Phil's Home Kitchen

Unless otherwise stated, all recipes on Phil’s Home Kitchen (incorporating Baking Fanatic) are my own creations.

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A warm welcome to Phil’s Home Kitchen: a space in which the challenges of the outside world and any feelings of food guilt are left firmly at the kitchen door!

My kitchen

Please dip in and out as casually as you want and whether you are starting out on your food adventures or are well seasoned, I hope you will get plenty of ideas and discover a few interesting dishes along the way.

spiced soy sauce-glazed chicken wings

Gorgonzola, pear & walnut cheesecake

This website

The idea of my own website had been bouncing around in my head for ages after a chance conversation with a friend during Afternoon Tea – and I often have meaningful conversations over Afternoon Tea! She suggested that as I have so many recipes jotted down on bits of paper and tucked away in the back of cookery books, was it not a good idea to organise them in some way?

Croissants

crab bisque

So one day I had a few hours to kill and thought “Why not give it a go?”……..and the beginnings of this website was born! I started out as Baking Fanatic, and baking is still at the heart of my cooking, but I have expanded to include other types of cooking that I love.

The recipes on my website

Unless otherwise stated, the recipes are my own – apart from the classic base recipes for the standard pastries, cakes and sauces, for example. But once you feel confident with these, many exciting dishes can be created. A full list of my recipes can be found here: Recipe index

Mini chocolate & cinnamon pavlovas

Beetroot & goats’ cheese filled pasta

Pancake, bacon, egg & maple syrup brunch

Perfecting dishes

Whenever I give cookery demos or talk about food on the radio, people often chat about difficulties when it comes to cooking – whether it is the perfect roast potato, fool-proof Yorkshire Puddings or delicious ways of using what is in the cupboards and fridge.

Perfect Yorkshire Puddings

Coffee macaron shells

Crispy roast potatoes

 

Many questions that I am asked by email or when chatting on the radio relate to baking. Common queries  have included:

• how to get the lightest cake
• how to make the most melt-in-the-mouth pastry
• how to conquer sourdough bread
• how to make macarons that don’t crack…….

With these baking-related queries in mind, I have given step-by-step instructions, inclduing tips and recipes for making these and other areas of baking. My links for these can be found at the top of this page or you can find them here.

Sourdough boule

My ultimate coffee & walnut cake

Bitter orange macarons

Some of my “random” recipe ideas

I often wake up in the night with an idea (often a mad idea, occasioanlly a more plausible idea!) and I then scribble down some thoughts onto paper: I always have a pad by my bed for this very reason! Some of these ideas – well, those that have worked out – are on this website:

Spiced smoked haddock scones

passionfruit shortbreads

Mango and lime “egg cup” desserts

Simplicity often rules

There is always the thrill in cooking of just what can be achieved with relatively few ingredients and achieved quite simply.

Lemon & vanilla Victoria Sandwich cake

quartet of salads using ingredients lying around

sausage rolls: the simplest of foodie pleasures!

Cooking does not need to be complicated or hugely time-consuming; it can be, of course, and the more challenging dishes that take more time and focus are sometimes just what is need to unwind.

Often, just grazing on a few simple things that are easy to throw together can be just as satisfying as a more full-on meal!

Fennel breadsticks with baba ghanoush

seeded flatbreads

Quick and easy chocolate & cherry trifle pots

Warm crab choux bites

 

Whatever your cooking interests are, I hope you enjoy the making, the eating, the experimenting and the sharing.

Happy cooking,

Philip

Key links

Recipe index
Top Tips/masterclasses
List of all posts