Lockdown marches on and takes us along with it. I hope you are doing ok and it is not proving too difficult and that Covid has not impacted your life directly. If it has, I hope you are doing ok. I have been fairly silent here, which was not my intention. But, I am back now and I have lots to share with you. Lots of this will be recipes too. 

It won’t surprise you to hear that the publication of my book, Bacon, has been impacted by Covid. The latest in a litany of hurdles but the last one. My printer was affected by the Italian lockdown but things are moving again and I will keep you updated as to when Bacon will be on sale. I am also planning on publishing an updated version of Comfort & Spice after that with a fresh design and a light rethink. But Bacon first, and I can’t wait to share it. Continue reading

Our tapas episode of The Cooking and Cocktail Show was great fun! It is high time I shared the recipes with you as our next show is TODAY! The recipes will come in my next post. Not only do you have those recipes to look forward to but we have a very special guest tomorrow. I am so excited. 

Introducing Special Guests!

We will be joined by Siobhán McSweeney! Yes, that is Sister Michael from Derry Girls but Siobhán has done so much more. She has tread the boards with the RSC and at the Barbican, the Old Vic, the National Theatre, the Abbey Theatre and lots more. Lots of TV (did you see her on The Fall?!). She is also one of the funniest people I know. Continue reading

I am a night owl and I have a fierce midnight snack habit. I just can’t help it and besides, I quite like to indulge, especially in lockdown where comfort eating is an available pleasure. Life is tough and weird right now, we need these cheesecakes and all the other delicious things. Please don’t feel bad about eating. Ever.

They are as quick as throwing together an open sandwich (if you have some cooked rhubarb roasted in your fridge as I suggested you should in yesterdays post!). Even if not, it cooks quickly. The cheesecake topping is a combination of cream cheese, whipped cream, honey and rosewater. You can stir your cooked rhubarb through, or you can put it on top, like I did. Continue reading

Rhubarb is a vegetable, even though we treat it as a fruit. I only ever had it as stewed rhubarb with custard or rhubarb fool in childhood, and I loved it. Understanding later on that rhubarb could be a savoury ingredient was a game-changer.

If you think about it, rhubarb isn’t sweet at all. Even the gorgeous bright pink forced Yorkshire rhubarb is markedly sour. Rhubarb loves sweet though. That makes it a wonderful ingredient in terms of a play on sweet and sour in a dish. It makes lovely ketchup too. It works with most meats, I especially like it with lamb and a roast like pork belly. Continue reading

Hello! Greetings from Lockdown London and my tiny kitchen! I am opening up my home to you live on Zoom to share with you some of my favourite easy dishes.

Come join us on Zoom for our new LIVE show, The Cooking and Cocktail Show, at 5pm this evening! Drinks extraordinaire Oisín Davis and I are co-hosting. I am doing the food, simple tasty and gorgeous stuff that you can easily recreate at home, and Oisín is applying the same philosophy to his drinks. He is already an expert at recreating fab cocktails using simple home kit that you have already.

We had our first episode last week and it was all about rhubarb. I made Spiced Lamb Chops with Rhubarb and Instant Mini Rhubarb and Rose Cheesecakes (and I will be sharing both recipes with you this week). Oisín showed us how to make his rhubarb cordial and how to make a gorgeous Tom Collins cocktail with it with a favourite Irish gin.

This week we are heading to SPAIN! We are going to share simple recipes with you to liven your lockdown evenings. I will be sharing some favourite tapas recipes inspired by my travels to Spain. Two veggie, one meat and one seafood tapas from me and Oisín has a fabulous easy to recreate cocktail and a twist on a Spanish classic drink up his sleeve to share with you.

We would love you to join us! We embrace all interaction, you can ask us questions and chat with us. But it is only live. So you have to be there! Come on over to Zoom at 5pm or just before and use our Meeting ID 85036832178. If you have not used Zoom before, don’t worry, I hadn’t either. It is dead easy! Give yourself a little time to set up your account so you are ready and in the room for 5pm.

Can’t wait to see you then!