When is a pie not a pie? And why do people get so mad about it? Surely pastry meeting another gorgeous thing can only be celebrated, but no, people feel very strongly about this. Pie fascism is real. 

Which brings me on to pie rage. People aren’t happy with people not encasing a pie filling in pastry and calling it a PIE. But folks, it is, and even if you feel it isn’t, feel free to surround this gorgeous chicken curry filling with pastry. I made this pie two ways, entirely enclosed in shortcrust pastry top and bottom, and with a puff pastry top, no bottom. I prefer the puff pastry lid. Continue reading

I took enormous pleasure dunking lots of bread in my soup when I was a child. In advance of eating it, lots of bread, sometimes killing the soup in the process. I occasionally ended up with a disappointing bowl of flavoured soggy bread. Castilian garlic soup is the perfect soup for people who love to dunk bread in their soup. It is perfectly balanced, the bread has absorbed the flavours and then yielded to everything, this soup is the ultimate bowl of comfort. One of, at any rate. 

I first had this soup at Botin in Madrid, Spain. A prelude to my meal of roast suckling pig, which is what I had come to try. Garlic soup though? Lets give that a bash too. What arrived was a bowl of soup rich with bread, stringy egg and a punchy broth. I loved it, and I have had it many times since. 

Where to Eat in Madrid: Roast Suckling Pig at Botín

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Simplicity and time often make the best dishes. I had a couple of pork chops to use up and I wanted to do something tasty with them. 

The chops were from the shoulder and were marbled beautifully. I knew that the meat would be gorgeous slow cooked, and that they would also be perfect cooked on a skewer. A long marinade would make them tender and the fat would make them moist and delicious. I wanted spice and colour.

I settled on this simple dish. I have a fierce hot paprika from Budapest which when combined with lemon and yogurt made a perfect simple dish for lunch today. A writing day that demanded all of my time and energy (yes, that bacon book! Nearly finished. I will write a book on the writing of it some day).  Continue reading

On a grey day (and isn’t it so grey now?), saffron on your plate can brighten your heart as well as your dinner plate. Golden yellow and joyful, delicious too. Sure it is expensive, but it is used sparingly, and it is always worth having some in your cupboard. This grey weather is tough, it needs sunshine, however we find it.

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It is waffle season in my kitchen again. Often in colder days, waffle season is strictly dictated only by my mood and my desire to have waffles. It is a season because my waffle maker lives on top of my fridge, and my fridge is in my hallway for my kitchen is TINY (lets write that big), and my only permanent kitchen counter kit is my mixer and my food processor. Everything else lives in the hall and comes in briefly when needed. (Yes, far from a perfect system, but it almost works, for now). 

My waffle maker, like my toasted sandwich maker, only comes in occasionally. This is because when I start to make them I start a flurry of obsession where I will eat little else for a bit until I realise that this-must-stop and I retire them to their hiding place, away from my obsessive waffle desires.  Continue reading