I’ve been having an enforced rest following some surgery, but today felt like some creative cooking – reading the recipe books and magazines given to me by my very thoughtful colleagues the inspiration. Our oldest is back at home with us for a time and as he is a coeliac, gluten free cooking is required…
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I eat a lot of salad. A lot. It’s part of a significant change in my diet to improve my health and lose weight. And I really love salad, so it’s been an enjoyable refocus, and an opportunity to develop creativity with salad and dressing ingredients. This dressing is a riff on a Jamie Oliver…
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Sometimes, the food we put on our table does not need to be cooked, or prepared in a special way, or even garnished. On its own it speaks to us; with beauty, astonishing flavour, and a certain joy that’s inherent with the feeding of the soul as well as the body. That’s how I felt…
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I have my colleague Rachael to thank for planting the seed that became this recipe. She has been extolling the deliciousness of roasted cauliflower and brussel sprouts for some time, and although brussel sprouts are a bridge to far, I was attracted to the idea of roast cauliflower, and thought it might get a look-in, although previously…
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According to Tennyson, in the spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love; mine, however, turns towards thoughts of salad. I love them all – green salad, Greek salad, Caesar salad, Cobb salad; salads with roasted beetroot, salads with spinach and cous cous and quinoa; Asian salads, potato salads and Middle Eastern salads. I love the simplicity…
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Unless you have tasted really beautiful tomatoes you might think this salad would be dull, flavourless and not worthy to grace your table. So many tomatoes are like that – lacking in flavour, almost chalky in texture, watery and unappealing. And with this dish there is nowhere for the tomatoes to hide. There has, however, been…
Read MoreI made this super quick salad to use some of the fresh ricotta I have been making for the last couple of weeks. Along with a green salad, grilled chicken, and crusty bread it made a delicious dinner on a weekday evening. It was so pleasurable to spread the ricotta on the bread, add a…
Read MoreThis recipe is based on a well-known creation of Donna Hay, who publishes a wonderful food magazine and is one of my favourite cooks and cook book authors. She makes beautiful food using everyday ingredients – fresh, simple and creative – and her photography is spectacular. Her recipe uses dried cranberries in the dressing, but pomegranates are in…
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This recipe is my take on American southern fried chicken, where chicken pieces, usually on the bone, are marinated in buttermilk, coated with crumbs and deep fried. I’ve gone for a much lighter approach by pan frying in a little oil and butter, but used the buttermilk, along with whole-grain mustard, to marinate chicken breasts,…
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This salad is not much like the mayonnaise flooded, stodgy version of potato salad familiar to many. It has a nutty hazelnut and mustard dressing that has a great bite and contrasts with tender potatoes and crunchy peas. It’s perfect for when sugar snap and snow peas are in season. It can be served warm,…
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Simple food 