Cooking the aubergines until they are soft and charred is what gives baba ghanoush its lovely smokey flavour. I achieve this by either roasting the aubergines under the grill or cooking them on the barbeque. Continue reading
Spinach and abura age miso soup
7 Apr
This spinach and abura age miso soup makes a change from the tofu and wakame version I usually serve when we have Japanese food. Continue reading
Mum’s meatloaf
4 Apr
Mum’s meatloaf is my dad’s favourite meal, and he’d always request it for his birthday supper. I included her recipe in Fern’s Food, but over the years I’ve made a couple of changes. I doubt my dad would approve, but this is the way we like it. Continue reading
Soft white dinner rolls
2 Apr
These little dinner rolls are straightforward to make, and transform yet another “soup for supper” evening into something a bit special. If you have any leftover, they make nice little lunchbox sandwiches the next day.
The recipe is from Nigella Lawson’s Feast. Continue reading
Green beans with mustard seeds and ginger
31 Mar
These Gujarati green beans with mustard seeds and ginger make a lovely side dish to an Indian meal. The combination of stir frying and steaming results in vibrant green, crunchy beans. Continue reading
Manhattan cocktail
29 Mar
I’ve been taking things easy on the drinks front since our cocktail-tastic Christmas. But as the end of a busy work week loomed, the thought of a TGIF cocktail was pretty tempting.
The Manhattan has only three ingredients – rye whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters. As a Canadian, I have a nostalgic fondness for Canadian Club, but there are a lot of rye whiskeys to choose from these days, and bourbon works as well. Continue reading
Tuna fishcakes with tartare sauce
27 Mar
Fishcakes are a great store cupboard supper – quick to prepare using ingredients we nearly always have on hand. The addition of homemade tartare sauce makes it that bit more special, for those of us who like that sort of thing. For those who don’t, they are also nice with a wedge of lemon on the side. Continue reading
Chocolate chip zucchini bread
25 Mar
This zucchini bread recipe comes from my high school cookbook – which is quite the period piece now, with its marshmallow Waldorf salad, Waikiki meatballs, ham and rice ring and “sex in the pan”.
The original recipe calls for raisins, but after substituting chocolate chips once, I’ve never switched back. It also makes two loaves. Sometimes I’ve halved the recipe by beating the three eggs together and only using half, but usually stick the second loaf in the freezer for later. Continue reading
Very spicy delicious chickpeas
21 Mar
Very spicy delicious chickpeas is one of my favourite curries, and something I’ve been making forever. It seems like an excessive quantity of spices as you’re making it, but in time the sauce transforms into something thick, rich and delicious. Continue reading
Almond-feta dip with zahatar
19 Mar
One of my favourite Christmas gifts was the bag of Middle Eastern spices my friend Mary brought me from Bahrain. The zahatar is particularly wonderful, and I’ve been having fun adding to all sorts of things ever since, such as this feta cheese and almond dip.
Feta cheese makes a great base for a dip, and combines really well with nuts. I also make this with walnuts, but I happened to have a couple of bags of smoked almonds hanging about. I liked the smokiness so much, the next time I make it with regular almonds I’ll try adding smoked paprika. Continue reading
Carrot and miso soup
17 Mar
A bowl of vivid orange carrot and miso soup is a cheering sight on a chilly grey day. I really like how the Asian flavours of miso, ginger and sesame play against the natural sweetness of the carrots.
I’ve never seen the point of adding sugar to carrot dishes – honey-glazed carrot coins, tzimmes and the like – as they are sweet enough already. Of course, carrot cake is another matter entirely…
Chocolate pudding
14 Mar
I remember reading about a study that demonstrated how forbidding foods triggers cravings. A group of schoolchildren with an equal liking for raisins and dried mango had access to one of them restricted.
Within a very short time, the denied snack was in much greater demand, with some children resorting to violence to get their hands on the forbidden fruit. Which may explain my childhood obsession with canned pudding… Continue reading
Pasta cacio e pepe
12 Mar
Pasta cacio e pepe is the most Roman of dishes for me. With only three ingredients – pasta, pecorino and pepper – it sounds deceptively simple. The trick lies in successfully transforming the grated cheese and pasta water into a creamy sauce. Continue reading
Rolex
10 Mar
Ever since our World Cup cooking experience last summer, I’ve been on the lookout for new African recipes. When I came across this video about the Ugandan rolex, I thought it seemed right up our alley.
A rolex is a thin vegetable omelette rolled up in a chapati, and is a popular street food in Uganda. They proved pretty popular around here too, when I made them for brunch last weekend. Continue reading
Chicken satay sandwich
7 Mar
Crispy, juicy pieces of chicken coated in spicy peanut sauce and stuffed in a bread roll or hunk of baguette, this chicken-satay sandwich makes a very satisfying dinner served with a heap of Asian slaw.
With meals like this, I always bring the elements to the table so each person can assemble their sandwich the way they like it.
I use chicken thighs, which I find more flavoursome, but chicken breasts would work fine too. The original recipe is from Nigel Slater’s Real Food. Continue reading
Vanilla ice cream
5 Mar
This is my go-to vanilla ice cream, and after lemon ice cream it’s the one we’re most likely to have in the freezer. I’ve made more complicated vanilla ice creams involving egg yolks and custard, ice baths and sieves, which produced delicious results. But in terms of time and effort needed to turn out a great vanilla ice cream, this recipe is hard to beat. Continue reading
Avocado lentil salad
3 Mar
This avocado lentil salad is one of my favourite lunches, and something I make whenever I have cooked lentils leftover from another dish. Actually, I enjoy eating it enough that I sometimes cook lentils in order to make it. Continue reading
Date and oatmeal smoothie
28 Feb
This is a very satisfying smoothie, and the addition of oatmeal means you don’t end up wanting a second breakfast half an hour later. Continue reading
Chapatis
26 Feb
Chapatis are such an easy and satisfying thing to make, and so much better than the ones you buy. I make up the dough while my curry is simmering, then cook the chapatis when it’s almost ready to serve.
A basic chapati is made with just two ingredients – flour and enough water to turn it into a dough. I prefer to add a pinch of salt to the flour, and use milk instead of water, which produces a softer chapati. I also work a bit of oil into the dough while I’m kneading it to make the dough more pliable.
Pea and watercress soup
24 Feb
In spite of the watercress, this is a hearty, wintery sort pea soup. Not as rib sticking as the split pea soup I grew up eating in Canada, but very different to the chilled pea and mint soup we eat all summer.
Even after blending, I find that the soup still has a certain amount of texture. I like it that way, but if you’d prefer it smoother, you can always push the puréed soup through a sieve before serving. Continue reading
Snickerdoodles
21 Feb
Snickerdoodles… the name alone is reason enough to make them. They are also delicious, with a cakey, almost doughnuty, texture. They are sturdy little numbers, well suited to packed lunches. When I worked as a bush cook, I would often make snickerdoodles for my tree planting crew. Continue reading
Carrot raita
19 Feb
This carrot raita is a real favourite of mine. I love the way that gently cooking the carrot gives the yogurt a golden colour, and the earthy taste of the asafetida. It pairs really nicely with diced potatoes and spinach. Continue reading
Comté and rosemary crackers
17 Feb
Still working my way through the dregs of the Christmas cheese, I decided to make these comté and rosemary crackers. (Why I thought we’d eat our body weight in cheese over the holidays, I now have no idea. Perhaps all those cocktails I was imbibing clouded my judgement…)
The crackers went down a storm with the girls, who had been a bit sniffy about the Comté, despite my efforts to pass it off as “French cheddar”. According to Lyra, they are “even better than Goldfish crackers”, which is high praise indeed coming from her.
Chirashi sushi
14 Feb
Chirashi sushi is an adaptable dish. It’s colourful and impressive party fare when arranged on a large serving platter, but makes a great midweek supper as well.
In the time it takes the rice to steam, I can throw together a quick Japanese omelette, soak and slice a few dried mushrooms, shred some nori and make the dressing for the rice. After that it’s just a matter of tossing things together.
Tuna chickpea pitta sandwich
12 Feb
This simple tuna chickpea pitta sandwich is one of my lunchtime staples. I find the mix of textures particularly satisfying. It’s also low in fat and high in protein – the kind of food I’m looking for after recent indulgences.
Chicken suya
10 Feb
During our World Cup cook-off last summer, Nigeria was deliciously represented by beef suya. These proved such a hit with the whole family that Nigeria easily topped Group F in the first stage of the tournament, blew past France (salade niçoise, chocolate mousse), and obliterated Mexico (fish tacos) in the quarter-finals, before falling before Colombia’s unstoppable barras de limón.
Recently, I was lucky enough to be given a bag of authentic suya powder from a Nigerian friend and chef. I decided to try chicken suya this time, which proved to be every bit as tasty as the beef version. Continue reading
Steamed fish with Moroccan roast vegetables
7 Feb
I don’t recall ever eating roasted vegetables when I was growing up – not even roast potatoes. Vegetables were boiled or steamed, possibly mashed, and served with butter. Mum had a wok (not standard kitchen equipment in those days), and would occasionally make a big Chinese stir fry, but roasting vegetables wasn’t on the radar. Continue reading
Red cabbage, carrot and herb salad
5 Feb
This quick cabbage and carrot salad is a pared-back, vegetarian take on goi ga (Vietnamese chicken salad). It’s a nice accompaniment to a piece of simply grilled fish or chicken.
Roasted pears with butterscotch sauce
3 Feb
These roasted pears with warm butterscotch sauce pull off the clever trick of being both light and decadent. They also make the kitchen smell wonderful while they’re cooking.
Until recently, I couldn’t have you the difference between butterscotch and caramel. But having Googled it, I now know that caramel is made with white sugar and butterscotch with brown. Continue reading
Lemony red lentil soup
31 Jan
There are lots of recipes for red lentil soup out there. Having tried a few, I’ve pretty much settled on this lemony red lentil soup, which is adapted from a Sophie Dahl recipe I came across in Waitrose magazine.
Tandoori chicken
29 Jan
I’ll often order tandoori chicken in Indian restaurants, but had never made it at home until recently. I wasn’t confident that my oven was up to the task, but it turned out beautifully. You do need to plan ahead, as the chicken should marinate for a day or so.
While you can easily buy tandoori masala (spice mix) at the supermarket, I made my own using the inspiring bag of spices my good friend Mary recently brought me from the Manama souks. I based my masala on this recipe from The Tiffin Box website. Continue reading
Yogurt with spinach, parsley and onion
27 Jan
We had this spinach and onion yogurt dip as part of a Middle East inspired meal I pulled together the other night from bits and bobs in the fridge.
Considering it’s essentially a bowl of yogurt mixed with spinach and onion, this dip tastes surprisingly rich. The original recipe is from my trusty Madhur Jaffrey’s World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking. Continue reading
Haggis, neeps and tatties
25 Jan
We celebrate Burns night every year, hosting a supper with friends. As dinner parties go, it’s an easy meal to prepare. I toss a Macsween haggis in the oven, peel a big bag of potatoes and a couple of swede (much tastier than turnips), make with the potato ricer and that’s about it.
We usually start with mackerel paté and oatcakes – homemade this year as the local shop was out. Before tucking in, we stumble through a reading of Burns’ “Address to a Haggis” – delivered in a range of appalling Scottish accents – before toasting the “chieftain o’ the puddin’ race” with a shot of whisky.
Scottish oatcakes
24 Jan
This is my mum’s oatcake recipe. She used to divide the dough into four, roll each piece into an 8″ circle, then cut it into quarters before baking. I prefer to make round oatcakes using a biscuit cutter.
Falafel with tahini sauce
22 Jan
Falafel are another standby from my student days. With one tin of chickpeas you can produce a dozen crunchy little nuggets to eat alongside a salad, or stuff in a piece of pitta bread with tahini sauce.
Traditionally, falafel are made with uncooked chickpeas or fava beans that have been soaked overnight before being coarsely ground. This results in a nuttier texture than these falafel. While the outsides are crisp, inside they are soft – almost fluffy.
Indonesian squash and spinach soup
20 Jan
Spicy, creamy with coconut milk, and the most gorgeous deep yellow colour, this Indonesian squash and spinach soup is loved by the whole family. Plus, we have prawn crackers with it (served in individual bowls to avoid disputes over who’s had too many).
The original recipe comes from the Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant cookbook.
Cranberry oatmeal muffins
17 Jan
Since running out of turkey, we’ve been adding a spread of cranberry sauce to our grilled cheese sandwiches. But at the rate it was going, we’d have been eating cranberry sauce in April…
So I decided to knock the rest of it off by making cranberry oat muffins for breakfast this morning. I just substituted a cup of cranberry sauce for the usual mashed banana in my oatmeal muffin recipe.
Thai sausage rolls
15 Jan
These Thai sausage rolls are the pretty much the only ones I make these days. With the fresh herbs and Thai flavourings, they seem lighter and less greasy than the regular kind.
I always make a batch at Christmas, and a couple of other times throughout the year. I’ll often freeze some, to be baked from frozen on another occasion. Continue reading
Potato, leek and Stilton soup
13 Jan
It’s mid-January and I’m still incorporating Christmas leftovers into our meals…
When I discovered a forgotten wedge of Stilton at the back of the fridge, it inspired me to make this potato, leek and Stilton soup. While I’ve never really warmed (ha!) to vichyssoise, a bowl of this soup is my idea of a perfect winter meal.
Continue reading
Spaghetti bolognese
10 Jan
Spaghetti bolognese is one of those family meals I make so regularly that I no longer follow a recipe. I always start with a soffrito of onion, carrot and celery – sautéed in olive oil with a couple of cloves of garlic. Continue reading
Ten More Bites 