Basic Turkey Gravy / Butter and Soy Sauce / Sweet Potato Risotto

Blog Post & Recipe: How to: Make Turkey Gravy…Revisited

I figured it was worth publishing my recipe and troubleshooting tips again this year. This recipe does not involve adding wine or herbs, though those things can provide very satisfying results, too. Rather, this version is as basic as turkey gravy recipe can get.

Blog Post & Recipe: The Dynamic Duo: Butter and Soy Sauce

It's a one-two punch that works fantastically with so many ingredients: all manner of mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli, zucchini, shrimp, scallops, flounder fillets and more. First sauté the ingredient in butter, and when it's just cooked through, drizzle in soy sauce. Cook a little more and it's done.

Blog Post & Recipe: Meatless Monday: Sweet Potato Risotto

Most risottos take a fair amount of time and quite of bit of babysitting while you slowly add stock to the rice, gently coaxing it into creaminess. Not this one. Instead, you boil the rice for about 15 minutes, add it to the skillet with the sweet potatoes, onion and ginger, and use the wine and the mascarpone to instantly give you that signature, melt-in-your-mouth, creamy consistency that everyone expects from a risotto.

Concept: cook with butter and soy sauce.

Roast Shoulder of Lamb + Apple & Toffee Cake / Roast Chicken & Butternut Squash Fusilli / Fried Winter Squash with Gorgonzola Butter

Article & Recipes: Put a shoulder into it

A slowly roasted lamb falling off the bone by the forkful, followed by some sweet appley goodness makes for two courses of pure pleasure.

Roast shoulder of lamb with onions and potatoes ... Apple and toffee cake

Blog Post & Recipes: The Best Reason to Roast Hot Hot Hot

A while back I watched a Jamie Oliver Meals in Minutes show and he was making a roasted chicken dinner in under 30 minutes. Impossible you say... not when you cut out the spine, flatten it and blast it at 500°F/260°C...

Roasted Herb & Garlic Spatchcock Chicken ... roasted butternut ... Roasted Chicken & Butternut Squash Fusilli

Article & Recipe: Discovering a new squash: The Rugosa butternut

There are many good things about Rugosa, but I especially like that the seed cavity is quite small and the squash is quite large, which means you have a great deal of solid flesh at your disposal for gratins or other dishes with large intact pieces. Another plus is that the flesh is smooth and creamy, like a butternut, but not quite as sweet — rich, but with more chestnut in its bite.

Fried Winter Squash with Gorgonzola Butter

Concept: roast very hot

Tandoori Paste / Cottage Cheese Breakfast / Umami Butter

Recipe: Spices - Tandoori Paste

The main flavour in a ready-made tandoori paste is cardamom, and the red colour comes from mild Kashmiri chilli and paprika. Since cardamom produces a very strong aroma, only a small amount is used.

Blog Post & Recipe: A healthy breakfast for one

Just wanted to share a neat breakfast idea that I got from the Swedish Allt om Mat magazine - frukostkeso. It was a lovely change from the usual yogurt/cereal/open sandwich type of start to the day.

Cottage Cheese Breakfast (Hommikune kodujuust)

Blog Post & Recipe: Umami Butter - Your fridge is your friend

Top of my list are the typical umami representatives: Anchovies, tomato paste, black olives, parmesan, matched by fresh herbs, lemon zest, garlic and some additional spices. While I love to nibble the umami butter straight from the bowl (oh yes!), this kind of butter found its true calling toasted on thick slices of sourdough bread

Fried Egg with Burnt Sage Butter, Chilli & Garlicky Yoghurt / Scones / Teriyaki Tofu Noodle Bowl

Blog Post & Recipe: Skye Gyngell’s fried egg with burnt sage butter, chilli and garlicky yoghurt

Gyngell gives this rather useless (and weirdly pornographic) advice about how to tell whether your eggs are fresh: ‘Very fresh eggs have bright, shiny yolks that sit proudly on top of bouncy, thick whites as you crack them into the pan.'

Article & Recipe: How to bake the perfect scone

For some tips on how to turn leaden rocks into luscious scones I turned to the organisation responsible for producing tens of thousands of them each year at the Sydney and Melbourne agricultural shows, The Country Women’s Association

Blog Post & Recipe: Teriyaki Tofu Noodle Bowl

Teriyaki sauce is really easy to make at home. Just whisk together sugar, mirin and sake (or vinegar), and let it boil to thicken. You can use this sauce as a marinade on vegetables, brush it over anything you are grilling, or toss it in some rice or noodles.

Cep Ravioli, Sage & Toasted Nut Butter / Spring Vegetable Ragout & Spring Vegetables Baked in Parchment / Pasta e Broccoli

Article & Recipes & Pictures: Raymond Blanc's cep ravioli, sage and toasted nut butter recipe

Ravioli is a dish of endless variation, and learning how to make it from scratch is a technique well worth mastering

Article & Recipes: The California Cook: Seasonal vegetable stew is easy, delicious

The basic rules for vegetable stews are few, but they are simple: You want some onions; you want whole cloves of garlic, preferably unpeeled; you want some lettuces or greens for moisture; and you want butter … lots of butter.

Recipes: Ragout of spring vegetables and spring vegetables baked in parchment

Blog Post & Recipe: Dinner Tonight: Pasta e Broccoli

What really works with the famous pasta e broccoli is that if you cook it long enough, the parboiled broccoli breaks up into the pasta and almost melts into a pasta-clinging sauce when combined with the cooking water. Increasing the ratio of broccoli-to-pasta not only makes the dish a bit healthier, but better too.

Swede Tart / Steak Slice with Lemon & Thyme / 10 Pumpkin Dishes

Blog Post & Recipe: Swedeaphobia Cure

Here is a delicious recipe for one of UK’s most unpopular vegetables.

The blogger doesn't name the recipe, but it looks like a savoury swede/rutabaga tart with a layer of crumbs on top

Blog Post & Recipe: Have you ever marinated your meat after cooking it?!

Nigella's Steak Slice with Lemon & Thyme

Serve up the sliced steak with a bit of the marinade drizzled over the top. And your au naturale sweet potato...with just a slathering of moisturizer.

Blog Post & Recipe: Top 10 Pumpkin Dishes

Pumpkin Pie ... Pumpkin Puree ... Toasted Pumpkin Seeds ... Pumpkin Pie Milkshake ... Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream ... Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread ... Pumpkin Butter ... Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake ... Savoury Pumpkin Pie (Kolokithopita) ... Pumpkin and Black Bean Soup

Beet & Coconut Curry / Brandade / Butter & Brioche

Blog Post & Recipe: Roasted Beet and Coconut Curry

I added a bit of raw beet to the curry along with the cooked beet for a bit more texture. I used my beet greens in a previous recipe, but if you have them, I highly recommend you include a small bunch near the end of the cooking time.

Blog Post & Recipe: Word of Mouth: Brandade

Originating from the south-central French regions of Languedoc and Provence, brandade is a simple, yet hearty spread made of salt cod, olive oil, and milk. Sometimes garlic or potatoes are added.

Blog Post & Recipe: A Butter Tip-Sheet + A Recipe for Brioche

The recipe is linked to the last paragraph.

The acid in butter is less talked about than the fat, but it's no less important in terms of taste and the way it works with dough. In fact, a butter rich in lactic acids will have a very different taste from 'regular' butter, a taste which comes from 'culturing' or fermenting the cream before it is churned into butter.

Deep-Fried Butter. Chinese Braised Beef Ribs. Washing Dishes.

Recipe: How to make your own deep-fried butter [Warning: this newspaper sometimes decides not to let you see a page until you've signed up. There is another deep-fried butter recipe here and a photograph of the original deep-fried butter here.]

The butter center must be made ahead and frozen to ensure perfect crispy outside with a creamy center.

Blog Post & Recipe: Chinese Braised Beef Ribs

Ribs need a good long cook to ensure they are not tough so I went for a slow-braise rather than a roast and although my first thought was red wine instead I want for something with some spice.

Blog Post: How To: Hand Wash Dishes To Conserve Water

... we wanted to find out what tweaks we could make to our dishwashng [sic] routine to conserve water...

Start with two basins ... Use an eco-friendly dishwashing detergent ... Scrape your dishes well ... Let the well-scraped dishes soak ... Plug your sink ... Rinse the soapy dishes ... Use the greywater

Baked Brie. Dry Vegetables. Soft Butter.

Article: Two-Minute Expert: How to quick-dry veggies

An easy way to get spinach, herbs, greens and grated potatoes dry is as close as a kitchen towel.

Pile the goods in the middle of a lint-free kitchen towel, such as a flour-sack towel, that you don't mind getting stained. Fold over the long ends to cover and twist. Repeat wringing as often as necessary to get the goods dry.

Blog Post: Tip: How to Soften Butter Quickly

The best thing to do to soften your butter is to put it out on the kitchen counter for an hour before you have to use it. But sometimes we don't think that far ahead ...

Here's a simple trick to soften butter quickly using some wax paper and a rolling pin.

Recipe: Baked Brie

• 1/2 cup sliced almonds

• 2 tablespoons dried cranberries

• 1/4 Granny Smith apple, cored and cut into wedges with each wedge cut into 3 pieces

• 1/2 tablespoon Grand Marnier

• 1/2 tablespoon Amaretto

• 1 tablespoon brown sugar

• Pinch salt

• 1 (13.2-ounce) wheel brie

Chickpeas.

Article/recipe: Skye Gyngell pays homage to the mighty chickpea.

Includes recipes for scallops with chickpeas, mint and chilli; buffalo mozzarella, chickpeas, red pepper and olives; chickpeas with fried eggs, labne, burnt sage and chilli butter; and chickpea, tomato, chard and bread soup. Be aware that The Independent screens its articles behind sign-in walls after they have been on the site for a few days.

I love the gentle, nutty flavour of chickpeas and the way they sit so comfortably with the heat of chillis, lemon juice, olive oil and herbs such as mint and coriander. I love them partly pounded with olive oil and finished with lemon juice, chilli, garlic and tahini paste to form a rough type of houmous eaten on toast or simply with flat bread.