Bruschetta is one of the most appealing things on the Italian menu, but the white bread makes it a little unhealthy.  Our reader Nicola gave us a suggestion for a healthy bruschetta, and also shared a great recipe for baked couscous, another nutritious choice. Bruschetta 6 vine tomatoes, chopped Dressing: 1 clove garlic crushed 4 [...]

Have you ever tried black rice?  It’s available in most Asian shops but it’s something I rarely see on menus.  I first had it in a delicious salad,  in an amazing vegetarian restaurant in New York (it was years ago and I have tragically forgotten its name) and have been cooking it at home ever [...]

Words to describe lamb: warm, comforting, nourishing. Delicious in stew. Everything you’d want on a cold winter’s day. Happy summer. Spring lamb is at its best right now, in the middle of this unseasonably pleasant summer. Whacking it onto the barbeque is one option, but I still had a lot of meat leftover from Aldi’s [...]

The slight bitterness of broccoli, the earthiness of potatoes, the spiciness of ginger, and the sweetness of cardamom add up to a really gorgeous soup. It’s perfect for these wet days. I adjusted the recipe for a friend on the Weight Watchers diet, reducing the amount of potato and adding more broccoli instead. It’s a [...]

So incredibly simple, wonderfully cheap, enormously comforting, and bursting with curative powers, this soup is the perfect antidote to both the snowy weather and any lurking colds or flus. No sweating, no reducing -  this is a Chinese style soup so just cover it with water and boil away. It will take about three minutes [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

News alert! My tomatoes have ripened. Okay it doesn’t warrant such drama but I have managed to produce a considerable amount and I am giddy at the thought of eating this free fruit. I want the tomatoes to be the star of the show and I came across this amazing looking soup recipe in The [...]

To mark Bastille day, I’m planning a French feast this evening with some friends. Tucking into French onion soup, a classic Coq au vin and a Crème brûlée; a French three course meal doesn’t have to cost a fortune and this menu contains basic ingredients that won’t break the bank. Incorporating onions, white wine, cheese [...]

Well the first of my crops are ready to pick. Unsurprisingly, the peas are the first to make an appearance followed by the lettuce. Peas are plucky little fellas that will keep giving and giving and are unbelievably hardy. I cultivated them from seed in April and planted them outside in May. I also kept [...]