Swedish meatballs

The Teen took one bite of this meatball and gravy combo and looked at me with delight – no longer will we have to drive an hour to satisfy her cravings for this meal which only comes from a particular Scandinavian blue and yellow furniture retailer, because I’ve pulled together this recipe from a number… Continue reading Swedish meatballs

Stir-fried beef with noodles

I think my favourite thing about a stir fry is that so long as you have some noodles and sauces in your cupboard and any kind of veg in the fridge, you can rustle up some delicious food in seemingly no time at all. This one is from Uyen Luu’s wonderful Vietnamese book, and the… Continue reading Stir-fried beef with noodles

Manti / Mantı

I remember eating mantı (pronounced maantuh) when I was really little while on holiday visiting family in Turkey, watching as hundreds of teeny tiny parcels of yumminess were origamied into existence, kind of like the smallest ravioli you can imagine. And yes, that’s an i without a dot, one of the many vowels in the… Continue reading Manti / Mantı

Red wine onion gravy

Way way way back in 1999, we spent Millennium Eve in London partying with my younger sister and a bunch of her friends, and the evening started with this meal (it ended up by Tower Bridge watching fireworks and dancing the night away). Anyway, what we learnt that night is that it’s all about the… Continue reading Red wine onion gravy

Beef stew

This is the perfect stew to make on the seemingly never ending wet rainy days of a UK winter. Tastes wonderful, but alas it doesn’t help with my curly hair that I’m sure must be visible from space due to said rain. Maybe I need to move to a drier climate? In the mean time,… Continue reading Beef stew

Roast beef, Yorkshire puddings + gravy

When it comes to a roast, all my family actually cares about are Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and gravy (and maybe fling some pigs in blankets in there too). Consequently we have Yorkshires with roast chicken, pork and lamb as well as beef because life’s too short not to. This time around it was beef,… Continue reading Roast beef, Yorkshire puddings + gravy

Stuffed peppers

More comfort food from childhood, and one of my father’s specialities. Any colour of pepper will do – I like the green ones, but my family prefer red or yellow as they’re sweeter. There’s probably a gazillion different recipes out there, but this is the way my parents (and my father’s family) always made them,… Continue reading Stuffed peppers

Steak a la Nigella

Since discovering this recipe in 2012 when Nigella Lawson’s Italian cookbook Nigellissima was published, it’s been the only way we eat steak at home. It’s that good. Seriously. Only 2 steaks, in theory serves 4, but the 3 of us seem to rise to the task. Ingredients Marinade/dressing: 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 4… Continue reading Steak a la Nigella

Korean beef with garlic, sesame + green beans

Made especially for, and loved by, my teenage daughter who is currently heavily into K-pop band BTS (along with some 100m other teens!) and so wants to try all things Korean. I pulled the recipe together by looking at a number of different existing recipes online, then tweaked it so that it would work for… Continue reading Korean beef with garlic, sesame + green beans

Köfte with veg + potatoes

Another one from my Father, which he always cooked in a particular large shallow metal dish. Absolute comfort food for me, but good enough to serve for others. Serves 4. Ingredients For the köfte: 500g beef mince A handful of fine breadcrumbs 1 large onion, grated 1 tsp cumin A handful of chopped parsley Salt… Continue reading Köfte with veg + potatoes