The Hackney Butchers Association

This is a great light ale from a fantastic small brewery, HOBSONS in Mortimer, Shropshire. Well worth a look if you like ale.  A total waste of time if you don't. Even more exciting, you can order direct delivery from this link.  CLICK HERE The site has six breweries, & delivers anywhere.  It would be brilliant for a special event.  You can order cases of bottles, 18/36pint polybins, or even barrels.  Enjoy!

The real McCoy, like your gran use to make.  Well, maybe.  I've made this loads of time from Delia Smith's recipe. This recipe is best left overnight to get a great flavor.  6 lemons makes 3pints (1.75litres) Chill it with loads of ice, it's delicious. The ratio of lemons to sugar is pretty standard.  It makes a perfect, slightly tart lemonade. You can add more sugar afterwards if you're clinically insane. It can be made with less water to make a cordial, that you dilute when you need it.  This is good for fizzy lemonade, just add fizzy water to dilute it.  Nice. You can make instant lemonade by blitzing lemons with sugar & ice in a blender.  Still nice, but not as good in my opinion. Another few things to try... Add raspberries & grenadine. Add a few sprigs of mint. Switch the lemons for oranges (use less sugar!) or limes.  Probably nice, I haven't tried it yet. Pink lemonade with cherry juice, or cranberry juice. ...

These take about 10mins to do, and 1 month to pickle.  If you've got any cuts on your hands, it hurts like hell! They will then last for ages, and can be used for sauces, stews, salads etc. You can add spices like corriander seeds, bayleaves, cinnamon sticks etc to the jar for extra flavouring.  I don't because it keeps them more versatile without. You can always add those flavours directly to a dish at a later stage. The number of lemons you use obviously depends on the size of your jars...  Just put the whole lemons in one at a time, & keep squeezing them in.  The batch I've just made only used about 7.  A little goes a long way. CLICK BELOW FOR INSTRUCTIONS:

My new favourite song.  Ok, I know it's not a recipe, but you could cook while listening to it? It's like the Beta Band mixed with a bit of Simon & Garfunkle.  I love it. http://www.myspace.com/djangotime I can't work out where to buy the album, if there is one. I might have to invent a Django Django sauce...

This is sweet & very moorish.  It's a John Torode recipe.  It's very simple. You can leave it in the marinade all day & then take 30mins to cook in the evening. CLICK BELOW FOR RECIPE:

It was cold out today and this warmed us up! It's a simple stew with an interesting subtle flavour, de-glazed with brandy rather than wine. It's a recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.  My kids loved it. CLICK BELOW FOR RECIPE: