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
I’m going to do a really annoying bloggery thing now and not only reminisce about a country I visited that inspired a recipe, but also call for an ingredient within it that I bought from said country. Sorry. But also, not sorry at all. When I was in Greece recently (not sorry) I consumed my … Continue reading BEETROOT & OUZO SOUP
Both making and eating granola makes me feel like I have my life together. I know there are negative connotations around those who make their own granola – it conjures images of meditation circles, hemp and constantly having a muslin cloth with some dripping homemade labneh hanging over your sink faucet. I promise you can … Continue reading CHOCOLATE, ORANGE & PEANUT GRANOLA
In a digital world that fortunes the pretty and complex, sometimes the reset of preserving something a little familiar, simpler and humbler is the sigh of relief you need. I actually consider it to be a privilege to belong to a generation that knew what it was like to have a part of their lives … Continue reading VANILLA MILK PORRIDGE WITH CARAMELISED BANANAS
Nigel Slater, who I consider to be somewhat of a paternal figure to me in the kitchen, once said, ‘Whatever the xenophobic meat-‘n’-two-veggists say, pasta is now our national dish. The family no longer unites over a joint of beef. It unites over a bowl of pasta’. I’m sure the meat-‘n’-two-veggists reading this will be … Continue reading CRUSHED PEA, PRESERVED LEMON & PISTACHIO PASTA
Noodles are my go-to. You know how some food writers are always like ‘this dish is my faaaaavourite’ only to find two pages later their promiscuity is flagrant as they anoint another dish their favourite. Well noodles are my go-to. Tacos are my FAVOURITE dish, don’t get me wrong – no, Mac & Cheese is… … Continue reading HIYA-ATSU NOODLES & GINGER MISO SOUP
I’m like… eyebrow deep in a really cool writing project right now that’s taking up a lot of my cooking time. The process of recipe development means a lot of nights hovering around the Kitchen, a lot of scribbling on random scraps of paper around my Kitchen and then furious typing afterwards. For people who … Continue reading COURGETTE, CHICKPEA & PRESERVED LEMON STEW
I don’t eat with my eyes. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed by the actual state of some of my food but it’s true. I don’t care what something looks like. If it’s easy to make and it tastes great then it’s good enough for me. The visual is just a bonus. A lot of … Continue reading SAUSAGE & RED PEPPER LENTILS
MIKEY AND THE KITCHEN. 