Week 12 in (partial) lockdown. Some restrictions are easing, but we remain cautious, taking it one day at a time, with occasional trips to the local supermarket.

Every home cook can pair and ‘bounce’ flavours! Understanding which foods go well together and matching flavours has long been the preserve of top chefs. Given that many of us are still in lockdown, this might be the moment to get your head around Flavour Combos.

This week has flown by – creating a Signature Menu for our upcoming early May bank holiday weekend. What I love about these mini-breaks is the opportunity to push out the boat for friends and family. But, this year, in the ‘new norm’ we have to come together virtually - sharing seasonal recipes that we can all cook, bringing us together!

Chefs, food writers, bloggers and vloggers are great for introducing you to recipes, and how to make them, but they cannot make them personal to you.

I love cooking. Never a week goes by without some new idea for a dish or a menu. Inspiration comes from all sorts of places: magazine articles, restaurant reviews, a new deli discovered, a holiday recounted, a fond memory jolted. Sometimes I get an idea that spurs me into immediate action and off I go to market: a woman on a mission. More often, however, there is an idea of something that just hangs around, like a forlorn dog waiting for its mistress to take it out for a walk…