post I have rounded up what we have been eating both at home and about - me and my niece A had a fun day at the BBC Good Food show last week and when we got home we made this yummy Paella! We did add a little bit too much spice and had to improvise a little but it all got eaten and gave us a few days lunches after!

A few nights before we had a rare treat of Fish Pie - I was super pleased too that I picked up the cod and prawns reduced, and made a delicious sweet potato with white potato topping - I did do battle with a piping bag to make it pretty but it doesn't really show in the picture!

Bargain fishy!

These were a bit of a random purchase - we go up for high tea at my lovely auntie and uncles house every few months and I am insanely jealous of their sandwich trays which are probably older than me and I had been trying to find a similar set for us - in the end I found these cute safari themed ones - I adore Giraffes so that one's for me and B gets the Lion - think it was more manly! They are so handy not just for sandwiches, they fit all sorts of other treats too!

Last but not least was our trip to the BBC Good Food Festival at Hampton Court - what a gorgeous location! Its so close to us and yet embarrassingly we never visit! It was lovely to walk around the beautiful gardens and of course the food stalls!

Very kindly I received the tickets complimentary to get in - including getting to see the lovely Jo Wheatley on stage making some gorgeous Macaron's, compote and pannacotta - It was a good reminder to me as I have not made pannacotta in years, its such a lovely dessert too, and Jo used powdered gelatine - looked much easier than when I use the gel sheet versions and having to soak the slippery sheets!

Beautiful view of Hampton Court Palace, the lake and fountain - oh and the swans!

 

This was our lunch - I had a artisan sweet chilli sausage roll and a refreshing elderflower drink - though A chose more wisely with her Chorizo laced sausage roll, was far tastier!

Last but not least some of the stalls - we tried lots of lovely liquers but not many food samples, though I did come home with some rather lovely lemon and poppyseed galettes!

Stick Out your Personality with Mikado

I have received product from Mikado for this post. It is an entry to the Foodies100 Stick out your personality challenge sponsored by Mikado. Mikado are unique, long & ultra-thin crunchy biscuit sticks coated with smooth milk chocolate, with one end left bare so that you don’t get sticky fingers when eating. Mikado comes in four delicious flavours: Milk, White, Daim and Choco King, and stocked in all major supermarkets at an RRP of £1.39. To find out more, visit https://www.facebook.com/Mikado.uk?fref=ts

Sharing is Caring!

 If you have not come across Mikado before, they are basically rather yummy, thin crunchy pretzel style sticks, coated in chocolate. What's more they are only 11 calories each! This is beneficial as I can normally demolish a box easily in one sitting!

This summer Mikado have launched a competition to find the best selfie showing off your personality - I am quite a variable person, I am girly to a degree, I love picnics and polkadots, anything sparkly, or bubbly for that matter, my favourite colour is hot pink and most of my clothes are floral patterned and according to my boyfriend we own too many cushions. I love baking and I'm a little bit stubbon. Oh and according to a girlfriend I am a bit nutty (I deny all knowledge ;-)) And I still have a teddy bear at 33 years old (well technically its a giraffe).

So how do I narrow all that down to one selfie?! One part of my personality that does stick out is my sharing - I love to share my knowledge to benefit others, often even strangers, I have just changed roles at work where a large proportion of my role will be training staff on our new system along with anything else that might benefit them - I am a bit of a knowledge magnet, without being a know-it-all (I hope so anyway!!). Also a big part of me is sharing what I have with others - food for example - in return for Mr Bear I shared a box of my Mikado, I think that was a fair trade!! With this in mind I decided to revert back to my childhood a little, and held a teddy bears picnic!

After a lot of planning, tea drinking and procrastination and then being thwarted by traditional British Summer Downpours, it finally stopped raining enough and the sun came out to have my Teddy bears picnic! Though I must be honest the handsome bear featured is not mine but my neighbour kindly lent him to me - growing up I had a giant bear bigger than me, and he reminds me of that special time of hosting elaborate Teddy bears picnic's with girlfriends and dainty china tea-sets! Mr Bear had a lovely time in the sunshine eating our Mikado!

Mr Bear with his Mikado feast!

Peanut Butter Oreo Crumble Cake

Biscuits, biscuits everywhere is pretty much the theme tune to the last few days! There has been bashing, blitzing, slicing and dicing testing out break-ability and of course a little tasting here and there too! If you are wondering why then it was a because I was a sent a few packets of some Special Edition Oreo's to play with. I do like a challenge and had good fun experimenting with them! Something I don't often get the chance to do as we flat-share and they were thankfully away for a few days whilst I destroyed the kitchen with crumbs and using nearly every bowl we own in the process!

**I have received product from Oreo for this post. It is an entry to the Foodies100 Wonderfilled recipe challenge sponsored by Oreo, which marks the launch of two exciting new flavours: Peanut Butter and Golden. The delicious new flavours are available in all major supermarkets at an RRP of £1.08. To find out more, visit www.facebook.com/oreo**

After a lot of scribbling and buying random kids sweets that never got used (I am sure won't hang around long once I declare to my boyfriend they can be eaten, shh!) I ended combining parts of other recipes I had been making for years, along with pure experimental madness! It paid off as this cake went down very well at work! Its my final week in my current job, and as a result I was requested to make lots of cake - they had chai tea fruit cake yesterday and today received this Oreo cake - the finale on Friday my renowned Sticky Toffee and Orange pudding! Next week is salad week!!

This cake has a soft, custard laced base sponge, topped with a banana and peanut puree, then crumbled up peanut butter Oreo's and oats, then a shiny chocolate glaze, oh and the requisite sprinkles of choice! I am tempted next time to add more banana to make a thicker layer but stick to two if you are are less persuaded by the idea! I roast my own peanuts (shelled from monkey nuts) as they taste better for baking and have no nasties, then grind them fresh to order - un-ground they will keep a fair few months in a cool air tight container. 

You will need a 8 " square pan, lined with parchment paper

Ingredients:

120g soft butter

130g golden caster sugar

2 medium eggs

50g wholemeal self raising flour

25g porridge oats

10 Peanut Butter Oreo's

100g plain flour

5 tsp custard powder

2 bananas, mashed

1 heaped tsp cornflour

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

20g roasted peanuts

pinch of sea salt

Glaze ingredients:

50g golden caster sugar

3 tbsp milk

20g cocoa

Pre-heat oven to 180o.

Sift together the flours, salt and custard powder. In a separate bowl cream together the butter, sugar and egg, fold in the dry mix. Spread over the base of the prepared lined pan.

Mix the cornflour with 2 tbsp water, add to a small saucepan and heat - stirring constantly, once bubbling add the vanilla, then stir in the bananas and cook for two minutes. Remove to one side.

Crush the Oreo's to small chunks, about 5cm at the biggest - I found the end of my wooden rolling pin most effective! Combine with the oats and put to one side.

Add the slightly cooled banana mix to the prepared sponge layer and smooth over. Top with the Oreo crumbs and press lightly down, bake in the middle of the oven for 30-35 minutes or until the sponge has cooked through.

In a saucepan, melt the butter, add the sugar and cocoa whisking until smooth and the sugar has melted, then whisk in the milk to form a smooth, thick sauce and simmer on a moderate heat for 2-3 minutes or until lovely and glossy.

Spoon the sauce over the cake, then decorate with sprinkles of choice and allow to cool fully in the tin.

There has been a few of us Foodies 100 bloggers taking part and some other Oreo related treats for you -

Peanut Butter and Golden Oreo Pudding from Fab Food 4 All

Peanut Butter Oreo Moon Rocks from Utterly Scrummy Food for Families

Oreo Nutella Ice Cream Cake from Kerry Cooks

White Chocolate Oreo Blondie Brownie from Ellie Bee Bakes

Slow Cooker White Chocolate Oreo Brownies from Baking Queen 74

Hidden Oreo Cupcakes from Sophie Loves Food

Peanut Butter Oreo Milkshake from Foodie Quine

The End of Chocolate Week..

Chocolate Week started several weeks back for me - well to be honest its all year around with me as I am a bit of a chocaholic and despite all my best intentions its bought on a regular basis - I am a dark fan usually but if it involves nuts (or bits of crunchie!) then sign me up to pretty much any chocolate! 

This current run started with a wonderful evening at a glitzy event with Ferrero Rocher - they have an amazing range of different Ferrero treats this year for Christmas, from tree decorations to towers of treats and I have been busy tasting for you and in a few weeks time I have an amazing competition to win some so please do come back soon for a chance to win some!

On Monday this week I had a few brown bananas that needed urgent CPR and I spotted on a Filipino based cookery blog this awesome Banana Bundt cake which I glazed with a bitter Polish cocoa glaze and of course sprinkles - my Christmas ones! I will post the recipe very soon as it was so delicious it would unfair to keep it to myself!

Moving on to Wednesday I tweaked another banana based sort of oaty cookie recipe - this still needs a little work, including not using cheap baking paper to line the tin but they are vanishing fairly fast from the tupperware container so there is hope yet!

..and because, well we obviously didn't have enough chocolate during the week we braved London on a Saturday to visit The Chocolate Show, held at Olympia West to get a little more cocoa-fied (yes I know its a made up word but I rather like it...) On arrival it was heaving and packed full of some amazing chocolates from all over the world, plus cookery demonstrations and activities for all ages!

On the theatre stage we caught the end of chocolatier Paul A Young's demo, then managed to find a seat and we watched one of the first Great British Bake Off contestants make some rather lush looking chocolate and salted caramel tarts and managed to fight over share the last cookie they handed out at the end! 

Now where to begin! Naturally after plenty of tastings I bought several bars of various chocolates - including a tongue teasing Roasted Sesame Dark chocolate bar from Lindt (and a rather lovely Caramel with sea salt and a bar of dark mint too!) My dearest is not normally a dark chocolate fan but he surprisingly enjoyed these - maybe I will have to start hiding my dark chocolate treats!

Next up was some German bitesize chocolates what I called bundt shaped but the chap on the stall looked in slight disdain and said they were based on Kugelhopfs (sp?! ) but are known as Goufrais - these were unusual in being served slightly chilled - they almost melt on your tongue with surprisingly dark yet creamy! I had to buy a big bag to keep us well stocked!

Now writing captions is hard when you have not taken many notes and your head is full of cocoa but this is a round-up of the highlights that we 'tested' out! The things I do for you my dear readers!

Clockwise: Mini jars of popping candy- would make great wedding favours! Brownies - we tried the white chocolate and pistachio one - could do with being a tiny bit sweeter but overall still lovely, a sign that made me giggle a little, last up a range of rather lovely bars - I particularly liked the 70% cocoa one- was still quite creamy and not bitter:

Clockwise: Beautiful chocolate teacups! And then its nice to know good old Smarties are translated as well, er Smarties! Then some Vietnamese bars -the packaging in particular I loved but they tasted pretty good too! Then a glimpse of a box of mixed brownies -they were all various delicious flavours including salted caramel - think I need to do some more baking!

I really cannot squeeze too many more pictures into this post but here a few more to tempt you with that I really can't leave out! They include some amazing outfits made of chocolate, pumpkins for Halloween and some divine Patisserie wines I picked up for Christmas!

There really was something for everyone at the show - as an avid dark chocolate fan it highly appealed but my milky loving boyfriend also enjoyed the show too! It was great to discover chocolate that little bit more and I am full of chocolate dreams now!

Disclaimer: I received tickets for entry into the Chocolate Show but all opinions are my own and all products were purchased by myself. Pictures remain the property of Anne's Kitchen

Mini Christmas foodie Gift Guide

Oh my I have no idea where this month is going  - I can't quite believe either that the big day is in only 15 days! We still are finalising shopping lists and meal plans and time is rapidly vanishing! For us we have extended 'Christmas days' - with separated parents we always have two, and this is both lovely...but also gets expensive..and a little over indulgent - think January I will seriously have to be detoxing! 

This Christmas Day we are joining close friends for the day, which will be lovely, even more so that we are not crammed in our little flat with a dining table for two and they have a dishwasher! Win! And then we are spending Boxing day with my Brother, which will be great too as other family join us too then we hope! 

So over the past few weeks I have been tasting things and being sent an array of nice things to review - and here are a few delicious ideas!

Filippo Berio, Extra Virgin Olive Oil - This is pretty limited edition 1 Litre tin featuring 'The Lady of Viareggio' and looks great in the kitchen! Delicious olive oil too for making up salads and to dress finished dishes. Available widely.

Bellucci Chocolates from Turin - These chocolates are simply gorgeous! They came beautifully wrapped in purple tissue paper and sealed with little stickers. They would make a recipient feel very special, I know I was very happy to receive mine! The selection consists of delectable Gianduja Pralines, nougat, hazelnut... all wonderful tastes! With each chocolate individually wrapped they are extra special to open and together gleam like jewels, just edible ones! Definitely a selection box for grown up's with good taste!

Harvey's Bristol Cream Sherry - When I first thought of Sherry, I must admit it was something I associated with a dusty bottle at the back of my late Nanny's cabinet but I know its becoming gradually popular again and I was pleased to be given the chance to try some - and I was pleasantly surprised. I don't like sweet wine when choosing normally, which I think has put me off in the past trying sherry but over the last couple of years I grew to like Port, with cheese etc and finally it seems Sherry is in favour! This Sherry is mellow, with smooth caramel notes and makes for a nice evening tipple! Unfortunately I have lost my mini wine glass (bah humbug!) so I have used my bridesmaid martini glass for the shot! Maybe surprise a friend or relative this Christmas - I did spot its on offer in a few of the supermarkets right now!

Disclaimer: I was provided with the products for review and this is not a sponsored posting, all opinions remain the property of Anne's Kitchen

A Lovely Lindt Christmas Gift for Chocolate Lovers

Introducing...the Master Chocolatier Collection from Lindt!

Now as my dear readers know, I am a sucker for chocolate. Starting in order of preference with dark, moving to milk then white. Variety is the spice of life, and what a fabulous variety was found in my box of Lindt Master Chocolatier Collection! The only things I hate in chocolate is gooey or fondant stylee fillings but fortunately none hiding in this box!

This would make a fabulous Christmas present for any chocolate lover, there is something for everyone and me and B have been diligently ‘testing’ these out for you! Such hard work at times this blogging lark!! RRP £12.99 widely available.

In the box there are 30 chocolates, consisting of 15 pairs so sharing between a couple its relatively fair but B doesn't know I had the 2nd Almond truffle - it was soooo good! Other favourites were the Orange and Hazelnut praline and Tiramisu!

Many thanks to Clarion


Disclaimer: I was provided with the products for review and this is not a sponsored posting, all opinions remain the property of Anne's Kitchen

Black Dog Deli review - Tomato Risotto

I really can't quite believe its Sunday already this week, I could do with cramming a few extra days in as its flown by! My eldest niece turned sweet sixteen during the week, and we had an impromptu pizza party with the aid of some flatbread's from the freezer and raiding the box of Christmas cheeses early, along with some gorgeous smoked Polish sausage - B has declared it his 2nd favourite meal after the Pork noodles I regularly make for him! Anyway I am looking at my list of half written blog posts and debating whats overdue first! And this lovely dinner we had a few weeks back won!

Prior to this particular Risotto,  I’d never bought a ready made dried risotto pack before, yes of course I had seen them, mostly in nice farm shops adorning the shelves but they often seemed a little pricey for what looked like in all honesty a bag of rice with a few herbs strewn in…but when Black Dog Deli got in touch about reviewing a few of their items included with their fabulous garlic olives was a said Tomato Risotto bag so now was the time to see if my opinion would stay the same.....

Inside the bag

It took a little while for the Risotto to make it onto the meal planner, as I kept thinking I needed to serve it up with something meaty on top but due to cost its quite rare we buy something in like lamb chops or a nice steak but the time had finally come where it was featured for a Friday night, and in my head of course I had mentioned to B to pick up some lamb steaks on the way home, as he had the car that day and I couldn’t get to the shops..  unfortunately B is not telepathic as hoped for and I was faced with coming up with an alternative.. which after a rummage in the fridge produced nothing however there were some garlic doughballs leftover from the previous night, and who can resist some carb on carb action?

So I simply cooked it as it was, at the end. And it was blinking gorgeous! Full of sweet, and earthy tomato flavour and ready in around 25 minutes with an odd stir here and there. No faffing about with sweating onions with tears it really was so simple to make. You start by heating a little oil, adding the packet, a good splosh of vino blanco (my last bargain bottle bought on my ferry back from Jersey this summer!) and some stock (I used a veggie stock pot): 

  

Simmer away whilst the remaining wine magically disappears...

Then at the very end adorning with a little diced butter and a handful of freshly grated parmesan:

And that's about it! A perfect, no faff but fabulous Friday night dinner! 

The only problem I have now is that most of the stockists are miles away from me so it will be a while before we meet again ........ but we will be on holiday with family at Christmas and only a few towns away from a stockist! Yippee! *However you can order online too!

Many thanks to the team at Mad As A March Hare Ltd for my samples!

Disclaimer: I was provided with the products for review and this is not a sponsored posting, all opinions remain the property of Anne's Kitchen

On the first day of Christmas...Santa brought to me..a Patchwork Hamper!

Pate and crackers. It’s just one of those combinations that works. Dinner time? Not particularly hungry but needing something tasty? Pate and crackers it is! Fancy a snack? Its just the thing. I even had pate and crackers as a late breakfast the other morning… when you work shifts your whole concept of set meal times gets somewhat muddled!

I love hampers I will not lie, there is something quite special about receiving a parcel full of tasty treats from The Patchwork Traditional Food Company and I was very lucky that despite TNT’s best efforts to lose my parcel, I recently received a gorgeous little wooden crate with some lovely treats in –

Chicken Liver Pate with Apple and welsh cider

Chicken liver, apple and walnut pate

Apricot and orange chutney with Wychcraft ale

Apple chutney with Hobgoblin Ale

Organic Spelt Pat fingers with black pepper

Patchwork Pates are hand made lovingly in Wales, without any nasties in from a talented workforce to the founder Margaret’s original recipes. They sound like a nice bunch. Fancy a new recruit? Though Surrey to Wales is a long commute…

This Christmas we are sharing the big day with close friends and family and whilst most of us are having a classic but loved prawn cocktail for our starter, some non-prawn fans are having pate – and I think they will just love the pate with cider in!

There is still plenty of time to order your gifts, for loved ones or even yourself! I think they are very reasonably priced – my ‘hamper’ was sent to me for review purposes but retails at £20 (though is currently on sale at £18.50- even better value!)     

We particularly liked the black pepper oat fingers, just the right size for dunking! And we loved the Apple and Hobgoblin chutney. Mixed opinions on the Chicken Liver and walnut pate, was a little smooth for us but it comes down to personal taste - we rather like the more rough around the edges variety. Me and dad preferred the Chicken liver and Cider one, something which surprised me as not fond of cider but we liked the rosemary flavour that came through.

Many thanks to The Patchwork Traditional Food Company and Clare at Redhead PR.

Disclaimer - I received the hamper free of charge for review and all opinions 

are my own. And my dad's!

His and Her's Advent Calenders from M&S

Sorry if you are not quite ready for the 'C' word just yet but in bloggerville we start early - I started getting Christmassy themed emails and attended press shows back in July has been very surreal... however along with lots of other emails, I get the odd email from M&S and recently spotted their upcoming Advent Calenders – and they had a Hello Kitty one! I don’t care if I am a fully grown adult of ahem, 31, but I love Hello Kitty. And Chocolate. And I am rather partial to Christmas… so…. Of course I had to have one! And fortunately M&S were very obliging so roll on the 1^st of December! Oh actually the 2nd as of course I had to 'test' it for you.. Its been years since both of us had an advent calender its like reverting to our childhoods!

I had spotted cheaper versions of the Hello Kitty one in discount stores but consider the cheaper advent calenders chocolate cheap and a bit nasty so this is a nice, grown up treat! This is my Advent Calender:

And on the inside - a little snowman..I as kinda hoping for a cat but I guess a snowman is more festive! The chocolate is fairly standard milky one, I do prefer something a bit darker but think milk chocolate is more popular! Will be a nice treat between the 2nd and 25th of December anyway! I love the design of my calender, its gorgeously festive red and has pride of place on top of the fridge.

Of course, there are two of us here, and B would not be as impressed with Hello Kitty so very kindly he has also from M&S a really quite awesome 'Where’s Wally' one! I have found Wally! But B hasn’t yet…

Its behind you!! :-D

Behind each window is not only chocolate but something to find to! Slight calendar envy now writing this but I do adore my one. Its so much fun just trying to find the ‘1’ we were both searching for ages! Inside was same as mine - a chocolate snowman, though B is much more a milk fan than me so its perfect for him!

Both calenders retail at £2.50 and are available in stores now.

Thanks to M&S and Julie at Grayling. This post was not sponsored and I was provided with both calenders free of charge for my review which is unbiased. All opinions and photography remain the property of Anne's Kitchen.

A glass of wine with my Gammon, Pea and Cos Lettuce Risotto

To my regular readers, apologies if this recipe sounds a little familiar ....for I am re-posting this recipe from my Arrancini thread, as I missed out an essential part - the wine!

Recently Sainsbury's sent me a little selection of their single serve wines, which I find great if you just fancy a glass of wine with dinner...or whenever without feeling compelled to drink the rest... something that age and shift patterns do not mix with! Its also a great way to discover new wines or indeed revisit old favourites!

I am more a red wine drinker if anything, as I find a lot of white wines to acidic to drink or so sweet my teeth go brr at but I was very pleased to find one of the bottles was their Macon Villages. I had not bought it in a long time but it reminded me that its one of the few whites I really like - dry, crisp maybe a hint of lemon and the tartness of Chardonnay without being a footballers wife! (I know its trashy but I still miss that show!) As I also had work the next morning, my large glass  was more than enough to enjoy with the meal! 

Whilst the wine was a bit of a treat with dinner, it was a fairly frugal recipe as you have come to expect with me - the lettuce was withering in the salad draw making its escape plan (Salad and Winter are not best buddies!) and the small amount of gammon was left from a large joint we had a few weeks back everything else was in the store cupboard.

Risotto recipe:

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 finely chopped onion

50ml vermouth

225g arborio rice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup frozen peas

2 slices cooked gammon finely chopped

2 heaped tbsp grana padano (or parmesan) grated

2 cos lettuce leaves, shredded

1 knorr herb stock pot into 1.5 pints boiling water

1) Melt the butter and oil, gently cook the onion and garlic without colouring, stir in the vermouth and allow to evaporate. 

2) Stir in the rice and allow it to fully coat in the liquid, add a small amount of the stock to coat and allow to cook, once the liquid has evaporated, repeat the process gently stirring through until its almost cooked through. 

3) Meanwhile place the peas in a jug with some of the remaining stock and cook for 3-4 minutes, stir it all into the risotto with the gammon pieces and lettuce, it should of absorbed most of the liquid now and be slightly loose in consistency. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese leaving a little for garnish.

Serve either on its own or with garlic bread if you like to break the rules...

The tang of Macon Villages wine worked really well with the creaminess of the risotto, they didn't compete and made a very tasty pairing! Unfortuntely winter is here with its dark nights and I resorted to going out onto the landing in an attempt to get a picture. The things us bloggers do...

Many thanks to Kate at Sainsbury's for my wine!

Arrancini con Pomodoro e salsa di Zucchine

Last week I finally got round to making risotto again, its been a while. In a past life, I used to cook a lot of Italian food but following a relationship breakdown I think I found myself shying away from anything vaguely resembling Italy but I realise now the error of my ways - you can never run away from anything so tasty! I decided also to make it sound posh by translating it fully, as Arrancini with tomato and courgette sauce sounded a little lame in comparison to a more elegant sounding 'Arrancini con pomodoro e salsa di zucchine'!

So risotto was back on the menu, and it was quite a frugal one - using up some slices of leftover gammon from the freezer, frozen peas and a sad last few leaves of Cos lettuce that were loitering in the salad draw planning their escape route! Yes lettuce, you did read it right! I have made a similar one before (little gem also does well here), and with the lettuce just wilted in at the end makes a nice interesting crunch to the creamy rice and smokey salty gammon.

For the sauce, I had picked up a tube of chilli tomato puree for a bargain 25p on offer in Sainsburys that morning, just substitute with regular tomato puree if you don't have any in. The original risotto was made using grana padano which I reguarly buy from the supermarket but the following day I had a delivery, via mums house of some new cheeses from 'Divo' and used their 'Coarsely grated heart of Parmigiano Reggiano', I was a little wary of it having previous experience with dried up ready grated parmesan but this was very good, rich creamy and a perfect pairing for the dish.

Despite the risotto being very tasty I slapped away B's fork from eating the rest as it looked like there was enough left to finally attempt something I had craved for a long time - Arancini - which their name according to wiki originated from the Italian word for oranges, due to their shape... I vaguely remember having these a long time ago possibly at a food show or restaurant and so it finally my time to have a go! Yippee!

I guess you could make the Arrancini with any leftover risotto you like, this was my base recipe, which served us two the previous night and left enough to make 9 Arrancini. The risotto needs to be fully cooled before making the Arrancini.

Risotto recipe:

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 finely chopped onion

50ml vermouth

225g arborio rice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup frozen peas

2 slices cooked gammon finely chopped

2 heaped tbsp grana padano or parmesan grated

2 cos lettuce leaves, shredded

1 knorr herb stock pot into 1.5 pints boiling water

1) Melt the butter and oil, gently cook the onion and garlic without colouring, stir in the vermouth and allow to evaporate. 

2) Stir in the rice and allow it to fully coat in the liquid, add a small amount of the stock to coat and allow to cook, once the liquid has evaporated, repeat the process gently stirring through until its almost cooked through. 

3) Meanwhile place the peas in a jug with some of the remaining stock and cook for 3-4 minutes, stir it all into the risotto with the gammon pieces and lettuce, it should of absorbed most of the liquid now and be slightly loose in consistency. Remove from the heat and stir in the cheese leaving a little for garnish.

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Arrancini con pomodoro e salsa di zucchine Recipe

Ingredients:

250g cold, leftover risotto

50g breadcrumbs

2 tbsp Parmigiano Reggiano

1 beaten egg

small bowl plain flour

s&p

Sauce:

1/2 courgette, cut lengthways and into thin slices

1/2 finely sliced onion

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

3 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp chilli tomato puree

390g chopped tomatoes (carton or tinned)

2 tsp dried Italian herbs

Fresh basil leaves, to garnish

2 tbsp grated Parmigiano Reggiano, to garnish

Spray oil for coating/ lining tray

Line a baking tray with foil, and spray with oil

1) Place the breadcrumbs with the Parmigiano Reggiano in a small bowl, season with salt and pepper. Have ready the beaten egg in another bowl and the flour in another bowl. A curved tablespoon is handy here for shaping! Mine are mini russian dolls which work perfectly!

2) Using the spoon and your hands, shape the risotto into a ball, gently dip into the flour, then the egg and then into the breadcrumbs. 

 Place on the baking tray and repeat to form 9 balls. Chill in the fridge to firm up. 

3) Heat the oil in a large pan until moderately hot and fry the onion then garlic until lightly coloured, stir in the courgette slices and fry until lightly browned. Pre-heat the oven to about 180o

3) Stir through the tomato puree, and add the red wine vinegar and cook off the liquid, stir in the tomatoes, herbs and bring to a bubbling heat, cover and gently simmer. Stir now and then - you want a fairly thick sauce.

Put the arrancini in the oven, sprayed with oil and bake for 30 minutes, giving a gentle prod halfway to make sure they are not sticking to the tray.

4) Once everthing is nicely cooked through, spoon the sauce onto a plate, and place a desired amount of arrancini on top. Garnish with the basil leaves and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Considering they were my first attempt I was super happy with these - the Arrancini were crisp and surprisingly light and the sauce was rich tasty and was a very good match.

Many thanks to Divo for my cheese. This is not a sponsored posting

Whilst I have never visited Italy - its definitely up high on the list of destinations I would love to visit and I am entering my 'Arrancini con pomodoro e salsa di zucchine' into a #TuscanyNowCookOff competition with Tuscany Now, an Italian and Tuscany Villa Rental Specialist to win a trip there, which would be so amazing to finally go there! You can find more details in this link.