The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
It’s Halloween. We cannot miss it in England It’s almost as big as Christmas as a ‘festival’. My children used to want to go trick or treating as witches but today, they’ve gone out as a Vampire Witch and a Vampire Cat. If you say the word ‘vampire’ to their generation and anyone born after the […]
This is a perfect and simple to make store cupboard ingredient. I use it in soups, dhals, chutneys, tossed through pasta or simply on toast. The garlic flavour mellows as it keeps so leave it a couple of weeks before you eat it unless it’s Halloween and you need to ward off those evil spirits! […]
I’ve been fascinated with mushrooms since I was little. I remember one day when I was about six years old, I was out walking in the park with my father and I came across some teeny,tiny ones on the grass. When I asked what they were, my father said they were a kind of ‘meat’ […]
It’s Chocolate Week! A whole week dedicated to all things chocolate so I could not let this wonderful experience with master chocolatier Paul A Young slip by without sharing his words of wisdom and recipe for simple Chocolate Truffles. First a quick bio.. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Paul, here’s a quick […]
I was born in Tanzania. I don’t remember much. I have flashbacks of my Mr India toy, my swing in the garden, riding an elephant to school and mangoes. Confused memories of a five year old child. What I also remember were soldiers. Guns. Dark faces with frightening eyes. Hushed conversations. Brave smiles. It was […]
Baobab. Ever heard of it? I vaguely remembered that it was something that looked like a coconut and came from the ‘upside down tree’. I had no idea it was edible until I met the lovely people at Phytotrade Africa. They are a not for profit organisation who represent the natural products industry in Southern […]
I was recently invited to a masterclass with Eric Lanlard. I am a HUGE fan of Eric’s work and so I cannot tell you how excited I was! The class was held at his new The Cafe at Cake Boy in Battersea. It’s a really cool place to hang out near the river with lovely, […]
This recipe is by the fabulous Eric Lanlard who I met at a masterclass organised by the lovely people at Neilsen Massey Vanilla. It’s a wonderfully rich sponge which holds itself very well with the velvety smooth creme mousseline. You’ll need For the sponge 350g unsalted butter, softened 350g golden caster sugar 5 medium eggs, […]
I love mangoes. Especially Indian ones. They so so sweet and perfect in puddings. To be honest I could eat them on their own but I couldn’t resist making this super quick tart with some that my lovely friend Kavey from KaveyEats gave me. You’ll need 1 pack of puff pastry 200g Greek style yoghurt […]
I cannot believe it’s been a year already since I took part in The Great British Bake Off. The year has absolutely flown by with some amazing experiences all over the UK. Series 3 returns to our screens in the UK today at 8pm on BBC2. Here’s a little taster in case you haven’t seen […]
This book like the one that accompanied series two (which I took part in!) was written by Linda Collister with inputs from Paul Hollywood, Mary Berry and the contestants. It’s split into eight categories : Cakes, Biscuits, Breads and Sweet Dough, Tarts, Pies, Desserts, Puddings and The Basics. Each section has a basic recipe and then three […]
A few weeks ago I entered the 2012 Nom Nom Nom Challenge – a Masterchef style cook off for food bloggers/writers which took place at the fabulous Cookery School in London. Myself and Meena at Chai Lounge Supperclub in Edinburgh won third place with the judges. I’d dearly love your vote to so if you […]