Food In My Home

I should be sunbathing right now but unfortunately the Italian heavens have opened over the last two days of our trip and torrential rain has sent us off for long boozy lunches, not a bad place to be for eating lots but I feel like I might be rolling home after pasta and gelato overload, good thing bikinis are now packed! We have been staying in Amalfi which is the most mental place ever for driving, not enough room for two cars and massive cliff drops into the sea. My sister managed to crash into an anchor arriving in style to meet my Dad for lunch who's surprise 60th birthday present was the trip, she sure made an impression and a massive dent in the car on day one. The food has been tres bonne, loads of pasta, pizza and amazing gelato, incredible mozzarella and burrata with the tastiest sunshine filled tomatoes. Here is a recipe for such a simple salad but totally delicious when you have the best ingredients, don't bother using a peach unless it's really ripe and spend a

Another Ottolenghi salad which is really damn good, I just made this for 30 people which I'm not going to lie was a massive faff but if your making it for a normal amount of people it shouldn't be too bad. It's stuffed with all kinds of ingredients and has a warm asian flavour, perfect to take as a picnic salad. serves 8 1 small whole chicken 200g basmati rice 50g wild rice 50g brown rice 1 large onion, thinly sliced 6 spring onions, thinly sliced 4 mild red chillies, cut into thin strips small bunch coriander, chopped small bunch mint leaves, chopped large handful of rocket leaves, shredded salt pepper Dressing 65ml lemon juice 30ml sesame oil 30ml thai fish sauce 35ml olive oil Preheat the oven to 220˚C. Rub chicken with olive oil and season. Place in a roasting tin and put in the oven for 10 mins then lower the temperature to 190˚C and continue to roast for 50-60 mins until the chicken is cooked and juices run clear. Remove to cool and keep all the cooking juices for lat

I know I have banged on before about having the most awesome brownie recipe but recently they have gone a little wild and trebled in awesomeness! Over the last 3 weeks I have made trays and trays of them for families who have got addicted, and the most recent comment on them was "OMG those brownies were better than orgasms!" so you better try them and see for yourself! The recipe is the Hummingbird brownie recipe just with dollops of mascapone and raspberries stuck on the top, kind of makes a cheesecake effect and tastes kind of amazing. Makes 12 200g Dark chocolate roughly chopped 175g Unsalted butter cut into small pieces 325g Caster sugar 130g Plain flour 3 Eggs a few tablespoons mascapone  1 punnet of raspberries Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a big heatproof bowl over boiling water, making sure the bowl isn't touching the water. When all melted take off the heat and stir in the sugar and then the flour, then the eggs one at a tim

I have had a slight obsession with cooking almond cakes at the moment, and in France there were loads of delicious apricots so I ended up making lots of different styles of cakes. They are really gooey and zesty and very tasty and everyone loved them. This one was my favourite because I put apricots in the middle and on the top. 200g unsalted butter 200g caster sugar 200g ground almonds 40g plain flour 4 eggs zest of 1 orange zest of 1 lemon 1 tbsp apricot liqueur or cointreau  8 apricots sliced almonds for sprinkling Preheat the oven to 170˚C. Using an electric whisk cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy then mix in the eggs, zest and juice and booze and fold in the flour. Slice the apricots in half and then slice each half into thirds and chuck into a bowl and sprinkle with some caster sugar and leave for 10 mins. Pour half the cake mixture into a lined cake tin and layer on half the apricots, then pour the rest of the mixture on top and prettily arrange the rest of the ap

This is a good crunchy, super healthy, summery salad...if you like lentils that is! I have done it with smoked salmon and poached salmon and both are equally as good. serves 4 250g puy lentils 2 tbsp red wine vinegar olive oil a few glugs 1/2 lemon juiced 1/4 of a cucumber, seeds scraped out and small dice 1 red pepper diced  1 small bunch of chopped fresh dill  Wash the lentils under cold running water until the water runs clear and put them in a pan with enough water to cover them 3 times their height. Stick a peeled clove of garlic in the water and any fresh herbs you have about to add flavour or a bay leaf, bring to the boil and then simmer for around 20 mins until they are cooked but still al dente. Rinse under warm water and dress immediately with olive oil, tablespoons of red vine vinegar and seasoning. Add your chopped veg and dill and either chop smoked salmon through it or place on top. Serve alongside some crème fraîche mixed with a squeeze of lemon, chopped dill, salt and p

Whoop we finally got golds yesterday so in the spirit of all things Olympics it seemed appropriate to bake a themed chocolate cake!

It has been a busy month of cooking for me, I spent the last two weeks in beautiful France near the Loire Valley and now I'm in stinking Sussex where my tan is fading along with my will to live. My breaks between cooking meals are no longer spent on a deck chair in the sun reading 50 shades of soft porn so I have started an internet shopping habit instead. I have been a bit lazy on the photo taking of the millions of salady lunches but here is one new one that I am digging right now. The red rice and quinoa can sometimes be hard to find in the supermarkets but Waitrose has them or health food shops probably do too. serves 4 200g quinoa 200g camargue red rice zest and juice of 1 orange zest of 1 lemon 1 ripe avocado 200g radishes sliced any way you like 1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin handful of basil leaves torn 50ml good olive oil pinch of chilli flakes salt and pepper Cook the quinoa and rice separately with plenty of water following the pack instructions, drain and rinse under co