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Grasmere Gingerbread Shop & Dining in Ambleside

Yesterday we Hansel & Gretyl’ed our way to Grasmere in the Lake District in search of a gingerbread house full of deliciousness… minus the crazy cannibalistic witch.

Specifically, we set off in search of the Grasmere Gingerbread Shop, a local visitor attraction and home to Sarah Nelson’s infamous gingerbread – the recipe of which has remained a secret since it’s beginnings in the 19th century, and still proves to be ever popular with the tourists.

Basically it’s delish and totally worth a trip to the Lakes… you know, if the adorably quaint villages and absolutely stunning Lord of the Rings worthy landscapes weren’t enough…

The little shop is still just bursting with tradition… even the staff continue to dress like it’s 1889!

So crumbly, yet chewy. Sigh.

After hooking ourselves up with the baked goods, we headed off for a little stroll in the village. Or ‘the loveliest spot that man hath ever found’ according to one William Wordsworth, who resided in the little town.

Stopping briefly for some tea/hot chocolate and some more baked goods…

Then we got hungry. Could eat a whole horse hungry.

We stopped over in Ambleside, a neighbouring town, for some much needed grub.

But not before visiting an old fashioned sweet shop. Priorities.

Our restaurant of choice was a little Italian place called Tarantella.

The cosy, relaxed atmosphere just summed up the ethos of the whole day.

And the food.

Oh boy, the food.

To start, crab arancini with a side of some micro herbs…. which Issy was very excited about.

Ang’s meal: Pine nut crusted chicken schnitzel with gnocci, peas, mushrooms and pancetta in a creamy white wine sauce.

Issy’s meal: Pancetta and sage wrapped pork loin with bacon carvolo nero and potato croquettes.

To drink, we opted for a classic peach Bellini. Yeah we know, that’s a raspberry.

By the time we finished our meals we were stuffed! Though, seeing as the food was sooo beyond incredible, we couldn’t leave without trying one of their desserts. We went for a white chocolate meringue with EVERY FRUIT UNDER THE SUN! Nom.

And it was goooood!

Suitably fed, we then headed back to Grasmere to hunt down our good friend Claire, who happened to be visiting the Lakes on the exact same day too?! Coincidence much?

We took refuge in the cosy little pub in the Swan Hotel and had a right old catchup…. regardless of how tired we all were – Claire had just been up Scafell Pike (highest mountain in England)… whilst we had just eaten our own weight in food.

We may have cut the night early to get some sleep, but it was totally worth it just to witness the sheer amazingness of Claire’s panda hat alone.

Dinky Pumpkin Pies

The perk of buying a bazillion pumpkins is that you get to try out a bazillion (well, 2) pumpkin recipes that you’ve always wanted to make.

Pumpkin Pie is one of those recipes.

Though, to break from the norm we decided to make them miniature :).

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry:

125g plain flour

55g butter, cold, cubed

pinch of salt

2/3 tbsp cold water

For the filling:

450g pumpkin

125g light brown sugar

½tsp ground ginger

½tsp mixed spice

½tsp cinnamon

3 eggs, beaten

150ml single cream

Method

Preheat oven to 180ºC.

For the pastry, combine the flour and salt, then rub the cubed butter into the flour to form coarse crumbs. Stir in just enough cold water to bring the dough together. Wrap in cling film and chill in a fridge for 30 mins before using.

Once firm, roll out pastry on a floured surface to approx 5mm thickness. Cut out circles large enough to fill your greased muffin tray. Prick the base to prevent rising then chill for 10mins. Then blind bake for 10 mins, then remove baking beans/rice and bake for a further 10 mins.

For the filling, we roasted our pumpkin half in an oven beforehand at 180ºC for 1hr, then simply skinned and weighed out 450g for this recipe (using the rest for our soup!). Alternatively, you could also skin, dice and boil the pumpkin until tender. Then puree with the remaining ingredients.

Pour the mixture into the pastry cases and bake for approx 25 mins, until set.

Pumpkin Soup with Crispy Bacon and Spiced Parsnip Chips

So we’ve learned that when Issy and Ang go shopping for a pumpkin to carve….

They come home with 3.

Of varying sizes and colours.

Seriously… can’t take us anywhere.

So anyway, we obviously carved one…

‘We’ being Angela, who battled with an absolute beast of a pumpkin! Though, it was totally worth it to have our own little Calcifer -Howls Moving Castle reference- … even if it only lasted a few days before going bad. Sad face.

But then we were left with two to play with….

We knew we wanted to try out all these awesome fancy autumnal recipes… but in all honesty the ghost pumpkin just confused us/looked too pretty to hack up, so we made do with the last dinky boring orange one.

Et voila, we made soup!

And it was goooood.

Ingredients

450g pumpkin

1 red onion, peeled, quartered

sprig of sage

1tsp ground nutmeg

2tsp ground cumin

knob of butter

1tsp garlic paste (or 2 cloves of chopped garlic)

250ml vegetable stock

salt and pepper

splash of cream

few rashers of bacon

1 parsnip

olive oil

1tsp ground cumin

1tsp paprika

Method

For the soup, quarter the pumpkin and roast in an oven with the onion at 180ºC for 1hr. Leave to cool before handling.

In a saucepan fry the garlic, spices and sage with a knob of butter. For added heat, you could stir through 1tsp of red chilli powder. Add the vegetable stock and simmer for a few minutes.

Scoop the pumpkin and puree with the onion. Add to stock and mix till pouring consistency. Season with salt and pepper, and serve with a fancy swirl of cream and some obligatory bacon strips (grilled on both sides for a few minutes).

For the parsnip chips, thinly slice the parsnip and lightly coat in a drizzle of olive oil and the ground cumin and paprika. Grill for a few minutes till crisp.