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Breaking my own rules
"Any fool can make a rule, and any fool will mind it." Henry David Thoreau For the last few years I have made myself a little set of...
Mar 24, 2023


Bostock
"quite possibly the best-tasting yet widely unknown breakfast treat you’ll find." Erin Clarke/Well Plated Do you know what a bostock is?...
Mar 19, 2023


I began with scaccia and almost ended with quiche
"Essentially, what they all share is the principle that behind a perfectly ordinary piece of pastry that looks nothing special on the...
Mar 12, 2023


The wonderful wormholes of words - Waffle
"noun - (1) kind of batter-cake, baked crisp in irons and served hot; (2) a weave of cloth. verb - (1) to yelp, bark (1690s); (2) talk...
Mar 1, 2023


German food - is it really that bad?
"During the last 50 years that nation has changed more than any other in Western Europe. Yet it has remained German, because everything...
Feb 27, 2023


Lessons from a family feast
“If you can eat with mates or friends or family, I mean, it's such a brilliant thing isn't it? If you feel really rubbish and you have a...
Feb 20, 2023


Loaded
"A look at restaurant menus makes it clear — bigger is better! Loaded dishes, jaw-dropping piles of ingredients and personalized items...
Feb 11, 2023


An almost perfect tomato tart
"Use of lime juice, tomatoes and spice in some recipes is amazing!" An Amazon reviewer I've spoken about tomato tarts before - how...
Jan 7, 2023


Rambling around a bread challenge
"the satisfaction of one answer merely leads to asking another question, and so on into infinity." Alberto Manguel David bought this...
Jan 4, 2023


Battenberg cake
"its appearance is a convenient shorthand for a world rapidly vanishing in a puff of Yardley’s lavender." Felicity Cloake I'm not sure...
Dec 4, 2022


Sides
"Tasty enough on its own, but humble enough to not take away from the main event" OTK Extra Good Things Just to make clear, this is not...
Dec 3, 2022


More of a concept than a recipe
"the perfect “blotting paper” if a festive brunch is boozy or if you’ve overdone the festivities the night before: it puts you right back...
Nov 28, 2022


Cakes with a hole in the middle
"There is no denying that Bundt cakes are all about the look. But no matter if you are soaking yours in syrup, dusting with icing sugar...
Nov 24, 2022


Canapés
"food art in one bite – there to be moreish, to satiate, and to look as classy as its setting. Anything less, and it’s the guest who...
Nov 18, 2022


Genteel sandwiches on the lawn
"Everything tastes better outdoors." Claudia Roden It's such a beautiful day - you can almost imagine that summer is actually on its...
Nov 7, 2022


Salmagundi
"The word salmagundi may be derived from the obscure 16th century French word salmigondis which means disparate assembly of things, ideas...
Oct 29, 2022


An oldie but a goodie - Pollo alla Romana con peperoni
"a time to interrupt all ordinary activities and get some rest." Toni Brancatisano Following on yesterday's analysis of what you can...
Oct 28, 2022


Biscoff for a rainy day
"it is as if the deep flavour of the coffee and unique taste and crunchiness of the Lotus Biscoff biscuit were made for each other." ...
Oct 27, 2022


Is it possible to keep it simple - and cheap?
"Simple is easy to get wrong" Neil Perry It seems that Catalonia is the flavour of this week, because here I am about to talk about a...
Oct 22, 2022


Picada - a non-Ottolenghi extra
"anyone who has tasted a dish before and after its addition will understand that picada 'seems to fill in all the holes, plug in all the...
Oct 19, 2022