Lamb Kofte with a Butter Bean Mash & Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Ottolenghi’s Bulgur with Tomato, Aubergine & Preserved Lemon Yoghurt from his book Simple has become one of the family’s favourite dishes and we cook it often – to serve with lamb, chicken, sausages. I’ve been making it so often lately that the other day I thought I should take another look through Simple and see […]

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Cod with Chorizo, Bean & Tomato Ragu

I’ve been thinking about cooking this dish for ages after having a similar one at the brilliant Bayside Social in Worthing in April. I even bought some chorizo which has been in my freezer. This morning, considering what to eat tonight, I also found some cod. It was a fillet not a nice chunky piece […]

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Veggie Tray Bake with Chickpeas & Tahini Dressing

Tray bakes are very popular at the moment and as winter draws in, throwing a few veggies into a large tray and roasting them in the oven can produce a quick, easy and comforting supper. I often roast vegetables but usually a close-to-ratatouille mix with onions, peppers, courgettes, tomatoes and sometimes, though not always, aubergine. […]

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Puy Lentils with Aubergine, Tomatoes & Yoghurt

This is another recipe from the brilliant Ottolenghi Simple. It’s slightly adjusted to make a smaller portion as I was cooking just for myself and I thought 4 aubergines would be far too much! And anyway, I only had one. Then he used a 350g pack of precooked Puy lentils and mine was 250g … good […]

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Glorious Grains & Roasted Vegetables – Three Ways

This is one of my regular midweek supper dishes, especially now autumn is here with its cooler evenings and I crave something comforting and warming in the evening once the night has drawn in and the temperature dropped. I’ve taken to using it for three meals as there’s far too much for one. Food shopping […]

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Bulgur with Tomato, Aubergine & Preserved Lemon Yoghurt

This is an Ottolenghi recipe from his book, Simple. Ottolenghi + Simple are not two words I’d normally put together. His recipes often contain very long lists of ingredients and are quite complicated. However, I was completely addicted to his Jerusalem book when it first came out in 2012 and cooked from it endlessly. Some […]

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Freekeh Salad with Aubergine, Feta & Pomegranate

With Nicola & Rachael down from Worcestershire for the weekend to celebrate my birthday, we had a busy day planned for Saturday – which included High Tea at the famous Maids of Honour tea rooms in Kew. With uncertain timings and knowing we’d have more ‘tea’ than I usually do – in fact I don’t […]

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Hummus (again!) with Harissa & Pine Nut Topping

Hummus again! you’re probably thinking if you’re a regular follower of the blog. But yes – I do almost live on it! Or to be more correct, variations of ‘hummus’, made perhaps with butter beans or even roasted veg like beetroot or sweet potato. It’s not so long ago I posted a hummus recipe with Harissa […]

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Quick and Easy Harissa Hummus

I make a version of ‘hummus’ quite often. By this I mean, a basic hummus recipe but not necessarily made with chickpeas but often with butter beans or cannelloni beans instead; even roasted vegetables such as beetroot and squash. Then the other day I was in the National Portrait Gallery café and had a sandwich that had […]

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Polenta with Aubergine, Tomato & Pine Nut Sauce

Writing about the maize for polenta growing in the fertile plains of the Po Valley in Northern Italy in my last post set up a longing for some polenta. Polenta is a relatively new love of mine. My first experiences of it were of glutinous and tasteless lumps that didn’t inspire me to cook it myself. […]

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