This is what I had with the flatbreads I made the other day. I’m not sure if it’s an entirely authentic version, since I hadn’t heard of this dish until last week, but it went down very well. According to the internet, the real deal should probably contain parsley, but I’m more of a coriander [...]
Visit a dozen different Spanish restaurants and you’ll get a dozen different variations on the classic patatas bravas. Sometimes it comes with fresh tomato salsa, other times with a sort of spicy Marie Rose sauce, but my favourite type is the one that’s cooked in a rich, hot, chunky tomato and chilli sauce. Which is [...]
This was an experiment to get rid of some of our veg box carrot mountain without making the usual carrot and coriander soup, and it turned out to be pretty delicious. It’s spicy and a bit curryish. This recipe makes enough for four portions as a starter or maybe two as a main for lunch. [...]
I’m quite picky about pickled jalapeños. Having tried probably every type that’s readily available in this country, I’ve come to the conclusion that the only one worth bothering with is a Californian brand called Mezzetta. There’s something wrong with every other kind – some taste of iodine, some are too squidgy and have little flavour, [...]
Refried beans thinned out with stock and spiced up with garlic and smoky chipotle peppers make a sauce for corn tortillas in this excellent Mexican breakfast / dinner / anytime dish. In this version (there are many variations) it’s similar to enchiladas but without any kind of substantial filling for the tortillas. Instead they’re dredged [...]
The idea for this came from a little Tex-Mex trailer in Bristol called The Woolly Cactus. It serves lunch to office workers on Victoria Street, and claims to be the only place in the UK that does this delicious dip. I find that a little hard to believe – you can get something quite similar [...]
A seasonal treat for fans of spicy, tangy, crunchy pickles. You could use small pickling onions for this recipe, although shallots have a better flavour and look nicer in the jar. Peeling them is an awful chore but it’s worth the effort, as you can’t buy anything remotely as good as this in a supermarket.
Pickled eggs are a British institution. You’ll find them behind the bar of every decent pub, but how many people do you know who actually buy them? I imagine those catering-size jars must sit around for decades, their rusty lids prised off once in a blue moon as the landlord’s gnarled yellow fingers fish out [...]
If you’ve got a crop of tomatoes that have stubbornly resisted ripening in the miserable British weather, here’s a good way to use them up. Actually this Spanish omelette type thing is fine with any type of tomato, ripe or otherwise, and while I can’t vouch for its authenticity, I can promise that it’s a [...]
Smarter than the average burger, this is a big orange mouthful of fruitiness. I made these ones with breadcrumbs and egg, so they can be scaled up to whopper size without falling to bits when they get flipped in the pan, but you could easily leave out those ingredients and make them slightly smaller.