If the true meaning of Christmas is giving gifts which credit you with the greatest amount gratitude for the least amount of effort, then these truffles are a winner.
Double Chocolate Truffles
Butternut Squash, Spinach & Mushroom Lasagne
My sister gave us a pair of homegrown, slightly hen-pecked squashes this weekend. Whether the culprit was Dolores, Fifi, Jolene or Daphne, we’ll never know. Roj Blake models the ‘Item du jour’ in rebel chic. A bat-winged action-jerkin with ruched cuffs, peek-a-boo neckline and casual below-paunch cummerbund. Generously tailored in easy-care non-shrink chantilly, this garment offers multi-season comfort both in …
Anchovy Breadcrumb Spaghetti
Anchovies. Along with avocados, tomatoes, asparagus, olives, prawns, marmite, facon, cheese, oranges, garlic, toast, squid, potato salad, humous, peanut butter, roasted peppers, gherkins, cashews, mustard, pasta, eggs, butter beans, smoked salmon and beer, anchovies are my favourite food.
January King Cabbage with Ricotta Toasts
‘Dear Mr. Vernon, we accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong. But we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us. In the simplest terms. In the most convenient definitions. …
Seafood Tagliatelle
If you’re lucky enough to live by the sea or a Waitrose, then use fresh seafood for this recipe. If you live anywhere else on this island, you’ll have to use frozen.
Celeriac & Chestnut Soup
This one goes out to VJ ‘Mr Prudence‘ – anarchist, transphormetic blogger, psychic geographer, algorithmic obsessive and occasional ActionScript guru. The other day he confessed he was in possession of a celeriac and asked what he could possibly do with it. I’m afraid my advice was a dismissive “either mash it or chuck it in the bin” A melancholic celeriac …
Chickpea & Aubergine Casserole with Preserved Lemons
I preserved some lemons in brine a few months ago, but to be honest they started to scare me as they lay suspended in their jar like some jaundiced medical exhibit. So what to do with them? Well you could do a lot worse than making this simple but admittedly time-consuming casserole.
Spicy Lentil Soup
Now there’s a thing. If you go to lentil.com you just get a crappy illustration of ‘Lenny the Lentil’ and an email link, lentil.co.uk doesn’t seem to have been registered, and lentil.org is the blog site of a senior network engineer called Robert Lister. I mention this only because I can’t think of an introduction to this recipe.
Delia Smith’s Quick Wholemeal Rolls
Now I’m a big fan of Delia, although I appreciate that some people are less enthusiastic. Whatever your opinion, compared with the current crop of TV cooks whether they be two hairy geordies on bikes, a simpering goddess on prozac, or a Michelin starred narcisist on EVERYbleedinTHING, Delia shines out as a beacon of understated modesty and professionalism.
Herby Potato Gratin
Last week a report by the ‘World Cancer Research Fund’ found that among other things, bacon gives you cancer. The media gave this saturation coverage. At around the same time the German-based ‘Energy Watch Group’ concluded that global oil production peaked back in 2006. This barely got a mention.
Terroni & Sons, 138-140 Clerkenwell Road – RIP
So farewell then, Luigi Terroni & Sons, one of the best Italian delicatessens in London. Where the staff were friendly and knowledgable and you could buy a vast array of tasty foods. Cooked meats, cheese, bread, cakes, wine and pasta of all imaginable shapes and sizes. Now sadly ceased trading for reasons not explained, although doubtless yet another victim in …
Butternut Squash ravioli with Sage Butter
The butternut squash is the king of all the squashes, and right now it is squash season. So if you are feeling adventurous, have an afternoon to spare, and want to try something tasty then give this recipe a go.
Stilton and Cider Soup with Goat’s Cheese Toasts
If your local shop permits I advise a decent cider for this recipe – so put that White Lightning back on the park bench and try something tasty like this Henney’s Frome Valley Dry Cider.
Smoked Haddock Chowder
Flippin’ eck Tucker, one of the shops on the High Street is selling seven corn-on-the -cob for a pound and that is a bloomin’ bargain. Of course, sweetcorn is delicious eaten just as it comes, boiled or barbecued and simply accompanied with a knob of slowly melting butter, however tonight we decided upon this smoked haddock chowder.
‘Falafel’ Burger
If you like falafel and you like burgers, you’ll love this ‘falafel’ burger. Although perhaps as it is technically neither a falafel nor a burger it should be written ‘Falafel’ ‘Burger’ or perhaps ‘Falafel’ (Burger) or even “{‘Falafel’ [‘Burger’]}!”.
Spinach and Mushroom Fusilli
It’s nice to have a hobby, and one of ours is drinking strong Belgian beer. The Dovetail in Clerkenwell is a superb bar which claims to stock 101 different beers and who are we to question them. This is where we found ourselves last Friday evening for the traditional post-work, weekend-welcoming lager binge.
Garlic Soup
Try to get hold of large, plump garlic for this recipe. I always buy mine from market stalls which tend to sell bags of six for a quid. These are far superior to the over-priced, dry, miserable, mean-spirited, walnut-sized, dull 25 watt bulbs they sell in supermarkets.
Hot Stuffed Avocado
Poor Louie examines an avocado before losing a leg and drifting off into space. It has to be said that the avocado is one of my favourite vegetables (sorry fruit), so much so that whenever asked to supply a username for a website, I invariably type in RicardoAvocado. However, I had never cooked one having always assumed that it would …
Quick Light Wholemeal Loaf
Obviously what with the world as we know it ending in 2012 and all that, it could be argued that time is too precious to be squandered on baking bread. However, life and food are about quality not quantity, and besides as the title says, this is a ‘quick’ light wholemeal loaf.
Carrot Soup with Ginger & Honey
Being the middle-class ponces we are, it is only natural that we should take delivery of an Abel & Cole organic vegetable box once a week. Carrots have featured fairly heavily of late and as a result we have developed quite a backlog of the things.
Fish @ Whitstable
Giddy with excitement from rumours that there might be a glimpse of sunshine in the east, we drove down to the North Kent coast for a spot of camping. Cursory research led us to ‘Seaview Holiday Park’ in a small town called Swalecliffe midway between Whitstable and Herne Bay.