Jose Pizarro’s Easter Spring Lamb

Leading UK Spanish chef Jose Pizarro has created a mouth-watering little recipe for Easter. Using spring lamb, the recipe combines olives, mint, garlic, potatoes and lots of other gorgeous things to create a really delicious Easter feast or simple tapas with friends.

Melati, Peter Street, London

This popular Malaysian restaurant has been in business for some 30 years now. Melati is a short walk from west end theatreland, and is a great place to grab a tasty meal before the curtain goes up, or to meet friends and have a relaxed informal meal, particularly if you are excited by mouth tingly zingy dishes, we enjoyed it.

Fetzer wines.The green way to drink

As we decanted out into Kings Cross reeking of garlic, the general feeling was that, PowerPoint aside, Fetzer are good people making pretty good wines and should be encouraged. Eco credentials do not necessarily a great wine make but it’s certainly a route winemakers should consider going down, even if that route occasionally leads to a funny old converted pub in North London.

Gobble Gobble, the bloggers make a noise about Marco Pierre White talking turkey

So Marco Pierre White is to be a brand ambassador for Bernard Mathews Turkeys and the sound of bloggers and sanctimonious columnists having hissy fits is deafening. You’d have thought they would have exhausted their anger when MPW started advertising stock cubes, but no there is still plenty of bile to spare. Honestly you’d have thought he’d been caught eating Panda, not simply earning a few quid for himself

Franco Manca, Chiswick

Now it could be that I don’t understand or appreciate a true Naples pizza base and if so mea culpa, Franco Manca, but I can only compare to the Brixton version and these aren’t as good. However Brixton sets a high benchmark and these are still (leafy) streets ahead of the competition.

Sumac and Sesame Crusted Chicken with Quinoa Tabbouleh

This week, my recipe uses a Persian seasoning called ‘Sumac’ which is a red coarse powder, with an appealing acidity to it, that isn’t too overpowering. I use the Sumac to marinate some chicken fillets along with some sesame seeds to give some added crunch. A refreshing Tabbouleh, made with Quinoa instead of Cous Cous, accompanies the chicken to make the perfect dish.