Spaghetti alla Puttanesca

We have a house rule - we must always have the ingredients for spaghetti alla puttanesca in the flat, at all times. Due to the fact that the only fresh ingredients you really need for this recipe are cherry tomatoes and basil, it makes it a pretty easy feat (if I can keep my basil plant alive that is). 

Asian Salmon with Rice Noodle Stir Fry

Asian cuisine – you can’t escape it. And who would want to? Not only is London getting more and more up to speed on some of the most wonderful cuisines from across the world (E.g. Bao, Pho, Bibimbap to name a few in London) but home cooks are now attempting recipes a little further outside their comfort box – because we can! Not only do we now have access to the brains of millions of chefs and home cooks across our dear world wide web, but we have access to the right ingredients too (without having to tackle tourists for them in China Town), thanks to some wonderful Asian supermarkets popping up around town.

Asian Pulled Chicken Sliders

Sliders are basically a way to make it ok to eat more than one burger. It’s true. The mentality is roughly: “One big burger? Alright but I feel like a bit of a porker”,  “3 sliders? Oh they’re only little! Practically a canapé!”

Fennel & Prawn salad with crispy Prosciutto

Imagine surf and turf but in its lightest and tangiest form. I'm not talking a mountain of steak and lobster here, I'm referring to a colourful, crispy, lemony collaboration between prosciutto and king prawns. In 15 minutes. I've mentioned this before, but it's my ongoing desire to make healthy food taste indulgent (and look jazzy). If you feel like you're eating a plate of rabbit food, it's not exactly going to fill you up and leave you satisfied is it?

Rye Sourdough Grilled Cheese with Olives & Capers

I don’t think you need to be a rocket scientist to see that this grilled cheese is going to blow your mind. I’m taking the usual formula, cheese+bread+heat, and adding a couple of little extras that I think you’re going to adore. By using a rye sourdough instead of your standard white, this adds a supreme crunchiness on the exterior of the sandwich, a brilliant sturdiness to keep your toastie from flopping (no one likes a floppy toastie) and an intense, nutty rye flavour that adds beautifully to the flavour combination of your masterpiece. You can see how the edges have crisped up into a golden crunch, and the centre of the rye bread remains soft and gooey. It is just as much about texture as it is about flavour. 

Cottage style pea & bacon soup

I had the pleasure of staying in a gorgeous cottage in Lustleigh, Devon this weekend and spent the majority of the time warming my feet by a roaring fire. 

Winter Slaw with Thai Peanut Dressing

About two years ago I went for dinner at a dear friends house and she served me this. Or something like this, it was peanutty red cabbage, that's for sure. It has stuck with me since then as such a beautiful merging of English and Thai with a sprinkling of Christmas (the red cabbage). I'm sure that's what she was going for.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio

Pasta with garlic and olive oil, a gorgeous traditional pasta dish from Napoli. Also the pasta dish that Jon Favreau uses to seduce Scarlett Johannson in 'Chef'. If you haven't seen the film, you must. It is happy, food-filled, music filled and just lovely in all ways.

Bacon & Chocolate bread pudding

So I often get asked about my love for bacon, and for my lack of bacon recipes on my bacon-named blog. I love bacon, of course. I don't want to alarm anyone, but I also love bread. And cheese. And vegetables (I know), hence my range of incredibly diverse recipe's on the blog. One of the things I love most about cooking is how much you can achieve with just a little experimenting, and of course devouring the delicious results. This time, I wanted to bring back the bacon a bit. But not just bacon in bacony recipes. I wanted to put bacon somewhere a bit different. In bread pudding. 

Lemon & rosemary posset

Lemon posset. A smooth, "citrussy fool"* combining tangy sharpness with a deep, glorious creaminess. Just as easy to make as it is to inhale. I mean enjoy. 

Roasted salmon, proscuitto & vegetables with caper and basil mayonnaise

I'm going to be straightforward about this one. If you're looking for something delicious, healthy, easy, crispy, flavorful, darn even gluten free - then you have your winner here. 

This is a one tray dish. And you cook it for 10 minutes. 

Beer battered cod bites with tartare sauce

I do believe that almost anything can be served as a canapé or a starter, so long as it's small enough and packaged correctly. Canapés, starters, nibbles - they are all wonderful excuses for us to eat more and to occasionally shun the (welcome) burden of choice.

Crunchy seeds with soy sauce & chilli

This is one of those.... recipes? foody bits... snacks? that I don't even think about. I make these as a snack, for salads, for veg, to dip things into and just have a pot of them ready at home. The last dinner party where they were present (as a salad topping), a guest munched the whole pot, post dinner. MOREISH I TELL YOU!

Fattoush with feta

You've probably only had fattoush at Lebanese restaurants as part of an elaborate mezze spread (or perhaps that's just me who's been missing out) but I'd like to inform you that it makes a wonderful main. With some feta thrown in. And it's easy to make.

Tartines - 3 ways

Working at a Bakery, I am lucky enough to have access to the most incredible breads. To the exasperation of those I have the pleasure of eating with, I have become a complete and utter bread snob. I talk more about open crumbs, crackling crusts and proving dough than I should like to admit. It's just, when the topic has risen, I knead to make sure I prove my point. I don't want to be too floury on the topic, but I can't let my friends bread knowledge go a-rye. It is, after all, how I bring in the dough.

Pasta with Sicilian pesto and sundried tomato & pine nut salad

I BOUGHT A MAGIMIX! There, it's out. I'm so excited. All the whizzing.... pureeing... chopping... grating.... An endless world I am yet to explore. It has pride of place and is now taking up the majority of my very small kitchen, so I think we're going to have to get to know each other fairly quickly. 

The BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies

You may wonder what on earth I've done to these cookies to enable myself to call them 'the best'. Brown butter. Yup. So I also thought that this was only what happened when you're too busy singing into your spatula, forget you're melting butter and proceeded to throw it away to replace with fresh un-browned butter, but no. The wonderful woman that is Joy the Baker has taught me some brilliant things about the caramelly, flavoursome, nutty taste that brown butter can bring to your baked goods. 

Summer Puff Pastry Tarts

Parma ham, roasted tomato and baby leaves tart with mascarpone and capers

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Watching the fantastic men's singles Wimbledon final I wanted to eat something that didn't require too much cooking to tear me away from the telly. Something light, Summery and delicious enough for the likes of Wimbledon folk. Having already gorged myself on strawberries and whipped cream the previous weekend (I got over-excited), I went for puff pastry tarts. Obviously.

Chargrilled asparagus, courgette & halloumi with roasted tomatoes and basil oil

You probably think I have an obsession by now (and you might be right) but here is another of Ottolenghi’s creations. I ate this salad recently at an event and have been dreaming about it ever since. After much googling I discovered that it was not a chef original (as I was deceptively told) but an Ottolenghi. Of course it was.

Roasted butternut squash and red onion with tahini and za'atar

I wanted something colourful and summery that fits into the vegetarian category (I know, don't be too alarmed) but that also keeps hunger locked up until the next decent bacon fix. Not an easy task, I must say. Of course my main man Ottolenghi came prancing over the hills, as he often does, with another wonderous answer to all my vegetable questions.