Crab and samphire risotto

Ingredients 1 pint fish stock, 1 cup risotto rice, 1 white onion, 1/2 tsp dill, 1 cup brown crab meat, 1 cup white wine, 1 tbsp butter, samphire.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes

I hate the smell of fish. I'm sorry, but I do. I know it's pretty pathetic for an otherwise adventurous food blogger to turn her nose up at such a basic food but I just cannot cope with it. I wish with my whole heart that I could because it's so good for you, so I was delighted to create this dish for my husband and son recently and it NOT stink my house out or require me to cook with Vick's Vapo Rub slathered under my nostrils. This is a winning dish if you're cooking that all important third date meal for someone. *winks*
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.

1) Peel and finely dice the onion, and sautee in the butter until soft (about 10 minutes).

2) Add the rice and stir through until it becomes translucent, save for a white dot in the centre. Add a good glug of white wine and continue stirring until it has cooked off, then add the first ladleful of stock.

3) Continue adding the stock to the risotto, one ladle at a time, adding the crab meat, samphire and dill with the second to last ladle of stock. Serve hot, finishing with an indulgent dash of cream if you wish. Remember, risotto should be soupy, not solid!

Gurkensalat

Ingredients 1/2 Cucumber, 2 large tomatoes, 1/4 white onion, 2 tbsp soured cream, 1 tsp dill, 1 tsp parsley, 1 tsp white vinegar, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp dijon mustard.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 5 minutes (plus half an hour for chilling)

As part of the World Cup Food Challenge 2014, this recipe represents a traditional meal of Germany. Most of you will know my feelings about raw onion by now, I absolutely LOATHE it with a fiery passion and never include it in my own food, including coleslaw which is a common side dish in German cuisine. As I have, however, posted many coleslaw recipes before from the conventional carrot and cabbage combination to those including beetroot and pear, I decided to force myself to eat raw onion by making Gurkensalat instead, a cucumber and tomato salad with a creamy mustard and vinegar dressing given depth by dill and parsley. Did I pick out the onions after tasting it? Yes. Was it otherwise delicious? Absolutely.

1) Whisk together the soured cream, vinegar, herbs, mustard and sugar. Rather than use it immediately, I allowed it to rest for half an hour in the fridge for the flavours to really come together and the soured cream to thicken back up a little.

2) Slice the onion and cucumbers finely enough to be translucent when held up to the light and the tomato as it comes.

3) Stir in the dressing and serve! If, like me you are not so fond of onions, scatter them on the top and after trying them and dress the rest of the salad later!

New England Clam Chowder

Ingredients 1 lb potatoes, 1 lb clams, 1 pint vegetable stock, 4 bay leaves, 1/2 tsp dill, 50ml double cream, 2 tbsp butter, 2 stalks celery, 1 white onion, 1 tbsp plain flour. Bread

Serves: 4 Preparation: 1 hour

As part of the World Cup Food Challenge 2014, this recipe represents a traditional meal of America. If, like me, you're vegetarian then separating a portion to add sweetcorn to just before the clams go in makes this really easy dual-chowder! It's a lovely hearty soup, just the thing to comfort one on a cold day (please ignore the fact that it is June!) - especially if you serve it in a bread bowl!

1) Peel and slice the potatoes into inch cubes and set aside, peel the onion and dice it along with the celery.

2) Add half the butter to the pan and sautee the onion and celery until completely soft (about 10 minutes), then add the remainder of the butter along with the flour and whisk until a roux has formed.

3) Add the potatoes, bay leaves and vegetable stock to the pan and stir through. Once the potatoes are cooked, add the clams and dill and allow to simmer for a further 5 minutes.

4) Hollow out a bread bowl by cutting a circle into the top of the crust and scooping out the soft centre with your fingers. Stir the cream into the soup, season to taste with salt and black pepper, then ladle into the bread bowl.

Celeriac, spinach & cannellini bean soup

Ingredients 1 celeriac root, 200g spinach, 1 can cannellini beans, 1/2 pint vegetable stock, 1 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp dill, 1 leek.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes

I find that most soups benefit from slow, gentle cooking and being left for a day for the flavours to mature. Some soups however, are seriously quick to put together and this is certainly one of them! The husky flavour of the celeriac is brought out gloriously by the surprise perfection of nutmeg and dill. A definite winner.

1) Peel the celeriac with a sharp knife by cutting about a centimetre off both ends and sides, leaving a squareish core. Dice and add to a pan along with the leek, finely chopped and cover with the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil.

2) After 15 minutes, add the spinach and stir until it wilts. Puree thoroughly in a blender, then add back to the pan along with the beans.

3) Season with the nutmeg and dill, simmer for at least 5 minutes to cook the beans then serve hot.

White chocolate & olive potato salad

Ingredients   2 King Edward potatoes, dill, 2    squares white chocolate, 10 kamalata olives, 4 eggs, lemon juice, salt, pepper, 1 pint vegetable oil

Serves: 2 Preparation: 20 minutes


This might sound incredibly unusual, but the subtle sweetness of the white chocolate, the seductive vanilla notes and the rich saltiness of the olives are a wonderful combination.


1) To make your own mayonnaise - separate 4 egg yolks from the whites (discard the whites) and put in a large clean bowl to whisk (or use the whisk attachment on your blender if you have one). Add the lemon juice/vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk thoroughly, adding the oil ONE DROP at a time until the mayonnaise is thick and glossy. You don't have to use all the oil - I like it quite thick but if it's too thick you can always add a little warm water to thin it back down again.


2) Peel the potatoes and cut into chunks then boil in hot salted water for 20 minutes and strain.


3) Whilst the potatoes are cooling, put the chocolate squares into a bowl and set it on top of a bowl of boiling water to make a bain marie. Stir the chocolate until it has melted, then take it off the heat. The chocolate should be warm and not hot because white chocolate has a low melting temperature but give it 30 seconds before stirring it into the mayonnaise to avoid it splitting.


4) Chop the dill and stir into the mayonnaise, then add the cool potatoes.


5) Pit the olives and add to the salad. Stir through and serve.

Tartare style parsley sauce

Ingredients  20g Flour, 40g butter, 400ml cream, 2 pickled gherkins, 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar, 15g parsley, 5g dill.

Serves: 6 Preparation: 10 minutes


I am renowned for being the world's most rubbish vegetarian. No seriously - I am allergic to mushrooms and intolerant to soya which is in EVERYTHING these days: Soy sauce, soy nuts and edamame are a no, as are most breads because of the soya flour, I can't eat most chocolate because full of cheap emulsifier called soya lecithin (or pork fat!)... I also loathe fish and I mean seriously loathe it. No matter how fresh the fish or how subtle the smell it makes me retch. The Boy, my soon-to-be husband loves it however and I'm not the sort of vegetarian who likes to inflict my personal choices on others so I cook fish for him from time to time. I created this mixture between tartare sauce and parsley sauce especially for him.


1) Melt the butter in a milk pan and whisk in the flour to make a roux


2) Finely chop the parsley and dill, dice the gherkins and add to the pan along with the double cream. Whisk briskly until the sauce increases in volume and the texture stiffens enough to coat the whisk.


3) Add the tablespoon of white wine vinegar, season with a pinch of salt and pepper and continue to whisk, off the heat until it has been incorporated.


4) I served this dolloped over rainbow trout with beer battered onion rings and steamed garden peas. The sauce will keep in the fridge for about a week and can be served warm or cold.

Chicken & mushroom linguine

Ingredients    Chicken breast, linguine, mushrooms,   double cream, sherry, white onion,dill, garlic, butter.

1) Finely dice a small white onion and sautee with butter and a little finely chopped dill until soft. Add a tablespoon of sherry and cook off.


2) Slice wafer thin pieces of mushroom and razor thin slices of garlic and stir through the butter, take off the heat and pour through some double cream. Pour the sauce over a chicken breast and bake in the oven.


3) Serve over linguine.

Pork & butterbean soup

Ingredients Pork crackling, roast pork, butterbeans, dill, bay leaves, milk, onion powder, honey.

I made a fabulous honey roast pork with crackling for dinner today and rather than waste the last slice of pork and the caramelised crackling I made a soup from it.

1) Cut the pork into chunks and put that, along with the crackling into a pan. Add 2 bay leaves, half a teaspoon of onion powder and some milk.

2) Add half a pint of water and simmer for half an hour. Add the beans and some chopped dill, season with salt, pepper and a teaspoon of honey and simmer for a further 15 minutes.

Mulled pepper & goats cheese tart

Ingredients 4oz plain flour, 2oz butter, bell pepper, spinach, goats cheese, eggs, marscapone, dill, balsamic vinegar, red wine, red onion, honey, olive oil, cinnamon, star anise.

1) To make the shortcrust pastry measure 4oz of plain flour and 2oz of cold butter. Cut the butter into small cubes and drop along with the flour into a food processor until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Drip in 2-3 tablespoons of cold water until the mixture quickly forms a ball. Wrap this in clingfilm and put in the fridge for 15 minutes.

2) Whilst the pastry is chilling finely dice a red onion and slice slivers of red bell pepper. Add into a pan with a tablepoon of olive oil, a teaspoon of honey and sizzle for 2 minutes. Add in a slosh of red wine, a teaspoon of cinnamon and a star anise and simmer until the onions are soft. Strain the onions and pepper from the liquor (discarding the star anise) and set aside.

3) Whisk together 3 eggs and 2 tablespoons of marscapone. Add a little chopped dill and stir through.

4) Take the pastry from the fridge and roll out to a half centimetre thickness.
Either line a large flan dish or make individual tarts by cutting circles of pastry. Press them firmly into a yorkshire pudding tin and blind bake for 5 minutes with another yorkshire pudding tin sat in the top to prevent the pastry from rising beyond the "cup" shape required.

5) Add fresh spinach leaves to the pastry cups, chunks of goat's cheese and the onions and peppers. Pour some of the egg and marscapone mixture into the cases and bake for 10-12 minutes. Serve with a drizzle of balsamic glaze.

Smoked salmon pizza

Ingredients 1lb of strong white flour, 1 tablespoon of active dried yeast, 2 teaspoons of honey, 2 tablespoons of truffle oil, 250ml warm water, cream cheese, milk, dill, rocket, smoked salmon.

1) Pizza dough
Dissolve the yeast in 150ml of warm water and set aside to rest. After 10 minutes add the honey and truffle oil. Sift the flour into a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the yeast mixture a little at a time and mix thoroughly with your hands until it becomes dough like in consistency.
It is possible to make this if you have a dough attachment for your blender.
Transfer your dough ball to a lightly floured surface and flour your hands. Knead the dough for 10-15 minutes and then sit to rest in a large, lightly oiled bowl and cover this with a warm, damp cloth. The bowl must be big enough to allow the dough to double in size over the next hour.

Divide the dough into small dough balls and kneed these again before rolling out on a floured surface to make your pizza crust. Bake the base for 10-15 minutes.

2) Pizza sauce
Mix 2 tablespoons of cream cheese with a teaspoon of chopped dill and a little milk until it forms a smooth paste. Spread onto the pizza base.

3) Pizza topping
Top with smoked salmon and rocket and serve.

Potato salad

Ingredients 10 exquisa potatoes, courgette, dill, pine nuts Mayonnaise 4 eggs, lemon juice/white wine vinegar, salt, pepper, 1 pint oil (olive or vegetable - I'm using basil today)

1) Prick the potatoes (you could use new potatoes but try to get exquisa, they're absolutely gorgeous) and cook in hot, salted water for 20 minutes.

2) Grate half a courgette into a mixing bowl, add the dill and pine nuts and stir through with a drizzle of basil oil. Set aside for the flavours to mature whilst the potatoes cook.

3) To make your own mayonnaise - separate 4 egg yolks from the whites (discard the whites) and put in a large clean bowl to whisk (or use the whisk attachment on your blender if you have one). Add the lemon juice/vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk thoroughly, adding the oil ONE DROP at a time until the mayonnaise is thick and glossy. You don't have to use all the oil - I like it quite thick but if it's too thick you can always add a little warm water to thin it back down again.

3) When the potatoes are done strain in a collander and run cold water over them until they are still warm, but not hot. Slice in half.

4) Add the potatoes to the courgette, dill and pine nuts and stir, adding the mayonnaise one spoonfull at a time.

5) Serve warm or leave to cool and eat later.

Pea and parmigiano soup

Ingredients 1 can of marrowfat peas per person, 1 garlic clove, a tablespoon of grated parmigiano, dill Optional - to garnish double cream, black pepper

1) Sautee 1 crushed clove of garlic in a little butter or olive oil, stir in freshly chopped dill and then add the tin of marrowfat peas (including the liquid).

1) Simmer on the stove for 10 minutes before pureeing.

1) Stir in the parmeggian

1) Serve drizzled with cream and freshly ground black pepper