Will you be going bluebell hunting around the local woodlands? Don’t forget to take your camera, or at least your phone and get some shots with dappled light and little snippets of video. We must do what we can to keep their memory alive for as long as we can.

Garlic update :

Following on from last month’s entry, It’s with some disappointment that I have to say, my garlic growing efforts aren’t going to plan and shortly after potting them up in fresh, peat-free soil, they began declining. With only one or two left standing, the rest have wilted and flopped over which I must admit, has taken me aback rather. My plan for an abundant harvest of home-grown garlic in late summer has fallen fowl for reasons I’m not entirely sure of. It could’ve simply been timing, as I believe garlic is best planted in autumn where it overwinters and comes back with renewed vigour in spring ready for harvesting later in the year. Ah well, back to the local farm shop, it is then and I will try again later in the year.

Update for May - new garlic sprouts are appearing in the pot which is exciting, I will keep updating here when anything else develops.

“I hope you’ve managed to gather wild garlic for your homemade pesto and garnish. I haven’t found any near me which is rather unfortunate, but I have high hopes for you”.

From the Cottage Kitchen

We prefer a wholesome bake here at the cottage, favouring unprocessed, simple ingredients where possible, but without wanting to remove the feeling of indulgence. Perhaps something that goes perfectly with an extra dollop of Greek yoghurt to deaden the effects of sugar on the body, if nothing else.

I thought it might be rather lovely to share a recipe this month with a little nod to my parents who have spent the last two decades living in France. Gâteau au yaourt, (or, yoghurt cake) is a classic French bake, very simple to make and delicious served straight from the oven with a cup of tea after lunch.

Ingredients

2 free range or pasture fed organic eggs
120g unrefined sugar (I use coconut sugar)
226g natural whole milk yoghurt, regular or Greek (I use Yeo Valley Extra thick)
118 ml extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
2 teaspoons baking powder
Generous pinch of sea salt
(192g) plain flour (unbleached, organic if possible)
Jam of choice to glaze the top (I used medlar jelly)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees

Line a 2lb loaf tin lightly with unbleached baking parchment (my usual is “if you care” parchment) and allow about a one-inch overhang on the long sides to make it easier to lift the cake from the tin.

In a large bowl, vigorously whisk the eggs and sugar until pale yellow and frothy using a hand-held, or stand whisk (about 1 minute).
Next, whisk in the yoghurt, oil, and vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and whisk in the baking powder and salt.
Add the flour and stir using a rubber spatula until just combined and all of the flour is incorporated, but don’t overmix - It’s fine to leave a few lumps of butter through the mixture.
Transfer to prepared pan and bake:
Scrape the batter into your prepared tin and spread it out evenly.
Bake until the cake is lightly browning (about 45 minutes), but do have a quick check before time as you don’t want to overcook your cake.
Prepare your jam glaze by mixing it with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice to loosen it and then apply a thin layer to the top
Allow your baked cake to cool for ten minutes (if you can wait that long), then use the parchment paper sling to remove the cake and set it on a cooling rack.

Serve with a drizzle of raw honey or maple syrup and/or Greek yoghurt.

Ripening avocado with bananas

If you weren’t aware, bananas have a ripening power like none other - a chemical process whereby ethene gas is released by the bananas once harvested. This causes a breakdown of the cell walls and, in turn, ripens the banana (and most fruits that might be unwittingly placed in the same fruit bowl), except oranges for one.

I recently took delivery of our food shop, only to find the avocados were like a couple of bullets, However, after placing the avocados in the banana bowl and returning to them four or five days later, I was surprised to find they had ripened beautifully. I was very pleased with myself and straight away realised it must’ve been the bananas working their magic. This is now my go-to avocado ripening protocol, and I hope you’ll try it with yours.

Lliving Rooms linen collection

As a child with a penchant for fashion, my mother taught me how to use her sewing machine during my pre-teen years and I would sit at her Singer for hours with a pile of old fabric ( mostly old sheets) and make skin-tight “jeans” and other suitable items of clothing that once forced on, were equally hard to remove.

From there, I furthered my passion for fashion with a pattern-cutting apprenticeship which admittedly, as a distracted sixteen-year-old, I soon became bored of. Staying with the idea of one day becoming a fashion designer, I felt learning how to sew with an industrial sewing machine would help somehow and soon found a job working in a local shirt factory. I would sew cuffs all day long on a super fast and noisy machine which, I must admit, was terrifying at first and a huge learning curve.

It was there I learned sewing tips from my trainer and other useful life hacks, such as how to properly and efficiently iron a shirt (of which I had no previous knowledge at the time). However, as the early starts began to take their toll, I grew tired of the daily grind of factory life and went in a completely different direction.

Over the years, I’ve made curtains and cushion covers for the various homes I’ve lived in, and today, I want to put those forgotten skills to good use and create a small linen collection which will be ready to launch soon.

Meanwhile, a new addition to our Little England Collection:

My talented, London-based seamstress Rosina has reworked some vintage fabric that I sourced here in Somerset and created the most beautiful, ruffle covers with a concealed zip fastening. This particular fabric is a luxury cotton circa 1970s but looks perfectly current with a gorgeous all-over print. So tempted to keep them for myself. Limited numbers are available.

Introducing our new pottery collection for spring/summer - Fern.

I collaborated with Bromley-based Lucy (from Lucy and Jane Ceramics) to design our newest kitchen essentials. Because spring is all about the land awakening, I wanted something botanical and beautiful, yet functional that you could take from sink-side to table and uplevel the everyday requirement of rinsing berries and salad vegetables. we included a little wavy edged plate to catch the drips. After a little discussion, Lucy suggested leaf pressing and eventually it was decided that fern fronds from her garden would be used for the pressings and the detail hand-painted in green underglaze colours with a gentle splatter. The same process was used for our earthenware garlic and ginger graters with herb stripping holes.