carluccio's spinach balls with courgette and chilli penne.

Known as Penne Giardiniera, this classic spinach balls recipe is a popular dish on Antonio Carluccio's restaurant menu. Loosely translated as gardner's penne, this pasta delight is packed with a huge portion of spinach and secret courgette in the fresh and spicy sauce. 

Luckily for us, it can be found in the Carluccio's recipe book too - simply named Pasta. I bought the recipe book for my foodie friend's birthday. And since we both love making homemade pasta, it make sense to make this dish together over a glass of wine on a Friday night.

revolution, derby.

Radiant superfood salads, flavoursome pulled pork and warm baked cookies. This can't be Revolution, can it? With a fresh and fun menu with lots of colour, fresh additions and free from options, old Revs have revamped their grub offerings in a big way. I went along to the Derby restaurant for a catch up with an old school friend over a few of their famous vodka cocktails and a generous portion of the menu. 

thai crab cake noodles.

After my visit to Cromer, I had a fair amount of fresh Cromer crab to get through. We took as much as we could carry in my boot, with cool bags and ice, to enjoy the delights of fresh seafood here in the Midlands. Sadly for seafood lovers, the Midlands isn't best known for its coastline or catch of the day. The first thing I made was my favourite Nigella crab pasta recipe, but next in line was crab cakes. I decided to make them miniature to toss through some fresh egg noodles with lots of veg and oyster sauce.

the white hart, loughborough.

A couple of sunny weekends ago, my food blogger pal Alex joined me for a Saturday lunch at The White Hart. One of her (many) locals, Gingey can take all the credit for this little gem. We enjoyed a selection of their tapas menu, whilst planning an exciting new foodie venture we're in the middle of. More on that soon! For now, I'll leave you with a selection of tiny treats which are soon becoming the trendy British answer to tapas.