HB&B Blog — Claire Bullen

One of the best podcasts I've listened to during quarantine is Home Cooking, a four-part series hosted by Samin Nosrat (author of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat) and Hrishikesh Hirway (best known for his  own podcast, Song Exploder). It's charming and relatable, too: home cooks from all over send in lockdown-inspired questions about everything from soaking beans to making a birthday cake without all-purpose flour. In one episode, a woman calls in with a problem: her garden has exploded in a bounty of herbs following the unseasonably warm weather and she doesn’t know how to use up all the sudden greenery....

Until recently, the idea that anyone could “crave” salad seemed preposterous to me. Too many are inadequately seasoned, under-delicious, falling back on their health halos rather than their actual flavour. The salads I like barely count as such: they might be warm grain bowls that happen to be garnished with some token leaves, or members of the caprese family (where cheese is at least 30% of what’s on the plate), or even steak salads (drape meat across some greenery and that’s salad, baby). But then quarantine came. And after weeks of barely moving and also eating my way through regular...

If there’s anything an indefinite lockdown scenario proves, it’s the importance of routine. In the absence of outdoor activity, self-imposed structure is the armature on which my weeks are now formed. On Fridays, I order takeout and cue up a movie. On Sundays, I do my weekly sourdough bake. And on Mondays, inspired by HB&B’s beer writer, Pellicle editor Matthew Curtis, I make pasta. If you want a suitably springy #PastaMonday recipe that takes under an hour to prepare (and uses pantry staples, plus generally accessible ingredients), I’d heartily recommend this one. Adapted from Sohla El-Waylly’s recipe in Bon Appétit,...

Here are all of the reasons you should make chicken laksa during lockdown: 1. It’s a flexible way to use up pantry staples. Looking to expand beyond beans and rice, and need an excuse to crack into your spice stash? Laksa (a spicy noodle soup that hails from Southeast Asia) is the perfect cause to which you can devote your ginger and garlic, your tins of coconut milk, your chicken stock. And don’t worry if you don’t have all the ingredients to hand: this flexible and versatile dish can be tweaked to match what’s in your pantry. Limes work in...

The world is short on joy right now. Even basic tasks – going grocery shopping, picking up a bottle of wine, cooking dinner – are freighted with anxiety and uncertainty. But this week, as the reality of long-term quarantine is sinking in (and as I finally have my senses of smell and taste back after a run-in with COVID-19), I feel fired up. I want to do everything I can to support local businesses – from bottle shops like Hop Burns & Black to neighbourhood greengrocers and independent butchers – as they fight to stay afloat. In the face of...