Smoky Bacon & Wild Garlic Udon

This is adapted from a recipe I saw on Guardian’s recipe swap feature online - as chance would have it, at the time, I actually worked with MiMi who has a secret life (well not) as a food blogger: a rather more professional one than me of course with a good-looking site and a published book. Anyway I’ve adapted the original on the Guardian site a bit - I’ve used wild garlic instead of watercress,...

Read More »

Beef Braised with Daikon

I’d searched high and low for the daikon that I originally used for the Korean Ramyun: it was massive, nearly 2 foot long, so I was damned if I was going to waste the rest of it after all that palaver.A few internet searches came up with this Cantonese dish - it should be made with “chou hou sauce” which is a braising sauce made from soybeans, garlic and ginger and sometimes sesame too. My generously...

Read More »

Chilli Cheeseburger Pasta

In devising this recipe I turned to my Pinterest pasta inspiration board - at the time, months ago, I was a bit hungover so the ones that stood out the most were those that were, shall we say, a bit on the dirty side.All of these featured beef mince with cheese sauce as well as pasta: usually macaroni and most it seems based on that - would you believe - stalwart of American mid-week cooking,...

Read More »

Osso Buco & Risotto Milanese

Osso buco means "bones with holes” or “hollow bones" and probably why it is never translated as such on even the most anglified of menus. It could be argued that slow-braised veal would certainly sound more appetising and perhaps even more accurate but the fact is that the bones , full of rich, delicious marrow rather than actually being hollow are the dish's crowning glory. And if you don’t...

Read More »

Quiche Lorraine

When I cooked this it was late spring. Now I’ve mentioned before that I have no problem myself with cooking and eating things “out of season”, by which I mean stews in summer and salads in winter sort of thing. But I appreciate that there may be some people that think my recipe posting rotation a little, well, odd. I’m very much trying to get back on track at the moment but sometimes life intervenes...

Read More »

Spicy Korean Short Rib Ramyun

This is basically a Korean version of Japanese Ramen soup noodles and in fact “Shin Ramyun” are a popular Korean brand of dried instant noodles (and my preferred brand regardless of what sort of ramen I make). I am a bit of a ramen obsessive truth be told: I have it frequently for lunch and dream of the day when I make my own tonkotsu ramen. For now I make do with this sort of thing instead....

Read More »