A cooking course last Saturday at the Bertinet Kitchen with Monisha Bharadwaj has given me lots of new ideas and tips. The course was entitled Indian Street Food and complemented a course I had done with Monisha several years ago. Several of the key ingredients for the dishes she prepared are not available in normal…

This is one of my two default cakes (the other is the Cheltenham Apple Cake). If, like Nigel Slater, I couldn’t sleep without knowing there was a cake in the house, this is the one I would go downstairs to make. 125g butter, softened125g caster sugar (I use a mixture of plain and golden sugar)140g…

There is a photograph on the cover of Simon Hopkinson’s book, Week in Week out, that never fails to make me hungry. It shows a veal chop sizzling in butter with sage leaves crisp and curled on top. More than just making me hungry, it transports me to Milan and I long for a Campari…

I could have been making pilau (or pulao, palao) in a kitchen or even a tent or yurt anywhere from here in Bath to Mongolia. In Saira Shah’s haunting book,The Storyteller’s Daughter. a pilau is always prepared for any significant celebration. The ingredients for the Kabul pilau, Qabali Palau, include chicken (or lamb), onions, raisins,…

As Anna Del Conte notes in Amaretto, Apple Cake and Artichokes, the herb of northern Italy is sage, ’the flavour of which combines so ideally with butter, the cooking fat of the northern regions, and veal, Lombardy’s most popular meat’. Cannellini Beans with Garlic, Sage and Oil This is delicious served as an accompaniment to…

An Ottolenghi recipe and a good way to add crunch to a summer meal. I have been using a lot of honey recently in salads and chicken recipes..Use more or less herbs depending on how this salad is to be served. 500g carrots. Long thin ones preferably 2 tbsp olive oil 1 tbsp cider vinegar…

My old friend Carin from Stockholm was staying and kindly brought with her tins of Abba anchovies – perfect for making Jansson’s Temptation. Yesterday was a busy last day, starting with a session in the Thermae Baths and then lunch in town. Later we had a drink in the pub while Jansson’s Temptation was cooking.

‘Fast and French’ is the heading for the article that contained this recipe. It was Kathy Montogomery’s contribution to the French group discussion on cooking terms Win win! Oven at 190°C 2 small poussins (or substitute chicken supremes) 50g butter, softened Grated zest and juice of an unwaxed lime 2 garlic cloves, crushed ½ tsp…

It’s years since I made a roasted vegetable salad but our courgettes are now coming along thick and fast and this dish is the perfect accompaniment to lime and honeyed poussins. . 1 medium aubergine 2 medium courgettes 1 red pepper 1 yellow or orange pepper 1 red onion 2 sprigs rosemary, 5 sprigs thyme…

The weather was breaking and I just had time on Friday evening to pick perfect sprays of elderflowers before the storm came overnight. The perfect drink for when the sun comes out again!