This is the post that nearly wasn’t. My quest to make this dish sent me on a wild goose chase across London, causing unforetold amounts of stress and frustration, and almost resulting in no dish at all. Read more…
Tag: Pasta
The Mother of Invention: Muffin-cup Frittatas with Pasta, Feta and Mint
They do say that necessity is the mother of invention, and though I can’t quite claim to have invented muffin-cup frittatas (it seems that, oh, 90,000-odd people thought of it first), I’d say the phrase definitely rings true here. Read more…
No Substitutes: Meaty But Not Really Pasta Sauce
Last night, after enjoying a drink at the local pub, Andrew and I stopped in to visit my sister and her boyfriend, both to catch up and see if there were any spare baked goods lying around. (She is a baking blogger, after all.) Naturally, the conversation soon turned to food. Read more…
Predictably Perfect: Roasted Squash with Whole Wheat Pasta
We all have our favourite flavours, right? The ones that keep tempting us, year after year, and become mainstays in our home cooking. Also the ones that as food bloggers we have to watch ourselves on, lest we become known as “the girl who writes that goat’s cheese blog“. Read more…
Guilt soother: Macaroni and Cheese with Leeks and Sour Cream
You know how, as food bloggers*, we like to convince our readers that we always eat like this? That beautiful, creative, well thought out and healthy meals grace our tables daily and effortlessly? That we never succumb to take-out pizza, boxed cake mixes or store-bought vanilla extract?
(*I’m addressing this to “food bloggers” because I’m convinced that at least 90% of food blog-readers are food-blog writers, too.) Read more…
Good, regardless of available light: Pasta with Braised Leeks
I hope you’ll permit me to begin this post with a bit of a rant:
How unfair is it that it’s only the beginning of August, and the days are noticeably shorter already? Obviously I realize that science (or whatever- physics?) dictates that the Summer Solstice is sometime at the end of June, and after that the days get shorter. Fine, I get it. But if I was in charge of the world (and therefore physics answered to me), I wouldn’t let the days shorten until the end of August at least. The whole thing just puts a damper on summer, doesn’t it? Read more…
A summery plaster pasta: Pasta with Peas, Ricotta and Lemon
I should probably explain, huh? This dish unfortunately goes by the moniker “Plaster Pasta” in my house. Charmingly bestowed by Andrew, it’s from the early days of the recipe, when I was still working out the kinks. As it cooled, the ricotta would firm up and the whole thing would stick together in a rather unappetizing way. Unappetizing for him, I should say. I didn’t really mind- it still tasted good! If plaster pasta sounds less than appealing to you, though, not to worry. I fixed the recipe and it doesn’t do that anymore. Unfortunately, the name has stuck. Read more…
Deliciously (half) baked: Cabbage and Cauliflower Cannelloni
Stuffing pasta with cabbage seems like a half-baked idea, I know. For many of us, doing anything with cabbage seems a bit far-out. I used to hate cabbage- well, actually, I used to think I hated cabbage, which is something completely different. We didn’t eat it all that often when I was growing up, so I never really got the chance to decide for myself whether I hated it- but every kid hates cabbage, right? Read more…
A perfect fallback meal: Pasta, Bean and Tuna Salad
Some of you might be wondering what I’ve been up to lately. Or more importantly, what all that produce in Sunday’s post has been up to. The sad truth is: not a whole lot. I can’t bring myself to feel too bad about it, though. My friend Fiona (she of the shared cheesecake love) is visiting in London for a few days, and I’ve been showing her the town. We’ve been window shopping in Covent Garden, museum hopping in Trafalgar Square, and tomorrow we’ve got a day of antiquing at Portobello market planned. Read more…
To cure what ails you: Chickpea and Pasta Soup
I’ve been fighting a summer cold for the last few days. I always find fair-weather illness extremely annoying- not only do you feel sick, but you feel guilty for feeling sick. We’re made to feel that colds should only occur when it’s, you know, cold, so we convince ourselves that we should feel fine- after all, the sun is shining outside and the temperature is balmy. But, try as we might, we just can’t ignore the sniffling, sneezing and unmistakable presence of phlegm. (Sorry, I do realize that the word “phlegm” has no place on a food blog. It won’t happen again.) Read more…
