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I finished my first ever book in Italian and I am so chuffed! It has taken me 6 months to get through it! I am not a natural linguist; the thing that’s kept me going is that it’s a brilliant ancestral food book. Passion helps so very much with persistence! . Here’s the book – its title would be translated literally as ‘The Cook and The Famine’. It’s written by a guy who lives very close by here in Tuscany and who has such a wealth of knowledge. It’s made me want to forage, to experiment, to cook more pulses and to eat lots more chestnuts! . I think they’ll be pics of me cooking some of the things from it coming up…maybe even adding my own twist to them too ;-) . My story today has more details if you want to hear excitable me :-)

July 29, 2020 by

I finished my first ever book in Italian and I am so chuffed! It has taken me 6 months to get through it! I am not a natural linguist; the thing that’s kept me going is that it’s a brilliant ancestral food book. Passion helps so very much with persistence!
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Here’s the book – its title would be translated literally as ‘The Cook and The Famine’. It’s written by a guy who lives very close by here in Tuscany and who has such a wealth of knowledge. It’s made me want to forage, to experiment, to cook more pulses and to eat lots more chestnuts!
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I think they’ll be pics of me cooking some of the things from it coming up…maybe even adding my own twist to them too 😉
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My story today has more details if you want to hear excitable me 🙂

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Some days, when I open my fridge to make a salad, all I find is lettuce, carrot and cucumber. As I wash and chop them, I get excited about creating a really interesting dressing. Vegetables chopped, I get my pestle and mortar out. . Here’s today’s offering, about to be lidded and shaken up: fresh lemon juice and olive oil to which I’ve added black pepper, nigella seeds and crushed coriander seeds. The fragrance of the lemon and coriander is making my mouth water. . I’d love to hear if you’ve got a favourite dressing combo that I can give a go.

July 28, 2020 by

Some days, when I open my fridge to make a salad, all I find is lettuce, carrot and cucumber. As I wash and chop them, I get excited about creating a really interesting dressing. Vegetables chopped, I get my pestle and mortar out.
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Here’s today’s offering, about to be lidded and shaken up: fresh lemon juice and olive oil to which I’ve added black pepper, nigella seeds and crushed coriander seeds. The fragrance of the lemon and coriander is making my mouth water.
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I’d love to hear if you’ve got a favourite dressing combo that I can give a go.

… Read More

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I sometimes wonder if you can ‘read’ sourdough cracks like you can ‘read’ tea leaves? If so, perhaps the triplet of cracks in this one’s saying that there are three really cool things coming up for me this week? I’d like that! . 100% wholegrain spelt sourdough make with local flour plus a touch of honey and olive oil. It fermented on the counter for 4 hours with some stretch and folds to the dough and then proofed in the ceramic tin for an hour and a bit before baking.

July 26, 2020 by

I sometimes wonder if you can ‘read’ sourdough cracks like you can ‘read’ tea leaves? If so, perhaps the triplet of cracks in this one’s saying that there are three really cool things coming up for me this week? I’d like that!
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100% wholegrain spelt sourdough make with local flour plus a touch of honey and olive oil. It fermented on the counter for 4 hours with some stretch and folds to the dough and then proofed in the ceramic tin for an hour and a bit before baking.

… Read More

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Somewhere near you there are some beautiful sausages just waiting. Waiting for you to take them home, surround them with a bubbly bed of wholegrain goodness and bake them up. . So they can fill your house with their amazing smell, adorn your dining table with crisp, golden-brownness, treat your taste buds to a warm-bread-plus-sausage heaven and pamper your tummy with easy-to-digest goodness. . Can you tell how much I’m in love with this combo?! Sourdough Wholegrain Toad-in-the-Hole is this month’s #ancestralcookup. It can be made with wheat, or a #glutenfree grain. . You can find the recipe on my profile and cook it along with me this month.

July 24, 2020 by

Somewhere near you there are some beautiful sausages just waiting. Waiting for you to take them home, surround them with a bubbly bed of wholegrain goodness and bake them up.
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So they can fill your house with their amazing smell, adorn your dining table with crisp, golden-brownness, treat your taste buds to a warm-bread-plus-sausage heaven and pamper your tummy with easy-to-digest goodness.
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Can you tell how much I’m in love with this combo?! Sourdough Wholegrain Toad-in-the-Hole is this month’s #ancestralcookup. It can be made with wheat, or a #glutenfree grain.
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You can find the recipe on my profile and cook it along with me this month.

… Read More

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Which to choose?! Three different sourdough wholegrain local-flour breads on our breadboard today. . Top left is a Borodinsky-style, deep-flavoured, rye, Further down on the left a spelt loaf leavened solely with milk kefir and then, on the right, another spelt, this one a standard sourdough that I’ve been practising my letter-folds on. . Coming for lunch?

July 23, 2020 by

Which to choose?! Three different sourdough wholegrain local-flour breads on our breadboard today.
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Top left is a Borodinsky-style, deep-flavoured, rye, Further down on the left a spelt loaf leavened solely with milk kefir and then, on the right, another spelt, this one a standard sourdough that I’ve been practising my letter-folds on.
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Coming for lunch?

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Bread, soaked in stock, layered with bolognaise sauce, topped with cheese and baked till it’s bubbling and crispy and all melded together. It’s this month’s #ancestralcookup – you can find the recipe via the link on my profile. I’d love it if you fancy cooking with me.

June 29, 2020 by

Bread, soaked in stock, layered with bolognaise sauce, topped with cheese and baked till it’s bubbling and crispy and all melded together. It’s this month’s #ancestralcookup – you can find the recipe via the link on my profile. I’d love it if you fancy cooking with me.

… Read More

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Borodinsky sourdough rye. It’s been a year since I made one of these and I don’t want to go back to ‘normal’ sourdough rye now, despite the fact that this bread needs me more during the fermentation. . It’s flavour, which gets better from days 2 and 3, is deep, fragrant and rich – from the molasses I added, plus the malt grain and caraway seed mix that I toasted and included. It’s soft and cakey – from the scald (flour mixed with boiling water) that makes up a large part of it. . I prep the starter and the scald the evening before and then mix them together in the morning. Half way through the day I add the remaining flour and molasses. A couple of hours later it’s ready to shape and then it’s baked before tea. . Thanks to @theryebaker for the formula. It’s a beautiful homage to this wonderful grain.

June 27, 2020 by

Borodinsky sourdough rye. It’s been a year since I made one of these and I don’t want to go back to ‘normal’ sourdough rye now, despite the fact that this bread needs me more during the fermentation.
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It’s flavour, which gets better from days 2 and 3, is deep, fragrant and rich – from the molasses I added, plus the malt grain and caraway seed mix that I toasted and included. It’s soft and cakey – from the scald (flour mixed with boiling water) that makes up a large part of it.
.
I prep the starter and the scald the evening before and then mix them together in the morning. Half way through the day I add the remaining flour and molasses. A couple of hours later it’s ready to shape and then it’s baked before tea.
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Thanks to @theryebaker for the formula. It’s a beautiful homage to this wonderful grain.

… Read More

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Lunch is ‘primo sale’ organic raw goat’s milk cheese studded with pistachio. I found this Italian gem in our local health food store and love it. . I’ve also got a salad made from local greens/veg, herbs from the garden and raw onion (that I soak for a day in lemon so it’s flavour is gentler). The salad is topped with my sauerkraut and a dressing made from local lemons and olive oil plus my latest obsession – nigella seeds. . I’m generous with the dressing as mopping it up with the accompanying slices of my sourdough spelt bread is very almost the best bit!

June 26, 2020 by

Lunch is ‘primo sale’ organic raw goat’s milk cheese studded with pistachio. I found this Italian gem in our local health food store and love it.
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I’ve also got a salad made from local greens/veg, herbs from the garden and raw onion (that I soak for a day in lemon so it’s flavour is gentler). The salad is topped with my sauerkraut and a dressing made from local lemons and olive oil plus my latest obsession – nigella seeds.
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I’m generous with the dressing as mopping it up with the accompanying slices of my sourdough spelt bread is very almost the best bit!

… Read More

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Water kefir grains can be used in a lot of ways. You don’t just have to put them in a sugar/water solution. They work with honey, I’ve used them in green juice and here’s the result of putting them with watermelon: Watermelon kefir. . I’ve transferred it to a swing top with some sliced pear (added so its sugar can be further fermented and the drink will become fizzy) for a second ferment. . Feels a bit like pink champagne. Tastes complex – fresh from the watermelon, tart from my likeness for sour ferments (I leave them a long time) and sweet from the pear. . You do not need a juicer for this. I blended the watermelon flesh and then drained it through a sieve. . Cheers!

June 25, 2020 by

Water kefir grains can be used in a lot of ways. You don’t just have to put them in a sugar/water solution. They work with honey, I’ve used them in green juice and here’s the result of putting them with watermelon: Watermelon kefir.
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I’ve transferred it to a swing top with some sliced pear (added so its sugar can be further fermented and the drink will become fizzy) for a second ferment.
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Feels a bit like pink champagne. Tastes complex – fresh from the watermelon, tart from my likeness for sour ferments (I leave them a long time) and sweet from the pear.
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You do not need a juicer for this. I blended the watermelon flesh and then drained it through a sieve.
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Cheers!

… Read More