Murrumbidgee Cake

This is a traditional Australian recipe for a classic light fruit and nut cake that is typically prepared for Christmas and enriched with brandy before serving. It is much less dense than British fruit cakes and was developed as a light Christmas cake, more suited for the hotter weather. If you are not a big…

A Spanish Retreat

The word retreat can mean stepping back and that’s what three girlfriends and I did a few weeks ago. Our retreat was a well-hidden villa, tucked away up and around a few narrow roads outside the seaside resort of Altea, an hour down the coast from Alicante airport. Our hire car was perfect for our…

A Stranger in my Mother’s Kitchen

This is the name of a distinctively different way of publishing a book about food by Celine Marchbank, daughter of chef Sue Miles. Celine is a photographer and she celebrates her mother’s kitchen in this delightful yet heart-breaking book of reminiscences, photos and recipes. The design cleverly incorporates copies of some of Sue’s hand-written and…

Time Out Final Print Edition

In 1970 my then boyfriend advertised a room in his Holloway flat in Time Out and ended up letting it to John Leaver, TO’s ad manager. John thought I was just the sort of person who should work at Time Out and arranged for me to meet Tony. He was gorgeous; slim in tight Levis…

Wild Garlic Pesto

This is possibly my favourite way of using wild garlic. The long, floppy leaves, pale stalks and a few flowers went into this pesto along with equal weights of toasted pine kernels and finely grated Parmesan. I like it thick and spreadable but add more olive oil for a slacker version. I also added a…

Sausage Pasta with Marmalade Tomato Sauce

Crusty, wonky chunks of sausage meat in a marmalade-flavoured tomato sauce might sound a tad strange but do try it. A mere spoonful of Seville orange marmalade brings a haunting depth of flavour to a simple tomato sauce, giving a rich back drop to faux meatballs and pasta. As the pasta is stirred in at…

Scallops and Bacon with Pea Puree

This was a huge success when I made it, creamy, plump scallops with their sweet tenderness against very crisp scraps of salty back bacon eaten with a bright green pea puree with a hint of mint. Oven frites – M&S in a green box, ready in 11 minutes is still the favourite – are the…

Pear and Frangipane Tarts

When I saw tinned pears at knock down prices the other day, I remembered a recipe using them from Alastair Little’s seminal Keep It Simple. Why not, he says, when needing poached pears, use tinned ones. And I did, copying his idea of teaming them with frangipane paste to make stunning little puff pastry tarts….

Too Hot to Linger in the Kitchen

Salads and chilled soups are my solution to avoiding having to cook during a heatwave. Big, multi-textural salads with grains like cous cous, bulgar and barley, roasted and boiled vegetables, sometimes nuts, olives, capers and interesting dressings like creamed feta or orange and lemon vinaigrette. Roasted tomato halves are something to get ahead with early…

Strawberry Jam for Tea

I love strawberry jam. Over the past week I’ve made four batches, and I’ll be at it again as soon as I can scrounge more jam jars. Actually, I’m finding it hard to keep up with the prolificacy of my strawberry patch this year and my local street market is virtually giving strawberries away. You’d…