red chilli

Prawn, chilli, vodka, and rocket linguine

Beef Goulash

Onion, Red Chilli, and Black Olive Bread

Thai Chicken and Coconut Noodle Soup

Prawn, squid, lime and white wine spaghetti

Boeuf Bourguignon

The very first time I had ever tried Boeuf Bourguignon was at the age of 10 when staying with my great aunt Micheline in the Loire Valley. Every summer, my family would spend a couple of weeks with our relatives in Meung-sur-Loire (country home of Georges Simenon’s fictional detective Jules Maigret – for the literary…

Fusilli pasta with pesto and griddled Mediterranean vegetables

I would be first to admit that whipping up a vegetarian dish is far from my normal for a Sunday lunch. Then again, lunch on Christmas Day 2017 ended up to be meat-free – our Organic and Halal beef supplier provided a joint which had aged far longer than anything I had encountered in my…

Smoked Mackerel Rillettes with Aleppo Pepper

What the F##k happened in 2020? We have not even reached the end of March and Brexit happened. Marlini was made redundant. Bathroom had to be largely rebuilt due to a leaking gasket. I broke a bone. Am three weeks into Laryngitis with every cure thrown at it proving largely futile (though the odd spoonful…

Chicken livers in brandy with spinach and romaine salad

Twenty years ago, almost to the day, I made the most spontaneous decision in my life… I accepted a job in a town I had never heard of in a country I could just about pin on a map. Following what was a bad choice of University, I was encouraged by my very supportive folks…