We received lots of love for our Lime & Ginger Ice Cream video – thank you very much! Therefore, we have decided to make it a regular occurrence.
This time, showing you how to make the perfect risotto, featuring a delicious Lemon and Prawn Risotto from Quick After-Work.
But it’s not just plants that liven up the garden, we can adorn with sculpture, chairs, outdoor rugs and (my favourite) festoon or fairy lights.
Lighting can change your garden into a magical place in an evening – an inviting spot for dining outside.
You can go the whole hog and employ an electrician to install dramatic uplighters, or simply dot solar lights around the garden and string up some gorgeous fairy or festoon lights.
Flickering candles on your outdoor table add to the ambience. Citronella candles are a great idea as they also keep bugs at bay.
And eat simple, delicious foods that don’t take long to prepare and can be enjoyed at leisure with your friends and family.
Why not try the recipes below? Taken from our super-popular Quick AfterWork Cookbook (not all must be cooked ‘after-work’ though!)
Take a look at our 5 Strawberry Recipes for Summer collection.
Emily Davenport
I post a blog every week featuring food, family and fun. There are lots of useful household tips, crafty ideas, giveaways and delicious recipes that I think you will find irresistible.
I always loved those bright splashes of orange but never realised they were edible. I don’t suppose it’s wise telling a child that they can eat flowers!
This year’s Dairy Diary feature introduces us to many more than the nasturtium, including calendula, cornflower and viola, and how to use them with food.
Cooking with edible flowers might seem like a modern trend, but floral dishes in fact draw on an ancient tradition that can be traced back to the Romans. Edible blooms contribute a genuine wow factor to a meal, adding texture, flavour and colour to both sweet and savoury dishes.
The ancient Greeks are believed to have added violets to their wine, while the imperial Chinese preferred their tipples brewed with chrysanthemums. Meanwhile, the Ottoman penchant for Turkish delight is yet another instance of flowers in gastronomic history. While the recent resurgence of cooking with flowers might be attributed to their good looks, making them perfect for the Instagram era, the roots of cooking with flowers run centuries deep.
In Britain, interest in edible blooms peaked in Victorian times: the era saw a new enthusiasm for flowers in all areas, including floriography, otherwise known as ‘the language of flowers’. The heightened significance of flowers and their associated symbolism had our 19th century forebears adding violets, primroses and borage blossoms to their meals. Petals were added to salads, used to decorate cakes or even pickled in vinegar.
Nowadays, as the appeal of local food continues to grow, native flowers frequently feature on the menus of Michelin-starred restaurants and farm shop cafés alike. A few scattered petals can elevate the appearance of a dish, adding an elegant and aesthetically pleasing touch. And should you choose to add flowers to your food, you are taking part in a time-worn tradition, motivated by the simple desire to make meals even more appetising and attractive.
When it comes to sourcing flowers to eat, there are three main options: grow, buy or forage! Some supermarkets now stock edible flower punnets specifically for use in cooking, but you’ll mostly be buying cut flowers to put in the pan. For this reason, it’s important to opt for untreated flowers that haven’t been sprayed with preservatives. If growing your own, care for plants accordingly and avoid weedkillers.
Foraging for edible flowers is another option. The bright hues make wildflowers easier to spot than greenery, so it’s an activity for curious children too. If you live in a city, foraging for edible flowers is still possible, but steer clear of busy roads or industrial areas where flowers might have been contaminated by pollutants.
The availability of edible flowers in the wild is seasonal, but there is almost always something to find apart from in deep winter. In spring, the cream heads of elderflower can be used to make cordial or decorate bakes. Elder leaves and bark are poisonous, so use the blossoms only. In summer, instead of cursing the dandelions poking up in your lawn, why not scatter the heads over salads? Once you tune into the possibilities, you’ll see edible flowers everywhere.
Remember not all blooms are edible: some are endangered while others can cause serious harm if consumed. Do your research and if in doubt, err on the side of caution. If buying edible flowers, always purchase from a florist or supermarket.
Try this simple recipe for crystallised blooms. It provides reliably satisfying results, making it a great project to try with older children.
Makes 1½ litres (2½ pints) • Time 6 days
Calories 284 • Fibre 0.1g • Salt 0g • Sugar 75g
Fat 0g of which 0g is saturated
Suitable for vegetarians
Caster sugar 1kg (2lb 4oz)
Boiling water 900ml (1½ pints)
Citric acid 50g (2oz)
Elderflower heads 20, flowers snipped from stems
Lemon 1, thinly sliced
Limes 4, thinly sliced
Root ginger 50-75g (2-3oz), peeled & sliced
1. Put sugar in a bowl, add boiling water and stir until dissolved. Add citric acid and elderflowers; stir. Stir in sliced lemon, limes and ginger. Cover with clingfilm and put in a cool place for 6 days, stirring daily.
2. Place a colander or sieve over a bowl and line with muslin or clean J-cloths. Pour boiling water through to sterilise. Pour away water and wring out cloth.
3. Re-line sieve or colander, replace over bowl and strain the cordial through it. Discard elderflowers, lemon, limes and ginger.
4. Pour cordial through a funnel into two sterilised 75cl (1¼ pint) wine bottles. Seal with corks or screw caps and store in fridge. Will keep for a year or more. Serve diluted with chilled white wine, tonic or soda water, or top up with boiling water to make a hot toddy.
Makes 2 loaves • Time 35 mins per loaf
Calories 235 • Fibre 0.4g • Salt 0.2g • Sugar 26.3g
Fat 10.2g of which 6.1g is saturated
Suitable for vegetarians
Suitable for freezing
Milk 75ml (21⁄2fl oz)
Fresh lavender flower heads 6, plus extra for decoration, or 1 tsp dried lavender
Unsalted butter 175g (6oz) softened
Caster sugar 175g (6oz)
Lemon 1, finely grated zest
Eggs 3, beaten
Self-raising flour 175g (6oz)
Icing sugar 225g (8oz)
Violet food colouring
1. Put milk and flower heads, or dried lavender, in a small pan and bring slowly to simmering over a low heat. Remove from heat, cover and set aside for 30 minutes. Strain milk into a bowl and discard lavender.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C/160°fan/Gas 4. Beat butter, caster sugar and zest until creamy. Gradually beat in eggs, adding a tablespoon of flour with each egg. Fold in remaining flour and 2 tablespoons of lavender milk.
3. Spoon mixture in two loaf tins; level the tops. Stand tins on a baking sheet and bake for 35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in tins for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4. Sieve the icing sugar into a bowl. Stir in enough lavender milk to make a smooth paste that just holds its shape. Tint icing by mixing in a little food colouring then spread it over the tops of the cakes with a palette knife. Decorate each cake with small sprigs of lavender flowers. Leave to set before serving.
I post a blog every week featuring food, family and fun. There are lots of useful household tips, crafty ideas, giveaways and delicious recipes that I think you will find irresistible.
Rarely celebrated today, 29 May is also known as Oak Apple Day, the former public holiday held to commemorate the restoration of the monarchy.
In some regions, and in particular the midlands, celebrations of Oak Apple Day continue to this day where it is common for people to decorate their houses with oak branches or wear a sprig of oak as their ancestors once did.
In Northampton, a garland of oak apples is laid at the statue of King Charles II, whilst in Castleton, Derbyshire, the Garland King rides through the streets of the town at the head of a procession. The medieval Great Hall at the Commandery in Worcester, where a portrait of Charles II portrait hangs, is festooned with garlands of oak leaves and its gardens filled with Morris dancing, garden games and living history.
As with every region of Britain, Western England is also famed for its culinary heritage. From the Staffordshire oatcake to Birmingham Bacon Cakes, Malvern Cherry cake and Shrewsbury biscuits, Worcestershire sauce and, of course, Cadbury chocolate.
Our Around Britain cookbook showcases some classic recipes from this region of central England and introduces us to more of its culinary history.
Around Britain cookbook, plus Just for 1 or 2 for just £15.50 (plus p&p).
The shire counties are sometimes known as the Heart of England and certainly, the rolling Malvern Hills, the honey-stone Cotswold cottages and the orchards seen in these western regions are quintessentially English sights.
The region is a foodie’s delight for every year the Ludlow Food Fair highlights the huge variety of excellent fare on offer. The warm, moist climate and rich, heavy soil create fertile conditions for fruit and vegetables, while the grassy hills have long been populated by sheep, which provide meat and wool for the weaving industries.
But it is dairy farming in this region that provides ingredients for its well-known chocolate bars and yogurt desserts. Also renowned are its cheeses, such as the golden Double Gloucester, excellent in a variation of Welsh rarebit called Gloucester cheese and ale (page 34), where cheese and mustard are baked in brown ale. Land where cows graze happily will also fatten beef cattle and this region hosts the famous white-faced Hereford breed, which produces meat of great flavour and tenderness.
The sheep that graze the Cotswold Hills have inspired many lamb dishes, including the curiously named Gloucestershire squab pie, which blends the meat with spices and apple, and the equally misleading Oxford John steak (page 124), which is actually leg of lamb with capers. Other popular meat dishes in this region are faggots (originally made from offal with herbs and spices) and the beef-based Warwickshire stew. However, pork is the meat mainstay, perhaps because pigs once did the job of removing the windfalls in the apple, pear and plum orchards of this region. There is even a ‘Midlands cut’ of bacon, and a dish popular on the borders of the Welsh Marches is loin of pork with cabbage cake.
While we’re on the subject of cake, there are several notable recipes from Western England. Brandy snaps (see page 71) and gingerbread are both local favourites. Staffordshire fruit cake is a well-known recipe made extra rich with the addition of black treacle and brandy; there is also a spiced Oxford cake and, best known of all, the Banbury cakes originating from that north Oxfordshire town. These are made from puff pastry filled with raisins and dried fruits.
Other eponymous recipes include Shrewsbury biscuits (page 77), which are rather like shortbread, Coventry God cakes (a traditional christening gift from godparents) and the great favourite of Staffordshire, oatcakes, which are closer to pancakes than oat biscuits and can be eaten with sweet or savoury accompaniments.
No review of the food from this area can omit to mention the famous Worcestershire Sauce, a liquid that adds flavour to almost any savoury recipe and which originated when the Governor of Bengal returned to his native Worcester and tried to re-create an Indian recipe. The sauce was a complete disaster until tasted after several months when it had matured into the fine ingredient still used today. Similarly bizarre is the heritage of Cooper’s Oxford marmalade, which is famous for its chunks of bitter peel from a variety of Seville oranges grown in Andalusia. Apparently, hardly anybody else can use the fruit because it’s so bitter!
Western England provides a miniature history of Britain. It starts with the infighting between different regions and the quest for the English crown, which led to the building of huge fortresses to protect land and power. The best-preserved example of a medieval castle in Britain is at Warwick, where the immense proportions of this 1000-year-old fortress are still a formidable sight.
Less intact but full of history is Ludlow Castle, home to Princes Edward and Richard, the sons of Edward IV who were taken to the Tower of London and most probably murdered there. Another fine ruin is Kenilworth, immortalised by Sir Walter Scott in his nineteenth-century novel of the same name.
In medieval Britain, the unlikely power base of the economy was the Cotswolds because this sheep-rearing region produced the wool vital for clothing and trade. Numerous homes and churches were built in the local honey-coloured limestone and today these form the ‘chocolate box’ landscape of middle England.
The decline of the wool trade (which, ironically, helped to preserve this landscape) reflected a change to an industrial economy epitomised by the Potteries in Staffordshire. Abundant local supplies of the raw materials clay, salt and lead for glazing and coal for firing kilns, led firms such as Wedgwood, Royal Doulton and Spode to manufacture their earthenware and stoneware here. It wasn’t pretty, but it created the English ceramic industry.
Emily Davenport
I post a blog every week featuring food, family and fun. There are lots of useful household tips, crafty ideas, giveaways and delicious recipes that I think you will find irresistible.
A Zest for Life cookery book is certain to put a spring in your stride, as each recipe takes seasonal, fresh produce to create scrumptious dishes that have been triple tested to ensure their success.
Whether you are new to cooking or a seasoned foodie, we are sure you will love it.
This cookbook elevates simple ingredients whilst minimising fuss, no faddy foods in sight!
You don’t have to take our word for it though, we put our cookbook in the hands of testers to see what they thought…
“Once again I tried a recipe from @originaldairydiary and again I achieved a perfect result!” – @janeyfoodlover
“Sometimes you don’t need much to create amazing dishes full of flavour and packed with goodness” – @foodandpug_
“Strawberry Balsamic Sorbet 🍓 made using @originaldairydiary recipe! It’s so easy and so yumm!” – @yorkshiregal_foodie
Please use code ZF25 at the checkout to redeem your saving. Don’t forget, if you spend over £20 you also get free delivery!
I am the Brand Executive for Dairy Diary. A passionate foodie (with a very sweet-tooth). Who likes to blog about all things DIY & scrumptious recipes.
As the evenings are still pretty chilly, make the most of the morning sunshine (hopefully!) with a delicious late breakfast.
Scrub the garden furniture, lay on a pretty cloth and some beautiful china; definitely your best teapot or coffee pot – dependent on your preference – and dine on the terrace.
I’ve chosen three delicious breakfast recipes from A Zest for Life cookbook, which has a chapter dedicated to ‘bountiful breakfasts’.
These recipes are packed full of good-stuff to set you up for the day. Serve with some freshly squeezed orange juice and a pot of your favourite tea or coffee.
Enjoy Bank Holiday Monday, an extra lie in is always welcome.
Watch out for our next blog – we have a special discount code to share with you!
I post a blog every week featuring food, family and fun. There are lots of useful household tips, crafty ideas, giveaways and delicious recipes that I think you will find irresistible.
