As I peered down at my green fingernails, I wondered if it was worth it.

Of course it was.

I love fresh broad beans and double podded (big pod and little skin removed) is the only way to go. So succulent and sweet, and with fresh peas, well, that’s summer sorted, right? Fresh peas I love too. Folk say they’re overrated and that they lose their natural sweetness a couple of hours after being picked. I love the texture and the sweetness you get with them, and there is a certain satisfaction to podding your own.

How to make it substantial? Well, braised lettuce is a perfect partner, intensified, slippery and sweet. Some shredded spring onions, and smoked ham cut into strips.

Sounds good? Well, let’s make it better by adding some perfectly boiled quails eggs. I love the precision of boiling quails eggs. Dropped into a gently boiling pan of water for exactly 2 minutes 45 seconds and cooled under running water, you will get a perfect soft quails egg every time.

This dish is healthy, tasty, looks good and takes very little time at all (podding aside). The flavours are very clean, and it’s very healthy – bacon aside. Just a little precision, and you’ll be smiling the whole way through dinner.

Braised Gem Lettuce, Broad Beans, Peas and Ham with Quails Eggs

Serves 2

Ingredients

500g fresh broad beans (in the pod)
250g fresh peas (in the pod)
2 scallions (spring onions), shredded
a couple of slices of smoked cooked ham or bacon, sliced finely
6 quails eggs
1 head baby gem lettuce, washed and seperated into leaves

Method

Double pod the broad beans by removing the outer pod, and then the little white skins from each bean. Trust me, it’s worth it. Pod the peas.

Cook the beans and peas in boiling water for a few minutes until tender and refresh under a cold tap or in ice water to stop them cooking, and to preserve that bright green colour.

Boil some water and add the eggs for 2 minutes 45 seconds exactly. Refresh under the tapo or in ice cold water to keep the yolks nice and soft (they will keep cooking otherwise). Peel when cold and half.

Fry the ham/bacon and the onions in some olive oil for a couple of minutes. If using bacon, add the onions towards the end so as not to burn them.

Add the lettuce and braise for a couple of minutes until they soften

Add the beans and peas, and when warm serve with the halved quails eggs on top.

Enjoy!

As my Big Green Egg cools down, I like to take advantage of the residual heat. It is great for hot smoking things like tomatoes and garlic which you can store in the fridge for later uses. Chunky slices of tomatoes become jammy, and garlic with some butter and olive oil to encourage it, becomes a sticky nutty brown, not unlike Korean black garlic (which is essentially cooked slowly over a low heat for a long time). You can do a speedier version as your Big Green Egg heats up also, it will be more of a roasted version, but it is still very good. 

Potato dauphinoise is wonderfully indulgent and a perfect Christmas side. I remember my first proper bite of dauphinoise in a French restaurant in Cork. I couldn’t believe how could it was. Crisp and caramel brown on top, gentle underneath, sliced potatoes shuffled into position, yielding to the fork, each forkful a perfect bite.  

I am a little obsessed with good crackling and crisp skin generally. One of the best things that I have ever eaten might surprise you. It was in Barbados, I had asked the staff at my hotel what their favourite thing to eat was and they had replied, oh you wouldn’t like it. I knew that I probably would and so I pressed on. They laughed and refused to divulge. They had done with guests before who returned horrified and full of moans. To my surprise and delight eventually they gave in and replied, barbecue pig tails. Say what?! I have never had a pig tail, save slippery in a soup in Antigua (the flavour was great, the texture a bit more challenging for me). I had never had pig tail off the barbecue.

Right, where were we? November! That is right. As I look out of my window it is sunny with a sharp blue sky, a light wind is teasing the leaves, bot h golden brown and stubbornly green. Regardless of how unseasonally nice it is, November is still all about fires (if you are lucky enough to have one, I don’t, but I have my Big Green Egg), cheese toasties (so many variations) and soups, stews and rich ragus with supple slicks of fresh pasta. I always love a pop of fire within too in the form of sparks of chilli or a smear of chilli oil. I can’t bear anything flat, I need some brightness. 

I tend to turn to Italian soups right now, specifically minestre, a chunky soup with vegetables, pasta or rice, and beans often. You will have heard of minestrone (a version of, which must have a thickening vegetable in it), and one of my favourites, pasta e fagiole. I turn often to pasta e patate too (pasta with potatoes, stay with me, it is awesome) and a version that I like to make with pumpkin. The basis of these are a good stock and a good pasta. I like to go off piste and Irish-ise it with a lick of cream too. Off piste can be a happy place, I like to go there. 

There is a tired and jaded notion that cooking over fire is the preserve of the male, and that women are neither interested in or inclined to BBQ, preferring instead to be at the stove indoors. This is nonsense, of course. There are people who love to cook, indoors and out, and it is in no way gender specific. Why are people so obsessed with gender when it comes to cooking, anyway? We all eat, it is the one thing that unites us, and so many of us love to cook too. Why be divisive?*

This recipe is the fourth in a series of four that I developed in partnership with the Big Green Egg who sponsored this post. (Read more about sponsored content on Eat Like a Girl). Previously in this series: BBQ Teriyaki Pig Cheeks, Miso Pork Aubergine and BBQ Clams with Gojuchang and Sake. 

One of my friends, a fellow food writer and blogger (Luiz of The London Foodie and author of the wonderful book Nikkei) presented me with a little cool bag for my birthday. I peeked in side and shrieked, thrilled to discover that he had gifted me Uruguyan picanha, a cut of beef which we would call rump cap, undervalued and misunderstood here but valued all over South America. With good cause. It is a perfect BBQ cut.

Chimmichurri is a perfect steak accompaniment. From Argentina, and fitting for this South American cut of beef, they usually serve it using dry herbs, I prefer the liveliness and texture of fresh. I also wanted this to be super summery, and looked at my new kitchen garden, particularly my gorgeous aromatic window sill, fragrant of bergamot, lemonbalm and lemon verbena. I chose lemon verbena and mint as the stars with some parsley to tone it down. I also add some Aleppo pepper, another gorgeous food gift from my friend Ailbhe. Adjust the quantities below to your taste, or if you prefer to go traditional, substitute oregano for the lemon verbena and mint. Really traditional means using dried herbs, but I much prefer the bright flavour and gentle texture of fresh. 

Picanha is a great value cut and goes far. It is tender and flavourful, it is quite lean too with the fat coating on top. The fat protects it as it cooks and gives it terrific flavour. Fat is flavour, let’s stop demonising it. 

If you are celebrating father’s day this weekend, this is perfect for your family lunch. Enjoy!

This recipe is the third in a series of four that I developed in partnership with the Big Green Egg who sponsored this post. (Read more about sponsored content on Eat Like a Girl). Previously in this series: BBQ Teriyaki Pig Cheeks and BBQ Clams with Gojuchang and Sake. 

Well this is a cracker. Aubergine is a vegetable that loves smoke, and loves meat too. The deep sweet rumble of miso blends in seamlessly, and chilli gives everything a lift. Because everything does need a lift, every now and then. 

This is deceptively simple. The deep flavours come from the fermented miso, the whole thing start to finish cooks in less than an hour. Miso is a great store cupboard ingredient, for quick miso soups and great marinades. Miso makes a great steak marinade with a little mirin, sake and rice vinegar to loosen it out ant balance it. Some chilli too for me, because I can’t resist it. Mix it with butter and a little citrus (yuzu if you can get it, if not some lemon or lime) and rub a chicken with it before sticking it on the grill.

I start this dish with an onion, as most good dishes start. It gives lovely sweetness and texture. Onions, like most simple everyday things, are deeply underrated. 

This recipe is the second in a series of 4 that I developed in partnership with the Big Green Egg who sponsored this post. (Read more about sponsored content on Eat Like a Girl). Previously in this series: BBQ Teriyaki Pig Cheeks. 

It is a bank holiday weekend and the sun is shining, I bet most of you had your barbecues out. I sparked up my Big Green Egg this evening as I do often now, and I used it to do something a little different. I wanted something quick and fresh and spicy, and I wanted it to be a little smoky too. I had some wonderful clams, bought explicitly for the purpose. Perfect little clams that I had soaked in a few changes of water just to make sure that they had relinquished all their grit. 

When you think of the BBQ, you probably think of kebabs, burgers and steak, beer can chicken, meat in marinades, low and slow cooking so that the meat falls off the bone. But cooking over fire doesn’t need to be just like this, there is so much pleasure in cooking in cast iron over an intense flame. For this purpose I wheeled out my small cast iron frying pan. 

I love clams in sake, it is a combination that works so well, the dry sake combining with the clam brine. With the smoke I wanted some spice, and I reached for my pot of gojuchang (Korean red pepper paste), a favourite cupboard ingredient, deeply flavoured and hot. A little does a lot, and the flavour it lends hints at much longer cooking. A little brightness to finish with some finely chopped spring onion, and some coriander would be lovely too if you had that.

Enjoy and have a wonderful Bank Holiday! (And if you are in Ireland, line this up for your bank holiday next weekend!).   

This recipe is the first in a series of 4 that I developed in partnership with the Big Green Egg who sponsored this post. (Read more about sponsored content on Eat Like a Girl). 

This is the first in a series of recipe posts that I developed for the Big Green Egg. The iconic ceramic BBQ is a terrific piece of kit that I have really enjoyed working with at home. It The Big Green Egg has a domed lid which makes it an all weather BBQ but also allows very precise temperature control (combined with air valves at the top and at the bottom). The enamel coating ensures that it doesn’t rust and it is ready to use within 15 minutes of sparking up. I thought that I would go through a lot of charcoal but it is surprisingly efficient for such a big beast. 

There is such satisfaction in cooking over fire. The smells and flavours of smoke permeate the food and the results vary hugely depending whether you cook over a flame or smouldering coals. I like to use flame for steaks and then stick something on low and slow to cook gently. Something like wings, ribs or these pig cheeks. 

A hugely underrated and terrific value cut of meat, pig cheeks are a dream to cook on the BBQ. They have a deep porky flavour and firm texture, and they are often cooked so that they yield and fall apart, functioning as a glamorous pulled pork. I don’t know why people don’t stop them before this, I love them cooked until before this point, still firm but rich and moist, and glorious coated in a dark glaze as I have here. 

Pig cheeks BBQ very well when marinaded overnight in a soy based teriyaki marinade which functions not just in terms of flavour, but also as a brine. After an hour of gentle cooking the cheeks are tender and moist, and full of flavour. A gorgeous bite. Glazed with a reduction of the marinade cooked on the hob once the cheeks hit the fire. Like this with a slaw, or in a Japanese style taco with sweet Japanese mayonnaise, some sriracha, some sesame seeds and fresh coriander. 

Enjoy! And do share what you think of them, and any ideas that you have for BBQ season. 

Jump straight to Lemon and Coconut Tadka Dal recipe

Dal is a favourite of mine, I have blogged about it more than once. Sometimes as a whole meal with egg (you know I love them), often with tadka (a perky mixture of spice and aromatics), always a cheerful sunshine yellow (although I am partial to a black spiced dal makhani too swirled with a little cream and I will share more on that soon). 

This dal is cheerful and elegant with lemon and coconut. It is one to make in a big pot for friends for a summer weekend lunch, or one to make and store in the fridge for comfort, or in the freezer for a later date. I must have had four bowls of this. I don’t bother soaking the dal, which means it takes longer to cook it, but it will still be done in 40 minutes. And it just cooks away, right? It needs little attention. 

I never need an excuse to fire up my BBQ. I love cooking over fire and it gets me out of my tiny kitchen. I grill when it is sunny, and when it rains. I don’t mind. I just love to be out there. Over the bank holiday I gathered lots of random stuff from my fridge and cupboard and cooked it. The result was some terrific new recipes, one of which I will share now. 

Gojuchang is one of my favourite store cupboard ingredients. A fermented hot paste made from gochugaru (a wonderful Korean red pepper powder which I use a lot too), glutinous rice, fermented soy bean powder, barley malt powder and salt. So far, so mesmerising and confusing, but this is one of the most delicious things that you could have in your kitchen. Hot (but not face melting), rich and deep, I add it to many things. Korean food, of course, but also unexpected things like soups, stews and bolognese. It is perfect for BBQ marinades. 

Some mornings need a slice of joy, many recently. For me, that is almost always related to an egg, and frequently some spice. All eggs require something to dip in their glorious yolk and disrupt it. Is there any better sauce than a runny egg? And any simpler one? 

I love Korean flavours and I always have kimchi in my fridge. Usually homemade but sometimes shop bought (you can buy it in any Asian food store and most delis). Many experimental ones. Kimchi is kimchi is kimchi. Kimchi is glorious. (For those of you yet to discover it, it is chilli fermented cabbage with a variety of things, usually garlic, ginger , spring onions, something sweet like Asian pear or carrot, and lots of wonderful Korean red pepper, gochugaru). 

Western Australia is vast and diverse, it is perfect for a road trip. Before I visited I imagined horizons filled orange soil and hot searing temperatures. What greeted me instead as I journeyed south from Perth at the end of winter was moderate temperatures, lush greens, flowers and lots of vegetation, all hugging the ocean as we journeyed by, stopping to soak it up occasionally as we did. 

There are many options, the obvious choice for me was to drive to Margaret River, a wine region just over 3 hours drive from Perth, with some lovely pitstops along the way. There are wonderful beaches, great places to eat, limestone underground caves and you can go whale watching.

The main reason you should go is the food and wine, and just to indulge in how gorgeous it all is. Margaret River has 187 wineries and 215 vineyards (as counted in 2015). It is surrounded by the ocean on three sides without extreme seasons providing ideal conditions for producing wine. Wineries mainly produce Bordeaux style wines (semillon and sauvignon blanc blends are common as are cabernet sauvignon and shiraz), Margaret River has been compared to Bordeaux in a dry vintage. The reds are gentle. There are established producers like Leeuwin Estate (who produced their first commercial vintage in 1979) and newer ones like Fraser Gallop (whose first vintage was 2008). Lots to explore and most tastings are free, if you fancy driving yourself winery to winery. 

How does my garden grow? Very well. Too well, sometimes. Some plants just don’t know when to reign it in. YES: I am looking at you sprawling tomatoes, and why all so green?! I see one that looks like it might blush soon.

I grew up in the countryside with a wild garden front and back. Our house was a new build and so the garden was new too. My first foray into edible gardening was in this garden as a small child, when I transplanted my new broad bean plant from a yogurt carton where it had been planted in school, into the soil. I was mesmerised by how much it grew. Then I discovered that marrowfat peas could be germinated in water and planted to become whole bean plants. Beanstalks, maybe with giants at the top? At 7 this seemed possible.

I became reckless with my germination and one day filled a big plastic tub with marrowfat peas and boiling hot water before spilling it all over my feet. I couldn’t wear shoes for a week, my feet were covered with blisters and I could hardly walk. Instead I wore floral slippers with a big orange furry bit at the front. (Remember those? I loved them.) This didn’t halt my gardening ambitions. I planted my pea plants in a rockery out the back and watched my beanstalks grow. One day I bounced out only to discover an invasion of slugs, and that was it. I was DONE. Nobody had warned me about that.

I was surrounded by gardens though, and farms, and apple trees, even one orchard where we would play. My aunt had a half acre planted with glorious veg, a fruit patch and a greenhouse with vines clambering overhead. Nearby was an abandoned old house, still standing and interweaved with stories all from my head. To each side was a wood, and towards the back a walled garden, our very own secret garden, with apple trees, a cherry tree and lots of fruit bushes, including my favourite gooseberry. It was wild and unmaintained, thick briars climbed the walls but we hardly noticed them. I was a voracious reader and loved The Secret Garden. I fancied that this was one of my own.

Since then, a kitchen garden was always something that I wanted to have. But a garden in London is a luxurious thing. One flat I lived in had a sunny window and I had a tiny chilli farm growing in the heat of the sun. I finally moved to a flat with a garden a few years back, but I travel so much planting a garden was never something that I could do. Until this year, a year that I have slowed down to focus on some projects (that book) and just be, rather than be on the move all the time. (I still travel a lot I know, but smaller short haul projects, I am saving my long haul stuff for the second half of the year).

Sometimes things are in the ether. I had already bought lots of seeds for my edible garden, heritage Italian seeds and beans, when Wyevale Garden Centres got in touch to see if I wanted to work with them on a gardening project. They could help with what I needed to create my edible garden (I had told them that that was what I wanted to do). I started to research. I knew that I wanted courgettes, they were a key motivation, my desire for a courgette flower bounty was strong. I have long been obsessed with edible flowers too, since I was a child. My first cookbook contains many, from rose flower butter to pansy salad potato soup with chive flowers and chive oil. Wild garlic flowers, wild leek flowers and elderflower are regulars in my kitchen. 

I am a month into my kitchen gardening and I am obsessed and mesmerised. The joy of planting a seed and nurturing it to a plant is a wonderful thing. It can be time consuming but I find it so positive, except when I have to deal with the slugs. More on that below. 

How to start? 

Lentil seedlings

Starting Your Kitchen Garden

From Seed or from Plant?

This really depends on how much time you have, when you start and how much work you want to put in. Growing from seed is very satisfying but it is a longer process and it can be quite involved. Yes seeds do just grow themselves, and it is mesmerising, but starting from plants is quicker, and by the time you get them most of the hard work will be done. If you are starting now, I would start with a mix. If you want courgettes, move quickly, or start from a plant. I will be sharing lots about the possibilities about those over the coming months.

I started my garden with some plants provided by Wyevale Garden Centres (including two types of tomato, aubergine, chives, an elephant garlic plant and some flowers) and some seeds, compost, tomato feed and a propogator. A propagator is a useful tool if you are planting late as I did, it is basically a tiny greenhouse that gets your seedlings off to a speedier start. My courgette seedlings popped their head above the soil within 4 days, my purple carrots and nasturtiums took longer. In general you can expect seedlings in at least half the time. You can get simple ones that are just a box with a plastic lid that absorbs the light and sunshine, at this point of the year these will work very well inside or in a bright window. I used a plug in one which I liked so much I bought a second one. This allowed me to start lots of seedlings quickly which I could then plant outside. Take care not to over water them, you can get some mould growing too. Just make sure the soil is nice and damp. 

You can of course choose not to plant from seeds and instead plant pots that you buy from your garden centre, where there are amazing selections. More mature plants stand a better chance against slugs and if you are starting late, it gives you a head start. 

Where and How to Plant Your Seedlings?

Borlotti been seedling

You have your gorgeous seedlings, such a joy. Before planting them in a container or in the ground let them adjust to the new temperatures outside first and give them at least a few days, taking care to water them. I have an old table that I use as a nursery. If you have a small urban garden like me, or even just a patio, you might want to stick to containers for simplicity on your first time. My garden is wild and needs a lot of attention. The soil quality isn’t great. Using bags and containers I can control the soil quality and grow my edibles without sorting all of that out. I bought a couple of tomato planters (not grow bags) and some good organic peat free soil and planted my new seedlings in those. Disaster struck, that first night an avalanche of snails and slugs devoured the lot. So, I had to learn how to deal with that. 

Chickpea seedling

Strategies for Dealing with Snails and Slugs

Yeah I know. I am sorry about that, but this is your new reality. Slugs and snails are your new bête noire. You want a gorgeous bountiful kitchen garden? You need to deal with snails and slugs. This year there are more than ever as we have had a mild winter, they are calling them sleepless superslugs. Yeah, I know. Don’t worry you can still leave the house.  I hate slugs and snails so much each encounter was punctuated by a squeal, a roar or an expletive. Often all three. But you can do it.

Courgette seedlings planted in a growbag with lots of slug wool. After a major rain! No slugs here.

Slugs love courgettes and nasturtiums and similar juicy plants. There are many different types of slugs, some techniques work for some and not for others. I found copper tape ineffective for the tough troop in my garden. You also need to think about the rest of your garden, as fun as it would be to poison them (I know, but you know, different rules for slugs and rodents) or salt them (melt like the wicked witch of the west you vicious slug but it will ruin your soil). You need to think about pets and neighbourhood cats if you are putting down pellets. 

Here are your sensible and ecologically friendly options:

Think barriers: these guys are slippery and gross and don’t like anything sharp. There are natural options: coffee grounds, egg shells, sharp gravel and sand (both of which you can get in garden centres for the purpose). Bake egg shells briefly first and rinse them of any remaining egg as eggs are tasty and you don’t want to be attracting any beasties that might like those. 

Attract predators: birds and hedgehogs love slugs and if you can attract them to your garden they will love it.  BUT please be careful with slug pellets as some can poison these animals and other pets. (See below for my recommendations!). Turn over your soil to expose the slugs and eggs and let the birds and hedgehogs feast on them. We love you birds and hedgehogs! 

Drown them in beer: this wasn’t very successful for me but others swear by it. Put a saucer of beer by your plants and slugs will go in and drink it and drown in there. Others recommend beer traps, beer in empty yogurt pots put in the soil and buried near your vulnerable plants. Or a beer can with some beer in it, they apparently will wander in and then they are easily disposed of. 

Commercial options: slug pellets are an option but be aware of the effects that they might have on pets, garden birds and hedgehogs etc. I bought Sluggo Slug and Snail Killer which is iron based and toxic to slugs but safe for everything else. The slugs go underground once they eat them leaving no trace. Follow instructions and don’t put out too many. I also tried Slug Gone wool pellets which are a completely natural product which irritate slugs feet (I know, who knew they had feet, and did you know they had 24,000 teeth EACH?). They are completely safe for children and animals, and also act as a natural mulch, discourage weeds and nourish your soil. They biodegrade naturally too. I have found slug wool to be a magical thing, and the only thing which protects my gorgeous seedling courgettes. Both of these products are available at Wyevale Garden Centres. Lots have recommended nematodes to me also but I haven’t tried these yet. These are small worms that exist naturally in soil and that kill slugs naturally.  You can put these in before you plant too, clearing the way for your plants. 

Which Edibles Should You Plant?

Hanging baskets with nasturtium seedlings, hanging on the washing line!

That all depends on what you want to eat of course and the time of year you want to plant. I want to plant everything but I have limited space and it is my first year so I am still learning. Starting at this time of year (June), I decided to focus on tree things:

Courgettes

I have planted several types, including ridged Roman ones and a courgette plant that only produces flowers.  I am all about the flowers as much as I love the courgette. Expensive to buy and hard to find, they also have a very limited shelf life. None of these are problems when you grow your own! I want to make courgette flower pizzas, Roman style; courgette flower tacos, Mexican style; I want to stuff them, fry them, and eat them all summer long. Well, after they flower anyway. Slugs love courgettes so I have been at war, but I am winning. See above for my tips for your battle!

An Edible Flower Garden

I have long been obsessed with edible flowers. There is an overlap with the courgette patch above, the most regal of edible flowers, and also many herbs have gorgeous edible flowers too. I got a lovely selection from Wyevale Garden Centres to plant and also planted some of my own. From Wyevale Garden Centres: bright purple chicory flowers, chives (with their pom pom purple chive flowers), garlic chives (with their parasol of white flowers), borage flowers (perfect for salads and for summer drinks with their gorgeous cucumber flavour) and lots of nasturtiums both for their leaves and their flowers. 

A Herb Garden 

I have planted lots of herbs. I buy lots and then watch as they wilt and lose their vigour. I want to snip them from my window boxes and use them while fresh and full of life and flavour.  I have had occasional pots of herbs around but nothing long term. I am excited. I planted: parsley, sage, rosemary, basil, oregano, lemonbalm, lemon verbena.

Courgette seedlings, strawberries and French marigolds (gorgeous and edible

Also: Salad, Carrots, Pumpkins, Chillies, Tomatoes, Strawberries

And other bits and bobs! Let’s see how this goes. I am so excited. The idea of my pantry extending into the garden and using everything while fresh and full of flavour fills me with joy. I have gone a bit crazy and bought so many seeds and plants. But I love it, and hopefully I should reap some rewards too. 

Tomato, courgettes and in the sink, lots of edible flower seedlings coming through

Over to YOU!

I want your tips and stories! Do you have a kitchen garden, or a bountiful window box? Are you excellent at managing slugs?! What should I plant that I haven’t planted yet. 

Come follow on Snapchat where I share my daily journey and tips and tricks for gardening, as well as cooking tutorials, London stuff and my travels. 

This recipe is the first in a series of four that was written in partnership with Wyevale Garden Centres who sponsored this post. Come back for more detail on planting courgettes, an edible flower garden and a herb garden, with lots of recipes too. I am posting daily updates on snapchat also, where you can also follow Game of Slugs (aka SLUG WARS). All editorial is mine, as always. (Read more about sponsored content on Eat Like a Girl). 

Other posts in this series on edible gardening:

Growing Courgettes & Courgette Flower Egg Menemen

Kitchen Garden: Aubergines & BBQ Nasu Dengaku Recipe

How to Plant Your Own Easy Edible Flower Garden

Jump straight to Overnight Slow Roast Wild Garlic (Ramps) Porchetta

First things first, American readers, wild garlic is the same as ramps :) 

I always wondered why I didn’t know about wild garlic when I was growing up in the Irish countryside, and why the surrounding hedgerows and fields weren’t full of it. There was 3 cornered leek, slender and more grassy with a longer season, but still with gorgeous oniony flowers. But no wild garlic at all. The answer became clear as I investigated, rural areas which have lots of dairy cattle don’t have much of it because cows eat the wild garlic and it makes the milk very pungent. So the farmers dig it up. Once it takes root, if conditions are right, wild garlic will take over and spread. You will find it in the shade and with moist soil, you will often find them near patches of bluebells. Once I discovered this, I realised that we had had wild garlic all the time.

In an old abandoned stately home at the end of my road (not uncommon in Ireland), there was a beautiful wood which would be carpeted by bluebells and what we called white bluebells in Spring, and which I now realise was wild garlic. I loved that place and dreamed that one day I might own it. A big old house facing the Atlantic, it had a large wood on either side where we would go for conkers and fruit in Autumn and flowers in Spring. It had a walled garden with apple trees, cherry trees and gooseberry bushes. It was a secret garden that we would play in, the green door still intact and the white wall still high. There were abandoned old stables and a big house, still fully furnished. We found diaries, skis and a wedding dress when we investigated one day. There was a gorgeous small lodge at the entrance outside, which by now was a field full of cows. It was demolished to make way for a golf club, and I was devastated to discover it. Most of the local community were. 

We spent much of our childhood wandering around here. The house slowly degraded and became dangerous so we weren’t allowed go there but we still always would. The cows moved in from the field outside to the woods and the ground, and one day we were chased by some bulls (although I fear actually timid bullocks) and we spent hours up a tree waiting for them to go, having to dash across at one point and climb a thick briar, to be rescued from on top of the high external wall by my friends visiting cousin when he wandered past and heard us wailing. We brought a ladder another day to access the house from the first floor now that the downstairs was barred (remember: dangerous!) only to discover a hole in the window and a dead crow splayed on the ground. I took that as a sign and turned heel, with everyone else yelling chicken after me. Chicken maybe, but I just saw a dead crow! 

This wasn’t the only old abandoned house that we played in but it was by far the largest and the most magical. When people left Ireland in poverty, they left their houses behind to crumble with the weather and time. Woodhouse became one of their number and there are no photos that I can find of this gorgeous place. Likely it was much smaller than my child’s eye remembers. Fond memories remain only. 

Harvesting wild garlic as I was all those years ago, although with no idea, just to put in vases all around the house. I loved their pretty flowers. Now, I treasure the flowers and the leaves and do all I can to get my mitts on them in season. The flowers have a gorgeous sharp flavour, the leaves too but more sour. I buy it at the farmer’s market, my friend Danny has a garden full and recently donated a plant to my cause, and last weekend I was in Cardiff and went foraging with my friend Abi. We found a riverside carpeted with it, it was more of a stream really. Tender small young leaves and mainly unopened flower buds, which I will pickle like capers. 

With Danny’s plant, I made a wild garlic porchetta. I had porchetta in my head since my last trip to Rome and I had to make it, if only to exorcise it from my brain. I adore porchetta when it is well made. At home it is tricky, you really need to seal the porchetta as well as you can so that you can retain the fat within, the fat is key to moisture and flavour and there is much of it in the meat. The best way to do this is to stitch the porchetta closed all round. You can seal the ends with tin foil too. I didn’t have a butchers needle (although I have ordered one now) but I did have butchers twine, and so I wrestled my slippery porchetta just before midnight on a night last week and closed it as tightly as I could manage. 

For porchetta, you want the loin and belly still as one joint (with the ribs removed). Ask your butcher to do this for you, one of my favourite butchers in London Turner and George prepared it expertly for me (they have an online shop and deliver too). I then blitzed some wild garlic leaves with some oil (rendered pork lard would have been better but I didn’t have any), and rubbed it on to the flesh inside. I rolled it tight and tied it as best as I could – not terribly well if I am honest, I need to work on it – but the results were still gorgeous. I started it bright and furiously, then covered it with foil to roast overnight at a lower temperature. In the morning, my flat smelled gloriously porky with a perky sharp edge of wild garlic, I removed the foil and blasted it again until the skin was perfectly crisp. Roasting it slowly overnight will always give perfect crackling once you dry the skin before you put it in. 

This was such a gorgeous dish. I recommend getting some friends around and serving it as you would a roast, or for a picnic in pizza bianca or gorgeous crusty bread. If you want to serve it for dinner, put it in first thing in the morning, it doesn’t need to be overnight. 

I have so many ideas for my wild garlic but I would love to hear yours too. Or do you have any favourite recipes that you could link me to? Thanks!

Danny’s superb food blog – http://www.foodurchin.com/

Abi’s gorgeous travel blog – http://www.insidethetravellab.com/

Other wild garlic ideas from Eat Like a Girl:

Wild Garlic Pesto (aka the Joy of Spring) [Recipe]

Wild Garlic & Chorizo Potato Gratin

Recipe: Linguine with a simple tomato sauce, wild garlic flowers and pine nuts

Crab Claws with Wild Garlic & Chipotle

Wild Garlic Frittata

Edible Wild Flowers: Three Cornered Leek/Wild Onion

Gorgeous wild garlic recipes from elsewhere:

Wild Garlic Pesto, Soup, Bread etc etc etc from Food Urchin

Wild Garlic Irish Soda Bread from Donal Skehan in Ireland

Wild garlic pesto aka ramson pesto recipe from Nami-Nami in Estonia

Wet & Wild Garlic Lasagne with Creamy St. George’s Mushrooms & Fresh Egg Pasta from Ramson’s & Bramble in Leeds, UK

We all avoid tourist spots when we travel, mainly because they are mostly dreadful. But some cities are serious about food, and even their tourist places can be excellent. Like Madrid.

It is unfair to label Botín a tourist spot though. True, it is mainly tourists that eat there now. Lots of writers have feasted on suckling pig over the years here too, including Graham Greene & Hemingway. Goya was a waiter there. Hemingway is quoted as saying “We lunched upstairs at Botin’s. It is one of the best restaurants in the world. We had roast young suckling pig and drank rioja alta. Brett did not eat much. She never ate much. I ate a very big meal and drank three bottles of rioja alta.”

I always liked Hemingway.

Botín has been open since 1725, and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the oldest restaurant in the world. Suckling pig is roasted here in the wood fired oven (which dates from 1725 also) in the Castillian way.

The restaurant is quaint and gorgeous, all dark wood and bright tiles. The counter as you enter is low, with scarlet red drawers. You can eat in the cellar (I did), on the ground floor or on the bright first floor. As you walk in, you are invited to look at the oven, and the shelves of small suckling pigs alongside. It is a remarkable sight, and is the perfect amuse for your dinner.

I had heard much of the garlic and egg soup, and on the menu it is capitalised. So, yes, I ordered that. A terracotta bowl of bread and bacon soup spiked with garlic was presented to me, with a perfect fried egg on top, complete with runny yolk. A meal in itself, but I was hungry. I had a glass of house wine, just one, which was alright, but I would suggest you get a bottle of something better if not dining alone. Or rock like Hemingway and have three bottles of rioja alta. Next time, I will try.

After the soup, I saw a platter of suckling pig whisked to a table at the front of the restaurant, where my waiter plated it with small perfect roast potatoes on the side, all carefully drizzled with roasting juices. I had a leg, split down the centre, revealing gorgeous tender flesh inside. A sheet of crisp light crackling lay on top, and it was all so gorgeous, porky, rich and moist. I ate it all, and I ate it swiftly. Joy with every bite.

I skipped dessert, and so my bill came to €38 or so, but there is a deal to have the soup, pig, ice cream, half a bottle of house wine and half a bottle of water for €45. I loved it and would highly recommend a visit. Embrace your inner tourist and treat yourself to some gorgeous suckling pig in the oldest restaurant in the world when you next visit Madrid.

Botín, Calle Cuchilleros, 17, 28005 Madrid, Spain
+34 913 66 42 17
http://www.botin.es/?q=en

Related Madrid posts on Eat Like a Girl:

Where to Eat Tapas in Madrid on a Sunday for Lunch
What to Eat in Madrid & Where to Eat It

Baby, it is cold outside. (Sings along). But don’t worry, I have the solution.

My solution is tender and bright and soothing and a little bit hot, but not face melting. This pork belly bulgogi is punchy and gorgeous, and it is easy, once you get your mitts on the ingredients. And with this here internet, and the big broad world we all live in, that is not difficult at all. 

Korean BBQ is a big thing. Korean restaurants often have a hole in the table with wood burning below, so that you can BBQ your own food as you eat. Bulgogi (which translates as fire meat) is a style of marinaded meat, that is then cooked over the BBQ. At home, you can cook it in the oven or on a pan too. It is most commonly marinaded beef,  but I find it works terrifically with pork belly too. Cut thinly, and instead of over the BBQ, I roast it slowly until it is meltingly tender. 

Korean Pork Belly Pork – Marinading

This takes little work. If you have a food processor or good blender the marinade takes minutes, and all you have to do with the pork is slice it. After that it is just time, time to marinade the meat, and time to roast it (just an hour). You can eat it as you like, I love it on top of a rice bowl with sesame seeds, spring onions and some greens like kale. Bulgogi is fabulous in a taco with a simple slaw, you can treat it like a Korean kebab and have it rolled in a flatbread or some pita bread. You can eat it very simple wrapped in some lettuce leaves with some herbs and spring onions. This is a perfect dish to make large amounts of for friends, served from a big serving platter in the centre of the table.

Korean Bulgogi Pork Belly Rice Bowl

Note: you can buy ingredients in most Asian supermarkets and online on sites like Sous Chef (a site that I have used as a customer many times, and they ship all over Europe). I make a large-ish batch of this even when I just make it myself. It will keep for a few days in the fridge and is a brilliant sandwich stuffer, for brunch with eggs etc.

Brunch with leftover bulgogi pork belly, tomatoes, onion and a glorious egg

Recipe: Korean Pork Belly Bulgogi
Serves 4 

Ingredients

1kg skinless & boneless pork belly, and cut into thin slices (this can be easier if you freeze it for an hour to firm it)

Marinade

4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 inch ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 spring onions, ends removed and green and white parts coarsely chopped
75g gojuchang (Korean red pepper paste – gorgeous & something you should have in your cupboard)
3 tbsp gochugaru red pepper flakes
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

To finish

4 spring onions, thinly sliced
3 tbsp sesame seeds

some light oil for frying like groundnut, rapeseed or sunflower

Method

Put all of the ingredients for the marinade in your blender or food processor and process until smooth.

Add to the pork and mix with your hands, ensuring it is well combined. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for at least half an hour, preferably overnight.

About an hour and a quarter before you want to eat, remove the pork from the fridge, and preheat the oven to 150 deg C. Boil the kettle.

Depending on the size of your tray, you may need two. Oil them lightly and lay the pork slices in one layer. Put the boiling water in an oven proof bowl or pot and put it at the bottom of the oven. This will ensure that there is steam, and will prevent the pork from drying out.

Put the pork in the oven and allow it to roast gently. There should be plenty of water, but if for some reason you run out (say if your bowl is small), top it up if you need to.

After an hour it will be tender and ready to eat. You can push it further if you like, leaving it in longer to make a Korean pulled pork. Just a half an hour extra should do it. (I did this one time, and it is terrific too, if you like pulled pork!).

Serve with sesame seeds and shredded spring onion on top and eat hot, as you like it (rice bowl, taco, sandwich, in lettuce leaves with herbs).

There is a more recent post on Eat Like a Girl on Eating and Drinking in Cork, and it has a map t00! Cork Eating & Drinking Map. 

When you are not from where you live, people often ask how often you get home. Perhaps they are making conversation (likely) or maybe they are checking the calibre of my moral compass. Regardless, I tell them that I try to get home often, I aim for four times a year but I would like to go more.

I didn’t grow up in Cork, I grew up in Waterford next door, but it is where my mother is from, where I went to university, and where I lived for 7 years on and off. I know it very well and I have a huge affection for this bright patch of Ireland, that feeling of home and of belonging are keen here.

Many people I meet who have been to Ireland have only been to Dublin. This makes sense. It is the capital, and it is the biggest city. But Cork is so different and has its own charm, it also demands a visit. 

Photos taken near Cork City in Ballymaloe, the Farmgate Café in Midleton, Kinsale and the Jameson Distillery in Midleton. 

Cork is quirky for a small city, it has a big heart. By non-Irish standards it qualifies more as a large town than a city, but in Ireland, it is the second largest. The main street winds through, the river follows suit and splits in two surrounding the main island of Cork (for Cork is made of islands).  

For many, the centre of the city is the English Market, a wonderful old covered food market, and despite the name, an Irish one. The name English Market links back to times when the landed gentry used to shop there. Now we all do.

Winding out from the English Market, and Cork likes to wind, are small narrow streets with pubs and shops. There are wonderful restaurants, great bars, traditional Irish music sessions and a vibrant contemporary music and arts scene.

The Real Capital

The people of Cork regard Cork as the REAL capital. They also regard it as The Rebel County. There is a website devoted to the Peoples Republic of Cork. The people of Cork LOVE Cork and they don’t even know why you would visit Dublin before you visit them. 

The vernacular! We were all furious when Keith Floyd had to be subtitled when he visited Cork, but now that I live abroad and know that even my mild flat Waterford accent needs to be slowed down and drawn out before most can understand me, I get it. And so you need a little warning about that. Cork has many accents, all intense, Corkonians seems to sing as they speak. Many sentences are finished with BOY or GIRL (with a high inflection, depending of course on your gender). Howsitgoing, BOY? Alright there, GIRL? Whatisthestory, GIRL Etc. Everything in Cork is CRUUUUSHALL (crucial), even when not really so. If you have a hangover you might be sick as a small hospital. If you annoy someone they might threaten to crucify you, but they won’t, they just like having the intention. Corkonians love drama, and I love them for that. 

There are few chains in Cork, or in Ireland generally, and this is one of the best things about visiting. We do have elements of the British high street now, with Boots etc and Wetherspoon’s have started to open, however, in Ireland, the pubs are not brewery run but independent, and are often named for the people that own them. The exception to this in Cork is a group of pubs owned by Benny McCabe, but they are all unique and have their own flavour.

Forewarned is forearmed. Take a pew, and let me guide you through the city. 

Stay

The River Lee – on the river, as the name suggests, and it is right next to University College Cork and a 5 minute walk from downtown Cork. The hotel is contemporary and bright, the rooms are spacious and the beds are large and very comfortable. The bar and restaurant are both on the river and the bar, particularly, has a terrace that is very cosy. Even if you are not staying you should pop into the Weir Rooms for a drink on the river. 

Food is locally sourced and well executed. Try the Toomsbridge Irish burrata, mozzarella filled with fresh cream and tied like a purse ready for you to devour it. The charcuterie (sourced from Gubbeen) is excellent too. Breakfast is a buffet with many options from fresh pastries to lots of fruit and yogurt, local salmon and cheeses and the traditional Irish fry up too. You are probably familiar with black pudding but be sure to try some white pudding too (a pepper sausage made with pork shoulder, fat and oatmeal). I love that they have poached eggs on the buffet too, and they were all cooked quite soft on my visit.

https://www.doylecollection.com/hotels/the-river-lee-hotel

Eating

We have to start at The English Market, a covered food market which has been trading since 1788. Formerly dominated by butchers, in recent years artisanal traders have joined, and the best of Irish produce can be found here. Wonderful cheeses (all that rain and great pasture yields terrific milk and cheeses), meats, seafood, patisserie, veg, wine and chocolate can all be found here, most of it local.

In terms of meats, Cork’s famous tripe and drisheen is on offer here, both in the market for sale and for eating in The Farmgate Café. Drisheen is a spongy lambs blood sausage, and it is definitely a very specific strong flavour. It is served with boiled tripe, a cow has 4 stomachs and accordingly there are 4 types of tripe: blanket, honeycomb, leaf, and reed, with honeycomb and leaf favoured (and leaf is hard to find).

Cured pork products are a cork thing too, or corned, so you can find corned crubeens (cru is the Irish word for foot, crubeen being little foot) and ribs etc. A must  is Cork’s spiced beef, a spiced corned beef that is a local delicacy for Christmas, and harks back to the time when Cork was the leading butter trading centre in the world (really!) and people would trade spices for butter. There is a large seafood section with anything you might want including local oysters which you can eat upstairs in the Farmgate Café later on.  Frank Hederman smokes wonderful organic Irish salmon, haddock, mackerel, tomatoes, butter, garlic and all of this, plus their lovely homemade fish cakes are for sale here. 

http://www.englishmarket.ie/

The Farmgate Café in the English Market but it is a destination in its own right. Serving the best of Irish food and produce (most of which is sourced from the market), reserve a table on the restaurant side or freestyle it in the café, the same food is available on each side. Fresh oysters are a great start, I love the Irish stew and toasted sandwiches, however, you literally can’t go wrong here. And there is the aforementioned tripe and drisheen, please let me know if you do that, please!

http://www.farmgate.ie/corkhome.htm

Café Paradiso is a destination in itself for vegetarians, but it is a restaurant that everyone enjoys, even the most hardened carnivores. Chef-patron Denis Cotter does wonderful things here, you may know him from one of his 4 cookbooks, he is an excellent food writer too. Prices are on the high end, but so is the food. Be sure to book if you want to eat here. I have been eating here for years, and it was where I would celebrate occasions when I lived in Cork.

http://www.cafeparadiso.ie/

Greene’s – Bryan McCarthy is cooking some of the most exciting food in Cork, and yes, using the best of local produce. Off MacCurtain St and with its very own natural waterfall outside, there is a terrific value early bird menu for just under €30 and there is a la carte too. I insist that you have the local rare breed pork belly & black budding dumplings with apple, cider, crackling popcorn and celeriac slaw if it is on the menu. Bryan uses terrific black pudding from McCarthy’s in Kanturk, which just happens to be my favourite. Yes, there are a lot of M(a)cCarthy’s in Cork!

http://greenesrestaurant.com/

Fenn’s Quay – I have fond memories of Fenn’s Quay from my time living in Cork. Tucked on the ground floor of an old tenement building in Cork, Fenn’s Quay is a local Irish bistro (at least that is what I would call it anyway). Kate Lawlor, head chef, has put together a lovely contemporary Irish menu. Space is limited, so again, best to book.

Home

Idaho Café – Richard & Mairéad met while they were both working at Ballymaloe House in East Cork (about a half hour drive from Cork city), eventually leaving to set up the charming Idaho Café in the city. This gorgeous small space is always buzzing, but you won’t have to wait long for a seat. The service is lovely here. When I would go on my own, they would always make sure I had magazines from their stockpile to keep me busy while I supped my coffee.  Go for breakfast and have the house waffles with bacon or the sausage sandwich (all hail the sausage sandwich!). Or go any time of day, go for lunch (try the fish pie), just go.

http://idahocafe.ie/

Miyazaki – A new arrival on the Cork scene, Miyazaki is a small Japanese restaurant and takeaway owned and run by Takashi Miyazaki from Fukouka. Takashi told me that like Cork, Fukuoka residents consider their city the best in Japan. Serving terrific authentic food, Miyazaki serves gorgeous creative sushi, donburi (rice bowls), noodle dishes (including ramen) and daily specials from a tight wide ranging menu. The day I visited there was a miso butter tonkotsu ramen on the specials board. I had a wonderful donburi and age dashi tofu. I loved it so much I bought sushi to take away.

https://www.facebook.com/miyazakicork/

The Rocket Man – Just outside the English Market, the Rocket Man serves excellent salads, fresh pressed juices and wholefoods. They serve good coffee too, and offer a selection of non-dairy milks (oat and almond when I visited).

http://www.therocketman.ie/

Iago’s – a food shop, not a café, but it is gorgeous, and if you are staying in Cork self catering you need to shop here. Italian and Irish produce, cheese, fresh pasta, pizza dough, fresh chorizo and anything else you might require for a great dinner.

https://www.facebook.com/Iago-116253695123175/

Nash 19 – café and art gallery, Nash 19 veers more to being a restaurant. Excellent Irish food is served in lovely surroundings, the back of the restaurant is an art gallery. It is packed with locals, and is just down the road from the English Market.

http://www.nash19.com/

Filter – a little out of the way on the banks of one branch of the river, Filter serves the best coffee in Cork. A variety of beans are available, some locally roasted (by Badger & Dodo). Espresso based coffees are available as well as filter coffees from the coffee bar, hence the name. There is café type food here but I only ever go for the coffee (if you try it, let me know).

https://www.facebook.com/F-I-L-T-E-R-537055749645261/

The Triskel – part café, part pub, cinema & gallery, the Triskel is a gorgeous spot. Tucked down a side street off the Grand Parade and near Washington St, be sure to pop in and enjoy. They have a lovely terrace in the summer.

Home

Drinking

The Hi-B – tucked away on the first floor on Oliver Plunkett St, the Hi-B is like a lively sitting room more than a bar. Always busy, the Hi-B is a Cork icon that tourists are starting to discover but the locals have long known (for over 100 years now). The owner was notoriously cantankerous in my day, he once threw me out for having the same coat as his barmaid, and he didn’t want to upset her. Also, scribbled on the mirror behind the bar was the message “the Guinness man doesn’t call, nor is he invited”. Guinness is a Dublin stout you see, in Cork there is Murphy’s and Beamish, both made locally. I love popping in here for  a hot port by the fire. A hot port is a must in the Irish winter – port with brown sugar, hot water and lemon or orange studded with cloves. Like a gentle toddy. 

https://www.facebook.com/HiBCork/

The Long Valley – another Cork standard, I love the Long Valley for a cosy chat during the day, or for a sandwich, probably a toastie, and maybe some soup. We are obsessed with toasted sandwiches and soup in Ireland, and I challenge you to walk into any eating establishment on my fair isle and fine someone who isn’t cradling a bowl of soup. There is always at least one. The sandwiches here are old school made with thick sliced bread, home cooked ham, spiced or corned beef, chicken and proper cheese. The toasted special is the thing in any Irish bar, a perfect blend of ham, cheese, onion and tomato. 

http://www.thelongvalleybar.com/

Sin É – I mention Sin É as it has a wonderful traditional Irish music session on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday (other nights too on occasion). It is also a great little pub with lots of local craft beer options as well as the standards.

Sin É

The Mutton Lane Inn – the same owner as Sin É and a similar vibe, this pub just outside the English Market in a small alley is one of my favourites. Cosy & fun. There are wonderful murals outside by local artist, Anthony Ruby.

The Mutton Lane Inn

Arthur Mayne’s – again, from the same owner, Benny McCabe, this pub isset in an old pharmacy, still retaining a lot of the contents. Arthur Mayne’s is a lovely pub that also does decent food. There are many wines by the glass served from enomatics for the wine fans too. Arthur Mayne’s backs on to Crane Lane, a late night pub and music venue. There are often great gigs here and it is a fun place to end up at the end of the night too.

Arthur Mayne

Tom Barry’s – just up the road from Miyazaki is a lovely local Cork pub with a large beer garden. The last time I was there they were making pizzas in a wood fired oven (I had already eaten so didn’t try them). It is a gorgeous spot for an evening drink. 

https://www.facebook.com/Tom-Barrys-114581158593906/timeline

Meade’s Wine Bar – so cosy, so lovely, Mead’s is like being in someones lovely living room, and they sell wine. Very centrally located on Oliver Plunkett St. It opens from 5pm.

http://www.meades126.com/

Microbreweries

The Franciscan Well Brewery & Brewpub – the first in Cork and very well established, you can find the Franciscan Well beers all over Cork, but it is worth heading across the river to visit their lovely pub and trying them there. 

http://www.franciscanwellbrewery.com/

The Rising Sons Brewery – Cork’s newest microbrewery is based in a large bar in the Coal Quay in Cork. Owned by Benny McCabe, mentioned above, so you can get all of these beers in his other bars. 

http://www.risingsonsbrewery.com/

Also on Ireland from Eat Like a Girl:

Dispatches from the West Waterford Festival of Food, Ireland

Dispatches from the Kerrygold Ballymaloe Lit Fest, Ireland

MacGrath’s Butchers in Lismore & Some Thoughts on Butchery

A Weekend in Dublin at The Westbury Hotel

An Afternoon at Ballymaloe, Cork

With thanks to The River Lee who hosted my recent stay.  Fab Food Trails do a terrific food tour in Cork encompassing the English Market and surrounds and I highly recommend it. All editorial is my own, and this piece is based on a lifetime of visits. 

One of my laments this year was that I never celebrated my birthday. It was a big one and I had planned to. I was excited to! I delayed it because of work, and then again, and then again. It never happened and now it is gone. But! I did have a surprise birthday party at 30,000 feet and it was a gorgeous one.

I flew to Borneo earlier this year with Malaysia Airlines to explore. The trip itself was a joy, lovely people, fabulous food, and lots of laksa. I got to visit Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur for the first time.

I cooked local food, I visited local food markets, I brought home lots of pepper (Sarawak pepper is said to be one of the best), bright green pepper candy (which I am yet to try!) and some laksa paste so that I could enjoy laksa at home, and work out a recipe. I saw more wonderful orangutans, many of them. I flew to Kuala Lumpur from London business class, a treat in itself.

Turning left when you board a plane is a luxury. More room (just one neighbour on one side), a fully reclining bed which is also a massage chair, a blanket and pillow, a lovely wine list (including champagne!) and a fine dining menu. The TV screens are bigger and the headphones are very comfortable. This was also my first trip on an A380 superjumbo, an enormous plane with two floors, the top of which is business class. Even the toilets are bigger.

Lets get to the food. On Malaysia Airlines the eggs are cooked fresh to order and as you like for breakfast, scrambled, poached, fried. In business class 6 cuisines are available if ordered 24 hours in advance, including Japanese, Malay and Western. I stuck to Malay, it seemed a missed opportunity otherwise. It was, as you would expect, very good.

The satay trolley is the thing. 20,000 sticks are served a day on Malaysia Airlines flights. Made with fresh shallots, turmeric, garlic, galangal and lemongrass, the satay sticks are chargrilled by hand over mangrove wood charcoal. It is served on board with with a traditional crushed peanut sauce, nasi himpit, cucumber and onion. It is as good as I have had anywhere, and the staff take great pride in it, which they should.

The satay trolley on Malaysia Airlines

On the way back, my travelling companions were being a bit sketchy. They wanted me out of the way so that they could arrange the cakes. Of course, I didn’t know, nor did I realise, so when they craftily suggested a trip to see First Class (and well – HELLO), I hopped along. I was surprised with two celebration cakes and champagne on my return to celebrate my big birthday. Anyone can order a celebration cake in advance (in any class) and it is such a joy. The lady behind me also had a birthday that day and so we shared it all.

I would always turn left if I could. It is a world away from normality, which is a lovely luxury every once in a while.

My trip to Sarawak was sponsored by Malaysia Airlines, who are the only carrier to offer a twice daily non-stop A380 full service link between the UK and Malaysia. UK passengers can also take advantage of frequent onward connections to destinations across Malaysia, Asia and Australasia. Economy class return flights from London Heathrow to Kuching via Kuala Lumpur International Airport start from £817. Business Class from £3167 (prices including taxes and charges). To book visit www.malaysiaairlines.com or call +44 (0) 871 4239 090.