Spring is officially here now but what with all this cold weather and snow in recent weeks I’m still craving comfort food. I want warm dinners with meat and two veg and to light a candle on a cold evening and then snuggle up on the sofa feeling full and content! This cottage pie is so good, you’ll be going back for second helpings.
Britain is a nation of foodies, with 66% of UK adults describing themselves as passionate about food and drink. It comes as no surprise then that 50% say they are passionate about home cooking and 53% of millennials eat out at least once a week.
Dear Italy,
I fell in love with you a long time ago, your food, your language, your cobbled streets, your rolling hills. I hated history at school yet I fell in love with yours. I never thought I wanted a foreign man, even after I had spent five months emersed in Italian culture, but you sent me one anyway. You changed my life for the better.
I wanted to do a little twist on the classic leek and potato soup. The only way to get Ethan to eat sweet (“orange”) potato is in soup and he gobbled it down. It can’t have just been for the reason that I said as soon as they’d finished they could go back to watching their superhero programme on TV!
Ten years ago my first son was born, and immediately I fell in love with wanting to do everything I could to nurture and raise him well. Jul developed normally in so many ways and for the most part he was a happy little guy, but Jul was also suffering. He was unusually and frequently sick, he already had many negative reactions to breast milk and then foods, he was itchy and sensitive, the list goes on. At the time the doctors were stumped as to what was causing Jul to be so poorly and over time it only became worse.
This soup will store in an airtight container for a couple of days in the fridge or in the freezer for a few months. The recipe below serves two adults and two children with one portion left over for a lunch or dinner another day.
Bill’s in Nottingham is in a beautiful building. It used to be a bank. The ceilings are high but it feels quite cozy at the same time with sofa benches and velvet cushions on the wooden chairs. There were a few people in the restaurant at 10am but it was fairly quiet which was great for us as we got served immediately. There is a separate children’s menu and the portions for the boys were great.
This was the fourth time visiting the Pudding Pantry for me, third for the boys. When we really enjoy going somewhere, we go back again and again and we always order the same thing! I know we should probably try something different but I think we like to stick with what we’ve had before and know we love! The staff are so friendly, the service is fast and the food (and drink) really is delicious.
The Nottingham restaurant is set in a beautiful old building which was actually a merchant’s townhouse and has three floors including the cellar which houses the toilets which have been done up with period features. We were sat at a round table for 8 people in a semi-private room off one of the main rooms. This was great for the kids as it meant that when they had finished eating they could get up and walk around without bothering other people eating.
This recipe serves two adults and two children as an accompaniment to pasta for one meal with at least three portions left over for other meals. I served this with brown rice spaghetti to make it a gluten-free vegan meal but you can use normal wheat pasta.
I used nutritional yeast to give the sauce more flavour, if you don’t have this and are not avoiding dairy or dairy intolerant you can stir in some parmesan cheese before serving.