Category: Sides
-
Cauliflower, pine nuts, salsa verde
I made a cauliflower dish for lunch the other day. It was roasting in the oven, the salsa verde was patiently resting, the pine nuts were on the right side of toasted, when I looked in the fridge to see what else I could grab for us to eat alongside. Aside from a wedge of…
-
Babaganoush
Pyromania is a curiosity we all possess. We all went through that worrying childhood phase of literally playing with fire (I refuse to believe I was the only one) and I think a love of cooking is simply an extension of that. Take blowtorching something for instance. It really is a dangerous tool to give…
-
Peanut butter fudge sauce
In a week of Valentine’s Day and Pancake Day, here I am offering you peanut butter fudge sauce. It’s a poor replacement, I know. But I hope it counts, dear reader. During these ceaseless months of lockdown, I have become very attached to my food. I’m sure we all have. Instead of kissing the person…
-
Blood oranges with spiced caramel
Every season, there is a fickle, flighty fruit or vegetable which, as soon as I get my grubby mitts on it, takes all my energy and forces me to neglect other foods. They are allusive creatures. Here today then they disappear in a wisp of fragrance, leaving us mournful in their wake, wondering what we…
-
Miso and lime mayonnaise
The first dish we learnt to make at cookery school was mayonnaise. We all stood at our work benches, buttoned up securely in our fresh, spotless whites, hair snugly packed into caps, clattering a whisk around a metal bowl of egg yolk, slowly dripping the oil in off the prongs of a fork. Dip the…
-
Winter spice marinated goat’s cheese
Much like this year in general, this Christmas has been an excuse for my family to bake. My dad provided the Christmas pud in all its nutty, fruity glory, warm from his slow cooker. My sister made the post-Christmas trifle with layers of homemade sherry-soaked sponge, fruit, cream and chocolate shards, and my mum spontaneously…
-
Hazelnut butter
It’s good and familiar to be near a lovingly-stocked kitchen. The cupboards are full of jars and spices and pastes, all the accoutrements that take time to collect. In our new kitchen in Toulouse, our cupboards don’t even have an order, unless you call ‘wherever you can find space, that’s where it goes’ order. The…
-
Lockdown 2.0: France – Coriander and shallot sauce
Amidst the tumult of the last few months; the pandemics and politics, the masks, the job losses, and the general upheaval, I’ve quietly moved to France. It really was quiet – it was just me and a suitcase or two – and after a tight hug with my mum at Heathrow, I donned my mask…
-
Watermelon and feta salad
I was born in bleak mid-January, so, naturally, I have become accustomed to a cold, wintery birthday. It comes with the territory. Like all occasions, you shape the celebration to the season and I have hosted a number of wintery parties. For instance, the Valentine’s Day-themed sleepover which involved a hideous microwaved Skittles concoction (why…
-
Pickled cucumber
My dad has a weakness for pickles. Or, should I more accurately say, food preserved in jars. He has been graciously granted the top shelf of the fridge to keep all these misshapen glass jars, usually full of something bloated and discoloured suspended in liquid, and I have habitually looked past this section of the…