

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, 2025


"Light heart, light baking" - crumble
This post is probably going nowhere. It's just based on a couple of lengthy quotes from Nigel. Here's the last part of it, and I hope...
Jul 8, 2025


A tangle of roots
"sometimes we need to fill our lives with a little more whimsy than a rich, rotting mound of compost" One Green Planet This post has...
Jul 7, 2025


Unloved fusilli and its friends
"three small wings elegantly twisted on themselves, in a spiral movement." Barilla I had a feeling that fusilli, those short spiralised...
Jun 4, 2025


Upping my sandwich game
"No offence, but I find sandwich recipes pointless. Who needs a recipe for making a sandwich? It’s like looking up a manual before taking...
Jun 2, 2025


Genteel eggs
Coddled, baked, shirred, en cocotte, moulded eggs, egg-in-a-cup - not poached - but I'm confused This all began with this rather lovely...
May 27, 2025


Angel hair
“Angel hair just lands on your chin like the strands of a wet mop.” Bon Appétit "The thin strands absorb sauce like few other pastas...
May 23, 2025


Nigel's spicy sausage pasta step by step
"I couldn’t get over how lush it tastes; creamy and luxurious and comforting" A Muse Bouche You may remember that I decided to try to...
May 21, 2025


From Aberdeen to Ottolenghi
"At first glance, a rowie looks a bit like an unfortunate croissant that you find in the bottom of your bag, crushed by a bag of apples...
May 10, 2025


A template - scones - savoury ones
I love templates of all kinds. This entire blog is made from a template. Alas it is no longer in Wix's vast library of templates, so I...
May 9, 2025


BIR - British Indian restaurant food
I wanted not only to learn how to cook Indian food correctly, but also really get to know how all those spices and other ingredients...
May 5, 2025


There's nothing new about one pot pasta
"A traditional spaghetti dish may be a two-pan recipe, but one of those pans contains only boiling water, salt and spaghetti. It’s not...
May 2, 2025


Chaat
"anything – crisps, samosas, leftover chana masala – can be chaat" Diya Mukherjee/Vittles I have been increasingly aware of late of...
Apr 8, 2025


Oatcakes
"are they one step up from the dreaded rice cake in your pantheon of worthy but dull foods?" Felicity Cloake After yesterday's...
Mar 28, 2025


Crispy fried eggs
"Anything topped with a crispy, runny fried egg is a winner in my eyes!!" Jamie Oliver Above is my inspiration for today Spaghetti...
Mar 25, 2025


Blitzing - is that the right word?
"He who analyses blitz is stupid." Rashid Nezhmetdinov I think the above quote applies to a technical chess thing - the quoter is/was a...
Mar 3, 2025


A problem of peaches
"Green fruit doesn’t mean bad fruit." Emma Laperruque/Food 52 I don't think I'm going to have much to say today because time is running...
Jan 29, 2025


Pasta, butter, cheese
"the ultimate 'I can’t believe this came from only that'" Alison Roman "Heat the butter in a skillet until it's as dark as you want,...
Jan 17, 2025


A disagreement with Nigel
"Don't put peas in a quiche. They may go nicely with a ham or crab filling, but they make the custard fall apart. Not to mention the...
Jan 15, 2025


Roasting vegetables
"Clearly, roasting is really the only way to treat vegetables if one hopes to be modern." J. Bryan Lowder/Slate In 1993 Delia Smith...
Jan 12, 2025

