As many bookings as I can handle, mostly returning guests plus their friends and family! Word of mouth seems to be working well so spending time on publicity still doesn't seem urgent.
The local market is bursting with produce and as I am still in Italian mode I decided to roast lots of flavourful vegetables.
Peppers, aubergines, courgettes, mushrooms, new season shallots, cherry tomatoes and whole unpeeled cloves of garlic, slowly roasted in good olive oil and a few fresh herbs they develop an almost jammy sweetness with lovely caramelized bits at the edges.
They make colourful salads or can be reheated gently and added to cooked pasta. A few shavings of parmesan is the only finishing touch you need.
I don't make this in the Winter, the peppers etc might look the same but they have no flavour.
Time to make jam too.
This week I made rhubarb and orange jam with fresh rhubarb from the garden. I have always added the juice and zest of orange to rhubarb crumbles but never realised that it is a combination mentioned in Mrs Beeton's book published in 1861!
I put the rhubarb, very fine orange zest, orange juice and sugar in a large pan and leave it overnight, it brings out the juices and helps to keep the pieces whole. I also remove the rhubarb once it is soft and add it back to the mix at the end. Otherwise it can end up looking like baby food.
There is no pectin in rhubarb so I use sugar with added pectin plus fresh lemon juice.
It has a really unusual and very delicious flavour with a slight marmalady tang.
I'm not going to start listing on Ebay for another couple of weeks, even though my stock room is full to the ceiling!
I have decided to head South again for a few more days. This time I am going to search for more stock as I won't have much time during the busy holiday season.
Still an awful lot of preparation to do before I go.................a bientôt.
The local market is bursting with produce and as I am still in Italian mode I decided to roast lots of flavourful vegetables.
They make colourful salads or can be reheated gently and added to cooked pasta. A few shavings of parmesan is the only finishing touch you need.
I don't make this in the Winter, the peppers etc might look the same but they have no flavour.
Time to make jam too.
This week I made rhubarb and orange jam with fresh rhubarb from the garden. I have always added the juice and zest of orange to rhubarb crumbles but never realised that it is a combination mentioned in Mrs Beeton's book published in 1861!
There is no pectin in rhubarb so I use sugar with added pectin plus fresh lemon juice.
It has a really unusual and very delicious flavour with a slight marmalady tang.
I'm not going to start listing on Ebay for another couple of weeks, even though my stock room is full to the ceiling!
I have decided to head South again for a few more days. This time I am going to search for more stock as I won't have much time during the busy holiday season.
Still an awful lot of preparation to do before I go.................a bientôt.
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