Graz is a beautiful well preserved city in the east of Austria. Surrounded by wine regions and ell placed for a weekend break, there is plenty to keep the food and wine obsessive busy. 

Eating and Drinking in Graz

Aiola Upstairs

Come here for the views over the city (book a table outside at the edge) and to sample contemporary Austrian cuisine with a twist and excellent local wines. 

upstairs.aiola.at/en/

Lendplatz Farmer’s Market (Bauernmarkt am Lendplatz)

This thriving local market was packed with vendors selling local produce from cut flowers to local meats and cheeses. There are many cafes and bars where you can have coffee and brunch also. 

When I say Austria, I bet you don’t think wine. You think mountains, snow, cheese, and cows with ring-a-ding-DING cow bells. Winding paths in meadows, the Sound of Music maybe, lots schnitzel and dumplings, gorgeous soups. Austrians are always surprised to hear that we don’t think of wine when we think of them. In 2017 the Austrian wine industry produced a record 2.6 million hectolitres in multiple wine regions spread throughout the country. Vienna itself is one of the few cities in the world with a thriving wine industry within the city limits.  

You may already know this and know of Grüner Veltliner, one of the most popular wine exports from Austria. A dry white wine made from the grape of the same name grown primarily in Austria, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic, it is a favourite of mine. Did you know that there is a wine region in Eastern Austria that specialises in Sauvignon Blanc? Not just Sauvignon Blanc, of course, there are many varietals but this is what they are best known for. They are also known for their excellent fried chicken. Fried as wiener schnitzel in a dense crisp crumb. It is a delight. Small plump farm chickens, coated with crumb and fried until juicy and crisp. I was as surprised as I was delighted. What a treat! 

Styria – a half hour drive from Graz and home to three wine regions and excellent wine

This recipe is published in partnership with Small Luxury Hotels of the World who have recently published The Small Luxury Cookbook.

A grey day deserves a bright golden curry. A sunny day too. This Thai Yellow Crab Curry (Gang Pu Bai Cha Plu) is a joy and it is so speedy to make.

I have many excellent memories of cooking with chefs in hotels on my travels. Uncovering the secrets to their kitchens in Langkawi, Borneo, China and Hong Kong, just a few among many far flung places. The kitchen in a hotel is as key to my decision to stay there as the quality of the sheets and the service. I especially love a Small Luxury Hotel, they are always characterful and unique, and you can get to know everyone over the course of your stay. 

Small Luxury Hotels of the World recently published a collection of handpicked recipes from over 140 of their hotels in the The Small Luxury Cookbook. They are a diverse collection of over 500 hotels in more than 80 countries around the world. The resulting recipe collection showcases an exciting and diverse selection of recipes. This is the third volume of the collection and is focussed entirely around main courses. It takes you by the hand through the restaurant kitchens.

Jump straight to the 15 Minute Lemongrass Prawn Patties recipe

Frozen raw prawns are a freezer staple for me. They defrost quickly, cook in minutes and are super versatile. I love them in a curry (my Goan prawn curry is one of my most popular recipes, still, after 11 years on the site). They are fantastic with noodles (like these spicy peanut butter noodles). Brilliant in a soup (this prawn tom yum kung recipe from my trip to Bangkok is gorgeous)and who doesn’t love a laksa? (Prawn Laksa recipe right here!). I love them in a meatball (prawn and chorizo meatballs in broth, anyone?). Cook them whole, mince them, put them on a stick and grill them. There are endless possibilities with the humble prawn (which some of you North American friends which may call shrimp) and they are wonderful in these speedy and bright lemongrass prawn patties. 

15 Minute Lemongrass Prawn Patties

This post was sponsored by The Italian Chamber of Commerce

“Every time I eat spaghetti with tomato I feel like I am home. When I was a boy and I came back from school and my grandmother used to wait for me, I used to say, I am here! And still every time I eat spaghetti with tomato, I feel like that little boy. That is a great, great thing for food. We always associate tomatoes with Italy, but northern Italians didn’t use tomatoes until the 1960s so you could always tell if someone from the family had married someone from the south because they used tomatoes. There are so many quirks related to the microclimactic conditions that have developed in Italy with location, culture and time. It is specifically the microclimatic conditions that make it impossible to reproduce a dish even with the same ingredients in different conditions.”

I am at a very special dinner in London cooked and hosted by Giorgio Locatelli on behalf of The Italian Chamber of Commerce, “The Extraordinary Italian Taste”. You likely know Giorgio, he is one of London’s best Italian chefs and a regular on TV. He is about to share some of his favourite dishes with us, and many stories. Italians are intensely proud of their food, heritage and culture and we reap the benefits. It is through protecting the ingredients and processes that the culture survives intact today.

Jump straight to the recipe – Beef and Chorizo Meatballs, Egg, Basil – Your Perfect Brunch for One

Cooking for one should not be sad or viewed as such. It is the ultimate in self care. Quiet time as the day begins, and something gorgeous to eat at the end. You are looking after yourself and making yourself something good to eat, how can anyone view that as sad? Food is not just social, it is nourishing, and that is what we should focus on. Nourishing ourselves, mind, body and soul.

Cooking for One is a Joy and the Ultimate in Self Care 

Of course, I love to cook for others too but I live in a small London flat with a small kitchen and no communal dining table. Typical (I think!) for many of us urban dwellers. When I see my friends we eat elsewhere. (I look forward to a time in my life when I can gather them around my kitchen table and serve big platters of food designed for sharing). For now, I cook often for one, and sometimes when my flatmate is around, for two. Mostly for one though.

I cook for myself mostly it in an efficient way. I will prepare something that will work in different ways in different meals. This beef and chorizo meatball mix was also a patty, it could be a kebab. It can be a dumpling in soup (by adding more breadcrumbs), it can be filling in a dumpling (leave the breadcrumbs out, add loads of shredded cabbage). Versatility is key, I don’t want to eat the same thing every day. 

Brunch for One – Beef and Chorizo Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with a Gorgeous Egg

Jump straight to the Salmorejo with Quails Eggs, Bacon and Nasturtium Oil Recipe

We are going to have to start a yellow tomato fan club and get you a hat and a badge. So said my guy at the tomato stand last weekend when I asked my usual weekly question, do you have any more yellow tomatoes? The yellow beef tomatoes that they sell are sublime and now a hallmark of every summer for me. As the season draws to a close I near panic about the looming lack of yellow tomatoes in darker days. Yellow tomatoes are distilled sunshine and last weekend I bought many in an effort to retain every sun soaked minute and prolong summer. 

It has been a while since I have been to Spain – something that I must rectify soon – I fancy a retreat filled with excellent food and long days reading. A little wine too, of course. I am whisked back to Spain from my kitchen when I make of gazpacho, salmorejo and ajo bianco, the holy trinity of gorgeous cold Spanish soups.

Salmorejo – a speedy and gorgeous Spanish cold tomato soup

Jump straight to the Squid Stuffed with Beef & Chorizo Recipe. 

I started this post in JULY but life has been so hectic, and it is only now starting to slow down. There has been travel to Ireland, work travel to Austria and then a non-stop return to London. But lots of recipes in the wings and THAT bacon book. Soon soon soon! For now lets talk about squid stuffed with beef and chorizo. 

Land and Sea, Surf and Turf. However you spin this, it is delicious. And it is easy too. I originally made this at a vegan BBQ, and no, I wasn’t trolling them. I have a few vegan friends and I am embracing of all good food, however you label it. And you know how much I love tofu. However, I had permission to cook meat and fish as all except one ate fish, and half ate meat. So I had the meat and fish section.

Jump straight to the Monkfish Cheeks with Tomato and Chorizo Ragu Recipe.

Feeling cheeky once more. Whenever my fishmonger has monkfish cheeks I have to buy them, they are so good. As with cod cheeks (which I blogged about in my most recent post) they are tender and ready to go. No chopping, just as they are. They are wonderful fried in a tempura batter with a garlic aioli to dip in. They are sublime in a curry. They cook fast making them perfect for weekday evenings and hot summers where you don’t want to be over the stove. With delicate white fish like this there is much that you can do.

An instant ragu might seem like a pointless, maybe even impossible thing. A great ragu takes time after all, but bear with me. I use the term ragu in the loose sense of the word. I am not saying even for a second that there is such a thing as an instant Italian ragu. I have so much respect for that sauce and I have shared beautiful authentic versions of ragu that Italians were kind enough to share with me. What this sauce has is the depth of flavour and fruitiness that I recognise in ragu and we get there in a super speedy way. It coats pasta beautifully for a speedy supper, and here it gives gorgeous monkfish cheeks a steady sleepy rumble. It is much subtler than you think, my friend didn’t realise there was chorizo in there, he just asked WHAT was in THAT lovely sauce, (and in that way). 

Jump straight to the Cod Cheeks and Clams in a Tomato, Basil and White Wine Broth Recipe.

Simplicity is the key for me in cooking at home. Good ingredients, cooked well, often quickly. I have lots of store cupboard ingredients. There is always chorizo, a cupboard full of a variety of pasta shapes, noodles and rice. Lets call it the carb cave (and I LOVE my carbs). But often on a hot day I want simple seafood flavoured with fresh herbs and other bright ingredients. 

My original plan was to make the squid stuffed with beef and chorizo that I told you about in my last post. I am so keen to share that one with you soon. But, alas, there was no squid to be had. There was a bounty of cod cheeks, gorgeous delicate morsels of cod meat. There are many reasons to love these, they are delicious, and there isn’t even any chopping to do, they are all bite size. They are usually cheaper too, in this case they were half the price of the clams.

A Perfect Healthy Speedy Supper

Jump straight to the Potsticker Sausage and Kale Dumpling Recipe.

What is it about dumplings that makes them so irresistible? Silky carbs enclosing gorgeousness, what is not to love?! 

I make dumplings more than is reasonable. Often I make the wrappers myself, it is worth the effort and is somewhat soothing when there is time. There are several recipes on the blog for dumplings already including wrappers (like this Beef & GInger Jiaozi recipe). I do use store bought wrappers too though, which do the job quite well (shop around as they vary), especially when pressed for time or on the road.

Making Handmade Chinese Style Dumplings

For now lets focus on Chinese style dumplings. Chinese style because they look like them and are most certainly inspired by them, but inside the filling for this dumpling is very Irish. Sausage dumplings are something that I have made for a while. I love Irish sausages so much that I had to make them with those, mixed with a little gorgeous kale to loosen the sausage mix and add texture and flavour. 

Jump straight to the leftover Dal Pancake recipe

I was looking after my friends cat last week in Dublin. The sweetest little cat. I kept her well fed, but it won’t surprise you to hear that I love to feed people even more. When my friend was on her way back from the airport I asked her if she would like some dal pancakes. She replied: I have never had them, sounds good! My reply: well you won’t have, I am just making them from leftover dal, but they are very good! Dal pancakes are sheer joy. Fluffy like an American pancake, and shaped just so too. But made of leftover dal and tasting gently of it, with coconut milk, an egg, self raising flour and salt, and just that. 

Cooking for comfort

After weeks of travelling and lots of eating out, I craved simplicity once I had a kitchen again. Not my kitchen, but my friends kitchen in Dublin, and so I kept it simpler again. I wanted dal, dumplings, I wanted an excellent steak. Pasta loomed large on my culinary horizon. I went overboard on my first day in the local shop. The second day too. Then as I wandered, as I do, I discovered a Chinese shop and an Indian shop. I stocked up on spices and dumpling wrappers and sauces. I went too far, I always do and I arrived at my sisters house after Dublin with a collection of herb plants and half a pantry. 

This post is published in partnership with Wild Alaska Seafood UK. Jump straight to the recipe for Wild Alaska Pollock Tartare with Avocado.

Summer is a time for quick simple food but we don’t need to compromise on flavour to get that. Food that is easy to digest and speedy to prepare and that is also a little different. I often reach for tartare at home and in restaurants, be they made with meat or with fish. At home I more often make them with fish. Today, with wild Alaskan pollock (in partnership with Wild Alaska Seafood UK). 

Pollock is from the cod family but it is less well known. It is a great choice for those who like milder white fish like cod, but want to try something different. Pollock pairs well with many other ingredients as it is so gentle itself. It loves spice (I thought about doing a curry pollock tartare with some gorgeous in season mango, homemade curry oil and curry leaves, I will definitely make this another day). You would have to work hard to find something that it doesn’t go with making it a very versatile ingredient. 

Jump to What to Eat and Drink in Zillertal

But you have surely been everywhere by now? Say so many people about my travels. Far from it, I explain, and I still have such enthusiasm to move and explore. Some countries I have been to several times (Italy, Spain, France, Australia, Canada and Borneo are my most visited), and there are many that I have yet to set foot in at all. Many in Europe, many everywhere. Until last week, Austria was one.

Friends love it. For skiing, for wine (and I already know that I love their wine). I love winter, I love to pop into winter for a while, deep sharp blinding white winter, and to bounce back out again. But I am not much of a winter sports person, I am more about walking around and kicking in the snow, enjoying the winter food and hanging out. I love the cold air and how fresh I feel in it. With the cold you can wear the right clothes, if it is too hot all you can do is suffer (especially if you are pale – transparent like me!). A book on a snowy terrace as opposed to whooshing down a piste in boots too tight whilst attached to skis. I love to wander and find out of the way restaurants on top of mountains and hang out for a while.

This post is published in partnership with Destination Canada

It is a year since I visited Canada to explore Quebec City and nearby. It wasn’t my first time, I have been to Quebec City before, and Montreal (also in Quebec) quite a few times. What draws me there is the people, place and food and drink culture. There are so many lovely places to explore and there is always a conversation to be had with a local. It is always fun and often unexpected. Quebec is nothing if not quirky and individual and that is why I love it.

The architecture is beautiful, a walk around Quebec City feels part fairytale, especially as you ascend the ancient funicular to the old town below. Steep pitched zinc roofs top chateau like houses, painted red, blue or proud in silver, sometimes copper turned green with age and the rain. It is just the right size, big enough to have lots of options and small enough to walk around. Quebec City has music, art and a vibrant Bohemian culture.

This passion and individuality is reflected in their food and drink culture. There are few chains and so much variety. A thriving new contemporary food culture sits comfortably alongside the long established francophone one. There is indigenous food too at Wendake which is an essential stop on your visit.

Jump straight to the Miso and Sesame Tuna Tartare recipe.

There are two things key in this recipe for me, no, three. My love for deep flavours and all things fermented; the arrival of summer, the sun and a desire for fast, fresh and light things to eat and my long running obsession with edible flowers (coupled with my growing them in my little kitchen garden). 

That is a lot for just one plate, maybe, but a plate like this makes me so happy. I went to the fishmongers this morning and gathered a few things, sashimi grade tuna being one, and the thing that I went for in the first place. You see the idea of this recipe has been floating around my head for at least a week, and when I woke up this morning I knew I had to make it. 

There is such pleasure in cooking over fire in the sun. A feeling of freedom outside, especially if you have a small kitchen, as I do. That feeling of space is wonderful, the great outdoors even in a tiny London garden. The sun is back – cue much rejoicing – and so I am back at the coal face and loving every minute. My BBQ is parked just outside the back door and right next to one of my raised vegetable beds and it all feels very cheerful and bright. 

I like to cook with what I have and not necessarily follow a recipe, even one of my own. I have made lots of new dishes recently. Bavette tacos with gojuchang and wild garlic (homemade) mayo last night, which were great and so simple, they definitely deserve a space on here. But before then, these lemongrass and chilli pork kebabs. 

Brunch is never just brunch, even when it is just for myself, which it mostly is. In the morning I wake up gently as I cook, I really enjoy it, and it is one huge perk of working from home. This crab omelette (with favourite things bacon and tomato) is one in a series of lovely things that I make daily and always share on social media. Not all warrant a recipe and to be shared here but this one does. You need to make it. 

I say brunch not breakfast as brunch is such a forgiving thing. It can be anything and it can be all day. I also don’t like to eat when I first get up, unless I have to leave the house. I start gently with a coffee and start work. A couple of hours later I turn my attention to the garden, the fridge and the stove. A wander outside to gather herbs, greens and whatever else is of interest starts the process. To these I add whatever might be in the fridge. I often have an idea of what I might like but this might change swiftly once I start.

A 10 Minute Crab, Bacon and Tomato Omelette

Eat Like a Girl turns 11 today! ELEVEN. Eleven years since I finally sat down at my desk in my small flat with the long hallway and desk, and tiny kitchen with a hatch and bright yellow worktop (it was a dream of a 70s design, complete with carpeted loo and avocado toilet seat).

I had wanted to write for years but had only written about science up to that point. Most of you will know that my background is in Physiology and then Technology. I was so comfortable writing about hormones, body clocks (especially them, I still find them fascinating) and the bodies adaptations to extreme environments. But to write about other things in an area where I was still learning? I was afraid but I really wanted to.

That desire was so strong and it had been growing over the years. It grew to a point where I could no longer ignore it or pretend that it was not what I wanted to do. It is still a fierce force, and I know that I haven’t been blogging too much on here that much lately, so that might be hard to see. The blog has moved from the centre of what I do to a part of it. I plan to write here more though and I have lots of recipes and travel stories to share.

This post is sponsored by Chang Beer to showcase the Chang Sensory Tails. All opinions are mine etc. 

In my recent years of intense food travels, Thailand was on of my favourite and most surprising countries to travel to. Bangkok remains one of my favourite world cities. Hot and intense, yes, but also chilled and laid back. The food is sublime, and I love it. The culture, the sense of joy, the dancing, the puppet shows (there are surprisingly many) and the colour everywhere.

I wandered as I love to do and I would duck into shrines when the streets got too hot. I could smell the walls of durian for sale at 1000 yards. We travelled lots by boat, I had no idea there were so many canals. I promised myself that it would not be long until my return. I am still working on that promise, but I will get there. Until then we have many excellent Thai restaurants in London. Contemporary and old school, Thai food has always been popular but it is now thriving in London.