

Defeated by a first recipe
"sometimes the wall is just a wall. There’s nothing to be done but go somewhere else." Margaret Atwood This book has been sitting on my...
Sep 18
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Cheating at cassoulet
"Sometimes in life, we have to make a choice: Idealized fantasy or achievable reality." Adina Steiman/Food and Wine I've been thinking...
Sep 16
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"The existential journey through a bowl of pasta" Wix AI
"In essence, "existential pasta" is a blend of profound feelings and the mundane, showing how the simplest things can trigger deep...
Sep 10
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Scacce ragusana
"a bit like a lasagne crossed with a focaccia and pizza." Lorraine Elliott/Not Quite Nigella This is just one of those short posts,...
Sep 6
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First day of spring - time to think about salad?
"Choose one hero ingredient and let it lead the way." Ottolenghi I'm really not a salad person. There I've said it, as my son would say....
Sep 1
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A lucky dip quickie
"This is Réunion. A union of people from everywhere, blended with vanilla, sugar and rum." Yasmin Khan I am running out of time today,...
Aug 27
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A question about shepherd's pie
On Sunday we had shepherd's pie for dinner because I had leftover lamb from Friday. Whenever we have a roast and have leftovers we...
Aug 26
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Un mélange
Mélange: a mixture, or a group of different things or people" Cambridge English Dictionary time for some oddments, and it's amazing how...
Aug 25
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Leftover roast lamb - Jamie to the rescue
"Lamb leftovers are slightly trickier to use up than beef or chicken. The meat is very fatty, which makes it unctuous and flavoursome...
Aug 22
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A lot of fuss - but maybe worth it
"as I'm a pastry cook at heart, I've been making all sorts of herb-laden tarts, including this lovely tomato one. It's very simple." ...
Aug 21
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Matar paneer
The dish above is not matar paneer - it's paneer pasanda - which means favourite paneer. I was about to finish my 'research' on matar...
Aug 15
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Piri piri chicken
"It seems we just can’t get enough spicy grilled poultry. Popularity, however, breeds contempt " Felicity Cloake Inspired by a Feast ...
Aug 8
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A german soup begins a world tour
"Soup not only warms you and is easy to swallow and to digest, it also creates the illusion in the back of your mind that Mother is...
Jul 31
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Stews, a Belgian one and Jill Dupleix
"Old food. Favourite food. Above all, food that makes people fall in love with us. That's what cooking is all about as it always has...
Jul 28
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Fusion or confusion? - two dinners
"a twisted kind of sense" Jay Rayner This is last night's dinner - simply called Fried beef kerala from my other The Food of ... series...
Jul 27
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Leftovers of leftovers of leftovers
David has more or less insisted I write a blog about last night's dinner because he loved it so much. He also said I should write down...
Jul 24
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Are we British ashamed of cream buns?
"The fisherman fishes as the urchin eats cream buns, from lust". T. H. White I actually started out with the idea of doing an oddments...
Jul 18
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Do I need this book?
Probably not, but I want it - it's an object of desire Continuing with the pile of books on my desk I have mentioned this one a couple of...
Jul 17
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Sfouf cake
Working my way through my email newsletters and looking for something relatively quick and simple I came across the above in a newsletter...
Jul 14
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Poaching chicken in vinegar
I have this pile of books on my desk which I have recently purchased, or which are first recipe or lucky dip books. So on a rainy day...
Jul 10
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