Salads

Beetroot with Cumin and Feta
Chicken, courgette and ‘sunblush’ tomato with capers and herbs
Simple Tomato Salad
Bulghur, Celery and Pomegranate Salad
Broad Bean Salad with Pancetta
Broad Beans, Bacon and Asparagus with Herbs
Peach, Beet, Walnut and Gorgonzola
New Potato, Crispy Salami and Watercress Salsa Verde
Beetroot, Squash and Halloumi with Chilli-Herb Dressing
Celery, Carrot and Five-Seed SaladNew Potatoes, Radishes and Dill with Broad Bean Pesto
Watermelon and Feta Salad with Poppy Seeds
Fennel and Orange Salad with Raspberry Vinegar and Poppy Seed Dressing
Tabbouleh
Tomato and Onion Salad
Peaches with Walnuts and Feta
Grilled Aubergines with Yoghurt Tahini Sauce

Condiments, Sauces, Salsas & Chutneys

Tzatziki
Avocado and Mango Salsa
Grilled Pineapple Salsa
Muhammara
Walnut and Mint Chutney
Gremolata
Chimichurri
Cucumber Pachadi
Bobcat Slaw (great for burgers)
White Cabbage Slaw with Nigella Seeds (great with Tandoori chicken)
Sweetcorn Salsa (goes with salt fish fritters)
Savoy Slaw with Bacon and Walnuts
Hummus
Labneh with Chilli and Anchovy
Roast Habanero Salsa
Chipotles en Adobo
Baba Ganoush

Soups

Chorizo and Spring Greens Broth with Sherry
Jerusalem Artichoke and Hazelnut Soup with Crispy Bacon
Celeriac Soup with Parsley Oil and Lancashire Cheese Toasts
Smoky, Sweet and Spicy Red Pepper Soup with Feta and Mint
Polish Cucumber Soup
Jerusalem Artichoke with Scallops
Pheasant Soup
Afang (Okazi) Soup
Callaloo
Austrian Liver Dumpling Soup
Two Garlic Soup

Meat

Ostrich Steak with Brown Beech Mushrooms
Persepolitan Roast Stuffed Chicken
Dukkah Crusted Chicken
Ras El Hanout Chicken
Lavender and Honey Lamb
Rabbit Lasagne with Mushrooms and Sage Bechamel
Chilli Con Carne
Chorizo, Kale and Chickpea Stew with Sherry
Steak with Salsa Verde
Cottage Pie
Crispy Chinese Roast Pork Belly
Smoked Ham Hock Pie
Lamb Shanks Braised with Figs, Star Anise and Blood Orange
Scotch Eggs
Saddle of Lamb Stuffed with Dates, Aubergine and Pistachios
Cherry Beer Can Duck
Jerk Beer Can Chicken (Update here) Also, read my Top Tips for Great Jerk
Duck with Gooseberry Sauce
Curry Goat
Lamb Koftas
Rabbit with Peanuts in Hot Bean Sauce
Jamaican Oxtail Stew with Guinness
Beef Rendang
Man and Wife Meat Slices
Glazed Ham
Pork Pie
Steak Tartare
Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic
Beef Ragu Papardelle with Gremolata
My Best Jerk Chicken
Moroccan Spiced Lamb Rack with Burnt Aubergine Sauce
Mummified Chicken
Tikka Chicken
Ants Climbing a Tree

Pates & Terrines

Smoked Fish Pate
Trotter and Ham Hock Terrine

Fish

Crab Cakes with Fennel Remoulade
Smoked Mackerel Fishcakes with Winter Slaw
Coconut Crusted Crab Cakes
Amaretto Scallops
Crab, Cucumber and Mango Rolls
Stargazy Pie with Monkfish and Langoustine
Plaice Goujons with Punk IPA Batter
Pulpo a la Gallega
Rowley Leigh’s Smoked Eel and Bacon Salad
BBQ Bass in Banana Leaves
Crab and Mango Salad
Thai Prawn and Pineapple Curry
Grilled Radicchio, Fennel and Tuna with Spicy Anchovy Dressing
Thai-style Stuffed Squid
Salt Fish Buljol
Salt Fish Fritters (go with sweetcorn salsa)
Baked Egg with Anchovy Soldiers
Deep Fried Anchovies with Chilli and Preserved Lime Mayo
Chorizo Stuffed Squid
Adipoli Parathas
Sardines with Gremolata
Char-grilled Baby Octopus Salad

Tofu

Crispy Tofu (crusted with ground rice, s & p and chilli)
Ottolenghi’s Black Pepper Tofu

Vegetables

Salsify, Spinach and Gruyere Gratin
Veggie Burgers
Asparagus Mimosa with Caramelised Lemon and Chilli
Pumpkin and Chickpea Burgers
Squash with Burnt Aubergine and Pomegranate Molasses
Tinda Masala
Kow Choi Stir-Fried with Pork
Garlic Curry
Spinach and Feta Parcels
Baba Ganoush

Frittatas

Goat’s Cheese and Purple Sprouting Broccoli with Black Olive Tapenade
Salmon with Salsa Verde

Tarts & Quiches

Stilton and Pear Tart with Walnut Pastry
Spring Quiche (with asparagus)

Pies

Pork Pie
Stargazy Pie with Monkfish and Langoustine
Cottage Pie
Smoked Ham Hock Pie
Chicken and Fennel Pie for the Lurpak ad campaign
Torta Pasqualina

Pasta, Gnocchi, Spaetzle and Noodles

Gnocchi with Wild Garlic, Anchovies and Chilli
Fregola Sarda with Roasted Vegetables and Wild Garlic Pesto
Pasta with Broccoli, Anchovy and Chilli
Spaetzle with Crab, Lemon and Chilli
Ultimate Macaroni Cheese
Beef Ragu Papardelle with Gremolata
Sicilian Spaghetti Cake
Ants Climbing a Tree

Bread

Jersey Royal, Watercress and Feta Bread
Brioche Burger Buns
The Quest for the Perfect Burger Bun
Dhal Stuffed Parathas
Adipoli Parathas
Chapatis
Pitta Bread

Sandwiches & Burgers

The BLAT (bacon, lettuce, avocado, tomato)
The best chicken sandwich of my life
Pan Bagnat
Bobcat Burger
SPAM mi (banh mi with SPAM)

Brunch

Brunch a la Peckham

Biscuits & Crackers

Amaretti Biscuits
Smoked Sea Salt and Fennel Seed Crackers

Ice Cream

Rosewater and Pistachio Cheesecake Pops
Earl Grey Ice Cream with Chickpea Sweets
Alphonso Mango Sorbet
Candied Bacon Ice Cream
Earl Grey and Lemon Verbena Ice Cream
Star Anise Ice Cream
Rhubarb Crumble Ice Cream

Cakes

Pistachio, Cointreau and Peppermint Opera Cake
A Fresh Coconut Cake

Crumpets

Crumpet Fail #1
Crumpet Fail #2
Cracking Crumpets (I finally did it!)

Pastries & Other Desserts

Baklava
Cherry Samosas

Drinks

Strawberry and Orange Blossom Fizz
Brightwell Vineyard

A very Happy 2009 to you all! I’ve already been recipe planning for the year ahead but before all that, here’s a few of my favourites from 2008.

From top left: Spring quiche - steak with salsa verde (a strong ‘death-row meal’ contender – well, last year anyway..) – fennel and orange salad with raspberry vinegar – wickedly indulgent omelette cake with ricotta, smoked salmon and greens – brussels sprouts with chorizo – rainbow chard and parmesan tart with carrot and oat crust – Stilton and pear tart with walnut pastry (which I since discovered is from 2007, oops) – thinly shaved asparagus with cheese and ham – watermelon, feta and olives with poppy seed dressing (I couldn’t get enough of poppy seeds last year) – Earl Grey smoked duck – smoky, sweet and spicy red pepper soup – rabbit lasagne with sage bechamel (now my ‘signature dish’ and featured on the Channel 4 website!) – beetroot, squash and halloumi – lavender and honey lamb – amaretto scallops – stargazy pie – crab cucumber rolls – Polish cucumber soup.

And some favourite moments….Scotch eggs at the Heston Blumenthal food and sherry pairing – developing a serious taste for Stinking Bishop – eating dried fish with butter and drinking beer in Iceland’s national park (I also loved smoked eel in 2008) – discovering Brew Dog beer and wet garlic and the most amazing buttery olives (and then finding out where we can buy them!) – eating more oysters than ever in 2008 (although I will try to top this in 2009) – winning The Tipped Chilli cook off – discovering I love rosemary in cocktails-  a very unsuccessful but hilarious attempt at growing potatoes on our balcony and finally – 2008 was, without doubt, the year of the cupcake. To top it all off, Food Stories got a little bit of love with an article on the Channel 4 website and my cottage pie got a mention in Simon Majumdar’s ‘school-dinners’ classics article for Word of Mouth. All of this aside however, the best part about food blogging in 2008 was undoubtedly meeting so many other bloggers face to face. Here’s to meeting many more of you in 2009. Cheers!

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Hot on the heels of my British One Hundred, I wanted to cook something celebrating a favourite listed ingredient and one which I feel is seriously underrated – the rabbit. Why do we not eat them more often? Perhaps it is the cute factor putting people off? (OK, so baby rabbits are unbearably cute but I’m not asking you to eat them).

I’ve often heard people saying they don’t eat rabbit as it has ‘too many bones’. Well you don’t need to worry about that in this recipe, because the meat comes off the bone before it is layered into the lasagne and to be frank, I haven’t found this a problem anyway. The UK countryside is practically overrun with the little furry ones so there is a real need to keep the population down and, practicality aside, they taste bloomin’ fantastic, are lean, nutritious and cheap to boot.The rabbit I picked up today is an absolute monster, massive, humongous. It’s enough to feed a whole family or, to make a big ol’ lasagne.

The butcher also gave me some lamb bones for stock, which is simmering, spluttering and plop-plopping away on the stove as I write this post, the delicious scent wafting through every room and most likely out towards the neighbouring flats too. There is something deeply satisfying about making stock, it couldn’t be easier to chuck everything into a pot, cover with water and simmer and yet you are left with the most amazing base for so many dinners, soups, risottos, gravies etc. I like to roast the bones and vegetables before adding them to the pot as it gives a deeper, richer flavour but this is not necessary if you don’t have time.

I used some of this stock in the lasagne (use whatever you have available), which I combined with a good splash of white wine. The final rabbit sauce also gets a good hit of (amongst others) tomato, thyme and mushrooms (see below for note) – rich and deeply comforting. Each pasta layer is then cloaked in a dreamy sage-scented bechamel. Roll on autumn, I’m ready!

Rabbit Lasagne

[We ate the lasagne with some salad leaves from our balcony and some finely sliced fennel in a lemon-olive oil mix, which cuts through the richness of the lasagne]

1 large rabbit, jointed
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
100 ml white wine
1 generous sprig thyme
1 litre stock
2 bay leaves
1 generously heaped tablespoon tomato purée
1 small bunch parsley leaves, chopped
200g mushrooms, cut into chunks (I could only find oyster mushrooms and their flavour was a bit lost in this lasagne. I suggest using a more strongly flavoured fungus in your lasagne)
6 ripe tomatoes, de-seeded (and skinned if you like) and roughly chopped

For the sauce

400ml milk
50g butter
50g flour
Parmesan, grated (a good handful, or to taste)
2 tablespoons chopped sage
salt and pepper

Cheddar cheese, for grating
Lasagne sheets

- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F
- Heat some oil in a pan – 3-4 tablespoons (I like to use a roasting tray which I put directly onto the stove top and then transfer to the oven later). Add the rabbit pieces and cook on a high heat until browned on all sides. Remove the rabbit pieces and set aside.
- Add the onions, garlic to the pan and fry for a couple of minutes, stirring.
- Add the wine, tomatoes, bay leaves and thyme, cook for a minute, then add back the rabbit pieces. Add the stock, cover with foil and cook for 30 minutes, remove from the oven and set the rabbit pieces aside.
- Remove the thyme and bay leaves form the pan, then reduce until thickened by approximately half. During this time, shred the rabbit meat from the bones, then add back to the sauce along with the mushrooms and parsley.

For the bechamel

- Bring the milk to almost boiling then set aside.
- Melt the butter in a pan, then add the flour and stir vigorously to form a roux. Add a little of the milk at a time until all the milk is incorporated, stirring constantly.
- Add the parmesan and stir to combine before adding the sage and seasoning.

Assembly

- Turn the oven to 180C/350F
- Rabbit mixture, lasagne sheets, bechamel, rabbit mixture, lasagne, bechamel etc. Grated cheese on top. Bake for 30-40 minutes.

Meat Stock Recipe

4 medium meat bones
1 carrot
1 stick celery, in quarters
1 onion, halved
2 juniper berries
4 peppercorns
Pinch salt
2 bay leaves

- Roast the bones and vegetables for 30-40 minutes in a 230C/450F oven.
- Remove and add to a stock pot along with 3 litres water, bring to the boil then simmer for 1.5-2 hours, removing the scum every now and then. Drain through a sieve. Cool and freeze until needed. It will keep for a month or so.