Recipes

Nigella Lawson

I know that I am often regarded as somewhat odd for cooking entire meals just for myself, alone. I wouldn

Nigella Lawson

While it’s true that goose has the older pedigree as the traditional Christmas roast, I find it suitable only if you haven’t got a huge tableful to feed: I reckon that you can feed six comfortably with one bird, though you can of course stretch that out with an exuberant supply of side dishes. And it is undeniably fabulously festive. The sharp-sweet stuffing — a mixture of grainy-fleshed pears and astringent cranberries — becomes imbued with the flavour-deep juices of the goose as it cooks, and is the perfect foil to the gorgeous richness of the dark meat.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

In How to Eat, I had a method for cooking roast duck that involved poaching them on the stove, letting them cool and then roasting them in a hot oven. It worked, giving tender meat and fantastically crisp skin, but I am far happier with this method, which dispenses with any wrangling of ducks in boiling water. I still take a two-stage approach, but it’s all low-effort, if not no-effort, and the result is meltingly soft meat and superb quackling. You need add nothing to the duck as it cooks, as both meat and sauce — an aromatic broth of a gravy — provide all the flavour that’s required.

Nigella Lawson

This is one of those leave

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

This is a glorious pile-up of a dish: crunchy, Parmesan-sprinkled lemony lettuce encircling a mound of bulgur wheat studded with vegetables and topped with garlicky, crisp-skinned chicken that’s splodged fragrantly with a basil sauce. I let the bulgur wheat dominate, keeping the chicken modestly portioned, but if you’re feeding ravenous carnivores, by all means cook more chicken. It’s a beautiful banquet of a dish that makes any occasion feel instantly celebratory.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

These are not even remotely fancy: the "Ritzy" of the title refers to the crackers of the same famous name. I make crumbs out of them, and use them to coat small pieces of chicken that have been tenderized by being refrigerated in a freezer bag of buttermilk for a day or two.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

There’s no denying that this recipe involves a bit of fiddle-faddling, but so soothing is the process, so welcoming and enveloping the savoury smells emanating from stove and oven as it cooks, so ambrosial the taste, so universally rewarding the experience, that the labour involved can be embraced gladly.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Summer

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Summer

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Summer

These are breakfast pancakes summer-style, ridiculously light, and lemony somehow even without the addition of lemon. If you imagine the flavour of cheesecake combined with a texture that

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

This is every bit as wonderful as it sounds: an Italian torta di riso, refracted through the prism of someone who loves a bowl of very British rice pudding. The Italians like to stud their rice cake with candied peel, bake it in a tin lined with breadcrumbs or crushed amaretti, and eat it cold; I sprinkle mine with nutmeg, and serve it warm, most frequently with a jewel-bright jam sauce. But it