I’m afraid this is a bit of a cheat. Our three-day week – thanks to lovely Kate (err, Katherine) and William – has got me feeling a bit lazy, so this will be a quick post. Not only is it a quickie, it’s borrowing from my last post – Wild Garlic Pesto Risotto. In that …
You will know us by our carrier bags and scissors, our bottoms in the air as we bend low beside forest-lined riverbanks and reach deep into thorny hedgerows, sniffing and snipping. We are the foragers, and it is our time – of year, that is. Yep, it is the start of the Great British freebie-athon …
Chocolate is a divine, celestial drink, the sweat of the stars, the vital seed, divine nectar, the drink of the gods, panacea and universal medicine.” – Geronimo Piperni, quoted by Antonio Lavedán, Spanish army surgeon,1796 Chocolate is medicine for many people – mender of broken hearts, healer of disappointment, drug of choice. But its universality …
I am a real advocate of what I call the ‘meal salad’; multi-sensory, bold salads that are platters of amazing colour, clear tastes, contrasting textures and even a hint of fragrance. I crave salads that invariably cause you to leave the restaurant with a little dribble on your chin because you were enjoying your food …
Spring has at last sprung in Scotland. The outside thermometer in my lovely Skoda Octavia (that’s a car to any US readers) read 15C on Monday: this is sometimes a top temperature in July. I had planned on making a soup today, and had already bought all the ingredients. But I must admit to being …
This is my kind of comfort food – a bit crispy, a bit squidgy and a bit salty. You can keep your macaroni cheese or your rice pudding (well, maybe I’d nick your rice pudding), I’ll have a double wide piece of spinach pie please.
Another soup day – cloudy, promise of snow, blustery, speed restrictions on the bridge. I had hoped to do a more spring-welcoming soup as it is March-proper, but the weather just doesn’t warrant it. So, it’s to the comfort blanket of soups, a simple but unusual combination of celeriac, carrots, potato, caraway and cumin. I …
For years I have had a not-so-secret crush on cardamom. Although I enjoy savouring the superlative pearl sugar-topped cardamom buns served at Edinburgh’s Peter’s Yard coffee house, I usually settle for a low-effort swirl of ground cardamom in my morning porridge. It’s not only me who rates this underused (at least in the UK and …
The first time I had fish tacos was at a petrol station. Yes, you read that correctly. A petrol station. Just outside of Yosemite National Park, California, by the weirdly beautiful, faintly lunar-looking Lake Mono (if the Moon had water) stood the first petrol station for miles. An attractive petrol station with a grass covered …
I’ve pretty much just given you the ingredient list in the title. I actually got the idea for this recipes ages ago from the back of a box of Cauldron Foods tofu. Trying packet recipes is often a good idea, especially if you are unfamiliar with the product. If you think about it, it’s bound …