food, glorious food

I think that given my history in the kitchen (I’m way better at opening packets and putting things in bowls than I am actual cooking) the title of this post might be a teeny bit optimistic, but finally getting our kitchen sorted means that I’ve been spending quite a bit of time imagining myself as some sort of masterchef-type-food-hero. Surely, a new worktop and shiny tiles will turn me into the next Nigella, no? OK, so maybe not, but it hasn’t stopped me saving new recipes and daydreaming over fancy kitchen gadgets; I’ve already got a food processor, but I’ve always fancied one of those posh ones that they have on the Breat British Bake Off, all smooth curves and vintage styling. The lovely folk at Tesco have just produced a really helpful guide to buying food processors, so if you’re anything like me and you usually judge gadgets on their colour rather than function, it could be useful reading!

I’ve spent so long pinning, copy-and-pasting and bookmarking that I thought I’d share some of my favourite sources of inspiration for recipes and cooking. Please note, though, I’ve not actually got round to making anything yet!

Chickpea Magazine


Oh my Lord, where to start with Chickpea magazine? I first discovered it in the reading rack in Southsea Coffee and despite not being vegan (it’s a magazine with recipes aimed at vegans and vegetarians), I adore it. The images are worthy of sticking on the wall, the recipes sound lip-smackingly good, and the best news is that they produce a digital version (see above) for the princely sum of $5, which works out at about £3. Worth every penny!

Veggie Magazine


I picked up a copy of Veggie magazine a couple of weeks ago in Waitrose – if I’m honest, I was mostly attracted by the lovely cover (sorry!), but also the feature on summer salads. I love a good salad, but I’m always fairly uninspired and unimaginative when it comes to ingredients, so this automatically caught my eye. Inside was a pleasant surprise – not only are there heaps of lovely recipes which don’t require ingredients that can only be found at the far-flung corners of the globe, there are also features on travel, growing and some really good interviews. This issue had a piece on Saffia Minney. Squee!

Pinterest

Kind of obvious, but Pinterest is a great place to head for recipes – a lot of the time I pin stuff just because the food photography is so unbelievably beautiful. My absolute favourite food account to follow is A Couple Cooks – they cover absolutely everything and the images are just amazing. Makes me hungry just thinking about it!

Columns


There are two chefs who actually make me go out and buy a newspaper for their columns – one is Nigel Slater, and the other is Yotam Ottolenghi. In my eyes, Nigel Slater can literally do no wrong – I’ve watched all of his programmes over and over on the iPlayer and YouTube (although not quite as many times as I’ve watched Alys Fowlers series!), got all of his books either on my shelves or on my wishlist, and thoroughly enjoyed Toast (if you’ve not watched it, do). I love how his recipes use good, honest ingredients, and are simple enough for even a complete kitchen-fool like me to follow. I’ve never actually made anything by Yotam Ottolenghi, but am a bit obsessed with his Plenty book.

This is a collaborative post.