Sadly last year I got so trapped in the glory and splendour of the Christmas whirlwind that I never managed to get a chance to post the recipe. Well with another season nearly done, I thought I had better post this recipe before another year would have come and gone again. To be truthful, our kitchen recipe book is suffering; it’s looking sad, fat-stained, losing pages and is very used. Good in one sense, however I’m concerned that we might lose these valuable recipes, hence I post them on the site and they will be preserved forever. It’s interesting how we here at the British Larder Suffolk we use our own website like a recipe book. I’m not entirely sure why I’m surprised at that fact, as it’s a good thing!

Last year, my puddings got the thumbs up from plenty of happy diners so I’m proud as punch. There are no real secrets apart from lots of passion and drive. To make this amount of Christmas puddings one must not lose momentum and drive. It can weigh you down as it’s a slow process but once you’re in the swing of things it’s easy. Time is of the essence and the earlier the puddings are made the better chance they have of maturing and developing those all important rich flavours. My belief is that the mix must sit in the fridge for two days to thicken, absorb and for all the flavours to develop.

My trademark, or best not well kept secret is that I use the best ingredients I can possibly buy. The ale is local, I use Adnams, and the breadcrumbs are sourdough; a bit pricy but then this is not a cheap pudding either. It’s your choice if you want to use whole or flaked almonds.

This recipe serves 4 people and fills one 1L pudding basin. Make the pudding at least 4 weeks in advance and feed it with one tablespoon of brandy each week (it’s never too late, two weeks will be fine, don’t forget to feed it!). This will keep the pudding moist and the flavour will be outstanding. I guess this is perhaps the most labour intensive part of the pudding, feeding it. As we have to unwrap each pudding, give it a drink and cover them again, doing that four times with 100 puddings is a bit of a mammoth task but definitely time well spent.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and  Happy New Year!

For this recipe I combined floral rose water with the acidic and sharp taste of pomegranate. Rosewater is not everyone’s cup of tea and in my opinion and experience it should be used sparingly.  Once the yogurt cream cools the flavour magnifies and the taste of the floral rose water becomes more prominent and can easily be over powering. Rosewater is easily found in many supermarkets, cook shops and even in a chemist.

I served the cream with crushed pistachio nuts, this adds a extra texture and nuttiness to the dish. The pomegranate juice is turned into a delicious jelly set with agar. A seaweed based gelling agent with a slightly unusual texture.

Ever wondered how to remove pomegranate seeds? Well let’s face it, this is a messy job. Best tip I can give is to make sure you are wearing your oldest clothing; as I have many time stained my clothes with pomegranate juice trying to remove the seeds. The best way is to take the pomegranate in both hands and give it a bit of a squeeze to loosen the seeds, you can feel them moving about inside, roll it on the chopping board as you would do before juicing lemons and oranges. Cut the pomegranate in half, place a deep bowl in the empty sink, hold the pomegranate over the bowl and use a wooden spoon to slap it so that the seeds falls into the bowl. You might get splashed with the juice but this method is fairly effective. Once the seeds are out pick the white interconnecting bits out. Drain the juice using a fine sieve and the jewels of seeds are ready to be used in either this dessert of in fresh winter salads.

We have been fortunate enough this season to have been inundated with the most glorious varieties of apples from our lovely customers. It’s great, they come in spits and spades over the season, from Lottie Lin’s apples early in the season to Mrs. Sangster’s crop in the middle, and the most recent delivery came from Charlie, Darcy and Hector’s vet’s parent’s garden all the way from Kent. They are all different varieties – some local Suffolk varieties and some the more mainstream bramleys. We don’t mind as it’s an apple taste sensation and educates us, giving us the inspiration and ultimate cooking pleasure and we long for.

I have been toying with the idea of making apple snow for quite some time now. It’s a traditional recipe, one that is very simplistic however the quality of the apple is what makes this recipe a taste sensation. Choose your apple carefully, remember the apple must be the hero - I recommend a fairly acidic apple as the “snow” is sweet, adjust the sugar levels to compliment  your choice of apple’s natural sweetness.

The warm honey madeleine is a delicate but lovely touch to set this pudding off nicely. I love a madeleine, I think it’s the rich nutty flavour from the burnt butter along with almonds, honey and lemon that makes me go all googly eyed over these little cakes. I do refer to them as mini me, and while I do not think the world could cope with more than one Madalene, a freshly baked honey madeleine is a different matter all together.

They are simple and easy to make however do not make them if you are in a rush! The secret to the success of a perfect madeleine is that it must rest at least 12 hours. If you try and fast track this process you’re in for a disaster. This recipe is the proven practice and is the definition of patience as a virtue! To make a madeleine into a true madeleine not only involves the preparation of the batter, but it’s all about the all important shell shape. You can get different sizes, please note that I have used a standard size, for mini madeleines reduce the cooking time accordingly. The perfect cooked madeleine has a crisp, even, golden brown exterior with a fluffy fine crumbed interior. They are best eaten from freshly baked. I make the batter and cook them fresh every day for the best results here at the restaurant.

These small individual lemon meringue pies not only look great but we have the advantage of being able to serve them in the restaurant. We prepare them to the pastry and lemon filling stage and then on the day, when needed we then top them up with the meringue topping and bake them before each service. It keeps them fresh and easy to manage, as well as reducing wastage.

They are also perfect for our bar counter; they look great on a glass stand with a big glass dome lid perfect for that Sunday afternoon cup of tea and the taste of something sweet.

We have a perfect location for walking, especially dog walking. There are several routes that can be followed from our pub front door, one route goes past the fishing lakes, the other over the bridleway passing the golf club and then another one goes through a mini nature reserve, Bromeswell green and can be followed all the way to the river. All these walks are safe, some of them are fairly taxing as the hills can be quite steep and some parts the soft sandy soil makes walking a bit harder. All this hard work requires a pleasant reward at the end and these lemon meringue pies are just the thing for a post-energetic walk.

The beauty about lemon meringue pies is that they do not really have a season; we get lemons all year round. These individual pies are perfect for any occasion from a picnic to a sophisticated tea party.

Mulberries are fragile fruits and start to wilt and deteriorate as soon as they are picked. I had a tree in our garden in our last home before we moved here and as soon as the fruits ripened I picked them and froze them immediately to ensure that they do not get wasted in any way.

These where given to us by a very generous customer this season, the season is very short and come and go so quickly.

Our bartering system is definitely working and it’s heartwarming to get the whole community involved. We are fast approaching our first year anniversary here in Suffolk, it feels almost like a life time. We have made lots of good solid friends. The question remains “was it worth while?”…the answer is yes!

In early Spring the British Larder team took a day trip to the new Adnams distillery in Southwold. It’s been a great experience and we think the gin is rather delicious too. One can get carried away with plenty of ideas as to what to do with the gin and vodka, apart from drinking it, it also makes a great cooking companion. They use up to 16 botanicals to purify the gin which means it’s packed with fantastic aromatics and perfect for this mulberry bakewell tart.

This recipe is dedicated to two of our regular customers; Gloria and Denis Lee. When I first served arctic roll for Gloria the look and smile on her face is imprinted in my mind. I shall never forget that moment because of the sheer joy and happy memories this dish brought back to Gloria was a picture in itself. She did not have to say anything, her face painted the most wonderful picture and her smile spoke a million words.

I love strawberries, they’re perhaps one of the most fragrant fruits for me, and when I close my eyes and smell a sun ripened strawberry it brings back memories of my childhood and visits to the PYO farm with my family. Dad used to love eating strawberries with a sprinkling of sugar and lots of whipped Chantilly cream.

As I’m now writing this post I can smell the strawberry jam being cooked in the kitchen. We are jamming and bottling it to be sold from the bar. I hope the smell of the cooking jam will remain as a happy memory of summer at the British Larder.

The beauty of this recipe is that everything can be made in advance, at least three days when needed for a special event, and if you have a fantastic old fashioned dish it springs to life and sparks good conversation around the dinner table.

I teamed up with Twinings Tea to bake these two delicious afternoon tea delights – Royal Wedding Blend of White Earl Grey & Rose Victoria Sponge, and Twinings Royal Wedding Blend of White Earl Grey and Rose, Rhubarb Cupcakes with a White Chocolate Frosting, to celebrate Kate and William’s special day.

These recipes are perfect if you plan to host a traditional British street party. Here at the British Larder Suffolk we will definitely be baking both recipes and will serve them with this delicious Royal Wedding Commemorative Blend. My objective was to create two interesting recipes using the Royal Wedding Tea Blend, combining it with a traditional recipe with a slight British Larder twist.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

All credit for the images and videos goes to Twinings Tea Shop and I would like to thank Twinings for this fantastic opportunity to bake with this wonderful Royal Wedding Commemorative Blend Tea.

As a child and even in my twenties I would pull the ugliest faces when I was offered anything made with rhubarb, but now I think it’s “cool” and I’d even go as far as saying it’s delicious. Especially my infamous rhubarb and vanilla jam.

With that in mind I think tomorrow is jam making day, as Piers from High House Farm delivered a huge amount of fresh rhubarb this week. It’s slightly taken over the fridge; it’s like a jungle of rhubarb in there, so I’d best make some jam and this delicious rhubarb, pecan and buttermilk pudding. Mmm…

We went to visit Piers at the glorious High House Farm, having wanted to visit for quite some time, but time is always a constraint! Mondays at the moment are our only day off so we make use of this time to visit local attractions, farms and find new ingredients to play with. We waited a while for this rhubarb to be ready and finally the time has come. After visiting Piers and seeing how beautiful these plants are kept, one cannot feel completely obliged to cook something delicious with it.

All of High House Farm’s rhubarb is outdoor grown so the flavour is earthy, tangy and robust. This rhubarb is the real deal. Seeing the boxes piled high we asked where they were all destined for and it was wonderful to hear they are all going to nearby local homes, pubs, shops and restaurants in the local area. It is lovely to hear that local people will benefit from using and enjoying the rhubarb, and at least it’s not travelling hundreds of miles to be kept in cold stores for weeks.

A few outdoor rhubarb facts..

• Outdoor rhubarb with its earthy and gutsy taste is available from March till late May.
• Their stems are slightly thicker and the skin is stringy than forced rhubarb, hence peeling is required.
• Outdoor rhubarb is easy to grow and every kitchen garden should have a crown or two for personal consumption.
• Rhubarb is classed as a vegetable.
• The leaves are toxic and should be removed before cooking.
• The natural tartness of rhubarb makes it an ideal ingredient for either sweet or savoury dishes.

I was working on this recipe for a while and it took couple of attempts before I was entirely happy with the result and the way this cake turned out. I was looking for texture and a taste explosion and finally I’m happy with the way it turned out.

I was inspired to redevelop this recipe as I used to make a cake not dissimilar to this one when I worked in a delicatessen many years ago in London. As I moved home several times the original recipe was inevitably misplaced, and I had to start from scratch trying to redevelop this memory of a recipe I had from years ago. I’m pleased with the result as this recipe is a great success; it’s almost a fine replica of those wonderful memories of that long-lost recipe, with the addition of fresh chestnuts.

The second part of the inspiration for this recipe is the fond memory I have of smells on Oxford Street at this time of the year. The only fond memory, I should emphasise! Walking down bustling Oxford street during the winter you can always smell the wonderful sweet aroma of caramelised chestnuts. I remember the smell as if it’s here right now – it used to smell even better when I was really hungry!

Finding chestnuts in the forest is a great fun family activity, it gives you something to do and in our case it’s free food, which we like. The trick is to get there before other people, and most importantly before the deers and squirrels get there too - apart from the fact that they actually live there, so ultimately it’s a matter of whom has the most stamina I guess…!

When the chestnuts were plentiful on a Sunday afternoon when Maria was visiting, we would drive to gate 26 with our basket in hand collecting the chestnuts from the forest floor. Every time we used to go home grumbling about the chestnuts spiking our fingers, as we always forgot to take our gloves. With or without the gloves we managed to fill the basket to the brim, it’s a great afternoon out and not only do you have something to show for it but it’s a great team building activity.

These are a few of my other favourite recipes using chestnuts:

• Pheasant Ravioli with a Chestnut Sauce and Curly Kale Pesto
• Fresh Cranberry and Chestnut Cantucci
• Pheasant, Aegean Prune, Girolle & Chestnut Pie

Most of the time medlars are mixed with apples to be turned into wine or jellies. As we had a large quantity of quinces donated to us I thought I’d give it a go mixing the two, and actually, the result is perfect. When you cook quinces for a long period of time the syrup turns pink which gives this jelly an attractive colour.

The theme of the quinces continue by turning more quinces into a curd, the buttery curd compliments the sweetness of the jelly and the acidity of the crème fraîche balances the dish.

This garibaldi recipe has been with me for many years. It can be fairly temperamental and behaves best during the winter. If the dough gets a bit warm it sticks and makes a bit of a mess. My top tip is to wrap it into sausages and let it chill well for a minimum of 6 hours. Then, take it from the fridge when you’re ready, cut it into disks and bake immediately. Do not hesitate or leave it to come to room temperature, it might just misbehave. I know I had a few “sticky” moments in the past. If you have baked a few too many of these delicious biscuits keep the baked biscuits in an air tight container, or alternatively, bake what you need and keep the remaining dough in the freezer. Defrost the dough in the fridge overnight and bake as per the recipe below. I sprinkle the warm baked biscuits with caster sugar to give it even more of a homemade look.