Category Dips & savoury bites
Vietnamese summer rolls – gỏi cuon
My three-and-a-half-year-old son is going through a really exhausting, fiesty, “f*ck you” phase, which has been dragging on for months. He wakes up, usually in a terrible temper, and starts shouting NO at anything we suggest. We have to be on alert for biting, kicking and hair-pulling. He’s wise to us bribing him, and […]
Supersonic miso ginger sauce
I call this a ‘supersonic’ sauce because it’s so deliciously addictive and full of good things that it will surely give you superpower! I got inspiration from Smitten Kitchen for dressing a bowl of roasted veggies and rice with a sauce that is tangy, savoury with umami and full of gingery spice, then ramped it […]
Greek Fava: heaven in a bowl
Holy smokes. This is pretty much my favourite recipe of 2016 so far. Who’d have thought – a simple dish of boiled split yellow peas with a few seasonings? Thanks to Kitty who showed me how to make it when I visited her in Leros, Greece, earlier this year. Just to list a fraction of her many talents: […]
Make hot pressed sandwiches at home
Ever wanted to make those proper craggy toasted sandwiches that come off a hot press, oozing molten cheese and speckled with crusty bits, but can’t get to the cafe to order anything because dining out ‘en famille’ (ie with kids) is now like sharing a table with angry chimpanzees on crack? When we last ate […]
Herby sauces! Salsa verde and pesto alla genovese
Drat, our UK summer looks like it has well and truly buggered off. Which means that all those summery herbs need using up before the frost gets them in the garden. I’m not ready yet to change my diet into a stream of Autumnal stews, and I still want to eat vibrant summery flavours. By […]
Making chilli sauces
My January detox isn’t going toooooo badly, although the other day I spent much of the afternoon lusting after a packet of Salt ‘n Vinegar Pringles spied in the kitchen of the flat opposite my office – made it completely impossible to concentrate on ANYTHING. Damn you, Pringles. So with this detox thing, sugar is […]
Amazing almond butter
I snuck off to the cinema on my own last week (shhhhh! was meant to be working) to catch an early afternoon matinee. That, to me, is total bliss. I’ve been going to the cinema on my own for years. I saw the new Woody Allen film, Blue Jasmine, which I loved. I used to […]
Souffle cheese on toast
Summer has truly snuffed itself out, and most evenings you’ll find me snuggling under a blanket being controlled by Paul Hollywood’s piercing eyes on The Great British Bake Off or watching Series 2 of Breaking Bad (I know, I’m very behind, but I went into labour watching the first series*, so, uh, it’s been a […]
Pea, Lemon & Caper dip
This recipe was a happy accident. I was running around the house like a nutjob trying to get everything done before friends rocked up for dinner – clear bombsite, wash felt tip beard/moustache off my daughter (she did it to herself, not I), chisel porridge and spaghetti sauce off wall etc. Then I thought, oh […]
Smoky Bacon Quiche ‘au Tupperware’
When it’s hot and you feel lazy, who can be bothered to make pastry for a quiche? Not me. Here’s a great recipe for a pastry-less one – it hails from the South of France, from my Aunt Jeanine. It absolutely bloody rocks. A bit of context first, because I do like a chat. The […]
Toast & Butter 