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Cotswolds Gold, travel and recipes

July 26, 2020 4 Comments Filed Under: Recipes, UK, Vegetarian, walking/hikes

cotswolds - 48
rapeseed and lavender pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Cotswold cottage pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Our Airbnb
Air bob Cotswolds pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Airbnb Cotswolds

My daughter edits and runs a political website. She works very hard, literally seven days a week. Needing a break (since 2016, working in politics has been like a runaway train: Brexit, two elections, three prime ministers and two Labour leaders) she booked an airbnb in the Cotswolds. And invited me! Her old mum.

The hardest thing about lockdown is not travelling. I’ve assuaged much of my loneliness as a single empty nester by escaping. Now my wings have been clipped. I had to cancel a July trip to Finland to take part in a midnight Arctic swim – I guess I’ll do it next year. Thank god I managed to fulfil a life=long dream of visiting Japan in January before Covid hit home.

Travel addicts like me are having to wean ourselves off the drug. This is the moment for staycations, to learn and explore my own country. I know France better than I know the UK.

The Cotswolds, only a couple of hours drive from London, is almost a cliché of Englishness; tiny thatched cottages, stable doors, wild gardens, hedgerows, ‘honeystone’ dry stone walls, courtesy, good cheese and pubs. No wonder the elite, the Chipping Norton set, David Cameron and Alex James from Blur, possess country piles in the Cotswolds. It’s Hobbiton, Middle Earth. JRR Tolkien lived nearby, in Oxford.

The airbnb wasn’t cheap, £700 for five nights. The outside was charming, total #cottagecore. The inside was rather dark with a winding wooden staircase upstairs to two bedrooms. James, my daughter’s boyfriend, who is six foot tall, crouched the entire stay like a hunchback.

The kitchen was a source of frustration. One would think that airbnb owners don’t want you to cook: the induction hob hardly worked (I hate them anyway), the fridge froze our vegetables, there was no saucepan large enough for four people, the amount the cottage slept. The electric shower piddled a weak stream of luke-warm water and the beds were less than comfortable. I got the impression that this was a nice little earner and the overriding concern was making it easy to ‘turn it over’ clean for the next guests rather than our comfort.

It’s weird to pay so much for a place that is less comfortable than your own home.

But the air…so clean, vibrant and sweet. We walked the first evening to watch the sunset, through fields of calm sheep, trees rustling, individual leaves waving strangely as if saying ‘hello’. Hollyhocks in vivid pinks sprouting from nooks and crannies. It was trippy.

One day we whizzed past a blur of purple; only downwind I realised this was lavender. Something I’ve only seen in Provence. Cotswold Lavender farm, entrance £4 each, hundreds of tourists were posing for selfies amongst the plants, the serried rows of blue, pink and mauve lavender, the meadows of yellow rape. It was an instagram farm. Clever.

There is an internet list of ‘Prettiest villages in the Cotswolds‘. We managed to visit Bourton on the Water: small humped stone bridges over a river running through the centre. Speaking to a local, bare feet in the shallow stream, rebuilding the drystone banks, she told me ‘We don’t go out between 10am and 5pm, we leave that to the tourists’.

We spent an afternoon wandering through Chipping Campden: stable doors leading to cottage courtyards, secret gardens, a wooden-beamed village market place, lead-paned windows and stitched smock-topped thatch, everything painted in Farrow and Ball greens. I entered one open door, lured by designer interiors and antique furniture, I was quite far inside when a young girl popped out. ‘Is this a hotel or a bar?’ I asked. ‘No, it’s our house’ she replied mildly. I left quickly, apologising.

The bakery where a 100 year old woman has just retired
The bakery where a 100 year old woman has just retired
bakery in cotswold village pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

Thanks to a timely matinal Guardian piece on a 100 year old baker finally retiring from the village bakery, I drove to Guiting Power nearby, perhaps to buy the last loaf. But she’d left and the bakery is already sold to new people. A local told me that the centenarian baker was blind and would say to customers ‘Just pick out what you want’. I peered through a window to see a large coal-blackened bread oven where she would literally bake blind.

I cooked of course. I brought the contents of my London fridge and some local Cotswold cheese: single Gloucester, some smoked brie, a Stinking Bishop. On Saturday it rained and I couldn’t be bothered to cook. We played scrabble and ate bread and cheese and Rowntrees fruit gums.

I made a Romanian dish inspired by ‘Carpathia’ by Irina Georgescou, vegetarianising it. I also tackled polenta again. I do struggle with it. It is mostly a textural experience. I made the corn porridge with cream and porcini, fried aubergine slices and salad. My daughter hated it. I often prefer polenta the next day, when it has set into a cake. Slice it up and turn it into ‘chips’ with a dipping sauce. Recipes for these two dishes are below.

Rape flowers
Rape flowers
Cotswolds views pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Sunset in the Cotswolds
cotswolds - 19
cotswolds - 83
Cotswold scenes pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
cotswolds - 86
cotswolds - 66
cotswolds pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Polenta chips with cheese dip
Polenta chips with cheese dip
polenta pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Polenta ‘cake’
Print
5 from 1 vote

Baked polenta chips and cheesy dip

What to do with polenta? It's just so tasteless. I find it's always better the next day.
Course Appetizer, Snacks
Cuisine Italian
Keyword Blue cheese dip, Polenta chips

Ingredients

For the polenta

  • 300 g polenta (I used good quality polenta not quick cook but you could use either)
  • 600 ml water, or veg stock
  • 1 tbsp salt, if not using veg stock
  • knob large butter
  • 50 g parmesan cheese (optional)

To make the polenta chips

  • 100 g dry polenta
  • sprig fresh rosemary, finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

For the blue cheese dip

  • 100 g blue cheese
  • 150 ml sour cream or Greek yoghurt
  • 1/2 lemon, juice of
  • 1 tsp sea salt

Instructions

To make the polenta

  • Using a large to medium sized saucepan, add the stock (or water and salt) and polenta to the pan and bring to the boil.
  • Simmer, stirring constantly for around 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from the heat, beating in a large knob of butter. Add either parmesan cheese or pesto to flavour it. Eat hot.

To bake the polenta chips

  • Leave the leftovers of the polenta to form a solid cake. Cut into slices, then chips.
  • Prepare an oiled baking tray and preheat the oven to 180C.
  • Sprinkle the dry polenta on to a plate and dip in each 'chip' coating each side.
  • Place the polenta chips in a single layer in the baking tray.
  • Sprinkle with the chopped rosemary.
  • Bake for one hour. When cooked, remove and serve with the dip.

To make the blue cheese dip

  • Crumble the blue cheese into the cream or yoghurt and blend.
  • Add the salt and lemon juice.
Cotswold cottage and food pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
Stuffed courgettes in tomato broth
Carpathia courgette recipe
The recipe in Carpathia
Print
5 from 1 vote

Stuffed courgettes in broth

A vegetarian dish inspired by Irina Georgescu's book on Romanian food 'Carpathia'. Quinoa can be cooked in a rice steamer. There is more quinoa than you need for stuffing but you can serve the extra on the side or for lunch the next day.
Course Mains, Vegetarian mains,
Cuisine Romanian
Keyword Courgettes, Healthy food, Stuffed Vegetables, Vegetarian food
Serves 4

Ingredients

For the stuffed courgettes

  • 4 courgettes, cut into 5cm chunks and hollowed out, reserve insides for stuffing

For the stuffing

  • 300 g smoked quinoa (I used Hodmedods) or any quinoa
  • 600 ml water
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 50 g butter
  • 250 g button mushrooms, sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 glass white wine (optional)
  • 2 preserved lemons, pips removed, finely chopped

For the broth

  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 6 cherry tomatoes, finely sliced
  • 1 tsp sea salt

To serve:

  • 100 ml Greek yoghurt
  • bunch fresh mint leaves to decorate

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 180C

For the stuffing

  • Add the quinoa, water and salt to a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Lower the heat and simmer until cooked and fluffy. The water should be absorbed (if not then drain).
  • In a frying pan, heat the butter and oil and add the mushrooms and garlic and fry until light golden.
  • Add the leftover courgette interiors, preserved lemon and white wine. Then stir in the cooked quinoa.
  • Stuff the courgettes with the mixture, packing it in fairly tightly. Set aside.

For the broth

  • In a medium saucepan, add all the ingredients and simmer.

To assemble

  • Pour the broth into a medium oven dish. Place the stuffed courgettes in the broth and cover the dish with foil. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the courgettes are cooked but not mushy.
  • Serve 3 pieces of courgette for each person with a generous ladle of broth.
  • Add dollops of yoghurt and a few mint leaves.

Cotwolss lavender farm pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

chipping Campden pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com
cotswolds - 91
cotswolds - 90
cotswolds - 63
pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

honeystones, Cotswolds pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

scrabble - 1
social distancing cotswolds pic: Kerstin rodgers/msmarmitelover.com

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anita

    July 27, 2020 at 9:26 am

    5 stars
    Ah, the Cotswolds. So pretty, it bugs me in a disproportionate way. Real life doesn’t have quite so many tea rooms. I’m glad you managed to get away.

    Reply
  2. Charlotte

    July 30, 2020 at 4:33 pm

    I love your photos … and I do hope that you reflected your views on the ABNB review. Many love the
    ABNB hosts love the entire interactive experience; others are just in it for the £.

    Reply
  3. Cate Lawrence

    October 2, 2020 at 6:42 am

    looks amazing We also travel regularly with Airbnbs and have similar appointments. The number of airbnbs without a kitchen sink plug is infuriating for example. Inadequare cookware, inadequate glasses (two beer glasses, a wine glass and shot glasses for example). We stayed in one in Poland last month that had no washing machine powder – hardly something you’d think to bring yourself.

    But we stayed in an amazing one in Manchester just before lockdown as we were considering a move.

    Reply
    • Cate Lawrence

      October 2, 2020 at 6:49 am

      sorry problems not appointments! Clearly I am not a morning person

      Reply

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MsMarmiteLover aka Kerstin Rodgers.

Chef, photographer, author, journalist, blogger. Pioneer of the supperclub movement.

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My piece in the @hamandhigh about the 3 day @heat My piece in the @hamandhigh about the  3 day @heathostile training course. Incredibly interesting & challenging. Link: https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/things-to-do/hostile-environment-training-9037980 to read more #hostileenvironmenttraining
Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot Supper club dishes from Saturday: pickled beetroot eggs, cheeseboard, stracciatella & cucumber, tomato/strawberry/peashoot salad with real balsamic & spruce oil, home cured dill gravlax, smoked salmon, homemade sourdough crisp bread, potato salad with wild fennel & lots more! #supperclub #midsummer #eattherainbow (miss you @linnsoederstroem)
Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 Last nights supper club. My first supper club in 2 years was great fun. I’m pleased with my food, the guests were lovely, it looked magical in the garden. But the weather! I even had to bring my duvets from the bedroom out. They looked like refugees. But this brought even more laughter! Next event September
My first supperclub in two years will take place t My first supperclub in two years will take place this Saturday 18th June starting at 7.30pm. Tickets are £50 byo you can book here: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club there are still a few places left. Pescetarian menu. Scandi and botanical influences. #gettingbackonmyfeet #postpandemic #smallbusinesses #supperclub #london
I recently completed the 3 day @heathostile train I recently completed the 3 day  @heathostile training course. On the last day I was kidnapped by ex-special forces for a few hours & learnt how to deal with compliance training & a hostile environment. It was one of the most interesting experiences of my life. 3 intense days of combat first aid, navigation & how to survive in a war zone. I handled short, long guns, mortars, grenades, bullets, and tourniquet & bandaged an amputee. I learnt where to sit in a car, where to hide from a bullet, where to protect myself if in a car. It was brilliant. Highly recommended for any journalists, photographers, cameramen, charity workers, paramedics going into any difficult environment say a disaster or war. The stories from the tutors & the other participants were so interesting. My piece on it out soon. Book a course: https://hostile-environment.co.uk/  They also do jungle & desert training. I’d love to join the Antarctic expedition. Anyway that’s me hooded in the front. #adventures #het #hostileenvironmenttraining #experiences #travel
Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking o Bundoran beach, Donegal. I spent a week knocking on doors, going to libraries, searching through graveyards for my Irish forebears. It’s really hard to find information prior to 1850. I found this in last years trip to Arbroath in Scotland. Headstones wear out, records are lost or burnt in a fire, everybody has the same name and are known by nicknames, successive children have the same first name, that usually means they died and the next one is called by the same thing. Women did have children out of wedlock, and people remarried more often than you’d think, plus families fall out & never see each other again. I learnt that my Irish great grandfather michael went to Glasgow & met a woman who came from a similar place: somewhere wild & beautiful by the sea. Then they and their children came to london. Chasing the work & the money always. Politics and economics matter for they push people around from rural to city. And now we rodgers are Londoners. #ireland #scotland #family #travel #roots
How some of us celebrate the Queen’s jubilee! My How some of us celebrate the Queen’s jubilee! My sister & a random Irishman come for the Rory Gallagher festival in ballyshannon. Sis has pulled already!  #getyourcoat #sexpistols #ballyshannon #rorygallagherfestival #ireland
Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal, where my grea Tullaghan, county Leitrim, Donegal,  where my great great grandfather john Rodgers was a postman, then a tailor, then a pawnbroker. #irishheritage #donegal #myancestry #irish #rodgers #travel
I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor I’ve taken down the previous post as it’s poor timing considering what’s happened over the last 24 hours. Being British I’ve not grown up around guns. It’s interesting to be on this course and find out more about the reality of them, although my focus is learning the ‘golden triangle’ of first aid, communications and navigation. But at the same time It’s depressing how in America nothing will ever change regarding gun law. RIP.
Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa Me as a punk. #pinkhair @caplanmelissa
Sniffin’ glue: Me n @Jaybladesmbe at the Loctite Sniffin’ glue: Me n @Jaybladesmbe at the Loctite pop up yesterday. I’m all about repairing and upcycling my brocante finds: this time a beautiful pale wood lamp shade stand which had broken off at the bottom. I’m going to rewire it with 2 core sky blue twisted fabric wire, pop on my hand sewn pleated lampshade I learnt to do @workshopminerva and it shall be beautiful. Don’t chuck out your chintz: repair it! #therepairshop #selfie #interiors #popup
in June I’m having my first supper club in two y in June I’m having my first supper club in two years: here is the link to book: https://msmarmitelover.com/product/midsommar-supper-club £50 18th June  Saturday night. Byo.
#chelseaflower coming up. Last year I bought these succulents and planted them in a vintage zinc garden sieve. Now they are flowering. My balcony is like a little greenhouse: I can grow aubergines & other plants that usually need to be under glass. #londongarden #may #plants #succulents in the garden
Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on t Lemon drizzle cake. The trick is not to stint on the citrus. I used 7: 2 Italian lemons (from Lidl):some ordinary lemons and some limes (18p) at Lidl. Don’t be afraid to mix and match your citrus. I also used buttermilk from @fenfarmdairy in Suffolk from their honesty shop. Last night we ate it still warm from the oven. #cake #lemondrizzle #homebaking #citrus #buttermilk
A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spa A Simple tomato, goats cheese and basil salad, spanking fresh asparagus / fried in olive oil, season, then add a little boiling water, not too much, put on the lid, dressed with lemon zest & Parmesan, @fenfarmdairy baron bigod cheese, good bread. This is how I like to eat. Claire’s plates found at the beccles brocante. #suffolk #suffolkfood #supper #dinnerwithfriends  #vintageplates
Can’t wait to see what they will be like when th Can’t wait to see what they will be like when they are fired. All my favourite themes: gingham and scallops. Thanks to @clairebelljar for a wonderful weekend and pottery workshop. Such fun! #workingwithyourhands #playtime #creativity #ceramics #pottery #suffolk
Making plates with talented potter & old South Ham Making plates with talented potter & old South Hampstead girl @clairebelljar in Suffolk. She has the most beautiful house I’ve ever seen. Such a joy to be reunited with her. #friendsreunited #makers #potters #scalloped #wildflowers #cowparsley #pottery
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Just wrote a very personal piece for @hamandhigh o Just wrote a very personal piece for @hamandhigh on my decade as a single parent on benefits, how I learned to cook & how things are so much harder now because not only are ingredients pricier but the cost of cooking them is too. 3 budget gourmet meals serving 4, for £2.50 each. #costoflivingcrisis #budgetgourmet #povertyshame #singleparents #foodblogger
Easter Sunday. Daffodil skeletons. Easter Sunday. Daffodil skeletons.
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