Pea, mint & pancetta fritters

Ingredients   60g polenta, 1 egg, peas, pancetta, mint, halloumi, olive oil (Optional: Rachel's Organic Greek Yoghurt)

Serves: 2 preparation: 10 minutes

 Fritters are traditionally a sort of savoury doughnut, but thin like a pancake full of stuff, but like potato cakes - I like to make mine a bit thicker. Pea, mint & pancetta as a flavour combination are absolutely wonderful but combined with the salty tang of halloumi this makes a great comfort food.

1) Whisk an egg and stir in the polenta.

2) Finely chop the mint, cut the halloumi into chunks and stir along with the peas and pancetta into the polenta. If the texture is a little dry I like to add in a little Greek yoghurt.

3) Form a patty and drop onto a lightly oiled pan. Sizzle for 2-3 minutes on each side then serve.

Avocado & egg on toast

Ingredients     Rye bread, avocado, Rachel's Organic greek yoghurt, egg

Serves: 1 preparation: 5 minutes

This hardly counts as a recipe as it's so quick and simple but I've been getting so many requests for snacks recently and this is absolutely lush...

1) Halve the avocado around the stone, twisting one half to release it. Pop out the stone and scoop the flesh from the shell. Mash with a fork and a tablespoon of Greek yoghurt.

2) Spread onto toast (I prefer this with rye bread) and top with a griddled egg. 

Chestnut & pancetta soup

Ingredients    1 can chestnut puree, 175g     pancetta, 1/4 leek, butter, pumpkin oil, truffle oil 1/2 pint ham stock

Serves: 2 Preparation: 20 minutes

Chestnuts are currently having a revival in my kitchen and this rich, velvet textured soup had my husband all but licking the dregs from the pan. This will be going on my list of ultimate Christmas soups but as our British summer is so miserable right now, why not try it early?

1) Dice the leek and sautee in a pan with a little butter. Once soft, add the pancetta and chestnut puree and turn the heat down to a simmer.

2) Dilute the soup with the ham stock and simmer for a further 15 minutes.

3) Season to taste with salt and black pepper and serve with a drizzle of pumpkin and truffle oil.

Spinach halloumi & sweetcorn fritters

Ingredients 40g polenta, 20g plain flour, 1 egg, spinach, sweetcorn, halloumi, olive oil (Optional: Rachel's Organic Greek Yoghurt)

Serves: 2 preparation: 10 minutes

Fritters are traditionally a sort of savoury doughnut, but thin like a pancake full of stuff, but like potato cakes - I like to make mine a bit thicker. Sweetcorn and polenta as both a texture and flavour combination are absolutely wonderful but combined with spinach (you know me, anything with spinach is pretty much my food heaven!) and the salty tang of halloumi this makes a great comfort food.
1) Whisk an egg and stir in the flour and polenta.

2) Finely chop the spinach, cut the halloumi into chunks and stir along with the sweetcorn into the flour and polenta. If the texture is a little dry I like to add in a little Greek yoghurt.

3) Form a patty and drop onto a lightly oiled pan. Sizzle for 2-3 minutes on each side then serve.

Champagne spelt risotto crusted chicken

Ingredients 1 pint vegetable stock, 1/2 white onion, butter, champagne, 1 cup spelt, chicken

Serves: 2 preparation: 1 hour


I have been cooking chicken a lot for The Husband recently (how strange to not be calling him The Boy any more. *terrified grown up moment*) and challenging myself to create ever more moist, tender chicken. The beer-can chicken was probably at the top of the succulent scale, but this gives it stiff competition. All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. It's this process of releasing starch into a sauce which makes a risotto a risotto and I was delighted to learn that spelt (a kind of wheat) can also be used.
1) Soak the spelt in cold water for 5 minutes

2) Dice the onion roughly and sautee in a little butter until soft. Drain the water from the spelt and stir into the onions. 
3) Add a glug of champagne, once the alcohol cooks off, add the first ladle of stock and stir through.

4) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time until the spelt has fluffed up and softened. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.


5) Form the risotto around the chicken in a protective shell and roast in the oven for 25-30 minutes before serving.

Parmeggian & polenta chicken

Ingredients 1 egg, chicken breast, parmigiano, polenta, salt, pepper

Serves: 1 Preparation: 40 minutes


A crispy, breaded chicken breast doesn't have to be relegated to the level of sophistication reserved for freezer "food". This recipe is ridiculously simple but a definite people pleaser.


1) Whisk an egg and dip your chicken breast into it.


2) Roll the chicken breast in a shallow dish of polenta mixed with a pinch of salt and pepper until coated.


3) Set in an ovenproof dish and top with a layer of grated parmeggian and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.

Sauteed spinach & samphire

Ingredients Samphire, spinach, butter

Preparation: 5 minutes

Samphire is incredible. Fresh, juicy yet almost unbearably salty it's hard to come by but well worth it if you can get hold of it. In combination with the softness and delicacy of sauteed spinach this makes a fabulous but simple side dish.

1) Melt a knob of butter in a pan and stir in the samphire and spinach until coated.

2) Stir on the hob until the spinach begins to wilt (around 4 minutes) and serve

Hasselback Potatoes

Ingredients Potato, butter, garlic, parsley

Serves: 1 Preparation: 35 minutes

The potato is glorious in its versatility - whether boiled, mashed, fried or baked it can be combined with almost anything. As a side dish, sometimes the way something looks is just as important as the way it tastes but luckily this is just as yummy as it is fun.

1) Slice the potato into thin slivers, though only cutting 3/4 of the way through the potato so it remains intact. Top tip - sit your potato in a wooden spoon and slice it to the lip of the spoon as a guide

2) Crush a garlic clove and mash into a little butter and chopped parsley, then spread into the sections of potato.

3) Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes at 200 degrees and serve

Broccoli Boursin mac & cheese

Ingredients Broccoli, Boursin, Macaroni

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes

By some freakish coincidence, my fabulous friend Ewan and I both experimented with Broccoli stalks during the same week, though due to life insanity I have only just got around to sharing this! I have a series of recipes coming using the stalk in pasta - don't neglect it, it's a wonderful ingredient that most of us just toss away. This pasta is super simple to make and really gorgeous.

1) Slice the stalk from the broccoli, peel the tough outer layer and discard. Slice the stalk into chunks and simmer for 20 minutes until completely soft. 

2) Meanwhite boil the macaroni in hot, salted water for 10 minutes, steaming the broccoli florets over the pan for the final 5 minutes.

3) Puree the broccoli stalk in a blender and stir in the boursin. Add the pasta to the sauce and toss with the broccoli before serving.

Lemon lavender & white chocolate sponge

Ingredients Per cake layer: 175g butter, 175g caster sugar, 1 lemon, 3 eggs, 175g self-raising flour, 1/4 tsp baking powder Filling: Lavender jam, marscapone, icing sugar

Serves: 12 preparation: 30 minutes

Tomorrow I'm going to Clandestine Cake Club and the theme is "indulgence"
Faced with what I'm sure will be a sea of chocolate and cream I thought I'd take a lighter approach. I can just about master a lemon sponge - equal parts butter, sugar and flour with the freshness of lemon juice, sandwiched with the luscious sweet exotic flavour of lavender jam and the unctuous cream of whipped marscapone. Topped with white chocolate... what could be more indulgent than that! It's rare to see cakes on this blog as I'm more of a cook than a baker, but what I lack for in technique I make up for with flavour combinations!

1) Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, then beat in the eggs.

2) Zest a lemon and squeeze the juice, then fold into the cake batter along with the flour and baking powder.

3) Spoon the mixture into cake tins and bake for 20 minutes at 200 degrees, or until the top is golden and springy and a skewer comes out clean. 

4) Remove the cakes from the oven and leave to cool in the tins.

5) Pop out of the tins and sandwich together with lavender jam and marscapone whipped with icing sugar and lemon juice (to taste).

6) Melt white chocolate and drizzle over the top to decorate it.

Don't discover silver balls in the cupboard, fall over laughing at the retroness and decide to write ironically on the cake with them though... 

Beer can chicken & macaroni soup

Ingredients      Leftover beer can chicken and   potato, macaroni, beer, oregano, white onion.

Serves: 2 preparation: 2 hours

When I finished making beer can chicken, I saved all of the components to make stock with, and then emerged this fabulously rich soup.

1) Peel and slice a white onion, and add to a stock pot along with the chicken carcass, slice of leftover potato, the remaining beer from the can the chicken was sitting on and 1/2 pint of water. Simmer for 30 minutes and strain the liquid into a separate pan.

2) Set the liquid to cool in the fridge for an hour, then skim the fat from the surface. 

3) Add one ladle of stock jelly to a pan along with 1/2 a cup of macaroni, chopped oregano and leftover chicken. Top up with a little hot water and simmer for 15 minutes until the pasta has cooked, then serve.

Beer can chicken

Ingredients     3 maris piper potatoes per chicken, 1 can beer per chicken, lemon rapeseed oil, butter,

Preparation: 2 hours


When I roast a chicken, I stuff the cavity with pierced lemons, filling the inside with fragrant steam to make the meat moist and succulent. Beer can chicken works on the same principle - flavouring the chicken with barley and hops. The French method of slicing potatoes to cook in the chicken juices makes a wonderful roast meal.


1) Massage a little butter into the skin of the chicken.


2) Pour 1/3 of the beer out of the can, then spread the legs of the chicken and sit it on top of the can. Press down until the chicken is balanced.


3) Cut the potatoes into cm thick slices and toss in a bowl with a little rapeseed oil, then arrange around the chicken.


4) Roast in the oven, basting at intervals to crisp up the skin, then remove carefully from the can and carve. Save the beer and carcass to make stock for soup.

Strawberry & white stilton salad

Ingredients   Spinach, salad leaves, cucumber, strawberries, white stilton, pumpkin seeds, pumpkin oil

Serves: 1 Preparation: 5 minutes

White stilton and strawberries are a wonderful combination - sweet and creamy. This salad is perfect drizzled with pumpkin oil.

1) Slice your strawberries (don't keep them in the fridge, they should be at room temperature or the flavour will be impaired), silton and cucumber into chunks.

2) Toss the salad leaves in a little pumpkin oil and mix with the rest.

3) Sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and serve.

Lavender & honey ice-cream

Ingredients     550ml whole milk, 30g skimmed milk powder, 4 egg yolks, 50g caster sugar, 50g honey, 1/3 cup lavender

Makes: 1 pint ice-cream Preparation: 2 hours (plus freezing time)

This is one of the most sinfully rich, creamy, ice-creams I have ever eaten. It's something I make about once a year and eat sparingly, one mouthwatering scoop at a time with sweet fruit such as strawberries or a lemon tart. It takes quite a bit of effort because this is a recipe for hand-made ice-cream. If you have an ice-cream maker then omit the skimmed milk powder and use just 2 eggs.

1) Pour the milk into a pan and add the lavender, the skimmed milk powder and honey. Whisk as you bring it to the boil, then turn down the heat and allow to gentle simmer for 5 minutes before taking off the heat.

2) Add the egg yolks and sugar to a bowl and whisk for about 10 minutes until the mixture has doubled in volume and the colour has paled.

3) Strain the lavender from the milk, then set the bowl of egg yolks into a bowl of ice-water and pour in the milk mixture, whisking through until it is fully incorporated.

4) Return to the pan and cook on a low heat, stirring continuously, until it has thickened enough for you to draw a line through it with a spoon.

5) Scrape the custard back into the bowl over the ice-water with a spatula and leave to rest until it has cooled. Transfer to a tupperware box and put in the fridge for 4 hours.

6) Remove from the fridge and stir thoroughly, then freeze for 30 minutes.

7) Remove from the freezer and stir thoroughly with a fork. Return to the freezer but repeat this stage twice, after 30 minute intervals before leaving to freeze completely.

Absolut lavender (lavender vodka)

Ingredients 1 litre of vodka, 1/2 cup lavender

Preparation: 3 days

This seems hardly worth mentioning as a recipe as it involves no cooking, just the ability to pour vodka over lavender and leave to infuse for at least 3 days in the fridge... but infusing vodka is something that I used to enjoy doing during my mispent youth. Skittle vodka, rose vodka, vanilla vodka, Werther's original... pretty much anything will work!
I will leave more sophisticated mixologists than I to come up with cocktail ideas - personally I'm happy to just pour in a dash of lemonade and sip from it! Watch our for my lavender lemonade recipe coming soon too...

Lavender custard

Ingredients      3 eggs, 200ml whole milk, lavender, 20g caster sugar

Preparation: 30 minutes

Fresh custard goes so beautifully with most puddings, it's the perfect accessory to cut through richness or sweetness or tartness. But why can't the custard be the component of the pudding which holds the flavour? No reason at all! Enjoy!

1) Simmer 200ml milk with a teaspoon of lavender on a low heat, then strain the lavender from the milk

2) Add half the caster sugar and whisk through

3) Add 3 egg yolks to a bowl and whisk the remainder of the caster sugar into it until it has doubled in volume and paled in colour.

4) Pour the milk in a steady stream over the eggs, whisking constantly until they have been incorporated.

5) Return to the pan and continue to whisk on a low heat until the custard is thick enough to coat a spoon.

Carrot, feta & spiced apple salad

Ingredients  1 Carrot, 1 apple, allspice, cinnamon, cumin, muscovado sugar, feta cheese, watercress, pea shoots, ginger hummus

Serves: 1 Preparation: 10 minutes

I never understand why people think that salads are boring, or somehow something to be endured. For me they're one of the only types of food that one can put just about any other type of food into. Bread, potato, pasta, cheese, fruit, vegetables, nuts, herbs, eggs, flowers... you name it!
This is a rather new concoction of mine to showcase the spiced apple slices and ginger hummus that I have quickly become very fond of.

1) Core the apple and slice into crescents. Sprinkle the crescents with a dusting of brown sugar, cumin, allspice and cinnamon and toast under the grill for 5 minutes, turning half way through.

2) Peel the skin from the carrot, then peel the carrot into ribbons. Toss with the watercress and peashoots, and crumble over the feta.

3) Add the apples and drizzle with ginger hummus before serving.

Ginger hummus

Ingredients   400g Chickpeas (dried or canned), garlic, sesame seeds, salt, Rachel's Organic Ginger Yoghurt

Preparation: 10 minutes (plus 12 if using dried)

I adore hummus. Whether dolloped onto a salad or a sandwich, scooped up with a crudite or cracker it's so versatile and a relatively healthy source of protein to a vegetarian such as myself. I've shared many flavours of hummus on this blog so far but this has been a triumph of epic proportions.

1) If you are using dried chickpeas leave them to soak in cold water for a minimum of 6 hours (ideally 10-12) and cook them for 1 1/2 hours, changing the water frequently to avoid a bitter aftertaste.

2) If using canned chickpeas drain them and rinse well with cold water. It's entirely your choice whether you shell the chickpeas first - personally I prefer a bit of texture!

3) Place your cooked / canned chickpeas into a blender or mortar and pestle along with two tablespoons of yoghurt and pulse thoroughly

4) Flavour with sesame seeds or tahini, crushed garlic, and salt to taste. Blend thoroughly and serve.

Pea & lemon risotto with parmeggian tuiles

Ingredients     2 lemons (juice and zest), 100g peas, 1 pint vegetable stock, 1 cup risotto rice, leek, butter, parmigiano, peashoots to garnish,

Serves: 2 Preparation: 25 minutes


All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. My only possible complaint about this fresh, summery risotto is that the damn lemons bleach the colour of the peas! That's it - this is a wonderful dish that I can return to time and time again. Parmeggian tuiles are a great way to introduce a savoury note and despite being the easiest thing to make in the world, they always seem to impress!


1) To make the parmeggian tuiles, spoon a fine layer of grated parmeggian onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment, using a circular stencil. Bake for 5 minutes until a golden biscuit has formed, then as they begin to cool, peel away the baking parchment from underneath.


2) Slice the leek and sautee in a little butteruntil soft. Add the risotto rice and stir until the rice becomes transparent, revealing a white dot in the centre and pour in the juice of 1 lemon.
3) Once the lemon cooks off, add the first ladle of stock and half of the lemon zest and stir through.

4) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time, adding the peas with the second to last ladle of stock.

5) Serve garnished with lemon zest, peashoots and the tuiles.

Melon gazpacho with feta

Ingredients     2 cantaloupe melons, 1/2 pint vegetable stock, 1/2 leek, 1 chilli pepper, butter, feta

Serves: 4 Preparation: 20 minutes

Traditionally gazpacho is made from raw ingredients, "salsa soup" I used to call it when I was little and because I'm an onion-wuss, only able to stomach them when they're chopped small and cooked so that I barely know they're there I was never much of a fan. My gazpacho uses the oniony flavour of cooked leek, and the sweetness of canteloupe to make a truly refreshing yet spicy summer soup.

1) Halve and de-seed the canteloupe, then excise the flesh from the tough skin.

2) Fry off 1/2 a leek and the chilli pepper in butter, then rinse them both clean of butter. Add to a blender with the canteloupe flesh and puree. I like to add a little vegetable stock to make this more savoury, but this is entirely to taste.

3) Parse through a blender to remove any remaining chunks, then serve chilled with crumbled chunks of feta.

Carrot & coconut soup

Ingredients   10 carrots, 1 pint vegetable stock, 1 can coconut milk, coriander, 1 leek, butter

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour

"The carrot has mystery. Flowers are essentially tarts. Prostitutes for the bees. There is a certain je ne sais quoi - oh, so very special - about a firm, young carrot." ~ Uncle Monty (Withnail & I)
He may be a terrible... but he's right you know! Carrots are wonderful, so sugary sweet and surprisingly juicy for such a firm, woody vegetable and are perfect combined with the sweetness of coconut milk and the savoury leek. A definite comfort soup!

1) Peel the carrots and dice - the smaller the chunks the quicker it cooks obviously, but the less cooking time, the more colour and nutrients are kept in the carrots so put in a bit of extra prep!

2) Slice the leek and fry off in a little butter, stir in the carrots to glaze a little before adding the stock.

3) Simmer until the carrots are soft, then strain the carrots from the stock and puree thoroughly in a blender.
Pass the carrot flesh and leeks through a sieve and back into the stock.

4) Return to the hob, adding the can of coconut milk and some chopped coriander and warm through. Season to taste and serve.

Lavender & white chocolate cookies

Ingredients 350g plain flour, 200g butter, 2 eggs, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 175g brown sugar, white chocolate chips, 1 tsp lavender, 1/2 tsp salt

Makes: 10 cookies Preparation: 30 minutes

It's no secret that I love lavender. Whether I am making something sweet or savoury with it, it never fails to deliver an exotic yet comforting aroma and these warm, rich flavoured cookies are wonderful.
Using dried lavender in food rather than infusing say milk or water with lavender to release the sweetness and flavour is a rare approach for me. The effect in the mouth is that of the raw herbal perfume of mint, but the sweetness of the white chocolate counterbalances it.

1) In one bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt and lavender and in a second bowl cream the sugar and butter together, then beat in the eggs.

2) Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet until a smooth, elastic dough has been formed. Add the white chocolate chips, then roll the dough into a sausage about half the diameter of what you want your finished cookies to be. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes to firm it up.

3) Dust a surface with flour, then cut slices from the dough and roll each slice into a ball using the light dusting of flour. Press them lightly with the palm of your hand to form cookies no thicker than 2cm.

4) Arrange on a baking tray with plenty of space between them and bake in the oven at 190 for 15 minutes. These cookies are best enjoyed soft in the middle and crispy at the edge. Leave them to cool completely before eating.

Spelt-otto: Orange & saffron

Ingredients   1 pint vegetable stock, 1/2 white onion, butter, 1 orange, pinch saffron, salt, paprika, chilli powder, Pimms, 1 cup spelt

Serves: 2 preparation: 25 minutes

All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time. It's this process of releasing starch into a sauce which makes a risotto a risotto and I was delighted to learn that spelt (a kind of wheat) can also be used. It has a fabulous texture and flavour and really brings out the sweet hay-like scent of saffron. I read recently that monks used saffron as a treatment for melancholy and this struck me as good inspiration for the exotic Eastern combination of orange and chilli.


1) Soak the spelt in cold water for 5 minutes

2) Finely dice the onion and sautee in a little butter until soft. Drain the water from the spelt and stir into the onions. 

3) Add a glug of Pimms and the juice and zest of one orange. Once the alcohol cooks off, add the first ladle of stock along with a pinch of saffron and stir through.

4) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time until the spelt has fluffed up and softened. Add paprika and chilli powder to taste and serve.

Tomato, chilli & coconut soup

Ingredients 2 lbs tomatoes, 1/2 onion, 1 pint vegetable stock, 2 chillis, butter, Rachel's Organic coconut yoghurt

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour

I love the fiery heat of gazpacho, but nothing beats the comforting warmth of hot soup so I think this thick, tangy soup is the best of both worlds!

1) Roast the whole tomatoes and chillis for 20 minutes at 200 degrees, then carefully slice the top from the chilli and scoop out the seeds from the soft chilli flesh. Add the chillis and tomatoes to a blender and puree.

2) Peel and finely dice half an onion and sautee in a little butter. Pass the tomato and chilli flesh through a sieve, into the pan of onions, then add the vegetable stock.

3) Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally then pass through a sieve a second time to separate the onions. Season if required with salt and a little black pepper.

4) Serve hot with a dollop of coconut yoghurt stirred through it.