The comfort of old friends...

We have gale-force winds and pouring rain today and Keith the dog was not impressed when he found out that the weather in the park (where he desperately wanted to go) was exactly the same as the one in the garden (where he really didn't want to go because of the rain).  After 20 minutes of trotting around in the wet, he had enough and we came back - needless to say that we are both still trying to dry off.

It's been a busy few days with little time for trying out new recipes.  I did cook but relied on our trusted favourites - sometimes you just need the comfort of knowing exactly what ends up on your plate :-)  It's almost like spending time with old friends - no need to explain anything, just enjoying the company. So we had sausages with homemade coleslaw and baked potatoes, savoury mince with rice and peas and stuff like that - easy & yummy at the same time.

One of the dishes I did make that I want to share with you is this fish dish: salmon wrapped in pancetta (a very thinly sliced bacon).  I love how the pancetta goes all crispy and the fish stays lovely and moist!  We had this with a creamy dill sauce and served mine with pasta and Mr Happy Larder's with crispy potato cubes - both worked equally well and with a handful of mangetout on the side made a tasty and complete meal. 

The wrapped salmon does also work really well with potato gratin (you can find the recipe here) and you can also add herbs before wrapping up the pancetta...sage leaves are great for this but why not try basil for a change?  I hope you will love this dish as much as we do.

Have a wonderful weekend!  I will spend my time trying out a few new recipes, so I will have plenty to share with you coming up to Easter :-)

A good start to the day

The start of another week after a relaxing weekend.  We took Keith the dog for his walks and watched a fabulous game of rugby on TV where Wales beat England.  Brilliant!  Being neither Welsh nor English I could just watch it for the fun of it :-)

I love weekends!  Coffee, reading newspapers and relaxing over breakfast is just too lovely for words (even if it doesn't happen like that very often).  Before going out walking this Sunday, I wanted to make a breakfast that would really set us up.  A little while ago I watched a cookery programme on TV which featured these little treasures and I have wanted to try these ever since: "croque madame muffins" - although I'd describe them as "egg cups".  How cute are these?  And not only that, they are absolutely delicious and easy to make but look impressive enough to serve to guests.  

I love how you can adapt these to your taste - I included ham and spinach in ours to make a kind of eggs florentine version but you could easily leave these out.  If you are a vegetarian, then these are also great - no need to have the ham in them if you don't want to.  

I'd really recommend you'd give these a go!