Food and Wine Matching

Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Fusilli, Chilli and Garlic Serves 4 adults Early March is hardly the most bounteous moment in the British culinary calendar but it is a time to enjoy brassicas before they bolt in spring sunshine and one of the finest and most versatile is purple sprouting broccoli. For a quick and easy […]

Mussels in Brussels A recent trip to Brussels reminded me just how restorative a steaming bowl of moules can be. We had been toiling the streets for hours in the cold and rain when we chanced upon a hostelry called 'Les Brassins' on rue Keyenveld that was offering mussels as the plat du jour. Although […]

T. S. Eliot may have deemed April the 'cruellest month' but my vote goes to January. Having had the welcome Winter distractions of Christmas and New Year one is left with a bereft bank account and nothing to occupy the mind but your tax return. Why anyone would consider this a suitable moment for temperance […]

Festive Fayre With a recently confirmed vegan in our household we'll be eating less meat this Christmas but I'm a traditionalist and won't be forgoing a turkey. I like to 'devil and pull' any left-overs on Boxing Day which we will hopefully enjoy after a very long dog walk. Once most of the food preparation […]

As alluded to in September's Food and Wine Matching I have recently been having to extend my repertoire of vegetarian dishes which has been a steep learning curve. Of all the meat substitutes I have experimented with I have had the most success with Quorn® which is widely available, high in protein, gluten free and […]

Tray Facile With my eldest son heading off to university I have been trying to extend my (and hopefully by proxy his) repertoire of simple, healthy and inexpensive weekday dishes. I was therefore delighted to chance upon a cookbook I hadn't heard of by a writer unknown to me in my local bookshop. It is […]

Vegging Out Somewhat to my surprise my heretofore meat eating son Will recently announced his intention to adopt a vegetarian diet being commendably concerned by questions of sustainability and animal welfare. Our household has been casually observing 'Meat Free Mondays' for a year or two now so the concept isn't completely alien but my repertoire […]

'Le Pique-nique'. Silly 'Franglais' aside a picnic can be a thing of joy in the more clement months but they can also be disastrous. Planning is key and my mantra is 'keep it simple'. Ever since my co-director and step-brother Tom sat in a parentally-crafted pissaladière on an ill-fated trip to Chesil Beach (in mitigation […]

Salad Days [Season 2 Transcript 'Bossy Boots', October 2000] • SpongeBob: "Two... sa-lads. Never heard of it. I got to stay hip. I don't want to end up like silly old Squidward. But what in the name of Davy Jones' locker is a sa-lad?" [cut to SpongeBob walking up to Pearl with a tray with […]

The Father of Invention. I have a limited repertoire of about 25 different dishes that I can knock up quickly to feed our family of four after finishing work, grabbing ingredients from the shops and walking our dogs. This month it seems I have cooked them all, so last night, bereft of inspiration, I decided […]