Recipes

Nadiya Hussain · Nadiya's Family Favourites

A simple baked cheesecake is one my favourite desserts. It can sit in the fridge and be enjoyed over the course of a week, and that ultimate slice is the best slice of all. But sometimes I feel short-changed by the base. It’s nice enough, but often I want something more. So here I’ve baked a cheesecake without any base at all, and instead topped it with honey salted caramel and a chocolaty tiffin mixture. It’s essentially a flipped-over version of the classic, but in my opinion all the best cakes are a little back to front!

Nadine Ingram · Flour and Stone

This is my signature chocolate cake that I have baked for just about everyone I love over the years. It has been a cake for life, a cake for joy and even a cake for sorrow, proving that the healing power of cake should never be underestimated. I've recently started using Manjari Valrhona chocolate from Madagascar for this recipe. Since Manjari has over 60% cocoa solids, I supplement the recipe with a Valrhona chocolate called Jivara, otherwise the chocolate quality is too rich. That said, I have also used bars of Dairy Milk with equally soulful results. So it is not essential to use a chocolate high in cocoa solids.

Sam and Sam Clark · Moro Easy

The mussels here are paired with yoghurt rather than cream, so this is a little sharper than moules marinière, but the idea is similar. Crispy chickpeas are for texture. Partner with homemade chips or fried courgettes with cacık.

Imad Alarnab · Imad's Syrian Kitchen

It’s important to use romano (long) peppers here as the skins aren’t as tough as on bell peppers. If you can’t get hold of them, use bell peppers, but after roasting, add them to a bowl, immediately cover with clingfilm and allow to cool. You’ll then be able to easily peel off the tough charred skins.

Kerstin Rodgers · Ms Marmite Lover's Secret Tea Party

For the optional accompaniment, simply combine all the ingredients to make the sweetened Calvados-infused crème fraîche. To create a woodland look, I used leaf and flower cutters to make the pattern on top of this apple pie. Then I rolled small pieces of pastry to make the 'stems'. I've added Calvados here as it is an apple brandy, but it is optional. Using a mix of cooking and eating apples gives acidity, sweetness and a good texture.

Lerato Umah-Shaylor · Africana: Treasured Recipes and Stories from Across the Continent

Mothered oxtail stew is pure love in a pot. This recipe is inspired by my friend Nicola’s childhood memories of her mum tending to her stew for hours in Malawi. A mothered dish, it gives back as much love as you show it. This method of cooking is reminiscent of potjiekos (pronounced poy-kee-kos), which is enjoyed across southern Africa, from South Africa to Namibia. Those dishes typically include meat on the bone, vegetables and spices simmered in three-legged, cast-iron cauldrons set atop an open flame. Here the allspice and scotch bonnet create a fragrant and spicy sauce that is satisfying and comforting.

Joe Woodhouse · Weeknight Vegetarian

What beats croquettes? One massive one all to yourself, that’s what. As you are cooking large croquettes here, using more oil isn’t such a big deal because of the reduction in surface area, so just drain them well on kitchen paper and get stuck in. You can fry these without so much oil, too – you just have to watch them for catching and burning, almost toasting them in the pan until golden. Then cook them through in an oven preheated to 200°C/180°C fan (400°F), Gas Mark 6 for 15–20 minutes.

Monica Galetti · Monica's Kitchen

Midweek, I love this all-in-one dinner. You can assemble it in minutes, then into the oven it goes and voilà! Dinner is served 10 minutes later. If you cannot get hold of Reblochon, use Raclette or Camembert instead.

Monica Galetti · At Home: My Favourite Recipes for Family and Friends

As a young chef in my early twenties, we would finish work and all go out together, then end up in someone’s kitchen knocking up eggs Benedict for a hangover cure. These days I’m not going out as much as I did back then, but I still love a fabulous eggs Benedict for breakfast. In New Zealand, a version of this can be found in practically every café you come across. And if you haven’t tried sriracha before, a warning: it’s addictive. We always keep a bottle in the house.

Monday Morning Cooking Club · Now For Something Sweet

We first ate this cake when we were having lunch at our local, Bondi’s Lox Stock and Barrel. After we’d demolished a few pastrami sandwiches, co-owner and chef Neil Gottheiner kindly sent out a piece of this super-delicious coconut cake with a tart passionfruit icing. He then shared the recipe with us and, given its incredible crumb and cakey texture, we could not believe it was flourless — it surprised us all.

Mitch Tonks · Rockfish

There is nothing not to like about this dish and it can be easily made at home. Garlic, crisp bread and a creamy topping of sweet clams. The method was inspired by Pizza Pilgrims, the best pizza guys in London. During the lockdown of 2020 they launched an at-home pizza kit that fascinated me, and I watched their video on how to make a delicious pizza in a frying pan. It was genius and it works! Take the time to make this dish. It's super. If you like folded pizza, just fold it over before cooking and enjoy a 'clamzoni'.

Bonnie Chung · Miso

Call me a gaishin (Japanese for ‘foreigner’), but I don’t just adore Japan for its native cuisine, I also secretly love the country for its Italian dishes. I have never been a purist, and the Japanese take on Italian dishes is charming. The tomato sauces are a little sweeter, the creamy sauces have a touch of umami and the pasta has a bounce that could only come from the touch of noodle masters. This dish exemplifies what I love about that fusion of cuisines. The udon is chewy rather than al dente; the sauce is creamy, but with a depth that stops it from getting too rich. And the duck egg adds an unusual hit of gameyness such as that you might expect from a ragu. If you can’t get duck eggs, you can use regular hen’s eggs, but try to make sure you get the type with bright orange yolks. If you don’t have frozen udon, pre-cooked packs work too, but you won’t experience the chewy texture.

Ryan Riley · Small Pleasures

Miso is well known as a source of umami and gut goodness, and minestrone is a well-known bowl of comfort. Put the two together and you get this fantastic recipe. I could say more, but that would be wasting valuable cooking time.

Benjamina Ebuehi · I'll Bring Dessert: Simple, Sweet Recipes for Every Occasion

This is inspired by a Hong Kong milk tea which is delightfully creamy, sweet and refreshing. All of the best creamy things (condensed milk, evaporated milk and full-fat milk) come together to generously soak the light sponge. A tres leches cake is ideal for making ahead as it benefits from an overnight chill in the fridge. The malty, slightly bitter notes from the tea helps to avoid this being sickly and a bit of lightly whipped cream tops it all off.

Melissa Gray

This recipe comes from All Cakes Considered - many thanks to Melissa Gray and Chronicle Books for their kind permission to reproduce this recipe for everyone to try!

Meera Sodha · East: 120 Vegan and Vegetarian Recipes from Bangalore to Beijing

Tomatoes work in different ways in this recipe: they create a wonderful sauce with the coconut milk, which is used to flavour and cook the rice, and then they float to the top to decorate the dish. The end result is a dish delicious enough to stand on its own feet without the need for anything else and (as a side benefit) it uses just a single pan. You'll need a wide frying pan with a tight-fitting lid. NOTE: curry leaves add a lovely citrus and smoke flavour to the rice but can be tricky to find unless you live near an Asian supermarket, although larger supermarkets do have them sometimes. If you can't find them, leave them out.

Meera Sodha · Made In India

I have to try hard to contain my excitement when someone gives me a recipe for something I’ve just eaten and fallen in love with. This is my cousin Disha’s recipe for pav bhaji, which is a famous and much-loved street food in Mumbai. It's a mash of spicy vegetables slathered in butter, best mopped up with a hot "pav" - a bread roll - while the juices escape down your chin.

Max and Eli Sussman · This Is A Cookbook: Recipes For Real Life

This is definitely my favorite recipe for a quick-and-easy pasta with a lot of flavor. I love how the briny anchovies balance out with the richness of the walnuts and make a unified dish. I usually go for an extra pinch of red pepper flakes, too - Max.

Maunika Gowardhan · Thali: A Joyful Celebration of Indian Home Cooking

Achari means ‘pickling’. Cooking vegetables in pickling spices is a classic method within the northwest of India. In this recipe, the pumpkin or squash is stir-fried with whole spices, turmeric and dried mango powder, which adds the required sour flavour without any moisture.

Matthew Raiford · Bress ‘N’ Nyam: Gullah Geechee Recipes from a Sixth-Generation Farmer

This one-pot dish is akin to a purloo or a jambalaya. It evokes the traditional tomato-based Savannah Red Rice but is steeped in a hearty vegetable stock. When I was coming up, a bowl of rice with some roasted vegetables in it was often dinner, especially when meat proved scarce. I still find it comforting, just as I did during those lean years when I was at Howard University, right after getting out of the Army. Anytime someone would say they didn’t have any food in the house, I would invite folk over and serve my version of Gullah Rice, finished with a handful of fresh arugula that wilts lightly from the heat.

Matthew Jones · Bread Ahead: The Expert Home Baker

I was fortunate to grow up in the seventies and eighties when the high-street baker was still very much a thing, so for me these classic Belgian buns with the cherry on top are symbolic of this era of baking. We adapted the lemon curd to be more citrussy, which balances the sweetness of the icing and the cherry. This recipe is more on the naughty side of things, but deeply satisfying.

Matt O'Connor · The Icecreamists

My late business partner, Peter Matthews, was an entrepreneur with a carrot top, schoolboyish wit and extraordinary energy. Peter Matthews' parties were the stuff of legend, and he was forever getting embroiled in near-death yet life-affirming experiences that encouraged him to pursue ever more reckless behaviour. When he was reported dead in an accident abroad, one couldn't help but think he had faked his own demise in an attempt to evade the tax inspector. I imagine he is now residing under a variety of noms de plume. Being a ginger, he was partial to a bit of this cake, so this one is for Peter, wherever you are...

Matt Moran · Matt Moran's Australian Food: Coast + Country

Any burger – be it a cheeseburger, beef burger or fish burger – is all about the pickles. They should be mouth-puckeringly tart, which is why I like to make my own, as store-bought pickles are often overly sweet.

Noor Murad · Lugma

In testing recipes for this book I’d give away food to friends, neighbours and anyone willing to give the dishes a home. My dear friend Anosha, who eagerly claimed the mathrooba, said that I needed a better description than the one I had given her: ‘Hey, it’s me again, do you fancy a savoury porridge for dinner?’ ‘You’re massively underselling it,’ she fed back to me later that night, ‘Even my 2-year-old loved it.’ And she’s right: this is comforting, delicious and truly unique. Mathrooba, meaning ‘beaten’ in Arabic, is typically served during Ramadan, where it’s easy to digest but also satiating. The rice, chicken and spiced tomato base is cooked low and slow until the meat is tender and the rice grains barely discernible. Then, staying true to its name, the mixture is beaten by hand into a consistency similar to a congee, but more heavily spiced and a little thicker. Call it nostalgia but it’s one of my all-time favourite dishes that I’ll happily eat throughout the year, but especial