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I received Salt Fat Acid Heat for Christmas and read through the food science part.

I wanted to play around with using fresh rose petals and thought a risotto might be a way of playing around with the flavours. It didn't come out quite as well as I had hoped, and the rose flavour was fainter than I had intended, but it was a tasty dinner and an interesting experiment, so I thought it worth sharing. Interestingly, the flavours came out more once I added some honey. Ingredients: 3 tbsp olive oil 1 onion, chopped 1 sweet potato, chopped 3 c fresh rose petals, mostly yellow 1 1/2 c Arborio rice 3/4 c whey 2 1/2 c rosé wine 1 c parmesan 1 tbsp honey 1) Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a saucepan and add the Arborio rice. Sauté until translucent then add the whey. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently. 2) Meantime, heat the remaining oil in a frying pan and sauté onion until translucent. Add sweet potato and cook until tender. 3) Gradually add the rosé to the rice as the liquid is absorbed, and continue stirring. 4) When sweet potatoes are tender and just beginning to brown, add rose petals and cook, stirring, until they wilt. Set aside. 5) When the liquid has been absorbed into the rice and it is tender, add parmesan and stir in. Add honey and then vegetables. Serve hot. This one had mixed results. It may be that the combined whey and rosé were too acidic. Or it may be that the parmesan was too strong a flavour for the poor rose petals. Either way, initially, it was a little disappointing. Once we added the honey, it tasted nice, but not spectacular and the rose flavour was not very strong. I'd like to try rose petals in a water-based infusion next as they don't seem to be very lipophilic. In neither the oil nor the milk have they given up particularly strong flavours when fresh. Still a tasty dinner though, and as far as failures go, very definitely edible, although not what I had been aiming for.

After a big shop for fresh veg (and not quite enough fridge space for everything), craving something quick and easy, but healthy and tasty, I pulled this together and it made a great dinner! And the Wonderbag, as so often happens, helped a huge amount (use a crock pot or slow cooker). Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 2 onions, chopped 1/2 head of garlic, chopped 2 carrots, chopped 2 zucchini, chopped 1 sweet potato, chopped 2 c roasted pumpkin (I pulled mine out of the freezer from the stash I set aside during pumpkin season) 2 tsp zathar 2 tsp sumac salt and pepper to taste 400 g chickpeas 1 c bulgur wheat 1) Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pot and sauté the onions and garlic until fragrant. Add the other vegetables except the pumpkin, and the spices and stir. Allow some of the veg to char a little. 2) Add the pumpkin, the chickpeas, bulgur and enough water to cover everything to about 1 cm above the level of the veg. 3) Bring to a simmer and then place in a Wonderbag or crockpot, or keep over medium heat until the water has largely been absorbed and the veg is tender, about 45 minutes. Serve. So it took slightly longer for the veg to cook than I thought, but this was so tasty, with surprisingly complex flavours given the very little seasoning that went into the dish. It worked both fresh and as a leftover and was very satisfying. I hope you enjoy it too!

I love Scotch eggs, preferably the good kind, rather than the petrol station kind. I figured they would make for easy, portable food for all of us and it would give me a chance to try We had these cold as picnic food (aside from the ones tasted straight out of the fryer).

Mushrooms and celery are also good, although not included in this particular one. , like many others, never comes out the same way twice, and I feel that this batch was particularly good As with other favourite dishes, it's a good fridge clearer dish, where almost any veg in the fridge can

I've been playing around with the idea of making a rose cake for a while so I decided that now was a good The Genoese sponge version was good, but drier and had even less of a rose flavour.

Ginger Snaps are always a favourite at this time of year, and baking a variety of Christmas cookies is a joy of the season (as perhaps suggested by my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies last year). As part of it, I posted a Ginger Snap recipe (on the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me one ginger snap). They, of course, had to be on the roster for this year, but I wanted to tweak them a little, mainly with the addition of pieces of candied ginger and orange peel, and by increasing the powdered ginger. I didn't have quite enough molasses, so the 1/4 c of molasses was completed with some honey). Ingredients: 2 c flour 2 tsp baking powder 1 tsp ginger 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp cloves 3/4 c butter 1 c sugar + 1/4 c to roll the cookies in after 1 egg 1/4 c molasses and honey (about 2 tbsp honey, the rest molasses) 2 tsp grated tangerine peel 2 tsp dried orange peel bits, briefly candied with the ginger 3/4 c candied ginger pieces 1) Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg and molasses (with honey) and mix until smooth. Add tangerine zest, orange peel and candied ginger. 2) Gradually add the dry ingredients, and stir to form cookie dough. Chill for 30 minutes at least. 3) Roll the dough into marble-sized balls and then roll in the remaining 1/4c of sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet with at least double the size of the marbles between the balls of dough - these spread! Bake at 180°C for 10 minutes. I love these! The smell of ginger snaps baking is so reminiscent of Christmas time for me, and of baking as a family growing up, with friends, and now with my own little family. I really enjoyed this year's tweaks and hope you do too!

As with a lot of the food I make, I enjoy the versatility of a dish like this.

Late last year, my sister, a friend and I agreed to start on a new project with the new year, making different recipes in 3 different ways, each putting our own spin on it. (For more on our Variations on a Theme project, check out the main page)With the new year now underway, there has been some discussion back and forth for a few weeks now as to what we should make for our first recipe, and last week we lit on brownies. No firm plans were made yet, but we each agreed to start thinking about what we wanted to do and to set a date soon to lay down the ground rules and to cook. And then this weekend I was on night shifts on a very busy surgical ward (we barely sat down all night). Around about 4 in the morning I had a craving for brownies, which obviously couldn't be satisfied then and there, but I sent out a message asking that we have a call and make our brownies Sunday evening or Monday. The other two agreed, and I am extremely grateful, as last night I was able to satisfy the previous night's craving! So here is our first Variation on a Theme! Traditional Brownies with a Twist by my Sister Experimental Peanutbutter Brownies by me Vegan Pomegranate Fudge Brownies By Hibiscus Kook All in all, this was a very fun project! Looking forward to trying Hibiscus Kook's brownies, and I really enjoyed seeing where each of us went with these. And for the next one, pancakes coming up! SO watch this space...

Having porridge most mornings of my life, sometimes it's nice to mix it up a little and change the flavours and textures. Here are a few autumn/winter flavours that we've been enjoying over here! Pumpkin Pie Oats: 1 c oats 1/2 - 3/4 c pumpkin (I roast mine then mash it up as the tins are unavailable here) 2c milk 1/4 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp orange peel 1 tbsp chia seeds 3 cloves A generous grating of nutmeg Apple Cocoa Oatmeal 1 c oats 3/4 c apple sauce 1 1/2 c milk 1 tbsp cacao nibs 1 tsp cinnamon (We trialled this one with the quantities of milk and apple sauce roughly reversed, but the oats came out too stodgy and not creamy enough. With proportions this way around, they are creamy and taste almost like apple pie oats). Candied Sweet Potato Porridge 1 c oats 3/4 c sweet potato, roasted and mashed 1/2 tsp cardamom 1/4 tsp tumeric 1/4 tsp fenugreek powder 1 tbsp ground almonds 1 -2 tsp brown sugar Apple Cranberry Oats 1 c oats 2 c apple juice 1/4 c dried cranberries 1 tsp cinnamon sugar For any of these, they can either be assembled the night before and left to soak overnight, or tossed in a saucepan in the morning. Either way, place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring slowly to a simmer. Cook until they have reached the desired consistency (I like mine creamy, but others prefer their past a bit thicker). Add raisins or sugar to taste. Alternatively, place all ingredients in a baking dish and leave to soak overnight. Bake at 180°C for about 25-30 minutes until thickened and golden. If you bake it, a little almond sprinkled over the top is beauteous. We use either whole oats or finer cut ones. My favourites are the coarser ones, but they never cook as smooth and creamy as the finer ones. Either will work for these.