Yelly-fi-felly-food-belly

Cooking fish en papillote (in a parcel) is one of my FAVOURITE ways to both cook and eat fish. It's really simple to do, and very hard to muck up! It keeps the fish moist and full of flavour and is a relatively healthy way of cooking fish. Plus you can make it a one pot dish by cooking your veg in with it too. This recipe is with trout, but it can work with almost any fish. Ingredients (serves 2): Two fillets / whole trout (whatever you can get your hands on!) 1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced 1/2 the juice of 1 lemon 2 large potatoes, thinly sliced (no need to peel!) Several sprigs of dill Olive oil Salt and pepper Baking paper or tin foil 1. Preheat the oven to about 180 and boil the potatoes for 5 minutes, then allow to cool slightly. 2. Place the trout on a sheet of baking paper or tin foil and rub with the olive oil and lemon juice (including inside if the fish is whole). 3. Place the potato and fennel slices on top of the fillet (or inside if whole) and season with ...

Leave my boyfriend to go spend the last of our Sri Lankan Rupees before boarding our flight home is usually asking for trouble and I have to be honest, some of the ingredients I'm still a little puzzled by and have no idea what to do with them! But for a select few along with whatever I could find in the cupboard and fridge / freezer, I put to use what I learnt at a Sri Lankan cookery class in Mirissa , and cooked up a deliciously fragrant, cheap curry. Ingredients (serves 2): 1 red onion, diced 1 garlic clove, crushed 2 inches of ginger, grated 1 green chilli, sliced 2 tsps of turmeric 2 tsps of brown curry powder (from Sri Lanka) 1 cinnamon stick, broken into bits (from Sri Lanka) 4 green cardamom pods (from Sri Lanka) 1 cup of frozen prawns (or your chosen meat / fish) 1/4 of a butternut squash, peeled and cubed (optional) 1 tin of coconut milk 1 cup of rice 1. Fry the onion in a tablespoon of olive oil until softened. 2. Add the ginger, garlic, chil...

Anyone who has recently moved outside of Zone 2 will know that there are certain areas estate agents push (and push) and whether you choose to believe their spiel about it being "an up and coming area" or "the next Shoreditch" is up to you. My past experience with a certain group of Coca-Cola supplying rahs, is that most of the time they are telling a load of rubbish and will almost certainl y drive you to an area you didn't ask for, for a price you didn't agree.     So it took me by surprise to find that actually, Tooting is pretty up and coming. I'd been to the Tram and Social before, but anyone who's walked the short walk between there and the station, knows that the choice of shops are really limited to Wilkos and a take-away chicken shop. But dig a little deeper and just around the corner you will find several trendy bars and a chicken shop of a different kind.  With a continuous stream of hungry customers forming an orderly queue ...

When I was younger there were a few staples that my mum used to cook for my family of six. Her specialties were the usual roasts, pork and apple casserole and bangers and mash... One dish that she used to make has fallen out of fashion, but remains a classic - kedgeree. This is a recipe that experiments a bit with tradition, using simple Thai ingredients to add a bit of edge to the usual curry flavour. It's traditionally a breakfast dish, but works just as well as an evening filler. Just remember to keep the windows open as you cook it! Ingredients (serves 2): 200g smoked haddock fillets 2 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped A few knobs of butter Olive oil Fresh coriander - stalks chopped, leaves for garnish 1/2 tsp turmeric 1/2 tsp ground cumin  1/2 tsp ground coriander 1 tsp of lemon grass, sliced 1 small red chilli, chopped 1 garlic clove, chopped 1cm ginger, chopped 2 cups of rice  1 tsp fish sauce 1. Place the fish in a sauce...

Before you read this, I must warn you, as soon as you start to feel like you want to go to this restaurant, book it - book it right now. It is an extremely popular restaurant and you could wait weeks, months to get a table there. And it's really easy to see why. So first, the details: Al Boccon di'Vino Richmond http://www.nonsolovinoltd.co.uk/ And where do we start? Firstly, there's no menu. Which as a massively indecisive foodie, this is a dream. Just sit back, a glass of wine in hand, and wait for course after course of deliciously fresh Italian food to be presented in front of you. Now bear in mind, when you sit down you'll probably not find your feet for another five hours. This is for two reasons: one, due to it's huge popularity the seats are back to back and getting up seems like a massive mission, especially when, two, you eat so much you will literally have to roll out of the restaurant when you finally reach course 15!! Yes, 15 courses....

So I had just moved to Tulse Hill and couldn't wait to try the local restaurants. Two weeks in and I had already tried four - it's nice having a new kitchen don't get me wrong, but spending two weekends shifting boxes and building furniture, cooking is the last thing I want to do (ok maybe not the last, but you catch my drift). Before even moving here I already had one place in mind that I wanted to go, Bubbas - a Caribbean restaurant in the old station building. I had heard pretty good things about it and it had been on my list of places to go for a while. So you can imagine my disappointment to find that it had closed, sadly due to the owner passing away. But it would appear that in the very same building, a new Caribbean restaurant had taken it's place: Xquisite . So it's Friday night at 8.30pm the restaurant should be buzzing with customers yes? No. Peak serving and barely anyone in sight, I was intrigued to find out why.  Walking in we found t...

This curry is verging on tagine, but that all depends on how much spice you add to it. With the pomegranate in this you can definitely afford a bit of extra spice! If you go too far, just add yoghurt! Ingredients Oil for frying 250g cubed Lamb 1 large onion, diced 2 garlic cloves, crushed 2 fresh green chillies, finely chopped Bunch of fresh coriander, stalks finely chopped, leaves left for dressing Half an inch of ginger 1 tbsp chilli powder 1 tbsp garam masala 1 tbsp ground cumin 1 tbsp ground turmeric  4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped 8 cherry tomatoes, halved 4 baby aubergines, halved and sweated Tin of coconut milk  A pint of stock (lamb if you have it, chicken if not) Bag of spinach 1 pomegranate Basmati rice to serve Method   1. Fry the lamb in the oil on a low heat until golden brown. 2. Set aside the lamb and in the same pan soften the onions. 3. Once the onions are softened, add the garlic, ginger, coriander ...