Category: Store Cupboard Ingredients
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How to make crumpets
Gaylord will be the first to tell you that I am a messy cook. According to him, when he’s faced with the washing up which I always insist ‘really isn’t that much!’, I have somehow managed to use every pan that we own to make breakfast. In my defence, Turkish eggs – poached eggs served […]
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Peanut butter banana bread with caramel and chocolate
Finally, finally, after five years of writing on this old blog, I bring you peanut butter banana bread. The fact that this is my first recipe for banana bread is honestly shocking. Considering that for years I have kept a stash of bananas in my freezer for the entire purpose of a regular supply of […]
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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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The Best BLT
There’s been a change of plan. The essential guide to making your own French charcuterie board – taking us all one step closer to living with joie de vivre no matter where we are in the world – never got off the ground. Instead of cheese and cured meats, there came a vicious cold and […]
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Focaccia (and a heat wave)
The heat wave came without warning. I can’t really say the same for the focaccia though. That came from an all-consuming craving and addiction for salt-crusted cushion-soft bread, and no matter how many heat waves we suffer, there will always be a focaccia in this house. I have not experienced many heat waves in my […]
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Pear, chocolate and hazelnut scones
There’s been a week’s intermission from blogging and from France, but I can offer you some pear, chocolate and hazelnut scones as compensation, dear reader. I don’t look like a French native. My cheeks are almost ruddishly pink – something even my dad pointed out recently in a fairly critical manner (‘why are your cheeks […]
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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 […]
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The ultimate tuna melt
In my opinion, lunchtimes don’t get any better than a tuna melt, full of molten cheese. But can such perfection be improved? Nostalgia is a peculiar thing. Flavour is a major culprit. Just the smell of certain foods can transport us back to our childhoods – whether it’s a snack, drink or particular ice cream, […]
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French cooking: Tartiflette
I’ve eaten an eye-watering amount of processed meat recently. They say a diet of processed meat is bad for you, but when push comes to shove, I bet whoever ‘they’ are would submit to that meat coma with the rest of us. I emerged from this pork-induced fog after eating four-days’ worth of rillettes, saucisson, […]
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French cooking: Cherry clafoutis
And so, finally, six months later, I’m back in France! It’s almost unbelievable to think the last time I saw my boyfriend was on a dark, wet morning in December as he dropped me off at the airport, our last kiss between two face masks. At long last – Christmas, a birthday, and, oh yeah, […]