Black pepper beef is one of those enduring dishes that's on every Chinese takeaway menu. This dish is super easy and really quick to bring together at home with just a few ingredients. Beef and black pepper are bold flavours and the combination will make your mouth water and your taste buds tingle.
Fried chicken is one of the true joys in life, it's heralded in many parts of the world and done differently wherever you go. The Japanese version is known as Chicken Karaage and it's absolutely delicious, particularly when dunked in some rich Kewpie mayonnaise, spiked with Japanese seven spice. I've served my Karaage with a simple slaw that I dressed with a really great sweet miso and sesame dressing and some plain rice.
If you've ever thought vegetarian food is slightly dull, hold on to your hats... this simple one-pot dish based on the humble chickpea absolutely packs in the flavour. The soft creamy chickpeas are cooked in a richly flavoured tomato sauce with a good splash of Fino sherry, dried chilli and smoked paprika. The dish is finished with roasted peppers, creamy aioli made with olive oil, a scattering of fresh parsley and a chunk of grilled sourdough.
There is something quite magical about a good fish stew, it packs in so much flavour, yet is still fresh, light and healthy. A great fish stew doesn't need to be complicated - if you can get hold of some fresh white fish and a few mussels or clams, foodie greatness awaits with just a few key store cupboard ingredients and about 45 minutes of your time.
Our black rice is the perfect foil for the assertive flavour of asparagus and with some sweet preserved tomatoes, crisp radish, nutty edamame beans, fresh herbs and a delicious garlic and lemon dressing, this dish is a total winner.
A good mole has layers of contrasting, rich sweet and savoury flavours in the sauce. Pasilla and Ancho chillies combine to give a lovely roasted fruitiness with mild chilli heat, whilst the cocoa and spices lend themselves perfectly to this unctuous, velvety sauce. There's good reason why 125 million Mexican's go nuts for it and they've made it their national dish.
A few years ago I was lucky enough to go on a cycling tour with a few mates where we followed the Ebro River in Spain, from its source, down into the famous Rioja wine region. As this was a self-guided tour we were given two pieces of advice when it came to lunch stops.
Chicken soup is soul food in the purest form. It's simple, healthy and good for your very being. Poaching chicken meat has gone out of fashion here in the UK. Admittedly you do lose the gooey, sticky caramelised bits that are so good when roasting a whole bird - but there are real benefits that come from gently simmering a chicken. As well as soft, juicy, tender meat - you end up with a wonderful broth to use as the base for a hearty soup.
This is a great warm bao bun sandwich recipe - incorporating layers of flavour and texture so each mouthful is a sensory explosion. This recipe cranks up the umami dial with sweet, sticky umami pork, contrasting with sharp pickles, crunchy veg textures, creamy mayo and fragrant herbs.
Ready for a cauliflower renaissance? No more soggy, over-cooked mush, cauliflower deserves to be a dinner-plate hero! This humble vegetable is simply transformed when roasted - it's sweet and nutty with hints of smoky charring on the edges.
Kung Pao Chicken - sometimes called Gong Boa - is a really simple stir fry recipe that's full of rich umami flavours spiked with the holy trinity of Chinese ingredients - chilli, ginger and garlic - seasoned with mouth-tingling Sichuan pepper and soy sauce. It's a classic for good reason - dark, sticky, sweet and sour and really tasty, quick and easy to make.
This really simple dish is a foodie take on fish and chips and it's totally transformed with our new Mojo Rojo sauce. Originating in Spain, this utterly delicious sauce combines red peppers with red wine vinegar, garlic and sweet paprika - it just seems to be greater than the sum of it's parts.
Our Sau Tao Taiwan style wide cut noodles are key to making this dish so good, they are lovely long ribbon noodles with crimped edges that are slightly chewy, taste great and look really funky. Mixed with some intense and spicy XO sauce and a little zingy Vietnamese nouc cham, a salty, sour and sweet dressing made using fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, garlic, fresh chilli and lime juice, the combination is fantastic.
An Indonesian street food classic and one of the tastiest dishes on the planet. Chunks of beef gently simmered in coconut milk with lemongrass, galangal, cardamom, cinnamon and lime leaves, the flavour combination is sensational. Unlike many other 'wet' curries, Rendang is cooked until most of the liquid has reduced, concentrating the flavours and making it super tasty.
Nasi Goreng might sound exotic, but foodies this is one of THE BEST dishes for using up all those random odds and ends lurking in the depths of your fridge - especially if you have some leftover cold rice too. The secret weapon here is kecap manis, it's a wonderfully sweet and savoury Indonesian soy sauce that tastes amazing, it's the perfect seasoning for the rice and brings all the flavours together perfectly.
There are times when a comforting bowl of pasta is all that's needed and I cook this regularly because it's so simple and tasty.It's almost a complete 'store cupboard' meal that you can throw together with minimal fuss. Fusilli pasta is my shape of choice for this dish, using a great quality pasta such as our Armando range, makes a noticeable difference.
These noodles are delicious and cook really quick. Albeit that these are EGG noodles, they are made using duck egg, which means that for my wife who has an allergy to eggs she is not affect by these noodles. What more can I say…brilliant.
The linseeds, pumpkin seeds, chia seeds and sunflower seeds are delicious and perfect for popping in the bread maker to perk up our toast! Cheaper and better packaging than the supermarkets too.
