The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
We gave each of our girls £3 to choose seeds for their little plots on our allotment. My eldest daughter didn’t want to grow vegetables. She wanted ‘pretty flowers to pick and put in her room’. With her coins she found a packet of nasturtiums and a packet of sunflowers. The sunflowers came to nothing […]
One of the reasons I started growing strawberries was because over the last few years, strawberries no longer taste like strawberries. They look like strawberries. They smell like strawberries but they don’t taste of anything. Bland watery popsicles. Often not even juicy and indeed sometimes crunchy. Worst of all, they’re not grown in the UK […]
Strawberries are one of those fruits which work exceptionally well in savoury dishes. This flavour combination is one I first came across at The East India Company. I’ve gone for a very peppery finish but you can play around with the right balance for you by simply grinding a little pepper and then adding more […]
Taking some time out for mint tea is a must in Morocco. There is much ceremony around it and all sorts of rituals across different parts of the country. Four simple ingredients Contrary to what I had thought the tea used is not black tea but gunpowder green tea. This is accompanied by fresh mint […]
This is the ultimate dessert cum snack on a hot and sultry summer’s evening. You really don’t need to make the biscuits or the ice cream either for that matter – Good quality, thick set shop bought ice cream and Oreo Cookies with the filling licked out works well. You’ll need For the biscuits 125g […]
I never understood the whole ‘allotment thing’ until a few weeks ago when my raspberries started coming up. Well, technically they are not ‘my’ raspberries as the straggly bush was already on our plot when we received the key in March. I was all ready to pull it out and burn it because I wanted […]
Since my trip to Kentwell Manor a few weeks ago, when the lovely lady in The Still Room treated my eyes for hayfever and itchiness, I have been reading about elderflowers and their healing properties. She used mint leaves which had been dipped in water steeped with elderflowers and it really was one of the […]
I really love millefeuille but I find the shop bought versions and even patisserie versions just far too sweet. I don’t like the iced topping and I also don’t tend to have time for the steps involved to make these perfect. So here is an easy recipe that you can throw together very quickly. I’ve […]
I had my very first Gin and Tonic at The Lake Palace Hotel which is in Udaipur in Rajasthan and most well known as the location for the James Bond Film Octopussy. I cannot imagine there are many Indian girls who haven’t dreamed of staying there in one of the regal suites looking out across […]
I wanted to share with you the story of Draupadi. She’s a mum like me. She’s also a grandmother that I aspire to be one day. She lives in a remote village in Uttarkhand in Northern India. She’s part of a unique, tribal community that sadly suffers from discrimination, violence and exploitation because of this […]
This is one of Anjum Anand’s recipes kindly shared at the launch of Curry for Change. A campaign to raise funds for the wonderful Find Your Feet charity. I’ve adapted the method in my own words. I’m not a huge fan of soufflés as I can usually taste over eggy-ness. But there is not one […]
Every now and then I do crave a cupcake. A nice hot cup of tea, my latest issue of Red magazine and a cupcake. Just perfect for a lazy Saturday afternoon. This recipe uses frozen strawberries so as not to make the mixture curdle and you could substitute with any fruit. I’ve topped this with […]