Zingy barley, squash and parsley salad

Zingy barley, squash and parsley salad

Gavin Wren Main Dishes, Recipes, Salads, Vegetarian

Method: Chuck it all in a bowl. Mix it up. Eat. If only all recipes could be that simple! You want dinner, you want it to be tasty but you don’t want to spend hours doing it. With a little bit of forethought, recipes like this one can fall straight into that category, they’re really easy to make and fit around your life with a little bit of ‘mise en place’. In case you’re wondering …

Kale, Goats Cheese and Pear salad with cranberry dressing

Roasted kale, goat’s cheese and pear salad with ‘Jeff’s flat’ cranberry dressing

Gavin Wren Main Dishes, Recipes, Salads, Vegetarian

This is one of the few recipes that I’ve created which has been made many, many times before being posted on here. Normally recipes are created, tested once or twice, then BANG, they’re up there in the top spot. However this one drifted out of my head in early January, when we were staying at our friend Jeff’s flat, having foolishly employed some builders to tear down the ceilings and replaster the walls in BOTH …

Pile of pan fried, spiced sprats

Pan-fried spiced sprats with a fennel salad

Gavin Wren Fish & Shellfish, Main Dishes, Recipes, Salads

I have distant memories of being a small child, in a pub garden in Surrey with my parents, when I first discovered the dish that is a plate of tiny little fried fish which you ate whole; whitebait. I became inwardly obsessed with them, always longing to find them on the menu when eating out, waiting for that crunchy little fish that I could souse with vinegar and devour whole. In later life this eating-seafood-whole …

smoked trout fennel and beetroot with dill salad

Smoked trout salad with fennel & dill and a horseradish, lemon & yoghurt dressing

Gavin Wren Main Dishes, Recipes, Salads

You really can’t go wrong with this recipe. I mean that in two ways as it’s both easy to make, so no scope for going wrong there, and it also holds it’s ground in the fabulous tasting stakes, so no wrongness to be found there either. Originally, I was determined that this receipe was to be made specifically with hot smoked trout, rather than the cold smoked fish that I’ve used. If you’re unsure of …

red cabbage egg roquefort walnut salad

Red cabbage salad with roquefort and poached eggs

Gavin Wren Main Dishes, Recipes, Salads, Vegetarian

This recipe is thanks to a crate of fresh home-grown vegetables that my folks bestowed upon me on Friday. Having worked our way through tomatoes, runner beans, sweetcorn and cucumber yesterday, I reached the red cabbage bag and wondered what to do. Looking for some inspiration online I was bogged down with the festive spiced red cabbage recipes which the internet is awash with, but they didn’t feel right for a warm summer’s day lunch. …