I started Cooking & Carafes as a food blog. A little project I could call my own, where I could experiment with meals in my kitchen. I’d take a few photos, put it all online somewhere and then using my marketing skills to bring it all together for people to use as a resource for Italian inspired recipes.

The blog is based around my my passion for cooking. After years of holidaying in the Italy and spending a summer working in Sardinia in my 20s, I have a long term love affair with the country, the food, and wine. You can read more about it in my ‘Love Letter to Italy’ blog post.

As well as cooking, I love nature and gardening. I feel very lucky to have open countryside on my doorstep. Fresh produce and grow your own is a passion of mine, so you’ll often find me in my veg patch in the summer seeing what I can grow, cultivating my garden with wildflowers and herbs. You’ll see this also transcends into the seeds I sell in my online store.

About my recipes

I’m a huge advocate for home cooking and cooking from scratch. I’m the kind of person that looks in the fridge and decides what to make with whatever’s in there, bringing it together with store cupboard ingredients. As part of this ethos I champion ways to reduce food waste, always trying to keep my recipes flexible to give you the confidence to substitute ingredients. Leaving things out, or adding in something else that’s in the fridge all means there’s no waste, and you’re making a meal with ingredients you enjoy and can easily get hold of. You don’t need to spend hours in the kitchen or have lots of special ingredients to cook delicious meals.

You’ll also find me regularly sharing what I’m cooking up in the evenings over on my insta stories. You’ll catch at least one new recipe a week on there. I love working with brands I believe in so any collaborations you see me sharing are because I genuinely like the brand and their story (but I’ll always let you know when they’re paid for or gifted). 💕

Pasta Making Workshops

I love making fresh, homemade pasta, I find it therapeutic and for me it’s a way to be creative. My dream was to run Pasta Making ‘Pop Ups’, and it was my online community that encouraged me to make it a reality. You’ll now find me hosting Pasta Making Workshops at different locations in and around Hertfordshire and London 🍝 These are fun and informal cooking classes where you learn to make pasta and then enjoy food and wine supper club style.

Find out more on my Events page.

The Cooking & Carafes Shop

Along with recipes and workshops, I realised I wanted to create a carefully curated shop of beautiful products that are perfect as either a treat to yourself or a gift for the food lovers in your life. From eco-friendly products to handmade ceramics I wanted to create a space to bring you bespoke and artisan products using local and U.K. based artists, creators and producers where possible.

Finally…

Take a look around cookingandcarafes.co.uk and see what you find! Connect with me on social media too - I love seeing when people create my dishes and I’m always happy to help with advice so please just DM me with questions and queries – I’m happy to help.

Let’s work together

If you’d like to work together with me as a brand, or partner, please email me at kate@cookingandcarafes.co.uk

If you want to know more about my previous experience and what I do now feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn or on social media.