a curious cook

Category: MORE

Fig shaved ice with fig syrup

Fig shaved ice with fig syrup

This year it was warm long enough for a second fig harvest! My November figs are slightly smaller and slightly less sweet than this year’s summer figs. The leaves of my tree have almost all fallen and the figs look like Christmas baubles on a…

toasted fig leaf crème brûlée with blackcurrants

toasted fig leaf crème brûlée with blackcurrants

The blackcurrant is maybe the most laid-back berry in the garden. They do not all ripen at the same time and you can easily leave them hanging for a while even when they are ripe. Birds usually do not have such an appetite for these…

Bolo do caco, no oven bread

Bolo do caco, no oven bread

You will find this flat round bread, bolo de caco, everywhere on the island of Madeira. And if you are lucky it will still be warm and dripping with garlic butter! Bolo do caco is made from a combination of flour and sweet white potato.…

sloe gin

sloe gin

Sloe gin is made with the sloe berry. The sloe berry is not really a berry but a little wild plum. It is the fruit of the blackthorn: a shrub-like tree that you often find in the hedgerows between fields in the English countryside. Blackthorns…

Kohlrabi salad with grapes and tangerine dressing

Kohlrabi salad with grapes and tangerine dressing

I harvested some of these dashing purple beauties this morning to make a fresh kohlrabi salad with grapes and tangerine dressing. Boiled or baked kohlrabi is not really my favorite. But I love the fresh crunchiness of thin slices in a salad! I always ike…

grape picker sausages

grape picker sausages

These grape picker sausages roasted with grapes, onion and red wine make a super simple yet delicious classic Italian dish. It’s called ‘saliscie all’uva’ and is a traditional lunch for Italian grape pickers. The slightly caramelizedred winesauce goes so well with the sweet grapes and…