Cod With Potatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Olives & Capers

January 5, 2021.Reading time 5 minutes.

I like to eat fish once or twice a week. Most often it’s salmon (organic farmed; wild when in season if I find it). Sometimes sea bream or sea bass; prawns to go into a fiery tomato sauce with pasta. I hadn’t particularly planned on cooking fish when I was wandering round Whole Foods in […]

Lamb with Prunes & Moroccan Spices

January 3, 2021.Reading time 8 minutes.

Happy New Year!! Let me first wish you a happy, healthy and altogether easier and more enjoyable year than the one we’ve just left. Despite the many challenges of 2020, there were positives and indeed lovely parts of it for me. Especially the birth of my fourth grandson (my son’s third child) on 27 December. […]

2020: Oh, What a Year! … Happy Christmas!

December 16, 2020.Reading time 21 minutes.

‘Oh, what a night/Late December back in ’63/Was a very special time for me/As I remember what a night’. Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons may famously have been singing about a very good and special time back in 1975 but the words keep coming to me from the perspective of this year’s pandemic: ‘Oh, what […]

Courgette, Parmesan & Mint Fritters

November 30, 2020.Reading time 4 minutes.

I was looking through an almost 20-year-old Antonio Carluccio book of his favourite Italian recipes a few days ago and came across these courgette fritters that I remember making with my son – almost 20 years ago! I’m not sure why I haven’t made them since as I remember we loved them and they’re pretty […]

Tarte aux Prunes et amandes

November 22, 2020.Reading time 9 minutes.

I was cooking for the family again. Ingredients for a big pot of bolognese ragù were coming in the morning with my Waitrose delivery so I suggested making a lasagna for us all. There’d be plenty for the lasagna and enough spare to freeze a few portions of the ragù. I always like to make […]

Apple & Blackberry Open Pie

November 16, 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

I love making a meal for the family on Sunday. Sometimes they come to my house; sometimes I take everything to theirs. It’s more of the latter the moment. With two little boys having school and pre-school the next morning and needing early nights, it’s easier to be based at their home. We don’t ‘do’ […]

Fish Tagine with Potatoes, Tomatoes & Olives

November 14, 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

I love fish and eat it at least once or twice a week and when I saw this recipe in Moro the Cookbook a few days’ ago, I knew I just had to make it. A few years’ ago, I almost lived by Moro: Moro the Cookbook, Casa Moro and Moro East. One of then biggest highlights […]

Chicken with Tomatoes, Fennel & Moroccan Spices

October 25, 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

British Summer Time ended today, the clocks went back an hour so we all had an extra hour in bed (except of course if you have small children who don’t understand these things) and autumn arrived with a vengeance. Heavy rain and blustery winds raged through the night and into the morning; it was definitely […]

A Simple French Apple tart

October 19, 2020.Reading time 8 minutes.

I like apple-based desserts more than any other kind, from a homely apple crumble or pie (which always has to be served with Bird’s custard in my house or there are complaints!) to fancier tarts and cakes. I’ve made little tartlets on flaky pastry, deep-filled tartlets. I’ve made tarts with apple purée on the bottom […]

Lasagna al forno

October 12, 2020.Reading time 14 minutes.

Given my love of Italian food and because I’ve been writing this blog for over nine years now, it’s a bit surprising that I haven’t given a recipe for a traditional Lasagna al Forno before. I’ve given a vegetable version and have talked about making – and eating! – lasagna, but have not given an […]