Welcome

Reaching the final of Masterchef 2007 was a rollercoaster of emotion, with huge highs and lows, but I loved every minute and learnt a huge amount. I owe a great deal to John and Gregg who had faith in my ability when I did not believe in myself. Since competing on the programme my life has changed considerably. I now write cookery columns for two magazines, give cookery demonstrations and am just working on my 13th cook book - unlucky number for some but not for me!!! I love all forms of country cooking, using seasonal and locally sourced produce. This blog is to enable me to share with you a few of my recipes and baking ideas. Enjoy Hannah xxxx

Tuesday 10 June 2008

I have mentioned before my love of peashoots. Delicate leaves with curly fronds that taste of delicious raw peas. I had an e-mail last week asking if I would like to try some peashoots made by Vitacress - would I? Most definitely!!! There I was expecting a small packet, when the postman arrived with an enormous box containing not 1 but 6 bags of peashoots! All carefully packaged with their own ice packs. It was love at first sight!

I took some of them to a cookery demonstration I gave on Sunday and made peashoot and fennel salad and peashoot and lamb noodles. I passed round a bowl of fresh peashoots for the audience to try and the overwhelming response was "yum"..."where do we buy them" (M&S and Sainsburys have them). A few more converts to my peashoot campaign! You can read more about peashoots and find some lovely recipes at www.peashoots.com

So, if you stumble accross some peashoots, my advice is buy them straight away! You will not regret it. Last night we have this delicious peashoot, peach and mozzarella salad. We ate every last leaf!

Peashoot, Peach and Mozzarella Salad with Lavender Dressing
1 bag of peashoots
2 ripe peaches
1 buffolo mozerella (buy the best you can afford - it is worth it)
3 asparagus spears, roughly chopped (you can eat them raw, did you know!)
1 tsp ground culinary lavender
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar (or ordinary balsamic will do but it strains the mozzarella black)
1 tbsp lemon juice
Arrange the peashoots in a bowl and top with slices of the juicy peach. Tear your mozzarella into large pieces and add to the bowl, together with the raw asparagus. Whisk together the lavender, vinegar, lemon and oil and pour over the salad when you are ready to serve. Summer on a plate!

4 comments:

Robbiegirl said...

I love peashoots too, and your salad sounds fantastic! Will definitely try it.

I have to add that peas are really easy to grow - Here's a page with instructions on how to grow peas for shoots - nothing tastier than food from your own garden!

I'm growing peas for the first time this year and very excited about the first harvest... won't be long now!

Anonymous said...

This sound great - I am very jealous!!

Marie Rayner said...

I love, Love, LOVE peashoots!! You get all the lovely flavour of fresh peas, but with a lovely crunch. They make a delightful addition to any salad!

Anonymous said...

I couldn't agree with you more Hannah - love them! I haven't stopped eating them since I discovered them in my local sainsburys.