Pancakes are delicious, quick, reliable food for which you always have the right ingredients in your cupboard says Sophie Hart-Walsh Nobody would ever turn down a pancake. Nobody would ever be disappointed by a pancake on their plate, apart from sometimes John Torode and Greg Wallace (and even then only if one of them has […]
Butternut squash tortelli with red onion and sage Fresh pasta: 3 eggs plus one egg yolk 400g 00 pasta flour or plain flour drizzle of olive oil Knead for 5 minutes until you form a soft and well worked dough. Place in the refrigerator for 25 minutes. Take out and knead for 3 minutes until […]
The untimely death of Irrfan Khan, a hugely respected star of Hindi and English-language films, will see his many fans revisiting his work. Foodies in particular will remember the epistolary romance, “The Lunchbox”, in which he plays a widowed office worker who embarks on a clandestine correspondence with an unhappy Mumbai housewife — all thanks […]
For those of you who’ve mastered the art of lockdown sourdough, Danish rye bread is an appealing variation on a theme. This dense and distinctive loaf, packed with seeds and grains, is particularly good when used as the basis of smørrebrød, Scandinavia’s pretty open-faced sandwiches. Classic toppings include pickled herring and fresh shrimp, although anything […]
Thanks to the current circumstances, street parties are out as are patriotic parades and jubilant gatherings, so the 75th anniversary of VE Day on Friday 8 May has now been downgraded to a stay at home session with the Queen on the telly. But, rushing to the rescue of the nation comes the National Trust, […]
Two of our favourite recipes from Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver ‘s latest book celebrating 25 years at St John Grilled Lamb’s Hearts, Peas and Mint To serve 6, or 3 as a main course 1 good-sized lamb’s heart will suffice as a starter, 2 each as a main course Choose your peas wisely and […]
This enchanting cake reminds me of a Persian garden in the late spring, adorned with the floral scent of rose water and citrus, and decorated with bright green pistachios. If it is not devoured in one sitting, the oil in the ground almond base ensures a moist, densely textured cake that will keep well for […]
Giusy’s ’Ndunderi with Tomato Sauce For 4–6 people Our criteria for selecting our grannies is that they have to be real-life grannies, or over 60 – preferably over 70. We made an exception for Giusy, though, as she learned how to make ’ndunderi from her nonna and has become an expert. Even though she […]
During the English Civil War, the country was split not just by politics but also by food. There were stark differences between frugal Parliamentarians and decadent Royalist households and it was at Christmas that these divisions were most keenly felt. By Jacqui Wood Those first Christmas’s during the Civil War (1642 – 1651) would have […]
Jelly with summer soft fruits Serves 4 4 leaves gelatine 1 pt (568ml) sanguinello (blood orange) juice Varied soft fruit: raspberries, blackberries, blueberries. Soak the gelatine in cold water for five minutes and squeeze out water. Pour the sanguinello juice into a saucepan, add the soaked gelatine and melt over a very low heat for […]
An intriguing recipe for a kind of Medieval lasagne, layers of ‘pasta’ (flattened sheets of flour paste), cheese and broth, first appeared in The Forme of Cury (c1390), a compendium of Royal Household recipes commissioned by King Richard II, whose cooks also produced instructions for cheese-filled ravioli and rice with saffron, an early Milanese risotto. […]
Sausage Rolls A sausage roll is the cheapest of all ready-made snacks but to relish this tasty tiddler at its best, it has to be hot. The best and cheapest way of doing this is to make your own. The two main ingredients can be bought ready-made and I urge you to cheat. There’s no […]
Christopher Hirst finds that size matters when it comes to Yorkshire pudding You might not have known that 3 February this year was Yorkshire Pudding Day though, since it was a Sunday, there’s a strong chance that you may have participated in an unconscious celebration. Simultaneously crunchy and absorbent, Yorkshire Pudding is an essential part […]
Author of the Pauper’s Cookbook, kitchen bible of impecunious flat-dwellers throughout the UK in the 70s, Jocasta Innes was also a fount of information on rural traditions of cooking, storing and preserving. Here, her son Jason Goodwin reveals the background to Jocasta’s The Country Kitchen, first published in 1979. Below, two recipes from the book […]
Carolyn Robb cooked for the Prince of Wales, Princess Diana and Princes William and Harry at Kensington Palace. One of the recipes the boys particularly liked was her Chocolate Biscuit Cake. ‘My mother used to make this when I was a child’ she says. ‘It was a great favourite of mine. When Prince William […]
One positive event to emerge from the dreadful Grenfell Tower tragedy in West London has been the birth of the Hubb Community Kitchen. It was started by a group of women who had been displaced by the fire, and needed somewhere to cook fresh food for their families. They began to use the kitchen at […]
Encapsulating all that’s most seductive about Eastern European and Jewish baking, the Babka (or Baba) is a sweetened bread or cake made from rich dough, baked in a tall cylindrical mould. It’s origins are mysterious but Savella Stechishin, the Ukrainian-Canadian home economist and writer speculates that ‘the baba-bread may have originated in prehistoric times when […]
Myrtle Allen, described in the Irish Times as ‘the matriarch of modern Irish cuisine’, died on 13 June at the age of 94. Christopher Hirst recalls how she introduced him to a memorable dessert that enshrined her culinary watchwords – ‘local, seasonal, organic, flavoursome, sustainable and superbly cooked’ My first visit to Ballymaloe House was […]
Harry and Meghan have shown good taste credentials when it comes to cake. The royal couple’s annointed baker is Claire Ptak, owner of the Violet Bakery, one of London’s hippest bakery-cafes. For the last five days Ptak has been perfecting a three-layer elderflower and lemon cake in the kitchens of Buckingham Palace. Here’s the […]
In 1992, Family Circle Magazine inaugurated a head-to-head cookie-baking challenge that has become a fixture of US presidential campaigns ever since. The competition began in response to Hillary Clinton’s throwaway comment that she supposed she “could have stayed home and baked cookies.” And with that a new bake-off contest was born. Hillary submitted a […]
Christopher Hirst explores some unlikely partnerships for rhubarb In his great work Rhubarb: The Wondrous Drug, Clifford Faust explains ‘the several advantages’ of my home turf of West Yorkshire that made it the perfect terroir for rhubarb: ‘a climate northerly enough for a lengthy autumn dormancy period, high rainfall for maximum plant development, a smoky […]
New Year’s Day Breakfast Toast In her 1963 novel The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath’s literary alter ego, Esther Greenwood, speaks with feeling about the twixmas slump: “I felt overstuffed and dull and disappointed, the way I always do the day after Christmas, as if whatever it was the pine boughs and the candles and the […]
Christmas pudding Serves 6-8 450g dried mixed fruit, eg a mixture of currants, sultanas, golden cherries, candied peel, raisins, chopped apricots, dried chopped figs 1 small cooking apple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped 1 orange, finely grated rind and juice 3 tbsp brandy, sherry, or rum, plus extra for flaming 75g butter, softened, plus extra […]
A post-Apple day excess of fruit can feel over-whelming. This Normandy tarte aux pommes will use up three large or six small apples. Boskoop, Reinette or Granny Smith on a pleasingly thin crust. Boskoop, originally from the Netherlands where it began as a chance seedling in 1856, is a good apple to use here if […]
In his black chef’s hat, Fabio Neri has something of the look of a Medici banker, though in person proves a lot less sombre. The head chef at San Gimignano’s Locanda dell’Artista, a dreamy hill-top bed and breakfast with a high end restaurant attached, Fabio woos diners night after night with his inventive raviolis and […]
Pickled Walnuts 110g cooking salt 450g green walnuts 1.8 litres red wine vinegar (or half vinegar and half inexpensive port) 25g fresh ginger, sliced 25g allspice berries 1 tbsp malt 1 tbsp white sugar To make pickling walnuts worthwhile it is usual to use at least 1.35kg of walnuts. These must be picked green from […]
Incredibly simple and quick to make, this oat bread is delicious. It’s also damp and solid, however – good ballast against winter, or summer storms, but not much use for mopping up leftover soup or gravy… 4 cups porridge oats 1/2 tsp bicarb of soda 1 cup walnuts, crushed (opt, or use seeds) 1 egg […]
Edward Knighton puts the bounce back into ciabatta… The hankering to put an honest loaf on the table is something most amateur cooks feel at one time or another. But no one wants to go through hours of effort only to find an unleavened lump at the end of the process. I have had very […]
Tuna Pasta Bake: political junkie Edward Knighton shares his election night special In a rather bleak week in election season, here are some comforting carbs to fuel that long night in front of the TV waiting for the next high profile victim of the democratic process. A dish that can be re-hashed and re-heated as […]
Tom Lawrence’s Breakfast Scrapple The GIs stationed in Wareham during the war were part of the US First Division, which had fought in North Africa and Sicily, and would go on to fight on Omaha beach in the Normandy invasion. In my novel Should You Ask Me Tom Lawrence from Wilmington in Delaware, who is […]
Now is the glorious season of wild garlic and, while on holiday in Pembrokeshire last week, woods filled with the scent of garlic and ethereal swathes of lovely white flowers made me think of Wild Garlic Pesto. Research in the limited selection of cookbooks available, led me to invent my own recipe. This is it […]
One of the best loved biscuits in Norway, if not the whole of Scandinavia. The spices used are the most important element, and non-negotiable, although the shapes are up to you… 150g salted butter 200g golden caster sugar 2 (generous) tbs syrup 3 tbs milk 400g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp fine […]
One of my family’s favourite cakes – for special occasions… Cake 4 egg whites 200g icing sugar 200g almonds, ground into a light, dry flour 2tsp baking powder Pinch of salt Start by weighing out the almonds and milling them (by hand if possible) until you have a uniformly ground ‘flour’. I use an old […]
One of the Norse winter Seven – the oldest and most traditional of biscuits. Short and buttery with a sugar and almond crunch… Biscuit 150g soft salted butter 125g golden caster sugar 1/2 tsp of vanilla sugar 1 egg 225g plain flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 egg white, lightly beaten 15-20 almonds, slivered or […]
A childhood favourite. My gran always made several batches of these from early December … 150g chocolate, dark or milk or a mixture of both 40g coconut oil 80g puffed brown rice paper cases Add the coconut oil and chocolate to a heatproof bowl and place over a pan with gently simmering water. Do NOT […]
This adaptation halves the quantities of the original and excludes the raisins but is still enough for around 40 average-sized pies. If you want to make meat-free mince pies, exclude the steak and add a few more currants and candied peel. 375g/12oz currants 200g/7oz minced rump steak 375g/12oz Atora beef suet 250g/8oz dark muscovado sugar […]
In Jewish cuisine in Rome, the endive was fried in olive oil without the stuffing on each side until crisp. I prefer it stuffed and then baked in the oven as southern Italian peasants do, calling it ‘buttoned-up endive’ serves 4 2 medium heads of curly endive, about 700g (1lb 9oz), well washed and dried […]
This is a filling winter dish which is served as a carnival food in Ivrea, a town in Piedmont, near to where I was brought up. The carnival takes place around the middle of February, before Lent, the lean Christian month that lasts until Easter. Historically, the rich used to give beans and grains to […]
This is a Pugliese speciality of peasant origin, made with local ingredients. The highlight is the nutty sweetness of the purée, and the slight bitterness of the wild chicory that can be found in springtime in the fields. Instead of wild chicory I am using catalogna chicory, which belongs to the same chicory family, and […]
These recipes require various sizes of Kilner-type storage jars Home-made Preserved Lemons This will make enough lemons to fill a 500ml kilner jar. 10 un-waxed lemons 250g of basic sea salt 5 star anise 2 cinnamon sticks 2 tsps of coriander seed Squeeze the juice from 4 of the lemons and keep aside. Quarter 5 […]
From her classic book, Modern Cookery (1845) Serves 4 – 6 You will need a 1.2 litre ceramic pudding bowl, or two x 600ml individual bowls, some greaseproof paper, foil and kitchen string Pudding ingredients 75g plain flour 75g fresh white breadcrumbs 175g suet 175g raisins 175g sultanas 1 apple (roughly 110g large apple), peeled, […]
In Mexico, The Day of the Dead is marked with a classic mole and a glass of tequila. Laura Binder Hughes reveals how to join in the celebrations… Although Halloween has acquired a very particular meaning in 21st century Britain, the origin of this cheerfully macabre celebration lies much deeper in the religious calendar, deriving […]
Pumpkins have a rustic reputation belied by their appearance in this silky and sophisticated dish, which is very easy to rustle up. You could roast the pumpkin first, rubbed in oil and salt Serves 4 butter 75g/3oz pumpkin or squash 1kg/2lb, peeled, cut into 2cm/1 inch cubes onion 1, chopped sugar 1 tsp chicken stock […]
No garlic? No butter, or oil? No spices? I first came across this recipe in a little book of Turkish cookery written by the gloriously named Venice Lamb, put out by my English publisher, Faber, in the late 1960s. It’s a weird, even primitive, recipe but it tastes very good, and is a speciality of […]
Palace communications were traditionally bound in vermilion silk ribbon, the very colour of this pilaf, which looks sensational Serves 4 beetroot 250g/8oz, boiled and boiling water reserved basmati rice ½ kg/1lb, rinsed and drained onion 1, finely chopped butter 1tbsp salt chicken stock or water Boil the beetroots whole, until tender. Pick them out of […]
Spiced Apple Tart Tatin Makes 1 tart Puff pastry 110g salted butter, softened 130g caster sugar 1 star anise 1 vanilla pod, split 3 Pink Lady apples, peeled, halved with seeds and core scooped out Roll the puff pastry out on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of a £1 coin. Rest in the […]
Makes one 25cm tart I quantity of short-crust pastry, chilled 110g butter 110g caster sugar, plus extra for dusting 2 eggs 110g ground almonds 25g plain flour ½ tsp baking powder Zest of ½ lemon 9 medium apricots, halved, stone removed 20g flaked almonds Preheat the oven to 200C. Grease a 25cm tart tin and […]
Costrada de setas – Wild mushroom pie Makes 1x22cm round pie 500g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting 50g tomato sofrito (from a jar) 120ml olive oil Sea salt 1 egg, beaten, for brushing the pastry For the filling 2 onions, sliced in rings Around 8 tablespoons olive oil A pinch of sugar or […]
Tarta de almendra con naranja – Orange and almond cake This recipe from Ana Barrera’s Madrid restaurant is in a class of its own: moist, flour-free and citrussy. Ana recommends serving the tart with vanilla ice cream and a glass of Moscatel wine or PX sherry. Serves 8-12 2 medium oranges 2 tablespoons orange liqueur […]
Xatonada – Catalan salt cod and frisée salad Another Catalan salt cod salad, which has a number of variations. Although it is traditionally done with salt cod, I have also seen it with tuna and/or anchovies, taking it closer to a Caesar salad, albeit with a nut sauce. This is Brindisa’s head chef Leo Rivera’s […]
Lengua de Cerdo Estofada (braised pork tongue) Tongue, most delicious of all the variety meats, is finished in a braising sauce of onion, cinnamon and wine. For a more substantial dish, serve with thick chips fried crisp in olive oil (chips served with stews is a very Spanish habit). Serves 6–8 as a tapa 1 […]
Insalata di Arance e Bottarga (sliced orange and bottarga salad) Serve this elegant little sweet-salt winter salad dressed with olive oil and finished with fine shavings of bottarga before a seafood risotto or pasta. Serves 4 4 juicy oranges 1 mild red or white onion, peeled and finely sliced into half-moons 3–4 tablespoons olive oil […]
Seared seafood salad A fresh seafood salad made with just-cooked shellfish and crustaceans (except crab, which is not firm enough) is briefly marked on the grill and served warm. Ready-cooked seafood won’t cut the mustard. Serves 2 as a starter 2 tablespoons olive oil 100 g raw prawns or shrimp, heads on 100 g shucked […]
This is a one pot dish which will not disappoint. The marinade with the kombu at the heart of it adds a deep savoury umami flavour to this dish. The cleaness of the pak choi and pepper complement the sweet oriental flavours of the marinade. Great for a hungry hoard who want instant gratification Serves […]
Broad Bean and Kombu Hummus I enjoy the process of popping the beans out of their fleece lined pods, cooking them and finally, releasing the bright green bean it from its bitter grey leathery prison. The salt from the seaweed adds more flavour to this bean dish which straddles land and sea. Spread on flatbread […]
sekanjibeen is an ancient Persian syrup, concocted from vinegar, sugar and mint, which can be drizzled over salad leaves, or mixed with ice and water for a refreshing summer drink. My mum used to buy readymade mint sauce and make little bowls of sekanjibeen for us to snack on when the weather turned […]
This stew was inspired by a glorious afternoon’s cooking in Rasht with pharmacist Sima Mohamadzahdeh, who likes to pot-roast a whole chicken when entertaining guests, presenting it on a bed of spinach and prune sauce. My version of her masterpiece involves poaching flavourful chicken thigh pieces with some warming spices before cooking them in […]
The day-to-day culinary adventures of Maudie, Bella and Clem 1 Boiled orange cake We first met Paul on a beach on Andros. He was cooking a fish on a fire in the dark. It was an exciting meal as it was hard to know whether you were going to get a mouthful of sand or […]
1. What to eat before football Hungry yet enthusiastic team mates in the Vauxhall Powerleague, Max Hart-Walsh and Felix Turnbull-Walter deal with the dilemma of what to cook before a match… An early kick off at the Powerleague Vauxhall has forced our hand. The dilemma, every week, is that there is not enough time […]
Kulfis are delicately spiced Indian ice creams, traditionally eaten after something fiery. You can cut the calories further by using light coconut milk, but the downside of this option is a more granular texture. For 6: 400ml tin of coconut milk ¼ tsp cardamom seeds, crushed 2 tbsp desiccated coconut, dry-fried 3 tbsp clear honey […]
This soup has a coarse texture, halfway between a soup and a stew. Turmeric is an intense gold root and in India it’s well known for being good for us. It’s a perfect and traditional partner to cauliflower, giving good flavour as well as colour. Put it in your soups, your smoothies, your curries; and […]
This is my version of a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe for marinated roast chicken with clementines. Until she became a vegetarian, it was one of my daughter Molly’s favourite meals, with the sweet, yet sharp flavour of citrus, along with fennel and celery. It’s all the better with blood oranges. You need to start the marinating […]
