Duck & Honey Plum Sauce {+ why cauliflower pizzas are wrong}

Jump straight to the recipe → "Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath" - Michael Caine Two hours I spent this week experimenting with cauliflower pizza bases. Two hours of my life I shall never get back. I knew it was a bad idea. The first time I saw the recipe I archived it in the “That Sounds Revolting” file in my brain (the ...

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Thai Squid Salad

Thai Squid Salad {+ other Asian salad stories}

Jump straight to the recipe → "I'd say the most dangerous thing I've ever done is probably bungee jumping in Thailand" - Simon Cowell I bought an orchid at Bangkok airport once. And then got on the plane and proceeded to spend the next eleven hours in a panic that I was going to be arrested at Heathrow for bringing prohibited plant contraband into the country. I am pretty sure I didn’t ...

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Chicken and Pumpkin with Soy & Star Anise

Jump straight to the recipe → So this whole 'posting once a week' thing hasn't really worked out for me that well. I could make excuses but it feels better simply to adopt the mantra of a famous British Kate - never complain, never explain. (Now I've thought about it, there really are quite a few famous British Kates these days aren't there? Between the likes of Moss, Winslet and the artist formerly known as ...

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Lemon Chard Aloo

"The unfortunate thing about working for yourself is that you have the worst boss in the world" - David Eddings When I started this blog I had this rather grand expectation that I would post two or three times a week. That's what they tell you, the internet people. It's what they say you need to do to get anybody to read it. Something about search engine optimisation. It's what you need to do so that you ...

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4 Ingredient Fig & Blueberry Maple Compote

Jump straight to the recipe → Tediously enough, I can't eat most fruits unless they are cooked or meticulously peeled. This is a relatively new development in my life and while I don't expect any sympathy (as medical conditions go it isn't exactly that terrible, is it?), it is still really bloody annoying. Especially so for somebody who is trying to hit their 7 a day target but who is also pathologically lazy. Peeling an ...

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Spicy Sichuan Stir-Fry

"China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese" - Charles de Gaulle I have always been skeptical of those introductory sections in cookbooks on how to stock one's 'larder' (although I like the implication that we all live in Downton Abbey). The ones that pretend that if you maintain a decent supply of pulses, anchovies, soy sauce and jarred sun-dried tomatoes, you will always be able to rustle up something utterly delicious with whatever decaying ...

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Squid, Bean & Chilli Salad

"The only thing that will make a souffle fall is if it knows you're afraid of it" - James Beard Post frequency levels have taken something of a battering the last few weeks. I wondered today whether I should just have done what they used to do over at Goop and simply announce that the blog is going on holiday until September. But then I got a grip and realised that ...

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Vignarola (Roman Spring Vegetable Stew)

"Let’s leave to the English the taste for eating boiled vegetables without any seasonings or at the most with a little butter; we southern types need our food to be a little more exciting" - Pellegrino Artusi (1891) I am suffering from possibly the most middle class complaint of all time. Farmers market envy. Yes, I actually said that out loud.  I keep stumbling upon blog posts with photos from US farmers ...

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Vietnamese Turmeric Fish (Chà Cá Há Nôi)

"U.G.L.Y. You ain't got no alibi! You ugly!" - Daphne & Celeste No, not you. I probably haven't even met you so how could I possibly know that? Monkfish. They are ugly. If you've ever had the pleasure of seeing a whole one - fishmongers often just have the tails on display - you will know what I am talking about.  Their heads are as wide as their bodies are long, they have 7 ...

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Incredible No-Knead Bread

 "A lot of people don't eat gluten because somebody in their yoga class told them not to" - Jimmy Kimmel You should make this bread. You really should. Really. That is, of course, if you haven't done so already. Because you probably have. Because, unlike me, you probably don't live in a cave and you found out about this amazing no-work bread technique around 150 years ago. Or at least at some point since 2006 ...

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Bill Granger Pork Cashew Nut Salsa

Pork with Cashew & Mango Salsa

"Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia" - Charles M. Schulz I have fallen off the wagon this past week.  It was largely down to my own complacency - I started to let myself think that I had this healthy eating thing down and that, without any actual planning, shopping or thought I would just be able to whip up some wonderfully tasty ...

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Donna Hay Pickles

Neon Pickles

“He looks as though he’s been weaned on a pickle” - Alice Roosevelt Longworth (on Calvin Coolidge)* Hello! It’s been a while. Sorry. I won’t pretend I’ve been terribly busy - I mean, some of you actually know me – but you know those weeks when you look up and suddenly it’s Friday and WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING ALL WEEK? Well, it’s been a bit like that. And it hasn’t been greatly assisted by my son ...

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