Cooking

You can always tell a good meal as you can practically taste the love and the care.

Food can help shape lives and change lives. Bring back family meals as a precious time together.

Explore Cooking articles

View all articles

‘One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.’ – Virginia woolf. As someone who has spent her whole life around food I couldn’t agree more. Food and eating together is wonderful. A kitchen table exploding with laughter and stories really is the best tonic. When I was running kitchens we always had team lunches where we could sit, chat and relax. Even now I love having a kitchen table full.

I also believe that food has the ability to break down boundaries and challenge perceptions. Clink has trained prisoners to cook and serve in restaurants based in prisons- the Cardiff one now has a Michelin star. A second chance is sometimes all that’s needed. As a self-confessed greedy person (who always needs to lose a stone) I love food and I always will do.

What is the perfect picnic food?
Cooking

What is the perfect picnic food?

Picnics are great fun and food always tastes better eaten outside. A delicious selection of sandwiches and salads will always be a crowd pleaser. Here are my picnic tips… Sandwiches...

Apple Jalousie- an easy to make pud ….that works every time
Cooking

Apple Jalousie- an easy to make pud ….that works every time

Photo by Scott Phillips Sometimes, cheating with ready-made pastry, I make apple ‘jalousies’, the simplest of French pastries, and stack them flat in the freezer, ready to bake from frozen. RECIPE...

Super easy pizza recipe
Cooking

Super easy pizza recipe

Pizza recipe A simple and easy to cook lunch that will appeal to adults and children alike. The trick with pizza is thin dough and a blazing hot oven. Preheat...

Orange, Rhubarb and Pomegranate cake- Gluten Free
Cooking

Orange, Rhubarb and Pomegranate cake- Gluten Free

Since this orange, rhubarb and pomegranate cake takes a couple of hours and a lot of ingredients, I reckon it’s best for a special occasion for a lot of people...

Roasted Tomato Soup – store cupboard version
Cooking

Roasted Tomato Soup – store cupboard version

Roasted Tomato Soup Peta Leith my talented niece,has adapted the roasted tomato soup (from our book The Vegetarian Kitchen) to use tinned tomatoes instead of fresh, in case that’s all...

‘The Vegetarian Kitchen’ cook book
Cooking

‘The Vegetarian Kitchen’ cook book

  I knew Peta was a great cook and a fantastic baker and pastry chef. But I was a bit nervous that she might not write well, and that I’d...