Cheese, Tomato & Herbs Muffins

I made these savoury muffins for a friend's house-warming party. As we had planned to go round to hers straight after work I needed something that could have been made the evening before, be easily transportable and did not require to be stored in the fridge. So I came up with this idea! The flavour combinations for savoury muffins can truly be endless. I gave mine an Italian twist using cherry tomatoes, basil and oregano.

Sole in a Lemon & White Wine Sauce with Parsley Potatoes

Sole has been the star of our lunch last Saturday. This was lemon sole in particular; not that it naturally tastes of lemon at all :-) I understand it is called that because of its shape, which is supposed to remind one of the citrus fruit. Anyways, maybe inspired by its name, I have decided to include lemon amongst the ingredients of this dish, alongside white wine, which everybody knows marries well with fish. Coating the sole with flour will establish the foundation for your sauce, which in Italy is known as "alla mugnaia", which means "millman's sauce" - because of the flour it involves. I find it a very poetic name! The parsley potatoes are a side dish I learnt from my dad; I suggest you use waxy potatoes, which better hold their shape.

Stringy Pasta

This recipe is 'dedicated' to the people that say they don't have time to cook. It takes about 15 minutes to make from scratch, it is healthy, tasty and definitely more rewarding to eat than something that has just come out of the microwave. Pretty much all the ingredients bar the mozzarella are stuff that people tend to have in their cupboard anyways, so it takes very little planning from your side. A tip on the mozzarella: you can buy it and freeze it on the day of purchase, so you will have it handy when you decide to cook this dish and won't even have to go to the shops!

Octopus, Potato & Roasted Tomato Salad

Octopus, what a delicacy! If you have never tried it, do it at the first occasion as you do not know what you have been missing until now; if you are too squeamish to do so...well, shame on you :-) These creatures are extremely fascinating, and I have often admired them under water through the lenses of my snorkelling mask, lurking amongst the rocks of some cliff in the Mediterranean sea, waiting patiently for their prey to swim within reach of their tentacles. I also find them equally captivating on my plate, with their tender, delicate but oh so flavoursome flesh. If you cook octopus slowly and for long enough, you'll find there is no need to beat it about with a meat hammer or such to tenderise it, so it is also rather easy to prepare. Here's a recipe for a tasty summer salad.

Gratin of Mussels

I am normally not one for fiddly food that requires a long preparation: these mussels are the exception to my rule. And why is that, you will wonder? Because a single mouthful of their juicy flesh, covered in that golden, cheesy crust, is enough to repay me for the time spent in the kitchen scrubbing them clean, opening them all one by one, scraping the flesh from both shells to go into one and stuffing them with the various ingredients. If this hasn't put you off already from attempting to prepare this dish, please give them a go. I promise you won't regret having put in the effort!