Side Dishes

Cold Oil French Fries (Chips) Absorb Less Oil

February 4, 2012
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I saw this method of chip making (French fries if you’re American) this week on  America’s Test Kitchen  and couldn’t wait to try it because it just seemed so easy and anything that’s easy if you have kids is a done deal for me.  The other reason and most convincing was the topsy-turvy notion that starting [...]

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Aduki / Azuki Bean Salad

January 23, 2012
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I made this salad for my lunch today.  I was reminded yesterday reading Carl’s post on his vegetarian haggis how good aduki beans are, they’re the puy lentil of the bean world for me.  They’re flavoursome, the taste reminds me of black-eye beans/peas and being so small they give you a lovely texture and if [...]

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Tarka,Tadka, Chaunk, Dhungar: Tempering Spices & Making Dal

November 15, 2011
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I’ve recently made 2 posts on spices and now would like to mention one of my favourite ways of spicing lentils; tarka.  Tarka, tadka or chaunk and also known by other names if you look on wiki here, is a very good way of spicing food, not just legumes. I first noticed it years ago [...]

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Carrot top “pataniscas”

August 23, 2011
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I had bought a bunch of pretty yellow and red carrots at the farmers’ market and decided to use them in salads to best show off their colour.  The tops were still vibrant and fresh looking and rather than doing the normal of throwing them in the bin I remembered Carl had twittered his recipe [...]

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Lentil Curry, Spinach Curry with Fresh Apricots

August 21, 2011
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I have to make a note of these curries I quickly made last night otherwise they will be forgotten never to be made again which according to my oldest daughter is a habit of mine.  When I make it again I will take better photos and post those.  It was one of those full days, [...]

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Fish Stuffed with Herbs

August 13, 2011
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This is the sort of meal I like to cook in any given evening, easy to prepare and packs so much flavour which I can change depending on my whim on the day.  I came across these long fillets of hake, quite unusual where I live, as soon as I spotted them I started to [...]

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Aubergine (Eggplant), Fennel & Tomato with Pomegranate Syrup

May 30, 2011
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I was roasting a leg of lamb yesterday and this was what I wanted with it.  I make quite often the Italian aubergine dish caponata which I will vary, may have olives or capers or pinenuts and vary the herbs but always with the sweet/sour combination of sugar and vinegar.  I wanted that here and [...]

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Potato Dauphinoise

February 13, 2011
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By nature I’m a lazy cook, meaning I’ll short-cut a method wherever I can…only have to look at my no-knead bread efforts to get that but here I do the opposite, I’ll add an extra step.  I see lots of recipes for potato dauphinoise where the potato is layered in the serving dish and the [...]

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Red Cabbage, Beetroot & Pear

February 6, 2011
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I saw Rick Stein in one of his programs cook red cabbage and pears spiced with some cinnamon and I think nutmeg.  Here’s my version, with beetroot, because I just happen to have some in the fridge along with a small cabbage and as it happens it turned out to be a great combination.  It [...]

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