Greengage and Almond Jalousie

Jalousie: mid 18th century, French, literally ‘jealousy’, from Italian geloso ‘jealous’, also (by extension) ‘screen’, associated with the screening of women from view (Oxford Languages). The internet is a wonderful thing.

In this case a jalousie is a puff pastry pie with the top slashed to resemble (allegedly) a jalousie or louvred blind. It can be savoury or sweet and in this case proved to be the perfect vehicle for the greengages I picked from our tree, although you can use any plums you have handy. Continue reading

Gammon with Spiced Pears

Image of Fruit Book and Big Red Book of Tomatoes

I’ve been meaning to write a post about books for gluts, the best cookery books to have on hand if you have a lot of garden produce and are running out of creative ways to use it up. But I never get any further than these two essential volumes. Continue reading

So Many Cookbooks, The Shelf Fell Off The Wall …

I’ll preface this by saying our kitchen builders were brilliant. So it wasn’t entirely their fault that the cookery book shelf fell off  the wall. It was the sheer weight of the books. Continue reading