As I am currently in Canada for the Paracycling Track World Championships, I thought it only right that I should feature an ingredient this week that is native to Canada. Therefore I have chosen to write about maple syrup. Maple syrup is the sap of …
Leeks are from the same family of vegetables as onion and garlic. They are made up of two parts, the long thin stem, which is white and the green tip, which fans out at the end. The white part makes up around two thirds of …
I’m surprised it has taken me so long to feature sweet potato as one of my ingredients of the week, as I cook with them so regularly, love to eat them and they are incredibly good for me. They are a root vegetable like carrot, …
I always associate hake with Mallorca. This is because on the first British Cycling training camp I went on back in 2010, every night we would have to choose between hake or steak for our tea and that was basically all I ate for the …
I hated sprouts as a child. If I’m honest they still aren’t my favourite vegetable, but I have now learned how to cook them to my liking and that when paired with the right ingredients, you can actually make them taste quite nice. They are …
Chestnuts are something I associate with Christmas time. The obvious is chestnuts roasting on an open fire but also turkey with chestnut and sage stuffing. They are not an ingredient I ate or knew much about as a child, but this year I’ve tried to …
The majority of people seem to only ever eat turkey around Christmas time. A recent survey suggests that over 75% of British families have turkey for their dinner on Christmas Day and over 10 million turkeys are consumed in Britain over the festive period. Turkey …
Barley is one of the world’s oldest, cultivated cereals and can be successfully grown in many climates, making it a staple grain in many cuisines. Most people know it for its use in making beer, but it is also incredibly nutritious and cheap. It is …
Turnip is another vegetable that my Dad successfully grew this year in his allotment, which meant as usual when this happens, that I had to come up with new recipes to use them up. As a child, because my name was Turnham, I was sometimes …
Samphire is a vibrantly green, leafy vegetable grown near the sea. There are two types, marsh and rock. Marsh is more readily available and is far more pleasant to eat. Rock is generally found in the Mediterranean and has a rather unpleasant smell and taste. …
Spinach is a dark green, leafy vegetable coming from the chenopodiaceae or goosefoot family of plants, the same as beetroot, chard and surprisingly quinoa. It is one of the most popular vegetables I include in my diet. This is hardly surprising as it is so …
Coley is a white fish coming from the same family as cod. Even though it is classed as white, it has a slightly darker colouring than cod and has a stronger, denser texture that doesn’t flake as easy. It tastes slightly more meaty and earthy …