How to cook

Saag paneer

12th December 2023

I know I’m supposed to tell you that this recipe was etched on to a banana leaf for me by some village elder in the remote backwaters of Kerala, but that would be a lie. It is a curry that I made one evening when dinner needed to be on the table fast. And it […]

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Pumpkin and thyme tart

5th December 2023

This tart is a riff of a basic I have been cooking since I started catering; a shamelessly shop-bought pastry case full of vegetables and a quiche like filling. Sometimes there is cheese, sometimes there is spice, there is always delicious. They seem to be popular with the resident toddler, but most importantly of all, […]

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Quick sausage & butter bean stew

21st November 2023

Everybody in the world seemed to have an opinion and advice about weaning my tiny baby onto solid food; there was less information out there for this stage, a year on, where that tiny baby is, well, a little less tiny and has actual opinions and things. I mean, it hasn’t really come as a […]

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Lemon & thyme roast chicken

18th July 2023

I have learned that a roast chicken is one of Mr P’s love languages. Srsly. Unfortunately I always forget this fact until I actually roast a chicken, and he starts voluntarily doing The Crap Jobs We Both Hate and hanging out washing and all sorts of things. I mean, I could probably use roasting a […]

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Pan con tomate

19th June 2023

I really, really, really hate the fact that pretty much everything essential to being a vaguely content and functioning individual is now an aspirational video on some kind of social media. A quick jump into the shower with whatever shower gel was on offer that floated my boat (always, always, always the citrus smelling ones […]

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Sweetcorn Fritters

Sweetcorn fritters

30th May 2023

I promise not to wang on so much that you have to scroll for a solid five minutes just to get to the actual recipe, but sweetcorn fritters were the first thing I made for a breakfast club. It was quite pioneering, way back when, the breakfast club. I mean, avocados weren’t quite such a […]

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A simple baked potato

16th January 2023

I promise I don’t think that you actually need a recipe for a baked potato.  But you almost certainly need a reminder to make a baked potato, for it is a truly glorious thing. Yes, you need to get it cooking ages before you actually want to eat, which is very annoying as it is […]

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Leek & potato soup

16th January 2023

I genuinely think this might be the thing I cook the most. I know food writers say this kind of thing all the time, and if they actually ate what they said they did as often as they say they do, there would be literally no meals left for eating out or trying something new […]

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Caramalised onion frittata

16th January 2023

Once upon a very long time ago, I took a solo trip to London and ended up having the most fabulous lunch at the bar of Barrafina where I was introduced to sherry for the first time and my wide eyed enthusiasm for it all was rewarded by them simply asking my budget (not all […]

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