Recipes | African | Americas | Asian | European | Sous Vide | Visits — The Kitchen Alchemist (2024)

I’ve been on a bit of a ravioli making mission recently.

I’ve always loved the little parcels of delight but as I often find shop the bought versions disappointing I tend to prefer making my own.

Without wishing to make too much of a big claim, BBQ squid is magical.

I love squid in many guises. Deep-fried in a crispy coating, stuffed and gently poached or quickly pan fried, but something happens when the marble-like white flesh hits the coals that’s untouchable by any of these other cooking methods.

A tasty little tart that’s as impressive as it is simple.

I’ve served this as a starter when friends are over for dinner, had it as a weekend lunch with a chilled glass of the pink stuff, and rustled it up after work for a mid week supper.

Beans on toast, one of life’s simple food pleasures. And as much as I’m not averse to opening a tin from time to time, it doesn’t really satisfy my need to create.

Sexed-up chicken nuggets had been whirring around in my head for a while.

And on browsing Tastespotting I came across just the jolt of inspiration I needed, a cracking recipe and great photo from Sabrina at Inside The Bag.

Sunshine in a pot that’s good for more than just partnering pasta.

Dollop it onto crostinis topped with roasted vegetables, spoon it over chicken mayonnaise on toasted onion bagels, run it through cold cooked rice studded with black olives, sweetcorn and prawns, or use it in place of ketchup on BBQ charred lamb burgers.

If you follow me on Twitter you’ll probably know that I recently moved house.

I didn’t get very far (just five minutes down the road from the last place) but with this new location comes a totally new high street to explore, that of West Didsbury.

A big dish for a big weekend.

Moving house is a royal ball ache, and to reward the scraped arms and legs, rough hands, fatigue, splinters (and to mark our arrival at our new abode) I wanted to cook something special. Well, that and we no longer have a freezer and I simply couldn’t let the cross cut veal shanks go to waste.

A simple and rustic dish, good as a side or lunchtime main.

The last time I posted a recipe using the spherical courgette they weren’t readily available (I snuck mine in from France) but this time I acquired them far more easily, at good old Sainsburys.

Right place, right time.

On Saturday following an excellent lunch at the Mark Addy, a riverside pub in Manchester that really is gastro, my friend Jon introduced me to the exec head chef Rob Brown.A lovely man who looks like he’d be entirely at home in a medieval banquet.

We’re lucky enough to have an excellent fish mongers at the end of our road, and yesterday when I spied the chunky cod fillets in the window I knew I needed to create a dish around them.

It’s the end of national pie week, and on account of that, Mathew’s love for all things pastry topped and next week being host to St. Patricks day, I decided to revisit and tweak a recipe I’d put on the blog a while ago.

Spring chicken.

A fitting dish for the first post of March, the month where I stop hiding under a blanket and eating hearty comfort food and get excited about the days drawing out, milder weather, blue skies and all the glorious seasonal vegetables that are just around the corner.

What makes a good pie?

In my world a good pie has few aires and graces. It should be robust, bold, bubbly - a bit overflowy in fact (is there anyone that doesn’t love the scorched, chewy filling from the edge of the dish? Surely not).

I’m lucky to have spent a fair amount of time in San Sebastián, the fabulous Basque capital, but that’s not where I discovered this classic dish.

It was actually introduced to me by my dad, who is without doubt the reason I am as adoring of food and cooking as I am.

The whole Camembert was sat in the fridge, waiting to be eaten as I was waiting for inspiration.

Normally polishing off cheeses if a forte of mine, and my usual trick with Camembert is to bake it. Doing this is especially good after studding it with black garlic slivers, a coating of black pepper and a splash of white vino.

Can’t be arsed? Then this dish is for you.

Little time and effort and good quality ingredients make this a real winner. Make sure you use good quality stock and high meat content sausages – and if you don’t like Toulouse then swap them for a more simple herbed sausage.

It’s no secret I’ve been ill this week. I’ve tried to keep a lid on my moaning but let’s be honest, when you’re feeling rotten that can be a difficult task.

However, today I woke up feeling much better than I have been doing, and to celebrate this and my sore throat leaving me I decided to take a walk.