

It's one of those days and I have a ricotta problem
"Ricotta barely makes it as a cheese. Traditionally made from the whey left behind after the curds that will become cheese are removed...
May 20, 2022


My chicken - sauté, fricassée, blanquette or braised?
"There's a universal sweet spot by the fridge, a familiar space in which we've all stood, door ajar and locked into a staring match with...
May 18, 2022


Chicken, mushrooms, wine ...?
classic, modern or made up? This was going to be a 'kill three subjects with one post' ramble, but I have now decided to dwindle the...
May 17, 2022


Jalfrezi - fusion, leftovers - what's not to love?
The picture here is from The Times of India, and so, one assumes a truly authentic version. Well yes and no, because Jalfrezi is another...
May 14, 2022


Pasta con le sarde
"I have never experienced this dish in its native country. Paolo Moelli (Il Ghiottone Errante, 1935) describes it as 'discordant but...
May 12, 2022


Trifle - no little thing
“A trifle consoles us because a trifle upsets us.” Blaise Pascal, Pensées This is for you Jenny after your disappointment that morsels...
May 4, 2022


Morsels and dainties
"Life, which is hard, is about small pleasures; it's about what Victorian writers such as George Gissing and John Ruskin used to call...
May 3, 2022


Worcestershire sauce
"Worcestershire sauce, it seems, is out — the craze for umami has come and gone, and entirely passed Worcestershire sauce by." Sam Worley...
May 1, 2022


Carrot cake
"I don’t care what the problem is, carrot cake is the solution." Into the Cookie Jar Started on this a couple of days ago - the day of an...
Apr 29, 2022


Curry from the jungle - a lucky dip
The dish shown above is not Jungle curry. It is a dish called Pork curry with eggplant from an old Women's Weekly booklet Easy...
Apr 26, 2022


Why don't I make curry more often?
"The complex flavours of curries are governed by just three things: generous spicing; onion, ginger and garlic done just right; and...
Apr 24, 2022


Scary carbonara
"A dish whose principal ingredients are eggs and bacon was always going to be a shoo-in for the British palate: certainly spaghetti...
Apr 23, 2022


Why Ottolenghi and co. are the tops
"food that we'd cook at home, for our friends and families, comforting but with a slight edge, a little twist, a 'cheffy' addition. ... ...
Apr 22, 2022


Guanciale - so trendy you can't find it
"Guancia means cheek, and guanciale are the salt-cured pork jowls that hang like pepper-dusted paddles above salumerie (deli) counters in...
Apr 21, 2022


Is there such a thing as mulligatawny soup?
"a cornerstone of the classic British Indian restaurant repertoire, always there, yet never ordered." Felicity Cloake I think this...
Apr 18, 2022


Welsh rabbit - or is it rarebit - or English or Scottish?
"Rarebit or rabbit? I like the latter; which (so the story goes) is what the hunter had for his supper when the rabbits had escaped his...
Apr 16, 2022


Scraps
"Winging it with what's to hand can be so liberating - flinging in this or that with the joyful abandon that comes from not trying too...
Apr 14, 2022


Vegetarianism then and now
"Time was when a vegetarian was just that: someone who ate no meat or fish, but only vegetable products. Nowadays there are many shades...
Apr 13, 2022


Black mark to Ottolenghi - or was it me - or maybe it was God?
"An invocation to God is murmured before kneading the dough, another before placing it in the oven." Claudia Roden - A Book of...
Apr 5, 2022


Confit - from duck to garlic and everything in between
"oil diffuses heat better than air, which is why meat confined and cooked under oil is so tender and almost velvet-like, rich but,...
Mar 29, 2022

