Lamb with Mint Chimichurri

For us meat eaters of the world, lamb is the traditional meat to serve on Easter Sunday. Usually a roast meal is served but with just myself to feed today, I opted for some gorgeous lamb rib chops I found in Whole Foods. As a child, roast Sunday lunches were a weekly affair from which […]

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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 […]

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The 8th Birthday Cake

It’s my eldest grandson Freddie’s 8th birthday. I’ve been making the same cake ever since his first birthday – The 1st Birthday Cake – and followed the recipe again today. In fact, I’ve made it more than eight times for my son Jonathan now has three boys, so there’s Ben (5) and Alex (2) as […]

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Halloumi with Sweet Pepper & Coriander Salsa

Yes halloumi again. Apologies for two halloumi recipes in a row. It wasn’t especially intentional, but the weather remains warm and rather humid here in London – though nothing like the two days of heatwave (yes only two days, despite all the fuss) of two weeks’ ago. The temperature is only in the mid-20s, which […]

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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 […]

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Cooking with Freddie: Frozen Lemon Yogurt Cream

My grandson Freddie (7) loves lemons. He likes lemon drizzle cake, lemon sorbet, slices of lemon in drinks. For my birthday lunch at Masaniello last Saturday, when nine of us gathered around the long table, his chosen dessert was lemon sorbet. Not strawberry, chocolate or vanilla ice cream, but lemon sorbet. And he loved it. […]

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Almost Instant Frozen Berry Yogurt

I’ve been thinking about making this for ages; well, trying it out and seeing how it worked. I’ve taken to buying packs of frozen mixed organic berries regularly from Waitrose, which I have with my breakfast, taking a few out at night to thaw in the fridge in a small bowl for the next morning. […]

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Cooking with Kids: Welsh Cakes

My son Jonathan’s wife is Welsh, hence the boys – Freddie (7), Ben (4) and Alex (1) are half Welsh. This fact is mainly discussed in relation to rugby when Freddie is involved. He’s seriously into rugby at the moment – well he was born in Twickenham and lives within walking distance of the famous […]

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Lunch with the Grandsons at Masaniello

Freddie and I were talking about Masaniello last week and Livio’s pizzas. Livio, co-owner and head chef of Masaniello, hails from Naples and thus knows a good deal about making an excellent pizza. We haven’t been for a long time, said Freddie. No, we haven’t, I said, so we’ll go soon, next time you’re on […]

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Celery Soup

The weather is in that uncertain stage when it’s not quite sure if it wants to take a leap into spring or bid a hasty retreat back into cold winter days. Here in London we’re used to changeable weather throughout the year where you can see huge 10C drops or jumps from one day to […]

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