Traditionally, the key ingredients in the Japanese dish shira-ae are white – white tofu, white miso and white sesame seeds; shiro means white in Japanese and the ae suffix denotes a vegetable dish with dressing. What’s unusual from my European perspective is the low amount of liquid ingredients in the dressing; the silken tofu provides ... Read more »
Quick & Easy Yuzu Ice Cream
Yuzu makes a fabulous sorbet, one I am seldom able to resist if I see it on a menu. But when I was gifted a jar of Korean Yuzu Tea by a friend I decided to use it in a simple yuzu ice cream instead, combining creaminess with the distinctive flavour of yuzu. Yuzu is ... Read more »
Home Made White Cherry Rum Liqueur
White cherries aren’t really white; they’re gorgeous pale yellow blushed with rose. Fortunately for me, the small fruit stall just outside the office where I currently work has had them on sale recently and I’ve purchased so many the stall holder probably assumes I’m a weird cherry addict. When I told him this bag ... Read more »
Recipe Video | Chorizo, Spinach, Onion & Potato Frittata
An affordable recipe perfect for alfresco dining, making use of British ingredients. That’s what I was asked to create when vouchercodes.co.uk invited me to film another recipe video with them. (For my first, I shared the recipe for my mum’s tandoori roast lamb, an alternative suggestion for Christmas dinner.) This time, I made a frittata, ... Read more »
I Eat My Books, Do You Eat Yours?
I have too many cookery books. There, I’ve said it. Despite two major clear outs in the last couple of years, when lots and lots of cookery books were given away to charity shops and fundraisers, the assigned shelves are overflowing. Books are stacked two deep, with extra ones squeezed on their side above the ... Read more »
Bobby Chinn’s The House of Ho
A Friendly Argument I wasn’t expecting an invitation to The House of Ho. I got into a friendly argument with Bobby Chinn you see… I was a guest in the audience for a panel discussion about the Future of London’s Dining Scene hosted by Land Securities, a property development company behind the new Nova complex ... Read more »
Slow Cooker (Crockpot) Jacket Potatoes
We’ve had our slow cooker for years but until recently, we didn’t use it as much as we could have. We use it to make an overnight chicken stock after every roast chicken dinner: Strip the carcass of meat, throw it into the slow cooker with some water, put it on low and strain in ... Read more »
Matsuri St James | A Venerable London Teppanyaki Restaurant
Back in the late 1990s, a friend took me to Matsuri St James. It was a fair bit pricier than the restaurants we more commonly visited, but he’d heard good things about the food and was keen to try. Most of the clientele were Japanese and virtually all of them were men, probably a factor ... Read more »
Three Fantastic Vietnamese Cookbooks
When I think of Vietnamese food I think of balance. Balance between five fundamental flavour elements – spicy, sour, bitter, salty and sweet – and balance between the physical senses, with dishes designed not only to delight the tongue but also to provide pleasing aromas and an appealing appearance. Even sound and touch are considered, ... Read more »