My dad’s fabulous bbq sauce, tangy, deep and brilliantly delicious. Use it to marinade and also to accompany anything barbecued, or just sneakily eat it straight from the pan with a spoon before you get caught.
1 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
1 stick celery, roughly chopped
3 tbsp veg oil
3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
250ml water
2 tbsp vinegar
4 tbsp tomato and chilli relish
4 tbsp brown sugar
200g ketchup
1 tsp dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
60ml lemon juice
2 dashes tabasco or 1 tsp sriracha
Mince the onion, pepper, celery and garlic together in a blender
Heat oil in a saucepan and add the veg, cook over a low heat until completely soft and golden
Add all the rest of the ingredients and cook over low heat for 30 mins until thick, deeply russet-red and intensely flavoured
A joyful salad! Will make your mouth giggle with happily contrasting flavours and textures. Spicy, peanutty, crunchy, fresh and lovely.
2 chicken breasts, poached and then allowed to go cold. (To poach the chicken, use 2 tbsp soy sauce and water to cover. Add ginger slices, a garlic clove and lemongrass to flavour the liquid. Put chicken into the pan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 mins)
Large handful of cashew nuts, toasted
Cooked, fine rice noodles
Finely sliced salad veg including cucumber, carrot, radishes, spring onion, cabbage, mange tout and bean sprouts
Red chilli, finely sliced
4 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
Fresh coriander leaves
1 tbsp veg oil
1 clove garlic, grated
1 tsp grated ginger
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
1 heaped tbsp brown sugar
3 heaped tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1 tbsp tahini/sesame paste
1 tbsp light soy sauce
Juice of ½ lime
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
100-150ml water
Make the salad by shredding the chicken and prepping the veg. Cook and cool the noodles
For the sauce, heat the oil gently in a small pan. Add garlic, ginger and chilli flakes and cook until just starting to colour
Add brown sugar, tahini, peanut butter, soy sauce and lime juice and warm through until sugar is dissolved
Loosen with the water and, once it’s got to pourable consistency, take off the heat and stir through the sesame oil
Place salad and noodles on a plate, drizzle with the rice vinegar and soy sauce and toss through. Then top with the chicken shreds and cashew nuts. Dress with the peanut sauce and garnish with fresh coriander and red chilli
A New England tradition and a beautiful way to use up any slightly-past-its-best fruit. Except bananas, but you can make banana bread with those. My fave versions is with apricots or peaches, but almost any fruit works. Feeds 2 with leftovers. Or possibly just seconds.
Poached fruit
45g caster sugar
100g flour
1 tsp baking powder
40g butter, cold
80 ml milk
1 tbsp flaked almonds
Flavour with orange zest, cinnamon, almond or vanilla extract – whatever works with the fruit you’ve chosen
Pre-heat oven to 170C fan.
Put fruit into an overproof dish
Put the flour, baking powder, sugar and flavourings into a bowl
Grate in the butter and rub in with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs
Stir in the milk to make a soft dough
Blob large spoonfuls (slumps!) of the mixture over the fruit and scatter with almonds.
Put the dish onto an oven tray and bake for 30 mins until the topping is crisp and golden.
Will fill your kitchen with the most mouthwatering aromas while it cooks, and your mouth with dancing, contrasting flavours when you eat it. Feeds a hungry 2
2 chicken thigh fillets, cut into small pieces
1 chorizo sausage, cut into small pieces
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 tbsp garlic oil
Pinch of chilli flakes
Pinch of saffron
2 tsp paprika
Handful of frozen peas
Handful of chopped fresh parsley
150g paella rice
500ml chicken stock
Lemon
Heat the garlic oil in a deep frying pan and fry the chorizo until it starts to release its oil
Add the chicken and brown in the russet-red oil
Remove the meat from the pan and add the onion and red pepper
Cook until softened then add the rice to the pan and stir it into the oil and veg
Turn the heat up, add stock and spices
Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins
Stir the meat through the rice and cook for a further 10 mins
Turn the heat off, add the peas, parsley and a squeeze of lemon
Cover the pan and leave to rest for a final 5 mins. Serve immediately
This chutney makes cheese sing with joy. And who doesn’t want that? Plus it glows a most beautiful, vibrant orange colour. People constantly ask when I’m making more so they can come to my house and steal it.
1.8kg carrots, grated
110g ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 litre cider vinegar
8 dried chillis (or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes)
2 tbsp coriander seeds, coarsely crushed
4 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise
60g sea salt flakes
3 heads garlic, cloves separated and peeled
500 ml water
1.5 kg granulated sugar
In a large bowl, mix together the grated carrot, ginger, cider vinegar, chillis, coriander seeds, cinnamon sticks, star anise and salt. But not the garlic
Cover the bowl with a plate or a clean tea towel and set aside to marinate for 24 hours
Next day (probably giggling with excited anticipation), pour the carrot mixture into a large preserving pan
Add the water, stir and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins
Stir in the sugar and garlic cloves, bring back to the boil and boil hard for around 45 mins, stirring occasionally, until the mixture becomes thick and jammy. Don’t be scared to properly whack the heat up. If you are gentle, it will take a lot longer
Take off the heat and ladle at once into hot sterilised jars with tightly fitting lids. I don’t bother removing the star anise, chilli, cinnamon and garlic but by all means do if you prefer!
I like to sterilise my jars in the microwave – 3 mins on high with an inch of water in the bottom of each one – but you can also do it in the oven at 140C for 10 mins. Don’t forget to wash the lids in hot soapy water too and then pour some boiling water over them too for good measure.
I have a deep and abiding affection for my favourite cookery books, especially the bits that are stained and wrinkled and spattered with use. Here are a few of them
Fresh India. Nothing is here is not delicious. There is literally not one single dud recipe. And the writing is wonderfully evocative and humorous too. My top choices include her fresh mater paneer, root vegetable masala, pineapple raita and mango paneer skewers.
TheRoasting Tin. The chicken wings with sweet potato and lime yogurt. Life-changer. And that’s just the beginning. You could happily read this cover to cover, drooling gently as you browse. And the photographs of every dish are lovely.
Zaitoun. Extraordinary and poetic. Special shout-out to the spiced lamb and hummus, smashed avocado, rainbow carrot salad with herb yogurt, the roast chicken with sumac. And there are salads for days. Make EVERYTHING. Fragrant, tasty, delightful.
Nigel Slater‘s books are a delight to read and salivate over. I’ve got more of his books than any other writer’s. My fave is Real Food, but there are so many to choose from and read for hours in a comfy chair. He offers a deep pool of knowledge, experience and reassurance that I can sink contentedly into, knowing there will be something delicious at the end of it.
Queen Nigella is my go-to for anything sweet. And a substantial number of savoury things too. But most especially her chocolate cloud cake, pavlovas, nutella cake, lemon tender cake with blueberry compote, chocolate chip cookies, molten chocolate babycakes, incredibly sticky, spicy, deeply treacly gingerbread and marzipan cake. The list of amazing things to put in your mouth is endless. Incredibly happy-making food.
Nigel and Nigella are like the mum and dad of my cooking.
And, if they’re the parents, then Felicity Cloake is like the kind, clever older sister (although I’m probably actually older than her in real life).
Her book Perfect is soothing and comforting. So much so that, at moments of high anxiety – and there have been a LOT of them in recent months – I read it in bed and it sends me to a happy sleep where things make sense and someone else has done the hard work for you. She also writes the brilliant Perfect column in the Guardian, full of recipes tried and tested by someone I trust so much that I’d leave my child with them. Seriously, all her food always works.
Whip up this delight for a quick weeknight dinner. The creamy cheesiness is set off beautifully by the slightly bitter broccoli and walnuts, tangy mustard and sweet, fresh peas. Tasty and incredibly more-ish. Will make you want to lick the bowl. And no-one would judge you if you did
500g bag fresh gnocchi
200g pack long stem broccoli
100g frozen petit pois
50g walnut pieces
100ml double cream
2 tbsp dijon mustard
50g gruyere, grated
1 tbsp olive oil
Toast walnuts in a dry pan over a medium heat. Don’t allow to burn or they’ll go bitter
Cut the broccoli stems into halves/thirds
Boil large pan of water
Add broccoli and cook for 3 mins then drain, keeping a cup of the broccoli-water on one side
Heat large non-stick frying pan with olive oil
Tip in broccoli, gnocchi and frozen peas
Fry for 2 mins then add mustard and cream
Stir together, bring to a bubble, taste and season. Add a little broccoli-water if it gets too thick
Turn off the heat, add cheese and walnuts and stir together
The Greek answer to lasagne. I’m genuinely not sure which I like best. Maybe both…
Top 3 pastitsio facts : 1) it uses lamb rather than beef 2) it features the most unwieldy pasta in the known universe and 3) you beat eggs into the white sauce so it sets gently in a layer on top of the savoury concoction below. The pasta is like 30cm-long tubes of macaroni, apparently used for nothing except this dish. If you can’t find it, just substitute with regular macaroni. Feeds 6-8 and takes a couple of hours, from start to finished dish
2 tbsp olive oil
500g lamb mince
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 bay leaf
½ tsp ground cinnamon
Pinch of allspice
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
250ml red wine
½ tsp sugar
1 lamb stock cube
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp butter
400ml milk
200g halloumi, grated
200g cheddar, grated
2 eggs
Nutmeg
300g pastitsio macaroni
Salt and pepper
Heat the oil in a large thick-bottomed saucepan over a high heat
Brown the lamb mince, breaking it up with the spoon, then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil behind
Drop in the onion and garlic and saute for around 8 mins until soft
Add tomato puree, crumbled lamb stock cube and wine. Cook, stirring, for 5 mins
Add chopped tomatoes, herbs, spices, half a tin of water, sugar, salt and pepper
Simmer over a low heat for 45 mins, stirring every now and again to make sure it doesn’t stick. Add a bit more liquid if needed as it cooks
In the meantime, make a roux with butter and flour (melt the butter and whisk in the flour, cooking for a couple of mins)
Pour in the milk, whisking it as it warms to make smooth white sauce
Over a low heat, add the grated cheddar and halloumi
Grate over a few grates of nutmeg and season well
Take off the heat and beat in the 2 eggs
Preheat oven to 180C fan (200C)
Cook the pasta for 8 mins in salted boiling water
In a deep ceramic oven dish (rectangular will be simplest because the pasta wants to lie in straight lines), layer the meat sauce and pasta – keeping the pasta tubes all lying in the same direction
Pour the cheese sauce over the top, sprinkling with a bit more grated cheddar
Bake for 30 mins until golden and bubbling on top
To serve, cut slices across the pasta so the cross-section shows all the hollow tubes like a honeycomb. Serve a crispy, lemony salad alongside
Sophie cooks 