Chickpea flour pancakes
Chickpea (gram) flour is very tasty, and makes a good pancake batter. I made these to have with a spiced spinach filling, …
Tomato and green vegetable risotto
I usually make risotto with stock and wine, but adding a can of tomatoes makes a nice change. As ever, substitute any …
Pesto
Home-made pesto is so easy to make I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to make it. We made traditional pine-nut …
Chocolate and almond cake
It was my sister’s birthday yesterday and I wanted to make her a birthday cake. This chocolate and almond flourless cake was …
Double chocolate cookies
Visiting friends again this weekend and I though cookies might travel better than cake – these ones were pretty hefty, and survived …
Chocolate fondant
MasterChef, eat your heart out. Chocolate fondants aren’t as scary as John and Gregg would have you believe… Makes 4 120g butter …
Couscous with vegetables and roasted garlic dressing
Sunny day, friends coming for lunch. Wanted to make something that required very little effort or time spent at the stove. Came …
Sticky banoffee pudding
This is a sticky toffee pudding made with bananas in the sponge mix instead of dates – same idea of sweet and …
Chocolate macarons
I watch waaaaay too many cookery shows, and The Great British Bake Off often inspires me to try ridiculous things for which …
Peanut butter stir-fry
A tasty vegetable stir-fry with a sticky peanut sauce. Yum. Takes about 15mins, so it’s a good Monday night dinner! Serves four …
Vegetable dhansak
My dear friend’s mum is a cookery writer, and she posted on Facebook that she was making chicken dhansak in her slow …
Chocolate, orange and honeycomb cheesecake
Not one for the faint-hearted, faint-toothed or weight-watching, but a delicious pudding. I made my own honeycomb because shop-bought is always really …
Chocolate and amaretto mousse
I used a slightly denser version of this to fill and ice my chocolate, almond and pear cake at Christmas, and promised …
Almond and orange cake
My best friend has just moved into a new flat and I wanted to make her a housewarming cake. Problem: I needed …
Fish pie
Another not-vegetarian post, but this was birthday dinner for my grandma so also not made in the bedsit. It’s a bit of …
A week’s worth of meals
I did some food writing before Christmas for a large recipe website, and because I got paid by the recipe (with photo) …
Cheat’s cheesecake
This super-quick pudding uses a no-bake cheese mix as a topping for digestive biscuits to create a cheesecake type dessert. Serves 4 …
Sugar-free banana, date and oat muffins
These are sugar-free because the sweetness comes from the bananas and dates – they’re basically banana bread in muffin form. They’re pretty …
Minestrone
Hearty, bean-y tomato-y soup with pasta and herbs – this is a meal in itself, although it is especially nice with hot …
Focaccia
Making bread is one of the most satisfying things ever – it makes me feel like a wizard. It’s time-consuming in that …