Just behind our home there is a wild country path that connects the river Ouse to the historic centre of York. Hardly anyone knows about it so nature rules and has created a paradise for city foragers. Right now, we have flowering baby nettles – the old ones were cut down after the heatwave and…
Category: Salads
Healthy salads to share
Livorno Cannellini Bean, Tomato and Ricotta Salata Salad
On a recent trip to Tuscany, I was astonished to discover that the covered markets in both Lucca and Pisa had been closed down. It seems that even the Italians are succumbing to pre-prepared food that can be grabbed on the go. Indeed, one man I spoke to who reminisced fondly about the dishes his…
Sheinkin Fattoush with an Aromatic Green Olive and Za’atar Tapenade
When I used to work there, Sheinkin was one of the coolest streets in Tel Aviv. It was where the beautiful people came to meet with friends, talk about life, listen to music, drink coffee in one of the myriad café-bars and to shop the funky independents (I have a treasure chest bursting with glittering Michal Negrin…
Provençal Haricots Blancs en Salade, a White Bean and Tomato Salad
This salad is perfect. It’s so simple to make and yet it’s capable of delivering a zing-fresh, punchy hit that is hard to resist, especially on a hot summer day served alongside a plate of light, creamy cheese, a freshly baked baguette smothered with tapenade and a glass of chilled rosé or a crisp Sauvignon Blanc….
Neapolitan Roast Potato Puttanesca Salad
Naples is everything that you want it to be: imagine crumbling walls plastered with dusty images of Maradona and Sophia Lauren juxtaposed with billowing lines of washing. Everything is slightly chaotic and the air is thick with the aromas of sea, baking bread, melting cheese, ripe peaches, church incense and Vespas. Neapolitan cuisine matches the…
Medioevo Farro, Mozzarella and Herb Salad
‘It is not the result of an alchemy but the result of the products coming from vegetable gardens, farmyards, clear skies, fresh and clean water, hands used to rolling out the pasta dough; in one word, the treasure of Umbria. Umbria is the starting point of the journey we take to look for all these products…
Camargue Red Rice Salad with Goats’ Cheese and a Wholegrain Mustard Dressing
Once upon a time, long, long ago, I lived with a very rich man whose life was a heady mix of high-powered business and the procurement of the trappings of wealth. All of this was lost on me of course because I would happily live in a shack on a beach so long as it…
Umbrian Roasted Carrot & Borlotti Bean Salad with a Honey Lemon Dressing
‘If you truly get in touch with a piece of carrot, you get in touch with the soil, the rain, the sunshine. You get in touch with Mother Earth and eating in such a way, you feel in touch with true life, your roots, and that is meditation. If we chew every morsel of our…
Pignasecca Borlotti Bean & Fig Salad with a Tarragon and Greek Yoghurt Dressing
I have a new love, he is called Napoli and I miss him deeply. Nothing can quite prepare you for a city that mashes up everything that you expect from it with a totally unexpected quiet elegance. It was the street markets in particular that called to me like the ancient and beguiling sirens of…
Turkish Ezme Salad
Eager to shake off the cold of an early spring evening, we literally fell through the doorway of Asmalı Cavit, a treasured wooden-fronted traditional meyhane (tavern) in the centre of Pera in Istanbul. Here, the raki flows like the waters of the glittering Bosphorus; never ending and always a sight to behold. Our friends are known to the…
Cardamom and Dill 