Leek, Carrot and Cous Cous Soup

I’m making cous cous often at the moment. Apart from making it to go with tagine, it’s natural partner, it is great in soup, a way of adding extra interest and inspiring unexpected seasoning but good too with commonplace soup ingredients. It was a starting point for this soup, although, like most soups it began…

Cauliflower Cheese Gratin

I love cauliflower cheese and have many favourite ways of making it. This is pretty much my mum’s recipe, her Desert Island dish, gratin-style, with a punchy cheese sauce. I vacillate between a breadcrumb and Parmesan crust or streaky bacon lattice, both of which add a desirable crisp contrast. It is very, very good with…

Lamb and Apricot Moroccan Tagine

I like to serve this lovely spicy, hauntingly flavoured tagine with cous cous but rice or green beans and bread are good alternatives. The finished stew doesn’t photograph well so my picture shows all the ingredients gathered before I started cooking. Don’t worry if you seem to have an excess of liquid, it will soon…

17 Jan 21

The whole point of this column is to inspire, jogging your memory with old favourites, new ways of tackling old favourites and, most particularly, making something delicious from the store cupboard. It’s great when there is an Ocado slot although I’m going to try a friend’s suggestion of on-line shop and collect at Waitrose. I…

Mushroom and Spinach Soup

This isn’t the most beautiful soup but the flavour is lovely and it’s quick and esy to make with easily accessible ingredients. My pic doesn’t do it justice (no change there then) but it comes highly recommended, delicious with a separately poached egg added just before serving or with crusty bread and butter for dunking….

Lemon and Spinach Gratin

Roast chicken for two or three always gives sufficient leftovers for another meal and I find it endlessly inspiring. I save leftover gravy too, to add to any sauce I might make. Chicken, young spinach, lemon zest, white wine and plenty of freshly grated nutmeg are a lovely combination held in a Dijon mustard flavoured…

Egg Mayo Toastie on Brioche

The sweetness and delicate texture of brioche bread is the perfect foil for an egg mayo toasted sandwich. It’s buttered on both sides and griddled in the toasted sarnie tradition but the softness of the dough means it only needs a quick burst of heat to etch the surface. The mayo is seasoned with Dijon…

Lemon and White Wine Roast Chicken

This way of roasting chicken was a hit during a Blondes Week (four ex-Time Outer girlfriends) in sunny Spain a couple of summers ago, with me taking over the kitchen. By popular demand, we had what we call wet chicken in my house twice. The chicken is stuffed with rosemary or thyme and the shucks…

10 Jan 21

The start of the second week of Lock Down 3, so not a huge amount of excitement this week. The highlight, when I’m not on the blower (6.30, glass in hand, is prime zoom time amongst my friends), I’m glued to Rick Stein’s Cornwall (BBC 2 and available to watch and recipes to cook via…

Chipolata and White Bean Stew

Chipolata is a curious word for the British to embrace for a slim, fresh sausage. It gets a mention in Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire published in 1903 but the word possibly derives from Italian cipollata, the name of a sausage but also a term for braised onions. Anyway, these chipolatas are made with my favourite…