Koofteh berenji - Persian meatballs
Number 46 in the 80 meatballs from around the world are Koofteh berenji - as made here by Bunny Banyai. I made them last night for the family - we were welcoming back the European travellers - and of course I forgot to take photographs of mine. I was just glad to get it all ready for people to dive in, after working most of the day in the kitchen, so I forgot. I mostly enjoyed the day in the kitchen by the way. However, I was mildly disappointed with them, even though eve
Feb 2
Chicken Kiev - or Kyiv, or something else altogether?
"the only thing that really matters with a kiev is that when you cut into that crisp shell, you're rewarded with an eruption of vivid green, garlicky butter. And that's a pleasure that will never go out of fashion." Felicity Cloake Only beware, because if you cut into it too rapidly that hot butter could spurt out and all over anything that is nearby - the tablecloth, your clothes, your fingers. And it will be hot. The trick is to get it to ooze - as shown here in Nagi Mae
Jan 29
Self-soothing meatballs?
"any shovel-handed buffoon can roll a gob of mince into a rustic ball." Bunny Banyai So I said I would return to the meatball book and here it is - Around the World in 80 Meatballs by a lady called Bunny Banyai. A strange name - well the surname - and hard to pin down an origin, but I think somewhere in the book she mentioned Russia or Ukraine as an ancestral connection. Even stranger, however, is why this particular lady is writing a cookbook, for although she is indeed a
Jan 24
Linzer torte - Italian, Austrian, Jewish?
"I didn’t have great hopes for this Linzer torte – it just seemed too simple to be really delicious." Alix Clark/SBS And I have to say when I turned to my lucky dip page - this is a lucky dip recipe - I felt a bit the same. When I think about it I don't think I have ever tasted a genuine Linzer torte. Did my mother ever make such a thing I wonder because I do remember something with a lattice top and maybe jam in the middle? If I did I doubt that my mother, or maybe even m
Jan 20
Honduras - the original banana republic
"In Honduras food is tricky, there seems to be prevailing thought that all tourists want western food and that burgers and nuggets will fit the bill." Bacon is Magic Which is perhaps an honest assessment of Honduran food, but my world tour is to try and discover what the so-called traditional foods of the world are. What the peoples of different countries supposedly eat at home, although these days, possibly they don't. Possibly everyone eats pizza and hamburgers, lasagne
Jan 18
Clear borscht - a first recipe
"the pride of old Polish cooking" Maria Lemnis I'll be up front here and say I'm not inspired by this one. I'm pretty sure I did borscht as most of us know it - a complicated meat and vegetable soup founded on beetroot - long, long, ago, but here I am with a first recipe for a clear borscht, the version of which I have in front of me, with no picture or recipe online and no comments in the book. I chose this picture of The Spruce Eats recipe from Barbara Rolek for Beet so
Jan 17
Hoppin' John
"You can dig up old 19th century "receipts" (as they were called back then), follow them to the letter, and still end up mystified that anyone could ever have loved such stuff, much less decided it was an iconic Southern dish." Robert Moss/Serious Eats I owe this post to a substack newsletter from Gastra Obscura yesterday, which highlighted it because is it is an American - well the Southern states of the Carolinas and neighbours - New Year's Day dish. So I thought that be
Jan 5
Fruit fools
"Savlon for the tongue" Nigel Slater That's a somewhat weird, maybe even repulsive or at least unattractive way of describing, what to me and many other English people is the most sublime of desserts - particularly the gooseberry version. ‘Soft, pale, creamy, untroubled, the English fruit fool is the most frail and insubstantial of English summer dishes’ says Elizabeth David and even Claudia Roden - doyenne of Middle-Eastern food describes them as "one of the delights of s
Jan 3
"Worth a write-up" said David
"Little joys illuminating an increasingly darkening world. They feed the soul and nourish the spirit." Nigel Slater A somewhat overblown, even, pretentious some would say, quote from Nigel, and although it probably overstates how I felt about last night's dinner, the dinner itself and David's comment did indeed induce a feeling of quiet satisfaction and maybe even pride that at least keeps me going. So here is my not very good photograph of a meal that I suppose could be ca
Dec 19, 2025
Coq au sauvignon blanc
“This popular dish may be called coq au Chambertin, coq au Riesling, or coq au whatever wine you use for its cooking.” Julia Child Based on, based on, probably ad infinitum is the story of tonight's proposed dinner. And for want of a better description I'm calling it Coq au sauvignon blanc - or 'sav blonk' as some would say.. But of course it's not coq at all, so let's begin there on this tiny ramble around a classic french dish. For every group of chickens that actually ha
Dec 17, 2025
Healing rice
"I had forgotten the pleasures of cooking rice properly ... In the rush to get something on the table, it is all too easy to forget that there is something infinitely calming about cooking rice." Nigel Slater And healing too. On Friday I was not feeling too well - a mildly upset stomach - which is why there was no blog that day - and yesterday we had guests. I didn't eat much, tried to drink more water, and basically just lay around feeling somewhat drained, and needing to
Dec 15, 2025
Capsicum stuffed with tomatoes
"an Italian idea that has been put into words well by Elizabeth David, Simon Hopkinson and Nigel Slater among many others. And no wonder – it is such a good idea" Rachel Roddy I spent another happy almost hour with Nigel today, checking out his book Tender volume 1 for my lunch party on Sunday. If you remember I had forgotten to check this volume out. And of course there were heaps of other possibilities in addition to what I wrote about the other day, but I think I will
Dec 12, 2025
With or without? - speculaas/speculoos
"Loos in old Dutch means without. Speculaas is with a lot of spices, speculoos is speculaas without most of those spices." reddit As I often do I started with a random, well a few, in this case, random recipes from somewhere, and you travel the world in time and space, learning a few fairly trivial and mildly interesting things along the way. Mind you I have sort of done this one before with my Biscoff for a rainy day post - and apologies for the missing pictures - I accid
Dec 8, 2025
A recipe years in the making
"pushing the boundaries of Italian cuisine, to highlight the power food, drink and travel has on memory" Rob Hobart/Peroni Nastro Azzurro I started out today researching piña colada inspired desserts - it was a topic in my Ideas list. Somehow or other during those rambles around a couple of Google pages, I came across this Cherry and strawberry crostata with black sesame praline a dish that Ixta Belfrage had presented in her Substack newsletter, telling us that it was a re
Dec 4, 2025
Beetroot mezze - well small things?
"For me, a mezze dish has to be completely self-contained - fully flavoured and ready to go without needing anything else to make sense." Yotam Ottolenghi Ok - this is not really a small thing. It's Beetroot and red onion tarte tatin by Elena Silcock on the BBC Good Food website and I'm in the process of making it - or something like it now. Why? Well it's our last local book group meeting tonight, for which we all bring a plate. I'm hosting, and my particular challeng
Dec 3, 2025
Invalid food - something with pasta?
"Fanny Cradock tells us to smash up some chicken, put it in a jar, cover with cheap brandy and simmer (a slow cooker will do it) for 24 hours before straining. As she says – it's miraculous." Catherine Phipps/The Guardian My husband has a mildly upset stomach, so I'm trying to think of appropriate foods for dinner. Yesterday we had a very bland greens and potato soup which was not greeted with much enthusiasm I have to say. I admit it didn't have a lot of taste - he added
Nov 30, 2025
A Persian comfort dish
"a nostalgic Iranian childhood snack" Naz Deravian/The New York Times It began with The New York Times' Naz Deravian and yesterday's desk diary dish Dooymaaj salad - an intriguing enough name for me as a foodie blogger, to have a second look. You may not be able to access the recipe because eventually The New York Times retreats behind a pay wall. However, I'm guessing that you are unlikely to give this a try anyway. This is one of those dishes from other places in th
Nov 29, 2025
Some party time recipes
I've spent the morning, no - most of yesterday afternoon as well, making marmalade from a gift of home-grown mandarins, from friends, and a whole lot of lemons that I had in the fridge - 12 assorted jars seen here being the result. It's very satisfying when you get to this point, although there's always the worry it won't set, although this time I think I marginally worry about the opposite - too set. Anyway it's left me feeling lazy, so I thought I would just provide a few
Nov 17, 2025
Green bean casserole
"The word “gloopy” comes to mind" Alison Roman This is in no way 'gloopy' looking but I'm starting with Ottolenghi's Blistered green bean casserole with parmesan and rosemary because this was my starting point - a recipe in Ottolenghi's newsletter, which was sort of about Thanksgiving, one American festival that I don't think will make it to our shores because it's specific to a historical American event. I also saw that this looked like a really good thing to try some day
Nov 16, 2025
Tomato and corn pies (and tarts)
"The problem more often than not is a basic one: tomatoes are very wet and tart crusts need to stay fairly dry" Deb Perelman/Smitten Kitchen I needed something that wasn't going to take long because I had already used up half of the day on reading a book group book and trying to speak Italian in my Italian class. Very depressing. So I decided I would pick a recipe - and then just ramble - and this was it - Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen's Tomato and corn pie I'm not exactl
Nov 11, 2025