Autumn Still Life: Figs stuffed with Blue Cheese and Lavender Honey Drizzle (Recipe) Although I have enjoyed the amazingly hot and sunny summer we have had in Europe this year, I do look forward to the cooler months, especially autumn, which is my favourite season. I’m not a huge fan of the darker mornings and…
French
The Old Mirabelle Plum Tree: Spiced Mirabelle Plum Galette Recipe
The Old Mirabelle Plum Tree: Spiced Mirabelle Plum Galette Recipe At the bottom left of my French garden there is a beautiful old Mirabelle tree; it was here when we bought the house and every year it gives us kilos and kilos of gorgeous yellow and rosy pink fruit. Diminutive in size it may be compared…
Thrifty & Organic Meal Planner for Organic September: Somerset Pork, Apple Tart and Many More Recipes!
Thrifty & Organic Meal Planner for Organic September: Somerset Pork, Apple Tart and Many More Recipes! Core Ingredients for September: Pork, Apples, Butternut Squash, Leeks, Cabbage and Oats September Menu: Spiced Roast Butternut Squash Soup Irish Soda Bread with Oats Somerset Pork with Apples Creamed Leek and Cabbage Braise Rustic Apple Galette Welcome to a very…
La Plancha: Chilli Peppered Chicken Steaks & Mediterranean Goat’s Cheese Vegetable Stacks
La Plancha Cooking with VeryCook: Chilli Peppered Chicken Steaks Mediterranean Goat’s Cheese Vegetable Stacks Recipes I have always loved the style outdoor cooking, whether it be outdoors or inside…..so, when I was asked if I would like to be the FIRST British food blogger to work with VeryCook and receive one of their La Plancha…
Thrifty & Organic Meal Planner for August: Hamburgers, Peaches and Mediterranean Vegetable Recipes
Thrifty & Organic Meal Planner for August: Hamburgers, Peaches and Mediterranean Vegetable Recipes Core Ingredients for August: Minced Beef, Aubergines, Courgettes, Onions, Peaches and Quinoa August Menu: Hamburgers with Herb Baked Onions Oven-Baked Ratatouille Mediterranean Quinoa Salad with Goat’s Cheese Amaretti Peach Melba Crumble Parcels Welcome to August’s Thrifty and Organic Meal Planner; with the…
A Mediterranean Meze Lunch with Loire Wines: Food and Wine Pairing
A Mediterranean Meze Lunch with Loire Wines: Food and Wine Pairing Having lived in Cyprus and run a restaurant there for several years, I am well versed in the Mediterranean Meze lunch; at the restaurant I used to co-host and run, we had a fabulous meze menu, of which I prepared and cooked many of…
Bastille Day, Picnics and Fireworks: Vegetarian Stuffed Picnic Sandwich Recipe
Bastille Day, Picnics and Fireworks: Vegetarian Stuffed Picnic Sandwich Recipe Bastille Day is the name given in English-speaking countries to the French National Day, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. In France, it is formally called La Fête Nationale (French pronunciation: [la.fɛːt.na.sjɔˈnal] ; The National Celebration) and commonly Le quatorze juillet (French pronunciation: [lə.ka.tɔʁz.ʒɥiˈjɛ] ; the fourteenth of July). While the date is the same as that of…
Weekly Meal Plan and Two Day Diet Recipes: Salmon Niçoise Salad (5:2 Diet)
Weekly Meal Plan and Two Day Diet Recipes: Salmon Niçoise Salad (5:2 Diet) I was a little naughty last week, the weekly meal plan with my two-day diet went out of the window and I enjoyed much feasting with gusto and without one guilty thought! MY daughter Hannah was visiting and we embraced the warm…
French 5:2 Diet Fast Day Recipe and Monday Meal Plan: Provençal Chicken and Fennel Braise
French 5:2 Diet Fast Day Recipe and Monday Meal Plan: Provençal Chicken and Fennel Braise Many people will have read “A Year in Provence” by Peter Mayle, it was the book that launched a thousand moves by Brits to France during the late 80’s and 90’s; the book is packed with idyllic “long French lunches”, pâté terrine, idle…
5:2 Diet Fast Day Recipe: Spicy Fish Creole with Coconut Lime Rice for Fish on Friday
5:2 Diet Fast Day Recipe: Spicy Fish Creole with Coconut Lime Rice for Fish on Friday I love spicy food, such as curries, chilli-based dishes and tagines, and they often grace our family meal-time table; I also love fish, and with all the recent revelations about horse meat being found in ready meals and prepared meat products…
Rudolph The Red Nosed Potato! Mini Potato Dauphinoise Muffins for Christmas Day (Recipe)
Rudolph The Red Nosed Potato! Mini Potato Dauphinoise Muffins for Christmas Day (Recipe) It’s now officially Christmas week – that’s the week that precedes Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, and that means it’s not long now. Our Christmas menu has been planned, and I will reveal all nearer the time, but, I can tell you that we will be…
Day Eight on the Advent Calendar: Christmas Trees and Bacon, Cheese & Garlic Fougasse Recipe
Day Eight on the Advent Calendar: 8th December: Christmas Trees and Bacon, Cheese & Garlic Fougasse Recipe It’s time to talk trees, Christmas trees…….real trees or faux trees, what’s you preference? I have always loved a real Christmas tree, and avalanches of needle drop have never really bothered me – the smell and “presence” of…
A Provence Summer Preserve ~ French Set Apricot and Lavender Jam (Confiture)
~ A Provence Summer Preserve ~ French Set Apricot and Lavender Jam (Confiture) Heady perfumed lavender fields, rolling hills of thyme and oregano, hot sun, dusty paths, aching backs and grape stained fingers, hawks sitting on hay bales, the distant throb of a tractor, diesel, warm hands and faces, rich pate, crusty bread, herb scented rillettes, metallic…
French Burgers for Bastille Day! Béarnaise, Blue Cheese and Red Onion Burgers
French Burgers for Bastille Day! Béarnaise, Blue Cheese and Red Onion Burgers Today, the 14th July, is France’s National Day ~ Bastille Day ~ we usually go to watch the fireworks at St Georges de Didonne near Royan; they always have an amazing show right on the beach by the Gironde Estuary, however, I think…
The Long French Lunch and Poulet Nomade ~ Nomad’s Chicken (Herb Poached Chicken in a Jar)
~ The Long French Lunch ~ Poulet Nomade ~ Nomad’s Chicken (Herb Poached Chicken in a Jar) Yes, it’s still raining, even in France where I am now for the summer……each day brings more shades of grey, and different levels of drizzle and dampness…….We’ve had ONE sunny day, when I had the picnic at the bottom…