“No way am I poaching pears” I hear you say, if only in your mind. But trust me on this. Truly this whole recipe is very simple. And you can even use that dusty bottle of tawny port sitting in the bottom of the sideboard – next to the binoculars and the emergency candles. Oh, is that …
Poor old cucumber. Not a serious contender nutritionally (all that water you see), an afterthought for the salad bowl, grudgingly eaten as batons and dipped into no-fat dip as a dieter’s punishment. In other words, a bit low on the food totem pole. But it has been getting a bit more love recently. Not big love, like freekeh, …
To mangle a well-known English phrase: dressings maketh salad. This might not be strictly true, but dressings and sauces can certainly be deal-breakers. Dressings and sauces are the pearl necklace, Louboutins, or Hermes scarf to a simple salad. Or they should be. That just-so accoutrement that if got wrong ruins the whole look – or taste; …
Banh Mi is one of those foods that anyone interested in food must try at least once in their life. It is simply a stunning confluence of colours, flavours and textures. And yes, it is a sandwich. A humble sandwich. But what a sandwich. Crispy light baguette (not the chewy kind), tangy lightly pickled vegetables, …
At any given weekend, from now until sometime in September, those puffs of smoke and enticing aromas emanating from nearby gardens are as likely to be barbecuing vegetables as they are sizzling meats. Certainly around these parts, despite the stubbornly cool temps and challenging winds, I have heard beery shouts and rose’-induced giggles marking the British barbecuing …
Growers of rhubarb – of the assertive and open-air type rather than tender and under wraps – will have already witnessed the wonder that is its growing habit. From a tight-fisted angry bunch, bursting through cold soil, near-tropical leaves unfurl and cover anything under its considerable umbrella. This bulky plant – a vegetable actually – …
I’d like you to humour me for a few paragraphs. I want you to slip on some imaginary shoes – I am assuming you are already dressed – and walk into town. If you are lucky you will notice trees in leaf, with maybe some flower buds ready to burst or are in full, radiant bloom. …
It is an unassailable fact that citrus fruits are perfect: as tart-sweet shreds suspended in amber and spread on toast; gently stewed with vegetables in spiced tagines; magically thickening with coconut butter to make raw key lime pie – or with eggs, butter and condensed milk for the real deal; blitzed into creamy submission in green smoothies; as sparkling slices in breakfast bowls. …
Greetings from Heathrow Airport! We are spending today {Boxing Day, the 26th} in transit: Edinburgh to London {7 hour layover!} to Washington DC, and then tomorrow on to my home state of Florida. I doubt very much we will be having anything desperately healthy, although Leon, The Perfectionist’s Cafe, {A Heston Blumenthal venture}, and The Gorgeous …
Gah, I am feeling my age. Not because of the ‘ooft’ noise I make when attempting to sit in a low chair – I’ve been doing that for quite a while. Not because of the way I automatically cup my left ear in loud restaurants. No, it is because until today I had not heard of …