Since Andrea asked, this is the easiest of soups. Roasting everything first adds a depth of flavour. You need: 10 decent sized tomatoes with the top sliced off 2 peeled red onions A handful of fresh basil or 2 teaspoons of dried 2 cloves of garlic Hot vegetable stock (the cubed stuff you get in…

I haven’t done much recipe posting for awhile, it seemed like folks might be getting a little bored. I think I might perservere nonetheless, but even so, this post is anti-recipe. I did a fair bit of cooking this weekend, we had family over and personal pride forbids just coasting. I want people to enjoy…

The love we put into making a meal becomes a part of it and alters its nature. Through our touch, even unconsciously through our breath, our emotions are transfered to the stuff we’re preparing and then on to the people we’re feeding. I think this explains why food made with love is always a feast…

For thousands of years, the ritual of daily bread has been deeply rooted in Western culture. The phrase, ‘our daily bread’ still has religious weight. The word companion  comes from the latin meaning ‘one who eats bread with another’…meaningful bonds are made over the breaking of bread. If we make our own, it’s an act…

It’s January, it’s dark, wet, cold and miserable. Time for another recipe, something  comforting, warming and cheery. This one takes a bit of effort, but you’re probably skint after overspending in December, the weather out is rubbish, so it’s not as if you’ve anything else to do. Just a word on rabbit. It’s lean, cheap,…

It’s Autumn, it’s getting cold. Time for comfort food. And in my book, there’s nothing better than a the a pot of Cassoulet, the lovely breadcrumb crust, the smell of garlicky beans, the intense flavour from slow roasted pork, duck and sausages. Since  the French can’t agree where it originated, or even on a definitive…

This is the chinese version. Warming, comforting, perfect for feeling a bit positive. Wonderful for using up roast chicken. You need  – a litre of good, not chicken stock chicken stock – organic cubes are fine to use with boiling water. I”l show you how tro make your own stock another time. A big handlful…

I think it’s worthwhile being proven wrong, so it’s with great delight that I learned that my sage advice about applying sliced salt to Aubergine, to draw out the bitter juices, is codswallop. In the Oxford Campanion to Food, Alan Davidson tells us that modern varieties of Aubergine have no bitter juices to draw out.…

Being unhappy requires comfort food, while getting mad enough to do something about it needs an energy boost. So here’s two recipes. First up is lasagne. This is quick version, we’ll do a slow, deep and unctuous one another time. This is in no way authentic, just really comforting – it’s about a quick loving…

This is for basic tomato sauce. A sauce that’s perfect for pasta, and is ripe for countless variations depending on your tastes. You need: Tube tomato puree Tin plum tomato 1 large onion finely chopped 1 clove garlic finely chopped Glass red wine Teaspoon sugar dash lemon juice Teaspoon white whine vinegar Teaspoon mixed italian…