Healthy seafood suppers to get fit quick

Back in December it seemed like I had subscribed to the “seefood” diet – in other words, any time I spotted some appetising morsel, I would immediately feel the need to stuff it in my mouth.

I was tired of counting the calories in every ingredient in every meal, tired of denying myself from testing out the tempting treats on offer at food festivals, and tired of waking up at 6am most mornings to drag my weary body to the gym in the hope of staying slim. In short, I felt exhausted, mentally and physically.

So like most people at the end of the year, I overindulged – even achieving the rather impressive feat of consuming two of Outsider Tart’s baseball-sized carrot and cream cheese whoopie pies in two days. My feeding frenzy climaxed at Christmas, in a haze of gooey chocolates, juicy roasted meat and crunchy amaretto tiramisu.

Prawn and chorizo paella for one person to enjoy

With my partner away for the weekend, I was struggling to motivate myself into making a real evening meal. Ironically, the thought of just throwing some pasta into a pan and onto a fast boil when I’m preparing a “dinner for one” is even more tempting now that I’m a (relatively) confident cook than it was when I was a (relatively) naive student. A large portion of my love of cooking comes from seeing other people enjoy my food, so the culinary process seems significantly less pleasurable when there’s no-one else around to appreciate my efforts.

Magnificent meatballs to leave him wanting amore

I’ve received an urgent recipe request on my Facebook fanpage for the perfect meal for a romantic night in. Like a savvy lady’s pre-date beauty regime, the dish needs to be dressed to impress without breaking the bank balance or taking hours to prepare.

For me, Italian food is ideal for inspiring intimacy – and the classic combination of pasta and meatballs is the ultimate embodiment of this. The heady scent of rich tomatoes and fresh herbs instantly conjures up images of gondolas gliding over Venetian canals, and what better way to get into the mood for amore than by recreating the infamous spaghetti-sharing scene from Lady and the Tramp?!

Brilliant basmati to take on the takeaway

As my own kitchen skills have gradually improved, I’ve noticed a correlating change in my attitude towards eating out. In the past, I was renowned amongst friends as the “voucher queen”, always able to sniff out a bargain meal that we’d all accept as a satisfactory supper. But now (if my purse allowed…!) I’d far prefer to shun the high-street chains in favour of spending a bit more money on a high-end dining experience. As much as I adore Italian cuisine, I can’t bring myself to cough up for an overpriced bowl of pasta and sauce – especially when I know I can rustle up a pretty mean risotto in the comfort of my own home using just the bare essentials.

A roasted piece of meat to last all week

In the past, I never understood the appeal of the quintessentially English roast dinner. It seemed to me that people spent a disproportionate amount of their designated Day of Rest slaving over a hot stove, considering how bland and limp the resulting "meat and three veg" often tasted. My favourite part of a roast dinner was previously the Yorkshire pudding, so given the option I would generally have preferred to just eat the batter alongside a couple of decent meaty sausages as Toad in the Hole.

In my eyes it was particularly incomprehensible why anyone would want to spend every Sunday cooking a roast. There’s such a plethora of delicious dishes available from such a vast array of different cuisines - spicy Mexican stews, tender Moroccan tagines, fresh Italian pastas with silky sauces - why would you choose to restrict your weekend dining to a lump of dry meat and a plate of soggy vegetables?

Souk-scented chicken tagine and fruity couscous

Marrakech is the holiday equivalent of Marmite. For some people, the cacophony of sensations that hit you as soon as you arrive in the Djemaa El Fna square are just too overwhelming – the traders’ attention-grabbing hollering is too loud, the labyrinth of overflowing stalls is too claustrophobic, the bustle of busy shoppers and speeding mopeds is too chaotic.


But just as I was hooked on Marmite the first time I tasted it sandwiched between crunchy toast and nutty cheddar cheese, so I fell in love with Marrakech the moment I stepped into the souk.

Spicy sausage stew for a sunny day in Spain

The weather gods appear to have misunderstood the meaning of British Summer Time. This year we lost an hour as normal, but didn’t seem to be gaining any increase in temperature in return. So when my boyfriend told me we had the chance to escape breezy Britain for a trip to sunny Spain with his family, I jumped at the chance.

I’d been caught out in the rain so many times over the past couple of months, I’d finally accepted there was no point in purchasing the Gladiator sandals I’d promised myself – so this sojourn sounded like a dream come true. As someone who grew up by the sea, there’s nothing I love better than siesta-ing on a soft sandy beach, listening to the backing track of waves lapping the shore. However, he confessed there was just one tiny thing about the holiday I should probably know in advance…

A week’s worth of eats and treats

An unexpected adjunct to my burgeoning passion for the culinary world is a blossoming interest in photography. A hallway full of school portraits exposing my past as an acne-ridden, speccy teenager has given me an aversion to appearing in front of the camera, so I generally prefer to rely on my memory for a record of any seminal moments.


But it’s an entirely different story when the photo’s subject is a dazzling dessert or a stunning supper. Admiration for the cooking skills on display at my favourite eateries, and disbelief (plus a hint of pride) at the dishes being served up at my dining table means I feel increasingly obliged to provide photographic evidence of my dietary habits.

Resorting to Risotto

Without wishing to sound arrogant, I make a pretty mean risotto.  I don’t really understand how this happened, as I only discovered the delights of this wonderful oozing rice dish a couple of years ago, but it has rapidly become a reliable recipe for storecupboard emergencies and situations when I need to impress.

One of the things I love most about risotto is the way its flavour entirely depends on which ingredients are added to the rice mixture – almost like an Italian version of the fabled stone soup. Creamy and sweet with parmesan and leeks, crisp and fresh with asparagus and smoked salmon, silken and earthy with butternut squash and sage...there’s a combination to satisfy any craving and every mood.

A proper "pukka" pie

When it comes to food, we all have our own preferences and peculiarities. After all, eating is the very definition of a matter of taste - indeed, one person’s manna from heaven may well be another’s vision of hellish torture. 

This subjectivity extends not only to the flavour combinations we enjoy, but also to the quality of ingredients and standards of production that we will accept. The sticking point for me is sausages - I refuse to consume a banger containing less than 75% meat. But my boyfriend’s crusade of choice is the quest for the perfect pie. In his eyes, a proper pie is a meaty filling encased entirely in pastry, and a pie “without sides” is nothing more than a stew with a pastry lid.

Saturday night spaghetti

Discovered some rather tasty looking chorizo whilst perusing my parents’ fridge. My first opinion of paella was rejected due to laziness - spending Saturday night home alone may be one thing, but spending the majority of the evening standing over a stove stirring rice would just be a step too far.