Category: First Course
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Butternut Squash And Radicchio Tart
Making the most of Winter vegetables before they disappear I’m jumping in here with a winter-y recipe just before the season ends completely. Some of you may be snarling at this right now as you’re still up to your knees in snowdrifts, but where I am, Spring has definitely started with a vengeance.…
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Marinated Shrimps With Tomato Salsa
A quick and delicious dinner: shrimps are great to keep on hand! I always keep a bag of frozen shrimps/prawns in the freezer for those times when I just don’t know what to make for dinner. They’re quick to thaw out and very fast to cook, and it doesn’t take much to make…
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Red Pepper Flan with Anchovy Sauce
Excuses and Anchovies I know it’s been quiet for a couple of weeks. Sorry about that. Thanks to two weeks of school holidays in which there were sick kids, one after the other, just to make sure we spent the whole first week at home, then a week of holidays in Italy, I…
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Spaghetti with Herbs, Cannellini Beans and Bacon
An irresistible spaghetti sauce When you don’t have fussy kids hanging around who only like pasta with sauces in which the main constituent is tomato (writing from bitter experience here), this sauce with dried beans, bacon and herbs makes a wonderful change. It suits long pasta, such as spaghetti or linguine perfectly. Even…
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Spaghetti With Pesto, Potatoes and Green Beans
Making fresh pesto takes no time at all! Pasta with pesto is the fall-back meal in our household for when I can’t figure out what to make for a meal, or don’t have much motivation to cook. It’s easy (especially if you get it out of a jar!), and nobody complains about it…
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Root Vegetable and Kale Soup
The joys of scraping ice, cycling in the snow, and kale It’s getting a teensy bit colder….not as cold as it should be at this time of the year, but cold enough to start making soup every now and then. I feel cheated: I’ve only had to scrape ice off my car window…
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Spinach and Ricotta Self-Crusting Mini-Quiches
Even spinach haters like these Spinach is one of those poor maligned vegetables that everyone loves to hate, but happily eats when it’s mixed in with other ingredients, such as eggs or cheese. Even my kids, who vow and declare that they detest spinach, gobble it up when it’s “hidden”. I put…
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Zucchini and Spring Onion Fritters
What to do with all those zucchini Zucchini, zucchini everywhere and not a recipe in sight……or is there? My kids and I grew zucchini plants from seed this year. They’ve taken a while as the weather’s been all over the place, acting like a teenage girl who doesn’t know what to wear on…
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Sausage, Spinach and Beer Risotto
Risotto with a difference! This risotto with sausages and spinach has an extra special guest hitching along for the ride. Instead of using the usual wine to make the risotto, you actually use beer. It gives the risotto an extra depth of taste, especially if you pair it with good pork sausages. I…
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Artichoke Flan With Fontina Cheese Sauce
My love-hate affair with artichokes It’s coming into artichoke season! I have a love/hate relationship with artichokes. I love to eat them but hate dealing with them: from the minute I pick them up at the market and they prick me with their nasty thorns, to the time when I’m trying to pull…
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Penne With Salmon and Cream
Fishy pasta for people who don’t like fish Pasta with salmon is an easy pasta dish to keep up your sleeve when you need to get something on the table in a hurry, and feel as though it’s about time you ate some fish as you know it’s good for you, but you…
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Prosciutto e Melone (Raw Ham and Cantaloupe)
Italian prosciutto and cantaloupe melon: a favourite at our place! We’ve just been away for nearly a month on holiday in California, Utah and Arizona. Fabulous, fabulous places! It was wonderful to get back to my old stomping grounds for the first time in nearly 10 years and catch up with long-lost friends,…
