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…
Vegetarian
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…
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….
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…
Pictures from the botanical supper club with author Emma Mitchell
This was a collaboration made in heaven, myself and Emma Mitchell, star instagrammer and author of Making Winter. Emma taught people how to make silver jewellery using nature finds from my garden and I created a botanical lunch. Menu: Home-made creme de cassis with white wine Crudites with green goddess dip Mexican black bean soup…
A riot of colour: rainbow vegetables with soba noodles
I believe in eating the rainbow: choosing colourful vegetables to enhance a meat-free diet. The best cooking emerges from shopping well. Look for purple and white carrots, burgundy cauliflowers, or ivory aubergines. Here I’ve used inky mangetout, golden courgettes, sun coloured tomatoes, pale mauve aubergines, a symphony in yellow and purple, on a bed of…
Potato and cauliflower ‘fondue’ soup
My New Years’ resolutions: 1. Make soup 2. Eat soup I don’t eat enough soup. It always seems a pfaff. But it isn’t. I felt like I was coming down with a lurgey last night. I needed soup. I got home from the Basquiat exhibition and, start to finish, vegetable chopping to hot spoon of…
Southern style pumpkin cinnamon buttermilk ‘biscuits’ recipe
These aren’t your normal English biscuits, twice-cooked until crisp in an oven, rather, they are American style biscuits, something we’d call savoury scones (which don’t really exist). In the south, they have biscuits with gravy for breakfast which I think sounds vile. But then again I’m not a big fan of the whole crispy/soggy food…
Veggie Thursdays in Ghent
Ghent is like Bruges but without the Disneyfied atmosphere of a museum city. It’s lefty, hippy and vibrant, partly thanks to the population of 75,000 students. It’s also one of the most beautiful towns I’ve ever visited. This ancient city is built on a complex system of waterways and canals, weaving through half timbered medieval architecture,…
Purple Prince of vegetables: aubergine ideas and recipes
The key to a good diet is variety – of taste, flavour, texture, cooking method and colour. All dark food contains anthocyanins: research indicates these are anti-ageing, anti-inflammatory, good for eyesight and the immune system. Purple food, from lilac potatoes and broccoli to claret-hued carrots (their original colour), Brussels sprouts, blueberries, grapes and red cabbage, is…