Quick and tasty Vietnamese Shaking Beef (Bo Luc Lac) which you can make in less than 30 minutes! Vietnamese Shaking Beef I have very fond memories of this dish as a child. Vietnamese Shaking Beef is traditionally served with steamed rice but, unfortunately for my mother, rice was something I refused to eat as a kid (difficult situation in an Asian family!). So whilst everyone would sit down to this dish at the
A quick and tasty Japanese-style Udon Noodle Soup which takes less than 30 minutes to prepare! Perfect for weeknight dinners. Udon Noodle Soup Comfort food to me is usually a big bowl of steaming noodle soup, no matter the weather. Even in the midst of a heatwave, you will find me hunched over a bowl of noodles, slurping away happily. This Udon Noodle Soup is one of my favourite noodle soups, not least
A deliciously moist Carrot Cake with a light and fresh Cream-Cheese Frosting. This carrot cake recipe is sure to become a favourite with your family and friends! Carrot Cake Recipe One of my favourite past-times is chatting online with my foodie friends. We talk about a whole manner of things, mostly food-related, frequently veering off-topic but somehow always circling back to the matter at heart.
A simple and delicious recipe for basic crepes, or thin French pancakes. Recipe with step-by-step photos. French Crepes Recipe My husband hails from the French region of Brittany where crepes (or more correctly spelt, crêpes) are thought to have originated. And so it goes without saying that, in this part of the world, it is completely acceptable to have pancakes at breakfast every morning, or even as a goûter, the French equivalent of afternoon tea.
A healthy and delicious Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken with Vermicelli Noodle Salad (Bun Ga Nuong), full of fresh and bold flavours. The chicken is marinated in a classic Vietnamese marinade and served grilled over a bed of vermicelli noodles, salad, fresh herbs and a traditional Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham). Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken If I could only eat one dish throughout the summer, it would have to be my mother’s Vietnamese Lemongrass Chicken with Vermicelli Noodle
How to make the perfect Beef Wellington. Beef filet mignon coated in mustard and wrapped in a mushroom duxelles, prosciutto and puff pastry. Served with a delicious Green Peppercorn Sauce. Beef Wellington If you are looking for a show-stopping recipe which will wow your family and friends at your next dinner party, look no further than this Beef Wellington with Green Peppercorn Sauce.
A quick and easy marinade for Roast Lamb Racks with Lemon and Garlic which takes just a few minutes, perfect for busy weeknights and entertaining. The lamb is first cooked on the stove and finished off in the oven for perfectly cooked and tender meat. Roast Rack of Lamb As an Australian, lamb features a lot on our menu at home and I particularly love cooking with lamb racks. You don’t have to
These Brussels Sprouts with Chestnuts and Pancetta take only 15 minutes to cook, making it the perfect side dish! Recipe with step-by-step photos. Brussels Sprouts For me, Brussels sprouts is an essential side dish at Christmas. It happens to be an ingredient which is abundantly in season from about autumn and well into the late winter, and I try to cook with it often during this time of the year, although it really
A fresh and summery pavlova served with whipped cream and lemon curd. A perfect combination for summer! Recipe with step-by-step photos. Easy Pavlova Recipe As an Australian, I am quite impartial to the pavlova. To me, nothing is more welcoming than the sight of a tall and magnificent pavlova adorned with lashings of cream and topped with fruit. Quite often, and especially in summer, my go-to topping for pavlova is simply whipped cream
A delicious recipe for Yakisoba, or Japanese Stir-Fried Noodles, using pork belly, cabbage and carrots. Make this tasty dish in 30 minutes, perfect for busy weeknights! Recipe with step-by-step photos. Japanese Noodles During my early years as a young professional, my girlfriends and I often met for dinner after work at a cheap and cheerful Japanese restaurant, and this was when I was introduced to Yakisoba. Up until that point, my knowledge of
These Apple Pie Bliss Balls are sugar-free, nut-free and gluten-free! Perfect for school lunch boxes and for snacking. Lunch Box Ideas I have a love-hate relationship with Instagram. I hate it for many reasons which I will not go into here, but, at the same time, I love scrolling through my Instagram feed when I am looking for ideas.
Delicious Healthy Oatmeal Cookies which are sugar-free! This recipe uses maple syrup as a natural sweetener. These oatmeal cookies are perfect for school lunchboxes and as a healthy snack. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Healthy Cookie Recipe I am always on the lookout for healthy options for my childrens’ lunch boxes, and when I came across this recipe for oatmeal cookies which were sugar-free, I was sold.
A Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake recipe with step-by-step photos. A French chocolate and almond cake which is light, moist, gluten-free and also dairy-free! Also called a Queen of Sheba Cake (Reine de Saba). Queen of Sheba Cake (Reine de Saba) I am conscious that I have quite a few recipes for chocolate cake on this blog, but I suppose one more can’t hurt … This recipe for Queen of Sheba Cake (or Reine de
The Swiss Bircher Muesli is the original overnight oats. Make this quick and easy overnight oats recipe for a healthy and delicious breakfast. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Bircher Muesli One of the most popular recipes from Switzerland is bircher muesli, perhaps even more so than fondue or raclette. But if you have never heard of bircher muesli, it is probably because it is better known as overnight oats in the rest of the
Zurich-Style Veal with Creamy Mushroom Sauce (or Züricher Geschnetzeltes), served with crispy and golden Smashed Potatoes. A classic dish from Zurich which is easy to make at home. Züricher Geschnetzeltes Züricher Geschnetzeltes (or Zürcher Geschnetzeltes) is a popular dish in Switzerland, particularly in and around the Zurich region. Pronouncing the name of the dish in German is a bit of a mouthful, even more so in Swiss German, the latter being Züri Gschnätzlets.
A stunning Potato Pie with Smoked Salmon and Dill. Recipe with step-by-step photos. Potato Pie with Smoked Salmon and Dill Smoked salmon is, admittedly, not an everyday ingredient, but I do love to keep some in the fridge for a quick lunch with some lightly buttered white toast, thinly sliced onions, a scattering of salty capers and a good squeeze of lemon.
A decadent and fun Easter Egg Nest Cake decorated with sugar-coated chocolate Easter eggs. Gluten-free recipe and nut-free recipe. Easter Cake This is a chocolate cake which I love to make when we have guests over, and this Easter cake is an extra chocolatey version which will make both adults and children swoon.
Make this classic Creamy Tarragon Chicken recipe in 30 minutes for a delicious weeknight meal! Recipe with step-by-step photos. Tarragon Chicken When it comes to cooking traditional French food, most people think of a complex concoction of ingredients in a Le Creuset pot which has been simmering away on the stove for hours and hours à la Julia Childs.
A simple and delicious Spinach Lasagna using a homemade béchamel sauce and marinara sauce. This vegetarian lasagna will be a hit even with the meatlovers! Spinach Lasagna I love a good lasagna and it’s a satisfying dish to make when you have time to potter about in the kitchen. With spring having finally arrived in Zurich and warmer weather slowly creeping into the forecast, I wanted to make a baked pasta dish, but
A delicious chocolate pavlova with sweetened chestnut purée. This dessert is the combination of a Chocolate Pavlova and Mont Blanc dessert. Here is an easy chocolate pavlova recipe, plus a homemade chestnut purée recipe. Chestnut Desserts As soon as the weather in Switzerland starts to take a dip, the roasted chestnut carts magically appear and I know that my favourite dessert will soon be in all of the pâtisserie shops. Roasted chestnuts alone
This Sticky Honey Soy Chicken takes a few minutes to prepare for a delicious and no-fuss weeknight meal, and is perfect served with a refreshing Pineapple Cucumber Salad. Honey Soy Chicken If time is short and you need to get dinner on the table in a hurry, this recipe for Honey Soy Chicken is a winner. The caramelised and sticky chicken is full of flavour, and the best part is that you do not need to marinate the chicken beforehand!
A quick and easy Cream of Tomato Soup with Roasted Chickpeas – the perfect meal using pantry ingredients. Homemade Tomato Soup As a busy mother of two, I always try to make sure that my fridge and pantry are well-stocked with regular favourites so that I can make certain recipes at a moment’s notice. A homemade tomato soup is one such recipe.
These Spinach and Feta Pies contain just a few ingredients but have maximum flavour. Make them as small or as big as you like, perfect for snacks or light meals. Spinach and Feta Pies When it comes to entertaining, it’s always good to have a few vegetarian options, and these Spinach and Feta Pies (also known as Spanakopita) are one of my stand-by options. As an Australian, I also have a fond affection for
This Hot and Sour Soup is a Chinese restaurant classic which takes only 30 minutes! Chinese New Year As a child, my mother went to great lengths each year to prepare a Chinese New Year feast which could feed our entire neighbourhood. The menu always featured a sticky rice cake filled with mung beans and pork, a Chinese Turnip Cake, endless platters of spring rolls (egg rolls), roast pork with gorgeously seasoned crackling – all served with fresh
Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks with Red Wine Sauce, served with a fresh gremolata. The lamb shanks are deliciously tender and the rich, full-flavoured sauce is perfect for serving with mashed potatoes, polenta or pasta. Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks It’s no secret that I love slow-cooking. With two young children to entertain, I find it easiest to do the sort of cooking that requires a leave-it-and-forget-it approach. But I hardly need the children as an
Get dinner on the table in 30 minutes with this Easy Sweet and Sour Chicken. A fresh and healthy version with less calories, but tastes amazing with a homemade sweet and sour sauce. No need for Chinese takeaway anymore! Sweet and Sour Chicken Recently, my son’s kindergarten teacher asked me if I cooked sweet and sour chicken at home. At first blush, I thought she was asking me (you know, the only Asian mother
A gluten-free Sunken Chocolate Amaretto Cake served with whipped cream and amaretti biscuits. Easy to make and perfect for entertaining. Amaretto Cake If you have been following my Instagram Stories, you will have noticed that I have made this Sunken Chocolate Amaretto Cake no less than three times in the last month – it is that good!
A tasty recipe for Bun Cha – grilled Vietnamese meatballs served with a Vietnamese noodle salad with fresh herbs and citrus dipping sauce (nuoc cham). A healthy and delicious dish, perfect for lunch or dinner. Bun Cha My latest contribution to Discovery, the in-flight magazine for Cathay Pacific, is currently out now on all Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon flights. This month’s foodie feature is the classic Vietnamese dish called Bun Cha, consisting
A delicious and simple recipe with step-by-step photos for Chinese Barbecue Pork (Char Siu Pork) which you can make at home with everyday pantry ingredients in just 10 minutes! Char Siu Pork One thing I miss about living in Australia is being able to visit the local Chinatown, whether it be for a traditional Dim Sum breakfast, a browse through the colourful aisles of the Vietnamese grocer, or a visit to the Chinese bakery for their
Quick and easy Pad See Ew (Thai Stir-Fried Noodles) using fresh rice noodles or dried noodles, beef and vegetables. Have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes! Asian Noodles There are a few popular Asian grocery stores in Zurich which cater to the very small Asian population living here. But they are so popular that they often sell out of their fresh produce on the same day that they receive their
Delicious Raspberry Friands with step-by-step photos, including notes for making Mini Raspberry Friands. Friand Recipe If you are someone who, like me, makes a lot of custard, pastry or shortbread, you might find yourself with a lot of leftover egg whites. I follow Nigella Lawson’s tip to freeze egg whites in small zip-lock freezer bags – usually in pairs – which means that I always have egg whites on hand to make pavlovas,
Serve dinner in less than 30 minutes with this incredibly tasty and easy Coconut Chicken Noodle Stir Fry using basic Asian ingredients which you can find at your local supermarket. Coconut Chicken Noodle Stir Fry This is one of my go-to recipes for when I need to get dinner on the table quickly. Any by quick, we’re talking less than 30 minutes!
A delicious dairy-free and gluten-free lemon cake using whole lemons which are gently cooked until tender and then blitzed to produce a wonderfully moist cake. Gluten-Free Cake One of my favourite cakes to make at this time of the year is the Clementine Cake from Nigella Lawson’s How to Eat, a cake which Nigella has quoted as being one of the most popular from her first cookbook, one which happens to be a
A delicious Steak with Peppercorn Sauce (Steak au Poivre) which can be made in 30 minutes! Use beef fillet or filet mignon for a delicious treat with this easy and creamy peppercorn sauce. Steak with Peppercorn Sauce (Steak au Poivre) A nice piece of steak is hard to turn down, especially when it is served with a creamy peppercorn sauce. Served simply with some steamed greens or even just a green salad, Steak
Recipe for Chocolate Mousse with step-by-step photos. A classic recipe for a decadent Chocolate Mousse served with cocoa nibs or chocolate chips. A great dessert to make ahead when entertaining. Chocolate Mousse With summer in full swing in Europe at the moment, a chilled dessert is the ideal way to end a nice meal. That or a big bowl of ice-cream. And one can hardly go past the quintessential French classic, a mousse
This Grilled Thai Chicken is bursting with flavour with lots of lemongrass, coriander (cilantro), ginger and chillies in the marinade. You can roast, grill or barbecue the chicken for crispy and golden skin. Great to make on a weeknight or for entertaining. I love marinated and grilled chicken and am always on the lookout for new recipes, though I think my mum makes the best version which I have tried endlessly to recreate
How to cook artichokes – instructions for boiling, Instant Pot, pressure cooker, grilling and frying. Don’t be intimidated by artichokes any longer! Plus recipes for a delicious aioli and vinaigrette to go alongside. I adore artichokes. As a child, my mother would boil a whole artichoke for my dinner on those nights when she was preoccupied with other things or, more likely, fed up with cooking and needed to give me a no-fuss
Jamie Oliver’s Get Ahead Gravy is the perfect accompaniment to any roast. Make it ahead of time for maximum flavour with minimum stress! Christmas Gravy When it comes to roast dinners, I think the gravy can make or break the meal. And as someone who needs lashings and lashings of hot gravy with her roast potatoes, I take no chances in this department and always try to make my gravy ahead of time.
How to make and serve raclette, a traditional Swiss dish, at home with a raclette grill. Tips on what kind of cheese to use, and what to serve with raclette. Raclette The word raclette is both the name of a type of Swiss cheese and the name of the dish itself. As soon as the nights start to become a bit chilly, the Swiss can be seen tucking into a bubbling pot of
A quick and delicious recipe for cranberry sauce using fresh or frozen cranberries. Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson. Homemade Cranberry Sauce No Christmas feast is complete without some cranberry sauce, and considering how easy it is to make cranberry sauce from scratch, I would highly recommend doing so instead of reaching for the shop-bought kind.
Deliciously sweet, sticky and spicy cocktail sausages. Perfect for entertaining! As an expat living in Switzerland, it is hard to ignore comments about the cost of living here and how everything is extraordinarily expensive. Indeed, when you compare the cost of some products sold in neighbouring countries, the same product can sometimes be triple the cost in Switzerland.
A moist and flavourful Applesauce Cake. This apple bundt cake is popular in Switzerland and uses applesauce (or apple purée) to keep the cake moist and tender. Applesauce Cake Recipe Something the Swiss really love is applesauce (also called apple compote or apple purée); so much so, that it is an obligatory side dish to their version of macaroni and cheese. So when I came across a recipe some years ago for a
Make this easy Thai green curry paste and turn it into a delicious Thai Green Curry with Chicken or make it vegetarian with your favourite vegetables and tofu. The choices are endless! There comes a time during the week when I find myself with lots of bits of vegetables in the fridge, none which can be used on their own to make any meaningful meal, but it would be a shame and a
An easy & delicious recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs, perfect for a simple dinner or as part of a Chinese New Year meal. Chinese Tea Eggs Following on from my previous post where I shared my recipe for Chinese Turnip Cake, it seemed only fitting to also include my recipe for Chinese Tea Eggs. If you are planning a Chinese New Year lunch or dinner, or any Chinese-inspired feast, these Chinese Tea Eggs
This light and fluffy Vanilla Sponge Cake with Mascarpone Frosting is elegant and simple, and the cake itself is dairy-free. Top with any seasonal fruits of your choice, such as strawberries, raspberries, or even a mix of fruits. Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas celebration and a wonderful start to 2017. What are your New Years’ resolutions?
A simple and delicious Celeriac and Chestnut Soup. Christmas is often a time for indulgence, whether it be treating yourself or loved ones to a special gift (or three), or enjoying the festivities with an abundance of good food and maybe too much champagne. After feasting on Duck Confit Parmentier and multiple serves of our favourite Chestnut Cream Pavlova for Christmas lunch, my husband asked for a simple vegetable soup for dinner later
A Chocolate Pavlova with Chestnut Purée, which is perfect at Christmas or any time of the year! An easy chocolate pavlova recipe which is a delicious twist on a Mont Blanc dessert. A great recipe using sweetened chestnut purée. Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope you have all had a lovely Christmas celebration with your friends, family and loved ones. Christmas in our home today started with a leisurely breakfast … until the children
A stunning and delicious Roquefort Cheese Ball to impress your guests! A lovely Aussie friend was recently telling me about her menu plans for Thanksgiving, and my interest was piqued when she mentioned that she would be making a cheese ball for the appetiser. Her cheese ball, if she was still in Australia, would have been comprised of cream cheese with cheddar and good ol’ Coon, sprinkled with curry powder and decorated with fried onions. I was
