Tagliatelle with Prosciutto & Olives

I think it is fairly obvious that I love pasta and am constantly on the lookout for delicious looking new recipes that I can try (see also soups and broths although I tend to cook those less often for some reason). Often, those that look mopst appealing to me are a spin, basically, on something that I already cook.I think that is the case here really: I often cook sauces with bacon or pancetta...

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West African Inspired Peanut & Chicken Stew

Apart from Moroccan inspired tagine-type dishes I rarely cook African meals which is a pity really seeing as the cuisine encompasses such a diverse range of foods. The history of West Africa of course plays a large role in its cuisine and recipes, as interactions with different cultures over the centuries served to introduce many ingredients that are today key aspects of the different national...

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Chicken & Mozzarella Arrabbiata

OK so everything about this screams “What are you on about!” - it isn’t arrabbiata by any means. And also, I’m a hypocrite. On occasion (not that often as, for a start, I have normally planned in advance what we will eat on any given day) a conversation between me & the bf has gone thus:bf: what are we having for dinner?me: I don’t know. Pasta?bf: do we have mushrooms? pancetta?me: um, yes,...

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Asparagus, Mint & Lemon Risotto

This is pretty much a Jamie Oliver recipe really - you can find the original here: I think my only real adaptation was to add the fried prosciutto as a garnish, the salty savouriness worked pretty well. Jamie’s idea of finely slicing the risotto lengths into little discs and keeping the tips whole is a good one: it gives a really good asparagus flavour to the risotto itself and of course you...

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Panang Fish Curry

I’m pretty much laughing in the face of any authenticity here: this is purely a Panang curry by virtue of the fact that I am using a Mae Ploy Panang curry paste. Well that and the fact that I have made this with fish whereas usually it is made with beef or chicken. But anyway it is good all the same and as one of the milder Thai curries I personally think it is a good match with white fish...

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Stir-fried Pork with Mushrooms

Borne out of the fact that we had Enoki mushrooms in the fridge to use up this is a very simple pork stir-fry that makes for an excellent mid-week dinner. The ingredient list may seem quite long but really it is easy to throw together. If you wanted to you could make this simpler cutting the mushrooms down to just one type or even leaving the vegetables out altogether and just having pork alone. The...

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Pasta e Fagioli

This is based on the classic Italian dish of pasta with beans (fagioli) in a thick and flavourful vegetable soup. You can use any kind of beans - I’ve gone with a tin of 3-bean salad - as well as pretty much any veg you have laying around and you fancy. And in fact pretty much any pasta goes too: small is probably best so I’ve used some macaroni that was lying at the back of the cupboard in...

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