Chicken Parmigiana

This post upsets me a little bit. Because although this meal is DELICIOUS [I've made it twice in the past 5 days, and at two portions per pop, this amounts to four servings. In 5 days I've had ten proper meals (lunch & dinner), so this constitutes approximately 40% of my ingoings. And I STILL love it] it isn't exactly aesthetically impressive.

Oh sure, it's cheesy, and tomato-y, rich with roasted garlic and slight nuttiness from the pinenuts in the breadcrumbs, and a little beurre noisette in the sauce. But it has defied my every wish to photograph it in a fancy way.

This may be due to the fact that I have approximately 4 hours in which to shoot in natural sunlight now in Edinburgh, which doesn't coincide brilliantly with when I actually want to eat dinner. However, I challenge anyone to take a bite of this and not immediately proclaim how amazing it is. And with one chicken breast serving two hungry people, it's also good for those of us on a tighter budget. Recipe to follow.

Cranberry & walnut scones

I've been on a bit of a scone kick recently. Scones for breakfast, scones for a mid-morning tea break, scones for a lunchtime treat, scones for a mid-afternoon coffee break, scones at 11pm at night specially baked for my sick flatmate.

I even attempted [attempted being the key word here] to make clotted cream to go with all these scones, but it didn't turn out brilliantly. At all. So, as I have absolutely no self control when it comes to having baked goods in the flat, I bagged up a few cranberry and walnut babies, and sent them off to my friend's mother [hello fi!], along with a little jar of apple butter.

These scones are AMAZING though, especially when fresh baked - I'm a bit gutted I can't take credit for the recipe. Which is after the jump.

Stilton and fig scones

Scone. Or scone, however you want to pronounce it. The different pronunciations of scone [rhyming with John and Joan] was rumoured to be a key issue in the enmity between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown - which is why I endeavour never to correct a man about his pastries.

Easy to throw together, perfect for a mid morning snack, heavenly with some salted French butter. Recipe after the jump

Raspberry, mascarpone and dark chocolate pavlova with crystallised mint leaves

I'm still aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive. And hello deliciousness. Not only does this desert have the twin joys of mascarpone AND chocolate, it's summery, easy to make, and the crystallised mint leaves recently reduced grown men to childish curiosity. "What is?? How did you do it?? It's crunchy!!"


How did I do it? First, visit six different shops in order to buy fresh mint leaves, brush each leaf with egg white on both sides, coat in sugar and then leave to air dry for six hours. If you happen to live near a normal shop, which has normal things like mint leaves, you may forgo the other five shops.