Gala Pie / Prepare Portabella Mushrooms / Growing Peas & Sweet Pea Gnocchi

Blog Post & Recipe & Pictures: Gala pie: king of the picnic blanket?

I sat under a table on beer-soaked carpet and wondered at the infinite egg. How was it possible that every slice of the yard long, loaf-shaped pie had a perfect slice of egg in it?

Blog Post & Video: Knife Skills: How to Prepare Portabella Mushrooms

When cooking the cap whole, it's best to score it lightly on the top side. This allows steam from inside to escape more easily, which both hastens cooking, and makes it more even.

Blog Post & Recipe: In defense of shelling peas

Well, for one thing, shelling peas have a more complex and interesting flavor than the more prevalent sugar snap peas. Freshly picked, they’re just as sweet, but not so one-dimensional. They are the first vegetables to be planted in spring ... Because they are planted and mature earlier than most spring vegetables, they feature prominently in many classic early-spring dishes from around the world.

Sweet Pea Gnocci

Making Herbed Lemon Cheese / Making Lunch at Work / Good King Henry

Blog Post & Recipe: Making Cheese

This cheese has a mild, milky flavor and a spreadable consistency.

Herbed Lemon Cheese

Blog Post & Recipes: 3 uber-simple lunches you can make at work in less time than it takes to go out and buy something

tips for ‘cooking’ lunch at work. 1. stock your work ‘pantry’ ... 2. stock up with the tools you’ll need ... 3. figure out the best storage options ... 4. allocate the time you need

mixed sprout & avocado salad ... white bean & tomato soup ... tomato, almond & pesto salad

Article: Alys Fowler: The renaissance of Good King Henry

The young spring shoots (that appear from April [in the UK]) can be eaten much like asparagus. Cut the first 20cm growth, remove any leaves and steam it as you would asparagus. As the seasons progress eat the leaves and the unopened flower buds as a broccoli substitute. These will merrily self-seed if left alone.

Pelmeni Dumplings / Mafe Lamb Stew / Young US Farmers

Blog Post & Recipe: pelmeni

I’m worried that by writing about pelmeni, the famed Russian meat-filled dumplings with a cult following, I might inadvertently open the Pelmeni Pandora’s box and pandemonium will ensue. This is a dish that elicits passionate responses

Blog Post & Recipe: Mafe | Senegalese Lamb Stew

When it comes to mafe, a traditional stew from Senegal, there are very few absolutes. It’s typically made from lamb, mutton, beef, or chicken and vegetables stewed in peanut sauce, although the combination of veggies is variable–and arguable. Chef Thiam says the butternut squash is mandatory, whereas my cousin feels strongly about the presence of cabbage.

Article: In New Food Culture, a Young Generation of Farmers Emerges

Now, Mr. Jones, 30, and his wife, Alicia, 27, are among an emerging group of people in their 20s and 30s who have chosen farming as a career. Many shun industrial, mechanized farming and list punk rock, Karl Marx and the food journalist Michael Pollan as their influences. The Joneses say they and their peers are succeeding because of Oregon’s farmer-foodie culture, which demands grass-fed and pasture-raised meats.

Roast Mushroom & Bread Salad / Grilled Tofu Sandwiches / Grow Unusual Vegetables

Blog Post & Recipe: 9 things you probably don’t know about mushrooms + roast mushroom salad [5 ingredients]

roast portabello mushrooms ... roast mushroom & bread salad

Blog Post & Recipe: GRILLED TOFU SANDWICHES WITH LEMON AIOLI

I always forget how much I like tofu as a sandwich filling. I think of it for stir-fries and curries but somehow sandwiches fall off my tofu radar.

Blog Post: New life on the veg patch

Don't devote your precious outdoor space to growing cheap, ubiquitous vegetables, says River Cottage head gardener Mark Diacono. There's a whole world of delicious, easy to grow exotica out there

Extracts from Mark's Taste of the Unexpected:
• How to grow and cook Chilean guava
• How to grow and cook yacon
• How to grow Szechuan pepper and make Chinese five spice

Forest Gardening / Seared Scallops with Lime & Miso Dressing on Avocado Purée / Milk Mayonnaise

Article: Gardens: Forest gumption

Forest gardening is not about size, he says; it's a style of growing. "The point is to grow useful plants, particularly edibles." And the key to doing that is planting upwards, in vertical layers.

Blog Post & Recipe: Seared scallops with lime & miso dressing on avocado purée

We enjoyed this with sourdough baguette, but I was really craving another accompaniment which would have been perfect: I had it a little while ago at Zuma, where they serve an absolutely amazing tuna & salmon tartare with lotus chips and that addictive sheet of a prawn cracker with seaweed

Blog Post & Recipes: The Secrets and Science Behind Milk Mayonnaise

When these culinary opposites—milk and oil—are thrown together, they act a lot like warring spouses, which makes their participation in the creation of Portuguese maionese de leite (may-o-NEZ duh late), or milk mayonnaise, all the more amazing.

Milk Mayonnaise ... Variations: Cilantro and Ginger Mayonnaise, Anchovy Mayonnaise, Curry Mayonnaise, Tomato Mayonnaise

Finger Millet Roti. Five Nigel Slater Carrot Recipes. Wasabi.

Recipe: Kezhvaragu Murungai Keerai Adai / Finger Millet Roti

I remember my AVVA(Kollu Paati) preparing this for evening snack, and we will be served this adai very hot with stone ground coconut chutney. It used to taste great, as my grandmom use lots of oil to prepare this adai.

Recipes: Nigel Slater, Part two: meat & veg

The Guardian has a whole section dedicated to his new cookbook. Look there for Part One.

... the carrot's place is assured in my kitchen as the bringer of earthy sweetness, a backbone vegetable on which to build layers of flavour.

Roast lamb with mint, cumin and carrots ... Pan-cooked pumpkin with duck fat and garlic ... Courgettes and green lentils with ham ... Steamed pork in an aromatic broth with celeriac purée ... Ham with apple juice and parsnip purée

Article & Recipes: Wonderful wasabi

Wasabi growing has taken off in Tasmania [...] The most commonly known "wasabi" comes with sushi in a little sachet, or can be bought in a tube. The flavour of fresh wasabi differs greatly from these mass-produced items.

Fresh wasabi is much more fragrant and subtle and every part of the plant can be used. The leaves and flowers have a much milder wasabi flavour then the roots and stems.

Potato salad with wasabi dressing ... Chicken, cucumber and carrot salad with wasabi dressing ... Salmon steaks with wasabi and rocket sauce ... Chicken and lettuce rice paper rolls with wasabi dipping sauce

Beignets. Shanghai Soup Dumplings. Zucchinis.

Recipe: bite size beignets...

Beignet is a fried yeast dough that come in square or ball shape. It is similar to a doughnut, but a bit lighter in texture.

Blog Post & Recipe: Shanghai Soup Dumpling, plus a new look

I’m not going to lie and say I can’t wait to make this again ‘coz it does take a lot of time to prepare, but the dough is fantastic – tasty and slightly chewy – it sure hell beats any store bought one.

Blog Post & Recipe: In defense of the humble zucchini

What a revelation it was to me when I arrived in France and saw beautiful small courgettes with their tender skin and full flavor. Seriously, if you pick your zucchini when it's half the size, logically you'll have half the weight to deal with. And it will have twice as much flavor.

Grandma Kehoe's Zucchini Lasagna

Growing & Cooking Tomatoes. Chai-Poached Pears. 101 American Foods.

Video: Nigel Slater's Tender: Growing and cooking tomatoes

Nigel Slater rounds off his series of veg-inspired videos with a tribute to tomatoes [because he's got a new cookbook coming out. Here are ten recipes from the book.]

Blog Post & Recipe: Pandora’s Chai-Poached Pears

The pears are filled with an intoxicating combination of Neufchâtel cheese (you could substitute mascarpone or cream cheese), vanilla, crystallized ginger and a few spoonfuls of the chai-infused poaching liquid.

Blog Post & Recipes: 101 American Foods to Try in the USA: Ebook! (via Hedonia, where they recommend broccoli on pizza blanco. See also: this post at BlogHer, where the blogger asks, "What's Your Definition of American Foods?" The Sara mentioned at the start of the post is the same person who posted this Ebook.)

As promised, here’s the 101 American Foods to Try in the USA: Ebook!

If you prefer to read the list online, here’s a recap of the posts:

* Part 1: Desserts
* Part 2: Main Dishes and Savoury Snacks
* Part 3: Drinks and Location-specific / Regional Specialties

Basil. Urban Farm. Chicken and peanut butter soup.

Recipe: Chicken and peanut butter soup with rice balls

This traditional Ghanaian recipe from is extracted from the book Recipes for Fostering, which promotes the value of using cookery to nurture vulnerable children

Article: Sniffing out the many varieties of basil

The number of basil varieties are nearly encyclopedic, from Purple Ruffles' tiny corrugated leafs to the monstrous sheets of Napoletano ...

How to select ... How to store ... When in season ... How to use ...

Interview: The Farm City: The Education of An Urban Farmer. An Interview With Author Novella Carpenter

Determined to eat sustainable meat and produce, Novella [Carpenter] recognizes that the only way she'll be able to afford [it] is if she raises it herself ...

Q: If someone is interested in embarking on their own urban farming adventure, what do you think is the easiest way to get started?

A: The easiest urban farm animal is the bee. They are so self-sufficient, so hard working, and they require very little maintenance ...

Chicken Sizzling Rice Soup. Asparagus pasta. Composting

Blog Post & Recipe: soup for woolly

Obviously homemade chicken broth is going to kick canned chicken broth in the balls, but canned works here. I actually made this batch with half homemade and half store-bought because I ran out of the homemade. Bring it to a boil.

Chicken Sizzling Rice Soup

Blog Post & Recipe: asparagus, goat cheese and lemon pasta

It was getting late and I still didn’t know what to make for dinner, only that I wanted it to take no time at all because sometimes you look so hard for dinner inspiration, you sap all of your cooking energy en route. This had six ingredients. It took perhaps fifteen minutes to make.

Blog Post: A guide to composting for down-to-earth cooks

"I was so worried about ratios of green to browns," says Heather Hawkins, co-founder of the Web site EnviroMom (www.enviromom.com), a once-reluctant composter. "I realized, I should just focus on keeping food scraps out of garbage. That was a breakthrough for me."

Furikake Seasoning. Growing Herbs. Meat Cooked?

Article: How to tell when meat is done

What is the most accurate way to tell if meat and fish are done, aside from prodding them with a meat thermometer? Are there some visual clues I can use?

Article: How to Grow Herbs Indoors

Here’s a breakdown of what to grow, for clueless gardeners to the greenest of thumbs. Or jump to an explanation of light, water, pots, soil, food, and more.

Recipe: D.I.Y. Recipe: Vegetarian Furikake Rice Seasoning

Furikake is a Japanese condiment typically sprinkled over or mixed into rice. There are dozens of varieties on the market – most contain seaweed, sesame seeds, sugar, and salt ... Although I love looking at the rows of colorful furikake jars at the Japanese grocery store, I recently decided to conserve money and packaging by making my own ...

2 sheets toasted nori seaweed
1/4 cup toasted white and/or black sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Best of British. Cooking from Gardens.

Article & recipes: Ramsay's Best of British recipes

Not posh nosh, but classic British dishes. Our mantra has always been, “Keep it simple and make it tasty.”

Roast lamb with rosemary, garlic 
and anchovies / Fennel and roasted 
red pepper soup / Baked bream fillets 
with fennel and orange / Marinated chicken 
with minted broad 
beans and peas / Smoked salmon and watercress tart / Clementine cakes with cranberry sauce / Treacle tart

Recipes: Back to earth

Jamie cooks from his own vegetable garden.

It just never occurred to me that it might be as easy as taking some seeds out of a packet and popping them into the ground.

* Sweet cherry tomato and sausage bake

* Spicy pork and chilli pepper goulash

* Potato and chorizo omelette with parsley salad

Potato Literature & Growing Greens

Article: Top 10 Potato Books

Published this month, John Reader's The Untold History of the Potato charts the tuber's 15,000-year story from the US to China to Peru, Mrs Beeton to Charles Darwin to McDonald's. Here, he chooses his top 10 books on the not-so-humble spud.

...

7. The Potato: Evolution, Biodiversity and Genetic Resources by JG Hawkes

Hawkes was a leading figure in 20th-century potato research whose memoir of the British Empire Potato Collecting Expedition to South America 1938-1939 ...

Song: The Potato Man (Canting Songs)

I

I am a saucy rolling blade,
I fear not wet nor dry,
I keep a jack ass for my trade,
And thro’ the streets do cry
Chorus. And they all rare potatoes be!
And they’re, etc.

II

A moll I keep that sells fine fruit,
There’s no one brings more cly;
She has all things the seasons suit,
While I my potatoes cry.
Chorus. And they all, etc.

Article: Sprouts and micro greens: Houseplants you can eat.

Sprouts are harvested younger than micro greens and can be grown without soil in closed surroundings like bags or jars under sprays of lukewarm water. They should be harvested before their secondary leaves emerge. Alfalfa, sunflower, cress, lentil and buckwheat seeds grow quickly into sprouts and can be served up roots and all.

Micro greens are the adolescent versions of the leafy greens, edible flowers and herbs that are popular salad fixings. They are at their nutritional and flavorful best when they begin to display adult-size leaves. Seeds can be planted in potting soils, sprinkled onto sponges or fine-textured fabrics, and then misted, sprayed or watered as necessary. Among the most popular micro greens are cauliflower, peas, cabbage, arugula, radishes, beets, clover, mustard and alfalfa.

Potatoes, Herbs, Cast Iron Cookware

Article: Cast iron's age-old allure

A short article about cast-iron cookware.

•Testing a skillet for cooking temperature, droplets of water should bounce or hop on the surface; too hot, they will disappear; too cool, they will just sit there.

Article: Pick the right potato to go with your meal

A look at the spud bins at the grocery store reveals plenty of potato choices. But which ones to serve with a corned beef dinner (not russets) and which to mash with milk and butter (definitely russets)?

Article & Recipes: Grow your own flavour

Growing herbs for the kitchen.

The more you pick the healthier the plant. Growers are told that if their chives start to flower they will have no more fresh leaves until the following year. Rubbish! Pick some of the flowers to use in salads and, if the plant is then cut back to within 4cm of the ground and given a good feed of liquid fertiliser, it will produce another crop of succulent leaves within a month.

Herbs can be picked from very early in their growing season. This encourages the plant to produce vigorous new growth. Most herbs reach their peak of flavour just before they flower. Snip off stems early in the day before the sun is fully up, or, even better, on a cloudy day.

Cut whole stems rather than single leaves or flowers. Always use a sharp knife, sharp scissors or secateurs, and cut lengths of 5-8cm from the tip of the branch, this being the new, soft growth. Do not cut into any of the older, woody growth. Cut from all over the plant, leaving it looking shapely.

... Lovage soup ... Fish with fennel ... Chocolate mint mousse

Kangaroo Tail. Sea Trout. Growing Herbs

Recipe: Dew's Meat roo tail with banana and sweet potato mash.

Article/Recipe: Herbal Essence.

Article ends with recipes for baked sea trout with spring herbs, buttered samphire, and broad bean and herb frittata.

A sunny windowsill is all you need to grow your own herbs. The secret is to treat them mean - and then spoil yourself. Nigel Slater hooks a fragrant supper