Delicious and Warming Soups

It’s November, it’s getting very cold and that can only mean one thing- it is soup weather! If you are rushed of your feet during the day and especially if your job keeps you outdoors, soup for lunch is a dream come true. I have some lovely recipes for you.  These soups can be made up a few days in advance and kept in an airtight container in a fridge.

Cognac, mushroom and Chestnut Soup

-          1 large shallot, chopped

-          3 sprigs of thyme

-          1 teaspoon of dried rosemary

-          100ml cognac

-          500ml vegetable stock

-          500g brown, organic mushrooms, sliced

-          Packet of cooked chestnuts

1.      Pour a tablespoon of olive into a pan and heat up

2.      Add the shallot, thyme, rosemary and season with salt and pepper (a pinch of each)

3.      Add the mushrooms

4.      When your shallot is starting to caramelise (get golden brown) and the mushrooms are staring to colour, remove the thyme

5.      Pour the cognac in and bring to boil, wait until all nearly absorbed

6.      Pour the stock in

7.      Throw in the chestnuts and simmer 30-45 minutes (if you want to speed the process up- just boil for 10-15 minutes)

8.      Whiz in a blender until smooth and season to taste

9.      Serve as is or drizzle with truffle oil for extra luxury

You could also serve with a Parmesan Crisp

1.       Sprinkle a generous layer of parmesan onto a baking tray lined with baking sheet, create a shape of your liking using a cookie cutter

2.       Bake in a hot oven (190C) for a few minutes and leave to cool (or mould and then cool)

Spiced lentil and chickpeas soup with feta and pomegranate

-          1 shallot, chopped

-          1 teaspoon Garam Masala

-          ½ teaspoon ground cumin

-          ½ teaspoon dried chilli flakes

-          A handful of orange lentils

-          A handful of green lentils

-          Tin of organic chickpeas

-          500ml vegetable stock

-          Pack of feta

-          Seeds from 1 pomegranate

1.      Start of by frying the shallots off with a pinch of salt  in a little olive oil until golden brown

2.      Add the spices and fry for 1 minute

3.      Pour the stock in and add the lentils and chickpeas

4.      Simmer for 40 minutes until the lentils are soft

5.      Blend the soup and serve topped with crumbled feta and pomegranate seeds whilst hot

 MY NEW FAVOURITE INGREDIENT

I purchased this little pot when I was in Dartmouth for the festival. Good quality salt is a necessity and garlic is just amazing. Garlic is known to have antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-fungal properties. I always use lots of it in my cooking when the weather turns cold and wet to ward off any illness and to boost my immune system. Obviously, garlic is also delicious and adds great flavour to any dish.  

This product takes the flavour to the next level. The garlic has been slow roasted ‘to a mellow intensity, creating sweet, caramelised characteristics to add that rich, garlicky flavour.’

Cornish Sea Salt is harvested from Grade A Classified waters (the highest to denote water purity) just 8 metres from the shore and offers more taste for less salt. This sea salt contains more than 60 naturally-occurring trace elements, making it a healthier alternative to traditional table salt.

I only use this salt in my kitchen. 

Fabulous Breakfast Dish (serves 2)

• 2 slices of sourdough bread, toasted
• 2 handfuls of kale leaves, torn into bite sized pieces
• Pinch of Garlic Cornish Sea Salt
• 2  fillets of smoked haddock
• Enough milk to cover the fish
• 2 duck eggs
• Generous glug of white wine vinegar

1. First blanch the kale in salted boiling water for 2 minutes and drain
2. To poach the fish, place the fillets into a pan and cover with milk
3. Bring slowly to boil and then simmer gently for 15 minutes or until cooked (the flakes on the fish will become defined and the flesh will turn milky rather than translucent)
4. To poach the eggs- bring a pan of water to simmer (continuous small bubbles), add the vinegar and crack the eggs in and poach for 5 minutes (until the egg white is set, but the yolk is still beautifully runny)
5. To reheat the kale, pour a little olive oil into a frying pan
6. Throw the kale in and season with the garlic salt
7. To assemble, pop the bread on a warmed plate, cover with the kale, place the fish on the kale and top with the poached egg
8. Sprinkle with the garlic salt and enjoy

For the Tastiest Scrambled Eggs  (serves 2)

This recipe really makes the most out of the fabulous garlicky flavour 

• 6 eggs
• knob of butter
• generous pinch of Garlic Cornish Sea Salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• a small bunch of chives, chopped

1. Crack the eggs onto a bowl and season with the salt and pepper
2. Whisk thoroughly
3. Heat  a heavy based pan on medium heat
4. Melt the butter
5. When the butter is  foaming, pour the eggs in and keep stirring (preferably with a balloon whisk)
6. When the eggs are almost set, take off the heat immediately (the mixture continues cooking in the pan- so make sure you have the plates ready to prevent overcooking) 

Try serving in puff pastry baskets, topped with smoked salmon and caviar

Fast, Cheap and Healthy Cooking

There has long been a growing popularity for easy meals that can be thrown together in a flash, but these days people are also increasingly responsive to concerns about health and saving money. Ultimately, since we all want to enjoy our meals and maybe even entertain with our cooking, keeping it fast, cheap and easy sounds like a difficult task.

The popularity of cookbooks with a ‘quick and easy’ theme shows that there are ways to meet all these criteria, but this approach can make us reliant on specific texts and recipes rather than arming us the with tricks and techniques that can really help. Of course, there are many tips and hints available, and The Devilled Egg Kitchen Academy has a few key points in mind:

- Cooking method

- Do it yourself

- Don’t fear the freezer

- Eat seasonably

- Salt is not the enemy

Cooking Method

Healthy dining is not just about what you choose to eat, but is greatly affected by the method you use to cook it. Generally, the shorter the cooking time, the more vitamins and nutrients the food is able to retain. When cooking any meat or fish, the pan should be hot to the point of smoking. The same goes for the vegetables – they should still be crunchy when you eat them and will be much more flavoursome this way.

Placing food into the hot pan will bring the temperature down, so you need not fear a fire in the kitchen. Also, remove ingredients from the fridge as soon as you get home as chilled ingredients will extend cooking time. Put your pan on the heat whilst you are prepping things, giving it time to heat up whilst you make everything ready.

Do it yourself

We are often too ready to accept that making things from scratch will substantially increase time in the kitchen. Making things like curry paste or pasta sauce will, on average, work out cheaper. Also, the results will generally be superior, and there is the benefit of knowing exactly what has gone into your food and into your body. The Devilled Egg Kitchen Academy has been running several healthy and ‘detox’ classes in January, and people are often surprised at just how easy cooking from scratch can be, as well as how fresh and tasty the results are.

Don’t fear the freezer

The freezer should not be seen as a ‘shortcut’, except perhaps where packaged ready-meals are concerned. Making your own bread, pasta, soups, sauce etc. takes some time, but most things do freeze really well. My own freezer is always packed with anything from herb butter to choux pastry buns ready to be transformed into profiteroles. The best way to ensure efficiency is simply to plan ahead where possible. Once ever fortnight, or even once a month, spend some time cooking and freeze the results. Then all you need to do during the week is to take your soup or sauce out of the freezer the night before (or even in the morning). Once supper time arrives there is almost no fuss at all.

Eat seasonably

Whilst this may not seem an obvious point, it is always worth favouring fruit, vegetables, meat and fish which are in season in your part of the world. Seasonal produce will be cheaper due to its sheer availability, and will not have its price tag inflated by the cost of transporting it across the globe to supermarket shelves. Food which is naturally at its freshest, especially fruit and vegetables, is also likely to contain more vitamins and nutrients, depending on where it comes from. There is also some weight to the ‘native produce’ argument – whilst there is no need to reject food from outside our own locality, there are imported grains, fruits etc. which our digestive systems are less used to breaking down.

Salt is not the enemy

Salt should not be automatically avoided – as with most things, moderation is the key. I recommend using salt often but sparingly during cooking since it locks in flavour, and is more easily digested in this way. You can also get natural, unprocessed salt. It does have an unappetising grey colour, but is much better for you. This also allows you to add bags of flavour just with one pinch.

There are many books on the market at the moment, apparently trying to save us time by buying pre-cooked ingredients. There is always time and a place for shop bought puff pastry or something equally tricky to make, but there are so many ingredients that will taste better, be cheaper and healthier when made at home. It is worth spending the odd weekend cooking up a storm and freezing it for later. You will love your food and so will your family and friends.

Everyone can cook

Most people I know want to be better at cooking. Whether it stems from the passion of a genuine gourmet or simply from the financial advantages of home made curry, most of us share a desire to improve the level and range of our cooking abilities. 

Anyone can cook, but unfortunately many people do not see themselves as having the time or perhaps the skill required to pursue it. This is generally the wrong assumption. Of course, some individuals have a knack and enthusiasm for cooking beyond the rest of us, but I believe that anyone who wants to can learn swiftly and create dishes far beyond their expectations. 

I teach at The Devilled Egg Kitchen Academy in Clifton, and have experienced this phenomenon too many times to mention. Customers may vary in their abilities and experience with cooking, yet their surprise and delight at what they can create is almost universal. 

The big secret: cooking is easy. 

Some basic tips: 
Poached eggs – by adding a little vinegar to the simmering (not boiling) water the albumen of the egg will hold its shape better (absolutely no excuses for stringy poached eggs) 
Fish skin – to avoid flabby skin, the secret is to rub salt into it and cook in a really hot pan – so hot that the oil begins to smoke 
Purees and foams – all the rage these days but ludicrously easy to make (just infuse milk with your chosen flavour, add enough butter to help with the foaming)

That is why I started the cookery school. Cookbooks are amazing (and I do own close to a thousand), but they rarely go beyond very basic instructions, and give no guidance on how to react to the unexpected or to ‘fix’ things that do not go perfectly. 


I don’t eat to live, I live to eat and cook and feed people. When I started cooking, I became intoxicated with the feeling of having produced an amazing meal (usually several courses) and knowing that people loved it. That is one of the main reasons I got into cooking. Dinner parties should not be stressful. They should be luxurious, exciting, but most of all fun. You want your friends to leave happy and satisfied, but what about you? If you have been stressing all night, running around and sweating in the kitchen, you probably feel quite deflated and happy that it is all over. That would be a shame. You should feel like a winner who has just hosted the best dinner party ever. 

Food brings everyone together. Obviously good wine or lager also helps. I am a big fan, wine especially fascinates me. I like to know as much as I can about the contents of the bottle. 
I like to get in touch with the wine growers and find out what makes that bottle really special, what they would eat with it and how much effort went into it.