Anyone for tea?

A beautiful, traditional stove top kettle available next week.

In keeping with the Netherton Foundry tradition, this will, of course, come with a full set of recipes, from iced mint tea to hot toddies - there's more to life than tea....whatever the monkey says!

Check the website later this week for more news.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2012 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Spring is in the air

The weather may not be Spring like, but it was lovely to see daffodils in bloom and the lambs out in the fields as I drove round Wales.  It got me to thinking about the news that children these days cannot identify 3 different butterflies or know an oak tree from a horse chestnut!  I may be old fashioned, but I still think these things are important and I wish they still took primary school children out on nature walks.

How else are they going to know what dragonflies and damselflies are - so beautiful with their iridescent colours and elongated bodies.  I find them fascinating,  hovering over ponds and streams and then turning so quickly and darting away in the blink of an eye.

Fortunately there is one particular damselfly that stays still long enough for you to enjoy it - our lovely stockist in Louth, Lincolnshire.  If you live nearby or are visiting the area, please go and visit Damselfly Kitchen, where you will find the Netherton Foundry cast iron products and a whole range of other goodies!  This has to be in the running for most evocative shop name and you can be guaranteed a warm welcome and great service once you walk through the door.
Update: sadly this shop has stopped selling cookware and is no longer a Netherton stockist

Looking forward to warmer weather, so that I can use the new Netherton Foundry Garden Hob, without having to wear a woolly jumper - check out the website for more information.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2012 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Happy St David's Day

As it's St David's Day, I have devised a lovely new recipe with some leeks in it!!

LONG MYND LENTILS

 This was inspired by the delicious parsnips that arrived in my organic veg box - I get mine delivered direct from a farm in  Ombersley

Who says lentils have to be boring?

2 tblsp oil

2 leeks, cleaned and sliced

30g dried tomatoes, chopped

250g Puy lentils

Handful of kale or Cavolo Nero

3 small parsnips

200ml red wine

750ml vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

2 sticks celery, chopped

Heat the oil in the slow cooker bowl over a medium heat.  Add the leeks and cook until they are just starting to soften.  Add all the other ingredients and transfer the bowl to the heater base.

Cook on LOW for 6 - 8 hours

Serve with spiced carrot puree - boil 6 carrots until soft and drain.  Melt 50g butter and add a 1" piece of ginger, finely grated, 1 tsp ground coriander and ¼ tsp ground cinnamon.  Add the drained carrots and mash to a coarse puree.

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2012 ©

Looking forward to summer

It's here!!!

No, not the summer, you'll need to wait for Spring first, although the sight of the snowdrops and first primroses and daffodils does make me feel it's on the way.

No, what I mean is our latest exciting product - the Garden Hob.  You can barbecue, slow cook and even tagine IN THE GARDEN.

All the features you love about the Netherton Foundry slow cooker, powered by charcoal.  All British made; cast iron, seasoned with flax oil, oak feet and knobs and a range of our recipes.
Just fill the base with charcoal, light it and wait until the flames die down. Then you can cook directly on the grid for a traditional barbecue experience or put the cooking bowl on top and this will cook for at least 5, and up to 7 hours.  Great for party meals, but also perfect for making a big bowl of Boston baked beans to go with your burgers.  And you don't need perfect weather, I tested this in the snow!

The tagine lid is available in striking copper and also with our hand painted Rachel Frost lids - match it with your flower beds!

Then when the sun goes in - take the bowl indoors and use it in the kitchen

Give us a call if you want more information - I can't wait for your recipes.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2012 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Diamond Jubilee

News and pictures about the Diamond Jubilee absolutely EVERYWHERE, so here's our picture.......

Full details on the website.

Modern Technology links us all

Oh what a tangled web we weave.... I am constantly amazed how closely we are all connected without even realising it.

A couple of weeks ago, I was down in Dorset and stopped for a cup of tea in Wimbourne, where I visited

http://www.longcrichelbakery.co.uk/.  I happened to have with me a slow cooker, in its distinctive brown box.  This aroused the curiosity of the young man who served me and we had a long chat about the product, where we come from, what we are aiming to achieve etc etc.  It turns out that what caught his attention was the reference to Shropshire, as he had lived here for years, while his dad used to run a cook shop in Shrewsbury!

Then on to a lovely shop in Christchurch - Thomas and Lucia, which is named after the owner's great, great, great grandparents who lived in Shropshire.

Of course, we are now all connected so much more quickly via the internet, which is a fantastic way for me to pass on all my news and recipes to you all.  We are now linked to the wonderful Kitchen Shop in Lichfield, via their facebook page - please go and "visit" them http://www.facebook.com/thekitchenshoplichfield online and then why not go there and see for yourself!!  They have a fabulous shop on two floors, with an amazing selection of everything you could want for your kitchen, and more besides and the rest of Lichfield is worth a look round too.

Will be spending this icy cold weekend experimenting with new recipes, so keep an eye out for the more successful ones appearing here soon.

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

The Diamond Jubilee starts today

An extra day off work, street parties, a new hat - how will you be celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee?

We have created two very special, limited edition clocks to mark the occasion, so long after the last crumbs have been swept up and the last trestle table has been packed away, you will still be able to remember the day!!

Each clock picks up in the Diamond theme with Swarovski crystals to mark the hours, whilst subtle silver logos commemorate the event.

Every clock has been signed by Neil,  the designer and has a unique serial number.

Hand made here in Shropshire, a traditional British product to celebrate the reign of a truly great British monarch and everything that is Great about Britain.

These will only be available during 2012, but will be lasting memento for many years to come.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2012 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk