What’s cooking?

This is the historic, probiotic drink Boza made and deliciously photographed by student of my course @bigbank2riverbank
.
I drink my Boza straight, sometimes heated, often with cinnamon and also in smoothies, but I’ve not yet grated dark chocolate on the top as Mary has done here.
.
Boza hails from Turkey and has been made for centuries. Like kombucha, it’s slightly alcoholic, and before harder forms of alcohol came to Turkey, it was a drink enjoyed widely. There used to be hundreds of Boza bars in Istanbul and men wandered the street at night selling the freshly-made drink from pails they hung from their necks.
.
I make a big jar of this every week at home. The flavour is sweet, tart and it fizzes on your tongue. It’s a wonderful gluten-free and dairy-free probiotic and it’s such fun to drink.
.
If you fancy bringing this into your world, my video course will walk you through. The link is in my profile.
.
More beautiful pictures going in my story today 🙂

… Read More

Making lardo, the traditional Italian pork fat cure, using local fat, garden herbs and Sicilian salt.
.
I don’t have space to hang cures, but there’s no need here – this will sit in my fridge, covered and weighted for weeks doing its thing.
.
And then I’ll slice it as thinly as I can and fry it super-crispy for a crunch, put it on pizzas and let its fat soak into the dough, wrap bits of fruit in it and eat raw…all the things!
.
Can’t wait.
.
@farmandhearth and I had an interesting discussion on whether pork is healthy (and why some people chose not to eat it) in the latest Kitchen Table Chat podcast, recorded for patrons of @ancestralkitchenpodcast. If you love our podcast and want more, becoming a patron it might be for you. You can go to patreon.com/ancestralkitchenpodcast for all the details.

… Read More

This week was my seventh wedding anniversary. When we married, Gabriel, our son, had just returned home from life-saving surgery. In fact, we cancelled and rescheduled the wedding because of what happened. Instead, we spent the day in the hospital with him.
.
After recovering together (I have such love and compassion for any parent trying to live alongside an ill child) we married and moved to Cornwall in the UK. I tried to live there, but things bigger than me had other ideas and I got quite ill.
.
Hastened by Brexit (both my husband, Rob, and I feel more European than we do British), we decided to move back to where we lived before Gabriel was born, Italy.
.
We’ve lived in many places since landing back here three years ago. But I’m hoping the latest one, a tiny flat with a little garden, on the outskirts of Florence, will stick. I want to be here a while. I want to enjoy my family and build our future.
.
Seven years of marriage feels kinda like a lifetime. In a good way!! I can’t remember my ex-husband, I feel far away from the ‘old’ me. I feel more and more comfortable with the woman I am now, whom both these amazing men have helped shape.
.
We celebrated at home. With spelt sourdough pizza topped with red wine braised onions, tomatoes and two types of local cheese. I’ll post a pic soon 🙂
.
Thank you for reading this far! I wish you love today, in all its beautiful forms.

… Read More

Why are there people trying to work out how to control the weather to combat climate change when as a society we are willfully ignoring things we could change that would make a huge difference?
.
Is it because personal change is hard? Is it because we think science will save us? Is it because those people have power and would rather keep it than look at non-profit-creating solutions?
.
Because the non-profit-creating solutions are there. We can have a huge impact by living by one simple tenet in our kitchens:
.
Find out what the land around you can provide and use that.
.
In the past, our ancestors had no choice on this one. They looked to the land, figured out what it could give, grew/raised that and made sure they cared for the soil so it would continue to keep them alive. Their agriculture worked with their environment.
.
Look to the past in your geography to see what to eat. Find someone growing/rearing it locally, someone who uses natural animal manure to give back to the soil (not petrochemical fertiliser) and give them you support.
.
The latest @ancestralkitchenpodcast is about creating a sustainable kitchen. You can listen by finding us on your podcast app, or by clicking the link in my bio and streaming/downloading from my website.

… Read More

Beef liver pate (@almostbananas has an amazing recipe using all spice) served on spelt sourdough with garden chives and a salad with local vegetables plus the last of the borage flowers from the garden.
.
If you find beef liver too strong, this is the recipe for you. Search for ”almost bananas best beef liver pate” online to find it. I’ll link the spelt sourdough recipe in my story today – it’s on my blog.

… Read More

I have foraged a lot of blackberries this summer. And as I’ve walked, collecting, I’ve thought of how much bounty the lanes, riversides and fields would have routinely given us, for free, in the past. How women before me would’ve walked the same paths, their heads full of knowledge of all the plants they could find and eat.
.
For me, growing up in the UK, wild blackberries seemed to be the last crumbs of this knowledge. I didn’t realise back then that there would have been and could be so much more wild, foraged food.
.
I talk everyday to people on here that are re-learning what amazing nutrition and medicine the ‘weeds’ around us can provide and that gives me hope. Hope that what all the wise women – whose DNA resides in our own – knew will *not* be lost.
.
If you’re foraging and/or learning today, thank you!
.
The details of this improvised leftover/foraged deliciousness are in my story today.

… Read More