ALRESFORD WATERCRESS FESTIVAL 2015

 

Watercress Festival bowl by Richard Bramble

It’s three years since I last went to the Alresford Watercress Festival in Hampshire and it was just as charming, even if it has doubled in size. As well as the endless supplies of local fresh watercress on sale for charity, there were lots of other delicious foods to sample, which of course I did.

basket of watercress at the Alresford Watercress Festival 2015

A few that caught my fancy were the watercress hummus, the arancini with watercress pesto and mozzarella, and the watercress cupcakes...

Arancini the watercress way

Some of the many delicious cakes at the watercress festival


 

It was lovely to catch up with our friend Richard Bramble who had a stall with all his foodie ceramics; I particularly liked his watercress 2015 bowl. 

www.richardbramble.com

Richard Bramble at Alresford Watercress Festival 2015

Another company who caught my eye were catch, a company who makes fish cakes from the Isle of Wight. Their crab cakes were truly delicious; we had some for supper with local watercress and Isle of Wight tomatoes.

http://www.catchisleofwight.co.uk/aboutus

Catch fishcakes at the Alresford Watercress Festival 2015

No recipe today, I am just too tired. I bought a couple of watercress cookbooks so will search for some tasty uber-healthy new recipes for another day.  

Asparagus

 

tomatoes from the Isle of Wight at the Alresford Watercress Festival.

HAZELNUT BISCUITS

Hazelnut and cranberry biscuits

I am sorry for the long absence; life has been rather complicated for the last few months. Lots of health issues that meant I wasn’t cooking much. Luckily things are progressing well and I am now even more conscious of healthy eating and on the constant look out for immune boosting foods. Do message me of any you would recommend.

We have entered the “Exam Zone” again, the joys of the British Education system that exams our children every summer from the age of 15-18. So we have stressed teens that need healthy after school snacks.

These Hazelnut and Cranberry biscuits were very popular and barely lasted long enough to be photographed so I thought I would share the recipe with you, as it offers a tasty change, is easy to make and is a good healthy..ish option for everyone.

Star and heart biscuits

HAZELNUT AND CRANBERRY BISCUITS

Preparation time 10 minutes

Cooking time 10-12 minutes

Makes 20 -30 biscuits depending on how you cut them

INGREDIENTS:

6 oz -175g plain flour

3 oz -75g soft light brown sugar

4oz- 100g soft butter

The zest of half a lemon

1 oz -25g hazelnuts roughly chopped or bashed

1oz- 25g dried cranberries chopped

WHAT TO DO:

1.      Pre-heat the oven to 160 degrees C and put baking parchment on two or three baking trays.

2.      Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the sugar and butter and then rub them altogether to form breadcrumb like mixture. 

3.      Add in the hazelnuts, cranberries and lemon zest to the mixture and squeeze into a dough, if it is still crumbly then add a tiny squeeze of lemon juice to help bind it together.

4.      Take half the mixture and squeeze into a flatish shape, then with a rolling pin (or bottle if you don’t have a rolling pin) roll it on a very lightly floured surface, making sure to move the dough after each roll so it doesn’t stick. Using a cutter of your choice, I used hearts and stars as they are cute, cut out as many biscuits and repeat until you have used up all the dough.

5.      Put the baking trays in the pre heated oven and check after 10 minutes. The biscuits should look slightly golden. Remove and let cool on a wire rack.

Healthy tasty snack

Hazelnut and cranberry hearts

ENJOY. I will be back soon with more easy healthy food.