If I ever get the chance to write a book, I think I’d call it ‘Store Cupboard Staples’, recipes with all the things I keep in the cupboard of a small galley kitchen and they would include smoked paprika, capers, anchovies, chilli flakes, thyme, vanilla pods, muscovado sugar, sherry vinegar, coriander and mustard seeds, and very good olive oil. You may be surprised just how many of these make it into today’s recipe.
Classic Dishes
My Pan Bagnat is so Nice
History has it a version of Pan Bagnat was made in as early as the sixteenth century for hungry fishermen by their wives. They scooped out the centre of day-old bread packed it full of whatever was at hand and wrapped them in cloth. As a peasant dish the recipe was not likely to have contained tuna which would have been a much later addition. The whole thing is made in advance to allow all the flavours to soak into the bread.
Hail Caesar – How I fell back in love with the Caesar Salad
Hail Caesar – How I fell back in love with the Caesar Salad. For most of my working life restaurants and pubs have had Chicken Caesar Salad on the menu. In fact, for a long time, it seemed almost the only salad option. Unfortunately, it was not always done well, the salad limp, poor quality…
My Dressed Crab is simply Perfect
My Dressed Crab is simply Perfect. Island life in the summer is summed up for me in one dish. When I holidayed as a child with my family in the Isles of Scilly this was always the peak season foodie treat. At the end of our time away a trip to a harbourside restaurant and…