Travel tips-Restaurant reviews-Recipes
It started with Nigel Slater’s column in the Observer yesterday morning; although you might also say it started over a hundred years ago. For a family that rarely cooks ‘British’ food (perhaps the odd Cottage Pie and only the very occasional roast with Yorkshire pudding) and delights mostly in the tastes of Italy and the […]
Read MoreGreengage tart does sound so much nicer in French: Tarte aux Reine Claudes. In France, greengages are named in honour of the French queen Claude (1499-1524) who was also Duchess of Brittany. They came originally from the Middle East and were brought to England from France in 1724 by Sir William Gage, who, as you […]
Read MoreThis morning I was emailing my friend, Di, who I stayed with in France recently, and told her I was about to go and pick up grandson Freddie to look after him for a while. I also explained that as heavy rain was forecast for the entire day, I’d have to be creative about how […]
Read MoreAfter my wonderful meal at Honey & Smoke last week, I couldn’t resist buying the Honey & Co: Food From the Middle East cookbook. I hoped to find recipes for some of the dishes I enjoyed at the restaurant, particularly the selection of mezze we had at the start of the meal, and I’m happy […]
Read MoreI’ve been thinking of making these little tartlets for a while. I used to make them a lot, using a recipe from an old Katie Stewart book – Entertaining with Katie Stewart – which was published in 1990. I’ve written about Katie before: she was my ‘kitchen guru’ even before Delia Smith came on to […]
Read MoreWe had a very traditional Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing and all the usual accompaniments, but as Rachael is vegetarian, I wanted to think of a nice alternative for her, and something also quite special. The initial plan was to bake Rick Stein’s ‘Horta Pie’ from his Venice to Istanbul book. Horta are wild greens […]
Read MoreI made these jellies for our Christmas meal because some of the family aren’t keen on Christmas pudding, and also to provide the option of a lighter dessert after so much eating! They were indeed lighter, and a great hit, but also rather alcoholic so I think I should give a warning here that these […]
Read MoreWhen I bought Jamie Oliver’s new book of Christmas cooking a couple of weeks ago, one of the recipes I thought I must try were his cantuccini, with the idea that I could package some up as little gifts. I bought the ingredients at the beginning of the week but life and Christmas shopping got […]
Read MoreThere was a chocolate crisis in the house this morning. The pot of amazing chocolate & hazelnut cream I brought back from Baratti & Milano in Turin was empty. A spatula was found and the last scrapings recovered before the pot was thrown away. Now, you might say, why don’t you just go and buy a […]
Read MoreI’ve made apple strudel many times before, although not for a long time. But I’ve been wanting to make it again ever since enjoying the wonderful version I had at Cafe Landtmann in Vienna a couple of months ago – said to be the original. It was gorgeous. Traditionally it’s served with cream, vanilla sauce (never called […]
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