PASTA LOVELY PASTA — two classics for dinner

AM-Linguine-with-grilled-Tiger-prawns-1.jpg

  I like food I can identify when it’s put before me.  It seems to me that Italian cooks are as good as anybody at doing this.  And what a good sight a plate of well sauced pasta is. For the home cook it isn’t a daunting prospect either.  Seeking good classic, easy-to-cook recipes, I […]

[Continue reading...]

Recipe – Breaded Chicken Escalopes – and a Tomato Sauce to go with them and some Pasta

WD-The-Author-at-Work-PALS.jpg

You can buy these ready-breaded if you like, but bear in mind they cost more than the DIY variety and, frankly, don’t taste so good. Freshly made is best and they are always popular with family and friends. Ideal with pasta and tomato sauce (again, homemade triumphs by a mile over the store-made or bottled […]

[Continue reading...]

RECIPE – Roza’s Red Cabbage

Red-Cabbage.2.jpg

  In the 1950s I used to eat the most delicious red cabbage, along with a Wiener Schnitzel and sauté potatoes at a tiny restaurant in Greek Street, Soho, where the owner/cook was a rotund Austrian lady called Madame Maurer. With home-made apple strudel and coffee the bill came to less than ten Shillings (50 […]

[Continue reading...]

RECIPE – Sauté of Chicken and Mushrooms

Chicken-Mushroom-Sautee-Plos-Brittany.jpg

 A good sauté should be cooked quite slowly to allow the flavours to meld and the sauce to thicken and become nice and rich.  The first chicken and mushroom sauté I recall clearly was at a mainly-lobster restaurant overlooking the Atlantic in Brittany, a long time ago.  My wife and I had been commissioned to […]

[Continue reading...]

RECIPE – Green Beans with Tomatoes and Onion

Green-Beans-and-Tomatoes-1-2013-CS.jpg

Plain green vegetable may be good for you, but they can be a bit dull. Courgettes, marrow, cauliflower and other veggies can be lifted by stirring them in to a simply made sauce of onion and tomatoes. For a winter’s lunch or light supper, this is a good accompaniment to a piece of grilled or […]

[Continue reading...]

Recipe – Linguine with Mushrooms, Peas, Bacon and Leeks

Linguine-with-bacon-mushrooms-leak-and-pea-sauce-Dec-2012.jpg

As write, the rain continues to  fall.  It is damp, dank and miserable.  A quick hot uplifting plate of something was called for at lunch time, made from what was in the house, neither of us feeling willing to brave the elements to go shopping.  Pasta is always welcome, and provided you have a sauce […]

[Continue reading...]