Ruthie and Connie

Doing the Kitchen

One of the things that is brilliant about being a food writer is that your friends come to you to solve their most hideous problems. My sister in Woking just had a massive leak in her house and the ceiling above her kitchen began to crumble. Its a terrible time of year to start doing internet searches for plasterer surrey but she had no choice and turned to me to give her some advice on how to keep the holidays festive while her kitchen ceiling was being plastered and she got new dry wall put in. All I could think of was putting up some kind of field kitchen in her garden and trying her best to do a combination of autumn barbecues and camp fire baking.

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Tasty Foodstuffs Rich In Protein

I get amused when I find people listing protein shakes as a source of protein in the diet. Supplements were restricted to athletes and sportsperson alone. However, most of us incorporate these shakes and supplement as a part of our daily diet. This is not a bad thing per se.

However, the biggest problem I face with such shakes is that they do not add any value to your diet as far as taste is concerned. Would it not be More

Summer Time and Hearty Food

Summer cooking may seem boring to those of us who love hearty and wholesome food. It seems that all that food writers offer in the summertime is salad or barbecue. I thought it would be a good time to address the insufficiency of summer recipes available. The basic principle is that you need to use produce that is as local as possible. There are so many wonderful treats coming from gardens and small farms during the summer, and not a salad leaf among them.

I love new takes on classic recipes and the capresse salad is a wonderful place to start. The salad features tomatoes slices with fresh mozzarella cheese and dressed with fresh basil and olive oil. Salad figures heavily in the summer because people often don’t want to turn on the oven as it will heat the house up. You will need

• 4-5 large fresh vine ripened tomatoes
• 2 balls of fresh mozzarella
• a handful of fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup of fresh white bread crumbs

Coat a baking dish with a generous amount of olive oil, cover the bottom with slices of fresh mozzarella, use another ball if necessary. Top with slice of fresh tomato and then a layer of basil. In a food processor blitz the bread crumbs with more fresh basil and some salt and pepper. Top the tomatoes with the bread crumbs, drizzle with more olive oil and then pop under the grill until the top is golden. You can serve this dish with crusty bread, rice, pasta, cous cous, or polenta.

Often in summer we find ourselves having to do fall tasks. I spent yesterday shopping for school clothes my daughter and suit fabrics for my husband. When I got home, it was boiling and I certainly didn’t want to turn on the stove, but I was immersed in greys and tweeds of fall so I wanted something warming. I was saved by Thai rice stick solution. Rice sticks don’t need to be boiled, just soaked in boiling water.

• 1 package Thai rice sticks
• 1 cup of fresh peas
• 2 garden fresh tomatoes
• 3 big leaves of swiss chard
• 2 eggs
• soy sauce
• thai sweet chilli sauce
• sesame oil
• 2 limes
• 2 cloves garlic
• small knob of fresh ginger

Soak your noodles in boiling water for 15 minutes with your fresh peas. finely dice the chard and briefly stir fry in the sesame oil. Scramble your eggs with soy sauce and sweet chilli, tip into the chard, cook till set, drain the noodles and tip into the pan. Quickly stir fry and season to taste with more soy and sweet chilli.

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Summer Time and Hearty Food

Summer cooking may seem boring to those of us who love hearty and wholesome food. It seems that all that food writers offer in the summertime is salad or barbecue. I thought it would be a good time to address the insufficiency of summer recipes available. The basic principle is that you need to use produce that is as local as possible. There are so many wonderful treats coming from gardens and small farms during the summer, and not a salad leaf among them.

I love new takes on classic recipes and the capresse salad is a wonderful place to start. The salad features tomatoes slices with fresh mozzarella cheese and dressed with fresh basil and olive oil. Salad figures heavily in the summer because people often don’t want to turn on the oven as it will heat the house up. You will need

• 4-5 large fresh vine ripened tomatoes
• 2 balls of fresh mozzarella
• a handful of fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup of fresh white bread crumbs

Coat a baking dish with a generous amount of olive oil, cover the bottom with slices of fresh mozzarella, use another ball if necessary. Top with slice of fresh tomato and then a layer of basil. In a food processor blitz the bread crumbs with more fresh basil and some salt and pepper. Top the tomatoes with the bread crumbs, drizzle with more olive oil and then pop under the grill until the top is golden. You can serve this dish with crusty bread, rice, pasta, cous cous, or polenta.

Often in summer we find ourselves having to do fall tasks. I spent yesterday shopping for school clothes my daughter and suit fabrics for my husband. When I got home, it was boiling and I certainly didn’t want to turn on the stove, but I was immersed in greys and tweeds of fall so I wanted something warming. I was saved by Thai rice stick solution. Rice sticks don’t need to be boiled, just soaked in boiling water.

• 1 package Thai rice sticks
• 1 cup of fresh peas
• 2 garden fresh tomatoes
• 3 big leaves of swiss chard
• 2 eggs
• soy sauce
• thai sweet chilli sauce
• sesame oil
• 2 limes
• 2 cloves garlic
• small knob of fresh ginger

Soak your noodles in boiling water for 15 minutes with your fresh peas. finely dice the chard and briefly stir fry in the sesame oil. Scramble your eggs with soy sauce and sweet chilli, tip into the chard, cook till set, drain the noodles and tip into the pan. Quickly stir fry and season to taste with more soy and sweet chilli.

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Unique Food - Atlanta Filipino Restaurant : One of the nice…
Thinking Of London? You Should Read This : Oh, it’s a…
Film Four at Summerset House : After six years i have finally…
London At Christmas : In my opinion London is at it’s…

French Salads

The French uses classic cooking techniques and a variety of ingredients to make lip-smacking dishes out of them. Besides the cooked dishes, French salads are also quite popular. They have unique flavors, taste and also look very vibrant.

The European continent yields bountiful of fruits. Fruits like apples, melons, pears are widely produced in France. French fruits salads are quite famous. Some salads are served with citrus dressings More

Easy Moussaka

One of my all time favourite Greek recipes is moussaka. I have had it in restaurants everywhere from Chicago to Athens, but I was always intimidated to make it at home. After I made it the first time, I realized that it was much easier than it seemed. Many recipes include aubergine, which I detest. I have had the dish in Greece where potatoes take the place of aubergine and it was fantastic. I developed the below recipe and instructions More

The Affordable Dinner

I recently revisited a clipping I had saved from last year where Nigel Slater gives about fifteen different ideas (not recipes mind you, just suggestions) for VERY affordable dinners. It was a little more boring than I remember featuring noodle soup, macaroni and cheese and bubble and squeak. In my mind I had married the article with a great episode of Simple Suppers where he made dishes that featured one very flavourful ingredient. This is a brilliant strategy for saving More

White Wine and Wild Mushroom Lasagna

I was a little worried when I decided to host a dinner for my sports partners and their spouses. This is both a health conscious crew and a group of hearty eaters. I decided to deconstruct a classic dish, giving it a new twist, thus making it more refined, and a bit healthier. Lasagna is different depending on which country it is being cooked in. In the United States it is layers of pasta and meat sauce with an absolutely More

Pineapple Coconut Smoothie

One of the signs that you love something is that you want to learn everything about it. I love pineapple coconut smoothies so I got the recipe. I could have this all day and all night if I could.

Although many of you aren’t quite fond of pineapples, the pineapple and coconut smoothie is still worth a try. This is probably the most delicious and cooling solution for beating the summer heat. To top it all, the drink not only More

Like Mexican? Try Fajitas

Fajitas originated in Mexico, made of beef skirt stakes with stir fried peppers and served on tortillas. But nowadays we have different variations in vegetables, like mushrooms, cooked with grilled meat - either chicken or beef and served with a tortilla. The meat is served as sizzlers on an iron platter with all the spices while the corn tortillas are served separately. They make a great party meal and go well with Margaritas or Mexican beer. Many of you must More