Slow-Cooked Spiced Pork Pibil

No-one in my house will now eat processed meats. Sounds fair enough, but in fact it’s a pain when it comes to making packed lunches. No more easy peasy slices of ham or roast beef, oh no, it has to be ‘proper’ cooked meat. What this means is that every weekend, I have to roast…

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Coffee Cake – Plain and Simple

This is nothing short of a classic and uses traditional measures, methods and ingredients. If you can’t get the Camp coffee, which I think might be a bit of an Irish thing (it comes in a plastic bottle and is in liquid form, so ideal for baking), you can use 1 tsp espresso coffee powder…

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Orange, Rosemary and Honey Polenta Cake

This is incredibly moist, sweet and fragrant and it will last for a few days in a sealed tin – if you can keep your hands off it that is. It’s beautiful served with a dollop of greek yoghurt and maybe a scant grating of orange peel on top. It also has to be one…

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Best Ever Apple Tart

It’s apple season and so, faced with a bounty of windfalls this last week or two, I’ve been finding (welcome) excuses to make dishes using apples. Apple crumble is a big favourite in our house, but I think a homemade apple tart with lovely short pastry and plenty of cinnamon-spiced filling is hard to beat….

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Jamie’s 5 Ingredient Apple Cookies

I’ve been watching Jamie Oliver’s new series – 5 Ingredients – it’s an interesting idea for a book and series, but one which I have to say I feel is flawed. Limiting the number of ingredients in a recipe to fit an agreed premise will always result in compromise and I feel a lot of…

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Foccacia

This is one I picked up at a class at Belfast Cookery School on bread making. It’s a simple and highly adaptable recipe for light Italian bread that’s very moreish! You can add a wide range of toppings – olives, roasted peppers, garlic, fennel seeds – but it’s lovely and simple just with rosemary, salt…

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Best Ever Banana Bread

This is a family favourite and one of those ‘go to’ recipes I make again and again; especially if there are a few overripe bananas in the fruit bowl. It barely lasts a day in our house and is so so easy to make – I’d encourage even the most hesitant would-be baker to give…

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A Green Shakshuka (of Sorts)

This is a great catch-all dish – perfect for using up leftovers or veg that’s on its last legs and just FULL of goodness. Really filling too thanks to the potatoes and eggs – it really does have everything. I was inspired by a recipe  I spotted in the Good Housekeeping magazine I browsed through…

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Tabbouleh with Pomegranate, Apricot and Pistachio

This is pretty much stolen directly from James Martin’s Home Comforts book, but I have made one or two tweaks to the original. What I love about tabbouleh is the freshness, variety of textures and the feeling that everything you’re eating is packed with goodness. This couldn’t really be simpler and it goes well with…

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Shopska Salad

Such a simple salad this one, but truly delicious and perfect for a hot summer’s day. I tasted it in Skopje, Macedonia on a short work visit in March 2017 and really wasn’t sure it would be for me, but it was delicious and I made and shared it as part of my feast for…

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Orzo Salad with Pesto, Tomatoes and Feta

Number one son gets very bored with sandwiches for school lunch and is something of a pasta freak, so I tried this and he happily scoffed it over a couple of days – minus the Feta as he’s not a fan, but I am! You could use other types of pasta here, but I’d suggest…

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