Featured Recipe
Balsamic Beef Short Ribs with Butter Beans and Sugar Beet Greens
Thursday, January 29, 2026| |
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Bone-in beef short ribs braised, low and slow in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, shallots, thyme, beef broth and coconut sugar until they are fall-off-the-bone tender and juicy, perfect for serving atop a Parmesan mashed pumpkin-- a hearty dish that's comforting on a chilly evening. You can also make this in a slow cooker for 4-5 hours at low, then thicken the sauce with a little cornstarch. I served it with a Parmesan mashed pumpkin to keep it low-carb, but you can enjoy it with mashed potatoes, parsnip, or cheesy polenta if carbs ain’t an issue for you. Replace some beef stock with red wine or dark beer if you like.
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.
Moroccan Chicken with Cauliflower Pilaf
Friday, January 16, 2026| |
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Tender, succulant chicken thighs with warm Moroccan spices, preserved lemons and cauliflower rice pilaf. Preserved lemons pickled in lemon juice and sea salt, adding a wonderful complexity to any dish, are a pantry staple of North African cuisine and have a unique lemon flavour without any of the bitter, tart characteristics of fresh lemons. Cauliflower rice pilaf is a low carb version of a rice pilaf made with finely chopped cauliflower. You can also serve them with regular rice or couscous for a filling meal.
Spanish Chicken
Sunday, January 04, 2026| |
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This effortless and delicious Spanish chicken is the perfect harmony of aroma, flavour and colour. A simple marinade prepared with lots of fino sherry, white wine and spices used as the sauce and basting liquid. Perfect for any day or night of the week. Marination is the key to the perfection of the taste. So the longer you can let the marinade do its magic, the tastier the chicken gets. I left mine marinate for 16 hours, but if you are in a hurry, give it at least 4 hours up to 24 hours. Plan ahead, then you won’t be disappointed. Serve the chicken with crusty bread to mop up the sauce, or with some roasted potatoes or just a salad of your choice. I made a black radish salad with it.
Seedy Apple Rings
Wednesday, December 31, 2025| |
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Here’s a super simple, energising and satisfying snack that everyone, including kids, would love! It can be made in just a few minutes for when you need to grab and go. A jazzed up version of apple rings with peanut butter--slathering a slice of a tart apple ring with pure pistachio butter, sprinkling it with salt flakes, then topping it with a variety of healthy seeds and nuts results in the best crunchy-creamy, fulfilling breakfast or afternoon pick-me-up. I used Braeburn, but honeycrispy, granny smith or pink lady are equally great.
Burmese Chicken with Mint
Sunday, December 28, 2025| |
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This Burmese Chicken with Mint is so simple yet so delicious and flavourful! It's a quick Burmese chicken stir-fry with spices and fresh herbs that can be made in 20 minutes. If you like Thai chicken laap, you are going to enjoy this one too. What makes this Burmese-Chinese version of minced chicken recipe unique is the use of sambal oelek, black mustard seeds, cumin seeds and lots of fresh mint leaves. Whole garlic cloves are fried first, then mixed in for texture. The authors, Tan and Leahy, of Burma Superstar suggested that the chicken should be minced by hand as the texture of ground chicken from supermarkets is more paste-like. Enjoy it with steamed rice or use it as a filling for lettuce leaves.
Oxtail Ragout with Celery
Wednesday, December 10, 2025| |
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Richly caramelized oxtails are simmered low and slow with vegetables in a wine sauce until the meat comes off the bones. It can be eaten on its own or served mashed potatoes (cauliflower puree if you are on keto), bread dumplings and pasta.
A ragoût is essentially the same as a stew, except that most recipes for ragout are originally French, and often chunks of meat and vegetables cooked together at a low heat for a few hours until tender. But it also can be made with fish or just vegetables. A ragù is an Italian pasta sauce that is usually made with minced meat and/or vegetables.
Jerk Chicken Wings
Sunday, November 16, 2025| |
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These jerk chicken wings have the perfect balance of sweet, sour, salty, and spicy. The subtle sweetness of the molasses, the heat of the scotch bonnet peppers and the wonderfully fragrant thyme and spring onions combined together to create a perfect flavour combination. The allspice, cloves, ginger and nutmeg add a pleasant depth and the lime juice provides a refreshing kick! Serve them with a fresh crispy salad or/and rice.
Scotch bonnet peppers are traditional in Jamaican cuisine. If you're unable to find them, substitute them with habanero peppers. Use 1 to 3 peppers with seeds depending on how spicy you like the wings. I used two with one without seeds. I didn’t separate the wings, but use split wings if that’s what you like.
Poulet Basquaise - Basque-style Chicken
Saturday, November 08, 2025| |
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Poulet Basque/ Basquaise or Basque chicken is a classic chicken stew from the Basque region in Southern France and a small area of northern Spain. This recipe from Anthony Bourdain (via Food and Wine) is more French. There are many different regional versions of this dish, but they all have one thing in common: they start with a sauce made with red and green peppers, onions, garlic, tomatoes and piment d’Espelètte, simmered slowly and the white (chicken) and red and green (peppers) represent the Basque flag. The most common side to serve with Basque chicken stew is rice, but you could also serve it with a salad, sauteed potatoes or a loaf of crusty bread.
Piment d'Espelètte is a mild, fruity chilli powder with intense aroma from the Basque region of France, specifically from the area around the village of Espelètte. I ordered it from Amazon, and it’s a little bit pricey, but you can easily replace 1 teaspoon of piment d'Espelètte with ¾ teaspoon of Aleppo pepper or ¾ teaspoon of paprika with a large pinch of cayenne pepper. However, they won’t be exactly the same, but should do the trick.
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.
Roasted Chicken with Clementines and Arak
Sunday, November 02, 2025| |
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A hearty and satisfying chicken dish with an enormous punch of fantastic flavour that’s brightened with citrus and bolstered with anise liqueur. The oven does the work in this mostly hands-off main with minimal prep - a delicious family meal that’s ready in less an hour.
Arak is an anise-flavoured, grape-based liqueur produced in Levant region and the best substitute is Turkish Raki. Other alternatives are French Pernod, Italian Sambuca, which has added sugar though, or Greek Ouzo. They ain’t exactly the same, but share some similarities, and work just as fine. If you don’t want to cook with alcohol, then use 1-2 tablespoons of anis oil combined with chicken stock.
Hokkaido Pumpkin with Ricotta Cheese and Parsley Oil
Thursday, October 23, 2025| |
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Hokkaido pumpkin prepared in the very best and easiest way: a mixture of caramelised onion sweetness, creamy ricotta, toasty pine nuts and vibrant grassy parsley oil encased in the pumpkin halves. When roasted in the oven, it becomes tender without being too watery, with a sweet and intense pumpkin flavour. It’s perfect when you are craving something comforting, warming, and nutritious to get you through those chilly nights.


