The British Larder Inspirational recipe diary

This scotch egg is not just any scotch egg, no… it’s a Dingley Dell Smoked Ham Scotch Egg. For us it has a lot of meaning. Our customers call it the magical egg but for us it also means freedom foods. It’s all captured in one simple dish but it carries a lot of significance.

Moving to Suffolk always was and still is about the quality of ingredients on offer. We made it our business to move into a region unknown to us and to adapt, absorb and work with the local area. It’s not always been an easy ride however after 10 months we can safely say we still feel the same drive as when we first moved here. We have met some fantastic people along the way and Mark Hayward from Dingley Dell has taken us “under his wing” and supported and helped us along the way. He

Early summer, new life, beautiful lush coloured flowers and the taste of asparagus. Mmm What a wonderful time of the year!?

The king of vegies and best of all it grows here on my doorstep. The Suffolk sandlings is the perfect place, with its soft sandy soil.

Early on in the season it’s at its sweetest and most tender. The British asparagus season is short but when it’s here we love it! Simplicity is key. For me the humble egg is the best best companion, whether hens or ducks eggs soft boiled with plenty of Maldon sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

The team is working hard, we finally turned the waste land by the back door into a tiny…no lets rephrase that…. minute organic kitchen garden. Inspiration for the boys to go out and pick a few flowers, herbs and strawberries. Well it’s not enough for us to

Summer is here and so is the fantastic asparagus season. I cannot believe how fast it has come about this year. The asparagus here in Suffolk is some of the best available in the country, and the sandy soil of the Suffolk sandlings make it the ideal place to grow asparagus.

The lack of rain has, however, made things difficult for farmers in the county. We are all hoping for some decent downpours - hopefully it will help the season to end with a decent bang.

Sutton Hoo chickens are the best chickens you can buy, and boy are they tasty chickens!

At the Easter Snape Maltings Farmer’s market I was invited by Belinda Nash from Sutton Hoo chickens to do a cookery demonstration using her chickens. I was glad she asked me; it helped me to create a few new recipes, and it’s always lovely to cook with ingredients

These two recipes are a must-have essential for any pub’s blackboard menu. I must say at first the thought of pickled eggs was slightly, well… off-putting! Well the challenge for me was to come up with a traditional and ultimate bar snack menu with a contemporary British Larder twist, and the long and short of it is that pickled eggs and pork scratchings are two quintessential snacks to compliment a well-kept glass of real ale.

There is a very true saying that all good things take time to create and nurture. Well these two recipes will certainly test your patience - and they did test mine! I’m a bit impatient and want everything to have happened yesterday. Well I had to wait two weeks for these pickled eggs to be pickled and the pork scratchings also need 5 days salting before anything else can be done with them.

To create