Mackerel is a fantastic and health giving fish. It is packed with Omega-3 and offer about 50g of protein for 500 calories on a decent sized fish. For a heart helthy diet is is arguably a must. Of course like most fish there are the bones but you can always get your fishmonger to fillet it for you if that is a worry. On the other hand, you could always cook it whole and remove the bones after it has cooked. Mackerel is a bit scarce in off of Dartmouth at hte moment and that is a shame because it wasn't so many years ago that you could see the shoals bubbling and boiling on the surface of the water on the way out to the castle. However I am not in Dartmouth at the moment, I am visiting Newcastle where it seems the beasts are in good supply. A trip to Grainger Market yielded a fine specimen for lunch today and I decided to pair it with plantain and beetroot bought from a well stocked greengrocers also in the market. The structure of the meal and style of cooking is very much in line with our new approach to eating in terms of carbohdyrate and fat content. Basically no 'gratuitous' carbs and olive oils prmarily the only oil in place. Lots of vegetables. Obviously using an oily fish we were going to major on omega 3 oils but that too was in the right direction. In a word the main objectives of our diet are :- weight loss ( by way of calorie deficit) protein intake for muscle preservation heart health (blood pressure and cholesterol) It is more or less a mediterranean style diet that we have adopted but anyway, down to hte business of cooking. Ingredients 1 mackerel (about 345g) 1/2 a plantain 1 baked beetroot 1/2 a florence fennel bulb 6 garlic cloves 50g cooked pearl barley 1 large ripe tomato sliced 50g washed baby spinach Juice of half a lemon 2 tsp EVOO Method Preheat the oven to 200C (180C fan). Line a baking tray with baking paper. For the mackerel either have it gutted by the fishmonger of gut it yourself and place it on baking paper . Add 1 tsp EVOO and a squeeze of lemon juice and the fold up en papillote. Place the parcel onto the lined baking tray. (The lining is for the beetroot) Wash and top and tail the beetroot and cut into segments or quarters depending upon size and lay these on the baking paper alongside the fish. When the oven is at heat, place the tray on the middle shelve and bake about 20 - 25 minutes depending upon size. Check after 20 minutes and return if not fully cooked. Peel and slice the half plantain and slice the half fennel bulb. Peel the 6 garlic cloves. Set all aside until the fish has been in the oven for 10 minutes. Meanwhile lay out the washed spinach on the serving plate and wash and slice the tomato and set aside. When the fish has been in the oven for 10 minutes heat a frying pan and add 2 tsp olive oil. get the oil hot and then turn down. Add the garlic cloves and fry for about 2-3 minutes, stiring all the time. Then add the fennel and stir (occasionally now). After a further 3 minutes and the plantain and turn the heat down lower and stop stirring for a while. Flip the plantain slices after about 3 minutes and cook o the other side . After they have had a further 3 minutes turn off the heat. Check the fish after it has been in ht oven 20 minutes and once cooked remove from oven. Microwave the pre-cooked pearl barley for about 1 minute until hot. Remove the head of the mackerel ( so that it fits the plate) and lay the fish on hte bed of spinach. Place the pearl barley, fennel , beetroot and plantain around the fish as you see appropriate and poor the juices from the papillote packet onto the fish and the pearl barley. Place the sliced tomato on the dish and add a good squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Ready to serve Observations The plantain was a little too underripe and so I did not get the banana flavour that I was looking for. Also the dish was served as a mix of hot and cold ingreients (hot fish, cooking liquor, beetroot and pearl barley - the rest cold.) It could all equally have been served cold. Notwithstanding the above, it was a really good plate of fish complemented by the aromatic vegetables, offering 50g protein and the whole meal taking about 925 Kcal. The vegetables in the main provided a pleasant crunch to the meal and left a very satisfied sense of wholeness after eating.

There is apparently a tuna season in the UK and it must be about now because the fish has started making appearances in the local fish stall in Dartmouth. We were intrigued by the weird cut that sat behind the head of the tuna and so naturally, we asked what it was. Collar, was the answer. Still none the wiser, we got into a discussion on the various cuts . At one point the fishmonger rummaged under some other fish and pulled out a triangular packet which he proceeded to be unwrap with a kind of reverence. “Tuna belly,” he offered, “ my favourite cut.” He added enthusiastically. Apparently it was the cut called Otoro , marbled with omega 3 fats and very rich in flavour. We couldn’t work out how we would cook the collar so we selected a couple of pieces of otoro for the days meal and headed off home. One the way back to the Apartment we thought about the tuna collar a bit more and by the time we had reached the Quay, we had determined that we ought to give it a go. We did an about face and headed back to the market, fully expecting the cut to have been sold but no, it was still there waiting for us. “We’d like the tuna collar,” says I. “Subject to price , “ I added as an after thought. Just as well, I think for he popped the cut on the scales and with a look of horror mouthed to his colleague, "I can't charge them that." "Well, we've got to look after the locals," he said before naming price. "Done," says I enthusiastically as I did a mental note on the state of my bank account at that time. The transaction being complete we both headed home with our packets of fish. The Otoro was the subject of that days main meal and will be dealt with elsewhere. The collar was the subject of Friday night's meal. Oddly enough the cooking of this fish caused me a substantial mass of anxiety. I put it down to age mostly and the general reduction in confidence that I had been feeling these days. It was after all a fairly straight forward cook. About 20 - 25 minutes on high heat in the oven and then 5 minutes under a hot grill. Served on a bed of salad vegatabels and with olive oil and lemon juice drizzled over. Well that was the executive summary. The issue was in the detail. Did we cook the fish skin side up or skin side down? How did we prepare it? How did we get it from hot oven to hot grill ( the cooker was new to us)? Some parts were thinner than others - would they burn? A fair bit of research went into the matter and Chat Gpt seemed to be the most helpful. In the end we decided to cook it at 250C (fan) for 20-25 minutes because it was about 6cm thick at its widest. We wrapped the thinner part with foil to prevent burning. It only needed patting dry and sprinkling with sea salt by way of preparation. After a fair debate - not quite an argument - we agreed to cook it skin side down and then to flip it over for the last 5 minutes grilling. Switching from oven to grill proved to be fairly straight forward. The image shows the collar prepared for the oven. After 20 minutes or so of cooking at 250C we opened the oven door and successfully set off our fire alarm and caused the fire suppression system to come alive and scan the kitchen with what seemed like murderous intent. Fortunately the water mister didn't fire off and we got windows and doors open to reduce the impact. We could then turn the collar over and get the grill switched over on high. Back in it went, smelling wonderful, for a further 5 minutes of blistering heat. Prior to the fire alarm excitement we had prepared a large Christmas sized platter with salad vegetables to bed the collar on. Tomatoes, beetroot, watercress, rocket and preserved artichokes were the vegetables of choice. We also had an olive oil & lemon mix todress the salad rather than the fish which we wanted as unadulterated as possible. After 5 minutes under the grill came the moment of truth. This time the alarms did not go off because I had temporarily turned it off. The fish came out looking like it had taken a fair mount of heat - which of course it had - and went with relative ease onto the platter skin side down and meat facing up. It looked and smelled wonderful and whilst we spent a bit of time tidying up our kitchen and making space at our diminutive bistro table, it sat there in all its glory. The images don't really do it justice and I never cease to be amazed at how much is missed from an image compared to the real life experience . Here are a few shots of the meal as presented. The fish itself was rich and well, meaty. The bones and the connective tissues provided the opportunity to make a fish stock the next day which had to go into the freezer until we found a use for it. All in all that was a culinery experience like no other and it is certainly one I owudl want to repeat. The cost of hte collar was quite hefty but no more than we paid out at Christmas last year for ltwo large pieces of halibut.

This is a message to my older self who at some point will forget what goes into things to assemble certain kitchen basics. This is a Bechamel-like sauce but without butter, fat or oil. I use it for lasagna and where a Bechamel is called for. It reminds me of a sauce that was served over cannelloni when I used to holiday as a child in Spain. (It was the year of the moon landing - I remember watching clips with my dad in a shop window at the time.) I think the restaurant or bistro was in some backstreet in Sitges before it grew to the creature it is today. It was just a family run restaurant - no doubt long gone but the taste remains! Ingredients 1500 ml milk 150 g strong plain flour 1 carrot 1 stick celery 1 onion 2 cloves garlic 6 -10 whole cloves 1 stick cinnamon (2 inches ish) 6 black peppercorns Method Pour the milk into a large pan. Chop the carrot and celery into thirds. Press the cloves into the peeled whole onion. Peel and crush the garlic. Add all the vegetables and the spices to the milk. Place the pan on a gentle heat for about 20 minutes then set aside for a further 20 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the flour to a smooth paste with cold water. Remove the vegetables and cinnamon from the milk and place the milk back on a low heat. Add the flour paste and stir whilst heating to near boiling .. When the sauce thickens remove from the heat as it is done. Observations This is about 99kcal per 100ml using whole milk. Don’t heat the milk on too fierce a heat and stir constantly or the pan will stick. Use it in place of bechamel sauce for a lower fat option.

There has been a radical change in the sale of fish at the Dartmouth Market stall. The previous fish man (who has been selling fish for about 50 years) has finally retired and handed the batton on to a new set of faces. The style of presentation has changed from eclectic and quirky to organised and, if I'm honest, a little too clinical but the fish looks good. I think I am going to miss the availability of fish species that Mark had on offer but on a trial run for squid yesterday, the new guys came up trumps with some excellent and tasty molluscs. So we went for squid pad thai because it was a quick preparation and cook even allowing for cleaning and preparing the squid. It also fits in with our revised eating habits of having our main meal in the middle of the day. Purists will challenge the pad thai bit as we used samphire instead of beansprouts but we make no apologies. Ingredients: 300g fresh whole squid ( roughly 3 squid) a good handful of samphire 90g dried rice noodles 2 cloves garlic grated 20g piece fresh ginger grated 3 spring onions 2 tbsp tamarind paste 1 tsp nam pla 1 tbsp ketjap manis 30g crushed plain peanuts 1 tbsp olive oil This provides two portions of about 430 kcal each (≈30 g protein). Method: Soak the rice noodles in hot not boiling water for about 30 minutes. Clean and prepare the quid and slice into rings. Then fry the squid in the olive oil until opaque and set aside. Mix tamarind paste, fish sauce, and kechap manis together in a small bowl. Stir-fry the garlic, chilies, and drained noodles with the sauce until the noodles absorb the liquid. Fold in the cooked squid and fresh samphire right at the end so the samphire stays crisp and salty, then top with crushed peanuts Observations: I didn’t clean the squid fully and so had sand still in the end of the squid tubes. Also I didn’t check the samphire for woody parts and so had some tough pieces that were not consumable. Not had that before so will take more care in selection in the future. Otherwise an excellent meal in line with our new dietary objectives .

The flooded valley that the River Dart runs through does some interesting things with clouds, rain, mist and fog. None of them more strange than recently when on a walk around the boat float, we noticed wafts of grey smoke floating up through the town behind where we live. We assumed it was a fire of some sort or a barbecue that had gotten out of control but it was weird that there were no emergency services hanging around. Naturally curious (or just plain nosey) we wandered along the South Embankment to locate the source of the fire. There clearly wasn't a source on this side of the river and looking out towards the estuary we were confronted with the site of a narrow blanket of smoke originating on the Kingswear bank and hugging the river as it crossed over to our side. It didn't smell like smoke and it didn't behave like smoke. That was probably because in fact it wasn't smoke at all. A search of the internet showed no clear signs of localised fires although there was a boat or caravan fire about 7 miles away. This event was not it. It took a while to find but eventually we discovered that the thing was a sea fog or Haar. Thinking about it, it would have taken quite a fire to produce the amount of 'smoke' that this fog clearly was. That is especially so if you take a look at the lack of visibility that occured at its best or worst . The estuary mouth was completely obscured and Dartmouth castle was nowhere to be seen as you can see from the following images. So what is a haar? A sea haar (sometimes called a sea fret) is a dense coastal fog that forms when warm, moist air passes over colder seawater. The air cools rapidly, causing the moisture within it to condense into a blanket of mist or fog that can drift ashore and dramatically reduce visibility. Although the term is most commonly associated with the east coast of Scotland, the same phenomenon can occur anywhere around the UK coast where the sea is significantly colder than the air above it. In Dartmouth, the recent event that many people noticed was likely caused by warm, humid air moving in from the south-west over the still-cool waters of the English Channel. As the air cooled over the sea, fog developed and was then carried into the Dart Estuary by light onshore winds. Once established, the haar can be remarkably localised, with thick fog covering the waterfront while higher ground a short distance away remains clear. A sea haar often appears suddenly, giving the impression that it is "rolling in" from the sea. Temperatures can fall by several degrees within minutes, and visibility may drop to only a few hundred metres. Around Dartmouth, this can create dramatic scenes where Kingswear, the estuary and vessels on the river seem to disappear into a grey-white curtain, before re-emerging as the fog slowly lifts later in the day. In short, a sea haar is not smoke or pollution but a natural weather phenomenon caused by the meeting of warm moist air and colder sea water.

fancied some scones with clotted cream and jam recently and so researched a suitable recipe based on Mrs Beeton. Since our downsizing move a year ago we haven't had access to all the equipment we used to have and so didn't have any means to cut out the scones. We therefore went for a simple round to be divided into 8 segments. We tried a number of recipes and ended up with the following Ingredients 250 g self-raising flour Pinch of salt 60 g cold butter, diced 25–40 g caster sugar (we used 28g) 140–150 ml milk 1 tsp vanilla extract A little milk or beaten egg for glazing ( we skipped this) Method Heat the oven to 220°C / 200°C fan. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Rub the butter into the flour and salt until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar, if using. Add the vanilla essence to the milk and then add most of the milk and mix with a knife until a soft dough forms. Add the remaining milk only if needed. Tin the bowl gently bring together. Do not knead. Pat into a round about 20 cm (8 inches) across and 2–3 cm thick. Place on the tray and score 8 segments on the top, cutting down about half way through the mix. Use a wet knife if it sticks. Brush with milk or egg if using. Bake for 18–22 minutes or a little over until well risen and golden. remove from oven . Will sound slightly hollow if done. Place on a wire rack to cool. Serve warm with butter, jam (blueberry) , and clotted cream. The round should be cut into wedges.

The following is a base for chip shop and katsu curry. In other words when you want a quick fix artificial curry. Ingredients 2 tbsp chicken fat 1 tbsp flour 1 to 2 tbsp medium roasted curry powder 1 tsp turmeric ( for katsu curry option see Method) 3 tbsps of stock from a roasted chicken carcass - the stuff you normally make the gravy with Water to dilute as appropriate Method Make a roux and then stir in the curry powder and turmeric if you’re making katsu. If you can get authentic Japanese curry stick use this and not the recipe curry powder and turmeric. Add the chicken stock and stir on a medium heat. Dilute as necessary with water depending on how thick you want the sauce Cook and stir on low heat for further 5 minutes keeping consistency as you want with added water . Job done! Observations I would use authentic curry stick like S&B to make katsu but the above is a reasonable substitute if it is not available. This recipe is for chip shop or Chinese style curry and not for mixing into your favourite real curry! The chicken stick should be a solid jelly when cold . I used the chicken fat that had coated the stock in the fridge as it was available. If that doesn’t appeal then any oil or ghee or even butter if you wish.

Rightly or wrongly this was one of tastiest and most colourful pad thais that I have made in recent times. Technically it is not a pad thai, it is more like a warm salad but I don't actually care about that. I couldn't get beansprouts separately so had to buy a pepper and peashoot salad pack from M & S. The original recipe source some iterations back is from Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey. The origins of the dish are not very ancient, arising as it did in the 1940s driven by government and nationalism -not to mention a shortage of rice (hence noodles). Ingredients 1 Pack Flat rice noodles 1 tbsp oil (see method) large piece of fresh ginger peeled and sliced 3 cloves garlic sliced 3 spring onions chopped into rounds good hand full of cashew nuts chopped small 1 red chilli pepper de-seeded and sliced 2 large duck breasts skin on 1 pack pea shoot and pepper salad (M&S) 2 tbsp tamarind sauce 2 tbps fish sauce (nam Pla) 2 tsps kecap manis Method Prepare the noodles Bring a pot of water to the boil and add 3 of the noodle sticks to cook for about 5 minutes or until soft. Remove from the heat and drain. Then rinse with cold water to prevent them cooking further. Drain and set aside. Prepare the aromatics If not already done, peel and slice the garlic and the ginger and de-seed and slice the red chilli. Trim and slice the spring onions. Chop the nuts. Set all aside. Prepare the sauce Mix the nam pla, tamarind sauce and kecap manis together in a small bowl and set aside. Pan fry the duck breasts Heat a large pan without oil and then place both duck breasts skin side down. Sear for about 5 minutes before flipping over and repeating. The time allocated is dependent upon how well cooked you want the meat and how thick the breasts are. We prefer the centre to be pink and so we keep the cooking time short. When cooked remove from the pan and set aside to rest for 5 minutes. Assemble and final cook Either remove the duck fat from the pan and use 1 tbsp sunflower oil or, better, keep the duck fat and use that to fry. Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and fry for a couple of minutes on a high heat stirring to prevent burning. Turn down the heat a little and add the sauce and stir well before adding the drained noodles ( which at this stage should be cool / cold). Heat and stir for awhile and then add the pea shoot and pepper salad and mix in quickly, allowing to heat for no more than a couple of minutes. Add the chopped nuts and give a final mix. Slice the duck breasts thinly. Serve the pad thai on warmed plates and top with the sliced duck breast. Observations Peanuts are more traditional than cashew nuts. Beansprouts instead of mixed stir fry vegetables. Duck breast is a lovely meat to have with this dish but alternatives are steak, chicken, prawn or tofu. A squeeze of lime juice would have aded a little extra flavour. Don't have too much sauce, it detracts from the overall flavour of the ingredients.

We recently bought some chilli seedlings locally and brought them home to put under our grow lights. All was good for a few days until we spotted tiny black flies hovering around them. After some research it seemed apparent that we had brought home fungus gnats and so, fearful of the impact of our biosecurity measures in the apartment, we set about researching suitable pest control methods. It seems that these little blighters spend their larval stage in the pot compost around the surface and then hatch into these flies to repeat ad infinitum. It also appeared that a good means of controlling them was to water from below and thus keep the top of the compost dry and to apply a neem oil solution to the adults. Neem oil was duly acquired and a mixture was made of for spraying. We also potted on the seedlings a little prematurely but we hoped that might have an effect as well. It's a week later and we appear to have, at least for the time being, removed the infestation. What is even more pleasing is that we dont appear to have spread to other plants , including our lemon tree which is in close proximity. We sprayed it with neem oil as well - just to make sure. As a part of this process, we had ordered the neem oil from our local florist, Otok in Foss Street Dartmouth and when we went to collect it, there was a good sized Strelitzia nicolai there just waiting to be liberated. It really fitted the bill for our next acquisition. We wanted something tree like but tropical and we wanted, if possible that it would flower despite the north facing aspect of our apartment. I personally think that the plant is unlikely to flower but it would be good if it did. However, the leaves are just magnificent and remind me of banana plants, to which it is related. I suspect the aspect and also our potting strategy will help us prevent the growth habit to the 6 to 8 foot height and 3 to 5 foot spread, although our ceilings would just about accommodate it. On the positive side, if it took up a square metre of the apartment we would still have seventy-six left. At the moment it looks a bit forlorn in its location by the bath ( for maximum humidity) accompanied only by a rather sad looking specimen of Calathea lancifolia which is currently recovering from being divided as it was pot bound. I don't think we'll see its rather insignificant flowers this year somehow. However it sits opposite a larger collection of varying flowers as shown in the images and this will help to set off the room whilst it comes into its own. Indeed, we have had a couple of success stories so far. The two Christmas cactus's that we originally bought from M & S about eight months ago flowered a little feebly and then went into a sort of leaf growing phase. We potted them on and one decided to grow a load of leaves and the other as you can see, set out with a mass of blooms. The hope and expectation is that the leafy grower will now develop some flowers over the next few months whilst the current star will get stuck into vegetative growth for a while. This way they might flower alternately through the year. We'll see. Similarly we have had mixed success with the cyclamen, also from M & S. Both were bought flowering and then after a couple of weeks went into decline. It most likely had something to do with the watering regime but we couldn't seem to get it right. Generally we tended towards dry rather than wet but I suspect that the size of the corm was such that any water was taken up quickly but still left the plant dry. However we increased the watering as the weather warmed up and now we have one prolific flowerer in burgundy and one sparse flowerer in frilly pink. We'll feed back on the relative successes of these at a later stage once we have. a little history and data to base any assumptions on.

It's been a while since we had shakshuka for breakfast but the sight of a jar claiming to be a shakshuka in a local shop set us wondering how it had dropped off our breakfast radar. My basis for the recipe is Ottolenghi's Jerusalem as we used to do that on the Aga when we lived in Frome. Ingredients 1 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp harissa paste ( I used Belazu) 1 tbsp tomato puree 1 large red pepper cut into small/medium dice 1 small green chilli deseeded and sliced 3 cloves garlic crushed with salt 1 tsp ground cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 6 cloves crushed without the stalks 4 very ripe tomatoes diced ( mine weren't so ripe) 2 free range eggs salt to taste Greek yoghurt to serve Method Heat the olive oil and harissa paste in a large pan and when hot add the diced peppers and chilli and cook for about 8 minutes until soft. Add the crushed garlic, cumin, coriander and cloves ( just the heads, not the stalks) and the tomato puree. Stir well to mix and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes and stir whilst they cook . Maybe 10 minutes or so until a thick sauce has developed. Make two wells in the sauce and crack each egg into the well, string the white a little into the sauce mix without damaging the yolk. Cook until the white is just about done and the yolks are still runny. It might help to cover the lid the pot. Arrange in a bowl and serve with a spoonful of greek yoghurt

Finished Demi-baguettes I needed some bread for lunch and hadn't got the time to go out and buy it between phone calls. I decided to make some small baguette style rolls although I didn't have the time to process them as I should have. I used instead a combination of normal kneading and stretch & fold techniques over a shorter period. The result was quite successful as I hope you can see from the finished product. (I'll refer to the variation between the rolls in the Observation section below!) I had done some reading on how to make a baguette-style bread and knew that the key variables were temperature; baking humidity; kneading style/time ; and, hydration of the dough. I used these in my impromptu attempt. Ingredients 700g of strong white bread flour. (It's all I had in the cupboard) 14g fast action yeast 1 tsp salt 520ml warm water. This is more water than a normal dough and do the dough will be stickier. Method In a bowl mix together the dry ingredients Add the warm water and mix well with a wooden spoon Flour a work surface and your hands as the dough is more sticky than normal. Knead for about 5 minutes then stretch the dough and fold over a few times. Go back to kneading normally for another 5 minutes and repeat the stretch and fold. Leave 5 minutes and stretch and fold again. Check that the gluten is in good shape using the thumb press test. If the thumb print doesn't rise out, rework a round again. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with cling film and leave to prove for about an hour or until doubled in size . (I put mine under a grow-lamp these days as there are several in the kitchen. It seems to do the trick as our flat isn't generally that warm unless the heating is on.) Near the end of the hour preheat an oven to 250C (fan) having previously placed a pan in the base with water in it. This will provide the steam to help crisp the crust. Keep the water topped up if it dries out. When the dough is ready, remove from pan and knock back. I used a marble work top but you might need to dust other surfaces lightly. Make the dough into a rough rectangle and cut it into 6 or 8 equal lengths. Roll out by hand into a demi-baguette shape and size. Place on greaseproof paper on a baking tray with space around for the dough to rise and thicken . Leave to rise for about 20 minutes. Check water level in the oven to keep humidity and then place the trays in the oven to bake for about 10 to 15 minutes or until risen , the crust is cracked and mid brown in colour. The rolls should look something like the demi-baguettes here. Observations I used two oven trays and the rolls on the lower tray produced a better crust and crispness than those on the top. The ones pictured are from the lower tray. I think I had too much water in the evaporation tray so that it took longer for the water to evaporate and create the humidity necessary. This I am sure is a part of the issue with the upper row of rolls. I was also a bit cavalier with my cutting and so did not get the same crease in all the rolls , some of them appearing more rounded and smooth. You can see this in one of the images where the right hand three rolls look smoother than the others. However, they all looked good and were approved of by those who ate them but some could have been better. They were still ok to eat the following day but benefitted from being heated in the oven for 5 minutes or so. Next time, I'll take more time to allow a more effective stretch and fold rather than hurrying things up with the standard kneading technique. I am sure that it would be more appealing as a demi-baguette if I did that. All in all however it was a good result although the calorie count was high at 350 Kcal for one of the 7 rolls I made.

We recently visited the Lake District for the first time ever and found that immensely entertaining. It rained pretty much every day but that is what waterproofs are for, isn't it? We drove there from Dartmouth and decided to stop off en route both on the way up and on the way back. The nearest halfway town , (sort of) was Ludlow and we booked there both ways at an old inn called The Feathers. The Feathers Inn Ludlow must have the biggest collection of 17th Century houses that I have ever seen; property prices that are disturbingly low; and, the noisiest Friday night crowd rampaging through the streets of the town that I have heard in a good while. Perhaps property prices in the town reflect an underlying social issue? However, it's not Ludlow or Windermere or even the Cats Bell (which we climbed in the pouring rain and strongish winds) that are marked for attention here. It is a desert that I had at The Swan Hotel and Spar. Apparently it was new on their menu and I have to say that I enjoyed it immensely. Derwent Water from Cat's Bell I had no idea what a Clafoutis was until I later looked it up online. It soon occurred to me that it could go into my bag of quick and easy deserts for home to be served single portion sized in ramekin dishes alongside apple crumble and bread and butter pudding. It's basically a rustic custard with tart fruits (traditionally cherries) and indeed what I had at the Swan was Cherry & Almond. I did a bit of research on returning home and found a number of recipes which I picked what I wanted from. The main source was Raymond Blanc but I don't think that he would have recognised the end product. Ingredients (Serves 4) 200g fresh blueberries 2 medium eggs 45g caster sugar 20g unsalted butter 20g plain flour 125ml double cream 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon butter for lining the ramekins (4) pinch of salt Method Preheat the oven to 180C In a small pan heat the butter to a beurre noisette and then set aside to cool. Whisk the eggs and sugar together until creamy then whisk in the flour and cinnamon. Leave for a few minutes and then stir in the double cream. Add the cooler beurre noisette and stir in with a pinch of salt. Line the ramekins with a little butter then divide the blueberries between the 4 ramekins. Top off with the batter, allowing space for the pudding to rise a little. Cook in the centre of the oven for 30 - 35 minutes or until cooked. (Clean knife test) Nutrition For the whole recipe ( 4 ramekins) Calories: ~870 kcal Protein: ~13 g Carbohydrates: ~68 g Sugars: ~59 g Fat: ~62 g Saturated fat: ~36 g Fiber: ~5 g That's roughly 220 kcal per ramekin Observations The pudding will rise in the oven and then collapse once it comes out. The fruit was added as is without macerating in sugar and liqueur as per many recipes. I didn't like the idea of ramekins with a caster sugar dusting either. Curious deer near the AirBnB Vanilla or almond essence might have added a little to the flavour but I didn't have either to hand. Can be heated up quite successfully in the microwave the following day. According to Chat Gpt, I can reduce the calorific value by swapping half the cream for milk to cut ~150–200 kcal and reduce the sugar to 30–35g of the total recipe. I'll try that next time. It is a little like the custard in a bread and butter pudding. Will definitely try again with different fruit and flavours.