Meera Sodha’s paneer butter masala

Posted on November 5, 2020 by Louise

At the start of the last lockdown I was convinced that I’d have tons of time to share recipes, especially ones that were helpful. It is, after all, the whole purpose of this blog and always has been: finding a solution to that eternal question…But then we were locked up good and proper, 16 weeks inside in the end, thanks to my beloved being classified as vulnerable and, you know what, I couldn’t concentrate on a bloody thing.

Between bouts of crying and trying to find food deliveries from a third floor with no access to supermarkets or the outside world, or so it felt, the computer screen served only one purpose: ordering what we needed. And, though I am the first to tell a budding writer that there is no such thing as a ‘muse’, I do think there is such a thing as a ‘mood’. A writer needs to be able to concentrate, to find a calm pleasure in putting one word after the other and to have enough empty space in their head to see the shape of what they want to say, sometimes long before it is said. Yes, even for a blog post. There was no empty space to be had in the spring.

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Roopa Gulati’s lime dhal

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Louise

On a Wednesday when supplies are running low but not so low that I can face the shops, I often make something with lentils or pulses. I always have them in the cupboard and they are easy to transform into a meal. And, although I was late to using them for dhal (or dal or daal…), I now make it all the time, especially this one which is quick and simple (my other favourite, dhal makhani, also known as black dhal, takes some work).

I found this recipe, by Roopa Gulati from her new book, India: The World Vegetarian, in the wondrous Delicious magazine; it uses a slightly unusual lentil, white urid dhal, which you can buy from Natco or Souschef, but is also available in supermarkets. Here the lentils are made even better with ‘tarka’, spices heated in oil that are stirred in at the end. A soft-boiled egg, or some steamed greens, wouldn’t go amiss either. Comfort-eating at its best.

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Be more Olive and Mabel: chocolate and ginger biscuits

Posted on October 14, 2020 by Louise

I went on a bus yesterday afternoon. London buses have always been a treat for me, especially the top floor but, these days, they’re not much fun. Social-distancing and mask-wearing seem to belong to another world and, when someone was about to sit beside me (distance between us, about two inches…) I decided to get off. It was the right decision, but I did get so completely soaked on the walk home that I needed to change all my clothes once I got in.

All I wanted after that was to sit in the warm, drinking tea and eating biscuits. I am supposed to be limiting my sugar intake, after the last six months’ indulgence and lack of movement, but as I squelched home, thinking about the state of the world, I realised that a few extra pounds around my waist are not really very important. Perhaps it was okay not to deprive myself when everything is such a mess.

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Rock-star cauliflower with red pepper and tahini

Posted on September 14, 2020 by Louise

Today my niece starts her postgraduate medicine degree. Though I know she’s really excited, I also imagine the prospect of lots of protective clothing and being in and out of GP practices and hospitals is, in these times, a little scary. And, after six months of not having to do very much, she will now be immensely busy. So I thought I would wish her well by finding her a recipe or two, ones that are simple and cheap and won’t tax her brain too much when it is busy learning how to save lives.

The first comes from John Gregory-Smith’s great book, Saffron in the Souks. I’ve been making this recipe for about a year and it seems perfect for a student. It also, I realise, happens to be vegan like her. But it is very much ‘just happens to be’; this isn’t complicated and doesn’t require any special skills (nut activation?!) or shopping.

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Make your own: J. Sheekey’s Fish Pie

Posted on September 11, 2020 by Louise

I have a book title stuck in my head right now. It’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go. Except, right now, it’s Oh, the Places You Won’t Go. And when you’ve been shielding most of the year and nothing feels that safe, there are lots of those. We have cautiously been going out, mostly because we want there to be a world left when this is all over and if any thing needs supporting right now, it is very much the hospitality business. And, hopefully soon, theatre. Yet, at the same time, there is a limit to the support that we can offer. I’ve had no paying work, or barely any, since April and the autumn is looking dreadful. So, though I’d like to go to all of my favourites, returning to them is somewhat on hold. However, I can still wave a flag for them, and encourage others to give them support or, if the restaurant is out of reach, suggest great cookbooks to buy (from bookshops or Hive please; the Omnicorp doesn’t need your money) so, even if you can’t eat out, you can still eat the food (and support the business).

Which is why I have come back to the blog today, to shout about a) J. Sheekey’s excellent cookbook and b) its wonderful fish pie. I often don’t like restaurant cookbooks, because they can be unreliable, especially if they are written by chefs who never use a domestic kitchen. And yet I also love some, for allowing me access to wondrous dishes that I can’t always afford to eat in. This fish pie is a case in point. I tend not to order it in the restaurant, because there is always a whole crab taking precedence, or a beautifully cooked piece of halibut on special (I am resisting the urge to add a reference to Life of Brian here…) and yet it always sounds perfect. And when I browsed the book, and saw that the recipe was quite straightforward, it seemed a very good reason to buy it. Continue reading →

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Travels with my brunch: Niki Segnit’s kedgeree

Posted on May 2, 2020 by Louise

I have been making this for over a year now, ever since I first got a copy of Niki Segnit’s witty and unique Lateral Cooking. Like her first book, The Flavour Thesaurus, this brilliant tome unpicks cooking and recipes in a way that no one else has ever managed (as far as I know).

In the Thesaurus, she lists ingredient pairings: what goes with what. With 99 starter ingredients and over a thousand entries, it offers flavour combinations that you may have thought of, considered or would never touch and, in doing so, pushes a home cook’s knowledge from safety into creativity.

In Lateral Cooking, she does exactly the same but this time, the starting point is a basic recipe rather than an ingredient. She demonstrates how to make one thing, then how to make another using the same skills and recipe, with a few tweaks.

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Cupboard love: always zest the lemon or how to make the most of everything

Posted on April 6, 2020 by Louise

If, like me, you have had a tough time sourcing food recently, you may have become more attached to leftovers, and using up every scrap. Right now, it seems essential to make the most of all our supplies since there is a clear sense that this could go on for several months, not just weeks. But there’s more ways to this than just cling filming the bits that can be reheated the next day. Here are three other tips that will help you squeeze every drop of flavour out of your shopping, and teach you some new recipes at the same time. Continue reading →

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Cupboard love: potato, onion and garlic ‘shakshuka’

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Louise

Shakshuka is a middle-eastern dish popularised, at least in the UK, by Ottolenghi and it is very much worth your time. You can find a recipe for it here. I’m not sure what makes this dish a shakshuka, since it usually contains tomatoes, but I’m not complaining because it is delicious. And equally worth your time. It is basically a hash, but with the flavour ramped up by the addition of caramelised garlic. If you don’t have any eggs it would still be gorgeous. It’s one-pot too which, for those of us now cooking twice a day without a dishwasher, makes it somewhat of a godsend.

The recipe comes from Honey & Co in the FT Weekend magazine. We normally buy the physical paper on Saturdays and I love their recipes, particularly the fact that there is just one really good one every week, not thousands of slightly less interesting ones. Since we can’t get it now, I have subscribed for their 4-weeks for a £1 trial. I recommend it; it gives you access to the recipe archive and it is full of great things. Like this. It’s a perfect brunch, but I could be tempted to eat it at night too… Continue reading →

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Cupboard love: banana and chocolate muffins

Posted on March 25, 2020 by Louise

I’m starting blogging again, because if ever there was a time I am going to say WTF do I eat tonight it is now, on 12-week NHS lockdown, reliant on neighbours and friends for deliveries, and any services where I can get a slot. I will keep the posts and details short, because even though I suddenly have tons of free time, everything seems to be taking me hours!

Muffins are the simplest cakes in the world, the soda bread, if you will, of sweet things. And endlessly adaptable. You need flour, an egg and some milk, which may be a challenge but, other than that, not much. These contain banana and chocolate but you can change that to whatever you have, as long as you stick to about 150g of additions in step 4. Try chopped pear and almonds or apple and walnut.

You could also make savoury ones (but miss out the sugar and cinnamon then). How about cheddar and spring onion?
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Saffron in the Souks: a perfect book for summer

Posted on May 24, 2019 by Louise

Is it barbecue time? Is it eating outdoors time? I think it might be! And I have just the book to take you through the summer. Saffron in the Souks, by John Gregory-Smith, was given to me a couple of weeks ago and I spent all weekend immersed in its pages. It is a book that beats my ‘five recipes = buy it’ rule three times over. If you love Lebanese food, you will love this. Continue reading →

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