side dishes

Potato, hummous and onion gratin

A gratin (or plain old potato bake if you prefer) is the edible equivalent of a pair of sweat pants you can wear down to the shops. It’s lazy and relaxed, yet also manages to be just smart enough for company (as opposed to pyjamas).  It’s a glorious muddle of dairy and white stodge, gussied […]

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Perfect herbed potato salad

There’s a potato salad that’s sold at the supermarket near our flat in London. It haunts me at night; gloopy with mayonnaise, thickened by an alphabet soup of letters that make up stabilisers. The potato seems floury, cubes of bland pap held together by starch and a little sadness. There are speckles of colour through […]

Fennel, ricotta and pistachio salad with lavender ...

Inspiration comes from different places. Sometimes it arrives in the middle of the night, like a bolt. Sometimes it’s what you see at the markets. Sometimes it’s something you’ve read. Other times it comes from a dish you’ve tasted, and you’re chasing after an imitation. And occasionally, it comes from a smell. This is a […]

Du puy lentils with beets, goat cheese and hazelnu...

‘Do you have something morally against carbs?’ This was a question posed to me on twitter the other day after I’d posted on instagram some of my meals. I’d originally been posting photos tagged as from a  ‘no carb prison’. Over time it’s softened to just a no carb place. The fact is, I have […]

Radishes, salt, butter, bread and a tasting platte...

Our flat has been host to a few parties over its time- but never a film premiere. On Saturday night that changed. One of my oldest friends has just finished the final sound mix on his debut feature- a project he wrote, directed, edited and produced himself. Champagne was needed, most definitely. It also called […]