Garlic is a most important ingredient. It’s rare in our house we don’t use it. Whether it’s starting a tomato sauce by frying an onion or crushing into teryaki sauce it’s unthinkable to cook without it. You shouldn’t taste it in the dish, but it rounds out the finished product nicely. The example above was… Continue reading Garlic
Category: Ingredients
Bay Leaves
Bay Leaves are funny things. Straight off the tree, they’re lovely and aromatic. Throw them into a beef casserole and Ragù and they disappear. But the weird thing is that even if they don’t have the up-front taste of dried, powdered cumin, or fresh coriander, you’d miss them if they were gone. Essential recipes that… Continue reading Bay Leaves
“Free from” Food
I make no apologies for this, but it’s something that’s irritating me as we go round the supermarket. We mostly go around the edge, because that’s where the real food is to be found. The burgeoning of “free from” food is beginning to wind me up. I’ve had my DNA tested by 23andme, I’ve lived… Continue reading “Free from” Food
Felafel
Felafel Have you ever wondered how to make felafel? Felafel is one of those things you don’t think too much about, especially after a night on the tiles. Being British, it probably came to the UK both with our adventures in the Middle East and also with immigration. Certainly it didn’t enter the English language… Continue reading Felafel
Classic Bolognese/Ragù/Tomato Sauce
It was decided we would have a vegetarian dinner since we’d been having meat just a little too often, despite my O- blood group being allegedly quite meat oriented. It’s bullshit, but what the heck. We had some Quorn mince in the freezer. Quorn is not the worst thing in the world. We survived on… Continue reading Classic Bolognese/Ragù/Tomato Sauce
The flexibility of a chicken
Sometimes you’re walking past the last day shelf in Tesco and a chicken for £2.50 just leaps out at you, you just can’t avoid it! You think “I can get at least four meals out of it for the two of us!” And you do! As an example meal plan: A proper Sunday roast. Beautiful… Continue reading The flexibility of a chicken
HelloFresh recipe box – review, tasty
There was a half price bargain to be had, so we took the plunge and got a couple of HelloFresh boxes at half price. Tuesday morning they arrived by truck incredibly well packed. The refrigerables packeded in insulated bags and all the other ingredients portioned into little boxes of a size appropriate to the recipes,… Continue reading HelloFresh recipe box – review, tasty
Heritage Radishes
The patio allotment is beginning to get into full swing. These were, however, a surprise to me. They are heritage radishes. Less watery than the supermarket variety, but BOY where they spicy; a wasabi level of heat. Yummy.
From Asparagus to Jersey Royals! Spring food in England.
Autumn is like lady bountiful, great food every where. But for me, spring is the one, when we’re emerging from an impossibly long winter, blinking into nice light evenings, sitting outside the pub or cafe, maybe, and enjoying the coming of the summer. Oh, and the seeds for autumnal bounty are sprouting. For me, the… Continue reading From Asparagus to Jersey Royals! Spring food in England.
Goulash London style and a heresy
A friend said he was cooking this which immediately gave me a yearning. First thing was that my paprika was supermarket and stale, so I ventured to the Spice Shop in Brighton, purveyor of all things herby, spicy and tasty. Then it starts getting religious: is it a soup or a stew? Sour cream or… Continue reading Goulash London style and a heresy
Scones – Jam or Cream First?
A rather unexpected kerfuffle blew up on my Facebook today after my wife put cream on the scone first and then followed it with jam. This, it seemed to me to be heresy. Jam gets much better traction on the dough and the cream sits on top. Images on flickr seem to be about 50/50… Continue reading Scones – Jam or Cream First?