When we were in Portugal this summer, we spent most of our days lolling by the pool, punctuated by the occasional cooling dip, and our nights sampling the local wine and barbecuing copious amounts of meat (and the odd cheeky aubergine that I managed to sneak on when nobody was looking). As you may have … Continue reading
Monkfish is a beautifully textured fish and so meaty that it can stand up to proper flavours – move over white wine and parsley, I’m talking chorizo and garlic and smoked paprika (okay, and a teensy bit of parsley). At once easy to make and completely dinner party-proof, this is a dish of two halves … Continue reading
Mussels transport me back to childhood to family camping holidays in France – an annual summer event and a lengthy affair. Our trips stretched for weeks and weeks until my brother and I could hardly remember a morning without a breakfast of still-warm baguette dunked into a delicious bowl of Banania. We would walk for … Continue reading
“And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.” It’s been raining and raining and raining for days here, almost without pause, and I’ve been cowering inside like a sad damp cat for as much of it as possible. It’s the sort of weather that makes you want to curl up and eat … Continue reading
Okay, so the trip to Sardinia, coupled with the sudden drop in temperature, means that I’m having an Italian (read carb) phase. That and bikini season is over and Italian food is just so damn tastilicious. So here we are again and today’s treat is spaghetti alle vongole. It sounds fancy and yet it really … Continue reading
Konnichiwa! Yesterday I was sitting on the bus on the way home craving Japanese food. So I decided to make gyoza. There is something exceedingly satisfying about eating dumplings. Chopsticks in position, chasing your slippery target around the plate, you finally get a firm grip. The tension is palpable. Quivering, you dunk it into the dipping sauce and … Continue reading
This heatwave is causing me to become mildly unhinged. Heat-induced insomnia is sweeping across Britain, leaving us to limply negotiate the morning commute thirsty and grumpy, a scrum of clammy hands and moist shoes. And last night the thermostat was showing 28°C in my flat. I found myself huddled over my stove in my swimsuit, … Continue reading
With the arrival of this year’s Jersey Royals, there has already been many a variation of the humble potato salad in my flat. Hot and cold, minted and parsley-ed, with bacon and without, buttered and naked. And it has to be said, this variation is the least humble of all! Caviar is one of those … Continue reading
Raw fish scares a lot of people and makes them miss out on some truly inspired dishes. This (I am ashamed to say) is the reason that during three whole months in South America a few years ago, I did not once try ceviche. We were offered it, we saw it, we feasted on it … Continue reading
I hope you all enjoyed the long weekend and made the most of the sunshine while it lasted. It was a weekend of extremes in Cornwall – on Saturday and Sunday we had scorching sunshine with hardly a breeze or white horse in sight; on Monday we battled against horizontal driving rain in our windbreakers … Continue reading
pip & little blue 