What you see here are two overgrown courgettes (zucchini) weighing over a kilo each. They are two out of four, all the same weight, that I picked from my allotment yesterday. The other two, used in their entirety, I magically reduced into what you see on the plate.
I kid you not. I didn’t have [...]

June. Right now in England we are getting a sweet taste of summer in the form of strawberries, gooseberries and the short-lived elderflower, whether the sun shines or not. Cream-coloured clusters of elderflower are popping out all over the place in London, and not only in the green spaces - I’ve seen the blossoms dripping [...]

I’ve been inspired by The Gourmet Traveller’s blog about a no-knead bread to post my own recipe, from my book “Entertaining Vegetarians” (”Party Food for Vegetarians” in paperback. This photo by Jan Baldwin is from the book.) Gourmet Traveller aka @jswching has given a fabulous pictorial of her bread making procedure - check it out! [...]

A couple of weeks ago, we managed a foray to Little Chef Popham, where uber-chef Heston Blumenthal has reworked the menu. Any foreign readers might need to know that Little Chef is a British institution - a chain of dozens of roadside cafes which have been going since 1958 and hasn’t changed much since. Until [...]

Behold, the sumptuous, sensuous, chewy-yet-flaky-crusted, custard-gushing Pastel de Nata, native tart extraordinaire of Lisbon, Portugal. This one came from my local Portuguese cafe in Tottenham (and very nice it was too, wolfed down in two or three bites with a galao, a tall white coffee in a glass). However, there is little dispute over where [...]

Nuts are yum but hot roasted nuts are ambrosia

A cheap, cheerful, nutritious snack

Microwaves are not just for ready-meals

On a recent trip to Amsterdam, I was introduced to the quintessential Dutch staple - Stamppot

It’s been a thrill a minute down at the plot this week. Firstly, the asparagus is emerging at a rate of knots. It’s torture, though, as the luscious-looking green spears must be left on the plant this year. We planted one-year-old crowns last year and according to my various manuals, they mustn’t be harvested until [...]