Author Archives: lardersaga

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About lardersaga

Joanna Preston is mother of the 'little people', 1 pink and 1 blue, and wife to saintly Mr.Patience! After a decade dedicated to cooking for others (Alps, Africa and founding 'Sugar & Spice') my attention is now solely in the home kitchen. We are a food obsessed family that adore growing, sourcing and cooking delectable feasts for friends and family!

A tale of two tarts.

Here is a tale of two tarts. The savoury one is a cheats’ tart, and the sweet one is a tarts’ tart. Tart no.1, the savoury one,  is perfect ‘girly’ food, the ideal answer for a light lunch, tart no.2 … Continue reading

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White magic!

Please excuse this absurdly short and sweet little rant on meringues. I have two other far more pressing topics to share, a cheeky weekend in Bordeaux and my fathers very important 70th birthday party, but somehow this has taken precedence, … Continue reading

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A thief in the garden!

Curiously our home in the country is lovingly  known as ‘Blackberry Farm’, but I challenge anyone to find a blackberry on the land. We have wild, wild hedgerows laden with sloes, elder and a host of unknown berries, we have ancient … Continue reading

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A simple starter in September!

A new term, a new nursery and hopefully a host of new friends. Having dropped the ‘blue one’ off, I couldn’t face letting go of the ‘pink one’ – she was less impressed, for no longer is she still a … Continue reading

Posted in Fish fantastic | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

‘One pot wonders’

The concept is superb, a ‘one pot wonder’ that can feed and satisfy a table of friends and family with minimum fuss, limited stress and still taste delicious. Of course it exists and can come in all manner of ways. … Continue reading

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The perfect excuse for Chocolate Cake.

Birthdays are rather popular in our family, a cause for celebration. Parties for the little people are essential, and for the big people, a cake is a major dietary requirement. I always like the idea of a chocolate cake but … Continue reading

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Figue 3 – memories of Puglia!

Before my tan fades completely, please excuse my last rant on holiday eating! I was prompted some time ago to write about figs by a dear old safari days friend who lives in Lusaka, he has one overly enthusiastic fig … Continue reading

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More notes from Puglia – Ricci, Spada, Seppia and Gamberi Rossi

  Relief all round, especially for Mr.P – the famous ‘ricci’ have been sourced and devoured. 100 to be precise – I think I ate about 50 of them! As you can see they are prickly little morsels, but morsels … Continue reading

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Notes from Puglia and a quick pizza!

Day 3 and I am getting increasingly concerned that my much-loved ‘Ricci’ are not going to feature on this holiday. Last time I was in Puglia, 5 years ago, I was introduced to this delicacy and have been licking my … Continue reading

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Panna cotta – Cooked Italian Cream

Call it what you will, most European countries have some variation of this, be it Creme caramel, Creme Brulee, Crema Catalana, or our own very poor cousin, the Blancmange (sounds convincingly French?). To be fair these all seem to be … Continue reading

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