Milly's cooking up a treat to get Daventry lovebirds in romantic mood for Valentine's Day

The way to someone’s heart is through their stomach – would you agree? I certainly think so. All those special occasions we share with one another always involves food. Family meals, a Sunday roast, wedding breakfast, birthdays or Valentine's, we all celebrate together with love and gratitude.

Will you be going out or staying in this Valentine's? I’ve seen some amazing new restaurants and boutique pop-ups appearing across Daventry and surrounding villages. Long Buckby has some great vibes going on with delis, a bakery, cocktail tapas bar and hip pubs. And Daventry’s Sheaf Street and High Street are now coming alive again with foodie businesses - have you been and supported them yet?

Personally, with two young children it’s a lot harder to go out as much as we’d like. So I’ll be cooking an extra special dinner this Valentine's for my hubby. I’ll be heading to my local butchers and picking up some tasty sirloin steaks, cooked together with some homemade chips, onion rings, mushrooms and peas. The kids will have a little bit of this too.

On my podcast The Countryside Kitchen meets, I recently interviewed a 12-year-old school girl called Elsie-May who produced a short video about the importance of buying British and shopping locally. A teacher had informed her that eating meat was damaging for the environment and so she wanted to find out the facts for herself. The video went viral. And it’s how I actually came to know about her by seeing her video that a mutual friend had shared.

Sadly, there is a lot of misinformation out there and many people are easily swayed to thinking such bold statements. And so Elsie-May’s video uncovered that eating a locally sourced meal, using meat and vegetables, had a much better impact on the environment than food shipped from across the world. Elsie-May was even awarded a Green Blue Peter Badge for her efforts.

If you want to hear the full interview where I chat to Elsie-May and her dad Richard, search for my podcast The Countryside Kitchen meets on all major Podcast Streaming platforms including Apple Music, Spotify and Deezer.

Towards the end of February it’s real bread week (February 22 – March 1) and I have to admit that I’ve really got into making bread recently. The satisfying smell of warm bread is the most delightful welcome as you enter the room. Slavered in butter or dipped in soup, what could be better!

I have been using the following recipe for Halloumi bread to give a normal loaf a funky twist.

You will need:

500g strong bread flour

25g unsalted butter

7g sachet of fast action yeast

1tsp caster sugar

1tsp salt

300ml warm water

Vegetable oil for proving

250h halloumi (grated) I actually used chilli infused halloumi in this recipe

Method

Rub the butter in with the flour to resemble fine crumbs

Make a well in the mixture and add the yeast, sugar and salt with 300ml of warm water

Bring together to form a dough

Tip the dough on a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes

Oil a large bowl, place the dough in and cover with a tea towel.

Allow to prove in a warm place for 1hr.

Once the dough has doubled in size, take out of the bowl and combine the grated halloumi. Knead for another 10 minutes.

Line and grease a bread tin and place the dough inside. Allow to prove again for 1 hr.

Heat the oven to 220c

Score the bread with a serrated knife for effect then put the bread tin in the oven. Meanwhile place a roasting tin with some warm water on the bottom shelf to provide a steamy environment for the bread to cook in.

Bake for around 25 minutes until the loaf goes crusty and sounds hollow in the middle.

Serve with butter – yum!

What will you be cooking in February? Drop me a line @millyfyfe or interact on my food blog No Fuss Meals For Busy Parents