Katie at the Kitchen Door

Globally-inspired, seasonal recipes

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10 Breakfast

Strawberry and Meyer Lemon Filled Crepes

Strawberry and Meyer Lemon Crepes - filled with Strawberry Mascarpone Cream {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

I first learned to make crepes in high school. During one French class our professor took us to his house for a simple French cooking lesson. It was a boarding school and most of the professors lived on campus, so this wasn’t particularly unusual. He taught us the ratio – 1:2:1 milk, eggs, flour – and pan-fried dozens of crepes. Like most of my classes in high school, I spent a good portion of it flirting, an activity that was only enhanced by speaking French and eating crepes. French – the language of ballet, patisserie, and love.

Strawberry and Meyer Lemon Crepes - filled with Strawberry Mascarpone Cream {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

I’ve all but forgotten French, but I do remember how to make crepes. They are such a wonderful dessert. At their simplest, they require only 4 ingredients – milk, eggs, flour, and a pat of butter for the frying pan. From there, you can dress them up in seemingly infinite ways. You can stuff them with fruit and cream, stack them in layers with salted caramel to make a crepe cake, or flambée them with a bit of rum. You can make the batter chocolate-flavored or go the savory route and fill your crepes with ham and cheese. They are simple, economical, and delicious.

These Strawberry and Meyer Lemon Crepes are on the fancier end of the crepe spectrum.  The crepe batter itself has a splash of brandy, vanilla, sugar, and melted butter added to the base. After cooking, you spread each crepe with two different strawberry-based fillings. The first is a strawberry-mascarpone cream (it’s the loveliest shade of pink!) and the second is a jammy sauce made from strawberries, meyer lemon, and a splash of vodka. Folded and garnished with fresh strawberries and powdered sugar they make a spring dessert that’s both elegant and simple.

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12 Meat

Sunday Dinner: Easter Edition // Preserved Lemon and Harissa Boneless Leg of Lamb

Boneless Leg of Lamb with Preserved Lemon, Harissa, and Rosemary Butter - Sunday Dinner: Easter Edition {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

One of Trevor’s Christmas presents this year was a subscription to Walden Local Meat, a Boston-based company that delivers locally raised, high quality beef, pork, lamb, and chicken on a monthly basis. Our first delivery was in February and I was thrilled to find a boneless leg of lamb included in our share, along with fresh chorizo, pork for braising, and a nice flat iron steak. We don’t eat a ton of meat so it was exciting (especially for Trevor!) to have a freezer stocked with fancy cuts just waiting for inspiration to strike.

Boneless Leg of Lamb with Preserved Lemon, Harissa, and Rosemary Butter - Sunday Dinner: Easter Edition {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Serious Eats Best Ever Roast Potatoes with Garlic Cream - Sunday Dinner: Easter Edition {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Sometimes constraints are the best driver of creativity, and this proved true with the lamb. I knew I wanted to make something special with it, something that highlighted the quality of the meat and was full of spring flavors. I found a recipe for leg of lamb with preserved lemon and cumin butter that was intriguing, but perhaps more Middle-Eastern then I wanted to go. But I loved the idea of using intense preserved Meyer lemon with the lamb, so I worked on the idea over a few days, and landed on a preserved lemon, harissa, and rosemary butter filling that I could slather all over the lamb.

Boneless Leg of Lamb with Preserved Lemon, Harissa, and Rosemary Butter - Sunday Dinner: Easter Edition {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

As leg of lamb is a favorite choice for Easter, I decided to make the lamb the centerpiece of an Easter-themed Sunday Dinner post. It’s been a while since I’ve done a Sunday Dinner post, but they are still one of my favorite things to pull together. Of course, we didn’t actually eat it on Easter (or we wouldn’t have been able to share it with you in time!), but it made for a lovely Sunday evening meal in March. Alongside the lamb, we served Olive-Oil Braised Leeks and Peas with Feta and Roast Potatoes with Garlic Creme Fraiche. For dessert, we each had a thick slice of this Blood Orange and Olive Oil Cake I posted a few weeks ago.

Olive-Oil Braised Leeks and Peas with Feta and Dill - Sunday Dinner: Easter Edition {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

The Olive-Oil Braised Leeks were a surprise hit, and I ended up making them twice in one week. I often find leeks a bit rubbery when served in larger pieces, but these were tender and flavorful. Braised in olive oil and chicken stock, then mixed with barely-cooked English peas, dill, lemon zest, and mild feta, they make a really lovely spring side dish. The layers of delicate flavors harmonize wonderfully and evoke all the best bits of spring. It’s definitely a permanent addition to my repertoire.

Serious Eats Best Ever Roast Potatoes with Garlic Cream - Sunday Dinner: Easter Edition {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Blood Orange and Olive Oil Pound Cake {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

I’m excited to be really moving into spring cooking, now that the last of yesterday’s snow has melted and the sun is shining with real warmth. Before we know it the trees will be bursting into blossoms, and we’ll be spending Sunday afternoons putzing in the garden and sipping chilled glasses of rosé (I genuinely cannot wait until the first rosé-worthy afternoon, and I’m only a little embarrassed about it). The arrival of spring will only make coming together at the end of the day for a meal to linger over that much sweeter, whether it’s Easter Sunday or a quiet day at home.

The Menu
Olive-Oil Braised Leeks and Peas with Feta and Dill (recipe below, adapted from Simple)
Boneless Leg of Lamb with Preserved Lemon and Harissa (reicpe below)
Best-Ever Roast Potatoes (Serious Eats) served with Garlic Creme Fraiche (Food & Wine)
Blood Orange and Olive Oil Pound Cake

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3 Breakfast

Rhubarb and Rye Streusel Muffins with Rhubarb Curd

 

Rhubarb and Rye Streusel Muffins with Rhubarb Curd {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Rhubarb and Rye Streusel Muffins with Rhubarb Curd {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Last weekend, I had my mother, my future mother-in-law, and one of my oldest friends come over to practice flower arranging. I’m doing our wedding flowers myself, and while I’m super excited about it, I also want to make sure that I at least sort of know what I’m doing before the big day. My current daydream profession is to be a flower farmer – have you seen the gorgeousness that is Cut Flower Farm? – so this played nicely into my fantasies of being continually surrounded by fragrant pink garden roses.

DIY Wedding Flowers: Garden Roses, Spray Roses, Eucalyptus, Hypericum {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Rhubarb and Rye Streusel Muffins with Rhubarb Curd {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Since I had buckets full of roses and a fancy bottle of champagne, I couldn’t resist turning the morning into a little photo shoot before my guests arrived. The sun was streaming through the window and it gave me a chance to show off our newly finished guest room. When you only have one finished room in your house you’ve got to flaunt it so that people won’t notice the holes in the walls in all the other rooms.

Rhubarb and Rye Streusel Muffins with Rhubarb Curd {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

DIY Wedding Flowers: Garden Roses, Spray Roses, Eucalyptus, Hypericum {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

To top off the morning, I made a batch of Rhubarb and Rye Streusel Muffins and served them with a bowl of pink Rhubarb Curd. Flower arranging is hard work, you know? Got to stay fortified. I adapted the muffins from Deb’s Rhubarb Streusel Muffin recipe, replacing some of the whole wheat flour with rye flour. The muffins are lovely – a little bit hearty from the rye and not too sweet or cake-like. The rhubarb for the curd was such an amazing shade of fuchsia while I was cooking it. But then the moment I added it to the custard the curd became a sort of pinkish gray. I have to find a way to make a curd that keeps that beautiful hot pink color! Luckily it tastes lovely either way.

Rhubarb and Rye Streusel Muffins with Rhubarb Curd {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

The flowers turned out beautifully, even the practice bouquets. We’re using peach and pink garden roses, cream spray roses, eucalyptus, hypericum, and thistle. I’ll also be growing dahlias – but not counting on them. They’ll be more like a nice surprise if they work out. As a bonus, our house has been absolutely filled with roses all week and smells amazing. It’s going on day 8 since they arrived in the mail and they are just starting to fade. Wedding flower fears allayed – it’s going to be beautiful.

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Rhubarb and Rye Streusel Muffins with Rhubarb Curd {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Rhubarb and Rye Streusel Muffins

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen. Makes 10-12 muffins.

For the streusel:

  • 3 TBS all-purpose flour
  • 3 TBS rye flour
  • 2 TBS granulated sugar
  • 2 TBS light brown sugar
  • 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 3 TBS butter, melted

For the muffins:

  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 c. light brown sugar
  • 1/4 c. white sugar
  • 5 TBS salted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 1 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 c. rye flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 c. diced rhubarb

 

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a muffin tin with cooking spray or melted butter and set aside.
  2. To make the streusel: mix all of the dry ingredients together in a small bowl, then add the melted butter. Use your hands to mix the streusel until medium-sized crumbs form.
  3. To make the muffins: In a large bowl, whisk together egg and the sugars until smooth. Add the melted butter and whisk to incorporate, then add the sour cream and whisk to incorporate.
  4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, rye flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir gently, just enough to mix together. Gently fold in the rhubarb and about a third of the streusel crumbs.
  5. Divide the muffin batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle some of the streusel crumbs on top of each muffin, pressing gently to get the crumbs to stick to the tops of the muffins. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of each muffin comes out clean, about 17-20 minutes. Serve with rhubarb curd.

Rhubarb Curd

Makes about 2 cups. Adapted from Foodess and Food 52.

  • 1/2 pound rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces (choose the brightest red rhubarb you can find!)
  • 1/4 cup plus 3 TBS sugar
  • 1/4 cup water
  • juice from 1/2 lemon
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 whole egg
  • 4 TBS salted butter, cut into 4 pieces
  1. Add the rhubarb, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the water to a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and simmer until the rhubarb is very soft and falling apart. Remove from the heat and add the lemon juice. Use an immersion blender to blend the rhubarb into a paste – it should have the consistency of a thick jam. Do this while the rhubarb is still hot (but be careful of splatters!)
  2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, egg, and the remaining 3 TBS of sugar until very smooth. Slowly pour the hot rhubarb paste into the egg yolk mixture, whisking the eggs vigorously as you do so. This should temper your eggs. Pour the whole mixture back into the saucepan and return to medium-low heat. Cook the mixture, stirring constantly, until it thickens enough to be spoonable. This should take 5-8 minutes. Remove the curd from the heat and stir the butter into the curd one piece at a time, stirring to melt the butter in between additions. If the curd is free of lumps, transfer to a bowl, cover tightly, and chill until ready to serve (at least 2 hours). If there are any lumps or bits of egg, strain the curd through a fine mesh strainer before chilling.

8 Middle-Eastern

Spring Falafel Salad // #EatSmarterMoveMore: Why I Run

Spring Falafel Salad - with Carrot and Asparagus Pickles, Feta Cheese, Pistachios, and Herb Aioli {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

I’ve been running for most of my life. I started training for the cross-country team when I was 13 and never stopped. Ten miles a week, 52 weeks a year, and 15 years later I’ve run at least 8,000 miles. Probably more like 10,000 when you factor in the long runs, the half marathons, the heavy training periods.

When we were in high school, our coach used to read aloud to us from Once A Runner, to psych us up before races. I’ve never actually read the book, but the title echoes through my head all the time – it resonates. Running is such an essential part of who I am. It’s when I’m running that I feel most like myself, most in tune with my own thoughts. It’s my quiet time, the time when I allow my thoughts to spin unstructured through my mind and let them sort themselves out. When I’m angry I come back calm, and when I’m tired I come back reinvigorated. I’ve made my most difficult decisions in the space of 4 miles without even realizing I was making them.

Running has also taken me to corners of the world where I’d never find myself otherwise. Sunrise runs in Dublin along the quiet banks of the grand canal, past medeival cathedrals and castles. Hot, impossibly humid runs in Hong Kong along an elevated running track in the jungle, looking straight into the tops of skyscrapers. Just a month ago, we set out from Evora into the Alentejan countryside and found ourselves on a dirt path, running through olive and cork groves. It’s the most amazing way to explore somewhere new.

Spring Falafel Salad - with Carrot and Asparagus Pickles, Feta Cheese, Pistachios, and Herb Aioli {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Spring Falafel Salad - with Carrot and Asparagus Pickles, Feta Cheese, Pistachios, and Herb Aioli {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Don’t get me wrong – there are times when running is an absolute slog. When it’s hot and hard to breathe and I heave myself around the streets feeling like I weigh 100 pounds more than I do. But it’s not those times that keep me coming back. It’s the times when it’s cool and quiet and I feel strong and light. It’s the feeling of strength in my legs as my feet bounce repeatedly off the pavement. The sound of my breath in my chest, even and heavy, condensing in clouds around my face when it’s cold. The moment when I hit the second mile, which is always faster, looser than the first.

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4 Dessert

Blood Orange and Olive Oil Pound Cake

Blood Orange and Olive Oil Pound Cake {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

I recently received two lovely food samples – olive oil from Cobram Estate and blood oranges from Limoneira. While I don’t always end up using samples for recipes, the combination of the two was inspiring. Particularly after coming home from Portugal, where olive oil and oranges are often used together in sweets, I knew I wanted to bake something. I decided they were destined for a pound cake.

Blood Orange and Olive Oil Pound Cake {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Blood Orange and Olive Oil Pound Cake {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

I’ll be the first to admit that this is not my most original idea. A quick Google or Pinterest search for blood orange and olive oil cake will reveal dozens of beautiful photos. Some cakes are simple, others are glazed with a lovely pink frosting, and others have paper-thin slices of oranges baked on top. They were all so pretty that I couldn’t resist adding my own version to the mix.

Blood Orange and Olive Oil Pound Cake {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Zesting oranges and rubbing orange zest into sugar should be a winter therapy treatment. The smell is an instant mood lifter, and takes me back to sunnier, warmer days. Like the morning we spent eating tangerines straight from the trees in a sunny courtyard in Portugal. Or the afternoon we spent at a plum blossom festival in Odawara, buying sacks of fresh clementines from every other house we passed. One day we’ll live somewhere where it’s warm enough to grow oranges, where it doesn’t snow in March. Until then, we’ll have to rely on the scent of fresh oranges to trigger our happiest memories.

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3 Seafood

Salmon en Papillote with Dill Butter

Salmon en Papillote with Potatoes and Dill Butter {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

March is a hard month for cooking. It feels like it should be spring – we’re so ready for the sunshine and for green to return to the trees! And, perhaps more pressing, we are ready for winter to be over. Even though I escaped Boston for 5 weeks in January and early February, I’m still ready for it to be over. We’ve had a handful of sunny days this month, but here in Massachusetts, it’s still very much winter. As evidenced by the windchill of -6°F this weekend and the Nor’easter bearing down on us today.

Salmon en Papillote with Potatoes and Dill Butter {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

By extension, March is a hard month for food blogging. There’s no local produce to inspire, no major food holidays. Just a craving for summer mixed with the reality of winter. In past years, I’ve posted everything from Butternut Squash Carbonara to Apple Cider Doughnuts to Strawberry Balsamic Salad – no seasonal cohesion to speak of.

It’s a transitional eating period, but instead of the abundance of September and October, we’re left with the dregs of the root cellar. We’re still at least a month away from the first tender greens and peas. We’re no longer excited about brussels sprouts and squash. All we want is the first cocktail-on-the-porch Saturday afternoon.

Salmon en Papillote with Potatoes and Dill Butter {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

So this year, I’m making a concerted effort to come up with and share recipes that are appropriate for March. Recipes that are warm and nourishing without being heavy and rich. Recipes that shift towards spring without leaving you unsatisfied. They all have an element of brightness. I hope they will help inspire you in the kitchen this month while we wait patiently for spring.

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27 Asian and Indian

Hong Kong // Shanghai Noodles with Mushrooms and Cabbage

Shanghai Noodles with Mushrooms and Cabbages {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Shanghai Noodles with Mushrooms and Cabbages {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

It has taken me so long to write about the time we spent in Hong Kong last winter. I’m not entirely sure why. Perhaps because we were there for long enough to feel like it wasn’t a trip, so there’s no clear narrative, but not long enough to make it feel routine. I’m not sure how best to structure our stories and experiences to share with you, but at the end, it’s probably best to just start writing.

Nan Lian Garden Hong Kong {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

We had a wonderful time in Hong Kong, and I’d go back in a heartbeat. Hong Kong is this vibrant, slightly chaotic, proud, country full of contrasts. It is at times loud and bustling and wonderfully modern and at times ancient and mystical and steeped in tradition. Pristine luxury shopping malls smelling of expensive perfume bump up against Buddhist temples filled with incense smoke. Michelin stars are awarded to French tasting menus and hole-in-the-wall dim sum joints. You can spend $30 on a cocktail or $2 for a bowl of noodles, and both will be delicious. The iconic skyscrapers packed together in Central fade suddenly and without warning into green mountains, blanketed with hiking trails.

Shanghai Noodles with Mushrooms and Cabbages {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

A friend who visited several months after we’d left told me afterwards “I wasn’t expecting it to be so Chinese.” And he’s right. The international image of Hong Kong is of a massive, modern, high-tech city, full of expats and expensive clothes and big business. And it is that, in parts, but it’s also old, and pungent, and a little run-down, and very traditional. The international glitz is fun, but for us, the real draw was outside of the glamorous neighborhoods: the hole-in-the-wall dumpling restaurants and the sleepy seaside island towns. In five weeks we barely scratched the surface – for a small country there’s a lot to explore.

Lamma Island, Hong Kong {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Hong Kong is a food-lover’s dream travel destination. Everything is good, and you can find pretty much anything, for a price. There’s an amazing hipster coffee scene (if you’re willing to spend $7 on a latte), 61 Michelin-starred restaurants (more than London and Chicago and Madrid), wet markets where you can buy any meat or seafood you can think of, and incredible local Cantonese cuisine. I tried things I never thought I would – abalone and shark fin and literal birds’ nests – and had some of the most memorable meals of my life.

Shanghai Noodles with Mushrooms and Cabbages {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

When we got back from Asia I wrote down all the recipes I wanted to eventually share here – noodles and dumplings and soups. The other night I was reading through that list and when I got to “Shanghai Noodles with Pork, Mushrooms, and Cabbage” I had the most visceral food memory. Those noodles – fat as a pencil and utterly slurpable and chewy and coated in an addictive, salty-sweet brown sauce – were unbelievable. I struggled to recreate them at home – that sauce! Those fat noodles! – but after several rounds of trial-and-error I finally have a reasonable approximation.

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3 Fall

Portuguese Kale and Linguiça Soup

Portuguese Kale and Linguica Soup {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

We had a glorious sneak peek of spring last weekend. The temperature rose to over 70° and the snow melted away in one warm rush. I woke up to birdsong and a warm breeze coming in through the open window. I was ready to plunge my hands into the soil and prepare it for new life, to throw open all the windows and air out the house.

We knew it wouldn’t last, and it didn’t. This weekend fickle March is welcoming us with a cold snap and below freezing temperatures. But that reminder that there are days where no jacket is required, where slow afternoons outdoors are the norm, was just what we New Englanders needed to help push on to spring.

Portuguese Kale and Linguica Soup {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Portuguese Kale and Linguica Soup {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

We’re in the last days of comfort food – already my cravings are starting to shift towards brighter, greener flavors. So I figured now was a good time to post one last warming soup for the season. This Portuguese Kale Soup is a family favorite, something we’ve been making for years. Actually, it was one of the very first recipes that I ever posted, way back in 2010. (Look at those pictures! Good for perspective, no?) It’s still one of my favorite recipes, although I’ve tweaked it a bit as I’ve become a better cook. Since we just got home from Portugal, now seemed like a good time to give it a refresh.

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10 Asian and Indian

Malai Kofta

Malai Kofta - Vegetarian Potato-Paneer Balls in Tomato Cream Curry {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

I always tell myself I’m not going to order Indian food when I get home from an international flight, but I’m pretty much never right. Typically, it’s a Friday, and I’ve been on a plane all day, zoning out on movie after movie. We land, I go through customs, pick up my luggage, get in a taxi. It all feels like a bit of a time warp, difficult to remember how long you’ve been in between places. In between away and home. When I walk through my front door, into my warm house, I’m always so happy to be there.

Malai Kofta - Vegetarian Potato-Paneer Balls in Tomato Cream Curry {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

When I get home, I check the fridge, thinking that I’m going to find some magical answer to my post-flight comfort food craving. But after being in transit for 12+ hours, mustering the energy to cook is just not realistic. So I cave and order malai kofta and naan and butter chicken (because it always takes two entrees to meet the delivery minimum) and $40 later I’m sitting on the couch, tucking in to the most delicious, creamy, comforting Indian food. It’s not the healthiest or most budget-conscious habit, but it’s a hard one to break.

Malai Kofta - Vegetarian Potato-Paneer Balls in Tomato Cream Curry {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

Malai Kofta - Vegetarian Potato-Paneer Balls in Tomato Cream Curry {Katie at the Kitchen Door}

The last time I did this, a few weeks back, I found myself wondering: what if I had my favorite Indian food in the freezer, waiting for me? That might solve the problem. Even at my most disoriented, I can usually manage to simmer rice. So I resolved to learn how to cook malai kofta and stash some away before my next trip.

Malai kofta is one of my favorite take-out orders. If you’re unfamiliar, they’re sort of a vegetable meatball served in a thick, tomato-based curry sauce. I’ve ordered them for years without ever really knowing what’s in them. When I made them myself, it became quite obvious why they’re one of my favorite foods – they’re basically fried potato and cheese balls served in a spicy tomato cream sauce. It’s probably not possible to get more of my favorite foods into one dish.

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2 Poultry

Perfect Homemade Chicken Stock

I’ve been making homemade chicken stock pretty much since I started cooking. In college, it was just an economical way to stretch a $5 rotiserrie chicken. The problem is, I never graduated from my original technique: take all of the meat off a rotisserie chicken and reserve for another use; toss chicken carcass into giant pot with a halved onion, a carrot or two, and a stalk of celery; fill giant pot with water; simmer for hours; strain and freeze. The result of that method is certainly broth, it’s just not that good. Cloudy, thinly flavored, and a little gray – it’s fine for adding to a stew or sauce but certainly not something I would sip on it’s own.

It wasn’t until I spent six weeks in Asia last winter that I discovered that good stocks and broths aren’t only the backbone of a soup or a sauce, but culinary achievements in and of themselves. Of course, I knew this before going to Asia – I consume enough food literature to know that a good broth should stand on its own, needing no other embellishment to be enjoyed. But I didn’t really internalize how good a broth could be until I’d experienced the dumpling soups in Hong Kong, which consisted of broth, dumplings, maybe a few noodles, and that was it. No veggies floating around in these soups, or creams to thicken them, or salty slices of kielbasa. Then we moved on to Japan and consumed ramen for basically every other meal. There, broth took on another dimension of deliciousness – although for ramen it’s not so much about clarity and purity as it is about richness and salt.

Since coming home, over a year ago now, I have been pouring my heart and soul into making a perfect homemade chicken stock. I know precisely what I want to achieve: a stock that’s golden, clear, richly flavored, with just enough fat to lightly coat your mouth after a spoonful. I’ve been doing lots of research, and experimenting, and taking detailed notes on each batch.

After a recent batch, which I always seem to be putting away boiling hot at 10pm on Sunday night, Trevor looked and me and said “I can’t believe you make stock every weekend.”

“Not every weekend,” I corrected him. “But often,” he said. “It’s not like you tried it once and said ‘yep, I’ve made stock.’ You’re more like a Russian grandmother: ‘on Sundays I make stock, to feed the family and use up the chickens'”

That’s pretty much the long and the short of it.

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