Cocktail time: Lemon Sorbet with Limoncello

         Been away on Holiday to Italy, stayed in a nice Hotel in central Perugia for 4 days with a friend of mine. We went there to see our daughters perform on the school Music Tour. Each year the school Choir and Orchestra perform somewhere in Europe this year it was Italy. I couldn't resist going out this time, I love Italy and with the weather being so bad at home it was a real treat. 

On the first evening we went to Citta della Pieve to see the concert, it was in a little piazza in the centre of the city. Before they arrived my friend Louise and I had some dinner outside a little restaurant, food was great, the boss was friendly and after we had our dinner he came out with two delicious cocktails for us. I asked what was in it in my broken Italian, Lemon sorbet, Vodka, Limoncello and Prosecco.

   The next day we went to Assisi in the morning, Marlee was singing at Mass with the Choir in the Basilica San Francesco. Not religious myself I did find it moving to hear the choir sing in such a beautiful church and surroundings. Had lunch afterwards in a lovely restaurant looking at the Basilica.

    In the evening the Choir and Orchestra came to Perugia, they performed at Chiostro di San Lorenzo, it was outside in a courtyard. Lots of people came to watch an they filmed a bit for their local news. 

    So back to that lovely cocktail, I had a go and I think it comes very near to what we had in Italy.

First I made the Lemon sorbet.

Lemon Sorbet

500 gr Caster Sugar

250 ml Lemon juice from freshly squeezed lemons

750 ml water

      Put the sugar in a pan with the water, on a low heat let the sugar dissolve and let it simmer for a couple of minutes , then stir in the lemon juice. Let it the syrup cool, then put it in the fridge for a few hours. Then churn the syrup in a ice cream machine until ready, place in freezer for when needed!

Lemon Sorbet & Limoncello Cocktail

4 scoops of lemon sorbet

25 ml Vodka

25 ml Lemoncello

50 ml Prosecco

This will make 1 cocktail, double the quantity for 2

   Place all the ingredients in a shaker, shake, serve in a wine glass with straw, voila....

                           Broad bean and Pancetta salad

  This year I sowed lots of broad beans, I love to eat them and you can't have enough, after you shell the beans out of their jacket there isn't that much left. I sow the beans in small pots in early spring, I can't sow them straight outdoors in the soil because the mice dig and eat them up. Even half of the plants I planted were dug up and had been eaten, not the tops, they leave that laying there for you to see and get wild about! Pesky mice they have been a nuisance this year also in the fruit cage with the strawberries.

With all the bad weather this summer much of the flowers didn't get pollinated, so I didn't end up with many beans, this will only make the beans I do have taste even better!

I shell the beans, I use rubber gloves because they make your hands so black, then cook them about 4 minutes in boiling water and leave them to cool. I don't take the outer skin of because they are so fresh and small, if I have bigger beans or frozen ones and have the time I do sometimes peel the outer skin off. It's a good salad to make when you've got people coming for lunch because you can make it ahead.

100 gr   Pancetta cubed or sliced

400 gr   shelled Broad beans ( fresh or frozen)

100 gr   Feta Cheese

2 tbsp   chopped fresh Mint  

1 tbsp   Sherry of White Wine Vinegar

3 tbsp   Olive oil

a few    Cherry Tomatoes (optional)

Salt and Pepper

   Boil the Broad beans for 4 minutes, fry the pancetta till crisp.

Drain the beans, let them and the pancetta cool. Them add to a bowl with all the other ingredients. 

Ready to eat!

Chocolate, coffee & Hazelnut Meringue Roulade


I can't take credit for this recipe, I found it once in a magazine. It's relatively easy to make and can be made in advance for a dinner party, you can also freeze it but I have never tried that so don't know if the meringue goes soft or soggy.
You start of with making the meringue first, you will need a 25 x 35 cm (10 x 14in) baking tray, 2 cm deep, lightly oiled and lined with baking parchment.

5 large egg whites
150gr Caster Sugar
10gr instant coffee powder
150gr sifted icing sugar


For the filling:
100gr chopped Hazelnuts
40gr Caster sugar
250gr Mascarpone cheese
100gr Dark Chocolate (70%cocoa solids)

   Preheat oven at 190ºC gas 5. In a large preferably glass bowl whisk the egg whitest into peaks then add the caster sugar and then the coffee powder once they are incorporated add the icing sugar with a spatula and fold in. With a metal spoon line the baking tray with the filling and dust with some more icing sugar. Bake on the top shelf for 15-20 minutes,you can check if it's cooked by inserting a skewer, the skewer should come out clean with no soft meringue mixture clinging on to it.

   Remove the meringue from the oven and let it cool on a rack. Turn the oven up to 200ºC gas 6, put the Hazelnuts in a bowl, add the caster sugar and mix together., then spread the nuts evenly onto a baking tray and put into the oven for approx 5 minutes, watch them so they don't burn. Remove from oven and let them cool.

   Whip the cream and Mascarpone in a large bowl, transfer 1/3 from the mixture into a separate bowl. Add the hazelnut mixture to the 2/3 and stir well, set aside. 

   Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of hot water, remove and wait till luke warm then add to the 1/3 mixture quick before it sets.

   Once the meringue is cooled off lay it top-side down onto some baking parchment, then peel of gently the lining baking parchment. Spread the hazelnut cream over the top leaving at least 2cm from the sides, then spread the chocolate cream over that leaving 3cm away from the sides.

   With the long side facing you, roll the meringue over, away from you, using the parchment underneath to help you roll, until you have a long log. Face the seam downwards. Keep the roulade rolled up in the parchment and cool in the fridge 

Take the roulade out of the fridge 20 minutes before serving, you can dust the meringue with more icing sugar if needed. Cut the meringue 3-4cm slices and serve.

Last Friday I had a dinner party at our house, I made slow cooked belly pork with roast potatoes, broad bean salad and chard for main course, summer trifle and hazelnut/coffee meringue for pudding.
As starter I made beetroot and welsh goat cheese towers. I wasn't sure if the people who came would like it but  all plates were empty and everyone seemed to enjoyed it.
I grow my own beetroot which I dug up in the morning and boiled them for about an hour, check with sharp knife to see if they are cooked.You can also buy ready boiled beetroot in the supermarket but I don't think they are as sweet as if you would grow them yourself. You could always buy some at a farmers market this time of year. I still had some boiled ones left so today I made it for lunch and took a photo, here goes:

Beetroot with Soft Welsh Goat Cheese Tower
Serves 2

2 ready boiled Beetroot (cut in 1cm sliced)
125 gr Soft Welsh Goat Cheese ( cut in slightly smaller slices then the beetroot)
1 large Red Onion, peeled and sliced
1 tsp of Balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp of Demerara sugar or brown soft sugar
2 cherry tomatoes (optional)
150 washed  fresh Rocket
cocktail sticks

1. Fry the onions slowly on low heat with the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan with lid for about 15 minutes until the onions are sweet and soft.
2. Preheat oven 200ºC / gasmark 6, make the tower by stacking beetroot/cheese/beetroot/cheese/beetroot then tomatoes on the top, hold together by cocktail stick. And place in the oven for about 5-7 minutes. Watch the tower, don't let the cheese melt too much, just let it go soft otherwise the tower will collapse.
3. Place the rocket on a plate with the onions, then the beetroot tower on top. Serve with some nice crusty bread.

My sister sent me a picture to ask if I could identify this plant that was growing in her garden, she was wondering if it was a pepper plant.
I did recognise it straight  away it was Datura stramonium  common name "Thorn Apple" or "Devil's Apple"it is a very distinctive plant, once you've seen it you will not forget it.
In 2004 I did a course at the Botanic Garden on the Isle of Wight for the 'Certificate in Plantsmanship' . One of our assessments was to write about a plant family and the one I choose was the Potato Family (Solanaceae). The reason for choosing that family was that it has such a diversity of different plants, from important food plant to very toxic. D. stramonium being one of the poisonous ones, and the pepper plant a food crop. So my sister wasn't that far of at least she had the family right!

I've  looked the essay up and posted it, maybe you find it a interesting read, or you might fall a sleep....

To Clean or not to clean....

Well actually that is an easy one, not today.
Still knackered after Isle of Wight Festival 3 days on.... God what a great weekend despite the mud, just a great excuse to meet up with mates and meeting new ones, and to have great time, so glad I got the wellies that I ordered in time, didn't we need them too!
Wasn't that interested in the line-up this year but so enjoyed Jessie J, even more chuffed that my 15 year old daughter loves her. Positive vibes that's what we want and Jessie oozes them by the bucket! She rocks.

My daughter in jeans jacket on some nice person shoulders!

Oh and we had Madness too, well that was a trip down memory lane, the countless times I've seen them live in the early days, still such fun. A mate text me backstage to come down and say hello to Suggs. Well what do you say? So I didn't.

I don't want to wish the summer away, what summer I hear you say....but roll on BESTIVAL!!!

How to start?
Don't know why but thought it time to write down bits and pieces. I sometimes look back on things that I have grown, made or cooked in the past and can't remember how I did it. So maybe this is a good way of writing it down, and who knows it could be a good way to get in touch with like minded people and share receipts and ideas. I think I'm running away with my thoughts now.
My grammar isn't as good as it should be, another good reason to start blogging.

This year the garden is a mix of good & bad things. All the rain has made the slugs and snails come out by the MILLIONS, it's the 1st time ever I've used slug pellets around some of my bedding plants and vegetables. The borders look great, I've never seen them so full bursting with flowers. But the fruit cage isn't doing so well, the strawberries could do with some sun now, they are all getting mouldy and so are the courgette plants, their fruits keep rotting off. I pruned my white and red currants a bit to hard last year, lovely new growth but not one currant. Lots of black currants so have to do something with them. Raspberries still very tiny and far from ripe. Last year I made jam on June 20th, didn't happen this year.
Tomatoes and chillies all good, already got some ripe tomatoes and chillies.

Today was finally a dry morning and I went out into the garden to pick some elder flowers  (Sambucus nigra) for making Elderflower Cordial or presse (if you're posh)
This cordial is lovely with sparkling mineral water on a hot day, really refreshing. I save some little plastic water bottles, poor the cordial in them and freeze the bottle's, then take them out when I want them and keep a bottle in the fridge. This way it doesn't go off so quick.

Elderflower Cordial


25-30 elderflower heads (remove as much of the stalks as possible)
5 oranges sliced
2 small lemons sliced
2kg sugar
100 gr citric acid monohydrate (can buy this at the chemist)
2 litres of boiled but cooled water


Clean bucket


Boil the water and let it cool. Place the elderflowers, sliced oranges and lemons in the bucket and pour in the water just to cover the blossom. Place a loose fitting plate or lid on top of the bucket and leave it somewhere cool and dark for 2-3 days.

Strain the water from the flowers through a fine sieve into a large saucepan, measure the volume of the juice and add approx. 750 gr of sugar and 1 tablespoon of Citric Acid per 1 litre of juice.

Heat the saucepan gentle, do not boil, stir until the sugar has dissolved completely.

Pour the liquid in the clean little plastic bottle's.

                                                                     Enjoy