#cookingtips

Chestnuts: Introduction, tips & quick ideas

There are few smells more evocative than the waft of roasting chestnuts and few more perfect ways of spending a Sunday afternoon than...

Tomatoes: Spanish Tomato Sauce

I have been calling this sauce salmorejo for as long as I’ve been making it, but as I no longer remember where I saw the recipe or how...

Tomatoes: Gelée de Tomates

This was one of the recipes I wrote for The Sunday Times. The others were published in August 2009, but this one had to be dropped at the...

Tomatoes: Introduction & How To Peel

Fresh tomatoes are with us all year, but there’s still something about eating them in summer – even late summer – that’s so much better....

Herbs: Tips and Extras

Some other ways with herbs: • Herb butters for meat, fish, vegetables, pasta, risotto, sandwiches et al. Use any herb you like, including...

Blackcurrants: Tips and Extras

Ending off this blackcurrant series with, as always, some tips and extra ideas of what to do with all the blackcurrants I know you've...

Salads: DIY Salades Composées - Part 2

See Part 1 of my Salades Composées two-part series here. Salad dressings The soy and ginger dressing (from my Smoked Salmon Salad recipe)...

Salads: DIY Salades Composées - Part 1

This is part one of two - today's post on salad components will be followed by part two tomorrow on dressings. Top tips Don’t have too...

Boozy Food with Spirits: Tips and Extras

Fortify yourself with… A bottle of madeira and a bottle of Australian liqueur muscat or PX (pedro ximenez) sherry. •Use the madeira for...

Boozy Food with Wine: Tips and Extras

Look up the recipe for Coq au Vin in Larousse and it advises using a Chambertin or a Mercurey. Helpful or what? A Chambertin will set you...