i had a busy weekend – we had friends round for supper on saturday and then more friends came for lunch on sunday. sunday lunch was ribs but it was preceded by a meze of dips and flatbread, as was supper on saturday.

the reason for choosing dips was the spiced chickpea and sundried tomato purée that aoife from yumbrosia raves about. aoife is my partner in taste and create which is a blogging event organised by nicole, where participants are allocated a partner from whose blog they need to cook something.

as ever, deciding which recipe to choose was tricky but, seeing that aoife has a favourites category for her recipes i knew i needed to choose something from here and it was this which first caught my eye.

i made three dips - in addition to aoife’s spiced chickpea and sundried tomato purée i made beetroot purée and roasted tomato & red pepper purée, both from skye gyngell’s a year in my kitchen. aoife’s purée was far and away my favourite – the sweet sundried tomatoes add a great depth of flavour to the spiced chickpea mix and i liked the freshness that the lemon adds.

Click to read more ...

several months ago i saw a recipe in a magazine for a spinach and butterbean bruschetta. it looked fabulous in the photos and when i read through the recipe i was sold – this was something that i needed to try. i then forgot which magazine it was in and, given i usually have several piles of recipe cuttings lying around, tracking it down wasn’t easy.

however, i spent a couple of days over a long and wet weekend sorting through these recipes and filing them away and, as a result, i found the bruschetta recipe.

i made it for friends (it preceded my lentil and spinach lasagne) and it was fabulous! the depth of flavour reminded me of the bruschetta di cavolo nero, fagioli (black eye beans) con l’occio e por we had in siena last year and it is a much more interesting bruschetta than the tomato and basil version that is often people’s default choice.

Click to read more ...

one of the things i love most about cooking is when a combination of ingredients work together so beautifully they just sing. they come together with a set of flavours that make you smile as you slowly try the first mouthful, and then more quickly the second, third and fourth. the final mouthfuls are again eaten slowly so you can savour each and every nuance of flavour. unless of course there’s a little extra in the pan, in which case rapid eating means you can stake your claim to extras.

this happened with this absolutely superb nigel slater recipe for chickpeas with pumpkin (butternut squash in my case), lemongrass and coriander. the dish has, as he says, “the citrus hit of lemongrass, the warmth of mustard seed and the luxury of coconut milk.”

i ate this with a smile on my face while making appreciative murmurs with every mouthful. as i ate it, i was thankful there was enough in the pan for a second meal and i mentally checked my diary to see how quickly i could eat it again. i then thought about which foodie friends i needed to email about this dish and tell them to try it. and when i’d finished eating, i added all necessary the ingredients to the shopping list so i could make another batch next week.

this is what good cooking is about and it’s why i believe that people should learn to cook and take chances with new and different recipes, so that everyone can have the pleasure of food which, if the world ended, would have been a perfectly good final meal.

this wonderful yellow curry is my contribution to a taste of yellow, the annual event run by barbara from winos and foodies, to support livestrong day, which recognises the impact that cancer has on many of our lives. i’m incredibly lucky not to have been directly affected by cancer but many friends and family have been and i’m supporting this event with, and for, all of you.

Click to read more ...

there are a number of meaty dishes which i love eating so much that i’d struggle to be a vegetarian, simply because i’d miss them too much. one such dish is a good ragu, either for spaghetti bolognaise or a classic lasagne.

however, i have discovered a vegetarian alternative which is absolutely packed with flavour and has the tomatoey earthy richness that i demand from a ragu.

this puy lentil and mushroom ragu was inspired by two recipes – luissa’s fettucine with mushroom ragu and francesca’s puy lentil lasagne. i made the ragu this morning with the intention of turning it into a lasagne to feed to my friend julia tonight. but i couldn’t wait that long to try it, so my first sampling was with spaghetti for lunch and it was good. damn good.

so, the question is, do i turn some of the remaining ragu into a lasagne and share it with julia, or do i keep it all to myself? i can probably divert david from having any by telling him it’s “just lentils.” i’m not often selfish with food but i do feel that i need to spend a bit more time with this ragu before i share it…

the terrible thing is that there is over 1.5kg of the stuff sitting in the kitchen, so it’s not as though i’d miss out by showing a little generosity. so i shall be generous – i will share it with ruth at once upon a feast and it can be my contribution to presto pasta nights.

Click to read more ...

another month, another daring bakers’ challenge. and what a challenge it was – julia child’s french bread!

julia child is a name that i have become familiar with since i started reading blogs from around the world. she was america ’s first celebrity chef who was at the height of her fame in the 1960s after she published mastering the art of french cooking, a summary of what she and two fellow graduates learnt at the cordon bleu cookery school in paris . she has been credited with inspiring a boom of french restaurants and fresh food markets across america . sadly she died in 2004.

so, julia child’s french bread, how did i get on?

Click to read more ...