Chocolate Olive Oil Cake

There are many recipes for chocolate olive oil cake, but they all share similarities with Nigella Lawson’s iconic 2012 recipe. This recipe pays homage to her original chocolate olive oil cake, with a few tweaks to add a touch of Wild Epicurean—a perfect excuse to post a recipe in celebration of the latest olive oil harvest. The secret ingredients are good-quality olive oil, the best-quality cocoa powder, and a hint of turmeric—a fabulous combination. Turmeric is great with chocolate; its

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Tomato Soup

There is nothing better than a hot bowl of tomato soup on a cold winter’s day. You will be loved all day long for serving the perfect meal at just the right moment. And if you’ve baked sourdough or soda bread, you’ll be walking on water. The Tomato Tomato soup is delightfully easy to make, but it relies on super-tasty ripe, juicy late-season tomatoes and a delicate balance of spices. Apologies, I’m more than a little late posting this recipe

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Aubergine Rollatini

If you can still buy local aubergines (or eggplants), I think aubergine rollatini makes a beautiful autumn dish—perfect echoes of summer and a comforting food for colder evenings. They should be firm and shiny – don’t buy dull aubergines – they’ve been hanging around for too long. Climate change means that many vegetables now have an extended season. For us, aubergines are most certainly still in the shops. My plants are on their third crop. 😁 Ditto the basil plants,

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Lasagne alla Bolognese

There is something remarkably comforting about Lasagne alla Bolognese, the wonderful pasta dish from Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region. It says made with love, and please come and share my table. Lasagne is neither cucina povera nor indeed haute cuisine. Lasagne is perfect for a gathering of friends, a family homecoming, and when you need to feed a crowd. Lasagne alla Bolognese needs Time It takes time to perfect a really good lasagne with a mighty bolognese sauce, a well-seasoned bechamel and

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Cretan Dakos Salad

The iconic Cretan ‘horiatiki’ (village style salad) is delightfully simple, filling and quick. It’s Greek salad on toast, but these toasts are anything but ordinary. The paximadi, or barley rusks, are made from whole-grain barley flour – a very filling and healthy snack. You will likely need to source them from a local Greek deli, unless your supermarket has a well-stocked Greek section. They come in all shapes and sizes; however, to make the Dakos salad, choose the larger, round-shaped

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Summer Soups

Here are a couple of chilled soups—they both work really well and could be drunk like smoothies. Gazpacho is delicious.

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Chicken Broth and Soups

A selection of soup recipes from the website, but slightly revised for ease. Basic Chicken stock: Simmer a chicken covered in water for 2 hours with two carrots, two celery sticks, a large handful of parsley stems, one onion, a couple of garlic cloves, and bay leaves. Add ginger if you like. Easy soup solution with Chicken or Bone Broth. See the miso alternative in the mushroom soup. These recipes could also be replaced with 50 – 100% miso broth. Simple Soup,

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The Basics and Breakfast Smoothies

The basic principle is one part liquid and three parts solid. Or two frozen, one liquid and one thickener. Try to keep green with green and red with red to avoid muddy-looking smoothies. These can then be made up of different types of protein or fat. Supplements—It could be tempting to add all of these, so I suggest you rotate and only add one or two. Too many will make the smoothie taste and look muddy. And then flavoured with😁 Here are

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Homemade Sauerkraut

With the cabbage season well underway, it seemed a good moment to write about sauerkraut. Homemade sauerkraut is a cheap, quick, delicious and easy way to preserve fresh produce and prevent waste. You’ve likely read numerous articles encouraging you to incorporate fermented foods into your diet; a healthy dose of probiotics equals a healthy gut. Think yoghurt (some cheeses), kefir, kombucha, miso, tempeh, kimchi, sourdough bread and sauerkraut. The Ferment At its most basic, the ingredients are simply cabbage and

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Endive Tart with Olive Oil Crust

A tasty olive oil crust lifts this endive tart recipe from an average quiche lunch into a delicious and nourishing meal. It’s very easy to put together. Endives (chicory or Belgium Endive) are softened with yellow onions and a little nutmeg and baked in a delicate yoghurt, egg, and feta filling. The filling is light and airy, beautifully complementing the wholemeal pastry. No cream or butter! Endive – the Prebiotic Belgian endives (chicory) are a super nutrient-rich winter vegetable. Though

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Spring Courgette Pasta

Spring Courgette Pasta is a classic, quick, and tasty recipe for early-season young courgettes. These young vegetables are sweet and firm and perfect for whipping up a quick pasta sauce in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Use wild or early-season garlic to flavour the sauce with mint, wild lesser calamint, dill or parsley. Whatever fresh herbs you have to hand. I use a lot of mint at this time of year – it’s a great complement to spring

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Asparagus Risotto

Asparagus Risotto is a delicious spring recipe to celebrate the magnificent asparagus season! Like many of you, I’m sure, I consider asparagus one of spring’s big highlights—a real treat and a sign that summer is just around the corner. Asparagus is a tricky crop to grow as it needs space and time. Despite last summer’s searing heat, our small bed survived. Small spears appeared but were not even pencil-thick, so we will probably have to wait another two years before

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Rogan Josh

Rogan Josh is a fabulous and popular curry from the Kashmir region. Although it has a rich aromatic taste, it is not too hot. A generous list of spices achieves the flavour. After that, the secret ingredient is time. Rogan Josh needs time to simmer to achieve its distinctive taste. Freshly grind the whole spices to boost the flavour. My recipe has been adapted using store cupboard ingredients. The traditional recipe calls for dried Cockscomb flower or Ratan Jot, which, along

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French Crêpes

French Crêpes, in my opinion, are just a little more versatile than pancakes. Their slightly lacy, thin texture is perfect for wrapping around any sweet or savoury filling and is easily tucked into a napkin and eaten on the go. During our spell in France, crêpes were the children’s favourite goûter (snack). And indeed, no trip to the ski slopes would be complete without a crêpe in the car on the way home – small crêpe cabins were conveniently everywhere!

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