A rainy day in the kitchen

Thank goodness it rained today. I have spent the last several hours in the kitchen (very willingly, I should add - and with a brief interlude on a desperate hunt for anywhere that sold Calvados... thank you Waitrose!) experimenting with some old and new recipes.

The morning started at least with some sunshine, a jog (the first in quite a while - I must have realised the calorific content of a weekend of food experimentation) and a quick shop in Real Foods on Brougham Street. Love that place, and in particular their sacks of muesli. Back home in time to make some salted caramel for the baked chocolate and caramel tart which I will be baking some time later this week. We had a similar treat when in Tarbert a few weeks back in a fantastic harbourside restaurant, Scott's. So delicious was it that I immediately set out on a quest to find a recipe to make it myself, and am just about there with this recipe from BBC Good Food, though next time I am just going to use egg white to see if I can make the chocolate layer a little less dense. Anyway, fun was had by all who got to lick the spoon after making the caramel.

The veg box arrived a couple of days ago and fortunately I had just stumbled across a recipe for broad bean and feta salad (a version of a favourite pea and feta salad I've made many a time thanks to Jamie Oliver).

I also made my first ever pate - chicken liver and cointreau - which is chilling in the fridge before being dished up for lunch tomorrow with freshly baked soda bread. I was tempted to try my hand at homemade brioche but after making pizza dough last night decided against doughy mess all over me and the kitchen for a second day in a row.

That said, I was suitably messy by the time I'd finished with the 'whisky snap' baskets, sculpted over an improvised basket mould... an old aerosol lid. They taste fab, but are, well, not particularly uniform in shape or size... and nearly ended up as one huge whisky snap tray bake at one stage in the afternoon!

The mixture for an apple and calvados sorbet (yes, the calvados was for a recipe, not just as a tipple) is chilling in the fridge over night. A memory of holidays in Brittany with my folks, when I was young enough to think ice cream before main course was just fantastic. My first introduction to a palate cleanser at the age of five.

And the hubby and I have just polished off a plate of deliciously meaty seared scallops, with creamy mash and a tomato, chorizo and balsamic sauce / salsa / confit (not sure what it should be called - sauteed in some oil for a few minutes before serving).

We are both suitably full, needless to say.