Under the Blue Gum tree

Moroccan Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew

One of my new year’s resolutions was to eat less meat and more vegetables, an intention that I’ve adhered to with mixed results. Whilst meat certainly plays a less significant part on my plate these days, I still don’t eat enough exclusively vegetarian meals. It’s not so much the meat I miss but more the … Continue reading »

Rhubarb, Ginger and Lemon Fool

I am moving house this week so I have kept my cooking plans to a minimum. This dessert was meant to be a simple assembly of shop-bought ingredients but, as is so often the case when you are already feeling a little frazzled, the best laid plans will tend to go astray. I had planned … Continue reading »

Rum Babas

When I was a little girl, my mum worked for a spell at a catering college. Occasionally she would bring home the food that the students had cooked. I’m not sure why but it always seemed to be dressed crab, cream horns or rum babas. As a child of the Angel Delight and Findus Crispy … Continue reading »

Almond, Honey and Lavender Cake with Lavender Mascarpone

This almond cake is one of the easiest bakes I know and takes no more than 10 minutes from mixing bowl to oven. It is made with ground almonds, no flour, so is suitable for those following a gluten-free diet. If you aren’t too fond of lavender or cannot source it, then it is just … Continue reading »

Honey and Ginger Baked Alaska

I haven’t eaten a baked alaska for years. Not since I was a kid when they seemed to be a feature of our holidays to Europe. I remember waiters bringing out trays of baked alaska to the whoops of excitable British package tourists. Inexplicably, the baked alaska was always accompanied by sparklers. Surely if ever there’s … Continue reading »

Cardamom Bread

For this month’s Random Recipe challenge, Dom over at Belleau Kitchen has created an A-MA-ZING random number generator thingamidoodah for us to select our random recipes with. Not wishing to rain on Dom’s creative parade but it looks suspiciously like the regular old random number generator I use every month. Dom reckons it’s patent pending. … Continue reading »

Malteser Cupcakes

South Africa does a pretty good line in unashamedly ripping off international confectionary brands. There’s the Bar One which is virtually indistinguishable from a Mars Bar, complete with black, red and gold packaging. Then there are the Regent’s Street chocolates encased in jewel coloured wrappers that bear more than a passing resemblance to their ‘Quality’ … Continue reading »