These photos are the dream. Open fire. Big smoky flavours. The comforting crackle of wood burning. Fat dripping and hissing on the flames. The pine-scented air of the great outdoors. A whiskey flask. A soulful harmonica. And something like this…
easy dinner
Creamy Lemon Gnocchi with Chicken
Big tip for my younger self – be at peace with buying home-made gnocchi at the market. World’s best shortcut (apart from puff pastry) when you want something fast. (It also freezes well, and cooks from frozen.) And if you…
Easy Spice Lamb Backstrap Dinner
Before we get to the easy spice lamb backstrap dinner, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. The vast majority of dinners cooked by home cooks day in, day out, aren’t Instagrammable. They’re nutritious, simple, practical, and hopefully quick….
Blast From the Past Shepherd’s Pie
This blast for the past kitchen is the type I associate with shepherd’s pie, also a blast from the past! Is it the same for you? Or do you think of a different era? The kitchen/dining room I grew up…
Red Wine Beef Onion Stew
Confession: I feel quite pleased with myself when I see containers of stews and soups lined up in the freezer. It’s my “acts of service” love language, looking after the people I love, making sure there’s always something that can…
Super-Versatile Salmon Tray Bake
What did the fish say to his fiancee? I need salmon like you. This is my adaptation of the Jamie Oliver salmon tray bake recipe I found in his first cookbook The Naked Chef. I can’t find a link to…
Quick Pasta Bolognese Sauce
I find it amusing that spaghetti bolognese doesn’t exist in Italy. An authentic Bolognese sauce is a slow-cooked ragu with vegetables and a mix of meats. It is used primarily for lasagne or with tagliatelle. (Thinner noodles, like spaghetti, are…
Pork Chipolata Tray Bake with Salsa Cheat
This is not a fancy dish, but a filling one. Imagine: the smiling home chef, wearing floral oven mitts, serving a steaming pork chipolata tray bake straight from oven to table, where eager diners serve themselves. Imagine now, the eager…
5-Ingredient Pork and Mash with Green Apple
I cook the pork and mash this way, using only two pans, to enable a single or small-portion meal in minimal time. It’s called being L.A.Z.Y. 😂 Five ingredient pork and mash with apple is the kind of dish I…
Chicken Stoop (Stew/Soup) with Currants & Almonds
Imagine. A spoon in one hand. The TV remote in the other. A steaming bowl of goodness in front of you. This is the beauty of this Sunday night favourite. It’s delicate, light and subtle, but supremely hearty, and is…
Laid-Back Chicken and Pea Risotto
This is the dish to cook when people are milling in the kitchen, the TV is on in the background, and someone has been thoughtful enough to open a nice bottle of sauvignon blanc. A lot of the cooking shows…
Back to the Future Tuna Mornay
Bell bottoms, beads, The Beatles, back to the future tuna mornay! Actually, creamy tuna mornay (tuna casserole in the US) dates back even further than the sixties. A version was around before WWII, but it came into its own afterwards,…
