In all my years of visiting and living in France, how is that I never knew about a gem- the port town of Honfleur? It’s got to be one of the prettiest villages in France. This picturesque Normandie town was the second stop of a Fred Olsen river cruise. Honfleur has echoing small streets with…
Recipes
British Weekends: Winchester and recipe for wasabi/cream cheese gyoza
I’m re-acquainting myself with British history via TV series such as The Last Kingdom and Vikings. Both series feature the ninth century King Alfred, whose capital was in Winchester, in the former county of ‘Wessex’. Winchester is dominated by an enormous bronze statue of Alfred the Great, so called because he was the first monarch…
Five ways to cook Brussels sprouts
There are many different ways to cook sprouts, my favourite method is braising, that is par-boiling in salty water for five minutes then transferring them into a frying pan to sauté. This recipe is so delicious that I must confess to scoffing the lot, by myself, in one sitting. I do like to combine Brussels…
Warming Aberdeen recipes: Cullen Skink and Sticky Toffee Pudding
Findon, near Aberdeen, is known for the Finnan haddock, which makes the best Cullen Skink. I had a delicious bowl of this soup at The Silver Darling restaurant, overlooking the harbour. Aberdeen competes with the Lake District and Canada to claim that this is where Sticky Toffee Pudding was invented. Here are my versions of these comforting warming dishes,…
An Indian supper club in Bombay
I started my underground restaurant almost ten years ago. I couldn’t afford to set up a restaurant of my own (average cost to set up a restaurant in London is around a million quid), so I decided to use my own home. Ruminating on the idea since visiting Cuba in 2000, things really took off…
Halloween recipes
We think of pumpkins as an autumnal North American food, although I was disappointed to discover that they usually buy canned when baking pumpkin pie. There is a wide selection of pumpkins and squashes: from giant pin cushion style of Turban Squash, to spaghetti squash, or the dense sweet flesh of acorn squash and butternut….
Food in Madhya Pradesh
Here are a couple of recipes that I learnt while travelling in Madhya Pradesh plus some general thoughts on Indian food. Everything is Indian in India. That’s part of what is so great about travelling here. Unlike most of the world where high streets are identical, India is just so bloody Indian. Especially the food….
British Army catering, visiting 167 Catering corps in Grantham
“An army marches on its stomach” Napoleon The military is responsible for many advances in food technology: it was Napoleon that put out the call to invent a method of canning. French chef Alexis Soyer created the Soyer oven for British troops during the Victorian era, which lasted from the Crimean war until the Falklands…
Picnic at Waterlow Park
What a memorable summer it has been. We are lucky north of the river Thames to have green spaces to enjoy the good weather. But Hampstead Heath has been jam-packed with crowds vying for fresh air and shade, with queues for the ponds. This weekend I visited Waterlow Park, one of North London’s lesser known…
Here’s Jonny’s… vegan cheese!
Two years ago Jonny Moore designed and sold kitchens. Now he’s one of the UK’s top vegan cheese makers. From his tiny kitchen in Northamptonshire, he’s founded a thriving food business, the Naturally Vegan Food Company which manufactures vegan cheeses. Despite sounding like a contradiction in terms, vegan cheese is improving all the time. I even…