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. 

Rösti - two ways

1. Rösti with smoked salmon, avocado & dill crème fraîche
2. Rösti cakes with bacon, fried egg & roasted cherry tomatoes

Having recently visited Bad Wiessee, a picturesque Bavarian town at the foot of the Alps, I have developed a keen interest in not only hearty Bavarian cuisine, but also an incredibly simple and delicious Alpine favourite, rösti. As Felicity Cloake confirms here, it is not as easy as you might think to track down a universal recipe for this golden, crispy Swiss cuisine.

Scandi Kitchen Cinnamon Buns

These cinnamon buns are so soft, so gorgeously doughy and so unbelievably full of cinnamony goodness that you won't want to look at any other cinnamon bun recipe ever again. I had my first ever cinnamon bun at the Scandi Kitchen on Great Titchfield Street about a year ago, and haven't looked back since. It was one of those wonderfully shameless moments where I stood a few meters from the door (having stopped in my tracks on taking first bite) and scoffed the whole thing. No, this is not a save it for later kind of bun. 

Gua bao with spicy fried chicken

Gua Bao, often known quite ambiguously as just 'Bao' - which would be like saying 'bread' or 'wrap' - is a Taiwanese street food made to melt hearts and stomachs alike. They are little cloud-like white buns in which you'll find a varity of magnificently cooked meat (crispy duck, braised pork belly, fried chicken...) accompanied by tangy, crispy, saucy and spicy flavours. My perfect Gua Bao comprises of magnificent meat, something pickled, something spicy and a (very important) crunch.

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.