Georgina Hayden

Feeding since 1982

It’s the most wonderful time of the year (Autumn)

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I love autumn, it truly is my most favourite time of the year. Cold enough to snuggle up, wear layers and stay indoors, but still mild enough to invite people over for dinner (and wine) and guarantee they’ll come (by January you have to promise me an insane feast to get me to leave the house). Also I think food is at its peak. Spring and Summer are strong contenders, I know, but I love nothing more than the flavours, colours and textures of autumn. Pumpkins, squashes, mushrooms, orchard fruits, cabbage, kale, game… It combines a lot of my favourite things, including a natural desire to slow cook everything and fill the house with warm and spiced smells.

cinnamon-braised-lamb-shanks

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Elderflower jellies (and cordial)

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It’s elderflower season! And I am giddy from picking this free treasure. I love that even living in a heavily built up and busy city I managed to do a little foraging. These beauties were found by the canal in East London and I’ve been back twice since (I haven’t depleted the whole tree I promise). We’ve had a quiet couple of days after a heavy few weeks and this was perfectly calming and therapeutic. So, a short and simple blog post from me today, and appreciating these beautiful little flowers in all their glory.

 

Elderflower
Freshly picked elderflower
Elderflower jellies
Elderflower jellies

 

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

Classic elderflower cordial calls for just caster sugar and lemons, however I love the subtle addition of honey.

  • 15 heads of elderflower (be sure not to wash them, but do pick off any bugs)
  • 500g caster sugar
  • 4 tablespoons good quality runny honey
  • 2 unwaxed lemons

Continue for recipe…

Crispy pork and chilli egg fried rice

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Happy Monday!

We’ve just got back from a week in Tulum and I’m pretty jet-lagged. Thankfully I’ve got a day at home to sort through a tonne of photos (expect a Mexico picture post next!) and reflect on all the amazing things we have seen and done this last week, it was an incredibly inspiring trip.

May is proving to be a difficult month for us, a lot of memories and a lot of build up to Archie’s birthday. There was some serious soul searching whilst we were away, a lot of reflection and we made some resolutions about what we’d like to do differently when we get home. There aren’t lots but it’s quality over quantity, and things that are achievable. Small things like waking up earlier, make time every week to exercise together (like we were doing before, we’ve been slack), small changes that will make a big difference. My weekly shop is one of those resolutions. When I first started cooking again in the early days, doing my weekly shop and meal planning gave me such a sense of achievement. I felt good knowing I was doing the best I could by feeding us well, as well as relaxing by spending time in the kitchen.

Pork chilli egg fried rice
Pork and chilli egg fried rice

So today I did my first weekly shop. Lots of fruit and veg, organic yoghurts for breakfast, tea smoked fish for a seasonal asparagus salad, ham hocks for our favourite hash, chicken to have with mole sauce… For lunch today however I wanted something comforting and homely (although it is supposedly warm by UK standards, I’m not convinced – I’m not bringing the Birkenstocks back out just yet). Read more…