Featured Recipe
Frisée Salad with Chestnuts and Bacon
Monday, February 02, 2026| |
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Fresh, crisp, and bursting with flavour, this refreshing winter salad is a vibrant mix of colours, tastes and textures for a unique salad experience. The salad is delicious, easy and very adaptable. You can swap endive or escarole for the frisée lettuce, blue cheese or feta for Parmesan, pancetta for bacon, and candied walnuts or hazelnuts for chestnuts.
Burmese Fried Chicken
Tuesday, January 27, 2026| |
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Burmese Fried Chicken is a popular street food known for its seasoning of turmeric, ginger and chilli, and it is often served with a tangy dipping sauce. But a sweet chilli sauce would work really great too. Ok, not really authentic, but delicious all the same. I am using chicken thigh strips, but you can use 10-12 skin-on, bone-in drumsticks or wings, use more spices if necessary. And for those of you not keen on deep-frying, spray the airfryer with a little of oil and airfry the chicken at 180C/350F for 10-12 minutes.
Chicken Tikka Masala
Tuesday, January 13, 2026| |
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Chicken tikka masala is a flavourful and aromatic curry dish, made in a similar way to butter chicken. If you love butter chicken, you might as well enjoy this spicier variant. It consists of marinated and grilled chicken pieces, known as "tikka," simmered in a creamy tomato-based sauce infused with a blend of traditional Indian spices.
The dish’s origins are debated. One story purports that it was invented in the 1970s by Ali Ahmed Aslam, a Bangladeshi chef in Glasgow, Scotland, who improvised the recipe by combining grilled chicken tikka with a creamy tomato-based sauce, resulting in the iconic dish we know today. Many consider it to be the national dish of the UK. In 2001 British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook gave a speech in which he hailed chicken tikka masala as a “true British national dish” and a symbol of modern multicultural Britain. He even offered his own simplified explanation of how it evolved: “Chicken tikka is an Indian dish. The masala sauce was added to satisfy the desire of British people to have their meat served in gravy.”
Cumin Roasted Pumpkin and Parsley Root with Hummus Dressing
Friday, January 09, 2026| |
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This delicious, hearty warm salad is full of flavour from the spiced olive oil, sweetness from root vegetables and a good amount of crunch from chickpeas. It makes a perfect side dish or enjoy it on it's own as a lunch. The creamy, tangy hummus dressing comes together with just a few ingredients and so easy to make.
Nut Roast with Maple Cranberry Sauce
Sunday, December 07, 2025| |
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Try this hearty, delicious and festive chestnut roast with naturally sweetened cranberry sauce-packed with comforting parsley root and chestnut mushrooms, with sweetness from port-soaked cranberries and buttery, earthy chestnuts. The naturally sweetened cranberry sauce recipe is made with fresh (or frozen) cranberries, maple syrup and orange zest. It’s easy to make and tastes amazing. The chestnut roast is packed with flavour even the carnivores would enjoy it. It is perfect for Christmas and special occasions.
Peri Peri Chicken Livers
Thursday, November 06, 2025| |
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With Portuguese roots, a popular staple served throughout South Africa, these chicken livers are spicy, juicy and flavour-packed with a creamy tangy peri peri sauce. You can add 125 ml of chicken stock for more gravy if you prefer. The dish makes an excellent entrée or lunch served with rye bread or steamed rice and vegetables. It’s budget friendly and super nutritious.
For peri peri sauce, use the red chillies that are available to you. I have used a mixture of dried kashmiri chillies and bird eye chillies. If you want a really spicy sauce, then use more bird eye chillies. Skip the soaking step if you use fresh chillie.
Crispy Smashed Potato and Red Belgian Endive Salad
Tuesday, November 04, 2025| |
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Golden crispy smashed potatoes, crunchy red Belgian endives with a pleasant bitterness, and creamy Greek yoghurt dip / sauce—a simple yet tantalizing combination that is bursting in colour, texture and flavour while maintaining an excellent nutrient balance for an elevated home-cooked meal. For smashed potatoes, you want to use those baby-sized waxy potatoes, about the size of a golf ball, with soft and thin skin, red and yellow are both fine.
Tomato Kasundi - Indian Tomato Chutney
Friday, October 31, 2025| |
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Tomato Kasundi, an Indian condiment that’s sweet, sour and spicy, is perfect for a bounty of fresh ripe tomatoes from your garden or farmer markets. It is made with lots of wonderful Indian spices, apple cider vinegar, sugar (I used coconut sugar), and hot/mild chilli peppers. You can also eat it straight out of the jar with naan bread. Or serve this chutney with samosas, curries, vegetables, cheese, or as a sandwich spread, or with daal and basmati rice. There are many varieties of kasundi made with different vegetables and fruits, but a common ingredient is mustard seeds, either brown or black.
Lamb and Date Pastry Rolls with Plum Ketchup
Monday, October 13, 2025| |
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Today I have another delicious snack idea and a quick recipe using storebought puff pastry. These minced lamb puff pastry rolls with dates are really tasty, hearty finger food that are sure to win you over with their unique flavour. The fact that they are quite easy to make is just another bonus for all snack lovers. These savoury pastry rolls definitely need a creamy sauce to go with them. As I used lamb, and it’s autumn, plum ketchup is the obvious choice. However, a simple garlic yoghurt dip or Greek tzatziki would also work very well.
Köttbullar – Classic Swedish Meatballs
Monday, October 06, 2025| |
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Köttbullar slathered in gravy and plated with mashed or boiled potatoes and lingonberry sauce are indisputably the national dish in Sweden. They are eaten everywhere: at home and parties, in canteens and fine dining restaurants, hospitals and prisons. Anyone who really thinks that authentic Swedish köttbullar should taste like they do at IKEA has never eaten any truly good one.
Everyone has their own favourite recipe, and most people will, of course, say that their mother's recipe is the best! Impress your friends with homemade Swedish meatballs using this simple recipe!
One of the secrets of this Swedish classic is the deliciously sweet caramelised onions and a dash of cream in the meat mixture. It's not just the meatballs that make this dish such a classic comfort meal, the creamy sauce is just as good. And don’t forget the lingonberry! If you cannot find lingonberry in your local supermarket, try IKEA or online shops or use cranberry sauce instead.
Quince Jelly
Friday, October 03, 2025| |
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Quinces are sort of cousins to apples and pears, but they're an entirely different fruit altogether. They can’t be eaten fresh. To enjoy quinces, they must be cooked until completely soft and falling apart. When fresh, they’re hard as a rock, bitter and astringent. Once cooked, the cream coloured flesh will turn pink with a floral flavour.
The ingredients for this quince jelly are quite simple, and all you really need are quince, water and sugar. But a little bit of star anise, cinnamon, or ginger brings a warmth and extra dimension to the aroma of the fruit. Quince is very high in pectin, so lemon is not required for making the jelly. However, fresh lemon juice will heighten flavour of the fruit. You do not need to peel your quince before cooking it to make jelly. Nor do you need to core it. Just scrub off the furry coating and wash them clean before using.
Serve quince jelly as part of a cheeseboard, or alongside pork or game dishes, or with some homemade bread or crackers.
Kohlrabi Apple Carpaccio with Styrian Pumpkin Seed Oil Vinaigrette
Thursday, October 02, 2025| |
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This refreshing and crunchy carpaccio variation with kohlrabi and apples scores points thanks to its fresh ingredients and a nutty, earthy Styrian pumpkin seed oil vinaigrette. Toasted pepitas and parsley make great toppings. Easy and delicious!
Since pumpkin seed oil is rather thick, you can use 1-2 tablespoons water or broth to dilute the dressing. You can also make this into a simple salad by cutting kohlrabi and apple into sticks, which then tossed with the dressing.
Sugar Free Italian Plum Ketchup
Tuesday, September 30, 2025| |
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A mild, fruity, and tangy ketchup made from large, sweet, and juicy Italian plums. You can certainly use other stone fruit. Use damsons if you can find them as they are spicy, tart with a high pectin content that makes them ideal for, ketchup, jams and preserves. If you’re looking to change up your normal routine, give this plum ketchup a try. It’s fast, easy, fun, and tasty. It should stay fresh in the fridge for a month since it contains no-added sugar.


