Being Mrs C

Review: Ella's Kitchen

It's hard to believe that it's over three months since I first wrote about weaning Master C. He's still a little boy who loves his food putting on weight exactly as he should be.

Since the early days Master C seems to have shown a particular love for Ella's Kitchen pouches and even now his face lights up when he sees them come out of the cupboard. I was therefore really pleased when we were sent some of the savory ones to review.

Whilst we started off with some of the first tastes pouches (apple, pear and banana on their own) he quickly moved on to their Stage 1 Baby Food range and he enjoys them still today. With nothing in them other than simple, natural ingredients they are a fantastic way of making sure that your little one eats well without getting having to cook from scratch every day. I also still use the apple and banana pouches to add a bit of fruit into his morning porridge too and he's no where near as keen to eat it if the fruit hasn't been added.

Master C struggles with a bit of a reflux problem and sometimes gags when eating if he's given something with a bit too much texture, so we're still using the stage 1 food a few months later. He's always very eager to finish them off and the few stage 2 pouches that we've tried have also been a big success.

Obviously a seven month old can't actually tell me if he likes the taste of what he's eating or not, but this picture shows his enthusiasm to get every last bit of of the pouches!

One thing I really like about the Ella's Kitchen range is the pouches themselves. When you're in a hurry all youneed to dois grab a spoon and then you can just serve it straight from the pouch - ever so handy when you're also trying to cook dinner for a toddler and the baby is screaming with hunger. I've found that this is also really useful when you're out and about. You don't need to carry loads of stuff with you and can easily feed on the go. 

From an environmental point of view I'm also really pleased to see that the company is tackling the issue of recycling the pouches as I know we get through a fair few of them and I hate to think of all that waste going into landfill.

Disclaimer: I was sent a selection of Ella's Kitchen Stage 1 Baby Food pouches for this review, but I've bought many, many more than that myself over the last few months!

Boosting our children's Vitamin D with Growing Up Milk Info

It seemed appropriate that this was the scene that I found outside when I woke up on Saturday ready to travel to Bristol to attend a Growing Up Milk Info Event all about how children are lacking in Vitamin D. The first snow of the winter was at the end of October and here we are at the end of March and there's still some snow on the ground. Most of Master C's life has been winter with snow nearly every month. It's often far too cold to be outside with the children, especially with a small baby who can't yet run around to keep himself warm.

In fact though the start of British summertime (Sunday 31 March - Vitamin D Day) is the first day on which the sun is at the right angle for our bodies to make Vitamin D, and the period from April to September it is vital for children to receive Vitamin D from the sun. At the same time though there are constant worries about over-exposure to the sun and the risks of skin cancer meaning that it's also vital to use sun-cream. Balancing all these things it's obvious that toddlers need Vitamin D rich diets, especially if we're to stop the rise of rickets in children that we're currently seeing. Whilst vitamin D is important for everyone, toddlers have a specific need for the vitamin to support the period of growth and development during the toddler years, as it supports the development of healthy bones and teeth. It was reported just in December last year that Doctors are urging for Vitamin D to be added to more food. Some foods naturally contain Vitamin D and as a parent it is obviously good to know what these foods are and to try to incorporate them in your toddler's diet as much as possible.

For toddlers one easy way to increase their Vitamin D intake is through Growing Up Milk. I'm sure I'm not alone as someone who moved Little Miss C on to cows milk once she turned one, but when you look at the following table and see what extra things Growing Up Milk would give her over cow's milk at this stage of her development it makes me feel quite bad about doing so.

Drinking Growing Up Milk (GUM) isn't the only way of getting Vitamin D into a toddler's diet though. As well as trying to incorporate foods that are rich in Vitamin D in their diets you can also cook with GUM. Growing Up Milk Info have been working with kids food expert Fiona Faulkner who has been developing recipes for children using GUM instead of normal cow's milk. GUM has a slightly sweeter taste than cow's milk and whilst a straight substitution is possible, recipes would not taste the same.

On Saturday Carolin from Mummy Alarm and I were lucky enough to attend a cook along with Fiona where we tried out four of her recipes. It was a fantastic opportunity to pick up lots of tips for cooking for children (I'm sure there'll be a whole separate blog post about this!) and to see just how easy it is to incorporate GUM in meals for toddlers. 

The first thing we made were Baby Broccoli Muffins and I have to say that there were just so delicious! The sweetness of the GUM combined with the saltiness of the cheddar cheese worked perfectly and all of us really enjoyed tucking in to these. I would quite happily be served these myself as a canape or just a savory snack. They are also incredibly simple to make. Mr C is usually very sceptical of vegetables in cakes, but even he seemed to be won over when he tasted them. Sadly we let slip to LMC that they contained broccoli and we just couldn't convince her to taste them at all. She's a determined little lady that's for sure. I think next time I make some I just won't tell her what they contain and hope that she will at least try them then.

The idea of combining pancakes and pizza may sound a bit strange at first, but both are things that children love and therefore Fiona came up with the idea of a pizza pancake. The pizza base is actually a pancake made with GUM, whilst the pizza topping tries to squeeze as many vegetables as possible into it. Again the sweetness of the GUM really works well in the pancakes, yet the pancake also works as pizza base too. I'm delighted to say that LMC devoured the pancake base, but yet again her magical vegetable-sensor was at work and she declared that the pizza topping wasn't something she liked without even tasting it!

Amazingly I managed to master the skill of flipping pancakes and Cara from Frank PR even managed to catch it on camera! Just excuse the slightly paniced look on my face.

We also made Mac and Cheese and Rice Pudding with the Growing Up Milk and again I was amazed how good both tasted. When I borded the train back to London I was carrying several tubs of food that we'd made during the day and I even had some hungry students comment on how nice everything smelt and ask what I had with me. I'll be honest and say that I decided not to tell them that I'd been cooking with formula - it just didn't quite seem the thing to tell a bunch of strangers!

There's no doubt that I learnt a huge amount last Saturday and I really hope that doing so will now benefit both my children. I've certainly had my eyes opened as to where their diets may be lacking, but also how I can change that moving forwards. Now to do so.

Disclaimer: My expenses for going to Bristol for this cook along were paid and I also received a goodie bag whilst there. I am currently a Growing Up Milk Mum.

Food, glorious food!

I've had my suspicions for a while that Master C has been rather hungry. Firstly he went from sleeping 6 or 7 hours at night through to at worst waking every 90 minutes for a feed. And it was only a feed he needed in the night as he would go back to sleep as soon as he'd had some and general comforting wouldn't have any effect at all. His feeds were also starting to last longer and longer and this was accompanied by chewing on his own hands and anything else that he managed to get into his mouth. When I took him along to my weekly knitting group he'd sit there completely mesmorised by everyone in the cafe eating cake.

Through complete exhaustion I decided to start giving him bottles in addition to breastfeeding him and that helped a little bit - possibly because I went for the forumula designed for hungry babies - but we were still getting quite a few night time wake ups for more milk. On the advice of health visitors I was trying to hold out for the "magical" 17 weeks before introducing solids as I did with Little Miss C. I caved in last week thought at 16 and a half weeks although Master C wasnt too delighted with his first meal of baby rice. I just kept getting this slightly dispairing look as if to say "well that's fine, but where's the cake?"

On day two I moved on to fruit and chose to try some of the pouches of pureed fruit from Ella's Kitchen and wow what a response. We started with just half a pouch of apple on the first day, followed by apple and banana purees on day two. By the time day five came along on Monday he'd had baby porridge mixed with banana for breakfast, pear for lunch and apple for tea - three meals in just the one day! His milk intake for the day was the same as usual and he was also trying to grab the spoon from me to feed himself.

I'm blown away by how much he's eating already. I thought LMC took to food quickly but I'm sure it was at least a month before she was up to three meals a day. I'm really hoping it's a step in the right direction though, especially as after that first day of three meals he also managed to sleep from 10.45pm through until 6.30 the next morning. It may be a complete coincidence, but I think it quite likely he was just a hungry little boy. I'm certainly intrigued to see what his weight does this week as a result of all the extra that he's taking in.

I don't think it will be long before he's trying to take cake off the women in my knitting group - watch out ladies!

Toddler friendly hidden vegetable bolognese

I'd put money on Little Miss C not being the only toddler out there who isn't particularly keen on fruit and veg. After a Christmas season in which she went to several parties that presented her with the opportunity to eat her own body weight in crisps we thought it about time to try to reverse this unhelthy eating trend.

LMC has always been a fan of meat dishes and would quite happily snack on sausages or similar in the same way that other (healthier) children might eat a banana or an apple. Over the last couple of years I've therefore become quite good at trying to squeeze as many vegetables as possible into dishes like bolognese. After my latest batch I thought it about time to share the recipe.

The beauty of this recipe is that I try to include whatever I have in at the time, alongside a few staple ingredients.

Ingredients:

• Mince
• Onion(s)
• Garlic
• Tin of chopped tomatoes
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Carrots
• Celery
• Tomatoes

Method:

Start off by frying an onion until soft in a large frying pan. I also tend to add crushed garlic at this stage.

I then dice carrots, celery and any other veg I find into small pieces and adding them to the soft onion. The size of pieces all depends on how much or little your child likes that particular thing. Mushrooms are often a good addition at this stage, but if your child doesn't like the texture of them I find that they can get quite lost in with the mince if you cut them into small enough pieces.

Once the veg is soft I then add the mince to the pan and cook it until brown all over. I like to add a good healthy measure of worcestershire sauce at this stage as I find that it adds a certain depth to the flavour. If I'm making an "adult version" then a good slog of red wine also goes in at this point. I omit this from the toddler version, although my Health Visitor seems to think there's nothing wrong with children having dishes that include alcohol in the contents - and I guess it may help with any sleep issues(!) I then add a can of chopped tomatoes and any other chopped up tomatoes that may need using up in my fridge.

 

Once the whole pan is bubbling I then turn down the gas and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes for the flavour to develop fully.

After letting it cool it is portioned up into freezer bags so that I then can just pull one out and defrost it for one of LMC's meals. The latest batch that I made produced nine portions for my daughter, but if you add even more veg then you can stretch one portion of mince even further. Obviously if you have hungrier children it may not stretch as far.

The lovely thing about this bolognese is that it can be served in various different ways. With some mashed potatoes it is just like cottage pie. With pasta (or spaghetti) and grated cheese on top it's a classic italian dish. On a cold winter's day it works well with a jacket potato, or if you're in more of a rush you can even just serve it with some bread.

 

Definitely always worth having some in the freezer for a quick, but healthy toddler meal.

 

 

 

The Raymond Blanc Lunch at Brasserie Blanc

One thing I really miss since having children is being able to go out for dinner or a weekend lunch on a whim with Mr C. We were very lucky in that we could just phone each other in the afternoon and decide where to meet for dinner that night - a big luxury indeed. I was thrilled therefore when a weekday lunch for local bloggers was organised on a date that I could actually do and on a day of the week when Little Miss C was in nursery.

The venue was the newly opened St Albans branch of Brasserie Blanc and we were all invited to try the November version of their seasonal fixed price menu - The Raymond Blanc Set Menu. This really does represent fantastic value for money with three courses only costing £13.95 at lunchtime and £16.45 for dinner. 

After a quick introduction from restaurant manager Rob we were all spoilt for choice when we tried to choose from the menu.

I went for a starter of Gnocchi with jervaulx blue cheese and celery. This was served with apple slices which provided a refreshing, crisp accompaniment to the rich blue cheese sauce. The gnocchi was light and fluffy - perfect for a starter.

After nearly everyone else on the table went for the slow cooked beef as a main course, I instead decided to try the Pan-fried haddock fillet with poached egg, potato salad. Although I like fish I have to admit that this isn't the sort of thing that I'd normally order - mainly as I'm not a huge egg fan - but this really took my fancy when I saw it on the menu. The haddock was delicious and worked really well with the poached egg. The potatoes weren't quite what I expected when described as a potato salad, but the buttery taste again worked well with the haddock and egg.

All those who chose the slow cooked beef were very happy with their choice and looking round the table all I could see were clean plates - always a sign of a good meal.

I washed the food down with a crisp glass of the house white wine which you can add to your meal for just £1.95. You can instead choose a glass of the wine that Raymond Blanc recommends to accompany it for just a pound more.

Looking around the restaurant most of the other diners were slightly older couples or groups. Master C accompanied me to lunch and there were a couple of other children spotted at other tables. Raymond Blanc is keen to encourage families to dine together and this is supported by the range of dishes available for children. For the youngest customers the kitchen will prepare a puree of seasonal vegetables free of charge. There is also a children's menu and the option for some dishes from the main menu to be prepared in smaller portions. As a parent I think that's a great way of encouraging families with children of all ages to visit together. It's certainly the first time that I've seen a restaurant providing an option for really young children.

This was actually my second visit to our local branch of Brasserie Blanc and I certainly hope to return again - probably with both children. The atmosphere was lovely, service attentive and friendly and the food exceptionally good. The price of the set menu is fantastic value for money too - a very important factor for people these days.

Disclaimer: Local blogger Heidi kindly organised this lunch and all attendees received a two course lunch, accompanied by a glass of house wine. We also took home with us a goodie bag.

Three hours

I'm sure I can't be the only person who gets to the end of the day and wonders what I've actually acheived that day. When you're at home with little ones it can be quite easy to just concentrate on "surviving" and it can be easy to lose track of what has kept you busy all day. Realistically though, stay at home parents usually acheive loads, but they simply don't have the time to step back and take stock of just what they have done.

This morning Mr C went out to a first aid course so I thought I'd keep track of just what I got up to in that time - admitedly, partly to make myself feel like I could justify the bar of dairy milk that went with my morning cuppa, and the glass of wine that I'm planning to have tonight.

The morning didn't start well with the Ocado man arriving at the door full of apologies about the jar of curry sauce that had exploded all over half my shopping order. Unfortunately that curry sauce was supposed to form part of tonight's dinner plans, so back to the drawing board for today's meal plans. Several other things had been so covered in sauce that they couldn't be rescued either. I swapped a few things around, googled some recipes and my new job became putting together a beef and mushroom stroganoff that could go into the slow cooker for the rest of the day. Small pat on the back for getting things back on track.

Little Miss C has been a bit tough to entertain lately - especially since she missed nursery last week due to a fever and hence I think she's just sick of the sight of me - so it was necessary to make a real effort to do things with her rather than just letting her play whilst I got on with jobs. We started off doing some sewing together. I picked up these great lacing cards in Wilkos for just 50p when they were selling off their old craft range before bringing out a new one earlier in the year. With shoelace type threads LMC had a great time threading them through the cards and she was very proud to be "sewing like Mummy does". Parenting bonus point number one.

By the time we'd done this Master C was ready for a feed - something it seems he's ready for every hour some days! - so that was combined with a quick phone call to my mum and LMC watching a spot of TV. Inspired by I Can Cook we then set about baking a batch of biscuits for Daddy's return. My late Gran's Ginger Biscuit recipe is very simple and quick and it's hard to get it wrong, even with a toddler helping. After all the clearing up that was required before we could start baking and the baking itself it was time for Master C to have yet another feed by the time they went into the oven. After a quick ten minutes of feeding the buzzer signalled time to get the biscuits out of the oven and luckily Master C went down for a nap at the same time. By this point I was awarding myself parenting bonus point number two, putting the kettle on and imagining sitting down with a cuppa and a biscuit and even wondering if I might be able to get five minutes with a magazine.

That wasn't going to be the case though as LMC very loudly reminded me that it was nearly lunchtime. A raid of the freezer found a cooked mince portion so whilst that defrosted in the microwave I peeled some potatoes and put them on to boil. Fifteen minutes later she was sat in her highchair with a portion of mine and mash in front of her - cunningly called shepherd's pie in an attempt to get her to eat it. This is where I started losing parenting points though as after a few enthusiastic first spoonfulls she declared that she didn't want any more and wanted yoghurt and chocolate instead. Meal times have been a bit of a battle of late and today was no different. Cue 30 minutes of screaming about how she didn't like her lunch, didn't want to eat it and how she wanted something else instead. Even promises of a biscuit if she ate some more seemed to fall on deaf ears.

Master C wasn't deaf though and all this screaming about food woke him up and reminded him that a whole 55 minutes had passed since his last feed so it must be time for yet more milk. Mummy the milk producer was in demand again. Sat down with my now cold cuppa I proceeded to feed Master C whilst still trying to calm down LMC and convince her to eat some more of her lunch - all whilst attempting to hide the fact that I was eating the bar of fruit and nut that I'd sneaked out of the fridge! Parenting points into negative numbers by this point I'm sure.

Fit in round the above an explosive nappy change requiring a change of clothes for Master C, one load of laundry through the machine and three lots of washing up and I think I now understand how I didn't have time to be bored this morning. By the time Mr C returned (now fully knowledgeable as to how to save a life) I was shattered and very ready to have five minutes peace and quiet - once I'd cooked our lunch of course.

Forget one glass of wine this evening. Re-reading the above I think I deserve a whole bottle. If I can stay awake!

Baked couscous with chicken and spices

As I'm now into "due date territory" this week's menu planning revolved around things that were pretty easy to make, specifically so that they could be done either whilst heavily pregnant or with a newborn in the house. 

I picked up my copy of Nigel Slater's Real Cooking to look up a particular pasta recipe that we've done a few times now and whilst I had it out I managed to find a few others that looked simple enough - one being baked couscous with chicken and spices. What appealed about this recipe is that while there is a little bit of preparation most of the cooking is very hands off, meaning that it could take care of itself in the oven whilst we got Little Miss C to bed.

The chicken is tossed in a mixture of crushed garlic cloves, olive oil, chilli flakes, ground cinnamon and curry powder and then left for twenty minutes before being baked in the oven. The couscous is soaked, some sultanas mixed in and that it too is baked in the oven. The two are combined just before the end and then served with some chopped fresh mint leaves sprinkled over the top. 

Despite all that time in the oven the dish managed to retain a good amount of moisture and the chicken wasn't at all dry as I feared it might be. There was also a good amount of kick in the spices without it being overpowering at all. We served it with some tapas style chargrilled vegetables in oil that has been leftover from a weekend meal and the combination worked really well.

I've definitely flagged this recipe as one to do again, especially if we want something that doesn't involve much preparation or hands-on cooking. It may well appear again in my meal planning once Baby C is here.

Leftovers Lunch

In my eyes a good experimental recipe is one that gets eaten so quickly that you don't have chance to photograph it for a blog post first. That's exactly what happened to the lovely lunch that Mr C made us all earlier today.

One thing that I am awful at is keeping food leftovers and then doing nothing at all with them. There is far too much food waste in this house and if I'm honest I'm to blame for most of it. There are some dinners (mainly pasta dishes) where I plan carefully and ensure that we have enough left over for LMC and I to have it for lunch the next day too. Where I come unstuck though is where there are smaller quantities of things, or where I've had to buy a larger quantity than I really needed. Then bits of food can end up sitting in the fridge for a week or so until they get thrown out due to developing some strange growth. With Mr C having been off work this last week I've tried to only plan our evening meals and to allow our lunches to be a bit more free-form, based around whatever else we can find in the fridge or cupboards. This has meant that sometimes we've all eaten different things, but I don't see that as a problem. I've not had to throw away any containers of dinner leftovers and that is a big improvement over some weeks.

Now that we're at the end of the week the left-over supplies were running low and the previous night's dinner only resulted in some cooked broccoli and new potatoes left in the fridge. Mr C managed to work his magic on these though and made up a fantastic lunch for all three of us based around them.

First he made a quick cheese sauce on the hob using some milk, soft cheese, grated cheese, plain flour and a touch of seasoning. Into this he mixed the chopped up potatoes and broccoli, along with a handful of cooked ham (the sort you put in sandwiches). This was then all put in an oven-proof dish, grated cheese and breadcrumbs sprinkled on top and then it went under the grill until it was all bubbling and crispy on top. Served up with some bread it was delicious, filling and came with a feeling of satisfaction at not having wasted yet more food. It also ticked the box of being a family meal that really didn't cost very much to make at all - bonus.

My next challenge is to try to use my child-free time tomorrow to come up with similarly easy meals using what is now lurking in the fridge. I really want to try to nip this food waste problem I have in the bud now once and for all, so I'm on the look-out for recipes to use things up. Any tips you might have are gratefully received! If I can do so and also cut our food shopping bill at the same time then it'll be a thrifty bonus.

Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Gratin

Pulling meals together from what's in the fridge isn't my speciality. It shouldn't be difficult, but somehow I always struggle and sadly end up throwing away far more food than we should. I'm making a real effort at the moment to change that and reduce what goes into the council compost bin and I'm delighted to say that this last week I've succeeded and come up with a great new simple meal as a result.

Based on the Waitrose Baked Pumpkin Gratin recipe that I picked up on one of their cards a while back I managed to concoct a delicious sweet potato and butternut squash gratin based on what I could find in the fridge. 

I love the bags that Waitrose do of butternut squash and sweet potato cubes. When Little Miss C was weaning they were ideal for making up a quick batch of puree for her without all the hassle of having to cut up butternut squash - which I strangely always find troublesome. They've been on special offer recently - hence a surplus in my fridge.

Ingredients

• Bag of butternut squash and sweet potato
• Some tomatoes
• Garlic cloves
• Vegetable stock (enough to cover the amount of veg you have)
• Single cream
• Breadcrumbs
• Gruyere cheese

Method

Place all the vegetables in a roasting dish. Pour over the vegetable stock and then place in the oven at 200 degrees for about 45 minutes. At this stage stir though and then add some single cream - enough to cover all the veg, but not to make it too liquid. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the top and then grate the cheese over the breadcrumbs. Return to the oven for approximately 15 minutes; until the top is crispy. 

You can serve this either as a vegetarian main course with salad on the side, as an accompaniment to meat, or with some nice bread to make it a comfort food supper. It's a great recipe for just using up what you find in the fridge or your vegetable rack and simple to do too.

In this case the sweet potato gave the dish some bulk, whilst the nutty nature of the Gruyere added an extra taste dimension. The whole thing has also made me much more confident of my abilities to cobble something together from what I can find in the kitchen and hopefully in the process has helped to reduce the amount of food we waste.

Tea Smoked Trout (and yoghurt sauce)

I'm still amazed at just how much inspiration I took away from my day at Yeo Valley earlier in the month. One thing that I really wasn't expecting was quite so much kitchen based inspiration. I know that they make yoghurts and other dairy products, but as I've said before them I hadn't thought much about cooking with yoghurt before.

Their site in Blagdon is right next to Blagdon Lake and in their efforts to ensure that food miles were kept to an absolute minimum our lunch that day was trout from the lake. But, just bunging some trout in the oven is far too boring for those people at Yeo Valley, so instead chef Jamie showed us how to tea smoke our own trout at home - without requiring any special equipment. It was so simple that I'm going to share with you how to do this.

The first stage is to mix together long grain rice, demerara sugar and the contents of 10 tea bags (good old Yorkshire tea in this case, but your could easily substitute this for other blends if you wish).

Line a pan with silver foil and place your mixed ingredients in it. This will then go over a moderate heat and it's worth putting this on to heat up before you put the trout on. You just want to get it up to where it starts smoking. (Depending on how well ventilated your kitchen is you may want to put a lid on at this point.)

Once the tea, rice and sugar mixture is starting to smoke it's time to get the trout involved. Over the top of your pan lay a metal cooling rack and place your trout (skin side down) on this. Brush the trout with a little olive oil and also season with salt and pepper.

Place a suitably sized metal bowl over the fish. You want to ensure that it's not touching the fish, but it wants to contain the smoke. I managed to find a suitable mixing bowl for only a couple of pounds in a local shop which worked a treat.

It then takes about 15-20 minutes for the trout to cook through. This was the stage in the cooking where Mr C and I had a bit of a disagreement over the cooking. Mr C insisted that the whole house now "stank" of tea smoke (he's not a tea drinker) but yet I couldn't smell it at all. I've no idea if this was because I was stood right next to the cooker and therefore closer to the extractor fan, whether I'm just "hardened" when it comes to tea, or whether pregnancy has just altered my senses so much that I simply didn't notice!

I served the trout with new potatoes, some English asparagus and a yummy horseradish and yoghurt sauce. This sauce simply contained natural yoghurt (100g), 1 tablespoon of hot horseradish, the juice of half a lemon and a sprig of dill. It was delicious and in particular the dill was incredibly fresh and just the smell of it reminded me so much of meals in Scandinavia. Such an easy sauce to make and one that I'm sure we'll be doing again to go with a variety of fish.

As for the trout itself, it had a lovely taste to it and I felt that I could really taste the tea. My only "complaint" is that the trout was quite cold, despite being cooked through. I had expected it to be hotter and I'm not sure if it just didn't get hot whilst it was smoked, or whether it just went cool too quickly as I served it up.

(Once you're finished just let the rice, sugar and tea mixture cool down and you can then lift out the foil and place it all in the bin.)

Compare my dish to the artistic way in which the same dish was served whilst we were at Yeo Valley. There it was served with fresh watercress alongside potatoes and a tomato salad. Delicious.

This method of smoking really was very simple and it is something that I just wouldn't have considered doing at home before. I bought a new cooling tray and a metal mixing bowl, but they cost less than £4 in total and will definitely be useful again for many things - as well as trying out smoking again. 

Disclaimer: I was invited to Yeo Valley for their open day with several other parent bloggers. Our travel costs for the day were met and a yummy lunch, cake and tea provided.