

So simple but so delicious - potted fish
"There are restaurateurs and cookery journalists who like to call confections such as haddock and kipper paste by the name of pâté. I...
Jan 29, 2022


Japanese (sansai udon) from Madhur Jaffrey
"Most of the vegetables Keiko used grew wild in the hills around her. Each had been cooked separately and then arranged over the noodles...
Jan 25, 2022


On magic, perfection, mystery, Elizabeth David and Mère Poulard's omelette
"one of life's simplest, quickest and most pleasant dishes." Delia Smith "Once upon a time" begins Elizabeth David's classic essay An...
Jan 24, 2022


An unlikely mild disappointment
"These impressive looking peppers are deceptively easy to put together" Shelf Love On the left Ottolenghi, on the right mine. It was a...
Jan 21, 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


David's favourite soup
"The most silken winter squash soup I know is a delicate blending of curried butternut squash, combined with winter's best plum tomatoes,...
Jan 18, 2022


A recipe and Marsala
"my favourite alcohol in the kitchen ... whose warm, nutty notes marry blissfully with dairy." Nigel Slater Last night was my day to try...
Jan 16, 2022


Strawberries - Manet, Renoir, Jane Grigson and Snow White
"When Chardin lived, wild strawberries were the only ones. His contemporary, Diderot, described them as being like 'the tip of a...
Jan 12, 2022


Scrambled eggs
"Scrambled eggs are eggs at their most egalitarian: socialism in inexpensive, edible ovoid form." Tony Naylor - The Guardian Life is...
Jan 11, 2022


Beetroot and artichoke - a match?
(Top tip: mixing pink and green always seems to work well in food photography.) - Vancouver with love This is a tea towel that I bought...
Jan 10, 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


Sweet potatoes - a leftover on my desk
When I was doing that desk clearing exercise in the last day or so I came across this page, torn out of an old Coles Magazine. Obviously...
Jan 8, 2022


Tidying my desk
Still in a New Year's frame of mind I have decided today to deal with some of the little things in this stack of stuff waiting for me to...
Jan 6, 2022


Two for the op shop?
“Today, if we cook, we Google it. New cookbooks lie on the coffee table and we drool over Tuscan landscapes and rustic bread ovens....
Jan 5, 2022


Do you write in your cookbooks?
“[Annotations] are deeply personal and it's one of the reasons why cookbooks are often handed down within families. In many cases they...
Jan 4, 2022


A recipe and a book - why I'm a cowardly cook
“In cooking, as in writing, you must please yourself to please others,” Nigella Lawson For relaxation in the last couple of days I have...
Jan 3, 2022


A favourite fish - first recipe
"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster" Ferran Adria I know I've done sardines before - a...
Jan 1, 2022


Those damned leftovers - especially the turkey
During the festive season, many of us lay down enough food to feed a ravenous army, and our kitchens can accumulate a huge volume of...
Dec 29, 2021


Crème brulée - it's really English
"For some reason, a bowl of custard isn't seen as an appropriate dessert for a grown adult – but scorch the top and give it a French name...
Dec 27, 2021


The gravlax saga
"gravadlax is glowing pink proof that healthy eating doesn’t have to be all hairshirts and low-fat hummus." Felicity Cloake The video...
Dec 22, 2021

