Nashville-style hothothot fried chicken {just like Howlin’ Ray’s)

March 5, 2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

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Some things you eat and enjoy and then you move on. Some things you eat and enjoy and then want to eat again every day for the rest of your life and daydream about how you could justify a trip over 5000 miles away, plus a two-hour queue in a weird shopping centre just to […]

Cheddar and green chilli pancakes {Savoury ideas for Pancake Day!}

March 5, 2019.Reading time 3 minutes.

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We take Pancake Day seriously in this house. Usually, we set up savoury and sweet stations and keep flipping till we pop, but this year, due to a scheduling issue – we’re off to see Bill Burr for the 300th time tonight – the batter was mixed a day early and we stuck with just […]

Slow-cooked chipotle beef quesedillas with blue cheese and avocado cream

February 25, 2019.Reading time 5 minutes.

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I promise that’s the last of the Stilton! I will take a break from blue cheese recipes now! Well, for a day or two, at least… Alex sorts the Ocado in our house and I always say it’s like his love letter to me. As well as the usual suspects, he always adds on something […]

How to make oven-baked blue cheese, mushroom and bacon arancini {What to do with leftover risotto)

February 20, 2019.Reading time 4 minutes.

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If this is the first page of Plates and Places you’ve landed on, firstly hello! and secondly, go here first. This is the follow-up recipe to a previous post: Blue Cheese, Mushroom and Bacon Risotto, which is very delicious on its own but also the base of my arancini recipe. To make arancini you will […]

Giant pork and apple sausage roll {A quick and tasty idea for your leftover Christmas stuffing}

January 4, 2019.Reading time 2 minutes.

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Christmas has come and gone and all that’s left in my house is a Tupperware of cauliflower cheese, three stray Bounty Celebrations and a bag of stuffing from the butcher. The cauli cheese’s destiny is already sealed (you are going to want to click here), the chocs will sit on the side for another few […]

Chilli jam

July 25, 2018.Reading time 4 minutes.

I’ve been boring my boyfriend to death for weeks, telling him I want to make my own chilli jam. In my head, I’d already dreamed up my small business venture, selling preserves and sauces, all made by me, at London farmer’s markets and making a fortune. The fact that I’d never made jam, or anything […]

Lemon and blueberry muffins with crunchy sugar tops

June 8, 2018.Reading time 2 minutes.

Fluffy. Crunchy. Sweet and tart. This mighty muffin recipe has it all! And it is hands-down one of the easiest ones I’ve done. If you’ve got last-minute guests or feel a sugar craving creeping in, these are your guys. Makes 6 large muffins You’ll need: 75g butter, melted 100g caster sugar 1 shot glass lemon […]

Chorizo and coriander scotch egg

May 31, 2018.Reading time 7 minutes.

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Picnic food is my absolute fave. I am genuinely just as happy at a schmancy restaurant as I am with snacking sausages. Mini quiches, pork pies, and of course, scotch eggs, are my weakness all year round. I’m either setting them out on a blanket in a park in the summer or popping them on […]

How to make cauliflower cheese {TRIPLE-cheese cauliflower cheese that is!}

November 15, 2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

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Of course, my recipe for cauliflower cheese includes three cheeses. Of course, it does! Up until last Sunday, my dad made the best cauliflower cheese in all the land, but I’m pretty confident the crown is now mine. Soz Daddy Press. I did steal a tip or two from the master – grate the stalk […]

Fresh and fiery home-made guacamole

July 12, 2017.Reading time 3 minutes.

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I could eat avocado all day long. Filled with an egg, baked and sprinkled with paprika for breakfast, mashed on a well-oiled ciabatta for lunch, betwixt a bun with honey-glazed chicken and lettuce leaves at the end of a hard day, and even with a little balsamic vinegar drizzled on top and eaten straight from the skin […]

5 mid-week meals you can prepare in advance

December 3, 2016.Reading time 5 minutes.

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I’m getting into the habit of spending my Sunday afternoon batch cooking our meals for the rest of the week and I’m not gonna lie, it’s pretty life changing. Last weekend, I made butternut squash soup and a meaty ragu and we were good to go four nights of the week (plus I had lunch […]

Self-service wine at The Black Bottle in Winchester

November 28, 2016.Reading time 6 minutes.

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If you’re a fan of wine, novelty, and shabby chic furniture and happen to have an afternoon spare in Winchester, a trip to The Black Bottle is the perfect way to fill it… In a cute country house, all lead-paned windows and creaky doors, you’ll find The Black Bottle. A ‘pub slash wine cellar slash […]

What to eat in Florence, Italy

October 10, 2016.Reading time 10 minutes.

Pasta, pizza and coffee are all a given when it comes to eating out in Florence, and if you’re planning a trip, you’ll no doubt be hoping to fill your days with all of them. But if you want to really taste Italy, you need to try the city’s more specialist edibles, the things the locals […]

Baked brie with marmalade

September 27, 2016.Reading time 3 minutes.

This is less of a recipe for how to make your own baked brie at home and more of a reminder that that’s a really great idea and something you should do immediately. Especially if you have people over. We used a 1kg brie, so other people were needed. As was a make-shift tin foil bed because otherwise […]

The 5 best burgers in London

August 26, 2016.Reading time 8 minutes.

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In honour of National Burger Day yesterday, which I celebrated in gluttonous style at Street Feast‘s fab event, here are five burgers you should most definitely try in this here London. Dip & Flip I am so new to this place (see: I tried my first one yesterday at Hawker House), but I may well […]

A really easy recipe for Potatatoes Boulangeres

August 2, 2016.Reading time 4 minutes.

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If I *had* to choose one cuisine to eat for the rest of my days, I’d probably go French. Steak. Frites. Casserole. Coq au Vin. Boeuf bourguignon. Bread. Croissants. All of the pastries. Cheese. Red wine. Quiche. Creme brûlée. Macarons. Madeleines. Soufflé. Tarte Tatin. Pâté. Jambon. Raclette. Sorry, I got a bit caught up there… […]

5 London restaurants for hungry people

June 9, 2016.Reading time 11 minutes.

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Roll up, roll up (quite literally!)… If you scoff at artistic flowers arranged atop your food, if pea puree smears really get your goat and if piddly portion sizes have you swallowing down cries of “RIP OFF!”, you’ll love these Big Girl (and Boy) dishes. From Indian banquets to meaty breakfasts and filling foodie market […]

How to make your own chilli oil

April 7, 2016.Reading time 3 minutes.

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Making your own chilli oil is incredibly easy, faff-free and cheap. It looks great too and makes for a lovely gift for a foodie in your life. The hardest bit is picking a decent dispenser – I got my chilli oil bottle from Amazon but I also like this vintage-look chilli oil bottle and also this […]

Red chilli sweet potato mash

January 12, 2016.Reading time 2 minutes.

Cooking ain’t all about the schmancy. My everyday cooking is so far from schmancy. And I know from pre-5.30pm chats with co-workers, that knowing what to have for tea, something that’s not too bad for you but not too tricky, or a ‘something’ to go with the standard chicken or pork or Quorn main, is troublesome. […]

2015 food round up: My favourite plates and places

December 31, 2015.Reading time 15 minutes.

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In no particular order (just the order that things came to me on one hungry December commute home from work..), here are my favourite dishes from 2015. Some are from restaurants, many in London, some further afield and some are from pop-ups and food stands and one is even from Dominos. Some aren’t even edible, […]

Cookbooks to buy this Christmas

December 21, 2015.Reading time 7 minutes.

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There’s nothing quite like the smell of a new book. Or a homecooked meal, constructed with the help of a new cookbook. What a lovely gift to give someone. And, for the less organised amongst you, a lovely gift you can order today from Amazon and have tomorrow. Christmas is a comin’ people! Know a […]

How to make your own pasta

August 27, 2015.Reading time 8 minutes.

Making pasta is one of those things that really makes me think about how far I’ve come in the kitchen. Once upon a time I ate microwaveable snack pots of baked beans, topped with grated cheddar, straight from the pot and called it lunch. I didn’t eat meat for the whole first year of university […]

Pear, Parma ham and blue cheese salad

April 10, 2014.Reading time 2 minutes.

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I’m not an ‘order a salad in a restaurant’ kind of a girl. I rarely buy one instead of a sarnie at lunch either – I’m just not into salads for mains. Sides, fine. But as my actual dinner? Naah. Unless said salad features fresh, earthy rocket, baked pears, Parma ham and crumbs of Yorkshire […]

Baked Camembert

April 5, 2014.Reading time 2 minutes.

If there’s a baked Camembert on the menu at a new restaurant I’ll have to try it. And my boyfriend will have to steal it all. It has only recently dawned on us that all we need is a Camembert and an oven and we can have our own gooey, baked, cheese-y wheel of delight […]

Home-made chunky salsa

April 3, 2014.Reading time 1 minute.

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Salsa and guacamole and yoghurt dip are things we usually just buy in a tub but I find it never tastes quite how I like it and it’s jam-packed with salts and general badness. Turns out it’s really easy to just to make your own! If you’ve got a passion for salsa here’s my quick, […]