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NOUGAT NIRVANA

NOUGAT NIRVANA

I have a really sweet tooth. I love honey. I also love crunchy things, especially roasted almonds. Nougat de Montelimar is a French nougat that has all of the above rolled into one, and it’s my very favourite sweet treat. My kind of nirvana ....

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS

Here we go again, turning our heads towards Christmas dinner. 

It’s only four weeks till D Day, or rather C Day, so getting ourselves prepared is not such a bad idea. In the next four weeks we’ll be posting lots of ideas for your Christmas dinner, in fact we have so many we’ll be posting twice as often as usual but just in case you’re a real Scout and would like to be prepared NOW, we’re here to help ...

YOU SAY SHISO, I SAY PERILLA

YOU SAY SHISO, I SAY PERILLA

Some years ago I found an interesting herb garnish on my salad in a Vietnamese restaurant.  I didn’t recognise it but my mother, the green thumb in our family who couldn’t identify it either, suggested that I take it home and stick it in a glass of water. I did and roots sprouted. Now, I have a garden that is verdant with perilla ....

HOISIN SAUCE

HOISIN SAUCE

Traditionally hoisin sauce is made with fermented wheat and soy beans. It is flavoured with five spice powder and is robust, sweet and garlicky. While gluten-free versions are available, we prefer to make our own and use black bean sauce as the base for our hoisin sauce. Once you have your gluten-free black bean sauce, home made or purchased, then making our Hoisin is a ten minute exercise .... 

SALTY SPICE

SALTY SPICE

I was inspired to convert to gluten-free some of Kylie Kwong's recipes from her cook book 'Simple Chinese Cooking' but as most coeliacs and gluten-intolerants will know it’s often not so easy.  Many common Asian ingredients such as soy sauce and even rice wine can contain gluten and while gluten-free versions of a lot of these ingredients do exist, often they’re not readily available resulting in a trip to a specialty shop at the expense of spontaneity ....

NIPPLES OF VENUS

NIPPLES OF VENUS

Ever since seeing the movie ‘Amadeus’ many years ago, I have lusted after the large and rather provocative looking chocolates which were offerred to Mozart’s wife by the composer, Salieri.  My memory is that he tells her in a rather seductive way that these delicious looking morsels are called Nipples of Venus and that she promptly wraps her plump lips around one of these generously proportioned items, wide eyed and giggly ....

PICKLE IT

PICKLE IT

Don't throw out the rind after devouring the delicious, juicy flesh of an ice cold watermelon. Pickle It! Delicious with cold meats, oily fish, chopped finely and tossed through a salad, as a garnish for canapes or wherever you'd like a bit of zing ....