welcome to yumblog.co.uk

Although the fridge has now all but emptied of Christmas goodies the cheese compartment is still heavy with half-eaten lumps, wheels and wedges of every variety of soft, hard, blue, holey, mature and goat. It has become clear that the occasional lunchtime snack is never going to make much headway into this cheesey surplus and [...]

[Read more →]

Restaurants in the Dordogne serve them under the name of ‘Pois Détrempés’; in Italy they are commonly known as ‘Piselli Pastosi’ and are a popular filling for ravioli; the Germans claim ‘Deutsche Matschig Erbsen’ to be their national dish, and of course the Spanish love nothing more than a tapas of ‘Guisantes Fofos’. Here in [...]

[Read more →]

In some parts of the world it is still illegal to smother a cabbage, but thankfully not in Italy where this recipe originates.

[Read more →]

…and so to the second Simon Hopkinson dish.

[Read more →]

…a simple refreshing salad.

[Read more →]

The beauty of this recipe is you can kid yourself you are eating a healthy authentic Mediterranean potato dish when in fact you are just scoffing fancy chips.

[Read more →]

If you fancy two of your five-a-day smothered in cheese sauce then this is the recipe for you.

[Read more →]

Oft of a weekend we don disguises, dodge the border guards, dash across the metaphorical railway tracks and stealthily enter the sanctuary of E9 – aka Victoria Park Village. VPV (as I am sure it is referred to by Foxtons) is a culinary oasis in the otherwise apocalyptic wasteland of Costcutters and sub-KFC-style ‘restaurants’ which [...]

[Read more →]

The following recipe can be found in this month’s edition of the excellent Wa’ro Kitchen Magazine. Its creator is Gill Meller – head chef River Cottage HQ … not to be confused with the annoying pointy sideburned twat who has featured heavily in HF-W programmes of late.

[Read more →]

4. Potato and Onion Gratin Remarkably after only 4 (admittedly onion heavy) meals, we have reached the end of our £2 sack of onions. On this occasion they were consenting adults in a cheeky extramarital foursome with potatoes, cream and cheese – resulting in this very rich and even verier delicious gratin.

[Read more →]

For anyone who hasn’t eaten this butter and cheese laden French take on mashed potato let me tell you it is more comforting than being hugged by a 6 foot Angora rabbit with a PhD in Applied Cuddling. More comforting than lying in a bath of warm Lenor as a Labrador puppy nuzzles your neck [...]

[Read more →]

I’ll never forget the charming little threadbare street vendor on the dusty corner of Presa Las Virgenes and Paseo de la Reforma where we would regularly purchase our Elotes at the end of a frantic day’s shoot. We’d take these tasty corn ‘popsicles’ up to the terracotta rooftops of our rambling majestic casa and accompanied [...]

[Read more →]

The question mark is there because if eaten immediately this is a thick wholesome soup, but if left in the fridge overnight and eaten cold, it miraculously transforms into a tasty bean salad. Two different foodstuffs for the price (and effort) of one. Well bargain, innit.

[Read more →]

Anaheim peppers are essentially mild with an unexpected and pleasing peppery warmth which registers a modest 500 to 2,500 on the Scoville scale. If you can’t get hold of them use the common or garden red pepper and cut it into 1 – 2cm strips.

[Read more →]

This recipe is from the poetically titled and yet to be published ‘Purple Citrus and Sweet Perfume‘ by Silvena Rowe which was featured in the latest OFM. If this and the other published recipes are anything to go by, this particular publication could well be joining the myriad cookbooks gracing the West Wall of the [...]

[Read more →]

In case you didn’t know (and why should you, I didn’t until I came across the recipe) Bagna Cauda is a pungent garlic and anchovy dip which is a great accompaniment to raw vegetables and crusty bread. There are many subtle variations on the recipe and as this one comes from Heston Blumenthal, it is [...]

[Read more →]

Exhausted by the weeks of avoiding the electioneering and depressed at the prospect that this would no doubt be our last weekend under an (admittedly crap) Labour government, we felt the need for something both fortifying and cheery for breakfast. Turning to a small Yotam Ottolenghi recipe book which had recently plopped out of the [...]

[Read more →]

If our recent trip to Prague is anything to go by, it would appear the only vegetarian option available in the Czech Republic is deep fried Edam with boiled potatoes. Nothing wrong with that of course – cheese and spuds are two of my favourite food groups especially if the former is heavily grated over [...]

[Read more →]

What better way to round off a sunday in which not only have you built the worlds most magnificent shelving ‘solution’ from scratch (and wood) but also found the time to watch a (double) episode from the forth (and darkest) season of BSG than by sitting down with your (lovely) co-blogger and eating this hearty, [...]

[Read more →]

I found this Lemony Cheese delight in a back issue of the excellent Donna Hay magazine – the eponymous title from food editor, best-selling cookery writer, and from what I can gather, Queen of Australia.

[Read more →]

Take one Guardian Weekend magazine and one quandary about what to feed Archaeologist T. Realise that multiple small dishes that can be dipped into at a fixed pace are just the thing. Go to the market and buy fish. The market being a fish stall on Roman Road just round the corner, these fish were [...]

[Read more →]

If you follow the link you’ll discover this young Gorgonzola came to us from Sardinia via Acton. Roasted Tomato and Gorgonzola Tarts with Balsamic Vinegar Caramel

[Read more →]

One Saturday we decided to get up and do the shopping before breakfast. Hard to imagine, but true. We went to the fish stall round the corner and witnessed it in it’s full bounteous glory. Indeed such was my excitement that I went crazy and bought shrimps for to make potted shrimps. Tis lucky that [...]

[Read more →]

This layered jellified curiosity comes from Gregg (Beefy beefy mushrooms) Wallace’s book ‘VEG!!!‘. The exclamation marks are mine of course.

[Read more →]

Here’s a simple spicy little snack/starter from Gregg ‘beefy beefy mushrooms’ Wallace.

[Read more →]

In accordance with government guidelines and the criteria laid down by the Foods Standards Agency (FSA) (and because you are all, dear readers, lazy obese mollycoddled porcine cretins incapable of making a decision unless the myriad complexities of an issue are reduced to a simple 3-digit number) yumblog will in future state the calorific value [...]

[Read more →]

There are scurrilous allegations in today’s papers that Yumblog NEVER signed for Glasgow Rovers and NEVER played a first team game for them – despite saying so repeatedly on TV, radio and in print. Yumblog is sticking with the porkies told in our autobiography ‘Yumble Pie’ that we were in fact the Glasgow giants’ star [...]

[Read more →]

Yet more allegations that Yumblog, 42, has been having a sordid (and utterly predictable) affair with a desperate publicity-seeking blonde slapper, 37. This is of course untrue, and to prove our innocence we bribed bought Mrs Yumblog, 33, a fucking massive diamond ring from fucking Theo Fennell!

[Read more →]

Rumours abound that Yumblog Holdings has breached its banking covenants (whatever that means) and that perhaps the Yumblog franchise is not the cash cow it once used to be. We would like to rigorously refute these allegations and point out that all of our ventures (including Yumblog at Claridges, Yum in Grosvenor Square, Ad Nauseyum [...]

[Read more →]

Another recipe purloined from Dan ‘Pour some sugar on me’ Lepard, which was in turn of other provenance, but such is cooking, dishes are passed from one to another and in doing so they evolve. Talking of Darwin, he was 200 the other day you know and Google honoured this on their homepage. I wonder [...]

[Read more →]

This recipe is for my dad who misses the rostis my mum used to make but has so far been unsuccessful in his attempts to recreate them. There are many ways to rosti a potato – purists would have you boil them first and leave to rest overnight before peeling and grating; others would urge [...]

[Read more →]

OK, so it looks as if this particular fish had its fingers variously crushed in a freak piscine industrial accident, but they are tasty nevertheless. Tastier than Cap’n Birdseye’s even.

[Read more →]

For the definitive yuletide Gratin Dauphinois recipe to accompany the also-blogged lettuce-wrapped bass we turned to Larousse Gastronomique.

[Read more →]