Pickled peppercorns are much milder than dried peppercorns and are more tender, they are delicious served with my squid recipe and they add delicious piquancy to salads, scrambled eggs and are lovely draped over curries and rice.P
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I don’t need an excuse to use peas in anything, as I’ve always been a massive pea fan. My mum and sister always kept petit pois peas in the freezer in case they had to cook for me. So I have been looking at recipes that are predominantly pea based.
This recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey’s easy vegetarian books but I’ve tweaked it a bit to suit my taste, and added olive oil, a bit of lemon juice and parsley so it’s even healthier and tastier. Peas are a fantastic super food and are one of the highest fibre vegetables.
This recipe is perfect as an accompaniment to baked fish, basmati rice and salad. It’s got all the sweet and savoury flavours that work well with the fragrance of the spices. It’s also dairy and gluten free. I drizzle a bit of dairy free kefir on mine to add even more good things. And it’s delicious cold in a warm chapati for lunch.
I love trying new ways of cooking tasty vegan food, and I particularly love aubergines. Because the aubergines are babies they cook differently to large aubergines, they are tender but at the same time they stay firm. I adapted this recipe from an Indian cookbook called 50 Great Curries of India by Camellia Panjabi.
I have cooked this for dinner parties with basmati rice, salad and papadums and it is always a huge hit. It looks impressive and it’s tasty, sweet and savoury and has all the lovely flavours of delicious Indian spices. I sometimes serve it with a dollop of dairy free yogurt or kefir too.
Moqueca is a super easy traditional Brazilian fish stew which is creamy and tangy all at once because it has the brilliant combo of lime juice, coconut milk and chilli. It will warm your cockles even on an autumn evening and take you to somewhere a little bit more exotic if you are not there already. You can also use fresh squid, sea bream, haddock, clams, mussels, scallops, crab or whatever is available or whatever you fancy in it. It’s up to you. Its really delicious with basmati rice or crusty bread if you are not low carbing it. Perfect for a dinner party or just a dinner for two.
I had a vegan version of this classic Brazilian bean stew from Leon restaurant the other day with my friend Soph. Soph and I are always on the look out for new vegan recipes that are really tasty and healthy because her son is vegan. Kefir provides the right flora for the gut which is now being linked to helping with moods too. We loved it so much I have adapted it for my blog and added the cooling kefir, and the mango salsa. So you get all your taste senses catered for…salt and sweet.
I have cooked this simple recipe for a thousand years…it is from Madhur Jaffrey’s Indian Cookery book. Not only is it the nicest dal recipe I’ve ever tried, it’s my friend Sophie’s fave recipe for dal too. Its thick creamy and tasty, and lentils are fantastic for your digestion, stabilising blood sugar levels and lowering cholesterol amongst many other things.
I love peas and always have, and will always be excited if I know they are on the menu, and I try and find any excuse to put them in a recipe. I have wanted to make a pea bruschetta type scenario for ages, and now I have knocked one up for the blog. It’s a delicious mix of crunchy bread with the delicate pea mash and the flavours of the Parmesan and balsamic vinegar. Bloody delish and great as a canapé or starter or as a snack.
This is my 100th recipe on the blog. I’m really proud and grateful, thank you for subscribing, and as Julia Child used to say Bon Appétit!
I have had the crab linguine lots of times at Polpo restaurant in Nottinghill Gate with my friend Emily, we always order it and we are obsessed with it as it’s so good. I really wanted the recipe, however it isn’t in their cookbooks or online, so I have had to guess what it is. It took me six attempts before I got it right, that’s a lot of linguine and I’m now booking in to a health farm so I can do my jeans up again, however it was worth it. I really think Polpo have nailed it, and I hope you think I have too. The beauty of it is it only takes about twelve minutes to make and you can keep the ingredients in the store cupboard. Perfect for a stress free dinner party or just dinner for two. Ralph has just cooked and tasted it and he thinks that it is so easy and beyond amazing and you should definitely try it and everyone that has cooked this recipe has said it’s the best crab linguine they have ever had. Give it a try…
Recipe
Serves 2 (double or triple the quantities for more people).
Ingredients:
200g of linguine or spaghetti
170g tin of crab meat (drained which becomes 100g) or 100g of fresh white and/or brown crab meat
½ teaspoon of finely chopped red chilli or a pinch of dried chilli flakes
8 cherry tomatoes halved
A sprig of parsley finely chopped
2 tablespoons of fresh grated Parmesan
1 small clove of garlic minced
2-3 tablespoons of butter
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste
