Carne Adovada with Mexican Pickled Onions, Street Salad & Guacamole

I’d had it in mind to cook the New Mexican dish Carne Adovada (pork cooked in a red chilli sauce) for some time and this had a lot to do with the gorgeous red colour I’d seen on the first recipe I saw - sadly mine doesn’t have that rich redness but I think it still looks pretty luscious all the same. I then found a Kenji’s Food Lab recipe on Serious Eats and decided that I would follow it pretty...

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Cod & Spinach Curry

I think I may have mentioned before that I really never used to like fish curries and they were certainly something I would never order in a restaurant or as a take-away. I am now qute partial to them: never too spicy or over-powering as fish of course has quite a delicate flavour and you don’t want to mask it too much but something like this with a nice mild heat and freshness of flavour. Unfortunately...

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Butternut Squash, Bacon & Sage Risotto

The bf is under the impression that we hardly ever have risotto. Of course he is wrong, he just never remembers what I cook (I like to tell myself that is because he eats so well at home but who knows: it can be slightly annoying) but whatever, I was feeling nice so promised that we would have risotto the following week. We had half a butternut squash in the fridge to use up so my first instinct...

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Braised Celery & Tomatoes with Chickpeas & Pancetta

I first saw a variation of this recipe on a site I like to visit, as I have mentioned before, Food52. Initially thinking of serving it as a side I read through the comments where someone stated that they had served a version as a main over polenta which sounded so delicious I couldn’t resist giving it a go, adding a little heat with a smidge of paprika.The initial recipe is apparently adapted...

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Penne with Brussels Sprouts, Pancetta & Chilli

A bit of a departure here from my usual posting habits, in that I'm actually posting this pretty close to the cooking and eating thereof. It's the use of sprouts you see: a lot of the recipes I post you can get the ingredients year round whereas you really only see sprouts in great numbers around Christmas. And so here I was, looking for a recipe to use up one of the last of our Christmas provisions...

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Fish Fragrant Pork

The mood took me, as it does occasionally (well quite often in fairness) for Sichuan food and so, as ever, I turned to my trusty, and slightly grubby in places, Sichuan Cookery by Fuchsia Dunlop. One of the ingredients, pickled chilli paste, is difficult, if not impossible, to get here - the original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of it or to sub with chilli bean paste so I chopped some Chinese...

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Marinated BBQ Lamb Chops with Greek Salad

Back from my Grandmother’s 90th birthday shindig in Wiltshire the weather was absolutely glorious and I really fancied a nice crisp and refreshing salad. But I also fancied cheese. And meat.BBQ lamb chops with a Greek salad (minus cucumber as of course I pathologically detest it) seemed to fit the bill perfectly so we scooted up to the supermarket to get the necessaries.Ideally of course the...

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Quick Steak & Mushroom Stroganoff

I do love a good stroganoff and often make a mushroom one but fancying something meatier I found this on BBC Good Food, having seen someone else in a food group I’m in mention it on FB. As well as being delicious, and pretty low in calories, it is also quick so excellent for a mid-week meal.I’ve served this with tagliatelle but you could serve it over rice to if that takes your fancySteak &...

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