Today’s Dish - January 2026

1. Garlic Butter & Buttons Undone Sandwich 

It all started with a viral sandwich bade from bought M&S ingredients, pieced together by influencers with long red nails and black silky pajamas- all buttons undone, of course. Garlic butter. Chicken nuggets. Kiev dip in a little tub. Ciabatta. Some salad. And views, millions of them.

But we had other plans.

We made our own version. From scratch. No sponsors. No silk. No long nails. No fakery.    
Just us - flour in our hair ( and on the counter), butter on our lips (and on ciabatta), frying love by handful.

Garlic butter:   
Real butter, melted, soft and honest.   
Fresh garlic, now minced within an inch of its life.   
Hand-chopped parsley and a handful of grated Parmesan - for the scent, the salt, the rebellion.   
Prepare enough. This needs to go on the both sides of ciabatta.

Chicken schnitzel:   
Filet tenderized like a heart trying again.   
Dipped in seasoned flour, egg, and breadcrumbs.     
Fried until golden, crispy, and proud. Let it rest on a cooling ruck.

Kiev dip (a miracle white sauce, with a secret ingredient):   
Melt about a tablespoon of real butter.   
Sauté 2 cloves of grated garlic until it flirts.   
Add one tablespoon of flour, cook it slow.  
Deglaze with a kiss of white wine. This is the secret ingredient.   
Add half a cup of double cream, more liquid if needed.  
At the end, some lemon zest, chopped parsley, and Parmesan grated (about 40g, io to taste). Finish with salt and pepper.

Assembly:   
Garlic buttered ciabatta. On both sides.   
Crisp salad leaf.   
That golden love-chicken.   
A ladle of warm Kiev dip - yes ladle.   
Gherkins. Non-negotiable. For the sass.    
Optional: photos and that tiny tear of joy before taking the first bite.

It took a bit more work in the kitchen than they show on the viral video, isn’t it? But the sandwich? Now it’s ours.   
And when we ate it, we didn’t care about the silky pyjamas, or if the buttons were done or undone,   
We cared that it dripped with love. And garlic. And homemade sauce. And just enough chaos to taste like us.

2. Chilli con Fusion - When Nothing’s Right, but Everything’s perfect 

This isn’t a recipe. It’s a manifesto with cumin, cinnamon, and smoked paprika.   
No tomato paste? We raised the gochujang flag.   
No black beans? We calked it pintos.   
No dark chocolate? A teaspoon of cacao said, “Watch me”.   
No cheese? We let the beans speak for themselves.

It’s slow cooked rebellion, spooned into bowls with tortilla chips and unapologetic joy.   
A stew that growls, “You can take our gravy, but you’ll never take our spice”., 

Chilli Con Fusion earned its place on the Love & Taste Cafe winter menu - top shelf. Not because it followed the rules, but because it rewrote them. It tasted like comfort. It looks like mischief. It felt like home.

We didn’t follow a recipe - we followed our instincts. Inspired by Recipetin, yes, but then we cooked with what we had. The rest? Pure improvisation. A winter love story told in simmering spoon and unexpected heat.

Whoever finds us - however hew - will meet a bowl that refuses to apologize for being different. Because different isn’t wrong. It’s just not theirs. And maybe it was never ment to be.