Capers & Cloves

Anytime Coffee

I’ll freely admit to being a coffee snob. I won’t touch instant unless I’m working as crew in a sailing vessel. But I’m not above buying pre-ground beans. I prefer a filter …

Anzac Biscuits

Anzac Day is the national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand for those who died while serving in the armed forces of those nations. It is observed on April 25 each year, marking the …

Thirty years ago, my journalism career peaked before it had really begun. Through a connection between my journalism course director and his counterpart at Long Island University, I was able to stay …

Banana Smoothie

Having spent a year each living in Australia and New Zealand at the turn of the century, one thing I missed on my return to Europe was a decent banana smoothie. It must contain yogurt and fiber, but …

Beer Bread

In my second year as a university undergraduate, I lived in a bedsit in Islington, London, not far from a bar called the Purple Turtle on Essex Road. The original opened in Reading in 1990. The …

Buttermilk Pancakes

As a kid growing up in Wales, I was never a fan of English pancakes; thin and tasteless and not much improved by the addition of sugar and lemon. My preference is for American pancakes with Canadian …

Caffè Reale

Dolcetti is the Italian for sweets. It’s also what Milano in Ireland (Pizza Express in the UK) calls its range of mini deserts that come with a tea or coffee. And the one that was brought back …

Capers and cloves

When I started writing this recipe blog in 2024, I didn’t even have a name for it. It was just called “Recipes”. But I have a tip of the tongue issue when it comes to the words …

Cawl

The Encyclopedia of Wales has this to say about cawl: “A broth regularly served in the winter months in the south-west. Salted bacon or beef was boiled with potatoes, swedes, carrots and other …

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Because I’m no-longer posting articles every week in the main blog, I’ve decided to make the recipes area of this site public. It’s a peculiarity of intellectual property law that …

Crêpes and galettes

I discovered the joys of Breton cuisine, and a liberal attitude to serving alcohol to children, on a French camping trip in my mid-teens. I was particularly taken with the sweet and savory pancakes …

Double Choc Chip Muffins

While I was digging around in my New Zealand road trip journal for the Anzac biscuits recipe, I found this recipe next to it. Apparently I did quite a lot of baking during my stay in the Brown Kiwi in …

Etna Pizza

As a spiritual New Yorker, you won’t be surprised to hear me say that the best pizza in the world comes from New York City (or that what they produce in Chicago is an abomination). But it …

Falafel

If you’ve seen other falafel recipes, you’ve seen the warnings about mushy results if you use canned chickpeas. But the same recipes tell you to soak dried chickpeas overnight. Go figure. …

Irish American

My mom grew up in Queens, New York City. American food has always been a part of my life. But after emigrating to Ireland, I’ve come to realize that a lot of the American food I love probably …

Lamingtons

Aussies (Australians) and Kiwis (New Zealanders) argue about the origin of many things. The Anzac biscuits, the flat white, Pavlova and the racehorse Phar Lap (whose hide is in Melbourne and skeleton …

Rum Butter

Brandy butter is the traditional accompaniment to Christmas Pudding. But Cumberland (now a part of Cumbria) was the home of the rum trade, centered on the port of Whitehaven. And even today, …

Satay Sauce

The last of the recipes I picked up on my New Zealand road trip is for satay sauce. It originates in Indonesia, and technically it’s called peanut sauce (bumbu kacang), satay being a Javanese …

Sazerac Cocktail

When it comes to cocktails, I’m a traditionalist. If it was invented after 1953, I’m not interested. At one former workplace, different teams were given the task of organizing the monthly …

Singapore Noodles

I’m not usually a fan of fusion food. But I lived off this Cantonese creation for about three months while living in a town on the northern beaches of Sydney. In the 1940s, the British Army …

Sweet Pickle Relish

According to Tuca & Bertie, rule 14 of the Chef’s Code is: never eat a hot dog on purpose. However, as an advocate of street food and simple pleasures, I think the late Anthony Bourdain …

Totte Cake

In the 1960s, Gunilla Wolde wrote a series of books about a little boy called Totte (translated to English as Thomas). They included one called “Thomas bakes a cake”. Despite having owned …

Troika Sundae

It’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and with warmer days, thoughts may turn to iced deserts. Ice cream, gelato, maraş dondurma (Turkish ice cream) and sorbet are all acceptable choices. …

Weekly meal plan for one

I first started cooking for myself when I went to tertiary college. My mom gave me a Delia Smith cookbook called “One is Fun!”. Lately, due to differing dietary requirements, I’ve …

Welsh Rarebit

I’m told that name of this dish is a derogatory corruption of rabbit, with the implication that the Welsh couldn’t afford the real thing. But that’s the kind of smear you should …

Yorkshire Pudding

If you want to know about Yorkshire, I recommend Bill Bryson’s “Notes from a Small Island”. Although I’m not sure if he mentions Henderson’s Relish (a condiment that the …