Smash cookies
These are THE chocolate chip cookie as far as I’m concerned. What I’ve been searching for for some time now. Soft, but not cake like; chewy, but not too much; crisp, but only a little. And entirely flexible and customisable with add-ins. But mostly just absolutely delicious. Would be...
Copper well Lane noodles
I loved these. Couldn’t be more simple, albeit there is a bit of prep, so not as quick as some. Another Dan Dan like noodle, but vegetarian and the dried shiitake mean the meat is not missed. From Szechuan book… Pg. 359...
Ricotta, Blackberry and lemon cake
Simple and really quite excellent. I would do this weekly ahead of almost anytime, in truth. Soft, but a little sticky and chewy. The lemon is subtle but cannot be missed. The fruit could be interchanged with whatever is in season. I love it. From https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/sep/11/ricotta-blackberry-lemon-cake-benjamina-ebuehi-recipe...
Chilli oil noodles
No image, but this is a pretty excellent way to spruce up any old noodles into something really quite delicious. Used a couple of old packs of thick, instant noodles without the flavour sachets that we were never going to eat, and it was a quick delight. Threw on...
Chocolate Mousse (Anglaise)
This is an excellent guide on various types of mousse. https://mattadlard.com/recipes/chocolate-mousse-guide Starting with the Anglaise base as it purportedly results in a thicker mousse. And this is confirmed. Big fan of this, thick and luxurious – not like a cheap, airy mousse from a pot. Just wonderful with raspberries,...
Gochujang Noodles
The instructions for this are excellent, and the key is the base broth, using gochujang and tahini for a remarkable and quick soup or even sauce depending on what you fancy. And I think that’s the success of this recipe, it is very flexible to your whims. I’ve done...
Veggie Lasagne (two options)
This is good. Definitely worthwhile… And the main thing I want to note is that cottage cheese is actually a really effective substitute for bechamel. This addition was not part of the recipe, I added it as a creamy element on a whim as it is sorely missing from...
Red pepper, toms beans & hake
… Only without red peppers andsun dried tomatoes … Only without red peppers and sun dried tomatoes … Which are key. Buggered for peppers, but I roasted segments of tomatoes for 30 minutes to simulate sun dried toms, which worked well… This is good. Full of flavour, nutritional yeast...
Banoffee cake
This is actually very like the banana bread recipe I’ve had in mind in the past, using a sticky toffee pudding recipe as the base, but with added banana. The cream and chocolate are a wonderful addition. Will worth playing around with, also. https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/may/22/hazelnut-banoffee-cake-recipe-benjamina-ebuehi...
Fried Butter Beans
Used a packet of cooked beans here in place of the laborious soaking and cooking prices required of dried beans, and while it was very tasty, I think it’s a dish that would benefit greatly from the firmness of a dried bean. These tend towards mush. a hugely flexible...