Recipes (my own and from reviewed recipe books), reviews of cookery books and cookery classes, food and kitchen equipment product reviews – if it’s about cooking or eating at home, it’s here!

The Silver Spoon Pasta Book

7 comments

The Silver Spoon Pasta book by Phaidon is a monster of a cookery book! With over 50 shapes of pasta and 360 individual recipes it’s a real tome of reference for traditional Italian pasta recipes. And just like so many of our friends, we find pasta a wonderfully delicious, yet quick and simple, option for ... Read more »

Cook like a wahaca – cooking with Tommi Miers

7 comments

One of the prizes donated to the Blaggers Banquet that most excited me was the one-off cookery class by Thomasina Miers, Masterchef 2005 winner and founder of Wahaca mexican street food restaurants. Tommi doesn’t normally offer small, personal cookery classes like this so I was very pleased indeed to bag one of the coveted 8 ... Read more »

Jamming With Carla!

25 comments

Somehow, in the space of less than a year, I’ve transformed into an earnest WI type before my own eyes. That’s not an insult to Women’s Institute members – I think local social clubs offering talks, cookery demonstrations, craft workshops and cake cook-offs are actually pretty cool*. But I have in mind here the (no ... Read more »

The Ultimate Macaroni Cheese With Bacon

22 comments

When Fiona threw down the cheese gauntlet with her Ultimate Macaroni Cheese Challenge, I could not resist! Macaroni cheese is a dish I adore and, like so many, have very fond childhood memories of. And yet, I hadn’t made it for years and years and years. What an oversight! Such neglect meant I didn’t have ... Read more »

Michel Roux’s Mini Scotch Eggs

23 comments

For Christmas, I bought Pete a cast iron mincer. It was an inexpensive (and rather heavy and large) stocking filler which I bought in a charity sale, boxed and brand new. But I had no idea if would even work let alone work well. So I was happy to find a recipe that allowed us ... Read more »

Kavey’s Chicken Liver & Port Paté

6 comments

Chicken liver paté is one of my favourite things… and yet, a couple of years ago, I’d never made it myself. A friend was kind enough to share his recipe for chicken liver and brandy paté which I duly made and enjoyed. It was very straightforward and inexpensive too! Having gained the confidence to experiment ... Read more »