All posts filed under: Recipes

Smoked Mackerel, chicory and potato salad

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Summer is here at last. This year, for the first time, I have started to realise just how delicious a salad can be. Chicory has long stared out at me from the supermarket shelf and last week was the first time that I walked over, picked it up and put it in my basket. This salad really was delicious, filling and perfect for a hot summers day. Ingredients (serves 2) 8 chicory leaves, washed 1/2 avocado, sliced lengthways 1/4 red onion, finely sliced 2 tbsp red wine vinegar 6 new potatoes 2 smoked Mackerel fillets Handful of pea shoots Sea salt and black pepper Method 1. Boil new potatoes in hot salted water for 25 minutes, or until soft 2. Meanwhile, place the red onion in a small bowl. Cover with red wine vinegar and a sprinkle of sea salt 3. Drain potatoes and assemble salad on the plate. Enjoy!

Lime friand recipe

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I have two sources of inspiration for this recipe. The first is 15 year old Conor McLean who beat me to win Britain’s Best Dish. He made a fantastic vanilla friand dessert and during the process, I realised that I had never made one. The second inspiration is The Flavour Thesaurus by Nikki Segnit. This book gave me the idea for my dessert on Britain’s Best Dish. I love it. Literally weeks before it was released, I was wishing that I could have a book that would tell me what flavours go together. Then, voila, it appeared. The complete idea for my dessert was lime friand with lemon and ginger sorbet, candied ginger and a tuille biscuit. In reality, making such a dish for two people isn’t really worth it but its an idea that i’ll hold onto for future dinner parties! I started making the elements of the dessert about a month ago. First was the candied ginger, then the lemon and ginger sorbet. I never got around to making the friand, much to …

Small plates – lamb and pearl barley, tomato salad and roasties

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Small plates are all the rage at the moment. Some of my favourite London restaurants are serving them and those restaurants have become extremely popular over the last year. Take Polpo as an example. The small Beak Street Venetian restaurant did so well that owner Russell Norman quickly opened a sister restaurant, Polpetto on Dean Street above the infamous a French House watering hole. This was followed by Spuntino, a scarily cool American diner set in downtown New York in the prohibition era. This week he is also due to open his fourth, no doubt fabulous restaurant in Covent Garden, Da Polpo. I can’t wait. So my Sunday dinner this week was mostly inspired by a few dishes that I have recently had at Polpo. Roast shoulder of Lamb with pearl barley and pan fried mushrooms, vine ripened and Golden Beauty plum tomatoes with marinated red onion, basil and radish and a simple plate of rosemary roast potatoes. For some reason, food seems more satisfying when sharing with your fellow diners and I much prefer …

Sin free granola recipe

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A pot of fat free apple and mango yoghurt landed on my doormat last week. I wasn’t particularly sure that I was going to like the flavour combination but it gave me an excuse to buy some luscious blueberries and make some healthy granola. I love quick and easy recipes and this definitely falls into that category. Simply mix all of the ingredients in a big bowl and then bake in the oven. A bowl of this granola makes for a very healthy breakfast. The sugar is substituted for maple syrup and honey, and, because there is no butter, it’s vegan too. Ingredients 150g whole rolled oats 80ml maple syrup 1 tbsp runny honey 1 tbsp sesame seeds 25g sunflower seeds 25g pumpkin seeds 60ml vegetable oil Method Pre heat the oven to 160 degrees c 1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until well combined 2. Place on a lined baking tray and bake for 25 – 30 minutes, tossing it every 10 minutes to prevent the edges from burning 3. To enjoy …

Baked eggs with ibérico ham and parmesan

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Most of you will know that we got three beautiful hens a few weeks ago. Only one of them is laying so far and the eggs have been quite sporadic, until recently when we’ve been getting one every day. Although we currently have 5 Bantam eggs sitting in our egg rack, I have to admit that the eggs in this recipe aren’t from our hens, they are from my boyfriends parents hens down in Chichester. We had some ibérico ham in the fridge that needed eating so I made a delicious dish of baked eggs with ibérico ham and parmesan for dinner. This dish is exceptionally easy and fast – it only takes about 15 minutes from start to finish, if that! Serve with a couple of slices of bread drizzled with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Ingredients 2 large cloves garlic 6 slices of ibérico ham (or enough to cover the pan that you want to use) 4 large free range eggs sprinkle of curly leaf parsley – about 4 …