The Kitchen Café

Chef Andrew Barnett shows us how to have fun with food at Halloween and Jenny MacPherson speaks to Ailidh Forlan about her new book, 'Street Food Scotland' and hears how the street food scene is expanding throughout the country. Claire Jessiman then shows us how to put your pumpkin seeds to good use as she roasts them with maple syrup and spices!........and Andrew Thompson investigates why there's no pumpkin in a pumpkin latte!

James Morton shows us how simple it is to make and keep your sourdough starter alive and dietician Kirsty Hickson tells us some of the health benefits of eating sourdough breads. Also, Jenny MacPherson takes a wander around an orchard just north of Inverness, to see how they’re turning their apples into cider.

The Kitchen Café is back – the perfect place to head for your weekly dose of foodie news, tips, inspiration and interviews! An awareness of plastic pollution is a hot topic right now but what can we do if we want to reduce our own usage of it? Kelly Wright from the Refillary explains to Jenny Macpherson the simple ways we can all use less plastic when we're out shopping and in our kitchens.Simon Preston meets passionate baker and author James Morton to hear about his love of sourdough. The chaps then visit one of James's favourite bakeries - Cottonrake - to find out more about this long-forgotten but now fashionable bread.Jenny visits the recently-opened cafe Utopia and hears from owner Kevin Paterson about why having a cafe right in the heart of the community is so important to him. Kevin then demonstrates how to make a quick but delicious charred tomatoes on sourdough dish.

Instagrammer Sophia Thain speaks to Jenny MacPherson about how through social media she’s trying to inspire other students to make better food choices. Simon Preston heads to a café in Edinburgh to find out why ‘overnight oats’ has become a hashtag hit! Porridge purists beware…….the days of adding salt and water are long gone! Also, street food chef Jamie Ross flexes his mussels in studio and explains why cooking shellfish is easy. He’ll be serving up mussels in a curry sauce and mussels in ale, Delicious!

The Kitchen Café is back – the perfect place to head for your weekly dose of foodie news, tips, inspiration and interviews! This week Jenny MacPherson hears from Kyle Steel about the idea behind his street food social enterprise project Dockyard Social. Which cuisines and cultures can we expect to sample there and just how much is street food changing the way we eat here in Scotland?Spice expert and author Ghillie Basan explains why whisky and spice go so well together, which types of food lend themselves to matching with whisky and how go about pairing different spice flavours – in food and whisky – in our own kitchens at home.Coffee fan Vincent Davies shares the story behind his new venture – brewing fresh coffee from a converted horsebox in Poolewe, Wester Ross.And Ghillie cooks an Indian coconut and mango porridge, a one-pot dish from her childhood … which goes perfectly with a wee dram!

What is it about getting towards winter which makes you want to reach for food which gives you a great big fat cuddle? This week as the nights draw in Pennie Latin searches through the Kitchen Café recipe archives for ideas to make you want to cosy up. So on the menu we've got cauliflower cheese with Stilton from Castle of Mey; Neil Forbes has the ultimate crowd pleaser with pot roast chicken; Jak O'Donnell is turning dauphinoise potatoes into a dish to cuddle up to by adding black pudding and goats cheese while Mark Greenaway makes the ultimate happy food with his hot chocolate fondant.Food which makes you feel good about the arrival of winter!

What would your perfect weekend breakfast or brunch dish be? This week Pennie Latin searches through the Kitchen Café recipe archives in search of ideas so delicious you'll actually want to get out of bed for them! So Neil Forbes conjures up a creamy, indulgent mushrooms on toast; Kirsten Gilmour makes New Zealand style savoury muffins and Andy Cumming goes for what he thinks is the ultimate cure for the night before - kedgeree - plus we've got a recipe for smoked salmon omelette perfection from Lara Bross.Go on, treat yourself, join us for breakfast and brunch on this week's dive into the recipe collection!

Fast food fun but with all that homemade flavour packed in too!This week Pennie Latin searches through the Kitchen Café recipe archives for recipes inspired by a weekend takeaway. So if you want to make the best burger ever then Neil Forbes has the perfect formula; queen of Italian cooking Mary Contini has an utterly simple but delicious pizza on her menu while Sue Lawrence provides the how-to on the ultimate treat night pud with Orkney fudge cheesecake.Loads of delicious ideas with a nod to the naughty for when you're feeling like treating yourself but keeping it homemade!

Chef Peggy Brunache and food innovator Simon Preston fire up the barbecue and their imaginations as they attempt to recreate the tastes of a US style Barbecue pit using just a domestic oven and a £20 BBQ.We hear from the Yorkshire couple who have fallen so far in love with the smokey flavours of US style outdoor eating they've imported a smoker and started up a BBQ Pit in Auldgirth in Dumfries.Does Barbecue always mean beer? Not necessarily - Simon finds the red wines that can cope with even the smokiest flavours.Peggy tells us about the history and regional variations in US barbecue culture. Why there is no such thing as "barbecue sauce" - we find out about three totally different authentic taste sensations that will enliven even the most wretched hunk of charred meat.In a nod to our unpredictable weather we find out how to always be barbecue ready in just one hour.

This week spice expert Ghillie Basan and the team are delving into the world of DIY summer drinks. From Kombucha to lassi and homemade lemonade. Simon Preston's continuing his series on summer wines with a look at great white wines while Kiwi chef in the Cairngorms Kirsten Gilmour shares the secrets behind her sensational pops, presses, juices and award winning smoothies!Kick back, raise a glass and quench your thirst with the Kitchen Café team!

Flora Shedden goes in search of summer flavours to put into chocolate with chocolatier Charlotte Flower; Simon Preston is learning to love Rose wines with a selection of deliciously different wines to look out for over the summer months plus Pennie Latin has a few lessons in how to taste olive oil from oil sommelier Wilma Grinsven - if you thought all oils were created pretty much equally, you're in for a surprise!

There's a real buzz about this week's Kitchen Café! Chef Neil Forbes and gardening expert Nicola Singleton explore the versatility of one of the jewels in our Scottish larder, honey! Also, Ghillie Basan speaks to food writer Liz Ashworth about Scotland's historical relationship with honey while Megan Lancaster visits bee keeper Mark Noonan in Blairgowrie to find out why some honey cost more than others.

There aren't many ingredients in the kitchen that are so versatile. There aren't many ingredients in the kitchen that can be so easy to get so wrong. But whether you are making an omelette, a meringue or simply boiling them, eggs are part of our daily diet.We consume millions of eggs each year and for some the labelling we find in the supermarket about the different types of egg can be confusing. Simon Preston goes to an egg farm to find out about the differences and what they mean to the taste of the eggs.Back in the kitchen, Neil Forbes gives us a quick masterclass in the art of the perfect poached, a brilliant boiled, super scrambled and fantastically fried eggs.If you've ever wondered about whether you should keep your eggs in the fridge or not or if a duck egg might be better to use in your baking than a hen's eggs then Fiona Burrell has some perfect eggy do's and dont's.

This week on the kitchen café we are on a summer holiday forage. No not a forage where you pull up leaves, rinse of dog wee, and pretend dandelions really do taste great, oh no, this week Ghillie Basan and Pennie Latin are foraging for ingredients among the holiday makers at Granny's Heilan Hame in Embo just north of Dornoch and they'll be trying to convince them that a holiday from home doesn't need to be a holiday from eating great homemade food. Also, one great thing about going away is it gives you a chance to discover local foods, in particular local cheeses. And Scotland does great cheese! Frankie Vaughan caught up with roving fromagiere Phoebe Weller to find out more about which Scottish cheeses to look out for this summer...

As this week's Kitchen Café is all about taste, Simon Preston visits the Scottish Centre for Food Development and Innovation at Queen Margaret University to find out about food tasting and testing. In a nutshell who decides what food appears on our supermarket shelves and whether we're likely to like it. Also, we'll be telling you all about a really simple test you can do at home to see if you're one of Scotland's elite supertasters. When it comes to marrying sweet, sour, bitter, salty or umami, Thai food has it all. So Ghillie Basan and her daughter Yazzie are set to make your mouth water with one of their favourite Thai dishes...

Gary Maclean joins Simon Preston and a class of budding future chefs from Our Lady of the Rosary Primary School in Glasgow to cook up a vegetable risotto for lunch. Gary talks about his role as Scotland's first National Chef and what he hopes he can achieve for Scotland as a food nation. He'll also be talking about the Food for Thought project and how its bringing business and schools together to change how we think about our food. Meanwhile pupils from another Glasgow school, Garnetbank, are busy taking their new cookery skills to the next level but turning cookery classes into their own Youtube films.

Whether its breakfast, lunch or dinner, Food is something that unites us all, it's often at the heart of family life. This week on the Kitchen Café Sumayya Usmani visits the Glasgow Gurdwara, a Sikh temple in Glasgow to see how food is not just bringing families together, but entire communities. Also, Simon Preston meets up with Emma Black, project coordinator of Meal Makers, an organisation that is connecting elderly people with volunteer cooks throughout Scotland.

Pennie Latin introduces this delicious dive into the Kitchen Cafe recipe collection with top Skye chef Michael Smith, writer Sue Lawrence, food consultant and writer Christopher Trotter and international spice expert Ghillie Basan. So if you're bored of cooking the same thing week after week and are after inspiration you've come to the perfect place! This week Sue Lawrence is on the starter, a sensational pear and red pepper soup. Chef Michael Smith draws on his wife's north African heritage to show us how to make the perfect cous cous. Staying in North Africa Ghillie Basan gives us the low down on ras el hanout spice mix then Christopher Trotter treats us to lamb's liver with lime. And if you've still got room after all that then how about a favourite family recipe from Pennie's own kitchen, berry slump!

Stress, Anxiety, Pressure, Worry, Oh and not forgetting the dread.... Yes, it's that time of year when students all over the country have got their heads buried deep in books preparing for exams so on this week's Kitchen Cafe, Chef Neil Forbes is joined by nutritionist Dr Laura Wyness to give university students Maeve and Cameron lots of practical advice on how to keep their brains and bodies firing on all cylinders.

Chef Neil Forbes is joined by whisky enthusiast Roy Duff to give us a beginner's guide in choosing the right whisky for your palate and Ghillie Basan takes a trip to the heart of whisky country where she caught up with Ann Miller to hear how Speyside has developed such a strong identity as a whisky producing region.