The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
I am a huge fan of okra. This wasn’t always the case because they can become a huge sticky mess and taste awful! The trick is to make sure they are washed and dried carefully with a teatowel so there is no trace of water when you cut them. The water meets the inside and […]
Last weekend I had a lot of vegetables in the veg basket but not quite enough of one in particular to turn into a dish. Does that ever happen to you? This easy bake is the answer. Super nutritious and comforting too. There are not many measurements in the recipe below. Just use what you […]
I love this basic cookie mix. It’s a good one for using up odd nuts or pieces of fruit. Pour over some custard and you have an instant dessert More apple recipes
Beetroot was a logical thing to plant in our allotment. We love it so let’s grow it. Looks easy enough. My husband and I got totally sucked in by the different varieties but settled for a traditional round one and the one with stripes running through it that chefs love to slice into delicately presented […]
There is something stunning about beetroots in their pickle form. I love the the way they transform a salad or a sandwich into something very cheffy and expensive. I’ve never made a pickle before so this recipe took a few attempts. It’s also not a large batch because I don’t have a big fridge. It […]
Practising for The Great British Bake Off meant making a lot of macarons! My girls are now obsessed and requested these for Halloween. The black colour needs a lot of the food colouring so I use the gel variety so as not to dilute the mixture and make it overly runny. The filling in this […]
I was invited to the Harvest Festival at The Eden Project to talk to people about Baobab and take up the challenge to create some recipes. This was my savoury offering which worked really well. The baobab powder brought out the citrus of the lemon and gave the bhajias a light tang. You’ll need 300g […]
I’ve had a glut of courgettes this summer and so it’s been great experimenting with them vs simply chargrilling which is what I usually do. They are lovely on their own with sea salt, fresh herbs and olive oil but I rather love this easy soup because the colour on a grey, rainy day is […]
These are virtuous and easy to make. You would never know these have courgettes in them. They are chocolately and you feel no guilt in eating them. If you don’t fancy the frosting, you can serve these with warm baobab and blueberry sauce. I’ve given a recipe for this below too. You’ll need 3 […]
When we first got our allotment, we thought the wisest thing to do would be to grow a little at a time. Let’s not over exert and plant every bit of land. Let’s sit back, learn and take things easy. At the beginning of the summer we looked upon our allotment after yet another afternoon […]
We planted radishes in our allotment just before the start of the school holidays and within weeks we had a lovely crop. We bought a cheap packer of multi-coloured radish and each colour seemed to vary in taste It was also interesting to experiment with the development of that spicy taste these little fireballs are […]
I cannot believe how tasty nasturtium leaves are. I’ve had them in salad before and rather love the peppery taste but in this simple pesto they have an intense flavour that reminds me of mild watercress. You’ll need 100g nasturtium leaves 3 large garlic cloves 70g Parmesan cheese 70g almonds – roughly chopped 160ml extra […]