One of the things I love most about autumn is the fact that I can legitimately enjoy soup. Of course, one can enjoy soup at any time, but as I hail from a hot climate the idea of soup in the summer jars. Badly. To me it feels like wearing a wool coat and Uggs to …
I really really wanted to title this, “Bloody Freakin’ Genius Chocolate Mousse,” but that a) might have sounded a bit rude to the more sensitive among you (sorry), and you might have clicked away; and b) it might have sounded a bit hyperbolic – and you might have clicked away, this time shaking your head at the …
NOTE: If you are just here for the recipe, that’s fine. Scroll on down! But hopefully you are okay reading about my week living below the poverty line. 🙂 My week living below the line, on £1 a day, is almost at an end. In a weird sort of way I have almost enjoyed the …
The stuffed vegetable needs no introduction, especially to anyone from around the Mediterranean or in the Middle East. The farcis, dolmades, yemista, mahashi/mehshi – all can be exquisite examples of a country’s cuisine. Heat-softened, spoonsful of tender herb-flecked grains pressed into the hollowed out spaces – humble, easily grown vegetables elevated to the centre of …
Please forgive the tortuous title-mangling of a beloved Dr Seuss tale. I really couldn’t help it. There is no actual person named Pam involved in this easy recipe. I refer of course to the proprietary eponym for a US non-stick cooking spray. Which you don’t even have to use. But still… At least my Dad …
The first weekend of December is suddenly here. Unless you are one of those manically organised and gung-ho people whose festooned and twinkling house is visible on Google Earth, this is the time that many of us are just getting our festive act together: fashioning together door wreaths, attempting to string up tangled-together lights, writing and …
When I think of gratins (more often than you might imagine) I think of a dense pile of creamy, cheesey thinly sliced potatoes, bubbling and browned. A dish so rich that when you dig out a lush spoonful it is umbilically attached by a stretch of gooey cheese. Now that’s a gratin.
The French word galette seems to have a few definitions and interpretations – I have made a sautéed and thin-layered sweet potato cake – similar to a rosti – that some would call a galette. Bonne Maman, purveyor of delicious conserves and treats, has a butter biscuit that they call a galette. But usually – …
Let’s face it: size does matter. Okay. I should clarify: size matters if you are a zucchini. Those summer squashes (zucchini/courgettes) that throughout the lazy summer months were tender and thin-skinned enough for anointing with cream in delicate gratins, and ribboning raw into salads? Well, they are now lumpen beasts; their mass, weight and tough …
The past week has seen a lot of spring related posts and articles popping into my inbox: recipes flaunting tender young vegetables, some pastel-tastic decorating ideas. Even a white (!) tarmac-scraping trouser suit stared back at my disbelieving face. But I really shook my fake fur hat-wearing head at this one, allegedly taken in Stockholm – a …