There’s an argument in our house, G (my darling wife) insists that the best form of potatoes of all time are roast potatoes. I think mash wins hands down. So every Christmas that we go back to Australia we have two types of potatoes on the table – the Libling family tradition of creamy mashed
Pavé potatoes are something I hadn’t heard of until recently. I mean really outside of professional cooks who has heard of pavé potatoes and what even are they? Pavé is French for paving stone and in culinary terms generally refers to a slice. In this case, pavé potatoes are layered a bit like dauphinoise
There are a million recipes for salsa verde and people will instantly say this isn’t an authentic recipe. Some people think salsa verde should be chopped herbs suspended in oil, others blend it, others insist it must be done in a mortar and pestle. Others put tomatillos in their salsa verde. Should salsa verde have chillies
Oxtail is one of my absolute favourite cuts of meat; it’s rich, gelatinous, almost unctuous texture is coupled with an intensely meaty flavour. Add to that the fact that it’s intensely easy to cook in advance and it was always going to be a winner for our Halloween Sweeney Todd and Mrs Lovett pies that
I have long shied away from writing a post about Bolognese sauce. There are a few reasons why it’s a somewhat daunting prospect. Few dishes command the stalwart fanaticism that Bolognese does. More than that, so many of these long held beliefs contradict one another: “Bolognese is only Bolognese with a glug of red
Beef stroganoff, you don’t think about it as a Christmas food. Largely because it’s simply not. However, the first time I ever cooked beef stroganoff it was Christmas back home in Sydney and we were in a lovely house by the beach. There was the beef stroganoff in the centre of the table standing
The other day we had some great friends round for a tapas meal and one of the couples brought their little baby J, who also happens to be my Godson. It was an absolutely lovely evening with wine flowing freely (after J was asleep of course) and great conversation. In fact, we even discovered
Growing up in Australia we ate mangoes all the time. I mean boxes of the stuff over Summer. However, we never really ate mango salsa and my life was poorer for it. I guess it was because the mango was so darn nice and ripe that you just wanted to dig in and let
Tartine is historically the French word for a little tart. However, in France it now refers to a piece of grilled toast with a topping and can be sweet or savoury – think bruschetta or goat’s cheese and fig. Essentially a fancy word for an open faced sandwich. This Tartine is sort of a combination of
Mrs Patchett’s Chicken and Leek Pies. Won’t meant much to most people, in fact if you’re not from Sydney it won’t mean anything at all. Even if you are, you probably don’t remember the name. But I do. I fell in love with those little pies. You could buy them from the local deli and