Category: Cookery Projects
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French recipe: 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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Nectarine Hand Pies with Creamy Cheesecake Filling
To do lists are all well and good, but they’re only satisfying if you can actually cross something off them. For once, I am proud to say that two tasks on my to do list can have a line drawn firmly through them, and this is particularly satisfying as these two tasks were hanging over…
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How to make gyozas
When you move to France, gyozas aren’t the first foods which come to mind. I should be writing a diary about all the baguettes and eclairs I eat, not Japanese finger foods. For those who are interested, I eat a lot of baguettes, but we had one with lunch today and it was a BIG…
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Orange and Ginger Sticky Toffee Pudding
Who knew a sticky toffee pudding could save the day? About week ago, I excitedly planned a list of recipes to write and test. I was probably lying in bed at the time and frustrated that it was night, hence the cooking could not commence immediately. Over the following days, I eagerly made rhubarb ketchup,…
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French recipe: Raspberry and Hazelnut Crème Brûlées
A crème brûlée is one of those delicate French desserts which we Brits adore and worship from afar but probably never attempt to make. Add it to the collection along with soufflé, mille-feuille and croquembouche. Even the name ‘crème brûlée’ doesn’t help (does it really need this many accents?!). I’ve started taking French lessons. I…
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Mocha Cinnamon Babka and Apricot Almond Babka
I first tried babka at Honey & Co. In their little restaurant on Warren Street, its white walls and plants whisking customers away from smoggy London to a momentary respite of sun-dappled tranquillity, there is a counter laden with tempting cakes and pastries. After a memorable meal, stuffed to the gills and discovering a new…
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French recipe: French Crêpes
As I predicted, moving abroad has its hurdles. I write this still awaiting my SIM card and with no bank account, not for the lack of trying. Administration in France is not easy at the best of times but add a pandemic and doors start gently closing with a perfunctory, ‘Désolé!’ Unlike French bureaucracy, that…
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The Wedding Cake Diaries II
And with that, it’s all over. I suddenly understand how it must feel the day after your wedding. You’ve worn the dress, the speeches have been made, and most importantly, the cake has been cut. A year and a half of planning and nervous excitement culminated this weekend with over one hundred somewhat drunk, happy…
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The Wedding Cake Diaries
Amidst all the cookies, trifles and fun frolics in the kitchen, every now and then you face a challenge that takes you outside your comfort zone and you turn on the oven with a flutter of trepidation. Dear reader, this week was one of those times. Last year my friend Joelle got engaged. Over an…
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Chocolate orange hot cross buns
Two years ago I baked hot cross buns. I was immersed in the depths of good old Lent and, thanks to my trusty loophole, I was rubbing my hands together in glee – finally, my Easter weakness was within reach and none of that old, miserly Mr Lent and his habit of distributing guilt attached.…