Gujerati-style cabbage with carrots and Mushroom and potatoes with garlic & ginger

I’ve had Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cooking book - an offshoot from a BBC series in the early 80’s - seemingly forever.  I used to cook from it growing up  - in fact it is the first book I properly remember cooking from - and was always amazed at the lengthy lists of ingredients. I remember feeling Madhur was educating me in the method of Indian cooking: why onions & garlic are...

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Gang keo goung... aka green prawn curry with fresh dill

Actually the title's not strictly accurate as I ran out of green curry paste and so it is half red and half green.. the recipe below though just refers to green. As may be apparent I often choose to cook based on what I may have left over from other dishes I’ve cooked - this is a case in point with the “leftover” being dill - which is, I found out some time ago in one of my favourite books,...

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Review: Heston's Waitrose Steak Pie and Malt Salt

So the cupboards are a little bare which made it time to delve into the freezer. A while ago I bought one of the “Heston does Waitrose” pies (okay, it’s the “Heston from Waitrose” range but same same), specifically the Steak, Ale & Kombu Pie.  Despite being waaay behind everyone else who has probably reviewed the whole range (it came out last November after all) I thought I may...

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Lamb & Rice Stuffed Tomatoes

I had some lamb leftover after last night's dinner but wasn't sure what to do with it and for some reason I didn't really fancy pasta (and that never usually happens). On the way back work wandering around the supermarket I came across some beefsteak tomatoes - now these aren't something I would usually buy as they're generally fairly tasteless but these looked red, ripe and juicy and just right...

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Spicy Lamb Mince & Crushed Broad Beans

This is adapted from a recipe in the Telegraph that I saw online recently - that version didn’t use potato but I thought the beans probably needed bulking out and as it turned out I think I was right.  Floury potatoes such as Maris Piper could, I guess, be used instead so that it has more of a fluffy mash consistency but I think the waxiness of the Charlottes goes well with the slightly...

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A (long) Postcard From Sardinia

I've just returned from a short (well a week but it was too short and hard to leave) holiday in Alghero on the Northwest coast of Sardinia with my best friend Naomi. We had chosen a number of sightseeing type places to visit but in the end that all went out the window as we got truly into the laid back and relaxed vibe and spent our days reading on the beach, followed by evening aperitivo, fantastic...

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