Stuart

Interestingly I was a fussy eater until I left home for university and had to cook for myself. Ever since then I was hooked. I love cooking (so much so that my wife doesn't get a chance to cook), experimenting with new techniques, finding out the origin of recipes and most of all looking for new and exotic tastes.

Most commented posts

  1. The secret to making Restaurant Style Curry at home — 79 comments
  2. English and American English Food Terms — 26 comments
  3. What? Madras is not an authentic Indian curry — 23 comments
  4. Whey Bread – A monstrous Ciabatta — 15 comments
  5. Cullen Skink – A fishy tale of Smoked Haddock Chowder — 12 comments

Author's posts

Tip-top Tapenade

Tapenade Ingredients

Though tapenade is best know as a dish from Provence, France, there exists very similar olive pastes throughout the Mediterranean. The word ‘tapenade’ hides a history in one of its ingredients, capers. In Provence, the caper plant is called ‘tapenei’, and capers used to be stored in vessels filled with olive oil. The capers were …

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Save Money and Marinate your own Olives

Simple bowl of marinated olives

The mountains of glistening olives that you see in supermarket deli bars sure look tempting and they are hard to resist, but they can make quite a dent in your wallet. With a couple of ingredients, you can make your own at home, for a fraction of the cost and enjoy this little treat more …

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Antipasto ideas

Antipasti Platter

Sometimes on restaurant menus the appetizers look more exciting than the main courses, and it is tempting to just order a few of them instead, sort of like tapas or meze. Though antipasto is Italian for ‘before food’, i.e. an appetizer or hors d’oeuvre, they are often served together on a large platter and can …

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What the Focaccia are you looking at?

Baked Focaccia

Some people may think that focaccia is the poor cousin of the pizza, but they really are different beasts. Pizza has always been eaten as a dish in its own right, even though it may have morphed from the original Napoli version, though focaccia has always been an accompaniment to other dishes. The word focaccia is …

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Caponata alla Siciliana – Sicilian Eggplant Cooked Salad

Caponata alla Siciliana

I’m a sucker for a bargain. The other day small fresh eggplants (aubergine) were on sale, and I had to buy as many as I could fit into a plastic bag, and then worry about what I was going to do with them later. I love the spontaneity of having not having a meal plan …

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