Easy slaw

It’s taken me a long time to be a fan of coleslaw. Scarred by childhood memories of gloopy overly vinegary stuff from tubs and at the other extreme overly wholesome versions with yoghurt and stale nuts,I’ve always approached the dish with caution. But my husband is a big fan and so I thought ‘how hard can it be’to make a good version…so I tried.

At first I refused to add any extra vinegar,the recipes got a modest thumbs up but the comments ‘too thick’. Then in summer last year there was a twitter conversation about making [...]

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Talking turkey

turkey displaying plummage

It’s pretty much the hottest day of the year and I’m about to eat a full Christmas dinner in deepest Berkshire. Just what is going on. Especially as I’m not turkey’s number one fan. It’s okay but to date its not had a guaranteed place on my christmas table….

When I was a kid we always had roast turkey for Christmas dinner and it was good,but it never seemed as nice as the excitement it generated amongst everyone else. For me it was never quite a tasty and juicy as roast chicken. Maybe the plethora of trimmings overshadowed [...]

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Warming stew:Lentejas

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Its pouring with rain today in London making the autumn evening dark even sooner…whats needed is a warming stew.

I’ve made this one a few times but the first time I did was back in early 2010 when the lovely people at Orce Serrano Hams sent me some of their chorizo and morcilla to try. This dish adapted from the Moro cookbook seemed the perfect way to try them out.

It’s pretty easy and quite and of course you can use chorizo and black pudding sourced in the UK but the Orce morcilla was something truly special,well worth [...]

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Soups and Stocks

Roasted root vegetable soup with cheese

Although spring definitely feels like it might be on the way some days are still pretty cold and so a warming soup is just what’s needed,here’s some thoughts on soup I wrote for Francoise Murat &Associates newsletter in January. I think I might just have soup for lunch tomorrow.

January is a funny month. For some people it feels slow and difficult,winter is most definitely with us,its cold and its dark,summer seems such a long way off whichever way you look at it. For others it’s a chance to think afresh of a new year [...]

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Festive menu,part 3 (all about chestnuts)

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Yesterday I told you about the cheese terrine we had for starters today its all about the chestnuts…mainly so you can make the chestnut stuffing from my festive menu but also so I can share my most recent blog for Francoise Murat Design on Christmassy foods and which also includes a fab chestnut jam and a chocolatey chestnut cake…so here it is….. (first posted 8 December the cakes are actually made now!)

One of the wonderful things about Christmas is the fact that there are lots of chances to cook up delicious meals and food gifts for [...]

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Festive menu,part 1

I’m sure everyone has their festive menu’s already sorted. Their shopping list written,deliveries planned,meat ordered and so on. Down to the last detail. So my festive might have come to late. But if you are dithering then read on (and into the remaining parts as they appear) you might find some inspiration. And for those who have everything planned out with military precision well you might find some ideas for surpluses or things to make if you can’t get what you need for your menu on your final dash to the shops.

I cooked this menu last weekend [...]

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The fat of the land

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This post was originally published in early November in Francois Murat Design newsletter. Although the apple season is pretty much at an end now many varieties store well so this is still a lovely dish to make over the coming cold months……

Autumn is well and truly here,the nights are drawing in,the weather is cooling day by day. Many of the fruits and vegetables are harvested. Those that can be have been turned into preserves of various kinds or carefully stored away to be used over the winter months.

Apples are still with us and there are varieties [...]

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ideas…

british sandwiches pasta potatoes competition mayo garden chutney coffee tomato asparagus foraging quick spring chocolate salad lunch challenge wild garlic breakfast stock summer herbs roast chicken english #livelocal suffolk toast lemon seasonal chicken bread soup/stew rhubarb blogging curry cheese pork twitter mushroom Dan Lepard lamb beef leftovers sourdough
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food snippets…