Feeling lazy and hankering some comfort food, I nipped into Tesco and bought the Tesco Finest Lamb Moussaka. I naively thought it would marry well with the Potato Gratin from the normal Tesco range but I choose poorly. Both were tasty but sadly not together – I swear I could almost hear my arteries clog [...]

Strangely I didn’t learn this on my recent travels in the deep south of the US. It’s based on a vegetarian version from the Café Fresh Cookbook. The chorizo and prawns make all the difference though. This is a really good dish for many reasons: it’s really warming on a cold day, it looks beautiful [...]

I really know nothing about South African food so I thought I would start with the obvious and try out the most popular and traditional dish of the country – Bobotie. The national dish of South Africa, it’s commonly made with minced meat, usually lamb or beef, covered with an egg-based topping and served with [...]

I was completely hooked to ‘Masterchef’ when it was on BBC and it kind of controlled my life for a while, as sad as that sounds. Due to unstoppable snacking, I had to arrange my dinner around the show and make sure I would either be eating while it was on or have dinner afterwards. [...]

I found this recipe in an old edition of the Observer food magazine, and I’ve been living off it for the past two days. So incredibly quick to fling together, it’s great comfort food while still being light enough for these lovely summer days. I varied it a little by adding some fresh chopped chilli [...]

Over the past few months, I’ve built up a big freezer full of soups, stews, and casseroles. Last week, I decided to use the food up and didn’t do any shopping. But I still had a miserable fridge with about half an aubergine and some feta cheese. I didn’t want them to go to waste [...]

Our reader Orl commented that she’d like to see more quick and easy recipes, the kind that ‘you can rustle up on a Wednesday night’.  So in an excessively literal fashion, every Wednesday, we’ll post a recipe for a quick, easy, inexpensive meal using readily available ingredients. This is a failsafe for me when I’m [...]

Odd as it may sound, puy lentils are my ultimate (savoury) comfort food. They’re rich and satisfying, meaty and nutritious, full of good proteins, and, unlike red or green lentils, they don’t turn to puree. They’re really cheap, (just over €3 a bag in The Health Store), a bag lasts for ages, and they’re highly [...]

Sag Aloo Sag Aloo is a quick, easy and healthy curry. There are lots of different ways of doing sag aloo, some with yogurt or lentils. My version uses tomato and potato with the spinach. Ingredients 2-3 blocks frozen spinach 1 can of tomatoes 1 large potato, peeled and cut into small cubes 1 onion [...]

I heart chorizo. This glorious tube of heavenly pork is a versatile and inexpensive ingredient that adds flavour and depth to a variety of meals. A Spanish dry cured sausage, it can be added to stews, soups, omelettes, pasta and risotto. Pancetta, Italian smoked bacon, is used in a similar way but is no match [...]