Autumn has arrived and you can really feel the change in temperature today. Its such an exciting time foodie wise, literally everything coming from British farms, homegrown in gardens and allotments. It is such a key time for harvesting fruit and vegetables, we had to talk veg with Riverford Organic at our September supper club. One of my favourites and something a little different to discuss was beetroot. It has such a deep earthy sweetness and is full of potential whether a

Sipping my frothy coffee and munching my toasted, homemade hot cross buns… The Spring sunshine is quite warm flooding in by the window. Its Friday again, they do come round so fast! Just one week before the long Easter weekend and another ‘food’ weekend in the diary which I love to celebrate. Hot cross buns, blog, this week I just want to touch on eggs. I have noticed this year there has been an increase in colouring your eggs more naturally and as I teach children more, its

If you have met me or we have eaten together, you know I am not a vegetarian. I enjoy the occasional roast dinner, juicy steak and cook with chicken frequently during the week, however I do often go days or weeks with enjoying vegetarian dishes. There is so much variety, colour and flavour in vegetarian cooking its easy to skip the meat so ‘meatless Mondays’ are common in our house! I enjoy following vegetarian recipes and tweaking them to use up leftovers, or a few carrots i

Back from my holidays but friends are still sending me beautiful photos from Greece, Spain, Portugal, and the South of France. Not pictures of the beach and scenery but of the food as they know I get so inspired! The consistent Mediterranean sunshine just ripens those tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines and fruit so much better, and all good recipes need excellent ingredients! As I have said before its like you can taste the sunshine. I have replicated so many different dishes h

Interesting read and quite timely as my blog last week was questioning the future of our cookery skills.  Waitrose Weekend newspaper – 27th April 2017  “Youngsters are learning the benefits of cooking from scratch earlier than ever…” I teach at several local schools in Surrey and Kent and completely agree with the article in the Waitrose newspaper. Cookery classes are becoming as popular as swimming and ballet! However the reason I agree with the article is that it is not all

Ingredients: 275g cooked beetroot 250g dark chocolate, broken into pieces 250g butter 3 eggs 200g golden caster sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 75g plain flour 50g cocoa powder pinch of salt Makes 15 Grease the base of cake tin or brownie pan. Place the beetroot in a food processor and whiz for a few minutes to form a smooth puree. Set aside Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water, taking care that the bowl does the

Another week has whizzed past, sticking with no alcohol and watching the calories, who said this was a good idea? I have had to look harder at hardy winter vegetables that are in season and thinking about more adventurous recipes in the kitchen. Love all the swede and turnips particularly butternut squash, sweet potatoes and of course carrots, cauliflower, chard, kale, leeks, and parsnips. So easy just simply roasting these vegetables and I do like Brussel sprouts but you may

Thursday 16th February 2017 – Crockham Hill Primary School After 8 years dedicated to food, Jo Banks brings creative recipe ideas together through fun, clear, interactive presentations and hands-on workshops/classes. “Cookery is a life skill and a subject I feel very passionate about! I have two daughters and I feel the more children can be involved in preparing food – from the beginning – the more likely they will enjoy eating and exploring adventurous tastes and flavours.”

This was an extremely busy week. Back to normal after half term, and Halloween on a school night, which I can never remember! It didn’t cramp our style too badly but I think we had a lot less visitors… The Spirit of Christmas has been on all week at Olympia in South Kensington. I got up for the day with Sue and we had a great day, although slightly rushed – I realised my watch was still on summer time, so we missed the Champagne Tasting. It really got me in the mood, I cannot

These rich chocolate flavour cupcakes with beetroot added have a moist, fluffy light texture and a fresh raspberry hidden inside. Ingredients: 200 ml sunflower oil plus extra for greasing 175 g self-raising flour 75 g unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted 250 g golden caster sugar ½ teaspoon baking powder 250 g vacuum-packed cooked beetroot in natural juices (total weight), drained and juice reserved 3 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 24 fresh raspberries (about 85 g total weight),

Ingredients: 2-3 vacumn packed beetroot 2 ripe bananas 120ml cooking oil 160g coconut cream 275g plain flour 50g cocoa powder 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda 150g caster sugar Method: Preheat oven to 180C. Pop into a blender your beetroot, bananas, oil, bicarbonate of soda, and coconut cream. Pulse to a pink paste. Scrape pink mixture into mixing bowl with flour, cocoa powder and sugar, mix well. Grease a loaf tin and scrape the batter mixture in. Pop into the oven on the middle sh

Ingredients: 175 g unbleached plain flour 2 and ¼ tsp baking powder 3/4 tsp salt 25 g cold butter, small dice 75 g strong cheddar cheese 50 ml buttermilk (or dairy or non-dairy milk with a little lemon juice added) 1 tsp grain mustard 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (Lea & Perrin’s for preference) ½ raw or cooked small beetroot finely grated extra flour for rolling surface a little milk for brushing on the scones (optional) Method: Preheat oven to 220 (200C fan). Sift the flour an

yield: 16 cookies Ingredients: 440g plain flour 220g unsalted butter at room temperature 1/4 teaspoon salt 110g caster sugar 220g icing sugar (more if needed) 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice 2 teaspoons lemon zest 1 medium size beet Method: Combine flour and salt together in a small bowl and set aside zest the skin of your lemon, about two teaspoons or so and add to the flour mixture in a medium size bowl cream the butter with an electric mixer until smooth