Category: Starters

  • Fig and Caramelised Onion Flatbreads

    Fig and Caramelised Onion Flatbreads

    And at last, figs are here. The bounty of the season! Let’s frolic under heaving fig trees or shove armfuls of them into our bags-for-life at the market. Make snow angles in the teetering piles of them building up all around us. Or not. You may be thinking that a fig and caramelised onion flatbread…

  • Halloumi and Blistered Tomato Panzanella

    Halloumi and Blistered Tomato Panzanella

    This week, I’ve been back in the UK. There was my friend’s joyously happy wedding day and I was very grateful I’d found an unopened waterproof eyeliner in my make up bag because woah turned out I needed it – the sniffles from me and my friends during the speeches could have been harmonised. Then,…

  • Coronation Chicken with Roasted Grapes

    Coronation Chicken with Roasted Grapes

    What I particularly love about coronation chicken is the fact that it’s not much to look at, yet it was conjured into existence purely because it was inspired by royalty. Surely royals eat fruits carved into swans, mousses, and vegetables suspended in aspic? But here you have what is essentially a quick, cold chicken curry.…

  • The Ultimate Pigs in Blankets

    The Ultimate Pigs in Blankets

    France is big on the potted meats, as you are probably aware, and never more so than at Christmas. This time a year ago, I was complaining about the sheer amount of meat I’d been guzzling. I can’t say the same for this year though, and that is because I’ve been trying out an anti-inflammatory…

  • Christmas Prawn Cocktail

    Christmas Prawn Cocktail

    I try to remain cliché-free when it comes to my blog posts and recipes – ideally, I’d like turn up each week with something unexpected, much like that batty aunt who appears in a kaftan and a new boyfriend every other visit. However, at certain times of year predictability is inevitable. The most predictable of…

  • The 4 Best Toast Toppings

    The 4 Best Toast Toppings

    The easiest snack in the world. It’s a piece of cake, or should I say, toast. And the great thing about this snack is the fact there is such a thing as toast toppings. If there is a snack that can withstand all weathers, it is toast. From Welsh rarebit dripping with cheese in the…

  • French recipe: Creamy Leek and Potato Soup

    French recipe: Creamy Leek and Potato Soup

    To quote Elizabeth Gilbert, since living in France, “I’ve been doing rude things to my body.” However, it seems unlikely that this leek and potato soup will help. While Liz made sweet love to pizza and pasta and gelato in Rome over the course of four months in her book ‘Eat, Pray, Love’, I have…

  • How to Build a French Charcuterie Board

    How to Build a French 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…

  • Burrata Salad with Courgette, Basil and Pistachios

    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 in the south of France, the temperature has been balancing on the cusp of 40C for more days than I care…

  • French recipe: Crab Soufflés

    French recipe: Crab Soufflés

    To conclude February, my food bucket list of 2022 begins, commencing with these light, creamy crab soufflés, an easy yet outrageously decadent lunch for you to treat yourself! In case you missed it, I’ve chosen 10 delicious recipes to make this year – a hopefully easy-to-achieve number, especially as I’ve waited until 27th February to…