
Meatball Pasta Bake

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.
It was one of those evenings. You know the ones, where you look in the fridge expecting a sudden moment of inspiration and the fridge just stares blankly back. I’d put something down on the meal plan but for one reason or another didn’t manage to cook it; sometimes I forget to buy an ingredient or I use it all in another meal forgetting to save any for later in the week. My potato, chargrilled broccoli and pesto salad came out of seemingly nowhere.
What's that? More aubergines? Yes actually, and I make no apologies because this Aubergine and Ricotta Gnocchi Bake is so good that I think we can all forgive if I've been a little heavy on the aubergine recipes of late. The key to this dish comes down to two things. Firstly, the aubergine has to be fried beautifully to make sure it's soft, silky and golden brown. Secondly, adding a handful of cherry tomatoes really transforms the tomato base as it
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
There have been several aubergine themed recipes on the meal plan and blog recently, I just can’t seem to eat enough of them! The combination of aubergine and tomatoes is a hard one to beat, it’s one of my absolute favourites. Even better when the veggies are roasted to intensify the flavour and served with cheese. My roasted aubergine and tomato pasta is the culmination of many attempts to get it just right. Dicing the aubergine up like this
When I make pizza there are no shortcuts. Making it all from scratch from fresh ingredients does take a little longer but it is so worth it, and, good news, batch cooking pizzas is so easy and they freeze really well. Most of the pizza preparation time is waiting for the dough to prove or the sauce to reduce so you can mostly leave it to itself and then reap the rewards in the weeks to come. Coming home and knowing that dinner will be ready in 20
I like to look forward to my lunches; whether I’m using up some leftovers to make a quick salad, sticking all sorts of ingredients in a sandwich or slurping on soup. Sometimes it can be very tempting to just grab the quickest thing in the kitchen but if I do that I am invariably disappointed at lunch time. So say hello to my three easy soup toppings which can all be made in less than five minutes, using ingredients you probably already have and
I've toyed with the idea of making an agua fresca for a little while. What with the focus on Brazil and South America at the moment with the Olympics I have seen a few frescas popping up on menus. But I wondered, is it worth the effort, isn't it just easier to squeeze a bit of fruit then water it down? Well yes, but it turns out it's just not the same. And the (what might seem an unnecessary step but take my word for it it's definitely needed) sieving
Who wouldn't like a stripy cupcake? Love the colour of these and beetroot is such a good baking ingredient.… twitter.com/i/web/status/13500…
Spurred on by the shower of compliments I received re last week’s postbox, here is my, I think you’ll agree, very r… twitter.com/i/web/status/13500…
Sausage AND bacon toad in the hole. Might as well put some stuffing in there too and make it a roast. allthatimeating.co.uk/blog/201… #comfortfood
One fiery bowl of noodle soup. I’ve had some Thai paste kicking around for a while and with some veg that needed us… twitter.com/i/web/status/13496…