On the menu – Spice, Chocolate and Pasta

Friday I’m on a bit of a spice kick, at the moment. My pestle and mortar, which to be honest I’m a little scared of because I’m convinced that one day I will drop it whilst washing it or something and it will break my foot, as it’s a massively heavy, great big stone thing…

On the menu – pasta fail/rescue, harissa chicken, a winter salad and chai tea banana cake

Sunday I attempted to make Gino D’Acampo’s Fusilli Al Quattro Formaggi from Gino’s Pasta, the sauce was interesting, it didn’t require a roux but I think that’s where it fell down. You heat the milk then add the cheese and well, the sauce just looked totally split and not at all appetising. Maybe that’s what…

On the menu – Feta and homemade gnocchi

Sunday This is Aubergine & Feta Tart from Nadiya’s British Food Adventure, you can also find the recipe here. It was rather nice. Monday I’m aiming to be better at using up ingredients hence more feta today. This is Roast Squash & Feta Couscous from Daisies & Pie. I wasn’t convinced, as I was making…

My favourite cookbooks of 2017 (not necessarily published this year)

I’ve fallen in love with four cookbooks this year – For sheer want to cook everything-ness, there’s Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Much More Veg and pretty much everything I tried was delicious. I think that it’s great that it’s also vegan. The Art of the Larder by Claire Thomson, definitely wins the title of best cookbook for recipes I…

On the menu – Hot Chocolate and Thursday Cooking

Sunday This is an adapted version of James Wong’s Hot Chocolate from How To Eat Better, which is an interesting book about the health benefits of various foods, including chocolate, and how to make the best choice for each type of food. Anyway, in the chocolate section, James talks about how dutched cocoa, which is…

On the menu – recipes from Tasty, Gino’s Pasta and Twitter

Friday I really wanted to make chocolate chip muffins, using the sort of recipe where you just stick everything in a bowl, stir it with a wooden spoon, stick it in the oven and hey presto. Could I find such a recipe in my massive bookshelf full of cookery books, my rather extensive Kindle and…

On the menu – Pasta con Peperoni alle Erbe, Gnocchi al Pomodoro and Brown Rice Bibimbap

Monday Yes, I’ve hit the Gino D’Acampo pasta book again, this one with yellow peppers and lots of herbs is rather nice, although I changed it a bit by swapping the thyme with oregano, as that’s what I had and adding pancetta. Unfortunately I managed to burn the pancetta, I will have to add it…

On the menu – I think I’ll buy my pesto from now on

Tuesday I decided to try the pesto recipe in Gino D’Acampo’s Pasta book and, hmmm, I don’t think that I’ll be doing that again. I always feel ever so slightly guilty when buying store bought pesto, as I know how ‘easy’ it is to make your own, especially as some shop bought pestos aren’t that…

On the menu – blueberry ice lollies, pasta, waffles and apple cider cake

Saturday Z’s new school set a number of challenges over the summer holidays, Z was pretty much uninterested in all of them except for the ice lolly challenge. This is his, blueberry, lime and lemon, slightly adapted from this Sainsbury’s recipe because I temporarily couldn’t locate my bible ice lolly book. Anyway, although the Sainsbury’s recipe was…