What’s cooking?

This is lardo. It’s back fat from a pig that’s been cured in salt, rosemary and other goodies. It is soft and buttery in texture. And absolutely delicious.
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When we lived in Cornwall in the UK, we got pig fat from a local Cornish farmer and we rendered it down into spreadable lard ourselves. Lard is great to cook in or even slather on bread.
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But lardo is like it’s super-refined cousin. The word I’d use is divine. Just as it is. Sliced thinly, wrapping an almond. Or a date.
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This lardo comes from the farm up the hill. I am so grateful to those who do the work of raising animals sanely; who look after the animal, the soil, our planet so I can eat, create with and share what nature gives. Thank you.

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Here is the inside of the milk kefir-leavened spelt loaf. It has a beautifully open crumb considering it’s 100% wholegrain and the only ‘yeast’ is from kefir.
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Although this loaf doesn’t need a sourdough starter, it does need a warm place to do its thing. I keep it at 29C (84F) for almost 2 days. I do this thanks to a DIY proofing box my husband made for me. .
I’ve almost finished writing an article on how to make an at-home proofing box. I’ll link it here when I’ve posted it. In the meantime, there is an article on my site now walking you through how to create a sourdough starter. You’ll find a link on my profile.
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And, when I’ve got some more raw milk, I’ll make this one again and document the steps.

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100% wholegrain spelt leavened solely with milk kefir. I’d forgotten how good this bread is. It has a creamy, milky flavour – which I guess is from the predominance of lactic acid bacteria in the ferment (as opposed to acetic, which is more dominant in ‘normal’ sourdoughs).
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The crumb is very open for a wholegrain loaf. I’ll snap a pic later and post so you can see.
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Quite a few people have said they are interested in trying this loaf themselves. The good thing about it is that you don’t have to have a sourdough starter. I’ve made a little file in my brain entitled ‘figure out how to explain how to make the kefir loaf’ 🙂

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I’m making Kefir Bread. That is a long-fermented loaf leavened solely with milk kefir. Here is the first part – a mix of 50g goat milk kefir/50g wholegrain spelt flour. It’s like a sourdough starter (but without the days of preparation). I’ve left it in a warm place for just over a day and it’s done this.
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Next will come more wholegrain spelt flour, salt, a little honey and some water. And again a warm place.
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I’ll show you the loaf when it’s done. It is a recipe I worked on for a long time in the UK, but this is the first time I’ve made it here in Italy, with Italian spelt. Fingers crossed.

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My Birthday Borscht! This includes home-made beet kvass, chicken stock, beef stock, beef, lots of cabbage and lots of beets. I ate it with foraged dill (quite a feat, considering lockdown!), fermented ginger carrots and a chunky slice of wholegrain spelt sourdough covered in goat butter.
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Thanks @darra.goldstein for the recipe. It helped make turning 45 very special.

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Identifying food intolerances and restricting can be a super-hard thing to do. My son, now 6, has had them since birth. We’ve been on an incredible journey to work with these, and our own, health issues.
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It is, however, just this restriction plus a generous dollop of passion that has guided me in my kitchen creativity.
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Here’s what came out for lunch: Left-overs Bread ‘Lasagne’
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Restriction – no tomatoes or dairy for my son for a few weeks as we fine-tune his responses to stuff.
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Passion – I’ve been really fired up recently about bread waste (the UK throws out 40% of the bread that it buys).
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I fried up some onions, mushrooms, garlic and red pepper. I added left-over chicken, red wine and some capers. I created a ‘lasagne’ with layers of this mix alternated with sourdough bread. I covered the lot in ample chicken stock. I baked for 40 minutes. Whilst baking I whizzed up some fresh basil, parsley, garlic, nutritional yeast and cashews into a ‘pesto’.
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It was amazing and, I hardly ever say this, perhaps even better cold.
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And my son doesn’t feel like he’s restricting at all 🙂

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I am well and truly a cat person….but I haven’t had a cat for over a decade. We’ve moved too much. Fingers crossed – now we are back in Italy, my soul’s home – we might be able to give a home to one soon. For now, my sourdough starter semi-takes its place! I carry it around with me, giving it priority, finding it the warmest place in the house.
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Here it is with me as I cooked courgettes in yesterday. The heat from the cast iron pan helped give it the boost it needed to be ready to raise some sourdough pizza.
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Keeping a sourdough starter warm if your house isn’t is hard. There are plenty of ways to do it though – check out my article How To Keep Your Sourdough Starter Warm (get to it by clicking on the link in my profile) if you’re curious or need help.
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And if you want to share cat pictures or tales with me, I can live vicariously through your cat-ownership for now 🙂

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Cakey, moreish, chompable, satisfyingly-squeezy, rich, comforting…soda bread it so very good. And with my guide, you can bake it easily whilst still ensuring it’s nutrient-dense. The link is in my profile…I’d love it if you’d cook along with me this month.

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