As Northern Europe enters the last stages of winter (or the last storms before the heat kicks in, in our case here in Malta), it seemed fitting to make another comforting dish for the weekend.  In fact, this is my mouthwateringly vegan variation of the good old English favourite, the shepherd’s pie.  But for the protein and bulk, this version is using Linda Mac sausages, and borlotti beans – fast becoming my favourite legume.  Serve [...]

My father ran his own restaurant for decades – if you were to survive in London’s West End, competing with fierce outlets that were fighting for the ‘same piece of bacon’, so to speak, then you had to prove your own ‘bacon’ (pardon the terminology, no pun intended). I saw those early morning breakfasts being dished out, and my father sweating over the high temperature cookers – but he made a mean bean breakfast – [...]

The season of goodwill to all men (or should I reword that to say “all sentient beings that includes some people . . .”) is around the corner, and we haven’t been sleeping in the MWV kitchen.  Far from it – we’ve been working like beavers round the clock to produce a magnificent menu in readiness for the menu-planning panic that everyone suffers around this time ! So, here’s a sumptuous feast – a HUGE [...]