The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
Parsley is too often overlooked as an ingredient in its own right and considered a garnish for many. This is a practice that dates back to Ancient Greece where parsley was sacred and used to adorn winners of sporting tournaments and decorate tombs of the dead. It might also be because parsley is a […]
This is a five minute recipe that you’ll be able to use in lots of different ways – simply stirred into pasta, as a dip with tortilla chips or pretzels or mushed into a jacket potato with some tomatoes on top. I use this with sunflower seeds as pine nuts are rather expensive. I’ve also […]
Towards the end of the year and the beginning of the next, I get rather lost in thought about events that have happened, that I want to happen or that I really truly want to forget about. 2012 was a pretty busy year for me. I achieved many personal and career successes and learned a […]
If you’ve read my review of Roast Figs, Sugar Snow, you’ll know that I am already a fan of Diana Henry’s writing. I love the ways she explores different writers, cooks, chefs and foodie businesses and converges them with wonderful recipes to make for books which are good reads as well as great recipe books. […]
It was my birthday yesterday and I wanted to celebrate but also do something completely different. Friends suggested various bars and restaurants but to be honest I really didn’t want a big night out. I thought about the theatre but there isn’t anything that I feel compelled to see. This year I just wanted a […]
Taste of Christmas opened in London yesterday at the Excel. I took the afternoon off with a view to relaxing and picking up some Christmas shopping. I started at Action Against Hunger’s cloakroom. The team were also selling a wide range of Christmas gifts, wrapping presents and had a shop ‘n’ drop area. I had […]
I demonstrated this recipe at the London Chocolate Festival and it raised a few eyebrows with some of the bakers in the audience. It’s really like a cake pop but made from oats. You’ll need 50g unsalted butter 4 tbsps whole milk 80g caster sugar 2 tbsp cocoa powder 100g oats 100g desiccated coconut 2 […]
I’m not a big fan of Christmas Pudding. But I am a big fan of traditions. Whether it’s keeping them going or starting a new like we did with advent last year, I think it’s important to remember the past as we step into the new. So this year we visited Grandma Sue to make […]
Eric Lanlard is a Master Pâtissier and twice winner of the prestigious ‘Continental Pâtissier of the Year’ at the British Baking Awards, he has changed the face of British Patisserie both in his retail ventures and on TV. But it wasn’t always that glamourous. He was once a chef in the French Navy so I […]
Eric Lanlard has become a true baking celebrity with so many TV programmes and appearances to his name. I had the honour of meeting him recently and was really rather surprised at how down to earth he is. And I say honour because there is some proper talent and experience behind that sparkling, cheeky personality! […]
I had been given some lovely cooking apples and Kentish cobnuts so could not resist the combo with some cinnamon. I loved the crisp filo pastry with the soft frangipane middle. This tart is inspired by Eric Lanlard as there is a similar one in his Tart It Up book. Have you ever used cobnuts? […]
This is the perfect book if you want to help your children understand the full cycle of food and have a lot of fun. I think it’s really important that children have a good relationship with food and the authors of this book feel the same which is why I connected with it straight away. […]