I am delighted that I can finally share my debut cookbook with you all. The Botanical Kitchen was published by Absolute Press/Bloomsbury on 19 March. It’s a journey through the history of our love affair with botanical ingredients - fruit, leaves, flowers, seeds - that covers their provenance, unique flavour profiles, and how to source the best and maximise their potential in your kitchen. From lime leaves to lemon verbena, pomelo to persimmon and everything in between, there are 90 glorious recipes in here and I am so proud of each and every one. Spiced pumpkin cheesecake, duck Thai curry with lychees, quince and saffron compote, slow-cooked lamb with lavender and lemon, strawberry tart with basil sugar, pear and chestnut cinnamon buns…it’s full of sweet and savoury ideas for incorporating nature’s bounty into your cooking. The photography and food styling by the lovely Polly Webster is absolutely sublime, too, so it’s a book to treasure and enjoy reading as well as cooking from. I hope you love it as much as I do.

Order here on Amazon, or visit your local bookshop!

‘Writing a book is for me an act of faith and folly’, wrote the immortal Jane Grigson in the last year of her life. I would never presume to improve upon the observations of one of my food writing heroes, but if you’ll allow me to tweak them slightly, I might add that ‘writing a book is for me an act of faith and folly, and the reason I haven’t posted on this blog in many months’. That’s right: after many years of thinking it would never happen, I am finally writing my first cookbook. The Botanical Kitchen, an in-depth survey of our passion for all parts of the plant - from rose petals to raspberries, blackcurrants to bergamot, and lavender to lime leaves - will be published by Absolute Press next spring. It combines my love of literature, food culture and history with my passion for experimenting with herbs, spices, fruit and tea, and I hope it will have a place in the heart - and the kitchen - of many a keen cook. Furthermore, last night it was my honour to win (jointly with the fantastic Dan Saladino) the Jane Grigson Trust award for a first book in food/cookery, which has given me a renewed passion for bringing all things botanical to a wider readership. So, I hope you’ll excuse the lack of activity on this blog while I work away at something I’ve been desperate to bring to fruition (pun absolutely intended) for many years now. I’ll be sharing updates occasionally on instagram, if you want to keep track of my recipe testing!