Ottolenghi’s tomato salad

It’s no secret that I love a certain Mr Yotam Ottolenghi’s food, in fact my sister and I recently went to see him talk about his current book and sat in the front row like total Fan Girls. Anyway this is his tomato salad that I’ve been making pretty regularly recently because it is utterly… Continue reading Ottolenghi’s tomato salad

Bruschetta with tomatoes and basil

After watching ‘Julie and Julia’ for the millionth time I really wanted to munch on the tomato bruschetta that features in one scene, but having found the recipe I decided that I needed to amend it a little as I’m not the biggest fan of cold tomatoes, esp when paired with something warm. So I… Continue reading Bruschetta with tomatoes and basil

Potato salad, Turkish style

Best. Potato. Salad. Evs. It turns out that when potatoes, tomatoes, red onion, herbs, and vinaigrette get together they have a party, and this is the only variety of potato salad that I thought existed until I tried the mayonnaise version when I was in my teens. Funnily enough I still don’t eat said mayo… Continue reading Potato salad, Turkish style

Baked feta pasta

No, I don’t use TikTok, but yes, this is the viral pasta dish that was seemingly everywhere last year. I resisted for a while then caved in and gave it a whirl after it chased me around Instagram for months and months – turns out it’s excellent, super easy peasy, and has become a mid-week… Continue reading Baked feta pasta

Linguine with prawns and chilli

An excellently speedy dinner that I’ve made many many times – I think the recipe came from some old friends who now live in Canada, because I remember eating it when we used to visit them in North Yorkshire between Christmas + New Year way back when The Teen hadn’t even started school and was… Continue reading Linguine with prawns and chilli

Tomato, mozzarella + basil salad

I have made this salad more times than I care to remember, but I keep coming back for more – excellent as a side salad, main event, or as a nibble to accompany drinks, I also make the basil dressing alone to drizzle over roast or BBQ chicken because it’s delicious. This amount of dressing… Continue reading Tomato, mozzarella + basil salad

Deep-pan pizza

Our obsession with lockdown Friday night pizza continues, but as the BBQ is currently broken (where we make crispy thin based pizzas in the summer), we’ve switched to deep-pan pizzas cooked in the oven. As with all doughs this one takes a couple of hours to prove, and I always make a double batch of… Continue reading Deep-pan pizza

Fish + bean stew

A recipe that largely comes out of the store cupboard you say? YES PLEASE. If you happen to have some fish in the freezer, then you might even be able to whip this up without much ado at all. Serves 4. Ingredients 1 tbsp olive oil 10g butter 1 stick celery, halved & sliced 2… Continue reading Fish + bean stew

Sausage + bean stew

AKA autumn in a bowl. Yesterday the weather was awful – dark skies, endless rain, blustery winds – so after the wettest dog walk ever we ate this for dinner and all felt a lot better. If that wasn’t enough, my daughter ate the kale without question. SHE ATE KALE!!! Massive tick on the parenting… Continue reading Sausage + bean stew

Cauliflower + chickpea curry with coconut rice

This curry is excellent – light, delicious, simple to make, can be prepared almost entirely from store cupboard ingredients (with the addition of a cauliflower!) and is from Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall’s book River Cottage Veg everyday. The rice is incredibly moreish and couldn’t be more straightforward, the thanks there go to my friend Heidy. Thanks Heidy!… Continue reading Cauliflower + chickpea curry with coconut rice