You can be a breast person or a leg-lover. A few may even be wingmen or women. But you can be sure nobody wants to be a friend to chopped liver. This delicious, nutrient-packed and inexpensive part of a chicken has always been treated like the ugly step sister. I think chicken livers deserve a second chance. It’s time to push aside the pates and bring on the pepper. Spices…
Rain on the phone in another continent, leaks into my ear, a hypnotizing drip-drip slowly flooding my brain. Drowned memories float up. Striped paper boats born from ripped pages of school notebooks, plastic raincoats smelling like a wrestler’s underarms, wrinkly toes squeaking in brimming school shoes and earthworms sneaking in through bathroom drains. In a different time, cups of coffee, seaside strolls, hormones and anticipation in the theatre of the…
Butternut squash is the king of autumn vegetables and I love it when it’s simply drizzled with olive oil, oven-roasted and seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. This gives it a sweet and caramelly…
Auburns, rusts and sepias are seeping into the landscape, slowly and surely painting over the greens. The purple-flowering Pride of India outside my kitchen window has a carpet of fallen leaves at its feet. Like slow tears, it sheds leaves all day and soon its white branches will be quite shorn of their proud plume. As much as I love summer and mentally resign myself to the inevitability of winter, the warm…
“Nice day for a white wedding…” drawled Billy Idol in his black voice on my phone as I wrestled (like I do everyday) with the lunch menu for a warm Saturday afternoon. His words lit the end of a long fuse in my brain, exploding in a star-burst of an idea to make a cold, white soup I’d seen in my newest cookbook – Fresh Spanish by Sergio Vasquez gifted to me by…
On any given day you are likely to find at least five types of fresh and/or dried chillies in my fridge and kitchen cupboard. I simply love the flavour variations of different chillies as does my family. Some are mild and sweet, some smoky, others fiery hot and still others that have a peppery tickle. Substituting one kind for another can drastically alter a dish, so it’s important to use…
Having survived a smothering by skies saturated with endless columns of cumulonimbus that almost caused a repeat of the Great Flood, I spent the first clear day chasing the sun at my local food market. During the rain, I sought the warm cocoon of spicy curries and deep, rich soups. But all that forced hibernation made me want to run out of my cave and inhale the freshly-spun sunshine. And the…
So, determined to end this tug-of-war, I decided to give a little to get a little (in simple terms, a healthy compromise). From my side I broke my meatless meal rule – but I did opt for very lean meat. And for his part he agreed to a ‘more veggies with a little meat’ dish (which was great!) The peace having been brokered, I made a Thai-style meatball and rice…
I like to keep things simple. But it’s not easy in a world that wants to complicate life with more. Going out for ice cream can be a nightmare – choosing between Haagen Dazs and Baskin Robbins; maybe consider frozen yoghurt, sorbet or gelato as well. Next step, flavours – fruity, cheesecakey, with chocolate chips, swirly…nuts? Do I want it in a cup (regular or large), normal or waffle cone?…
Making kids eat beet is a bit like subjecting them to Schubert or Mozart, while their souls swing to the hip-hop beat. In fact, I know most people aren’t nuts about beetroot, and that’s precisely why I tried this salad. I wanted to make beets cool. Most times they are seen on cheffy dishes -watched TV and then forgotten. But there’s a reason why chefs are cooking so much with…