Author Archives for Emily Davenport, Head of Dairy Diary

About Emily Davenport, Head of Dairy Diary

Head of Dairy Diary; I'm passionate about producing high quality products that our customers will cherish. I'm also a mum of three and I enjoy cooking, walking, gardening and painting with my family, as well as printmaking (when I find the time!)

Back to school

It seems like only last week I was writing about the start of the school holidays, and now I am writing about the end.

It is a particularly poignant one this year as my youngest, Elena, is starting school for the first time.

I think we have all the essentials now that I have taken them to buy their school shoes. I dithered about where to take them, ideally wanting to avoid the crowds of other bored children needing theirs too. Then I remembered a lovely, little, independent shoe shop about ten minutes drive from where we live.

I dragged the children out in the rain thinking maybe it wasn’t too good an idea after all, but when we got to the shop and there were 2 waiting assistants and no other children, I was quite pleased with myself.

I told them from the start that I would like to look at the cheaper ranges, as designer school shoes to me are a complete waste of money, they only get abused.

The first pair that fitted were £41. Gulp! Is that cheap?

However, the second pair that fitted, and fitted even better, were £28. A startling difference when you are buying two pairs!

Mission accomplished it was back home to discuss dinner. It may have been August, but it felt very Autumnal as we unpacked our black shoes, and removed our waterproofs. So, for dinner it was a hearty ‘Paprika Sausage Supper‘ from the Just One Pot Cookbook, page 84.

I got it underway and in the oven which gave us time for a snuggle upon the sofa to watch a film together. These moments are going to get rarer and rarer now they will both be in school so I intend to make the most of them.

Have a good week.

Karen
Dairy Diary Team

Paprika Sausage Supper

Paprika Sausage Supper.

The tangy crunch of dill pickle provides a
delicious contrast to this goulash-style dish.

Recipe taken from Just One Pot.

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Paprika Sausage Supper

The tangy crunch of dill pickle provides a delicious contrast to this goulash-style dish.

Paprika Sausage Supper

Preparation time 20 minutes
Cooking time 1 hour 20 minutes
Calories per portion 401 Kcal
Fat per portion 26g of which saturated 8.3g
Serves 4
Suitable for freezing

Good-quality pork sausages 8
Onions 2 large, peeled, each cut into 6 lengthways
Garlic 2–3 cloves, peeled and crushed
Green peppers 2, deseeded and thickly sliced
Sweet paprika 1 tbsp
Plain flour 1 tbsp
Chicken stock 300ml (½ pint)
Chopped tomatoes 400g can
Soured cream
Sliced dill pickled cucumbers cut into thin strips
Chopped parsley

1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/Gas 4. Heat a large flameproof casserole and cook the sausages until they are lightly browned. Remove and set aside.

2 Add the onions, garlic and peppers to the pan and cook them gently until they are slightly softened. Then stir in the paprika, flour, stock and tomatoes and bring to the boil.

3 Return the sausages to the pan, coat well with sauce and cover the surface with greaseproof paper. Cover the pan with its lid, then cook in the oven for 1–1¼ hours.

4 Before serving, skim off the excess fat. Top with soured cream, dill pickled cucumbers and parsley and serve immediately with thick slices of a French loaf for mopping up the juices.

Cook’s tip
Supermarkets sell a wide range of flavoured sausages. Garlicky Toulouse sausages, chillied sausages, or venison sausages could also be used for a stronger tasting dish.

Recipe taken from Just One Pot.

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Open-air theatre, wine and salads

Crazy for You open-air theatre.

We were so lucky with the weather for our jaunt to the open-air theatre.

It was a lovely afternoon so we knocked off work early and had a wander round Queen Mary’s Garden in Regents Park beforehand.

The roses were still gorgeous, despite being end of season, and the atmosphere was quiet and relaxed despite all the noise and traffic just a shout away. The performance, Crazy for You, (runs until 10 Sept) was fantastic – all those familiar songs (‘I got rhythm’, ‘Nice work if you can get it’, ‘Someone to watch over me’), great production numbers and the costumes – my goodness, the costumes! Hollywood glitz and glamour on a small outdoor stage in the heart of London.

Surreal really – gradually fading light, a leaf or two falling,
then the odd firefly and great lighting on the trees – and no rain!
‘Who could ask for anything more …’

It was so busy in the café that we just grabbed some sandwiches to go with a bottle of wine. Next time (I hope there’ll be one) I’ll try and be organised enough to take a picnic. If you’re avoiding sandwiches and ready made, and don’t want to carry bags of ‘stuff’, they can be quite challenging (no cold meats or chicken legs for non meat eaters!)

Interesting salads may be a good bet – avocado and grapefruit sounds nice, or try this raspberry, mango and stilton salad (in the Just One Pot cookbook). Cheese, of course, is a picnic must-have. And then yogurt cake afterwards (from this year’s diary) – delicious and won’t crumble in transit. Can’t wait to see what the programme is for next year.

Have a great week.

Marion
Dairy Diary Team

Raspberry, Mango and Stilton Salad

Raspberry, Mango & Stilton salad 
A tangy yet fruity salad with the distinctive taste of Stilton.

Recipe taken from Just One Pot.

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Raspberry, Mango & Stilton salad

Raspberry, Mango and Stilton Salad

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A tangy yet fruity salad with the distinctive taste of Stilton.

Preparation time 10 minutes
Calories per portion 279 Kcal
Fat per portion 21g of which saturated 7.8g
Serves 4
Suitable for vegetarians

Raspberry vinegar 6 tbsp
Olive oil 4 tbsp
Dijon mustard 1 tsp
Caster sugar 1 tsp
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Raspberries 250g (9oz)
Mango 1 peeled, stoned and cubed
Stilton cheese 110g (4oz), cubed
Salad leaves 150g bag

1 To make the dressing, pour the raspberry vinegar and olive oil into a bowl and add the mustard, sugar and seasoning. Whisk the dressing to mix together the ingredients.

2 Add half the raspberries to the bowl and use a fork to mash them slightly into the dressing. Stir the mango and cheese into the dressing.

3 Divide the salad leaves between four plates. Spoon over the mango and cheese and scatter over the remaining raspberries, drizzling over any remaining dressing

4 Serve immediately with some crusty bread to mop up the dressing.

Cook’s tip
If possible, choose a bag of salad that contains some shredded beetroot as the deep red colour looks good with the red raspberries and orange mango.

Recipe taken from Just One Pot.

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Walks, castles and coast

Before I start this I think I should point out that Northumberland is a beautiful place, well worth a visit if you like the outdoors. Lots of lovely walks, castle ruins and rugged shoreline.

Last year we spent three nights with friends near Bamburgh, and were fortunate to get some lovely days to explore. So, when offered the chance to go back this year, for a week on our own in a caravan this time, we were quite keen.

Unfortunately for us it was the week of the severe weather warnings in the area. And they were not wrong! 

The first evening we made a plan of action as it was obvious that my summer packing was not going to cut it, we needed more supplies! In the morning we went to the local camping shop to buy myself and my husband some wellies, that made wading to the shower block considerably easier.

Chris admitted that his top of the range waterproof he’d brought along was not doing it’s job, and bought a pack-a-mac. Then we had a clothes stock check, and on our next supermarket visit bought the children more trousers and ourselves more thick socks, to wear in the wellies.

All was not completely lost, we managed a couple of picnics.
One day it was actually dry and quite bright inbetween the clouds rushing along, and we found a sheltered sand dune at Cheswick to sit in to refuel before we got the kites out. Another day visiting Lindisfarne the picnic was a good old-fashioned British eat-in-the-car-admiring-the-coast-view-through-the-windscreen affair.

Instead of picnics what we could have done with was some warming soup, maybe something like the Curried Soup on page 145 of this year’s Dairy Diary? The caravan although well-equipped, was not the place to be trying out creative cookery though.

We cut our losses and packed up a day early to return home. What a relief that was! The sun came out and I managed to dry load after load of muddy, damp washing outside.

Have a warm dry week!

Karen
Dairy Diary Team

Currie Soup with Bacon

Curried Soup with Bacon
A super tasty soup that’s so easy to prepare.

A Dairy Diary recipe.

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Curried Soup with Bacon

A super tasty soup that’s so easy to prepare.

Currie Soup with Bacon

Serves 4
Time 35 mins
Calories 171 per portion
Fat 9g of which 4.2g is saturated
Suitable for freezing

Butter 15g (½oz)
Carrot 1, peeled and chopped
Onion 1, peeled and chopped
Potato 175g (6oz), peeled and diced
Smoked streaky bacon 4 rashers, chopped
Korma curry paste 2 tsp
Chicken stock 450ml (¾ pint)
Milk 300ml (½ pint)
Chopped coriander 3tbsp

1 Melt butter in a large pan and gently sauté carrot, onion, potato and bacon for 10 minutes.

2 Stir in curry paste, cook 1 minute then add stock and season with salt and pepper. Bring up to boil, stirring, then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

3 Purée with a stick blender or in a food processor. Add milk and coriander and reheat.

A Dairy Diary recipe.

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