Dining table with dishes of food

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Mini banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting

These mini banana cupcakes are soft and moist, with a most delicious cream cheese frosting – its hard to stop at just one! Banana cupcakes I always make sure we have plenty of bananas in the house for our forever-snacking teenagers. But once in a while, we end up with a few over-ripe ones. These…

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three cupcakes on a small plate next to 2 white coffee cups on saucers

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More Recipes

brown bottle pouring olive oil into a bowl next to some olives

How to select a good olive oil

Olive oil is essential to Italian cuisine, so how do you select a good one? Good quality and fresh ingredients form an integral part of Italian cooking, often determining the success of a dish. Italian cooks have a good knowledge of ingredients and are very particular in selecting the best quality for flavour and nutritional…

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three bottles of olive oil on the dining table

An evening of Italian olive oil tasting

We were recently invited to an evening of Italian olive oil tasting, with a three-course dinner prepared by award winning Chef Theo Randall at his rustic Italian restaurant at the Intercontinental, London. The event was organised by the initiative, Looking for the perfect food, promoting good quality Italian PDO olive oil. (Click here for how to select…

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baingan in a terracotta dish

Baingan bharta

A popular Punjabi dish made with eggplant roasted on an open flame for a smoked flavour, then mashed and combined with spices. It is perfect served with warm rotis for a light meal, as a side or dip.          Baingan bharta is a popular North Indian dish. Baingan is eggplant/aubergine/brinjal and bharta…

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plate of steak tartare with quail egg

Bistro Mirey – French cuisine with Japanese influences

A friendly and cosy bistro in Fulham serving French and Japanese fusion food. We were invited to try Bistro Mirey – a rather innovative concept marrying French bistro style cooking with Japanese ingredients. As a fan of both cuisines, I was intrigued to try a combination of the two.

Tips

How to select a good olive oil

brown bottle pouring olive oil into a bowl next to some olives
Olive oil is essential to Italian cuisine, so how do you select a good one? Good quality and fresh ingredients form an integral part of Italian cooking, often determining the success of a dish. Italian cooks have a good knowledge of ingredients and are very particular in selecting the best quality for flavour and nutritional…

Read More

Indian spices and their uses

Box of colourful Indian spices
A brief guide of commonly used Indian spices and how to use them.   Indian cuisine uses many different spices (masala), not just for a layering effect of flavours, but also for their nutritional/medicinal values which are rooted in Ayurveda. Spices are best stored in a masala dabba, which is a round metal box with…

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How to boil beets

a plate of sliced beetroot with dressing
Try this simple and delicious way to enjoy beets!   Boiled beets are great to make ahead and keep in the fridge – perfect to add to salads, and other recipes. They are also easier to peel than roasted beets! They are also great as they are – some people like to serve their boiled…

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How to love your beets

raw beetroot with stems on a white cloth
You either love them or hate them; find out how to grow, select and store beets, as well as a variety of ways to prepare them. Truly embrace beets!     Beets, or beetroot, is the taproot part of the beet plant. They can vary in size from that of a golf ball to the size of a baseball. Beneath…

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How to cook asparagus

fresh asparagus
The rather elegant asparagus in now in season (spring trough to the beginning of summer), so here we look at the varieties, how to buy, store, cook and eat it. Depicted as an offering on an ancient Egyptian frieze, dated around 3000 BC, asparagus has been cultivated for thousands of years. It was eaten in ancient Syria,…

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How to store fresh herbs

  What are the best ways to store and preserve the freshness of leftover fresh herbs? Whether you grow your own, come across a multi-buy offer at the supermarket, or simply just need a few sprigs at a time, storing fresh herbs can be quite tricky. Like cut flowers, once separated from their roots, herbs lose…

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More Posts from this Category

Restaurants

An evening of Italian olive oil tasting

three bottles of olive oil on the dining table
We were recently invited to an evening of Italian olive oil tasting, with a three-course dinner prepared by award winning Chef Theo Randall at his rustic Italian restaurant at the Intercontinental, London. The event was organised by the initiative, Looking for the perfect food, promoting good quality Italian PDO olive oil. (Click here for how to select…

Read More

Bistro Mirey – French cuisine with Japanese influences

plate of steak tartare with quail egg
A friendly and cosy bistro in Fulham serving French and Japanese fusion food. We were invited to try Bistro Mirey – a rather innovative concept marrying French bistro style cooking with Japanese ingredients. As a fan of both cuisines, I was intrigued to try a combination of the two.

Panzerotto Blues

Staff at behind the counter
The panzerotto is not a calzone! This popular South Italian street food comes to London. We were invited to try a new concept of South Italian street food in London; the panzerotto. Panzerotto Blues, was started by Gianni Perillo in 2015, making fresh panzerotti in Greenwich Market. They proved so popular that Gianni has recently…

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Antalya Restaurant

Lamb steak with vegetables on a wooden platter with bowls of dried herbs
Under new management and serving delicious Turkish food, in Bloomsbury, prepared by a chef who has cooked for the Queen. Antalya Restaurant, off Russell Square, was known for its rather ornate interior (apparently it took over a year to decorate the ceilings and walls). Earlier this year, it came under new management and the new owner, Resul Dogan,…

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