Food In My Home

I have been in the Loire Valley for the last three weeks working for a lovely family with four kids, there has been lots of spaghetti on the walls, wine drinking, chocolatey faces and bum pinching from a certain naughty four year old. We are staying in a big Chateaux and my bedroom in in a turret so I am now calling myself Rapunzel, although no french men have been at my window trying to climb up my hair yet! Here is a nice little recipe from Jamie Oliver for smoked trout pate which I have been doing as a little addition to summer lunches. So unbelievably easy to make, just mix in a bowl or chuck into a magimix for a smoother pate. serves 6-8 125g cream cheese 2-3 heaped teaspoons jarred horseradish 1 lemon small bunch of chives finely chopped 125g hot smoked trout or salmon, skin removed sea salt and pepper Mix the cream cheese with the horseradish, zest from the lemon and half of the juice. Mix in most of the fresh chives just leaving a few to sprinkle on the top when you serve it. S

It's been scorching for the last two weeks, and I can't even even brag to my friends back in England because apparently it's 30˚C there too which is totally unheard of! This recipe should appeal to all hot people out there because it's cold...whoopee and it's healthy unlike the other cold thing you eat...ice cream, which is yummy too. Maybe have one after since you will be so full of goodness! serves 4 1 cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped 2 red peppers, seeded and roughly chopped 5-6 tomatoes, skinned 2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced a small handful of basil leaves 1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil generous salt and pepper handful of white/wholemeal bread, no crusts You can use bread thats a day old for this as you soak it in a little water until it goes soggy. I would use something like ciabatta or a nice brown loaf. Put the bread in a bowl and pour over some water and leave to soak, once soggy squeeze and put in the magimix or blen

I am still loving France apart from the fact that I am meant to be brown by now and the sun has not come out nearly enough. We have become totally obsessed with eating fish since we are a 5 minute bike ride from the port where there is a market every day with the fisherman arriving with their catch from the morning. It also helps that it's so cheap! The only place I have ever bought fresh crab is straight from Ken the fisherman in north Wales where I have spent my summers by the sea every year since forever. It has always been a bit of a tradition to name them, so since our crab was french we named him Clemence, and he was very tasty...merci Clemence! This is a delicious, simple way to eat crab. You can buy the white meat from the supermarket or fishmonger too if you don't fancy cooking the crab and picking the meat out yourself. Also if you don't like the brown meat then just use the white meat and give the brown to your cat instead. serves 5 1 large male crab about 1kg or

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 160˚

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,