Travel tips-Restaurant reviews-Recipes
This is another recipe from Yotam Ottolenghi’s Simple book, which I wrote about last time. I made this apple cake for dessert. One of the great pleasures of visiting Ottolenghi’s Islington deli and restaurant is the glorious display of food in the window – especially the cakes! So fabulous is it, that it’s almost impossible […]
Read MoreIt’s a few years since I last made a Christmas pudding. And I’ve never actually made many in my life. When I was a child, my maternal grandmother was the Christmas cook, making the pudding and Christmas cake. After she died, my mother started making the pudding and I made the cake. But not many […]
Read MoreJonathan Swift used the phrase ‘life’s too short’ all the way back in 1711. Then Shirley Conran coined the phrase, ‘life’s too short to stuff a mushroom’ in her 1975 book Superwoman, aimed at busy women; it was a transforming book that liberated women and made it OK to take shortcuts and not feel they had […]
Read MoreI’ve often claimed in these pages that I don’t bake much, yet in truth, like many people, I started off as a ‘baker’ and there has definitely been a lot of baking in my life, even if less now than years ago. Baking cakes if often where we start with cooking. I used to make […]
Read MoreThis post was an act of sheer determination; well, the cooking was. I’d heard Pastéis de Nata were difficult to make, but clearly a certain amount of hubris took me over: just how difficult can it be to make custard tarts! Well, I was soon to discover … There were a few moments when I […]
Read MoreI hope you’ve all had a wonderful Christmas. Mine was spread over two lovely days, a fairly quiet Christmas Day itself with son Jonathan, his wife and two little boys. Jonathan, an excellent cook, made us a lunch of perfectly grilled steak on his gas barbecue and opened a fabulous bottle of Bordeaux wine to […]
Read MoreChristmas is coming and I thought it would be fun to make gingerbread people with grandson Freddie. At just two and three-quarters he doesn’t quite understand Christmas but he certainly understands the excitement. This morning when I went over to the family’s home, Freddie was eating his breakfast. ‘Would you like to come to Nonna’s […]
Read MoreI bought Nigel Slater’s The Christmas Chronicles as early Christmas presents for my son and daughter. But then I decided I liked the book so much, I had to buy a copy for myself! The recipes aren’t just for Christmas, it’s as much a book for the winter, indeed the book’s subtitle is Notes, stories & […]
Read MoreRegular readers will be forgiven for thinking I have a fixation with banana bread. But the truth is, I make it quite often and rarely bake other cakes or sweet breads. Thus it’s nice to ring the changes a bit, not just make a traditional banana bread with sultanas and walnuts (click here), but variations […]
Read MoreBaci di Dama have been a family favourite for years. Baci di dama translates from the Italian to ‘ladies’ kisses’ and these gorgeous little biscuits are a kiss of sweet delight with a cappuccino or espresso (though if you’re not into coffee, then tea works well too). I’ve always bought them from Carluccio’s Caffè and […]
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