Dairy Queen

Monday morning – time to do battle with curd. Just to be clear, I am talking about From Scratch Cheese!

It’s been a long time since I have sat down with some crackers and sunk my teeth into some delectably creamy offering. I would akin my love for cheese close to that of Wallace, and if I had a Gromit there would be Wensleydale oozing out after every meal.
Continue reading

Alive and Baking

I have been getting cabin fever lately, spending way too much time inside. So last Wednesday I decided enough was enough, I was going to get out.

I decided a trip to the V&A for some inspiration for my projects would be a good plan.  However on my journey to the museum I saw this fantastic display for National Baking Week….

Bethnal Cream? Genius!

Bethnal Cream? Genius!

Continue reading

Common sense: a recipe for success

This is a story about shoving common sense to one side, and blindly following recipes.

As I’ve said before, pasta was a big part of my staple diet before the start of this year, and filled pasta (predominantly tortellini) was the ultimate in lazy. You didn’t even have to make a sauce: just boil some water, drop the parcels in for a few minutes and chuck some grated cheese on top.
Continue reading

Musings on Muesli

Muesli is the oxymoron of the patient/quickie food analogy.

I compiled it in about 30 seconds, but to prepare the ingredients took over five hours (and if I had chosen different fruit, my research tells me could have been hitting the eight hour mark). Continue reading

From Scratch Club

So after nine long months it has arrived. The bun has been slowly baking away since January, and now it’s ready to leave the oven and say hello to the world, and you, the good people of the From Scratch kingdom, will be the first to see it.

No I am not talking about a baby, but in fact the launch of the Suppers From Scratch exclusive members club!
Continue reading

In search of the perfect croissant…

(***Health Warning! The following recipes were cooked by trained professionals under strict safety conditions. Suppers From Scratch cannot take responsibility for any pastry induced cardiac arrests.  Do not attempt unless you plan to neutralize the copious amounts of butter with a strict exercise regime!***) 

So last week in my perfect French bliss I enrolled on a one day veinnoiserie course.  I was going to learn to make the perfect Croissants, Pain au Chocolat and Pain au Raisin. Continue reading

A certain joie de vivre….

I currently have the luxury of writing my blog in 30 degree heat with a light breeze in the kitchen of a very petite medieval French house in the Languedoc Roussillon – well, more 3 rooms stacked on top of each other but you get the picture.

Writing in the shade on a sunny day, filled with a dappled glow of a truly From Scratch lunch, life couldn’t be better.

Now I was trying to work out, what makes it so good? Is it the holiday or is it the From Scratch food?  I am well over half way through my year now and, as holidays always seem to provide, I am starting to get some perspective on the project so far.
Continue reading

Monday Night and Tuesday Lunchtime

I realised today that what my story needs is a bit of gritty realism in the form of British kitchen sink drama!

Well, really more of a concise look at the reality of eating From Scratch everyday for a year. Not the epic tales of baked goods, the eloquent eulogies of dinner parties, or the devastation of failed chocolate. No. No drama, no comedy, just your average run of the mill tale where you get to peak over the neighbours fence in to the realism of daily life From Scratch.

Continue reading

I love cake like a fat kid loves cake

Throughout the whole experience so far, from bread to chocolate, jam to pasta, there has been one glaring omission from my From Scratch story. Those of you who know me can probably guess, and for those of you who don’t you can also probably guess!

What else could it be but the master of all food loveliness – CAKE!

When it comes to cake I am like a sugar starved child with a constant image of what could be if only I had a slice of  mouth watering chocolate, lemon, carrot, banana (you name it, I love it … except coffee, but nobody likes coffee) cake.

Continue reading