Borlotti beans are really beautiful.

Even the pods are beautiful. This is this years haul.

It was a really windy day when we picked the beans. In fact it also poured with rain about two minutes after this photo was taken.

Podded, there ended up being about three freezer bags worth. This probably works out as about 6 family meals.

(As you probably know, borlotti beans are really versatile. You can freeze them fresh, or you can dry them. They keep their shape really well when boiled – though they do lose their speckles.)

I love the colour of these duck eggs from the farmer’s market – they look like slices of yellow beetroots!

Waitrose do a soup called ‘Yucatan Chicken’ which is extremely tasty, but is also pretty expensive.

However it’s really easy to make the same thing at home, and to be honest it tastes even better. :)

(Unfortunately I don’t have any photos because the weather has been rubbish and I’m no food photographer at the best of time, to be honest.)

Homemade Yucatan Chieck Soup

(feeds about 8 people)

Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts (or the leftovers from a roast chicken)

500ml tomato pasatta

1ltr chicken stock

2 cans of cooked beans (your preference)

1 onion

250g frozen sweetcorn

handful of tortilla chips (crushed)

3 large cloves of garlic

2 red peppers

1 lime

a bunch of coriander

ground cumin

paprika

chilli flakes (or two large red chillies)

optional – a bit of soured cream

Method:

• If not already cooked, put the chicken breasts and chopped up red peppers into a medium oven till cooked through (about 20 minutes) then shread the chicken with a couple of forks and put to one side
• Put a bit of oil, the chopped onion, the crushed garlic, about a table spoon each of cumin, paprika, and chilli flakes (or to taste) into a large pan on a medium heat
• when the onion is cooking nicely and smells great add the beans, the sweetcorn, the chicken, the cooked peppers, the pasatta, and the stock
• add the juice of the lime and the crushed tortilla chips and leave to simmer for a bit
• Just before serving add the chopped coriander (leaves and stems) and stir in a couple of table spoons of the soured cream if using

Note: I haven’t tried freezing it but I think it should freeze fine.

Enjoy!

FB is asleep, the washing is in, the washing up is piled up (if not done), and I’m about to make sultana (well… raisin, because that’s what I’ve got in the house) scones from the River Cottage Family Cookbook.

There are good (and cheap – £1 a punnet!) strawberries in the fridge, along with thick cream.

And probably some comedy coming out of my laptop speakers thanks to the lovely iplayer.

(This is the first weekend we’ve be home and just the three of us since we moved at the end of June. And though it’s been lovely to have people come see us, and good to support family up North through some difficult times, it’s good to be here.)

In my recipe folder I have added a note at the top of this particular recipe that says: ‘Wonderful + good for travel’ thus they are becoming our family travel snack of choice (along with sausage or egg sandwiches for long car journeys.)

We went away last week and along with little boxes of organic raisins, made a big batch of these.

And so I thought I’d share the recipe with you. :)

Easy Cheesy Biscuits

100g plain flour

50g butter

50g cheese

splash of milk

1 egg yoke

1tspn paprika

1) Mix flour and paprika.

2) Add butter – rub till fine like breadcrumbs.

3) Add grated cheese and make a well in the middle.

4) Add yolk and milk and mix all together to make a firm dough.

5) Knead on a flat surface for a bit, then divide in two, and roll each half and cut biscuits till there is no dough left. (The biscuits shrink a bit when cooked, just so you know.)

6) Cook at Gas Mark 5 for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Enjoy!