Yotam Ottolenghi

Good Friday is the last Friday in Lent, when Catholics abstain from eating meat. Many non Catholics also follow this tradition, if only for Good Friday. Once upon a time, the idea of entertaining without meat would have been unthinkable. These days, with many who eat less or no meat and, the whole of the globe… Read more

Depending on where you grew up, the term ‘meatball’ will have different connotations and of course, different names. They could be the golf ball sized ground beef and onion balls served alongside spaghetti in a tomato sauce favoured by Italian Americans or fist sized pork meat balls wrapped in cabbage to resemble a lion’s mane of… Read more

The first time I tasted chickpeas was in the late 1970’s. My Mum, ever the gastronomic explorer used to cook up huge batches in the pressure cooker. They would be served just warm as a party nibble, tossed in salt and earthy spices. Most people had not even heard of a chickpea let alone preferred… Read more

Yes, it’s February. Christmas has been and gone, as has Australia Day. Thoughts now turn to the long weeks until the next public holiday or festivity to plan for. The hot weather  continues unabated in Brisbane whilst my IMK friends in other parts of Australia and the Northern Hemisphere have had some surprisingly brisk weather… Read more

Regular readers may recall that I was given a box of onions by a friend who had them left over from a fundraising event. I made a delicious Caramelised Onion Tart as well as freezing many bags of sliced onions for future use. But still they kept giving… I’m not complaining about having so many… Read more

I have a confession to make. I love cooking. I’m great with savoury and I’m OK with desserts. I’m so so with baking and I’m terrible with biscuits (cookies). If you look back through my recipe posts, you’ll find only one for biscuits and even that’s for very basic Quinoa Crackers. I’ve talked before about… Read more

Over the past months, I have been tidying up the blog as part of the transition to my own self hosted site. Correcting typos, re-sizing photos, updating links etc. In doing this, it’s come to my attention that I am a little bit obsessed with Yotam Ottolenghi. He came into my consciousness slowly in the… Read more

I love semolina. I don’t know what it is about it but I can’t get enough. It’s not as if I grew up eating it as a child but there is something about the texture that draws me to it on menus and in recipes. A Semolina Primer Semolina is purified, coarse milled wheat middlings… Read more

I love eggplant in all its glorious guises. In Asian style stir fries, baked or grilled with toppings and fillings, Moroccan tagines, Middle Eastern dips, barbecued, in Moussaka and in one of my favourites discoveries of the year in Bali, thin slices dipped in batter and fried to crispy puffs served with caramelised onions and… Read more

I’m going to marry Yotam Ottolenghi.  Sure, he may be playing for the other team and doesn’t even know I exist but I am having a love affair with him anyway.  Oh, OK, with his food.  My books arrived from Amazon the other day and I’m enjoying every moment of leafing through, poring over recipes… Read more

Pumpkins are funny old things.  In the USA, they are relegated to carving at Halloween, overly sweetened pie at Thanksgiving and for decoration on front porches throughout New England. In the UK, the only time you ever see pumpkin is in insipid ‘Butternut Squash’ soup that always tastes like water or when someone such as… Read more

With the weather starting to warm up, my mind and body has well and truly been set to salad mode.  With a long summer ahead, I am keen to broaden my repertoire and enjoy salads with all sorts of grains and pulses tossed through to give some substance to the dish. I have written before… Read more

I’m in love with Yotam Ottolenghi.  I fell under his spell whilst living in the UK, reading his regular piece in The Weekend Guardian.  Every recipe sounded delicious and seemed achievable.  For the longest while, I thought he was vegetarian until a recipe with mince appeared.  His flavours are Middle Eastern, belying his Israeli upbringing… Read more