Category: Dinner Parties & Entertaining
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Classic lasagne with three cheeses
Before you immediately click off this recipe because of course you know how to make lasagne, or you may even be apologetically shrugging as if to say ‘so sorry Ally but my mum’s recipe for lasagne is unbeatable’, I’m just going to quickly say – you haven’t tried this lasagne. And I’m also going to […]
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How to make the best charcuterie board
It was during my first visit to see Gaylord in France that I realised how seriously the French take charcuterie. While it took me another year to eat snails, then a whole year after that I finally encountered frogs legs, charcuterie has been a weekly snack since my plane touched down in 2020. As you […]
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Moist carrot cake with maple cream cheese frosting
Unlike many bakers, I didn’t grow up baking at my grandmother’s knee. In fact, my most regular activity in my granny’s kitchen was drying the dishes after each meal (can you even qualify that as a skill? – ‘oh her baking is delicious’ ‘you haven’t seen anything, just watch her dry up’). My granny was […]
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Prawn ceviche with avocado
Our evening binge-TV is Modern Family. There are 11 seasons so it looks like we’re covered until next summer (who am I kidding, we’ll be finished in a month). In an episode we watched the other night, a character lamented, ‘Do you remember when summer meant fireflies, cut-off shorts and ice cream trucks?’ Do I […]
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Burrata salad with courgette, basil and pistachios
At the beginning of the summer, the thought that one day I might be sick of salads was a laughable concept. Fresh, cold and crunchy, salads was everything the weather was not as here, the south of France has been balancing on the cusp of 40C for more days than I care to remember, and […]
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Spaghetti vongole
Many great spaghetti dishes are ready in under 15 minutes. Aside from a slow-cooked ragu or a Bolognese, a spaghetti dinner gives you little time to prepare yourself, whether that’s finishing an email, video game or conversation before it’s on the table, steaming its way into a gluey tangle. Carbonara, spaghetti aglio e olio (the […]
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French cooking: Spiced apricot tarte tatin
I’ve never kept it a secret that I’m a winter girl at heart. My favourite foods usually involve pastry or suet, I mean, I love lard for goodness’ sake. However, I will admit defeat in favour of summer fruits. This season can claim proud responsibility for the best fruits of the year. One of those […]
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No-churn cherry ripple ice cream
I have been living and breathing cream for the last week. My cream-focused projects have ranged from both ends of the heat spectrum, from baking a dish of it for 12 hours, to plopping it whipped and cloudy into a loaf tin before freezing. And as this blog post is titled ‘no-churn cherry ripple ice […]
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Spaghetti with prawns and whisky sauce
In my opinion, it’s not a habit to serve spaghetti and prawns with whisky. Correct me if I’m wrong. To me, whisky is that unfathomable drink, ferociously harsh and unapologetically alcoholic, which lawyers manage to knock back without even a grimace in courtroom dramas. But this unusual combination of spaghetti with prawns and whisky sauce […]
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Strawberry-miso French toast muffins
We have all heard of French toast. But French toast muffins? With strawberry and miso? What is this madness? Last weekend, I hosted a brunch. This wasn’t my first foray into breakfast parties as I’d cooked a spread of pancakes for my 26th birthday, and we all got drunk on Bloody Marys. As usual I […]