Category Archives: Vegetables and salads

Fennel, Cheese and Onion Tart

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We once bought such an enormous plant at Columbia Road flower market in London that we had to stick its top out of the car sunroof and people were laughing and taking pictures on their mobiles as we drove by. I was reminded of this when my friend Lindsey from The Eating Tree gave me two fat fennel bulbs recently. I wish I’d taken a picture before I trimmed them, because they had such magnificently verdant fronds, they looked as though they were sprouting their own forest. Continue reading →

Broad Bean and Goat’s Cheese Salad

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The end is nigh … the end of the broad bean season, anyway. This is such a simple salad I thought twice about posting it (‘am I insulting the skills of my readers?’) but hey, it’s delicious. It’s as good as a barbecue side dish as it is packed into a lunchbox for work, so here it is as a sort of bonus recipe. Continue reading →

Goat’s Cheese and Asparagus Salad

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The simplest of recipes to showcase the fresh new season’s asparagus, this makes a lovely light start to a meal. A key component is the fabulous Wensum White goat’s cheese made by Fielding Cottage in Norfolk. I hope they don’t mind me taking a blowtorch to it. Continue reading →

Mushroom Goulash

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I keep reading articles exhorting me to move meat to the status of a relish and to make vegetables the star of my meals. That’s not a bad solution for people who don’t want to give up meat altogether but are cognisant of the arguments against its production and consumption. While it’s unlikely I’ll ever become a vegetarian (bacon!), let alone a vegan (cheese!), I do try to keep a healthy balance. Continue reading →

Suffolk Onion Soup

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Some years ago, there used to be a cafe on St Martin’s Lane in London called, if I remember correctly, the Penguin. There’s a boutique hotel on the site now but back then it was a bistro with a bar and a handy place to meet up with friends. It did a superb onion soup which I ate at every opportunity, breathing allium fumes over potential boyfriends. It took me a long time to find a husband. Continue reading →

Bubble and Squeak Cake

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bs-1-copyI don’t know about you, but we always err on the side of generosity when it comes to the veg we serve on Christmas Day, or just at Sunday lunch. Often we have leftovers and the traditional solution in our house is to make them all into bubble and squeak.

Usually that just means chucking the mixture into a pan and frying it slowly, a bit like a corned beef hash. But if you’d like to make it a bit more presentable, you might want to try making it into a sliceable cake. Continue reading →