Recipe

Hollywood Comes to the Camera-ready Cotswolds
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Hollywood Comes to the Camera-ready Cotswolds

Crumbs magazine interviewed me about my kitchen, my book Cotswolds Memoir and its sequel which I am currently writing. Enlarged text of article (below).

Crumbs Magazine

Text of Crumbs Magazine article ‘Setting the Stage’

Text 1

Text 3

Crumbs Cover

Cotswolds Memoir:
Now available in Paperback, Kindle and Audio Book

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Discovering a Beautiful Region of Britain
on a Quest to Buy a 17th Century Cottage
(Larrabee Libraries)

A portion of the proceeds of every copy of this author’s book COTSWOLDS MEMOIR: Discovering a Beautiful Region of Britain on a Quest to Buy a 17th Century Cottage is donated to Cotswold conservation institutions. Available on

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Visit the Cotswolds for Lamb in Puff Pastry

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Cotswold Lamb in Puff Pastry Recipe

In Metric and Imperial measures
Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

2 (8-ribs) rack of lamb trimmed of all but a thin layer of fat.
Use Cotswold Lamb if possible
1 package of ready-made puff pastry
¾ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil
1 egg. (Use Cotswold egg if possible)

Seasoning:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves of chopped garlic
2 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
1 ½ teaspoon salt

Method:

Preheat oven to 350F/200C/180Cfan/gas 6

Prepare seasoning
Add the garlic, salt and rosemary to 2 tablespoons olive oil,
mix ingredients together, mashing the garlic so that it blends with the oil.
Set aside.

 

1

Prepare lamb:
Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over high heat until hot
Meanwhile, pat lamb dry and rub meat all over with salt and pepper.
Brown racks, in 2 batches if necessary, on all sides about 10 minutes per batch.
Divide each rack into 4 double chops
Transfer racks to a roasting pan.
Spoon the seasoned oil over the lamb racks
Place racks in preheated oven and bake for 40 minutes

2-a

Puff Pastry
As the lamb cooks roll out puff pastry to approximately ¼ inch (.75 cm) thick.
Cut the pastry into 8 rectangular sections of 3 x 5 inch (7.5×12.5cm) each
Beat the egg in a bowl with a dash of water.

After 40 minutes remove the racks of lamb from the oven
Place one section of pastry on each pair of chops and
brush with the beaten egg mixture
Decorate the top with extra bits of puff pastry
Return the lamb to the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes
or until the pastry is golden brown and puffed.
Remove from the oven and let stand for 10 minutes
Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

end

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Blackberry and Apple Delight with Cotswold Honey


The hedgerows are loaded down with wild blackberries right now and so are the apple trees. There is no better way to enjoy the Cotswold countryside than picking wild fruit. So pick as many blackberries as you can and if you can scrump some apples the only thing needed then is the Cotswold honey.

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My mother used to make this scrumptious recipe (below) all through blackberry season and my brother and I rushed back from school knowing it would be there for us to heartily enjoy, as soon as we got home. So eating this dish for me is like Proust’s Madelaine Cake and I am transported back to my childhood by its sweetly perfumed delicate
taste.

Honey

Honey is a very important ingredient of this dish. Use organic Acacia if possible. Cotswold Honey is the best choice and Andy Briggs of Fat Cat Antiques Fairs sells local Cotswold organic honey. Here is his link: http://bit.ly/1uoQJjz

Blackberry and Apple Delight with Cotswold Honey 

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

2 1lbs Blackberries or more. They cook down quite a bit.
1 8oz jar of Cotswold Honey
8 apples cored and finely sliced- any kind of apple works fine.
¼ cup of water
1 carton ice cream or whipped double cream to taste (optional)

Method

Carefully wash the blackberries making sure no stems or leaves remain
Wash, core and finely slice the apples leaving their skins on.Blackberry and Apples-2

In a large pot cook gently heat the blackberries until they are just soft
Drain off the excess liquid
In a separate saucepan gently cook the apples, after adding the water, until almost soft
Drain off the excess liquid
Combine the apples and blackberries in a large pot
Add the jar of Cotswold honey (or to taste)
Stir in gently
Cook for a few minutes until the apples have absorbed the colour of the blackberries and the honey is well distributed.
Allow to cool
If desired serve with Vanilla Ice cream or whipped double cream

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Life is Just a Bowl of COTSWOLD Cherry Pie – Recipe and Lyrics 

Cherry pie for twitter

Life is Just a Bowl of (Cotswolds) Cherries………

It’s fresh cherry season in the Cotswolds right now so don’t miss out  – it doesn’t last long.
My husband Randall Montgomery who takes all the lovely photos in my book
Cotswolds Memoir (on Amazon) and on my web site makes just one pie a year – and he
waits for the Cotswolds cherries which are particularly juicy and flavourful.
Here’s the recipe for this delicious cherry pie.

Ingredients:

2 Pre-made Shortcrust Pastry Shells
2 lbs Freshly picked cherries (Cotswolds Cherries if possible)
2 tbls Brown Sugar
1 Egg-white beaten with a tsp of water

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees F (150 C or gas mark 2)
Pit the Cherries, place in a saucepan sprinkle with Brown Sugar, stir,
cover and stew on low heat for 20 minutes stirring occasionally
While the cherry mixture is cooking,  roll out one Shortcrust Pastry Shell and place in 9″ pie pan
Prick the bottom of the shell with a fork and Bake for 20 Minutes

While the bottom shell is baking roll out the second Shortcrust Pastry to the thickness of a 10p coin and
with a pizza wheel or sharp knife cut the Pastry in 3/4″ strips 10″-12″ long

After baking, remove the first crust from the oven and use a slotted spoon to spoon the cherries into it
reserving the excess juice to use later (possibly as an ice cream topping)
(for decoration reserve one particularly large cherry to place on the top of the pie)
Now brush the egg mixture around the edge of the bottom crust and
use the strips of the second rolled out pastry to form a lattice work top as per this video below:

HOW TO WEAVE LATTICE PASTRY

Brush on more of the egg mixture, coating the top of the pie and sprinkle with Brown Sugar
Place in the oven and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown

Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries

by Ray Henderson and lyrics by Buddy G. DeSylva and Lew Brown, published in 1931.
Ethel Merman introduced this song in George White’s Scandals of 1931.
Rudy Vallee‘s version, recorded it in 1931, stayed five weeks in the top 10 pop music charts.

Life is just a bowl of cherries
Don’t take it serious,
Life’s too mysterious
You work,
You save,
You worry so
But you can’t take your dough
When you go, go, go

So keep repeating “It’s the berries.”
The strongest oak must fall
The sweet things in life
To you were just loaned
So how can you lose
What you’ve never owned

Life is just a bowl of cherries
So live and laugh, aha!
Laugh and love
Live and laugh,
Laugh and love,
Live and laugh at it all!

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New! Cotswolds Memoir is now available as an AudioBook in addition to Paperback and Kindle

Click below to order
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 amazon
A portion of the proceeds of every copy of  COTSWOLDS MEMOIR: is donated to Cotswold conservation institutions.