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 serve the restaurant. We heavily rely on as many freebies, from Dans mums garden and a top up from David keeps our fridges filled with summer lushness.

The garden has unfortunately fallen into the hands, mouths and beaks of the two, four, five, ten and twenty legged creatures living out there. However, I’m turning a blind eye, It’s keeping me sane, when needs must, I pop out to “water” the garden and then all the worldly sins are forgotten.

Let them eat…kolhrabi! if it’s the only price I have to pay for my own sanity!

This Keens cheddar brûlée is one of the simpler recipes that highlights the taste of the fantastic asparagus. It’s easy to prepare and brings a wonderful smile and ‘wow’ to the dining table. I did use my beloved Thermomix for this recipe, however, if you do not have one, do not panic. Simply use a old fashioned double boiler. The traditional method is just as effective however it involves stirring and ones constant attention.

The beauty and purpose of the chive flower: They are spectacular, bright purple blue and interestingly beautiful. Not only are they pretty to look at however have several functions. It’s perfect for eating and brightens up any dish. If planted in the garden the purple blue attracts bees, encourage pollination. On the other hand it acts as an insect-repellant and planted to control pests.

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.

The colours of Autumn are luscious and bold and beautiful. Deep dark reds, greens and purples are as spectacular and reflective of Autumn as the colours in the delicious honey, plum and blackberry jelly with plum sorbet.

We buy most of our fruit from High-House Farm which is situated 6 miles from us. Every Monday and Thursday Piers gives me a call telling me about the fruits that are ready to be harvested and then the following day Jaco delivers them with a big smile. These are the kinds of stories and precise reasons why we made the big move to Suffolk. Receiving the freshest seasonal local produce on the same day that it was harvested – we are two very lucky chefs!

We currently get Victoria plums from High-House farm, but unfortunately the blackberries came to an end. I did, however, manage to keep some in the freezer for a “rainy day”. They work incredibly well from frozen and are equally as perfect. There is a myth that one should not pick blackberries after the 11th of October as the devil has urinated on them.…well I hope this makes you giggle as much as it made me laugh when Malcolm Emery told us this myth last week at a conference that I attended.

There are plenty of plum varieties available but for me there is only one queen of the plums and that is the Victoria plum. Victoria plums were first cultivated in Sussex in 1840 when they quickly became the nation’s favourite. There are over 300 cultivated plum varieties available in Britain plus the wild plums, such as wild damsons, bullaces, sloes and mirabelles.

The hedgerows are packed with wonderful free food. When Mr.P and I finally manage to get out and take a walk across the fields nearby we cannot help ourselves in picking the abundance of elderberries, wild plums, mirabells and rosehips on offer. We discovered a damson tree on our land and have picked several baskets full. They were turned into chutney, puree and finally today I have frozen several kilos. This should keep me going for a few weeks… I hope!

Plums freeze well so keep them for the colder months when stone fruits are less regularly available. Plums have a high pectin level and are ideal for making jams and jellies. They are not only synonymous with sweet recipes but equally known for use in savouries and work wonderfully with rich meats such as duck, teal, mallard, pigeon and venison.

Here are a few other recipes I suggest that could be made with plums:

• Plum Upside Down Cake
• Victoria Plum and Blackberry Frozen Ice-Cream Slice
• Plum Tart Tatin with Mulled Plum Sorbet
• Cinnamon Baked Plums

My palate always used to be known as a good one, I had the privilege to taste the food in the restaurant as I was the only lady in the kitchen at that time. They said a woman’s palate is more refined and finely tuned. I loved every moment of the “glory” as I managed to taste nearly everything we served. It honed my palate and made me a very interesting chef. I was looking for perfection with the desire to taste every ingredient and it had to be  perfect otherwise it would have not passed my taste bud test. So I felt privileged that I was not only  learning the very best tricks of the trade but I had something that no one else had at that time in that Michelin kitchen, that’s pretty spectacular. It was so finely tuned that when I went on a wine tasting and palate identification course I guessed 50 out of 50 of the ingredients we had to taste, the gentleman was bemused and lost for words.

These sweeties are pretty special but at the same time I think they are an acquired taste. I planted the camomile bush in my garden two years ago but overtime I had forgotten what it was as the tag had disappeared. Only when Mum came to visit last year she pointed out that it was camomile.  It makes me laugh as I’m so forgetful and a real plonker at the best of times but what a lovely find. When we moved to Suffolk we brought most of our unusual herbs along and luckily this time we tagged them all, just to avoid the confusion.

The smoking process is a interesting but equally tricky one. Suffolk is known for it’s wonderful smoke houses and there are plenty of them around. All with their own style and their own interesting smoked items.

The smoking process for these pears must be controlled, if you smoke the pears too much it will overpower the rest of the flavours and consequently if you to serve it at the end of a meal it could be a bit too strong. Serve them as petit fours or bag them up in pretty see- through cellophane bags and give them as a gift, it makes a pretty decent treat.

We stayed in the glamorous Hudson Hotel with it’s beautiful minimalistic but striking interior and super tiny rooms. You need to be a size 6 to stay in the rooms because there is no room to turn around, Philip Stark did a good job and designed a beautiful hotel but boy oh boy did he not allow any space for ones suitcase. Anyhow we did not spend that much time in the room as we were busy testing out all the foodie establishments.

The hotel is situated near the foot of Central Park near the Time Warner Building and home to Bouchon Bakery. Thomas Keller is a very creative and clever business man. We visited the bakery every morning for a coffee and a different treat every time. We loved sitting at the high tables, close to the counter to watch the chefs at work through the hatch. We found the perfect spot and sometimes found ourselves there for too long observing them. They were superb craftspersons and produced the most stunning and beautiful goods.

Mr.P became partial to a biscuit fairly similar to this salted peanut brittle biscuit. He had the ideas in his head for quite some time to recreate that indulgent buttery salty taste of those Bouchon Peanut Butter Biscuits. The recipe is entirely a development of our own and after a few attempts we finally recreated a recipe that we feel represents the taste sensation of the biscuits of New York.

Watching the world go by in New York City is wonderful and sometimes very amusing too. At Bouchon they baked Foie Grass Dog Biscuits as the early joggers with their posh pooches stopped off for a skinny de-caf, a slice of watermelon and a delectable treat for the dog. We struck up a conversation with the ladies behind the counter as they eagerly told us a tale about a chap that came in regularly to buy himself one of these doggy treats. He was constantly told that the biscuits were for his dog and not for  him but he insisted that  it was delicious and continued nibbling away. Well that story left us giggling all day, typically a tale of New York.

Elderflower cordial has so many wonderful uses and is not only good for a refreshing elderflower drink on a hot summers day but is also perfect for delicious jellies and works a treat in sorbets and ice-creams. The flowers  could be dipped in a light tempura batter and fried until crisp to serve as a garnish for added texture.

I used the elderflower cordial to flavour this delicious crème fraîche tart and paired it up with a lovely array of strawberry treats. Its great fun, you might not have all the tools to make all the garnishing bits, but if you can give the tart a go as it’s simply wonderful.

The recipe for this tart has been in Mr.P’s little black recipe book since he began cooking in 1996. This recipe did cause us a bit of drama and distress as we had filed it’ in a safe place’. We must have  tipped the house upside down looking for it, you can imagine as I do not quite know what it looks like, all I know it’s written in pen on a small piece of paper belonging to this little black book that had lost its cover. We were searching high and low for about a week, Mr.P hardly spoke to me as I obviously got the blame for it’s disappearance. He was walking around like a bear with a sore head who had just lost his best friend. Finally we found the piece of paper and  we could actually get on with making this dish.

To top it all off, the ingredients that we had purchased to make this dish had gone off by the time we found the recipe, so back to the beginning and we started the journey again from scratch. It was definitely worth the effort as it’s delicious and well worth the time, tears, tantrums and effort. I think the lesson learned was not to store things’ in safe places’ or do not purchase your ingredients until you have located the recipe. We are now giggling over the chaos that we caused ourselves; at the time it was quite a traumatic event. Boy’s and their….not really toy’s…but …..well recipes!

The inspiration for making this dish came from spending time out in my kitchen garden admiring the bees at work pollinating the raspberry bush. Last summer Mum visited and she gave Mr.P a small bee house as a birthday gift. We attached the bee house to the wall in between the raspberry and blackberry bushes. There were no occupants last year as we had only put it up at the end of the summer however this year we were delighted and very excited to see movement and very happy residents residing in the bee house.

They are fascinating little creatures buzzing away round the raspberry bush so I’m expecting a bumper harvest. This particular cane is the Tulameen variety  bearing plenty of large plump fruits and the fragrance is what I like the most, a true sweet raspberry perfume.

I thought I should keep the dish simple and simplicity is exactly the way to describe a classic cranachan. I dug out the bottle of good quality Scottish whisky that Mr.P got for Christmas and along with the jar of heather honey,  cranachan is the obvious choice.

I served them in these small glasses,however it’s the perfect dish to make in small kilner jars and to take along on a picnic. I would suggest however you bake a few shortbread instead of these fragile toasted oat wafers.

We discovered Arabica Food and Spice at Borough market about two years ago and fell in love with the range of quality products that they sell. We got hooked on their spices Ras-el-Hanout and Wild Sumac, these are available elsewhere but nothing beats the quality from Arabica Food and Spice. Ever heard or used the phrase “you get what you pay for” well that is definitely so with these ingredients.

We met up with James Walters from Arabica Food and Spice and went for a “jamming session” in his kitchen. It was a fun day cooking on James’ house boat, we were perhaps slightly over ambitious attempting to do too many recipes and perhaps got a bit  drawn into the chore of cooking and  forget about the enjoyment factor. But all in all it was a fantastic day, the main aim was to use as many of Arabica Food and Spice’s ingredients and we certainly achieved that.

We used the wild sumac in the orange polenta shortbreads to compliment the citrus undertones from the orange, and  we also sprinkled some sumac over the mango and orange salad inside the pudding. We made  orange blossom air, by adding the orange blossom water to yoghurt and then dispensed it from a cream whipper which was charged with nitrous oxide. The gas injection expanded the volume of the orange blossom flavoured yoghurt and created the most delicious and fragrant mousse texture.

I wanted to use Alphonso mangoes for the pudding but unfortunately these were not available  but they will be coming in season very soon so they would be a great substitute for the normal mangoes that I used. The added floral fragrance alongside the orange blossom air, transforms this delicious pudding into something rather spectacular.

It might seem as if I wish my life away but what I’m actually doing is being prepared, one step in front and trying to not be stressed when it’s time to show my wares.

As a matter of fact I’m involved with drinks and canapé events all the year round so the need for inspiration and creativity is a constant demand.

I’m busy compiling another of my chef’s tips and fact sheets similar to the ones on gelatine and agar agar, this time it’s about espumas / culinary foams. Normally the information and techniques are in my head but the whole idea behind the British Larder is for me to share my knowledge and skill so that others can play and do it themselves. I find this immensely satisfying and rewarding.

Most chefs might cringe at the thought of a cheese foam as they think it’s passé; but then I’m so pleased food is subjective and it works for me. It’s a technique developed in my cooking era, something not  from the Larousse and a technique I think that will last for a while and will make it’s mark on the culinary map.

I have chosen to use Montgomery cheddar for this cheesy foam as it’s strong, packs a punch and a very little goes a long way. The crispy bacon adds a meaty smoky saltiness to this delicious canapé the only thing missing is a glass of bubbly! Salute!

I was spurred on to cook  venison after deciding to collaborate with Polly Robinson from Food Safari by hosting the cooking demonstration on the 28th at the Wild Meat in a Day Food Safari event. I’m truly excited and in my well known fashion cannot stop thinking about the various wonderful venison recipes.

I cannot believe how fast the time is passing by, just the other day I wrote a few posts about visiting Great Garnets Farmers market. Last Saturday I made another trip to Great Garnets with a vision to find more wonderful local produce.

I was not disappointed and to my sheer delight I ended up chatting away to Sue and Jack Friedlein from White House Farm, Maldon. They gave up their dairy farm to rear venison and it was plain to see that Sue was butchering the meat as it definitely had the woman’s touch as it was immaculately tidy, very well presented and neatly butchered.

I felt very guilty walking away with a bag filled to the brim with glorious venison cuts for a very reasonable price. I did kick myself afterwords for not buying the kidneys too. Whilst tucking into this delicious venison shank and chestnut mushroom suet pudding,  I realised that the kidneys would have made a superb addition to this recipe.

This dish takes time and a lot of patience to prepare but my theory is that if you have the time, the ingredients and a good bottle of wine why not give this delicious recipe a go. I could not believe my eyes  at the volume of flaked meat I obtained from the cooked shank. Venison is a healthy meat and  there is hardly any fat but it calls for a lot of control and patience because if you are in a hurry and cook the meat too fast you will end up with a very dry and near inedible result. I made 6 individual suet puddings with one venison shank and I would rather not say how little I paid for it. Even though I spend a lot of hours cooking  my conclusion is that this dish is certainly worth the effort.

The suet pastry is easy to make and the golden rule is to work quickly with light fingers and do not knead the pastry. Push it all together and put it in the fridge to rest, this way your suet puddings will be light and easy digestible. The other golden tip is in the steaming time, I steamed these puddings  for an hour and they came out super light and delicious.

I raise my glass to Polly and thank her for encouraging me to dream up more delicious venison recipes….

….watch this space as there are a few more to follow soon.

In the mean time try these mouth watering recipes…..

• Venison and Smoked Pancetta Meatballs with Curly Kale and Parsnip Mash; Red Onion Gravy

• Venison and Butternut Squash Canapes with Fried Quails Eggs