Food is our passion, especially using local produce from our wonderful Shropshire Hills area. Each Tuesday we will provide a recipe, cooking tip or introduce an ingredient which will hopefully fire your enthusiasm for cooking.
See below our Shropshire Hills recipes.
Check out our What's on page for upcoming cookery courses.
A delicious hearty meal for these cold,damp days - and if you are very lucky you can pair this with some freshly made bread.
Also if one of your new year's resolutions was to have more plant proteins or fibre in your diet then you're onto a winner.
Especially at this time of year as your try and wean yourself off of all the treats you have been eating, you crave a little something. These biscuits that we made at our winter children's holiday club fit that bill - they are made simply with banana and oats, though you are welcome to add a little dried fruit, nuts or spices.
Filled with mediterranean flavours, warm, it can be a great main course; cold it can be equally good in a packed lunch. It freezes well so it will be ready to have when you want.
Been wishing you had made stollen, but don't have the time to let it rise? Try these stollen bites which are more of a scone stollen - you can either grate the marzipane and taste it all through each one, or put a cube of marzipane in to make it more like a stollen log.
In a way this is a bit of Boxing Day before we have even had Christmas. But for anyone loving Brussel sprouts, why wait? Very nice sauce too.
This is a popular and comforting autumn dish from the northern region of Iran, flavourful with chickpeas and prunes besides the butternut squash.
Soon to have leftovers which can then be turned into a light meal or snack. This is a no recipe, recipe to make with the ingredients you have on hand.
Always great to find new recipes using butternut squash and spinach. Besides tasting delicious it is a great source of fiber and has beta-carotene and vitamin A.
As Christmas rolls around you may start wondering what you can do with the dates - here's an idea. The recipe asked for one Medjool date, here several dried ones have been used, very nice.
Proziaki is a Polish bread made at home instead of being bought. This recipe has been used during some bread workshops carried out at schools. A simple recipe making delicious rolls - 3 schools can't be wrong.
A beautiful sun drenched dish perfect to counter the weather we have been having.
Have a delicious dinner without a lot of washing up. I have seen other recipes like with using orzo if you want your meal ready a bit faster, I used brown rice.
A casserole needing little effort then giving you time to get other things done while it cooks. Warming but light with great flavours for our changeable weather.
The culinary world is an interesting place to explore and the Australians and Americans call a Yorkshire pudding a Dutch Baby. Theirs can be savoury or sweet and often has a filling, as this one does. If you can get over the sacrilege, have a go.
This Mary Berry Apple Cake was served as the snack for the Craven Arms Girls Group last night and quickly disappeared, it will do the same in your house. Even better, it not only tastes delicious but the apples can be windfalls or even old ones left in the fruit bowl.
In Japan, teriyaki, which means to shine and to grill is a mix of soy sauce, sake and the rice wine mirin. In the west the ginger and garlic show a bit of Korean influence. This dish is especially good if you have the time to let the chicken marinade over night.
A wonderfully rich and hearty stew for these rainy days. Use whatever sausages you like best.
While we were being Anglo-Saxons at the Ludlow Food Festival one of the things we did was make this cake. Obviously worthy of the event since we were using some of our precious honey and made with the only bean known to Europe before contact with the new world.
Come forage in our meadows for the makings of an incredible dessert.
Some days you want that tang but don't have a lot of time to cook. This vegetable filled sweet and sour chicken fits the bill.
Peanut butter is not only for sandwiches but also for making great sauces.
This dish can be just as delicious made at home as it is when you have it in a restaurant with friends. It is surprisingly simple to make with its rich flavourful sauce.
Amasing melt in your mouth biscuits with a lovely lemony taste from Jane's Patisserie given a twist from my son who put a spoonful of melted white chocolate on each one - very memorable.
This time of year doesn't last long - gather your whinberries while you may - and make them into a delicious pie!
When you have people visiting over the summer, there is nothing better than to ask if they would like pancakes with this fresh raspberry syrup for breakfast.
While himalayan balsam has many bad points, it does have a high nectar production which attracts pollinators and also makes a nice jam.
This is the time of year with an abundance of fruit. It is simple to make that fruit into jam. If you have never made jam you should give it a try - delicious spread on your toast
I go back and forth between summery salads and something more warming - back to something more warming. Barley takes longer to cook but makes a great change from rice and pasta.
When taking a walk, have you ever looked down and noticed these yellow flowers? If you pick one and pinch it - it smells like pineapple. This syrup is aromatic and citrussy; delicious drizzled over yoghurt, diluted for drinks.
At the last Girls Group before September, we made some quick and delicious mug cakes, giving us energy before going down to the river. This is our tweaked recipe as we found the cakes too sweet.
Depending on where it is growing this plant can be considered invasive, so what better to do than use some of its seeds? This mustard is hot like wasabi or grated horseradish and will keep for a year, a little going a long way.
The elderflowers are out and there are many things you can make with them including Elderflower Sorbet! Now all we need is some sun to pick them in...
This is definitely the weather for salad meals, plus you can show case the courgettes you are growing - a win/win.
Something to really make your weekends special.
Meatloaf is a 'blast from the past', this one is moist and delicious because of the added vegetables. Also quick enough to be a weekday meal.
For this warm bank holiday, I decided to turn a favourite side salad into a main. So here is a version of panzanella with more vegetables and either chicken or paneer added. Not traditional, but delicious.
Just one of my favourite recipes. I love pak choi - and so do my slugs - and the lime, coconut milk and green curry paste make for a magical accompaniment.
This is one of the recipes that lead to a wonderful smell during the morning's plant based Spanish Tapa Cookery Course. I watched with envy as they went out the door at the end of the workshop, but of course with this I can make them myself.
I toyed with the idea of making a rhubarb sorbet but by the time I had come in from cutting the rhubarb out in the cold only a warm, comforting rhubarb crumble would do.
We've had requests for the recipe for our 80K Festival Fidget Pie (they certainly feature in the memories and photos of participants). Well, on the day they are made by the experts at A. Ryan & Son Butchers in Much Wenlock, but this is our recipe for homemade ones.
One of the joys of taking part in the Shropshire Way 80K Festival is the food. And we have had requests for this recipe our wonderful chefs make.
Naturally one of the most wonderful things about our cooking courses are the recipes you take away with you. If you were not on last week's course, let me share this one with you.
Spring may have sprung but there are still days when a warming curry hits the spot.
Have a fresh take on your baked beans and make them yourself!
The Centre is lucky to have staff with very talented daughters who can make things like these traditional currant buns.
It is time! Here is a recipe to make lovely, soft hot cross buns.
Something magically simple from yesterdays workshop
Everyone needs a list of comfort food recipes – and this one is also fibre and nutrient rich – so win, win.
If you would like a change from crepes with lemon juice and sugar or golden syrup, try these cardamom crepes from Somalia, where they are called malawax (pronounced ma- la-wah)
From Friday’s Lamb Supper, a Greek recipe that is simple to prepare but elegant enough for an evening at the Centre.
While both the Shropshire weather on Candlemas and Punxsutawney Phil predict an early spring, it is still soup weather. Here is a filling soup as we continue to search for signs of spring.
A dish to fight the gloom of a grey day. Also a forgiving dish, it asked for ricotta cheese and cream, but I have found it just as delicious when using up cottage cheese and cream cheese. I love the crunch of the pine nuts set against the pasta.
Either part of a light supper or a lovely lunch. With the added benefit that sardines are full of omega-3 fatty acids and often found as part of the Mediterranean recipes.
Just the thing for cold weather, hearty but the lemon and coriander giving it a bit of a sparkle.
Healthy, simple, delicious! If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to get more beans into your diet, add this recipe to your rotation of menus.
Families prepared to welcome in the New Year last Saturday, making among things, these muffins, which are said to bring prosperity in the New Year, though they will taste good anytime.
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