Category: Vegan

  • 10-Minute Peanut Noodles

    10-Minute Peanut Noodles

    France may be one of the world’s capitals of cuisine, but not a lot of French food gets churned out of my kitchen. Don’t get me wrong, there are the dauphinois when the weather is colder, then clafoutis – both cherry and peach – when it eventually gets warmer again. Toulouse is famous for its…

  • French recipe: Ratatouille Without Aubergine

    French recipe: Ratatouille Without Aubergine

    I hate to admit it, but the Paris portrayed in movies is magical. It’s called the City of Light for a reason, and I don’t know who could leave unaffected by the Eiffel Tower lighting up like a glittering beacon over the city. Well, Gaylord, to be honest. He is Parisian. I don’t think those…

  • 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…

  • Coconut and Passion Fruit Panna Cottas

    Coconut and Passion Fruit Panna Cottas

    For my 11th birthday, I had a Valentine’s Day themed sleepover party. Paper hearts in shades of pink and red were stuck to the walls, my mum and sister came up with a St Valentine quiz for me and my friends, and there was a ‘baking’ competition that involved the microwave and melted Skittles and…

  • The 4 Best Healthy Breakfast Smoothies

    The 4 Best Healthy Breakfast Smoothies

    Desperation drove me into a health food shop the other day. It was an unusual day regardless of the health shop. It was a day dressed up to look like #newyearnewme, the only thing missing was a towel slung around my shoulders and a bottle of green juice or one of my newly acquired healthy…

  • Easy Stovetop Maple Pecan Granola

    Easy Stovetop Maple Pecan Granola

    It’s often at this time of day – around 4pm – that my stomach alarm clock tinkles gently. It’s not the alarming buzz of the one which always inconveniently rings whenever there’s a moment of silence whilst in company; my physio is very polite and hasn’t mentioned it yet. But at 4pm I am alerted…

  • How to Make Easy Crumpets

    How to Make Easy Crumpets

    I haven’t inherited much in terms of features from my dad, but using all the kitchen equipment for one meal seems to be genetic trait. 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…

  • How to Make Fluffy Focaccia (and survive a heat wave)

    How to Make Fluffy Focaccia (and survive a heat wave)

    The heat wave came without warning. Although I can’t say the same for the focaccia. That came from an all-consuming craving 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 life. This is…

  • The 4 Best Pickles

    The 4 Best Pickles

    There is something utterly charming about France beyond the bicycles, baguettes and éclairs, and that’s their love of jars. Chickpeas, crème fraiche, and my precious pâtés and rillettes all come in elegant glass jars, and it’s just so rustic and homely scraping crème fraiche out of a jar, why don’t we do it everywhere? Recycling…

  • Fig and thyme jam

    Fig and thyme jam

    October seems to be the perfect month for me to make jam. Last year I filled some mini jars with bramble jam – mini purely because of the blackberry curse that haunts me – and although that is literally when the tradition started, I would like to it continue. This year it’s time to celebrate…