Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

While American pancakes with syrup are undeniably a supermom-with-kids breakfast cliche, they are also undeniably good, and in my book that alone argues forcefully for their inclusion here. They are anyway very easy to make, easier than thinner English pancakes or crepes, and it

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Kuchen, in this context, may be simply "cake" in German, but what it means in America, taken there by German refugees, is a sweet, but not too sweet, yeasted dough, baked in a slab and topped as desired with fruit, nuts, or both or neither — to be eaten at breakfast or any time with a cup of coffee. If making yeast dough at breakfast time seems unfathomably demanding, relax in the knowledge that you can make this before you go to bed in the evening, leaving it to rise slowly in the fridge overnight. That way, all you need to do in the morning is preheat the oven, take the dough out of the fridge, then knock it back and press it out over the tin, following on from there.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

As with all stews, this is even better made in advance and reheated; for me, this only makes things easier.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

You might think that nuts, untampered with, are perfect picking food as they are, and up to a point you

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is a proper supper, but a speedy one. And though it

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is another of my maternal grandmother

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

On days when I want the warmth of the hearth rather than the hurly burly of the city streets I stay in and read cookery books, and this recipe comes from just the sort of book that gives most succour, Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax. The cake itself is as richly and rewardingly sustaining: a melting, dark, flourless, chocolate base, the sort that sinks damply on cooling; the fallen centre then cloudily filled with softly whipped cream and sprinkled with cocoa powder. As Richard Sax says, "intensity, then relief, in each bite".

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is the sort of cake you

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

My inspiration here was a sweet — those chocolate limes I ate in my childhood. The base is rich and dark and perfectly counters the light, tender cream-cheese custard above it, itself kept all the more delicately smooth by being baked in a water bath (and this is easy: don

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

My not entirely orthodox way of turning out this otherwise classic dish of cream-softened potatoes has a lot going for it.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

The first thing you should know about creme brulee is that it

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

I first made this for a piece I was writing for Vogue on the mood-enhancing properties of carbohydrates, as promoted by such books as - and how

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is just what you want for a Sunday lunch, cosy and comforting and indulgent. You might need a brisk walk afterwards!

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

I found this salad in a lovely little book —

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This recipe, for want of a better word, comes from a rhinestone gem of a cookbook Are You Hungry Tonight?, a collection of Elvis Presley

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

No one’s saying you have to make fresh pasta, but once you try, you’ll soon see that it’s not so difficult. I had a pasta machine for years before I was brave enough to use it; for some reason I thought it would be a performance. But I tried and it isn’t, and I rather like the mood of peaceful concentration the activity ushers forth. And it’s a great way of playing in the kitchen with children: they love turning the handle, which is actually a help, not often the case when the children are cooking with you. Quantities are easy so long as you remember you need 1 egg per 100g of 00 flour (now available at most supermarkets), and that, on average, one ‘egg’ of pasta, as it were, feeds two generously. I often make these Meatballs to go on top, which might appall Italians — pasta with meatballs being thought of as an American abomination in much of Italy — but the golden tagliatelle are a treat enough just with butter and freshly grated Parmesan.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This recipe is a slight reworking of a Cambodian beef salad I often make; here the lime juice in the steeping mixture (which turns into the dressing) is supplemented with orange juice (Asian evocations of duck a l

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This gingery-hot duck salad recipe from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Bites cookbook is a twist on a classic Cambodian beef salad.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This vegetarian recipe for halloumi with chilli from Nigella Lawson's Nigella Bites can be grilled on the barbecue or simply fried in a pan.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Only those who have never tried this raise an eyebrow at the idea. Don

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

I know that for some people nothing feels more restoring than something warm and unchallengingly bland, but when it

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

My mother used English sausages mostly, and those flat, sludgy lentils (Puy lentils weren

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is comfort food on so many levels. For one, risotto has to be one of the most comforting things to eat ever. What

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Three ingredients: one great supper. I admit it

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Feel free to add ingredients: grated ginger is good, as is chopped fresh mint or, indeed, dried. You can eat this, flat on the plate, with a knife and fork, or roll it up inside a chapatti that you

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

The trick to these meatballs is to keep them small. Don’t actually use a teaspoon, but use about a teaspoon’s amount of mince to roll each ball. If there are children around, so much the better; they tend to like making these. But otherwise, they’re easy enough, and the slow repetitiveness of the action can be rather calming. To go with these divine meatballs, I like tagliatelle. De Cecco, Spinosi or Cipriani brands are all very good, but making fresh pasta is an experience worth trying. No one’s saying you have to make it, but once you try, you’ll soon see that it’s not difficult.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is Italian food before Tuscan rustic chic. The

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is the wholesome, comforting version of a trad English (white) bread and butter pudding that my maternal grandmother always made. Use apricot jam or regular orange marmalade if ginger's not your thing.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

I first made this with Seville oranges, but since these are available only in January here, it would be unhelpfully restricting to suggest no substitutes out of season (though you could always freeze the oranges, either whole or just their zest and juice). I won

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is that life-saving, thick, pasta-and-bean meal of a soup — pasta fazool — as sung about by Dean Martin in That

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is really a vegetarian take on that classic combination of charred, peeled peppers and anchovies. This pepper and feta combo, with a rocket (or other green) salad, some griddled aubergines dressed with pomegranate and mint (or just a bowl of shop-bought hummus) and a pile of warmed pitta breads, would make the perfect Saturday lunch, vegetarians or no.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is a fruity and fragrant summer trifle.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Matzo meal is widely available at supermarkets, and well worth keeping in store. I use tinned salmon here because I think, strangely enough, that

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Kedgeree started life, in India, as a dish of lentils and rice and then, translated into the kitchens of the Raj, and brought back home, became an eggy, golden pile of rice punctuated with slabby chunks of smoked haddock. When I was a child it remained as a comforting brunch dish, still part of the homely repertoire of the normal British cook. Here, I

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

My templefood days do not consist of fey picking: this is gratifyingly substantial. In order to enjoy it you don

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

This is unexpectedly easy to shop for as well as easy to cook. Baby squid (better here than tougher, grown-up, windsock-sized ones) can be found, frozen, in 500g boxes, to be stashed in your freezer and thawed as needed. And while any recipe that involves a pestle and mortar can seem like too much kitchen faffing when you get back from work, let me tell you that a bit of murderous bashing can be a great stress-relieving exercise. But if you

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

When it comes to chicken, I am very much a thigh than a breast person, but this salad makes me happily relish the white meat. Indeed, I am always happy to roast a chicken, eat the brown meat, and leave the chicken breast to be stashed in the fridge just for this. But obviously, you can use whatever leftover chicken you have; it

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

You do need to serve this lamb salad warm rather than cold (a bit of fat provides flavoursome lubrication at anything above room temperature; once cold we

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites