Recipes

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Cooking potatoes for large numbers of people is not always easy. This gratin makes it so, not least because I don’t peel the potatoes (or the parsnips for that matter). Obviously, you don’t need to make it ahead, but knowing you can is a help. There is a fabulously musky scent to this gratin, which comes in part from the star anise, in part from the porcini, and also from the culinary alchemy of all the ingredients together. And the thing is, for something so sweetly comforting, it is — I cannot explain why — somehow grand and exquisite, too. Although garlic oil is listed in the ingredients, I frequently dispense with it, adding instead a further 15g / tablespoon of butter and mincing in one or two garlic cloves once the dried porcini have had their couple of minutes in the pan.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express

Nigella Lawson · How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Summer

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

For obvious reasons, this is known chez moi as pig and fig, and in many ways the combination is a seasonal and wintery version of the Italian summer combo of Parma ham and fresh figs.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Summer

This is a domestic take on the Italian marketplace staple of roast suckling pig, and quite my favourite thing to eat in Italy. I’ve specified pork shoulder, but really you can get any cut of pork you want: the important thing is that it’s opened out to form a roughly oblong slab or sheet, which you then smear with onion, fennel seeds, rosemary, bay leaves, ground cloves and garlic, then you roll it up so that the flavourings snake their way through the whole of the joint. Tie it with string, roast it for a good long time then, once it’s out of the oven, leave it till it’s still just warm then slice it thickly and wodge it into buns. Of course you can just carve it and eat it more sedately with knife and fork, but for the echt experience, pretty well unbeatable, you need to taste this aromatic, slow-cooked pork in sandwich form at least once. I tend to keep within the authentic register and get small, individual ciabatta rolls, but even in thick slices of white English bread it’s dreamy. But don’t use a plastic sliced loaf, which will go too pappy, and avoid baguettes: that robust crunch is not what we’re going for here.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Summer

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson

There is something magical about these poached quinces with their soft, scented terracotta-tinted flesh and pomegranate-perfumed syrup. While I eagerly make them from November onwards, as soon as the quinces come into season, they are so fabulously festive cooked like this, decoratively demanding a place at your Christmas table. Don’t get misled by the fact that they’re fruit: this may read like a light dessert, but it

Nigella Lawson