A Year in my Fenland Kitchen

 In the midst of the darkness of winter, Nature blesses us with citrus fruit in the most vibrant of colours, pink and yellow grapefruit, lemons ....and oranges: diminutive mandarines and tangerines, knobbly Seville oranges for the most delicious marmalade and, my favourite, the blood orange, freckled with red splashes on its peel and with the distinctive ruby red flesh. The blood orange's colour is due to a pigment called anthocyanin, which develops in the fruit due to low overnight growing temperatures as during the Mediterranean autumn and winter. Not only do they look so pretty, I think they are the sweetest and juiciest of the orange family.  I had some ricotta leftover in the fridge and decided to make a ricotta cake flavoured with vanilla and orange, perfect to serve with some beautiful blood oranges steeped in a spiced syrup. The recipes are below. I left the peel on the oranges, but, of course, remove it if you prefer. Sending best wishes from my corner of the world to...

So we here we are, a couple of weeks into the new year and, in an effort to cheer up the grey, gloomy weather, I have been cooking all the comfort foods; pasta, soups ....and baking bread. Looking back through my posts, I realise that soups feature quite regularly, but I make no apologies! Soups are nourishing, comforting and delicious. So here is another soup recipe, this time for Tomato and Lentil soup. I made this soup, first at home and then with a group of children at the Home School club our granddaughters attend. The children were enthusiastic helpers and enjoyed chopping the onion, smelling and grinding the spices and then tucked into a bowlful each, along with some of the parents, around a large table at lunchtime. On a slightly different note, I have recently become interested in the work of  Tim Spector , a renowned scientist who has done a lot of research lately into the gut microbiome and the effects it has on our health. I find it a fascinating topic and one which is ...