A Lot On Her Plate Supper… in Paradise

A few weeks ago I had the great pleasure of inviting some of my finest food-loving friends to a little supper at Paradise By Way of Kensal Green in West London. The idea was to introduce my cooking and some of the recipes from the forthcoming book (named after this blog) to my peers, in […]

Food styling for Guardian Cook

If you’re a follower of this blog, my Twitter or Instagram, you may have noticed that the old Cathcart/Birkett dream team was recently reunited for a shoot for the Guardian’s Cook supplement, which comes out each weekend as part of the Saturday Guardian, sharing some wonderful recipe ideas and relevant, original food content. You can […]

Porky pasta with green tomatoes, kale and preserved lemon

I made my makeshift porchetta (pork belly infused with herbs and spices, wrapped around the loin and slow roasted) for friends the other night, and we had sufficient leftovers to warrant making a whole other meal out of it. That said, the porchetta on its own wasn’t quite enough for two, so I turned to my favourite pasta shape trofie: short little twists from Liguria, usually served with pesto Genovese – to bulk it out.

Recipe: Swiss chard, pecorino and preserved lemon tart

I was recently sent a box of produce from the organic supplier Wholegood, whose Instagram account I’ve been stalking thanks to all the pics of the banging produce that goes up on there – they have romanescos for god’s sake! While I’m normally one for shopping at the green grocer or market, and have never before subscribed to a box scheme, these guys have really impressed me with the quality of their stuff, and it’s not surprising given the fact that they supply lots of restaurants with produce from some of the best organic growers just outside London.

Book shoot and summer supper club fun

It’s been a while since I put up a blog post, but I have a good excuse, promise. For the past few months I’ve been working, cooking and sweating my not-so-little ass off to get my cookbook (WHOOP) submitted to the wonderful Hardie Grant. As seems to now be the pattern (remember last summer’s Christmas […]

Cooking with elderflower: simple cordial and rhubarb and elderflower upside down cake

I really love the start of spring, when rhubarb comes into season and the trees are fragrant and floral with little white elderflowers. I’ve never lived anywhere where elderflower season has been so apparent, but I’m near the River Lea and Hackney marshes, and suddenly my morning runs and bike rides have become heady with the gorgeous scent of these pretty, fragrant and short-lived white flowers

Restaurant crush: Lardo

The food at Lardo is so good, that I found myself chowing down on a radicchio, gorgonzola and walnut pizza about an hour after eating a HUGE bowl of nduja pasta and raspberry jelly at home, like it was the most normal thing in the world. I know. I’d popped in for a ‘drink’ with […]

Kale and coriander pancakes with avocado butter and roasted tomato

It was Pancake Day yesterday. This post was supposed to go up then. But you, know, life happened (and I may just have forgotten to update Wordpress in ages, rendering it unusable). But boy, did I get busy with the pancake pan.