School dinners. I never had them, but my husband did and they sounded pretty revolting. It also goes some way to explain his odd, in my view, desire to smother a perfectly good ingredient with baked beans and cheese. I don’t care for baked beans and they are a banned item in my our kitchen. […]
East Med potato salad
The obligatory presence of boiled potatoes slathered with mayonnaise or salad cream at BBQs is something I never understood. Mushy, processed and sickly tasting: my association with potato salads. I actually do love potato salads, I grew up with them and had them once a week but just not in an amorphous slop. This is […]
Greens, wild garlic, feta cheese and eggs
Finally, it’s here the promise of good weather and a new season of food. After a long period of absence (a new-born baby will do that to anyone) I returned to Borough market early enough to be able to browse and stare at all the new season’s vegetables. This recipe is a salute to spring, […]
Purslane, Radish and Haloumi salad with a pomegranate molasses dressing
P is for Purslane: a perfectly delicious weed. My favourite salad since the age of 5 is a salad of purslane, rocket and fresh coriander with an olive oil and lemon juice dressing. There has to be lots of the dressing so that there is enough left at the bottom of the bowl to mop […]
Beautiful beans from East Med (Ful Medames)
Growing up beans and pulses featured prominently at our table. We purchased them by the kilo and stored them in large containers. Looking back now, preparing beans was probably my first lesson in balancing flavours; the beans were boiled either with vegetables or alone and then served in a bowl with some of the cooking […]
Beetroot salad with tahini dressing
The raw beetroot is lovely and crunchy and combined with the tangy tahini dressing makes for a very moreish salad. I had this with roasted chicken thighs but it would be perfect as part of a meze. Although using cooked beetroot in this type of salad is more common it doesn’t quite have the same […]
Spinach and lamb fatayers with a tahini dip
Some traditions should be sacrosanct not because they perpetuate perfection but because they represent years of love, family bonds and connections. A close friend has for the past 16 years upheld her tradition of making a Thanksgiving dinner for friends. The size of the dinner parties has ranged from 10-30 people. She started this tradition […]
