

Make this - and whatever happened to smoked mackerel?
I'm on a bit of a Nigel Slater roll at the moment. Most of tonight's family dinner is going to be Nigel Slater, with a bit of Curtis...
Feb 7, 2022


Short and sweet (I hope)
I wasn't actually going to write a blog today. It's almost dinnertime and I went out to lunch so have not had a lot of time, but then I...
Feb 4, 2022


From the sublime to the slightly ridiculous - lamingtons
"essentially, plain cakes with frills". Felicity Cloake It seems almost insulting to turn to Lamingtons - a supremely ordinary if...
Jan 20, 2022


Indian picnics - a relic of the raj
"In India, eating is a private affair not to be witnessed by onlookers, and it is regarded as improper to eat in the open. Besides, it...
Jan 9, 2022


So very today
"I hope your day is a gentle one." Belinda Jeffery Continuing with my mission to clear my desk, I am turning to one of my Christmas...
Jan 7, 2022


What to do with all that jam
As you can see I now have lots of jars of jam (and marmalade) with still more to come. Well summer is coming and there will be lots of...
Dec 18, 2021


Jane Grigson's Chocolate pie - a lucky dip
"Chocolate pie chocolate pie! This is the best thing he’s made so far hands down. Dark chocolate, cream, booze, icing sugar, sugar,...
Dec 7, 2021


My pissaladière story
"just add spring sunshine and a glass of wine" Andrew McConnell Tonight my local book group is meeting to choose our books for next year....
Dec 1, 2021


A blast from the past - poppy seed cake
"However unpredictable the weather, however disastrous the outing, however much fun has not really been had on the family-day out,...
Nov 30, 2021


The dilemma of Christmas pudding
“It is a problem certainly, that Christmas plum pudding. There is here something that I do not understand at all.” Hercule Poirot in...
Nov 29, 2021


Me time
"I consider these few minutes stolen from the working day as deep breaths of fresh air with which to refocus, take stock, get my head...
Nov 24, 2021


Braided bread
"Braiding bread dough is fun and easy to do. If you can braid hair, you can braid bread. If you can't braid hair, then braiding bread is...
Nov 23, 2021


Why would you cook with tinned fruit?
"Now, it may be true that opening a tin can of fruit doesn't come close to the experience of picking up a fresh peach from a farm stand....
Nov 22, 2021


Panko
"Invented by soldiers and cooked only with electrical currents, panko could be the most interesting baked good since sliced bread."...
Nov 14, 2021


Hummingbird cake
"This is what cake should be" Anon from Nigella Eats Everything I seem to have cake on my mind, which is not normal, because cake is...
Nov 4, 2021


Rosemary Olive cake - a cake for me
"The rosemary is the wild card factor here. And it's so good. It heats up in the oven as the cake is baking and permeates the cake in a...
Oct 27, 2021


Cheese bits
"Cheese has always been a food that both sophisticated and simple humans love." M. F. K. Fisher I have used that particular quote as my...
Oct 25, 2021


Gingernuts
"It is the kind of no-frills biscuit you might find in an office tin" Felicity Cloake This is a quickie as my time is running out having...
Oct 23, 2021


Yet another kind of bread - no two
"It’s firm enough to hold any filling you could possibly think of while still giving you that notable softness on the inside that we all...
Oct 17, 2021


Flamiche - a first recipe
"my favourite savoury tart" Gabriel Gaté It could be mine too if I think about it. And I don't make it often enough - probably because...
Oct 15, 2021

