Recipes

Nigella Lawson

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 Lawson · How To Be A Domestic Goddess

A Victoria Sponge is one of the simplest cakes there is and quite one of the best. Plain, airy cakes, sandwiched with sweet jam and smooth, whipped cream, even if the cream was not in the original version: it is no wonder that it has been such a favourite through the generations. I tinker only a little bit: I use a mixture of flour and cornflour/cornstarch in the sponge, which creates cakes that are exceptionally light and tender; and I add some fruit along with the jam. Here, I’ve used raspberry jam and raspberries, but I can tell you that some sliced strawberries with strawberry jam, or blackberries with their corresponding jam, are also to be considered. Should you decide you wish to leave out the fruit, which in winter may be necessary, I’d add perhaps a little more jam, sharpened with a good spritz of lemon juice. Anyway, this is the Victoria Sponge I’ve been making for decades, and I’m absolutely thrilled that it is now on the site. I don’t advise making this in advance, as it stales quickly. As with so many simple pleasures, just savour it in the moment.

Nigella Lawson

I’d always associated venison with wine-rich stews and wintry casseroles, feeling that this wild, lean meat really needed long, slow cooking with a lot of moisturising liquid. But then I got the idea for this vibrant venison salad, and took the opposite tack, cooking the steak briefly over high heat before immersing it in a gingery marinade which then morphs into a dressing. This immersion not only secures succulence, but soaks the steak in flavours that are emphatic enough to match the strong gaminess of the meat, and somehow temper it at the same time. And don’t be tempted to reduce the oil in the marinade, as this is an essential part of the tenderising operation. Equally important is that you cook the steak just until it’s rare before slipping it into its steeping liquid; once it has sat in the marinade, it will – so long as you’ve let it come to room temperature before cooking it – be perfectly pink rather than ruby-rare. I specify pure peanut oil here (I use the Lion and Globe one) because its high burning point means that you run less risk of smoking out your kitchen (and it’s perfect for the marinade, too). Cold-pressed avocado does have a higher smoke point but also a higher price point! Also, while I’ve stipulated baby carrots, and preferably those beautifully multi-coloured ones that seem now to be universally labelled rainbow carrots, you can just use a regular grown-up orange carrot. I’m not saying you couldn’t use a more familiar beef steak here, but should you feel hesitant about venison, let me tell you that this is a complete revelation: the sweet, rich meat is perfectly offset by the tangy, crunchy, bright salad, and makes for an uplifting and surprisingly filling meal for two that’s quite as gorgeous to look at as it is to eat.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

There is an old Venetian dish called, in dialect, Manai, that is the inspiration for this. And I emphasise the word "inspiration": Manai, which broadly speaking involves polenta with beans, bacon and local raisins, is the fruitful starting point for my pink-hued stew, with its beans and bacon and radicchio (my addition, but it does come from Venice), echoing the cinnamon-rose colours of the palazzi that line the Grand Canal. If you can, buy a good Italian can of borlotti beans as the juice they come in is usable; the gloop in cheaper supermarket own-label brands can be disconcertingly smelly and frankly unfit for consumption. Still, if the only beans you can find need to be rinsed vigorously, you will have to add more water to make sure the beans are covered as they cook. That in turn will make for a runnier stew, so maybe mash some of the beans at the end just to help thicken it. I adore this salty stew ladled in bowls over a mounded pile of sweet yellow polenta. Or you could consider the Mock Mash, though some unsalty Italian bread with it is enough for me; either way, this is a pretty well instant, soothing and substantial supper.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

I long thought that carrot cake was an American invention, until I found out that an early version was made by Venetian Jews in the original ghetto. This modest disc is very different from the gargantuan US model with its rich sweet cream-cheese filling and topping, and although — apart from a glorious goldenness — it

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

This is perfect when you need ballast, comfort and cheer. It’s certainly not light, and you may of course use less sauce per pasta (and indeed less pasta, too) than I advise, but I have very much modelled it, as its title indicates, on that traditional British delight, spag bol, which is always much more heavily sauced than any Italian would condone. I do want to say that this is no second-best meat substitute, but a gorgeously rich sauce in its own right: the aubergine/eggplant melts into the lentils, and the dried mushrooms — predominantly the soaking liquid — bring an intense umami depth. Should you not have any dried mushrooms to hand, you could by all means stir some marmite or vegemite into the 250ml/1 cup freshly boiled water until it dissolves, and add this along with the tins of tomatoes, but if you can get the dried mushrooms, they bring a magic of their own, which I would be unwilling to do without. And please bear in mind that this thick, meaty lentil sauce also makes, when topped with mashed potato, a glorious vegan-friendly shepherd’s pie. And should you wish to eat it as a stew with rice, then I suggest you add another tin of chopped tomatoes when you cook it. This makes 2 litres/8 cups sauce and you will need 1-1½ cups (or enough to come up to 250-375ml in a measuring jug) for 100-125g/4oz spaghetti per person; therefore this amount is enough to feed 4-8 people, using 500g to 750g/1lb to 1½ lbs spaghetti. I know this makes a lot, and many of us are eating in small groups or singly right now, but since you do need to cook everything for a good long time, and would still have to even if you halved the recipe, it makes sense to me to cook up a big batch and freeze portions to make your life easier later.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Summer

Even if you have never baked anything in your life, you will be able to make these with untroubled ease. And I hate to say this — as someone with a once-serious Bahlsen habit — but they are so much better than anything out of a packet.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

For some reason this is known in the Antipodes (and I got this recipe from a Kiwi) as Russian Fudge and, although I like this name better, I feel that it perhaps leads the rest of us to expect something altogether more exotic, when this is the plain, comforting, yet temple-achingly sweet, confection of my childhood. I confess that even listing the ingredients below makes me hyperventilate slightly. I am no stranger to excess, but even I baulk somewhat at the amount of sugar and so on needed. But it does make an awful lot of fudge: as you can see, my portion control is rather erratic, but I reckon you can get 77 pieces out of it. I also have to preface this recipe with a warning: fudge is not exactly difficult to make, but it is dangerous. Unless you proceed with caution you will burn your pan and yourself. Never leave the pot, and make sure there are no children nearby. Mobile telephones are banned for the duration, too. You need to use your own instinct as to how long to cook the fudge. The recipe I was given indicated it took 20 minutes; my fudge was ready after 12. Just make sure you have a bowl of cold water nearby. Drop small amounts of the molten fudge into the water and if it sets (known as soft ball stage) it

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express

Nigella Lawson

If you like blue cheese — as I, swooningly, do — then know that this, dribbled over sliced, sweet tomatoes along with a torn-off log of baguette is a perfect enough supper just as it is. And you can make a fabulously retro US-steakhouse-style starter, by cutting a head of iceberg lettuce into wedges and dolloping each crunchy wedge with the dressing followed by a scattering of crisp-fried bacon crumbles. And it makes a fabulous sauce for leftover rare roast beef. It’s obviously divine with baked potatoes, too, and should you want just to eat as a dip with chips or crudités, please know that I fully support you in this!

Nigella Lawson

I don’t deny it: there is something unattractively boastful about calling one’s own recipe “ultimate”. But having soaked my dried fruit for this pudding in Pedro Ximénez — the sweet, dark, sticky sherry that has a hint of liquorice, fig and treacle about it — I know there is no turning back. It’s not even as if it’s an extravagance: the rum or brandy I’ve used up till now are more expensive and do the trick less well. This is sensational — it is the Queen of Christmas puddings. It has to be tried, and clamours to be savoured. I know that many of you, tradition be damned, are resistant to Christmas pudding, and I do understand why. But you must try this. For until you do, you probably think all that dried fruit is, well, dry, and the pudding heavy. Yet this is far from the case: the fruit is moist and sticky, and the pudding mystifyingly, meltingly light. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding.