Here’s a round-up of small items, little recipes and other nuggets that I want to draw attention to…

Serious Eats has been on a proper roll lately, with a couple of recipes in particular I just had to try: smashed burgers being one. Take two patties, but squish them down as thin as you can and then sandwich cheese together. It makes a really fun burger with a salty, crusty crust. See the full recipe.

General Tso’s Actifry chicken completed the Serious Eats carnival. Super-crunchy bits of chicken thigh, coated in a sweet-spicy sauce that is incredibly addictive. You have to try it.

I tried out Ben & Jerry’s All or Nut-ting Core flavour ice-cream. I am a sucker for nut-flavoured ice-creams; pistachio, macadamia, hazelnut… this hazelnut ice cream with a nutella-style core and nutty bits is absolutely brilliant and I have to force myself to put the lid back on each time.

Knorr’s new Flavour Pots are delicious little things. I particularly like the Curry and Mixed Herbs ones, the former for a spicy shortcut and the latter for a herby kick, as per my spaghetti elvedenese.

Some new Cadbury’s biscuits have got LU and Ritz embedded in Cadbury’s chocolate. I wasn’t fussed by the LU ones, but the Ritz were heavenly – the perfect blend of sweet and salty.

Olive it! I was sent a cute little olive recipe book, with some mean minds behind it: Jose Pizarro and Omar Alibhoy. My family adore olives so I’ll be making a few of the recipes for sure.

Big news for me as I finally replaced my oven which died in February. I got a Zanussi and it’s perfect. Oddly I’ve never owned a new oven before so it was a real treat to take delivery of a new one. I went through the whole thing via ao.com and it was completely painless.

Thanks to Golin Harris, Storm Communications, Clarion Comms and Mischief PR for their samples.

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