I’m really loving Anissa Helou’s fantastic mezze recipes, as well as the stories on her wonderful blog. She currently has a lovely tale to tell about chocolates made from camel milk. Here’s two more mezze recipes from her excellent book Modern Mezze; check out more of her books here.
Mezze are so versatile: they make great [...]

I’ve been watching Jamie Oliver’s New European Series - so far I’ve seen him in Morocco, Spain and, most recently, Greece. This episode was all about simple ingredients simply put together. He went spear fishing, met up with some bee keepers and nibbled on some goats cheese with a Greek Orthodox monk.
Some of the dishes [...]

Bread doesn’t have to mean sandwiches and breakfast toast. As these Nigel Slater recipes show, bread can make a summer salad more substantial or make a side dish more filling.
His ‘Salad of peas, beans and bread’ is an unusual combination and the perfect dish if the usual leafy salad doesn’t quite satisfy or fill you. [...]

Vietnamese cuisine is fresh, subtle and really satisfying. Vietnamese lime grilled prawns are a great bbq recipe that is simple but exotic.
I had them at many beachside locations on my Honeymoon in Vietnam. The combined flavours of lime and pepper give the prawns a citrus kick that is quite unusual.
Vietnamese pancakes are also perfect summer [...]

Well, if like me, you’re planning on having a few over for food and want to serve up some interesting finger food; Arancini are the perfect and elegant bite for when people are standing around with drinks.
They are deep-fried rice balls made from saffron risotto rice with a mozzarella centre. You can also fill them [...]

Following on from Wednesday’s post on quick and easy recipes that can be thrown together after a hard day at work, here are some more hassle free dishes for you to try.
I have included a couple of desserts that could be thrown together at the end of a dinner party when you don’t want to [...]

I work mostly from home but I have been working quite a bit in the city lately. Living in the sticks and having no car means I have to contend with an epic journey home.
After enduring the longest Dublin bus journey in history (even longer than the 17 bus route), I then have a thirty [...]

I experienced an extremely pleasant picnic recently. This wasn’t a ‘hang’ sandwich affair but a proper picnic on a river bank with lots of lovely food and company. It got me thinking about interesting picnic ideas and the best way to serve them up.
A good picnic should be on the fancy side and include a variety of [...]

Peter and I attended a really enjoyable event in Bord Bia the week before last: it was a series of presentations and workshops for Irish food bloggers, organised by Donal Skehan of the tremendous Good Mood Food blog.  We were treated to demonstrations of pork butchery and cookery, vegetarian cookery from Blazing Salads, advice on [...]

I’ve given up on risotto (and become progressively worse at making paella).
Risotto is one of those fiddly dishes that, despite being advertised as a quick and easy supper, can so easily go wrong. Indeed, I’ve had serious, violent arguments about rice, leading to one party storming off in an enormous huff; all I really know [...]