Dom's Random Recipe Challenge enters its second year and we were randomly asked to select our 17th cookbook on our shelves.
My 17th book is The Claire MacDonald Cookbook. It is signed inside, "To Louise, With best wishes from Claire MacDonald of MacDonald March 2004".
Steve and I spent an amazing three days on Skye staying at Kinloch Lodge with the very charming MacDonalds and we spent one of our mornings watching her give a cookery demonstration.
I have wonderful memories of that trip. The food in the hotel was wonderful and we spent the days walking on the beautiful and empty beaches of Skye with our dog at the time, Che, looking forward to our dinners.
I see they have a Michelin star now. I think that must be recent, don't think they had it when we stayed although I couldn't have faulted the food or service.
Have a look at the link above for Kinloch Lodge - the scenery is out of this world. We really did have all the stunning, rugged beaches completely to ourselves.
Anyway, back to the bread. I completely forgot to take any decent photos. I served the first loaf with a bacon and avocado salad as recommended by Lady MacDonald and they went together beautifully. The bread has the great rustic texture provided by the oatmeal and a lovely subtle taste of garlic. I froze one of the loaves and I am convinced that when defrosted and used, the garlic taste was more pronounced.
My 5 year old bemoaned the fact I gave him non-home-made bread with his soup yesterday. These kids must be spoiled! I agree, though, the bought bread is nowhere near as interesting as home-made. I love wholesome breads and I love quirky variations like this one. Another successful random recipe.
Mmmmm oatmeal and garlic. Your kids have very sophisticated tastes! What a great random recipe to choose and how lovely to have met the Macdonalds! So happy you found the time to play along this month. I truly appreciate it xx
ReplyDeleteHaha! I can imagine your Mum having the same response as mine when the girl - aged two - played an imaginary shopping game that involved buying olive oil and mozzarella: Granny rolled her eyes and said "jings, you're so middle class these days". Hee hee!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dom.
ReplyDeleteMacaroon - oh yes, we have those conversations with my Mum ALL the time. She is an inverse snob.
Looks great - I know what you mean about homemade bread, shop bought seems different once you've made your own. I love the different flavours here and the sky's the limit - I recently made one for my mum with brazil nuts in it because she loves those :-)
ReplyDeleteGreat idea for bread and I really like the sound of the avocado and bacon with it. I'm always in awe of anyone with 'of' in their name. Phil in the Kitchen of Kitchen just doesn't work, somehow.
ReplyDeleteC - was the brazil nut bread good? Funnily enough, my Mum loves brazil nuts too. We always get her chocolate brazils for birthdays and Christmas.
ReplyDeletePhil Of The Kitchen sounds good to me! This bread makes a nice base to squish some ripe avocado onto and then some crispy bacon and a drizzle of olive oil. Sounds like a rather good breakfast if you ask me.
I've wanted to go to Kinloch for years now. Love that book.
ReplyDeleteMy mum really liked it - I didn't have any due to allergies!
ReplyDelete