Family Feasts

SAVE THE RECIPE - APPPLE SLAW

This is my favourite slaw recipe and I always make double so that I can have it for lunches in the week as it holds up so well for days in the fridge, in fact it even improves with time - it’s especially good with falafels & pita

If you’re like me and HATE those mayo drenched supermarket coleslaws then this one is for you. It’s a homemade mustardy light mayonnaise dressing.

You can sub the apple for pear, the parsley for mint or chives, the carrot for celeriac. You can throw in some toasted, chopped hazelnuts too.

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 Purple Cabbage
2-3 Medium-Sized Carrots
1 Granny Smith Apple
A Handful Of Parsley

Dressing:
1 Tbsp Caster Sugar
2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
6 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/2 Tsp Salt
Black Pepper

METHOD:
Shred the cabbage, carrots & apple into matchstick size pieces. Roughly chop the parsley. Combine in a large bowl.
Make the dressing - in a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, vinegar & mustard. Measure the oil into a jug and drizzle the oil in a continuous but very fine stream, whilst continuously whisking. Slowly is the key to avoid the mayo from splitting.
Once the oil is fully incorporated, add the salt and some black pepper.
Use your hands to combine all of the dressing with the slaw ingredients.

Delicious with homemade burgers 🍔

MEAL PLAN

These happen every week, sometimes in 2 halves & much less exciting during busy season (now!). Often determined by what I’m cooking for events or just a quick, easy option like my failsafe chorizo, butterbean dish.

Always glad I’ve put some thought into them as always saves me money, food wastage & precious time.

TURBO HEALTHY GRANOLA

This should come with a warning - as addictive as crack!

Swipe 👉 for my handwritten recipe

You can mix up the seeds and nuts as you wish. You can even stir through some dried fruit once it’s out the oven. I always use coconut oil and only use 75g.

Secret is to spread it thin over a very large baking sheet and turn it around in the oven after 15 minutes. Bake for a further 7-8 minutes for an even bake.

I eat a little of this everyday on my yoghurt with some fresh seasonal berries or banana. It’s banging! I tend to get a little tetchy when it runs out or if anyone else helps themselves to it!

NEW FAVOURITE SALAD 🌟

Dressed Puy Lentils, Grilled Apricots & Nectarines, Fresh Mint, Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, Goats Cheese & Honey

One of the many plates I made for the volunteers of last night

SMALL BITES

Smoked Mackerel Pâté With Pickled Cucumber On Toasted Sourdough

All homemade using fresh locally sourced, seasonal ingredients

Thanks for the inspiration & for the amazing pickle recipe

GARDEN PARTY

The rain held off for this wonderful garden party for 40 in Oval. Last year the menu was Mexican, this year they chose to mix it up a bit with an Asian menu.

Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Pakoras with Mango Chutney & Aubergine Pickle

Sri Lankan Potato & Coconut Curry With Cucumber Pickles
Thai Red Chicken Curry With Tenderstem & Chestnut Mushrooms, Lime & Coriander
All served With Heaps of Rice

Bite Size Pavlovas With Alphonso Mango, Lime & Passion Fruit…… & if you could resist more than 2 of those then I salute you! 🫡

Thanks for having me & .m0sley back again Emma!

SMALL BITES

Sticky Butternut Squash & Pomegranate Molasses On Homemade Cumin Flatbread, With Yogurt, Coriander, Feta, Pomegranate & Pistachio

Feeling like a proper tourist today & loving London on a lime bike with some of my absolute favourite people!

Taking in borough market for a delicious chorizo ciabatta roll, coffee & the Yoko Ono exhibition at the
Finishing up at my fave local restaurant tonight

Great to have friends up from out of town to remember why we live in London

SAVE THE RECIPE - CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD

For those of you who missed it the first time round. A great way to get your kids to eat salad too!

Ingredients - Serves 4

Dressing:
1 Garlic Clove, Peeled & Crushed
1 Tsp Dijon Mustard
2 Egg Yolks
100ml Sunflower Oil
1 Handful Of Grated Parmesan
Juice Of 1 Small Lemon
Salt & Pepper

Salad:
4 Thick Slices Of Sourdough, Crusts Removed, & Torn Into Pieces
3 Tbsp Sunflower Oil
4 Little Gem Lettuces (Or Cos Or Romaine)
4 Chicken Breasts, Cut Into Bitesize Pieces
20 Fresh Anchovy Fillets (Optional)
Parmesan Chunks
Olive Oil

Method.
Preheat the oven to 160c fan. Toss the pieces of bread in 3 Tbsp of sunflower oil & roast for 10-12 minutes. Set aside.

Make the dressing - whisk together the garlic, mustard & egg yolks. Add the oil, drop by drop to start with, then in a very thin stream, whisking all the time, until thick & glossy.
Add the lemon juice & season with salt & pepper.
Add the grated parmesan.

Now cook the chicken. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a pan & once hot add the chicken. Season with salt & pepper and stir-fry until cooked all the way through. Even better, BBQ the chicken whole.

You can simply separate the lettuce leaves. You may want to cut the larger leaves up a little.

In a large salad bowl, mix together the lettuce, croutons, chicken & dressing. Top with the anchovies & parmesan shavings / chunks.

MEAL PLANNING

I talked a lot about Meal Planning last week at the presentation on ‘Elevating Your Everyday Cooking’ as I truly believe it’s the key to getting out of the cooking rut where the same 15 meals are continually rotated.

I religiously spend about 15 minutes each week on this, making sure that it’s realistic for the week ahead. It means less wastage and less stress. I make sure that busy days have very simple 30 minute recipes & if all else fails then I reach for the infamous Marcella Hazan tomato, butter & onion sauce with some pasta. 2 minutes prep, 25 minutes simmering whilst you cook the pasta. Job done. I’ll post my version of the recipe tomorrow.

For any newcomers to my Instagram, there are many many meal plan examples on my grid to scroll through and many many recipes that I’ve shared all designed to be a SIMPLE SUPPER.

Hope that helps!
Dani 🍏

ONE FAMILY - ONE MEAL

This has always been my mantra & when I gave my talk on Monday night about ‘Elevating Your Everyday Cooking’, there were lots of questions based around feeding children, particularly fussy eaters.

This was our dinner tonight & it is the perfect example of the way I’ve always fed my kids where possible. They have CHOICES but we always eat the same meal & always together at the table.
They are now 15 & 17 years old & eat just about anything. They’re excited about food & I hope that they will continue to enjoy food & to have a very positive relationship with food as they go into adulthood.

This was a Mexican Bean soup that I had cooked for all the preschoolers at today & so I just made extra for us. The toppings to choose from include crumbled up tortilla chips, feta, cheddar, chilli, coriander, lime, sour cream & avocado. Everyone’s was different! Everyone of course had the tortilla chips though!

So whatever you’re eating, try this with your families…….. even if it’s just tomato pasta, put some fresh basil, some chilli flakes, some grated parmesan &/or some chunks of mozzarella on the table & see who has what.



This post is for you 💚

BAKING PARTY 🎈

What a gorgeous bunch of girls I baked with yesterday. It didn’t feel like work at all!

The lovely birthday girl chose to make
Chocolate Brownies & Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies. A girl after my own heart!

Thanks for having me 🎈🎈🎈

PASTA WITH ANCHOVIES, CUMIN CHICKPEAS & TENDERSTEM

Such a tasty, quick & easy recipe for a midweek supper.

You can even sub the anchovies for miso paste if you want the vegetarian version.

Fridge to fork in less than 30 minutes.

For the recipe link you’ll need to see my stories …….. xx

HOW TO ELEVATE YOUR EVERYDAY COOKING

When: Monday 13th May 7-8pm
Where: Bell House, Dulwich Village
Price: £13

As part of & I have been asked to give a talk. I’m delighted to share with you all my tips & expertise on elevating your everyday cooking. I shall be discussing meal planning, presentation, ingredients, inspirational chefs & nutrition. There will even be a complimentary bite for you all.
Please come & join me if you can.
Bookings link can be found on my profile page ……..

Hope to see you there,
Dani x

GREAT DULWICH CHARITY DINNER

Saturday November 18th

I am delighted to announce that I will be cooking alongside .kitchen & Richard from for a one-off charity dinner in Dulwich village at the most beautiful venue

We will be working for free to raise money for the most wonderful charity dear to our hearts, Meseret For Women. A charity that empowers single mothers in Addis Ababa to recover from the trauma of abandonment, sexual assault & birth. Allowing them time to bond with their baby, learn, develop key skills & build a future for themselves.

So if you’ve always wanted to try my food & you live locally please support us and come along for some amazing food and wine supplied by

The link to buy a ticket is

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/3-local-chefs-for-a-one-off-great-dulwich-dinner-tickets-735871019027

I absolutely love to see you there,
Dani x

MOTHERS DAY AFTERNOON TEA

I’m now taking orders for a special Mothers Day Afternoon Tea on Sunday March 19th. It’s not the usual standard menu, I thought I’d mix it up a bit this year!

•Chewy Meringue Kisses, Dipped in Chocolate & Toasted Hazelnuts

•Lemon, Almond & Elderflower Cakes

•Scones With Clotted Cream & Jam

•Smoked Salmon, Dill & Cream Cheese Sandwiches

•Burford Brown Egg, Cress & Mayonnaise Sandwiches

•Cucumber & Cream Cheese Sandwiches

£25 per adult
£20 per child

Everything is homemade from scratch, the morning of collection.

Collection available from 12pm onwards from Peckham Rye.

Local delivery available for a small charge.

Numbers are limited so please order soon to avoid disappointment.

I very much look forward to baking for all the special mothers out there.

Dani x

MEAL PLAN

I was listening to the radio whilst cooking lunches for today. Lots of talk about how much inflation in food has risen by over 17%. That equates to in excess of £1,000 extra spend per average family. It’s staggering. So more than ever it’s so important to be savvy with food waste.
By planning your meals for the week ahead, I guarantee that you’ll hugely reduce your waste. Try it!

Hope this plan helps inspire you.

Red Pepper, N’duja & Mozzarella

Couldn’t be easier or tastier.

Delicious with some warm ciabatta on the side to mop up all those oily juices 💋

Another wonderful recipe from my latest purchase.

THE PERFECT END TO THE PERFECT PARTY!

Individual coconut cakes, doused in a tequila syrup & topped with sweetened cream & caramelised pineapple.

The perfect mouthful!

Always homemade, always fresh.

MEAL PLAN

I’m listening !

Hope this helps inspire some of you with some ideas. It’s very easy to slip into rotating the same old meals over and over again, believe me, I know, especially during the busy seasons.

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Which would you choose?

Chocolate, always chocolate for me!

🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫

Passion Fruit, Mango & Lime Meringue Roulade

⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️

What’s not to love!

Chewy, marshmallowy, meringue, filled with softly whipped Chantilly cream, lime zest, fresh alphonso mango & passion fruit.

MEAL PLAN

Back by popular demand!

I mustn’t forget that the original reason for setting up Family Feasts was to help inspire families with everyday recipes & ideas.

Quite a few of you have asked recently for some inspiration so I hope this helps a little.

Wednesdays ragu will probably end up as a lasagne & Friday nights Indian feast is for some lovely friends coming for dinner. I haven’t got as far as the weekend yet!

This time of year is all about comfort food for me and that usually lands up on the table in the form of a curry! I can’t help myself. We’ve been eating lots of dals and chickpea & spinach curries. Both very quick, easy, filling & bloody delicious of course. Oh, & very healthy too.

I promise I’ll try and keep these meal plans coming as they really help me too! Thanks for the nudge .barker 💕

Brightening up January!

Chocolate Sponge, filled with Chantilly Cream & Fresh Strawberries, topped with Dark Chocolate Ganache & a gazillion M&M’s

Lemon Meringue Pie

A birthday treat for the lovely .co who also runs her own business locally.

In her own words….. if you’re going to indulge in something sweet, then you should do it properly!

If you’re looking for someone to add that extra special design to your event or you would like an interior designer for your home, then Vivi is your girl. She’s a real talent.

SUPERSIZE!

I’m sure you will have noticed by now that my lovely friend .kitchen & I have teamed up a few times last year to cater for the larger events that have come our way.

Well it’s been such a dreamy partnership that we are looking for any excuse to keep working together again…… So if you have a special occasion coming up and like the idea of 2 very passionate 😉 woman cooking for you to make that occasion even more special, then you’ve found a dream team right here!

We promise to cook you the most delicious homemade food with the finest sourced local, (where possible) fresh, seasonal ingredients.

And in the meantime, normal service continues from me at Family Feasts! So if it’s a smaller event, then you’ll find me still right here doing what I love.

Happy New Year to you all 💚

Salted Caramel Cake

A truly decadent affair………
3 layers of salted caramel sponge, salted caramel sauce & salted caramel buttercream!

CHRISTMAS GIFTS

It’s here! Place your orders as soon as you can as I’ve left it a little late this year and I’ll be taking last orders pretty soon.

I have a few NEW products on offer this year, all delectable of course! And all with a reasonable shelf life so that you can gift them to your favourite people!

Turmeric Roasted Cashews £7 - shelf life of 10 days
Maple Candied Pecans £7 - shelf life of 10 days
Pistachio, Almond & Saffron Brittle £8 - shelf life of 10 days
Almond & Orange Blossom Nougat £8 - shelf life of 1 month
Chocolate, Fig & Orange Panforte £8 - shelf life of 2 months
Almond Roca £8 - shelf life of 10 days

Please DM orders as soon as you can. Orders will be ready to collect / local delivery on Monday & Tuesday 19th / 20th December.

Happy shopping!
Dani x

The nuts come in a lovely jar as shown & the other products come sealed & wrapped in cellophane as shown.

The perfect party food!

Fig Toasts with Manchego, Sweet Onion & Tarragon 🌿