It feels a bit out of season to be blogging this on a glorious May day, as I always make it for a Boxing Day buffet. But it makes a tasty weekend lunch or it would be great for a picnic. I recently used a tin of tuna instead of the smoked mackerel and that […]

This was a student favourite – before the days of even thinking about authenticity or difficult-to-follow recipes, it was just ‘curry’. What you needed midweek to give you an excuse to make poppadoms. I always used chicken on the bone – thighs, drumsticks or a mix as it’s more flavourful and doesn’t dry out like […]

There was a brisket joint at the butchers last week – it was cheap, looked good and with a Bank Holiday looming, I figured it was bound to be slow-cooking weather. So in the inevitable pissing rain, I  went searching for a recipe this morning. I’ve never cooked it before and my only real reference point was […]

You can’t beat a home-made pie – it’s up there with soup and a cracking roast in terms of ‘most comforting things to cook’ in my book. And it doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming, thanks to frozen pastry. Turkey or chicken and ham pie is a fantastic way to turn leftovers into […]

You know how The Colonel has a secret blend of spices for his fried chicken – well, I’ve got one too. Only it’s not a secret because I’m about to share it. I use it for traditional ‘Southern Fried’ coating for fish, chicken, turkey or fish. Recently I’ve taken to doing a final coat of panko […]

I’d never seen oxtails until the butcher had some a few weeks ago. I had to give them a go and the only thing I knew about them was they needed very slow cooking. I have to say though, I think this might be one of my favourite things I’ve cooked for a long time. I […]

Such an easy dish, this. Takes no time to cook and livens up a tea time very easily – perfect to make a pork chop or chicken thigh a little bit more exciting. And saves on making a separate sauce. Pop the oven on to 200 decC to get warm. Separate a cauliflower into florets […]

This is 20 minute tea that came about from a Friday-night need for something quick to cook with fish. It’s mostly ‘store cupboard’ ingredients too which helps in a busy week. I used a smoked haddock fillet (a favourite at the moment) but I’d make this with cod or coley too I think. Maybe even a […]

I make this a lot. Anything with mash needs onion gravy, it’s perfect with sausages and it worked really well with the recent faggot recipe. It’s inspired by a brilliant book – Just Like Mother Used to Make by Tom Norrington-Davies. It bears little resemblance to the original now after a few years of playing about with […]

Faggots and peas for tea has been a recent discovery. They were a favourite of my dad’s for a Saturday lunch but I always thought they were pretty grim. On a whim about a year ago I tried some from the butchers at the local market – they’re amazing! This weekend they didn’t have any […]