Food In My Home

The weekend is almost here and that means brunch! I have been trying out new recipes from Denis Cotters book "For the love of food" and he has got all kinds of yummy healthyish brunch ideas. This is a really delicious take on traditional scrambled eggs and much fresher and healthier...oh and summery too! serves 2 sourdough or ciabatta sliced and toasted 1 avocado sliced drizzle olive oil 5 eggs, whisked in a bowl 1 small stalk of rosemary finely chopped half a chilli finely chopped 2 tbsps butter salt and pepper Chop up the rosemary and chilli and gently fry on a low heat with half the butter in a medium saucepan for a few minutes. Add the eggs and stir it all together, keep stirring until it is cooked as you like it. Stir in a little extra lump of butter for super creaminess and pour onto the toast. Serve the avocado on the side with salt, pepper a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon. I recommend eating it in the sun with a glass of fresh orange juice which is probab...

This week has been a bit up and down with the weather, lots of rain and then an absolute scorcher yesterday in the 30˚s. Yesterday was an especially good day because not only did I get a little bit less pasty but I also stood up on my surfboard about 10 times!! I did almost die about twice getting absolutely smashed by waves and ended up with my hair looking a bit like a loo brush but very happy!! Since the weather has been crappy I made a huge cake, and I think this could be my newest most favourite cake I have ever made. I have been trawling through my River cafe books and there is so much amazing stuff so since I have all kinds of great ingredients on my door step I am going to go nuts and try loads this month. Serves 12 450g unsalted butter, softened 450g caster sugar 450g ground almonds 2 teaspoons good vanilla essence 6 free range eggs zest of 4 lemons juice of 1 lemon 225g polenta flour or fine semolina 1 1/2  teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon of salt Preheat the oven to ...

After spending the winter in the snowy mountains I am now in south west France right by the beach. Life is good! We have been biking around and running on the beach and so far we have surfed, sunbathed, sprained one ankle, not mine this time thankfully, seen a very thin green snake, eaten the best mussels in the world, drunk lots of wine, spoken very bad alcohol fuelled french and shopped at the local fish and veggie markets...tres bon! It has been pretty boiling the last few days so I decided to make a fairly labour intensive salad to take to my friend Mhairi's bbq, a great excuse to spend the afternoon soaking up the sun and podding peas. The down side about this salad is that even if you pod a big bag of peas and broad beans it doesn't make enough to feed a big bunch of bbq folks, I bulked mine up after with quinoa which was really delicious, you could also use pretty bow pasta or if you want to keep it green add sugar snap peas too. The flavour is very fresh and clean with ...

Wow it has been a long time since I posted any recipes, Je suis très désolé! I have just got back from 5 months in the beautiful swiss alps where I have been cooking loads for the café, skiing a little bit and enjoying mountain life, anyway I have now returned to wet England for a couple of weeks and have some time and energy to start sharing some of my new fantastique recipes. This is one of my new favourite salads from the chef Denis Cotter's book 'For the love of food' which is so incredibly amazing and I can't believe I have only just found out about him. I feel like the rest of my blog for the next few months maybe a little shrine of his recipes as I am so desperate to try them all. Serves 4 2 medium aubergines, halved lengthways, cut into slices 1 cm thick 25g sunflower seeds 2 tsp soy sauce 400g broccoli salt and pepper For the bulghur 50g bulghur 4 tbsp olive oil 200g cooked chickpeas (either from a can or soak and cook your own) 2tsp cumin seeds 1 fresh chilli,...

serves 6 Asian dressing 4 limes juiced 20g palm sugar 1 red chilli finely diced 2cm piece ginger peeled and finely chopped 2 garlic cloves finely chopped Salad 2 handfuls peanuts roughly chopped half a bag bean sprouts 4 spring onions shredded 2 carrots grated 1/4 red cabbage sliced very thinly 2 red pepper thinly sliced handful mint leaves shredded big handful coriander chopped 400g rice noodles  For the dressing just mix all the ingredients together and let it sit for about 30 mins to let the flavours develop. Cook the noodles following the packet instructions and then run them under cold water to cool them down. Roast the peanuts in the oven at about 180˚ for 10-15 mins until nice and golden, then leave to cool. Mix all the veg and noodles together with the dressing then chop some coriander and mint through, taste for seasoning and then sprinkle the peanuts on top with some extra coriander

Easy peasy little tarts that are nice little starters or lunch ideas with salad. puff pastry cut into rounds caramelised onions goats cheese fresh thyme All you need to do is cut out rounds from the pastry, score a line about a cm next to the outside with a knife and spread the inside with the caramelised onion, cut some goats cheese and place on the top, drizzle with some olive oil, salt and pepper and thyme leaves. Egg wash the rim and cook in the oven on a lined baking tray for about 15-20 mins at 180˚C until the pastry is golden et voila, serve with a nice little green salad.

Heres another banger, so fresh, clean and summery and pretty colours too! serves 4 2 small fennel bulbs ½ red onion very thinly sliced juice and grated zest of 1 lime 2 garlic cloves, crushed 2 tbsp chopped dill 2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley 1 mild chilli, seeded and finely chopped 4 tbsp olive oil 16 tiger prawns, peeled and de-veined 1 tbsp sumac 2 tbsp chopped coriander pomegranate seeds to garnish Trim the bases and tops of the fennel, then slice widthways as thinly as you can, if you have a magimix you can use the thin slicer for super speedy slicing. Mix together with the onion, lime juice and zest, garlic, dill, parsley, chilli, 2 tbsps of the olive oil and ½ tsp of crunchy sea salt and set aside. Get a griddle pan smoking hot on the gas, meanwhile mix the prawns with the remainder of the olive oil and some salt. Grill them in small batches until they are golden, usually a minute on each side and then toss into the salad along with the coriander and sumac and give it a st...