Recipes

Nigella Lawson

The genesis of this particular recipe is the Pumpkin Bundt Cake or, rather, the fact that having made it, I had a small amount of pumpkin purée left over. I paired it with half a tin of condensed milk, added cream, fresh nutmeg and a splosh or two of brandy to create, pretty well effortlessly, a gorgeously spiced and — strange though it sounds — warm-flavoured ice cream. Eat it with that Pumpkin Bundt, the Cider and 5-Spice Bundt Cake, or be radical, and cast it in the role of brandy butter alongside your pudding this Christmas. Those who celebrate Thanksgiving should need little encouragement to bring it out alongside a warm apple or, obviously, pumpkin pie, and it is a damn fine accompaniment to pecan pie, too.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

I first made this with Seville oranges, but since these are available only in January here, it would be unhelpfully restricting to suggest no substitutes out of season (though you could always freeze the oranges, either whole or just their zest and juice). I won

Nigella Lawson

I have a bit of a weakness for this sort of cake, which is essentially an assembly–job number, a construction of alternate layers of a rich, boozy cream and some storebought sponge or other. The thing is, I find layering up — whether it’s lasagna, tiramisù or trifle — both calming and celebratory. It can be done without stress, but while building a sense of occasion. Here the layers comprise a confection of cream and mascarpone, seasonally spiked with Advocaat, full of crystallised ginger, figs and nuts, and that essential component of Christmas: gingerbread. Now, there are many types of gingerbread, but for this particular cake you need to get the dark, sticky sort — always my first choice — rather in the style of a Jamaica ginger cake. And you need quite a lot of it, not least because its squodgy texture means that as you cut it, the cake compresses into divinely dense slices, more the shape of bricks, all the better to build with. If you wanted to make the gingerbread yourself, you could of course: the recipe for Fresh Gingerbread with Lemon Icing (though you won’t need the icing) will give you exactly what you need. As for the creamy filling, there is a way of making an alcohol-free version — substitute the 200ml Advocaat with 300ml ready-made custard/crème anglaise from a tub — but it doesn’t quite have the depth of the real thing, so you might consider adding a drop or two of rum flavouring. Just so that you’re aware, you do need to get on with this a day before you want to eat it.

Nigella Lawson · How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express

Let joy be unconfined. This is one of the most irresistible puddings I think I have ever made, and I did it by no more than some fruitful scimmaging about my cupboards. I long for it almost constantly, and it is not good that it is so easy to make, not good at all. If you don

Nigella Lawson · How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Look, the name is meant to be a bit of a joke, but what I

Nigella Lawson · How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Nigella Lawson

You can’t set foot in the Netherlands in the festive period without encountering these Dutch doughnuts, even though it’s on New Year’s Eve that they are most traditionally eaten; indeed, it’s said that the whole of the kingdom smells of frying and icing sugar on New Year’s Eve. I make my Oliebollen slightly smaller than is customary, and without the dried fruit that’s traditionally added, since that is the way I like them. By all means, though, add about 2 tablespoons each of raisins and currants which you’ve soaked overnight in 2 tablespoons of rum or orange juice (folding the plumped-up fruit into the dough once it’s mixed up and ready to prove) if you should so prefer. And while they are meant to be ball-shaped, I love it when the dough drips a little as they go into the pan, making super-crunchy spikes in the hot oil.

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express

Despite the title, this recipe doesn

Nigella Lawson

The classic Negroni is made with Campari, red vermouth and gin. This one, more of a Negroni spritz, using prosecco in place of the gin, is said to have been created by happy accident at the Bar Basso in Milan in the ’60s. The story may well be apocryphal, but cocktails always come with the romance of their own narrative. Sbagliato (roughly pronounced “sbalyato”) means mistaken in Italian, so this is best translated as Messed-Up Negroni. I mess it up even more by changing the proportions (the original version being equal amounts of all three elements) and by serving it in a pitcher rather than making it up as individual cocktails.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express

I beg you to keep the wherewithal for this fantastic instant snack-cum-supper in your storecupboard. It

Nigella Lawson

Just the smell of the milk, infusing on the hob, giving off that familiar scent of onion, mace, bay and clove, lets me know it is Christmas.

Nigella Lawson · How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Just the sight of this golden-yellow loaf with its long crack down the middle makes me feel satisfactorily nostalgic.

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Bites

Nigella Lawson

I call this My Favourite Potato Salad, as that is exactly what it is. I may be in the minority here, but what I think of as an American-style potato salad, slicked with mayo, sprinkled with raw onions and eaten cold, is a distinctly unappealing proposition for me. I like a potato salad much the way my grandmother and mother before me made, just warm (or at room temperature) and dressed while the potatoes are hot enough to absorb some of the mustardy, pickle-tangy dressing. Neither of them used the glorious, golden cold-press rapeseed oil I can now get and, indeed, a not-too-emphatic olive oil can easily be substituted. And while I love this just as it is, I can tell you it’s also gorgeous with some cut-up or torn anchovy fillets added along with the capers and cornichons, and my mother often made a version with chopped, still warm, just-hard-boiled egg. I should add that you could well fry some streaky bacon till crisp, use the fat in place of  some of the oil, and chop or crumble the bacon and toss it in at the end. I must insist — please — that you steam your new potatoes. Indeed, I always steam them, even if they’re to be eaten hot and glistening with melted butter. The difference it makes to their taste and texture is a game-changer.

Nigella Lawson · How To Be A Domestic Goddess

Nigella Lawson

This dessert has mixed parentage: I put a recipe for a Brandy Alexander cocktail into the Cookbook Corner section of the old website and almost immediately was tweeted about the wonderful creation that is a Brandy Alexander Pie; I asked said tweeter to post the recipe on nigella.com and she kindly and duly did. You can see ddelectables

Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express

This is possibly the easiest route to a proper, filling and yet strangely delicate dinner. The pork is cooked just enough time to take away any pinkness but ensure tenderness within, and is gloriously scorched without. The mustard, cider and cream add comfort and piquancy. To soak up the juices, and to act as a fantastically quicktime potato, substitute, I serve up gnocchi alongside. You could always add a little lemony fennel, sliced thinly, or a green salad if you

Nigella Lawson · Nigella Express