Recipes

Maunika Gowardhan · Curry

Some of my favourite curries are undoubtedly served at Indian weddings – and I’ve attended my fair share of them! If you have the opportunity, make sure to get on the guestlist for an Indian wedding, just so that you can have an absolute feast! One such dish commonly served is this creamy (bell) pepper curry with green chillies and coriander (cilantro). Served with pulao or chapattis, it is such a comforting meal.

Yasmin Khan · Sabzi

Sweet potatoes are one of my dad’s favourite snacks. They remind him of the street food of Punjab, where he grew up. When we were kids, he’d often cook them for us, steaming them in the microwave before slicing them into discs and seasoning with fresh lime juice and salt. It was a sumptuous after-school snack and started my love of sweet potatoes. These days, I prefer to slowly roast them so their sugars begin to caramelise. For this recipe, the roasted wedges are topped with a Sicilian-inspired pesto and finished with a sprinkle of pomegranate seeds. If you have any leftovers, you can serve it with pasta or use as a condiment for cheese or sandwiches.

Sue Quinn · Cocoa: An Exploration of Chocolate, with Recipes

Chocolate and marmalade are a magnificient match in this traditional steamed pudding, made more delicious with the addition of nuggets of preserved ginger. The sponge itself is lovely and moist, and invested with a generous marmalade crown. But as it doesn't have rivers of sauce, it's best served with a jug of custard — ideally spiked with rum or whisky — alongside. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

Sue Lawrence · Scottish Baking

The idea for these is based on those wonderful Middle Eastern flatbreads served with a spiced lamb topping. When you think about it, what is haggis but spiced lamb? So I thought I would give these a try with Scotland's national dish — Scottish cousins to what you will find all over the Middle East. They are delicious served as a snack or as a light supper with salad.

Sue Lawrence · Scots Cooking

This dish from Orkney is similar to Northern Ireland’s champ and also similar to colcannon, which is found in southern Ireland and the Highlands of Scotland. Clapshot differs by having turnips – called swede in England, for short, neeps in Scotland – mixed with the potatoes instead of cabbage, spring onions or leeks. Because neeps and tatties are typical accompaniments to haggis, I suggest serving a dish of clapshot to ring the changes. It also makes a very comforting vegetarian dish (if you use butter, not dripping), served in warm bowls with thick oatcakes and a glass of cold milk or buttermilk.

Su Scott · Pocha: Simple Korean Food from the Streets of Seoul

Kimchi is such a versatile ingredient that can really add impact to a dish with hardly any effort. Besides, Korean homes are never without kimchi in various stages of fermentation. Over-ripe, sour-tasting kimchi is best suited to this dish; when softened in butter, its sharp, pungent edge mellows and as the cabbage cooks down, its floppy texture becomes more livened with a pleasant bite. The flavours of kimchi carried by lip-glossing fat are rich and luscious, kissing the bouncy noodles beautifully. Sprinkled greedily here are flakes of crunchy, salty-sweet seaweed that disappear into the depths of the tangy kimchi; the softness of the seaweed crumbs remain in the back palate, humming with notes of the gentle ocean. It is a deliciously self-caring lunch for one, which can easily be multiplied for a larger crowd.

Eleanor Steafel · The Art Of Friday Night Dinner

Listen, all I can say is that when I first made this, I realised I’d been eating flapjacks wrong all my life. I’d thrown together a tin of flapjacks in a fit of ‘Why is there nothing sweet in this house?!’ hanger, and rather than wait for them to cool down and be sliced, I shovelled a still gloopy and hot heap of sticky oats into a bowl and covered it with fridge-cold cream. It isn’t elegant, it isn’t a great feat of culinary genius, it just hits the spot in the way that only an emergency pudding could. Add extras to the mixture if you like — dried fruits or some chopped-up stem ginger. I’m a bit of a purist when it comes to flapjack and just like it to taste of toasty oats and golden syrup.

Lara Lee · A Splash Of Soy

The first bite of this banana pudding may well result in an exuberant ‘aaah’ moment, such is the beauty of the golden crumb of this magnificent cake. Soy sauce caramel soaks deep inside the banana sponge, adding moisture and soy’s savoury complexity. It’s a dessert worthy of a celebration, and lasts for several days in the fridge, magically reborn in just a few seconds in the microwave (or a few minutes in the oven, covered in foil). Inspired by the sticky toffee puddings of the early 2000s, when they were hugely popular in the Australian dining scene, the magnificence of a soft and sticky sponge soaked in butterscotch has always stayed with me as the most comforting and perfect end to a meal. Layered with unique flavours, each spoonful invites a new taste; on one chew it’s the gooey ripeness of banana, on the next bite it’s soy and buttery caramel, then it’s the gentle warmth of ginger or the subtle hint of spice. This works beautifully with vanilla ice cream, clotted cream or whip

Stephanie Alexander · Home

For the full experience I hope your friends will suck the bones! Large napkins and finger bowls might be an idea.

Stephane Reynaud · Pies And Tarts

We need only a few details.

Olia Hercules · Home Food: Recipes to Comfort and Connect

This is inspired by my friend Marianna Dushar’s grandmother’s cake recipe... with the addition of cardamom, which another friend Katrya Kaluzhna uses in her plum tart. The original recipe uses plums, but you can use most fruit here. I suddenly became allergic to stone fruit after my pregnancy with my first son, but after I had my second son nine years later, the allergy was gone... isn’t that the strangest thing? So I now go to town and make up for the lost time. Whenever I can, I use all the stone fruit that I can get hold of, because I just love them all — apricots, plums, peaches, cherries — but you can pick any, or a mixture.

Julie Lin · Sama Sama

There’s a quiet satisfaction in selecting a special cut from the butcher or fishmonger for a solo supper; a sort of private ritual. I always relish those moments, walking home with something glorious tucked under my arm, anticipating the pleasure of cooking it just for me. With its reputation as a shared meal for romantic diners, steak has been pigeonholed as a dish for two. In my kitchen, however, it’s a solo affair and so the steak doesn’t have to share the spotlight. Cooking for one frees you from certain constraints: no need for a massive, unwieldy pan to fit two steaks, no juggling timings to suit different tastes, it’s just you giving your undivided attention to the sizzling single steak in the pan, and cooking that steak to your own definition of perfect doneness. In this take on the French classic, steak au poivre, Sichuan peppercorns bring a nuanced, tingling heat that complements the richness of the meat. I’ve always found steak au poivre to be reminiscent of beef in black b

Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt · German Baking

This is an English classic from Felicity’s childhood. The combination of herby, juicy meat and crisp, buttery puff pastry is irresistible. It’s really easy to make and it’s great to have out for the kids when they come back from school. You just need some well-sourced sausage meat and some store-bought pastry. I like to add rosemary and thyme — they are two of my favorite herbs — but sage also works beautifully with sausage meat. The most important thing is to get good quality sausage. The cheaper stuff tends to be packed with water, which it releases as it cooks, giving your rolls soggy bottoms! From The Tucci Table by Stanley Tucci and Felicity Blunt. Published by Seven Dials. Photography by Toby Lockerbie.

Anna Hedworth · Service

The gasps are audible from the large group as the pies are set down in the middle of the table, and everyone reaches for their phones at once. ‘LOOK at that, oh my goodness it is so beautiful. Oh, look Alice, take a photo, send it to Mum, she would love that.’ I listen, smiling. This is one of my favourite pies to prepare for the oven and to send out — it looks like an actual painting. The Cook House Chicken Pie has been famous for some time, but this year I feel we upped it a notch by adding wild garlic to the mix, along with fresh asparagus and tarragon. Liberty made a Spring Chicken Pie with Wild Garlic & Asparagus.

Yasmin Khan · Sabzi

This punchy salad is known as Gavurdağ salatasi in Turkish and gets its name from the Gavur Mountains in the eastern part of the country. As with all tomato salads, the quality of the fruit will determine how tasty the finished dish is, so buy the best available. I like to serve this as part of a spread of mezze-style starters, alongside some flatbreads to mop up its spicy and sour juices. Make sure you buy pomegranate molasses without any added sugar and be sure to use fresh walnuts, as they can very quickly become rancid and bitter. (I store mine in an airtight jar in the fridge to make them last longer.) I recommend making this salad about 30 minutes before you want to serve it to give time for the dressing to infuse the ingredients.

Maunika Gowardhan · Tandoori Home Cooking

Whenever she wanted to serve up something truly special for dinner parties at our family home in Mumbai, my mum would always make these masala lamb chops. Adding Worcestershire sauce (a must-have ingredient in a lot of Parsi dishes) to the marinade gives a lovely umami flavour to the lamb along with the garlic, ginger and ground spices. I opt to use a shop-bought chilli-garlic sauce that has a vibrant red colour and the perfect consistency to coat the meat. Adjust the quantity of the chilli-garlic sauce depending on how spicy it is. Cooked in the oven, the rich marinade clings to the lightly charred chops.

Meliz Berg · Dinner Tonight

Crunchy chips, spiced crispy mince, garlic yoghurt and a sweet tomato sauce all come together in my super simple take on a popular Turkish dish, Çökertme Kebabı. I typically use beef mince instead of the traditional small pieces of marinated fried beef (or veal), and oven-bake thin, crispy chips instead of deep-frying shoestring fries to enable a much easier, homemade, fakeaway-friendly version.

Helen Graham · Centrepiece

You’ll want to be sure to allow at least an hour here for the chickpea mix to stand before using it so that it absorbs all the liquid, making for a much better texture. Do not skip the garam masala; it really pulls everything together.

Bri DiMattina · Nostrana

This recipe hails from my mother’s café, Eliza’s Pantry. It’s super simple and uses four apples with their skin on. The apples don’t have to be at their best, it’s a little like a banana bread recipe for apples. They can be rescued because no one is inclined to eat them, and turned into something delicious — but the best part is that it is all just mixed up in a food processor then baked.

Carla Lalli Music · That Sounds So Good

In this humble pasta sauce, an extended sauna in olive oil and garlic transforms cauliflower from crisp and peppery to soft and sweet. If the cauliflower you bought is substantially larger than 1 pound / 450g, lop off a piece first so the ratio of vegetable to noodle isn’t out of whack.

Saghar Setareh · Pomegranates & Artichokes

While most children feast on candies and other sweets as snacks, in Iran, what drives kids crazy with an almost manic delight is the sourest treat you can find. Think very tart fruit leathers made mostly of plums, but also barberries, pomegranates or tamarind. Or dried and salted sour cherries, crisp and sour greengage plums in spring (sometimes sprinkled with salt), qareh qurut or black kashk, a by-product of yoghurt (usually a hard paste with the most exquisitely sour flavour you can imagine). At the very north of Tehran, where the capital merges into the foothills of Mount Damavand, there are country-style restaurants and many snack stalls selling all these treats and more, some going the extra mile in feeding this hysterical appreciation for sourness by actually adding acid citric and food colourings, giving a slightly psychedelic look to the bright fuchsia mounds of prunes and many assorted folded fruit leathers. In Iran we’re trained to love sourness, and a sour condiment is almo

Soho House · Eat Drink Nap: Bringing The House Home

Cherie Denham · The Irish Bakery

My Granny Neill would mix together the humble ingredients for her farls with an old bone-handled knife. The soft dough was then turned out onto her floured wooden baking board, gently shaped into a flat round and cut into farls (the Ulster Scots word for quarters). She would hang her cast-iron griddle over the turf fire and brush it clean with a goose wing, before scattering flour onto the hot surface and baking the farls on each side until they had a scorched, dusty crust and a pillowy centre. Once baked, she would wrap them in an old (but clean) pillowcase to keep the farls soft, which filled her home with the aroma of comfort and warmth. Granda Neill cut his into fingers, spread them with butter and dipped them into a soft-boiled goose egg. My favourite way to eat them is to open them up and fill them with fried eggs and bacon. They were also delicious with Granny's homemade strawberry jam and Cheddar from the breadman.

Skye McAlpine · A Table In Venice

Tagliolini is essentially very finely cut tagliatelle – about as thick as a tapestry needle. It is a delicate pasta that complements the simple, fresh flavours of this sauce particularly well. Because it is so fine, take extra care with the cooking time; more often than not I find that it’s done before I know it. Use fresh egg pasta, if you can, in which case you will need about 600g as it weighs heavier than dried.