As we have mentioned once before one of our favourite cookbooks is Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries, which takes the reader on a 12-month journey through Nigel’s seasonal home cooking.  The book is beautiful, with descriptive writing, full page images and high quality paper. To make it even better every recipe we have ever cooked from it turns out great. The dishes are never too complicated; instead their sensational tastes rely on fresh, seasonal ingredients. Our great friends Angus and Elizabeth gave the cookbook to Mark for his 30th Birthday and we think about them every time we cook from it.

Despite the recipes being based on English seasons we still cook many of its recipes here in Australia, including this amazing chocolate cake, which can be baked all year round. I have baked this cake several times now and each time it impresses everyone who tastes it. I served it at our Earth Hour party last night and lots of people asked for the recipe, so here it is. Enjoy! Continue reading…

This weekend I made the best pancakes that I think I have ever made. The secret ingredient is buttermilk; I can’t believe I haven’t caught onto this sooner. We served these light and fluffy pancakes with fresh banana, figs and maple syrup. Continue reading for the recipe.

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It’s funny how you grow into food. As a kid I reviled squash in all its incarnations, but now Laksh and I eat it often. A tender, sweet butternut squash (often just called pumpkin in the UK) is excellent in soups and curries, or even roasted and served as the center of a meal as in this recipe from The Kitchen Diaries: A Year in the Kitchen with Nigel Slater. Incidentally, The Kitchen Diaries is one of our absolute favorites; Nigel’s recipes are simple, seasonal, delicious, and inspiring. While he pitches this as a warming winter dish, to me tomatoes are the epitome of summer, and with the weather we’ve been having we were pleased to find both in our organic box delivery this week.

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