My first post!

Hello my name is Lauren and welcome to my blog “Lauren’s little kitchen!” I did start a blog about two years ago but I only ever posted twice which was a very poor effort indeed. So this time I intend to be much more dedicated to posting, particularly since I love to cook and I love to write.

As mentioned above, I absolutely love to cook. When I come home from work (I’m an accountant) I love nothing more than to make something delicious from scratch. Cutting up lots of vegetables, making sauces, making pastry, standing over a risotto for twenty minutes doesn’t bother me at all, in fact for me its rather calming after a long day at work. Sure, there are days when all you have time to master is a pasta with homemade pesto, but other days I want to go all out and create something special for my boyfriend and I to share!

I love cookbooks and currently have a super addiction to buying new cookbooks! I buy them from amazon, book depository and second hand bookshops and charity shops.  In fact, the books I find in the charity shops are often the best for they are unique and most often out of print.  Sure the books are sometimes a little old, smelly and dusty and some recipes would only appeal to some very unusual tastes however in that book there is always a little gem to be found. For instance, a delicious lemon slice that is ever so simple but becomes a firm favourite by all.

So in this blog I intend to post as frequently as possible because there is always some kind of cooking going on in my little apartment! To help with this,  I have also signed up to participate in French Fridays with Dorie. You can check it out at http://www.frenchfridayswithdorie.com/ I think participating in this is such a great idea. The recipes are selected each week from Dorie Greenspan’s new book (I am still waiting for my copy in the mail!)

So to begin my blog, I am starting with this weeks recipe from French Fridays with Dorie, Gerard’s Mustard Tart. Now seeing as I don’t have the book yet, I had to use another recipe for the Basic Tart Dough so my dough was actually a little under what I needed for my pie dish but oh well. I love Dijon mustard and always have it in the fridge. The wholegrain mustard is lovely too. I really liked this tart, although I think I could have even liked the mustard flavor to be even stronger. I made the carrot and leek version and served it with a simple green salad. Delicious! I will definitely be making this again!

Ps – I hope that my photography will improve with time!!

Lauren x