It now really feels like summer is edging that little bit closer, and while I’m not one to rush through the seasons – spring is actually my favourite time of year – I’m already getting excited about those balmy days and nights, and the prospect of getting people together for small outdoor gatherings, when the jugs of cocktails and chilled bottles of wine will be free-flowing and delicious food will be shared with equally delicious laughter and much-needed catch ups.

We lived in our place for five solid years with the kitchen how it was when we bought it, which was absolutely great, though not to my taste at all – all shiny white units and grey laminate worktops – but the flat was brand new and un-lived in when we moved in, so we felt like we couldn’t justify changing it as it was perfectly functional, spacious and bright, and we also had to save up to make those changes. Eventually, we’d saved up enough money to redesign it, but were reluctant to rip out the existing kitchen as it would have been such a waste for it to just go to landfill when the units were still in really good shape, plus the L-shaped configuration worked really well for me.

I don’t know about you lovely lot, but at the moment, working from home lunch salads really aren’t doing it for me. With the seemingly endless days, which merge into non-descript lockdown weeks, then months, with nothing to break up the day but dog walks and mealtimes, I’m finding that by the time it gets to lunchtime I’m craving some distractions from work, some big flavours and some hearty, warming, wholesome meals.

One of my favourite things about eating out is the way you approach drinking alongside your meal, as for me at least, it’s quite different to what we do at home – which tends to be to open a bottle of whatever we have to hand to drink while we cook.

The resulting millionaire’s shortbread is revelatory – it even got the thumbs up from my mum, my harshest critic and the least sweet-toothed person I know. So without further ado, I give you the recipe, below. If you don’t want to end up with half a tin of evap in your fridge, why not double the recipe and freeze one tray. I really think you’ll end up wanting these babies on repeat.  

At the start of the lockdown, I was contacted by the illustrator Sophie Harpley, who paints and draws the most gorgeous illustrations. She asked me if I’d like to collaborate on a set of cards for people to buy and send to friends and family, and whether I would contribute some recipes to go inside, with her illustrating the recipe for the front of the card.

I tasted Caldo de Camarón the first time I ever visited Mexico, and I’ve never forgotten it. The year was 2013, and we’d landed in the hectic heat of Cancun; sweaty, tired and ravenous. We caught a bus down to Playa Del Carmen, where our friend Becky was waiting for us like some kind of […]

I’ll start this by saying that I’m by no means the oracle on dumplings. In fact, this was my first time making my own dumpling wrappers – which means that yes, you can absolutely make them too, and so many of you asked for my recipe I thought I’d jot it down here. This recipe […]