Sides

All recipes featured are our own unless otherwise stated. We love to cook and our inspiration comes from everywhere. We have travelled the world, eaten out in countless places and about to lose count of our literary food based collection. Ingredients are always fresh, we very rarely use processed food, everything is achievable at home if you want it to be.

Please feel free to rate, comment or give feedback on anything you see, cook yourself or just have an opinion on. We won’t bite back, promise.

Spicy Southwestern Garbanzo Beans or Chickpeas to usThis was a recipe from an old American cook book that I have adapted to suit my taste which is for it to be more spicy and less sweet, this dish is quite addictive and can be served hot or room temperature, serve with rice, pickles, flatbreads, on toast or just on their own with a spoon
Purple potato, tomato and bacon salad with Old Bay and mustard dressingA delightful summery salad to make whilst in tomato season is made all the better if you can get some heritage purple potatoes, don't worry if you can't, any good quality small potatoes will suffice. Old Bay seasoning is a classic American seasoning which believe it or not has only just arrived on sale in the UK. Omit the bacon if you want to go vegan and replace with some smoked tofu and make the dressing clearly without the bacon oil.
Miso pickled mushroomsThis recipe is adapted from a book called 'Ferment pickle dry', I have made these many times, the recipe is very flexible and adaptable and can be made to suit your taste palate. These are as the book states a crossover between Japanese miso-pickling and European vinegar-pickling. You can eat them as an accompaniment to a cocktail, as part of a Asian inspired feast, an addition to salads or whenever you simply want salty, spicy, sweet, acidic umami party in the mouth and don't waste the liquid, it's great to use as a dressing.
Roast celeriac and king oyster mushroom salad with halloumi and walnut pestoSalads aren't just for lazy summer days, enjoy this hearty bold autumnal salad either as a small starter, side or indeed as a stunning vegetarian main. The idea for this ensemble is from dirt candy, a vegetarian cookbook from a vegetarian restaurant in New York. There are a number of elements to building this salad so preparation is key to pulling it all together at the end and you need to be very good at multi tasking so read the instructions first.
Turkish pepper, black-eyed bean and quails egg salad with za’atarSummer isn't over until the salad days end. This is a very simple salad to make no longer than the time it takes to boil and egg or two, a classic from Turkish Cuisine, can be a simple side salad or a main on it's own. I've used quails eggs here but you can use regular chicken eggs and if you can't get Turkish peppers, regular peppers are absolutely fine.
Peperonata AgrodolceThere are many versions of these sweet and sour peppers, rather than olives you could use capers, toasted pine nuts or even some raisins stewed at the same time as the peppers so they soak up the juices and become nice and plump. This is a great side dish to go with grilled fish or indeed with cold meats and crusty bread, I've even been known to stir some through some cooked cold pasta for lunch.
Hot and tangy aubergineHot with the chilli and tangy from the tamarind, this is a great quick and easy way to serve up 1 aubergine, perfect for two as part of an Indian feast. As the aubergine brown in the oil it really picks up the flavour of the fennel and nigella seeds, feel free to only use one spice if that's all you have and if you can't find any tamarind paste then you can always substitute with lemon or lime juice