Recipes

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

There is something so magnificent about a whole pumpkin stuffed with jewelled rice, that it doesn’t really need too many side dishes to detract: its starchy interior means you can forgo potatoes or the orzotto; and the vibrant sauce precludes the need for a pile-up of condiments. Obviously all pumpkins come in different sizes, and if yours is radically smaller (unlikely, I’d think, to be much bigger and still edible), here is an easy way to work out how much rice you need to stuff it: once you’ve sliced a “lid” off the top of your pumpkin and taken all the seeds out, put a freezer bag in the hollowed-out cavity. Now fill it with enough rice to come halfway up the cavity. Tip the rice into a measuring jug to see how much you’ve got, and simply use double the amount of stock to rice. If you’re boosting rice quantities, augment the other ingredients accordingly.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

There are some recipes that, however much I love them, are for special occasions only. This is pre-eminently one of those! This is what I cook for friends when we have something to celebrate: while it is undeniably luxurious, the preparation is simple (and you can always cook the potato part before people come and just slip them back in the oven to heat up again before adding the seafood) and you need serve nothing more than a salad alongside. Of course, it’s entirely right that this feels like a treat: after all, seafood doesn’t come cheap. But when it’s fresh, tender-fleshed and cooked quickly like this, you get the best of it. Besides, it’s surprisingly filling and on just the right side of rich; the sharpness of the lemon and comforting starchiness of the potatoes keep it all in check. Oven-cooking seems to intensify all the flavours, but in a way that underscores rather than overwhelms; this is, above all, a chic and simple feast.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

There is something about a big rib of beef sitting proudly on its carving board at the table that makes that table, and those around it, so immediately celebratory: this is a proper, stand-up-and-clap feast.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

This is one of those recipes that, while not quick to cook, is the work of easy minutes to make. Also, because it

Nigella Lawson

If you’re of the bitter-is-better school of eating — which I emphatically am — then this is for you. I think there isn’t a week that goes past when I don’t cook this, and I often make it just to let it get cold and eat it as a salad whenever I feel the urge. But even if you are hesitant about bitterness, this may still be for you: the oven mellows the rasping bite of the raw chicory/witloof and, for reasons I don’t quite understand, the dry white vermouth makes it sweeten as it cooks. If you don

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

I am always happy when I have quinces in my kitchen: their heady, honeyed perfume, mixed with a floral citrusiness that prevents its becoming cloying, is better than the most expensive scented candle in the world. This recipe is where I propose you start. It could scarcely be simpler. I’ve been cooking with quinces for decades now, but only recently have I done this little to them to such great effect. It is hardly a recipe: all I am suggesting you do is cut these pregnant pears, as the writer Bee Wilson describes them, into long wedges and roast them with some olive oil in a hot oven. The quinces need no spicing: they are poetically perfect just as they are. The last time I cooked these, I was trying to explain what they were to someone who’d never come across a quince before, and I said he should think of them as a cross between a parsnip and a pear. This makes no sense botanically, but it conjures up the sweet graininess of their flesh, even if it misses the sharpness that is just as much an essential part of what they bring. Indeed, you could so easily roast quinces in place of the traditional parsnips to go with your Christmas turkey or they make a wonderful accompaniment to Norwegian Pork Ribs.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson