Sloe Food

I finally found some sloes in October off a footpath somewhere in West Sussex. But if anybody knows a good sloe footpath in London, let me know. Anyway, here’s what I did with them.

Wash them then prick all over with a pin or a hawthorn if you’re feeling authentic. Put them in a biggish jar, add some brown sugar (about 2oz for a pint of sloes) then fill it up with gin, seal and shake – every day for as long as you can (3 months minimum).

When they're ready, get some muslin (John Lewis, if you’re asking), strain off the berries and bottle up the filtered juice. Leave for 6-12 months before drinking.



Now, squeeze the pips out of the gin-soaked berries, then melt some chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan of hot water. Add the de-pipped berries, stir into the melted chococlate then place lumps on a piece of greaseproof paper to cool. Dust with cocoa.

And there you have it. Some delayed gratification and instant pleasure in the form of sloe gin and juicy sloe chocolates.

Four days in Praha

Surprisingly successful swede soup

I had two swede in my veg box and I was trying to ignore them. Then everything around them disappeared and I was forced into a corner. Frankly I was at a loss. Swede to me does not hold very good memories. Bright orange cubes mixed with tinned carrot and sweetcorn in a kind of inedible vegetable medley to accompany a gristly cottage pie was about as good as it got. We’ve never had swede at home as far as I can remember so it’s always been connected with the unappetising smell of the school kitchen.

But I found an old turnip recipe that I thought sounded good and added a couple of things to come up with this. And it turned out to be a truly cathartic experience, an epiphany in the kitchen if you will.

So grab your swede (two small or one big to feed 5 or 6), wash peel and chop it into smallish chunks (NOT perfect cubes). Peel and chunky chop a couple of nice carrots too and put them aside with the swede.

Finely chop an onion or a couple of shallots and smash and slice two garlic cloves. Heat up some olive oil with a knob of butter and sweat off the onions over a lowish heat, adding the garlic after a couple of minutes. Then add your misshapen swede and raise the heat a bit. Brown for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile get some stock ready – chicken’s good but veg is better for vegetarians I believe. 2 pints of strong stuff. Add the stock and the carrots, then let it simmer away for around 15 minutes. Then – and here’s where the magic starts – add half a cup of rice – risotto rice is best so arborio or carnaroli or whatever you favour. Let that simmer for 15, add salt and pepper, then at the end grate in a load of parmesan before serving up with chunky white toast and more parmesan on top if you like that sort of thing.