I used to think of quiche as a dull, beige pastry which got wheeled out from old cookery books from time to time and no one was particularly fussed about it. Turns out I was wrong. It's a most excellent pastry. I cooked my smoked salmon and broccoli quiche a few weeks ago, divided it up and froze it in wedges. Now I'm working from home I love to have something interesting for lunch. When it's quiche day, it's the best day of the week.
The freshness Smoked Salmon and Broccoli Quiche
I used to think of quiche as a dull, beige pastry which got wheeled out from old cookery books from time to time and no one was particularly fussed about it. Turns out I was wrong. It's a most excellent pastry. I cooked my smoked salmon and broccoli quiche a few weeks ago, divided it up and froze it in wedges. Now I'm working from home I love to have something interesting for lunch. When it's quiche day, it's the best day of the week.
The freshness 
Also known as eggs en cocotte this is a classic recipe and one I can't believe I've never made before! My baked eggs with spinach and cheddar take no time at all to make; it's on the table in under 15 minutes. Don't be fooled though, this simple recipe is seriously luxurious and packed with comforting flavours.
Once your fork (or spoon!) hits that runny yolk it mixes with the soft spinach, melted cheese and double cream and it is truly a joy to 
There's something special about watching the steam rise from a hot bowl of soup after you've been working in the garden all morning; you just know it's going to fill you up. My smoked bacon and kale soup came about simply to use up some ingredients in the kitchen. I cooked up enough for six portions so there's plenty in the freezer for a wet and windy day. We have rather busy weekends and when lunchtime comes it's nice to stop, take some time 
It is important to note that this recipe is not shy on calories. There's cheese, double cream, lashings of olive oil, layers of pasta and plenty of veg. My green summer vegetable lasagne is quicker to make than a traditional lasagne (there's no baking) and you can use the sauce with any pasta if you so choose. I like to think that all that green veg negates the calories and I happily ploughed through a whole plate of this. Bear in mind, I am very 
Minimum fuss and maximum results were the name of the game with my most recent dessert. Another hot day, the last thing I needed was to be baking pastry, so I didn’t, but made a tart nonetheless. My Strawberry and Peanut Tart makes use of a few sneaky kitchen shortcuts to make a delicious and impressive pudding. A chocolate and peanut base smothered with cream and stacked high with fresh fruit it almost seemed a shame to cut into it. But, you know, 
When there's strawberries in the house that's how I know it's summer. I never eat them out of season; I feel like it's worth the wait to abstain from eating strawberries for nine or ten months of the year and then gorge on them from late May until they disappear again. Mostly I just eat them as they are but sometimes I like to make something a little more interesting. This Strawberry, Basil and Shortbread Mess is exactly that. Something that doesn't 
It was one of those days where I wanted something simple but interesting. A dish which would take a few minutes to make and take plenty of time to enjoy eating it. I tried something similar to this artichoke and red pepper gratin when in France last year and have wanted to have a go at making it myself for ages. It's a perfect recipe for a rainy Sunday afternoon and although made from a few simple ingredients is so much more than the sum of its parts.
Slicing open a blood orange has an air of anticipation about it. Will it be intense purple almost throughout, have a few red stripes or actually be mostly orange? Whichever colour you end up with they all have the same fantastic flavour. I love cooking with blood oranges; adding a splash to a cocktail or baking them into something delicious. This recipe for blood orange posset was something I had never tried before and I couldn't believe how easy 
I made some enchiladas a few weeks ago and added one chipotle chilli for four people. You couldn’t taste it at all; there was a little bit of smoky flavour but no chilli heat; it wasn’t the end of the world, they were still very tasty. When I made this Smoky Chipotle Tomato Soup I added one chilli again, this time for two people, and it was probably the hottest thing I have ever eaten. It’s amazing how different two chillies that look just the 
I tried making a traditional Yule Log a few years ago. It was somewhat stressful. Apart from the fact that my butter is never warm enough and I always lose patience and mix it up anyway and deal with the consequential sponge that turns up the whole process is fraught with danger. The rolling up, unrolling, spreading of cream, re-rolling and hoping for no cracking then furiously patching it up with ganache, chocolate flying all over the place. It's 
