This is a good weekend to clear out the fridge to make room for the Christmas food shop. There are lots of ways to cut waste by using up scraps of food in different ways, or turning leftovers into something freezable. Use vegetables which are past their prime for the Christmas lunch gravy (Jamie Oliver’s…
Tag: Food
Chickpea curry
I’ve been stocking up my freezer with home made ready meals. This is partly to reduce my food costs (and batch cooking is one of the easiest ways to do that) and partly to have a big selection of quick meals to choose from in January when I know I’m going to be busy. I…
Latkes
Nothing says ‘happy Chanukah’ like a plate of piping hot latkes, straight from the frying pan and glistening in oil. I made these latkes early one morning at the beginning of Chanukah last week and was even greedy enough to guzzle some of them down for breakfast (I’ve never done that before but just couldn’t…
Chicken pizzaiola
The last time I went to Jamie’s Italian I had the chicken pizzaiola and it was so tender, spicy and delicious I wanted to try making it myself. It’s served with a puttanesca-type sauce (minus the anchovies) which I love, not just because of the flavour but because it’s so easy and quick to make….
Meat free moussaka
My holiday in Greece this year was wonderful. I stayed in Vassiliki on Lefkas, a pretty and laid back harbourside town and watersports centre where I windsurfed for the first time (proof that I can get out of my comfort zone). I also spent one morning on a tour of the nearby olive groves (where…
Chocolate and flake birthday cake
I made this cake to celebrate my grown up kids’ (they’re twins) birthday. They’re 24 on Monday (yes, where has the time gone?) but they’ll both be doing their own thing then so we got together this weekend to celebrate. I usually buy a birthday cake but as the Great British Bake Off is on…
Fish tacos
This is a dinner which can be put together in about 12 minutes or as long as it takes to cook the fish, which I usually do in the oven. The joy of eating this meal is making up the tacos – stuffing in the fish along with a range of accompaniments which for me…
Stuffed peppers
A couple of weeks’ ago I watched an episode of Yottam Ottolenghi’s cookery series where he was in Crete. He visited a family restaurant where one of the specialities was stuffed vegetables. All the family got together on a vine clad, sun drenched terrace to stuff courgettes, tomatoes and peppers with a simple mixture of…
Beetroot burgers
Here’s a recipe inspired by a four day cookery and meditation retreat at Sharpham House I went on recently. This was the recipe I made as soon as I got home from the trip. It was for supper that same evening – I couldn’t wait to start trying out what I had learnt, even after…
Lemon posset
I prefer a lemon dessert over a chocolate one any day because I don’t like anything that’s too sickly sweet. This is an adaption of a James Martin recipe, but I’ve reduced the sugar a bit (I like it quite sharp and I found it still set quite well). It’s dead easy to make –…
Spanish hunter’s chicken
This started out as a chicken cacciatore (Italian hunter’s chicken) – minus the mushrooms, which I think are traditional in hunter’s chicken (of any nationality). But I had lots of red peppers to use up, and pitted black olives, so I was in two minds – Spanish chicken, or chicken cacciatore? So this is a…
Chilled watercress soup
The heatwave continues. It was around 30C yesterday so I took the day off and went to Brockwell Lido, a massive open air pool in Brockwell Park, Herne Hill (aka ‘Brixton Beach’). I love the lido – in this kind of heat I just want access to an outdoor pool and to feel like I’m…
Cod and prawns baked in a wine, tomato and basil sauce
On Friday evening I had a craving for some cod – a pice of chunky fish baked in a rich tomatoey sauce with garlic and basil. I’d had a very challenging day of work (working at home but dealing with lots of frustrating calls and a feeling I was getting nowhere on a project) so…
Smoked fish salad
With the World Cup in full swing my current priority is to get straight down to watching TV as soon as I get home from work, so cooking has taken a bit of a back seat. I have a few home frozen meals for easy prep – some turkey and sweetcorn meatballs eaten cold with…
Pork meatballs with apple and sage
I think meatballs are the main reason I’m not a vegetarian – a trip to IKEA would never be the same again (although Sweden has admitted that its ‘national dish’ was actually Turkish). Having said that I should probably experiment with some vegetarian versions – the internet is full of this oxymoron of all recipes…
Lime chicken
Two weeks ago I spent a lovely long weekend in Lyme Regis to celebrate a milestone birthday of one of my friends. Her husband had rented a house for close family (and me – I’ve known my friend since we were five) as a surprise for her. The weather was fantastic most of the time,…
Bank holiday barbecue
Last week’s soaring heat was perfect for the bank holiday weekend. The football I was in a particularly good mood after travelling to Stoke on the Friday night for the football (staying in a Holiday Inn right by the ground with my son and his Dad) to see Crystal Palace win 2-1 on Saturday and…
Asparagus frittata
I made this frittata for brunch last Sunday during the April heatwave. That week we had enjoyed several days of heavy heat and bright sunshine and the supermarkets were full of people in shorts and T shirts buying up barbecue food. This frittata seemed to me the perfect al fresco, late breakfast option for a…
Tuscan chicken
This recipe is from one of my favourite cookery books ‘Pan cooked chicken dishes around the world’. It’s a bit of an old fashioned cookery book – by which I mean it’s not authored by any celebrity chef – which I bought it years ago from a charity shop. The other week I was amazed…
Pork chop and pak choi
I went to Croydon’s Surrey Street market yesterday. I tend to go to the market after a meditation session at Croydon’s Buddhist Centre (they do lunchtime sessions on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays open to everyone). I always come out of the meditation session feeling very relaxed and usually pop in to a charity to shop…
Spicy pea dip with smoked paprika vegetables
This is a quick supper dish which is great for using up veg from the fridge before it goes off. I cooked it yesterday because I was getting low on food and too lazy to go shopping (and I’m trying to save money so resisted the temptation to order a takeaway). I love the flavour…
Pasta puttanesca
Pasta puttanesca, or prostitutes’ pasta (so named perhaps because it is so quick to make it left ladies of the night more time to earn their living) is one of my store cupboard standby recipes. I nearly always have the ingredients in stock and it’s also really handy to make on holiday. If I know…
Chicken soup
I made this chicken soup for yesterday’s lunch. I’m not working at the moment so can stay cosy and warm indoors if I like and only need to venture out in the cold if I need supplies or to go to the woods. I live five minutes’ walk from Selsdon Woods in Croydon and I…
Savoury muffins
I made these muffins three weeks’ ago because I wanted something savoury to take for half time nourishment during the Crystal Palace v Newcastle game. As Palace supporters we’re really living on our nerves at the moment – fighting a relegation battle while being plagued with injury problems – some of our best players are…
Pasta bake
With the temperature plummeting it’s time to roll out some comfort, carb heavy recipes. As pasta bakes are cheap, tasty and very easy to make they can be top of your list. I say easy but I have just remembered an occasion years ago when I was cooking with my then teenage niece and we…
Cheap, fresh and easy 