Rich, aromatic, pull-apart lamb in a dark, malty gravy bubbling under tangy, pillowy bulbs of soft cobbler pastry. Any story that starts this way is one I am happy to finish. The good thing is, it’s the kind of story that really benefits from being put down halfway through, allowed to temptingly play in your … Continue reading LAMB, COURGETTE & DARK ALE STEW WITH ROSEMARY & MUSTARD COBBLER
A risotto, in all of its unruly and uncontained fashion, is rarely a Picasso to look at, is it? Especially this one, made even drearier and browner thanks to the slow-cooked onions and the drip-drip-drip feed of dark, beefy broth that’s added slowly throughout. Nigella Lawson said it so much better than I did in … Continue reading CARAMELISED ONION & ROSEMARY RISOTTO
I tend to have a sixth sense when it comes to fussy eaters. When someone tells me that, for instance, they don’t like seafood, their plight as an eater is automatically established. I know that the fussiness is strong in this one. This not a fact, just a musing of mine own experiences. And I … Continue reading FRIDGE PICKLES & QUICK KIMCHI
Have we discussed my compulsive need to boil potatoes lately? I don’t think we have. I constantly have a need for little, tiny, baby boiled potatoes in my fridge. Throwing them in a pot of salted water, boiling until tender, allowing them to cool and dry until completely stone cold, and then stowing them away … Continue reading FRIED POTATOES & KIMCHI
My most turned-to curry. Without fail. Hands down. And then hands up to praise it. I kept fairly close to the traditional yogurt marinade and similar spicing profile to the Northern Indian curry Murgh Makhani with this recipe, but I went on my own tangent swapping the usual chicken for cauliflower and relying on a … Continue reading BUTTER & ALMOND CAULIFLOWER CURRY
The thread of Nigella is strong here. There’s a slight web of inspiration happening with this recipe that meets somewhere in between Nigella’s Italian inspired cookbook, Nigellissima (2012) and Simply Nigella (2015) with a little added layover in Jack Monroe’s Tin Can Cook (2019) which, in true culinary respect, is the definition of a fusion … Continue reading SPICY MACKEREL LINGUINE WITH SUMAC & GARLIC BUTTER
A ragù is emotional. I’ve always found, after many years of cooking, that a ragù/ meat sauce, is deeply personal to everybody that cooks it. Even people who hate cooking/ don’t cook will always say to me that they make ‘a good bolognese’ or ‘a good lasagne’, and while this makes me happy, because I’d … Continue reading BEEF & ‘NDUJA RAGÙ
This recipe was a practice in self restraint. When I’m cooking, I am always forcefully guiding my own hand to not add flavours when they don’t belong because my natural inquisitive instinct always thinks a recipe needs to be ‘mooore’. This one doesn’t. It’s perfect. I long for simplicity in cooking. Not just simple to … Continue reading COURGETTES IN BEEF BROTH & OLIVE OIL
This is not, not a risotto? Right? Even typing that I can feel the weight of disapproval from my Italian cooking mentor, Antonella, who would absolutely tell me this is not a risotto, but I can’t help myself and I’m sure she’d understand. There’s a time and a place for a proper, stove side stirring … Continue reading MUSHROOMS & PEARL BARLEY
One of the real joys of being home cook is that I don’t have to cook for a focus group. When I cook, I don’t have to consider innovation or creation to impress, I can just potter at my own free will, experiment according to my own personal preference and learn from my own findings. … Continue reading GOCHUJANG BUTTER BEAN STEW
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 