The British Larder Inspirational recipe diary

The combination of cabbage, bacon and beans is very familiar to me. I actually hated it when I was younger working in a top London restaurant. The cabbage hearts along with the rind and fat from the pancetta trimmings, that were not used in the Michelin star meals, always ended up along with the previous days haricot beans on the staff food shelf. The head chef did not believe in buying food for staff meals even though we had sometimes up to 30 mouths to feed twice a day. There is only so much stale bread and tomato trimmings that one could stomach. We used to take turns to cook lunch or dinner and when it was the  head chefs turn, he cooked a cabbage, bacon and bean soup. Must say the smell used to lure me in and secretly I both loved it and hated it at the same

I’m taking a serious risk today posting this traditional kitchen classic recipe Aubergine Parmigiana. As you all know I have had an exciting summer producing spectacular fruit and vegetables, some more successful than others but with a few casualties along the way too.

I made  many jars of tomato sauce with my glut of tomatoes which came in super handy for this recipe. Unfortunately the bugs ate my cavolo nero and the mulberries and strawberries were pretty sad this year too. However the courgettes, raspberries, blackberries, onions, borlotti beans, peas, broad beans, large variety of herbs, salad leaves did so incredibly well that we gorged  like kings for most of the summer.

Then there were my aubergines and how spectacularly they glistened in the late autumn sun, beautiful! At first I was nervous about them and thought if it works.. a result; if not then hey ho we know for

Roasted guinea fowl, sauteed ceps and creamed Brussels sprouts…..that’s what dreams are made of! We are in the heart of autumn, the trees  have the most glorious colours of burnt orange, browns and shades of moss green, what a beautiful time of the year! Mother nature is looking  after us by allowing us to stock our British larders with the best that the season has to offer,amongst which is the guinea fowl.

I always have treated guinea fowl with that little bit more respect as I think it brings  a certain prestige to my dinner table, however I know  people re-act differently, I do not quite know why? It’s not quite as gamey as you would perhaps expect it to be, I love the succulent and rich flavour of the meat. The size of the guinea fowl breast is perfect for me, just enough not too much and not too

Warm winter and autumn salads are a terrific substitute for the lighter leafier ones that we loved so much during the summer. I can eat salad all year long and it makes the perfect accompaniment to grilled or roasted meat, fish and poultry.

I received these chervil roots along with some gorgeous looking cep mushrooms from Erin at Wild Harvest. I was intrigued as I have never came across chervil roots before. As I love food and have a passion to discover ingredients that I have never seen  before, I immediately set to work on cooking some of these rather unusual roots . They almost look like a white carrot or more precise a dwarf parsnip but have the distinct aniseed chervil taste. They are very pleasant indeed and as I discovered once boiled in salted water they almost have the texture of boiled parsnips. I finished them off