Until I was in my twenties, the only beetroot I had ever eaten was tinned and sliced, served on a hamburger and my first experience of roasted, fresh beetroot was a revelation. This way of cooking them seems to bring out their natural sweetness and nuttiness, and they taste wonderful. Hazelnuts provide a satisfying crunch…
Read More
Crostata is a traditional Italian tart, usually filled with jam, but sometimes with ricotta cheese, nuts and poached fruit. The pastry is silky smooth, and the jam filling sweet and fruity. We make dried apricot conserve at our place as the filling, but you can use any not-too-sweet, good quality jam. Don’t be put off by the…
Read MoreThis dish is full of bright, clean flavours – chilli, ginger, and coriander – but it also has complexity and depth because of the subtle aniseed flavour and caramel overtones in the broth. We love the textures and flavours at our place, especially the slurpability of the noodles, the crunchy fried shallots and the tenderness…
Read MoreThis fresh and fruity cous cous is a winner at our place. It goes well with tagines, or as an accompaniment to grilled lamb or chicken. I also like to offer it as an alternative to potato salad at a barbeque. Miss Eleven even takes it for her school lunch. I have also recently found…
Read MoreTruly, this gelato takes less than five minutes to make and tastes absolutely amazing. Raspberries, along with peas are, in the words of Jennifer Paterson of Two Fat Ladies fame, the true successes of the frozen food world. When combined with just a little icing sugar, the juice of a lime and a touch of…
Read MoreAs I was making these scones I remembered with love all the women who have had input into my scone recipe over many years. I thought of my grandmother who made a beautifully light pumpkin scone and taught me how to use just the right amount of flour when cutting out scones. I saw my friend…
Read More
Eggplants are a favourite of mine and I find their deep, shiny colour, complex flavour and silky texture quite compelling. For two summers I have grown eggplants in my vegetable patch and they have yielded sensationally. The fruit of the variety I grow is generally long and slender, although sometimes a big, round eggplant appears.…
Read MoreSummer is perfect for salads and many meals I make in this season revolve around a salad. It is easy, though, to slip into boring salad mode and turn out a perfectly nice, but ho-hum garden salad, just because it’s what first comes to mind. It’s no more effort to do something with a bit…
Read MoreThis is almost too simple to be called a recipe – it’s really just an open sandwich celebrating the beauty of smoked salmon combined with crunchy, flavoursome dark grain bread, smooth and luscious cream cheese and salty, astringent capers. So satisfying to make and to eat and far better for your body and soul than…
Read MoreI confess that I have a love/hate relationship with muffins. A good muffin is a beautiful thing and I have eaten some spectacular ones. But a bad muffin is pretty disappointing. Case in point – most cafes serve muffins – but they are usually enormous, either dry or stodgy, and the flavourings, be they blueberries,…
Read More
Simple food 