

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


Christmas done and dusted. Now you can play
"We can now all admit that the thing we really love about the festivities is the time after the day itself" Yotam Ottolenghi And the leftovers. For my son this is turkey sandwiches and - well - me too. And yesterday, that was what Christmas Day was almost all about. Well apart from being with family, the presents - not such a big deal now that there are no small children involved - the big thing was the leftovers and the opportunity to make sandwiches such as this one - m
Dec 26, 2025


A kataifi template or two
"a bit like shredded wheat, only 10 times tastier" Yotam Ottolenghi Today's Guardian Feast newsletter featured this Kataifi pie with feta. tomatoes and warm oregano honey from Alice Zaslavsky. I was a bit taken by it, thinking that this might be the next thing I will make for a vegetarian. I mean it looks wonderful, has all the trendy things like the drizzled honey thing, pistachios and feta and all things I like inside - tomatoes, cheese, onions. And no chilli. But se
Nov 28, 2025


Aubergines on top of yoghurt
"the composition is inspired by Yotam Ottolenghi’s unbeatable formula of flavoured yoghurt base + roasted aubergines + vibrant toppings." Ixta Belfrage This is Ixta's Aubergines with lime yoghurt and tomato, cinnamon and chilli oil - a recipe from I'm not sure where. Anyway I thought her words might be an opening into a post - most likely I thought - about how everyone was copying the technique. You know the one - I talked about it recently - a base of something creamy. yo
Nov 1, 2025


Hawaij, spice mixes and marketing
The other day I bought this expensive jar of Ottolenghi hawaij paste. It was on a special, I was just filling in time waiting for David for some reason I cannot now remember, wandering around Woolworths when I spied it. I had noticed Hawaij a lot here and there, or so I thought, and I was feeling a bit down, and so I thought 'why not?' and put it in my trolley. I feel a tiny bit cross at myself, because there are lots of recipes online for a hawaij spice mix, and it's not
Oct 23, 2025


It starts with the plate
"I am so obsessed with my serving platters that before I decide on what to cook, I first select the platters I want to serve it on ." ...
Oct 10, 2025


Contrasts and a bit about layers
"Sweet meat must have a sour sauce" Ben Jonson (1572-1637) Opposites attract they say, although I'm not at all sure that this is true...
Sep 17, 2025


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, 2025


Lessons from a recipe
Yesterday we celebrated my older son's birthday here with the now almost traditional and compulsory spaghetti and meatballs - and a cake...
Aug 4, 2025


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, 2025


Jottings
"Jottings: Quickly written short notes" Cambridge Dictionary I'm making a batch of marmalade because David has run out. It's time...
Jun 18, 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


Carrot salads
"Creative freedom is a huge carrot." Adam McKay I don't think Adam McKay meant, what I have taken to mean from the above quote. I think...
May 30, 2025


Granules
"granule - a small piece like a grain of something" Cambridge English Dictionary "a small particle; especially : one of numerous...
May 12, 2025


The seasonal divide
"I momentarily forgot that not all Spring celebrations are about Easter, that, for many, Easter isn’t a thing at all, and that not all...
Apr 23, 2025


Saturday's 5 star Ottolenghi crêpes + ...
"My freezer is stocked up with cooked crepes (an ingenious idea I nicked off a friend) that take minutes to warm up from frozen in the...
Mar 2, 2025


Green beans in a salad
There are few ingredients that can do anything for a french bean ... but a little chopped shallot, melted butter or a crushed clove of...
Jan 4, 2025


Gravy soup? Why didn't I think of that?
"This is the fridge's finest hour" Nigel Slater I've given up for now ignoring NIgel and Yotam - it's just too hard at this time of the...
Dec 27, 2024


Sundries
"various items not important enough to be mentioned individually." Oxford Languages Christmas approaches and begins to dominate, so life...
Dec 21, 2024


Nigel and Jonathan's onions
"There is no point in hurrying an onion – other than those you dip into batter and dunk into bubbling oil. They need time." Nigel Slater...
Nov 10, 2024

