Slow-pho chicken

I’m not making any claims as to the authenticity of this pho,  (it doesn’t rhyme with slow for a start) but it needs a name and as noodle soup, full of fresh herbs and fragrant with ginger and chili it comes pretty close. What makes it worthy of comment to me is the discovery that it is possible to cook a whole chicken in a slow cooker.

Mincemeat is for life…

Until only last week our local supermarket had shelves upon shelves of mincemeat leftover from Christmas. Selling at 5p a jar (10p for the posh stuff), it broke my heart to see these unwanted jars week after week. So of course I did my best to give them a good home, and, faced with a cupboard of pity mincemeat, crumble is what I’m doing with it.

Chrismapoliton

I didn’t get a photo of this in situ, this was all that was left the morning after, but I bring this concoction out every year and it deserves a mention. It’s a festive mix of ginger wine, cranberry juice and vodka and perfect for making in vast quantities for a crowd.

Fruit loaf and scorpions: How to eat well in Beijing

The title is a lie. We did not eat well in Beijing. Don’t get me wrong, we had some spectacular food but the city is vast and simply trying to get from one sight to another occupied much of the time we had, leaving almost no time to find places to eat.

Easy, chickpeasy

This week I have mostly been eating hummus. For breakfast, for lunch, for dinner. With sumac, with lamb, with pepper sauce, with ful medames. I have been in Jordan and in Jordan they like their food. And their food comes with hummus.

Rose-tinted fish tacos

Salmon is a hardy fish. It can hold its own against strong flavours, which these tacos are full of. It may seem like a lot of component parts are required here but all are individually straightforward and combine for a vibrant, spicy, predominantly pink, parcel of Mexicana.

Cracking whiskey sours

After the sugary excesses of the Easter weekend, something a bit less sweet is in order. Whiskey sours seem to fit that bill exactly. The variations of this cocktail are many – in particular, whether or not you include egg white or bitters and quite how sour the whole thing should be. So I’ve done some experimenting on your behalf (hic!) and here are my thoughts.

A giant Easter cake

Mary Berry made this cake on a Christmas special but, lets be honest, a Tunis cake, fragrant with lemon, dense with ground almonds, and covered in more chocolate than can be considered decent, is a cake for Easter if ever there was one. It’s also very straightforward to make for something that looks pretty spectacular and would feed a crowd and then some.

A first attempt at macaroons

Macaroons. With their delicate crisp shell, light, nougaty centre, and ever more exotic fillings, is it worth making them yourself? Or are they one of those things that is really best left to the professionals? Should I be spelling it macarons? And can I catch eggs with my feet? This weekend, I was on a one woman mission to find out the answer to all these questions. Spoiler alert, I can’t catch an egg with my foot.

Green tea cake

This is a grown up cake, both in the making and the eating. The slight bitterness of green tea can be an acquired taste and the sponge is close to a genoise, with all the careful whisking that requires. The result is a delicate cake with a sticky sweetness that comes from green tea syrup drizzled over the top.