For me a picnic isn’t a picnic without some kind of savoury pastries, whether that’s sausage rolls, a homemade quiche or something more adventurous. Here’s a great selection of recipes for your next picnic or garden party. Asparagus Tarts with a Pesto Surprise make the most of seasonal asparagus, goose eggs and pesto. Beef Empanadas ... Read more »
This may sound like heresy from a self-confessed cheese addict but sometimes – especially after a few weeks of excess eating that nearly always includes a copious cheese board – I really fancy something different. It’s not that I get cheesed out… wash your mouth out for even thinking such a thing! But the same ... Read more »
A few days ago I shared my review of Regula Ysewjin’s Pride and Pudding: The History of British Puddings published by Murdoch Books. Click through to read more about this absolutely beautiful and fascinating book that shares a slice of Britain’s culinary history through the stories of its puddings and do enter my giveaway to ... Read more »
Pete came into the house one recent Monday evening with an overgrown courgette from the back garden, brandishing it in the manner of a cartoon caveman and his trusty club. The quiche he made with half of it the next evening was so fantastic that I begged him to make it again the next night. ... Read more »
We are experiencing a glorious courgette glut at the moment, as you may have guessed! We’ve had courgette frittata, courgette soup and courgettes stuffed with sausage ragu… and courgette crisps, courgette-saka, grilled courgettes, stir-fried courgette… we even tried a chocolate courgette cake but that one’s not for sharing as we didn’t love the recipe we ... Read more »
Camilla Stephens began her culinary career developing food for (UK-based) coffee chain, the Seattle Coffee Company. When it was bought out by Starbucks, she stayed on board creating tasty treats to be sold across the chain throughout the day. Somewhere along the way, she learned to make really tasty pies. Fast forward several years to ... Read more »
I love autumn – the early half, when the leaves on the trees create a riot of my favourite colours and there is still a good chance of sunny days that are chilly but not freezing cold. And it’s apple season too. As I discovered recently, the apple isn’t a native fruit, but it’s become ... Read more »
I adore flat peaches. As I’ve written before, they’re also known as doughnut peaches, saturn peaches and even UFO peaches, because of their flattened disc-like shape. Usually they’re superbly sweet and impossible to eat without dribbling copious sticky juice down chin and arms. In recent years, I’ve found them easier than ever to find; my ... Read more »
With just under 200 grams of shortcrust flan pastry leftover from making the pea, mushroom and mint flan plus a generous harvest of purple sprouting broccoli from the allotment, I decided to use both in a second flan. The pastry was just enough to line a smaller oven dish, and I used the scraps ... Read more »
I already own Eggs and Sauces, the first two titles in Michel Roux’s series of reference books on classic techniques and recipes. So I was very happy to receive a review copy of Pastry: Savoury and Sweet. There are chapters for shortcrust pastries, enriched sweet pastries, puff pastry, raised pie pastry, brioche dough, croissant dough, ... Read more »
The Place of Onions, in old Lille. After last night’s rainstorm the intense sticky heat has broken and today is cool, breezy, fresh… I love it! A drop of… [more]
We went to Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire at The Void this morning, an amazing VR experience where we got to be Rebel Alliance members going undercover as… [more]