Roasted Aubergine with Curried Yoghurt

I love aubergines and so do my family. I’ve been making Ottolenghi’s Bulgur with Tomato, Aubergine & Preserved Lemon Yoghurt a lot recently – we all love it. It’s great on its own, with lamb or chicken and even good sausages. But yesterday I thought it was really time to try something new with aubergines.  […]

Read More

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 […]

Read More

Griddled Lamb Chops with a Melange of Summer Vegetables

I’ve greatly enjoyed watching Rick Stein’s new TV series, Rick Stein’s Food Stories, in which he travels around UK exploring food traditions and the country’s favourite foods. In each episode, he heads back to his kitchen in Padstow, Cornwall a couple of times to cook up something which reflects the foods he’s been looking at, […]

Read More

French Beans with a Sweet Pepper & Tomato Sauce

Years ago, when  I was regularly cooking family meals and hosting dinner parties, Marcella Hazan’s Fagiolini verdi con peperoni e pomodoro – French beans with peppers and tomatoes – from her iconic The Classic Italian Cookbook, was a favourite side dish to make. It’s a great dish to accompany simply cooked meat – like grilled or […]

Read More

Slow-roasted Tomatoes in Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Earlier in the year, sometime in spring, I was in the local garden centre and spied little tomato plants. I remembered how excited the grandsons were last year when I grew some: Freddie (now 7½)  loves to eat them; Ben (4¾) doesn’t like tomatoes but said he was excited to watch them grow. So I […]

Read More

Courgette, Tomato & Shallot with Basil Oil

I had the two eldest grandsons, aged 4 and 7, for 20 hours – from yesterday afternoon until late this morning. It was fun as always and such a joy to have their company. Supper was ragù bolognese from my freezer.  When they have a sleepover, I like to eat with them, so their usual […]

Read More

Black Rice with Roasted Pears, Thyme & Soft Blue Cheese

I was given some really lovely and thoughtful presents for Christmas. Unsurprisingly, there are always a few foodie things and one exciting one was a box of Seggiano’s black rice. This was given to me by my daughter’s in-laws, Janet and Colin. This organic black Nerone rice was developed from an ancient Chinese variety (it […]

Read More

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. […]

Read More

Sea Bass with Roasted Pepper Sauce & Samphire

I’ve been eating a lot of fish over the last week because, frankly, what else would you eat if you love fish and are staying in Cornwall? Especially in a Cornish fishing village. I actually choose a fish main dish over meat most of the time in restaurants but while away last week, I didn’t […]

Read More

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 […]

Read More