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 ...

Read More
leiths, scandinavian

What to do with Beetroot

Jump straight to the recipe ideas → "The beet is the melancholy vegetable, the one most willing to suffer. You can't squeeze blood out of a turnip" - Tom Robbins, Jitterbug Perfume So here's a Thursday factoid for you. The biggest beetroot ever grown weighed 71kg. It was grown by a man in the Netherlands in 2005.  This beetroot therefore weighed just slightly more than Tom Cruise (so the internet tells me. I haven't ...

Read More
Diana Henry fennel, feta, almond salad

Fennel, Feta, Orange & Almond Salad {+ thoughts on growing my own veg}

Jump straight to the recipe → "Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are" - Alfred Austin I consider myself to be a fairly logical, rational sort of person. I have become pretty boring since turning 30 and am not prone to random spontaneity or great frivolity these days. But every so often I go through phases where I am sure, convinced in fact, that every idea I have ...

Read More

Nigella’s Soy & Tahini Pork

"The only reason why we ask other people how their weekend was is so we can tell them about our own weekend” -  Chuck Palahniuk (Invisible Monster) One of the real highlights of this healthier eating lark is that we eat pretty much whatever we want at the weekend. OK, we don't spend (every) Saturday slinging back KFC Zinger Tower burgers, but the weekend is when I tend to indulge my pastry ...

Read More

Radicchio & Red Onion with White Bean Purée

"Having one designated meat free day a week is actually a meaningful change that everyone can make, that goes to the heart of several important political, environmental and ethical issues all at once." - Paul McCartney (2009) We have been doing Meat Free Monday for a few months now, albeit with varying degrees of success as I seem to have a blind spot as to the proper classification of chorizo and ...

Read More

Nigel Slater’s Fennel, beetroot & sour cream salad

Jump straight to the recipe → "You don't win friends with salad" - Homer Simpson (1995) I was a very late convert to the merits of a salad. Because, you see, a good salad is not a simple thing. It is something that requires an understanding of flavours, texture and balance. It is a culinary dark art. In her book, The Art of Simple Cooking, Alice Waters (the undisputed Californian queen of ...

Read More