Instant Pot Spicy Rice

Smoky, spicy rice with sweet red peppers and peas. Cooked in the Instant Pot (electric pressure cooker), for perfect results every time! Inspired by Nandos' spicy rice, with added veg for a little more colour and goodness. This recipe is medium-high spice and if you like it a little more or even less spicy, it's easily customisable to your taste! 

Great to serve up as a main dish or as a side - the recipe makes a generous amount, so if cooking for fewer people you could also halve it, or make the full batch and pop the leftovers in the freezer for an even easier dinner another night!

Sumac Salad with Smoky Croutons

A delicious salad with a fresh and tangy sumac dressing, crispy smoky croutons and chopped pistachios. A fantastic lunch or light dinner, packed with flavour, texture and plenty of nutrients. 

Sumac is a fresh spice, bright red-pink in appearance with a tangy lemony flavour...it's used liberally in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines...you might have seen it garnishing your hummus. It works perfectly with the fresh veg, smoky croutons and creamy pistachios! The croutons are packed with flavour, add a fantastic crunch and are a great way to use up slightly stale bread too!

Fermented Cashew Cream Cheese

This next recipe is one of my absolute favourites - tangy, creamy and incredibly smooth fermented (cultured) cashew cream cheese. Not only is it delicious but it's also super healthy, packed with vitamins, minerals and probiotics, so it's also great for gut health.

My favourite way to enjoy this recipe is on homemade sourdough with some crunchy sauerkraut, but you can use it anywhere that you'd normally use cream cheese. I've been experimenting with this recipe for months and my favourite thing about it is that it's so light and fluffy. You'd think because it's blended nuts it may feel a little heavy, but the fermentation process - which only takes around a day - makes it fluffy and mousse-like, so it spreads like a dream and feels light too. The cultured part of this recipe, which you add to the cashews to facilitate fermentation (more on this below) creates that signature tang you're looking for in cream cheese and there are a number of options to make this perfect for savoury or sweet application! 

Aubergine & Pistachio Tagliatelle

This dish just screams summer...roasted aubergine and chopped pistachios with a delicious fresh and zesty sauce made from capers, chili, olive oil, lemon, herbs and a chopped tomato. Perfectly enjoyed whilst dining al fresco, with a glass of wine and great company!

This is one of my favourite dishes this summer, I made it a few times with homemade pasta, but this recipe features dried tagliatelle with little compromise on flavour or texture, for a dish ready in a fraction of the time. We enjoyed this dish for my birthday this year back in June, served with some fresh sourdough, extra virgin olive oil and balsamic and some olives on the table, a glass of red and some ice-cold limoncello for dessert. It wasn't quite Italy, or an Italian restaurant, but it was perfect nonetheless. 

Grilled Courgettes & Chili Sesame Dressing

Ah, summer...warm weather, long evenings, BBQs and an abundance of courgettes! If you're growing courgettes, or as you might call them zucchini or summer squash right now, you might be looking for new ways to enjoy the bountiful crop! 

These are simply sliced, grilled and topped with a spicy chili soy and sesame dressing - all the incredible flavour absorbed into the charred slices fresh off the grill! Whether it's a BBQ or a griddle pan, this is such a simple and incredible way to enjoy courgettes.