Instant Orange, Saffron & Ricotta Doughnuts
Also known as Fritelle, these are perfect for last minute Carnival/Mardi Gras/Martedi Grasso celebrations, as an alternative/addition to pancakes. If you make pancakes for breakfas
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Spring Chicken
Poached Chicken and Wild Herb Mayonnaise My son has started talking. Not just the obvious first words which are always nearest family members. These are his first real words
Custard creams, custard dreams
Valentine’s Day, 2025 I have mixed feelings about Valentine’s day, as I do about almost every other thing in the world. I am happy to have an excuse to make what feels like ‘
Fig and mozzarella caprese
Fig Kind-Of Caprese The Caprese salad is a cornerstone of the Italian kitchen, the classic mozzarella, tomato and basil, mirroring the 3 colours of the Italian flag. Traditionally
Born Free Brownies
Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Olive Oil Brownies. Supremely fudgy, supremely easy. Being an all or nothing sort of person, when I decided I wanted to create an olive oil brownie (not ne
Earl Grey Sticky Toffee Pudding
Sticky Dates & Satan’s Grapes Have you ever considered the date? Nature’s toffees (I’m not sure if my family coined this name, but I like it, as much as I like my friend
Midnight Marmalade
One of the rituals of late January during my English life was marmalade making. There would be frost on the ground, or at least a bitter, bitter cold, and my mind would turn to bon
An Ode to Anchovies
Puntarelle alla Romana & Anchovy Butter Roast Chicken I felt like life had been sadly lacking in anchovies of late, so to rectify I made a double anchovy Sunday lunch as follow
Cavolo Nero Pesto
And Not Making January More Miserable I do not believe in any kind of January diet/detox. Why would anyone want to make this dreary season even drearier by deprivation? For one thi
Good Shoes, Growing Up & French Onion Soup
Good Shoes, Getting Old & French Onion soup. I visited my older brother last week, as he has just had a new baby, Evie, to add to our collection of cousins. In a rare moment wh
The Best Cakes are Spread with Butter: Chestnut Banana Bread
The Best Cakes are spread with Butter (Brown Sugar & Chestnut Banana Bread) The best cakes are spread with butter. My tiny Welsh part loves Bara Brith mostly because it sounds
Sausage & Broccoli Pasta
Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli For the first time this year I went for a walk this morning and there it was, that weather adjective I like the most of all (no coincidence th
Albero Capovolto, and some thoughts on Hospitality
An unexpected part of my work is that people now ask me for travel advice. This year someone actually asked me to plan an entire itinerary for them. This is both flattering and unn
Pumpkin & Ricotta Pancakes
With Cinnamon, Butter & Maple Syrup A few days ago a duo came to interview me here at home. The cameraman, who emerged from the pale yellow Panda van with a large black camera
Vernaccia & Datterini Pasta
This is a pasta dish I have been making all season for cookery class guests, and one-such guest (a delightful, straw-hatted sheep farmer from Cumbria who had me in stitches the ent
Superworm, Small Businesses, and the Salad for every Summer
We got back from Amalfi over a week ago, but I am only just getting to writing anything, after the inevitable loads of laundry and mountain of admin I had to get through first. So,
Wild Figs & Fennel, And Digestible Dreams
My third book is published today. As the world of cookbook publishing grows ever larger it’s important to do a little self-analysis (I am a writer, after all) and ask oneself why
Wild Figs & Fennel
A New Cookbook This book was the hardest thing I have ever created apart from the baby I gave birth to in the same year. It was hard because there are always a million things to sa
Blood Orange Panna Cotta with Rosemary and Honey
Dainty, fresh and aesthetically pleasing, the perfect winter-into-spring pudding. You don’t need to be particularly skilled/technical here, just a bit organised with timings to s
6 Month Madeleines
My friend Emma says I am sentimental to celebrate months. Perhaps I am, but I decided I wanted to mark each month with a cake, partly to celebrate and partly as a way of keeping tr
Chocolate & Chestnut Cake
This cake is flourless and fudgy, and the perfect way of using those tins of Chestnut puree/tinned chestnuts that you maybe brought from France (or Sainsbury’s) and fancied m
Smoked Mullet Carbonara
There is something satisfyingly Anglo-Italian about this combination; a blending of the classic carbonara with a distant Edwardian whiff of soft-boiled eggs and kippers for breakfa
Socca, Salt Cod & a Spiral Staircase
We went to Nice this Christmas. The Christmas school holidays are too long! announced my teacher mother-in-law the other day. A workaholic, she couldn’t wait to get back to the c
Kaki Cake
Very satisfying to say, this cake is moist, nut-brown, earthy and squidgy. It has echoes of banana bread but feels more autumnal and much more Italian, and though not traditional I
