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If any of you dodgy lot were to break into Yumblog Cottage, you would probably notice (apart from how bloody cold it is) that despite several shelf loads of cookbooks, there was virtually nothing ‘written’ by TV chefs. No matter how frantically you rummaged, you’d find no Jamie, Nigella, Gordon, Heston, Sophie, Ainsley, Gino, Levi, [...]

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…or goat’s cheese pancakes.

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Although the fridge has now all but emptied of Christmas goodies the cheese compartment is still heavy with half-eaten lumps, wheels and wedges of every variety of soft, hard, blue, holey, mature and goat. It has become clear that the occasional lunchtime snack is never going to make much headway into this cheesey surplus and [...]

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The inverted commas are there because this loaf contains no yeast and is actually more of a savoury cake than a bread. This has the added advantage that as well as being pleasantly toothsome, it can also manifest from a wishful inkling to an incontrovertible plateful in just under an hour and a half. That’s [...]

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We like a bargain here at Yumblog Cottage, so when we spied the veg stall at Todmorden Market selling large boxes of portobello mushrooms for the VERY reasonable price of two quid, we couldn’t resist. They proved to be the frugal basis of three meals – this, a tasty cream of mushroom soup (recipe in [...]

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…or potato pancakes with toasted goat’s cheese. Or indeed rosti with toasted goat’s cheese. But another Alsatian dish anyway.

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…and so to the second Simon Hopkinson dish.

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What do you do when you’ve been engauntleted by a friend regarding the potentiality of high quality picnic foodage? Why you go to your most recent recipe font and seek out something large and sublime that will sate the masses. And it has all the food groups too, cream cheese, cream, sugar, eggs.

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Here’s a quick and tasty meal to enjoy as the earth’s crust inexplicably crumbles and spews forth molten drivel*.

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The weekend here at Yumblog Towers begins peasant-like with a simple and humble Friday evening meal of bread and cheese. Mind you, the bread is an alarmingly expensive sour dough from St John which we lightly toast and rub with garlic and the cheese is a hand-picked selection from Neal’s Yard and represents the best [...]

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If you fancy two of your five-a-day smothered in cheese sauce then this is the recipe for you.

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Being a puritan and a snob, I wouldn’t normally condone any recipe for pesto which strayed away from the traditional holy trinity of basil, pine nuts and parmesan. Profane variations such as ‘Rocket and walnut’ or ‘Spinach and sun-dried tomatoes’ have a desperate and makeshift ‘Ready Steady Cook’ feel about them, which in my experience [...]

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In an attempt to escape the hysterical media build up to ‘the wedding’, not to mention the event itself with its stupid street parties, stupid bunting, stupid flag waving and general unseemly national deference to our ‘betters’, we left the country and spent Easter in the relaxed sun-drenched (republic) of Berlin. Fortunately for us the [...]

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A few weekends back the Yumblog family boarding a cramped Virgin train and sped uncomfortably northwards to West Yorkshire in what could be referred to as Phase Two of their cunning plan for a bright and exciting new future. A few days later they returned to Yumblog Towers refreshed and excited and carrying a modest [...]

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This is less of a recipe and more of a reminder to shove a Camembert in the oven once in a while for a fast fatty indulgent treat … and do it soon before this world inexorably unravels to a lawless (and cheeseless) wasteland.

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4. Potato and Onion Gratin Remarkably after only 4 (admittedly onion heavy) meals, we have reached the end of our £2 sack of onions. On this occasion they were consenting adults in a cheeky extramarital foursome with potatoes, cream and cheese – resulting in this very rich and even verier delicious gratin.

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Despite heroic efforts on our part, post-Christmas still found us with a substantial wedge of a 3 tonne wheel of Stilton left uneaten. This tart was one of several tasty ways we found to remedy the problem.

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Porcini are very much in vogue here at Yumblog Towers. Along with late Sunday roasts. And baked potatoes with cheese and beans and coleslaw. And spending Saturday morning watching 5Live on the red button. And Sophie the teething giraffe. And Friday night beer and pizza after swimming. Lots of things in fact. But not duck [...]

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…which makes this three times better than a mono cheesed risotto.

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The last six months have seen many changes here at Yumblog Towers. Saturday nights are no longer a time of cage fighting (for her) or pole dancing (for him) but instead spent indoors looking after our increasingly fidgety but exponentially lovely offspring. Although compensation is not necessary, we do like to remunerate our parental devotion [...]

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It was a on a particularly high-achieving day of culinary endeavour that the cheese and rosemary biscuits came into being. The original idea had been to make cheese scones, but these were rejected for being too little cheese per bite. Then came the rosemary and black pepper and suddenly they were biscuits. They can of [...]

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Team yumblog have recently returned from a fashionable late summer staycation in Lyme Regis – a town famed for its fossil strewn Jurassic coastline, historic Cobb and a love-lorn Meryl Streep. Less well known is its enthusiasm for the unimpressive pastime of stone balancing, a strange obsession with anything ‘gluten free’, and the universal practice [...]

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Pesto Although I’ve made pesto many times before, I’ve generally haphazardly chucked the ingredients into the food processor and left it to chance. Despite the results usually being good, I thought it was about time I consulted the mama of authentic Italian home cooking, Marcella Hazan and see if she had an angle on this [...]

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In the spirit of Dandruff Dave’s Big Society we here at Yumblog have served each other redundancy notices so that you, dear reader, can volunteer and write this blog yourself.  So come on Dirk, Tony, Helen, Scooter McKenzie, Mimsy Swallows, Zucchini Breath, Briony Bob et al, step forward and become part of this radical new [...]

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For anyone who hasn’t eaten this butter and cheese laden French take on mashed potato let me tell you it is more comforting than being hugged by a 6 foot Angora rabbit with a PhD in Applied Cuddling. More comforting than lying in a bath of warm Lenor as a Labrador puppy nuzzles your neck [...]

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I’ll never forget the charming little threadbare street vendor on the dusty corner of Presa Las Virgenes and Paseo de la Reforma where we would regularly purchase our Elotes at the end of a frantic day’s shoot. We’d take these tasty corn ‘popsicles’ up to the terracotta rooftops of our rambling majestic casa and accompanied [...]

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Victor: A scone and tea at half past three, makes the day a little brighter. So you can keep your cakes and fancy tarts…. Jack and Victor: …and stick them up your shiter.

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This recipe is from the poetically titled and yet to be published ‘Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume‘ by Silvena Rowe which was featured in the latest OFM. If this and the other published recipes are anything to go by, this particular publication could well be joining the myriad cookbooks gracing the West Wall of the [...]

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It’s finals week and MasterChef has entered the wacky ‘It’s a Knock Out’ stage. The three finalists are being set some fairly arbitrary ‘tough’ tasks such as last night when they were shipped out to Jodhpur in order to cook for some royal toffs in 120 degrees of heat. No doubt tonight they’ll be forced [...]

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Cornish Yarg is a mild yet flavoursome firm cheese not to be confused with the Cornish ‘Yarp’ – the only word uttered by Michael in ‘Hot Fuzz’.

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Ricotta & Parsley Ravioli with Tomato & Cream Sauce The offer of some Valentine themed goodies from our friends at Interflora and a cooking apron from our latest chums at The Last detail, prompted us to cook up something which would make an ideal romantic dinner for two. Besides, it was the day before the [...]

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If our recent trip to Prague is anything to go by, it would appear the only vegetarian option available in the Czech Republic is deep fried Edam with boiled potatoes. Nothing wrong with that of course – cheese and spuds are two of my favourite food groups especially if the former is heavily grated over [...]

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Kale, Cheese & Bread Soup For what is essentially a soggy cheese and cabbage sandwich, this is very, very tasty.

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I found this Lemony Cheese delight in a back issue of the excellent Donna Hay magazine – the eponymous title from food editor, best-selling cookery writer, and from what I can gather, Queen of Australia.

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As with the mackerel, so with the cheese. It was in the same Fearnley-Whittingstall spread* as the potted mackerel and required cheese, butter and a splash of vin rouge or some vine-based glug, thereby having all the markings of a winner about it. The man himself suggested you play with the recipe and use whichever [...]

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We were so impressed by the chocolate coloured wax casing of this fine cheddar when it arrived from our friends at A&C that we immediately took it down to north meadow and photographed it among the wild fritillaries. We have a particular fondness for cheese here at Yumblog Hall so we stayed pure and did [...]

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If you follow the link you’ll discover this young Gorgonzola came to us from Sardinia via Acton. Roasted Tomato and Gorgonzola Tarts with Balsamic Vinegar Caramel

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A couple of weeks ago we had a slap up anniversary feed at St John in Smithfield, and this dish was on the menu. Obviously visiting the home of ‘Nose to Tail eating’ and plumping for the vegetarian option is like… (Note to Blogger-D: Please insert apt and amusing analogy here.) (Note to Blogger-R: Can’t [...]

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The plan is at some stage to make our own Ricotta from the whey left over from Yumblog Amalgamated Dairy Industries yoghurt-making enterprise. However I suspect the quantities involved will be minute and certainly a lot smaller than our massive combined appetites.

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The obsession with yoghurt continues – this time using it to fashion a traditional Middle Eastern-style cheese called Labne. Once made it is rolled into small balls, coated with fresh herbs, placed in a jar and covered with olive oil. Simple and delicious.

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