When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When life gives you flour, butter, sugar and eggs, preheat the oven. One of the advantages of occasionally working at home is that at lunchtime you can decide that the time is right to make a cake, get up from your desk, and get started. I was thinking this…
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This is a killer recipe, full of the big, bold flavours of chilli, lime and coriander combined with sweet, fresh corn. It’s exactly the sort of food I wanted to try and highlight when I started this blog. It doesn’t have any bells and whistles in either ingredients or technique, but tastes fantastic and is viscerally…
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I have been working my way through my mother’s recipe book, revisiting memories of her baking biscuits and cakes for our family, and looking for recipes to tweak, develop or share just as they are. I have four siblings and we are all close in age with only seven years between the youngest and oldest,…
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Pasta is the meal of choice for all three of my kids if I ask them what they would like for dinner. I guess it’s the same for many households across the country – and it’s quick, easy to prepare, and, if not covered with a creamy sauce or loads of cheese, pretty healthy, too. This…
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These beautiful little morsels are very easy to make, but look and taste as if they took a whole lot of effort and skill. Peas are gently simmered in a little stock that has been flavoured with onion, garlic and fennel, then mashed up and piled onto toasted bread rubbed with fresh garlic and spread…
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This classic – the carrot cake – is simple to make, full of sweetness, spices and walnuts, and covered with a glorious cream cheese icing. I’ve been making it since I was about twenty (a very long time) so why it took me seven goes to get it cooked and photographed and onto this blog…
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This recipe is my take on American southern fried chicken, where chicken pieces, usually on the bone, are marinated in buttermilk, coated with crumbs and deep fried. I’ve gone for a much lighter approach by pan frying in a little oil and butter, but used the buttermilk, along with whole-grain mustard, to marinate chicken breasts,…
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Rice pudding is one of those comforting, nostalgic desserts that remind us of our mothers and home, particularly if our family is connected somewhere in the past to the United Kingdom. It’s perfectly suited to autumn, and the more hearty food of this season. I love it on its own, with just the subtle flavouring…
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Sugar plums are beautiful, sweet little plums that have their short season in late summer and early autumn. I could not resist buying them when I saw a box for sale in the fruit shop. They are delicious to eat fresh, because their skin is not at all bitter, but are also gorgoues poached. I…
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“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” Henry James It’s officially the first day of autumn in our part of the world. We love autumn and the beginning of a different season, but we’re not quite ready to let glorious, long summer afternoons go…
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Simple food 