COOKING
MARMALADE, BAKED HAM, DUCK CONFIT
Easy recipes for marmalade, baked ham and duck confit
Something about January marks the midset of winter. Cold. Wet. Miserable. Looking forward now to that wonderful March day when the light evenings return. After a month of festive eating, we need some practical foods that will help us through these dreary months. Like Ratty’s pantry in Wind in the Willows. full of homemade treats that will emerge as the year progresses.
ROAST VENISON WITH BEETROOT & CAPERS
The Greeks do a lovely thing with beetroot greens, serving them cooked lightly in oil with lemon juice and seasoning. Though we can get all through the year, there’s something about the colour of this tanatalizing vegetable that looked to me it would go well with the massive lump of venison which landed on the [...]
COOKING AT WIGTOWN
I arrive at Wigtown in a bluster of autumn rain and wind, driving down on to this distant Galloway bay in the Solway Firth. It’s a part of Scotland forgotten but for Burns, Sawney Bean and a now annually successful book festival. My first! I’ve been invited to speak about my book and also cook [...]
STUFFED BRITISH LOP SHOULDER
We were particularly delighted a few weeks ago to be invited to take part in a new series for BBC4 being presented by Clarissa Dickson Wright. They were focusing on the Sunday lunch experience and wanted to film somewhere unusual where they would be able to capture people from across the generations enjoying this convivial [...]
YOUNG BEEF WITH SLOW ROASTED RED ONIONS & AMONTILLADO
The British veal industry suffers from a major branding problem. The merest mention conjurs thoughts of animals fed in darkened crates on powdered milk. But in Britain, you can find well-bred, free range calves that have had a happy life. So why don’t they just stop calling it veal? So why don’t they call it [...]
OXTAIL WITH RHUBARB GLAZE
It’s hard to imagine when you see those tails swinging languidly at the end of a cow, flicking flies from its rump, that oxtail is one of the most delicious bits you can eat. For lots of people I talk to it seems to present the most difficulty in the kitchen but the greatest delight [...]
LEMON CHICKEN WITH FENNEL
Why save a roast for the weekend?
We get caught in a 'sunday' roast mentality - saving the sounds and sensations for the seventh day. But roasting up in the middle of a dreary week can really bring cheer to the kitchen and makes wonderful leftovers.
SUSTAINABLE FISH STEW
A stunningly simple fishy feast
This week we had sustainable fish stew. It’s a quick and easy way to feed a gang of hungries on a Friday night and doesn’t need much else but some good bread and wine. Like all stews, you need balance, rich liquid and a range of potent flavours steaming from your pot.
RABBIT IN MILK WITH SAGE & PEAS
Following an outstanding trip to Trullo in London’s Highbury (read review) this weekend and faced preparing with 12 nights of seasonal food for the PipsDish pop up restaurant, I was inspired to cook the wild rabbit I bought at the Elvedon Estate in Suffolk last week. Rabbit should be handled with kid gloves; it’s boney [...]
SALMON & SCALLOP CHOWDER WITH SESAME BROCCOLI TOASTS
Sometimes I get the inspiration to cook from something I’ve read about. I came across the idea of salmon soup last night reading an account of Elizabeth David’s time in France. And I’ve had some organic carrots waiting to be cooked this week. So I liked the idea of that; something of farm and sea [...]
MAKING HAGGIS FOR BURNS’ NIGHT
As Burns’ Night comes round again, the wheels of the Haggis industry turn fast and furious. Orders at home and from around the world need to be met. Burns Suppers are held from Bergen to Sau Paulo and the ‘ great chieftan o’ the puddin’ race’ is after all the most important guest.Where normally the [...]
POLLOCK WITH SWEET ONIONS & BROAD BEANS
With Hugh F-W’s Fish Fight well and truly under way, I thought I would do my bit to inspire the masses queueing for their share of the Pollock at the local fishmongers. I notice that my fishmongers have put the price up in the last week. Thanks no doubt to Hugh, Jamie et al. But [...]
CHARD SOUP
Chard has made a bit of a comeback and is now easily available in good shops and supermarkets. It’s one of the great ‘greens’, finer than kale and more robust in flavour than spinach. It almost has a bit of a rhubarb taste to it. This soup is fantastically simple and the only thing you [...]
SERIOUSLY GOOD SCONES
Quick batch of scones: most people who know me, will be surprised to see me bake. Which I don’t. At least it’s pretty trial and error requiring too much accuracy for my style. Anyhow on a miserable day, I just fancied a scone and jam and happened to have everything I needed to do it. [...]
WINTRY CAULIFLOWER & MUSTARD CHEESE
When the icy grip of winter descends, you’re really looking for cosy, comforting home cooking. And there is nothing more rewarding and simple than Cauliflower doused in cheesy, mustardy, garlicky sauce. And accompanied by the finest well-cooked sausages, this is pure heaven. For me microwaves are the ideal machines for cooking vegetables. They retain all [...]
VENISON STEW
You’ll be able to get a decent piece of venison right now but because you can’t be sure if it has been hung long enough, now you need to give it a while to break down the heavy fibres. One thing you can do is to leave it at the back of the fridge for [...]
BRASATO AL VINO
This is a dish from Piemonte in the north of Italy. You can use a really good cut of meat like silverside or a topside but I find the steak from the spale bone works very well. Dice some celery and carrot and add it with the meat to a large vessel. Add a few [...]
SLOW ROAST LAMB AND VEGETABLES
This is one of those wonderful dishes where you can just prepare it all, throw it in the oven on a low heat and spend the rest of the day out and about knowing that when you come home, there will be a Sunday feast awaiting you. I usually take a shoulder but a leg [...]
MONT D’OR BAKED WITH WINE
This is the new season for Mont D’Or, a sheep’s milk cheese. It’s a cheese more commonly known as Vacherin from Switzerland but this one is from the Jura region of France. And it spells a naughtily indulgent meal in itself. You can buy them in small rounds of spruce. The best way to prepare [...]
GOLDEN BALL TURNIP & POTATO SOUP
Who could resist this lovely little warming autumn soup? I know I sound like Nigel Slater. But still these turnips have a delicate mustardy kick and made with a chicken stock, this broth will revive the mid-season blues. Peel and chop six small golden ball turnips and a couple of sticks of celery. Sweat them [...]
MORROCAN TRAVEL
It’s a far cry from the days of Paul Bowles writing in Tangier, the young Sebastian Flyte dying in an opium fug in Marrakech and Gavin Maxwell searching for a lost Berber boy amid a scandal of international intrigue. Today Morocco is both more tamed for the democratic tourist but has hardly lost its exotic [...]
SPAGHETTI CON AGLIO E OLIO E PEPERONCINO
Despite a rather long-winded description, this is one of the easiest and most authentic of pasta dishes. It allows you to relish the reassuring comfort of a pasta dish cut through with the heat of red chilli and black pepper, lubricated with the finest green olive oil. It’s pretty simple. In a heavy bottomed pan, [...]
THE MINESTRONE WORKING FROM HOME DIET
Soup needs three things; a large pan, ingredients and stock. There is no point making a little; it can last for days or be licked clean from the plate before you have time to share any with a friend or freeze it for a rainy Saturday. Soup can be made from almost anything you like [...]
CHILLI CON CARNE
It’s such a seventies dish, popping up at every dinner party before anyone could cook, accompanied by garlic bread and grated cheese. Well we’ve moved on apace since those days of culinary dreariness and this version is a wholly more exciting affair. Best of all it uses up all that leftover beef from the Sunday [...]
HAFID’S BERBER OMELETTE
The Berbers are the indigenous people who live in the North Africa above the Nile Delta. They are a noble people, with a long civilisation and traditions of commerce, agriculture and naturally, cuisine. Most of the food we know as ‘Moroccan’ is in fact Berber, though many Arab influences have spread both ways. This omelette is [...]
MOROCCAN DISHES
An introduction to Moroccan kitchens
Morocco, what to say? The food more than anything for me is the great leveler here. The ingredients are democratic and available, more or less, to all. The cooking traditions still inherited, handed from mother to daughter. And here without fail, the Moroccan food in restaurants will be less good than home-cooking.
POORLY CHICKEN SOUP
There is a reason why traditionally a little chicken soup is considered a reviving recuperative broth that will delicately bring your system back into operational order. This version adds a healthy dose of cumin, which has a powerful calming effect on digestive disorders, egg which is ideal for binding and lime juice for its sedative properties on the stomach.
ROAST LAMB MOUSSAKA
An easy recipe for leftover lamb
There's not much better to do with the remains of a Sunday roast lamb than to mince it up for a moussaka. The cooled lamb fat recooked into the shivering slices of aubergine melting with the mountain flavours of thyme and sage recalls the best of Greek home cooking.
SQUID STUFFED WITH CHORIZO IN TOMATO SAUCE
Make your tomato sauce using the following recipe on PipsDish. The only addition is to add some dried chillies. Let the mixture cool and chop into it a chorizo piccante. Let it sit in the sauce overnight, infusing the whole with added richness. Take the squid tubes, fill them with this tomatoey mixture and sit [...]
SPICED SUNDAY CHICKEN
One of the best ways to induce flavour into a chicken is to get under its skin. By that I mean, just gently (using your fingers of course) easing the skin away from the flesh. This method is great for putting herbs or even wafer thin slices of lemon (see Midweek Chicken with Lemon and Fennel). [...]
BOEUF BOURGUIGNON
Eating meat is all about love
Good butchers are a rare breed. The profession requires love, dexterity and passion. You’ll hardly ever speak to a good one who doesn’t get misty-eyed about the beast he has butchered for your pleasure. Above all, you must love the thing you want to eat. Enough to slaughter, butcher and cook it. In London, the [...]
PORK CHOPS WITH SHERRY AND CHARD
Fry large pork chops very gently in butter with whole black peppercorns, finely chopped fresh sage leaves until sizzling and brown on both sides. When done, remove meat and heat up the pan. Add finely chopped chard (kale or spinach will do but need more or less cooking time) and soften. When al dente add [...]
VANILLA RISOTTO WITH LANGOUSTINES
As ever with risotto, chop finely some shallots and here also some celery. Soften them in butter for about 5 minutes. This is called in Italy sottofrito. Now add the rice, Carnaroli, a larger grain works well here. Stir it in with some olive oil until every grain of the rice appears coated. Now start [...]
GRILLED PEPPERS AND SARDINES
I’m sure it’s a very well known trick that to skin peppers you need to burn the skin and let it blister under a grill or holding the pepper and turning it over the gas flame. Once the skin is completely black, put the peppers into a plastic bag and pop them in the freezer [...]
BABY ARTICHOKES WITH TOULOUSE SAUSAGES
Globe artichokes are not everyone’s bag. When they go to seed their purple flowers make them look like fairly impenetrable giant thistles. But boiled and the leaves gently dipped in vinaigrette are a real treat, ultimately revealing the tender heart of the flower, soft and green. When still very young – about the size of [...]
BARRAMUNDI AND BRAISED FENNEL
Waitrose have a sustainable fishing policy. So if you cant get to your favourite fishmonger, at least you know you’re supporting good practice. My branch often stocks Barramundi, the antipodean favourite. Though god knows about the food miles. Any way it’s a freshwater species that has the meatiness and flavour of monkfish with a bold [...]
PERFECT TOMATO SAUCE
I was taught how to make tomato sauce by a relative of Ruthie Rogers from the River Cafe, so it ought to be good. The secret is to use good quality Italian tinned tomatoes. But before decanting them into the pan, you squeeze all of the watery tomato liquid out of the tin so you [...]
DOVER SOLE WITH PARSNIP CHIPS
In these days there is a critical lack of sustainable fishing policy, so mostly these fish are in danger. As with all of your food, you need to be very clear where it comes from and that the fishing fleet has the stamp of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). If you do buy a Dover [...]
CURRIED CELERIAC SOUP
Looking like Medusa’s head, with it’s muddy, gnarled roots, celeriac occupies a rather unglamorous place in the vegetable department. But its mustardy, aniseed flavour brings great rewards. For me Celeriac is way higher up the list than parsnips. Something the Belgian and I will never agree on. Peel and slice a celeriac root and simmer [...]
PARMESAN OMELETTE WITH SOUR DOUGH TOAST
There is a rather old-fashioned idea of supper as a different meal from dinner. It usually signifies something light and either later or earlier. You certainly wouldn’t need to dress for supper. It’s possibly when you’ve had a big lunch and want to get the eating part of the day over or the theatre ran [...]
GOOSE WITH PRUNES AND POTATO SALAD
You don’t often see a whole goose except in at Christmas. However, from time to time you may find goose breasts packaged up. I recently found from some from France in H Tidiman, my local butcher on Broadway Market. They are hefty things and 2 are more than enough to satisfy 4 people. They need a bit [...]
TIGER PRAWN AND CORIANDER SALAD
Chop soft-boiled egg and avocado into coriander, caperberries, curly lettuce and watercress. Brush tiger prawns with melted butter and grill. Toast croutons in extra virgin olive oil. Dressing of lime juice, sesame oil, spoonful of honey, salt and pepper.
PAPARDELLE WITH CRAB, CAPER AND TARRAGON
See the post ‘Making Tomato Sauce’. Chop finely a chilli and tarragon. Stir into tomato sauce with capers and white crab meat. Serve with papardelle or linguine.
CHICKEN AND SAGE RISOTTO
See post Making Risottos Chop the sage into the pan when you are softening the finely chopped shallots. This dish is best made with stock from the carcass of leftover chicken and its flesh, which you shred and add at the end.
MAKING RISOTTOS
Risottos seem to have built a bit of reputation for being tricky. Which they are. But you need to have a go to learn how to get them right. And in truth really nothing can be easier as long as you watch them constantly and you use the right kind of rice. There are three [...]
SORREL SOUP
Soften an onion in oil with salt and pepper. Peel and dice some potatoes. Add and simmer with stock. When soft add raw sorrel and blend immediately. Serve with croutons and grated parmesan.
POTATO AND ROSEMARY SOUP
Chop an onion and fry with garlic and rosemary leaves. Add small-chopped potatoes, carrot, courgette, celery, turnip and simmer in stock until soft. When serving add a handful of chopped fresh tarragon.
BRAISED FENNEL SOUP
Chop up a couple of bulbs of fennel into wedges and cook slowly in a little butter and olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan with a lid. When slightly burnt at the edges, add stock and grated lemon rind. Simmer until soft and blend. Garnish with fried slices of hot chorizo, chopped garlic and fresh [...]
CHRISTMAS GOOSE SOUP
When the festive days leave you overfull, strip the bird and boil the carcass in water with an onion, leek and large carrot for an hour. Strain off the liquid. Slice fresh onion, leek, carrot and celery and cook in oil. When soft add the stock and some of the leftover goosey bits and pieces.
GOLDEN BEETROOT SOUP
Sweat sliced leeks and fennel in olive oil with fresh chopped sage, salt and pepper and peeled, chopped golden beetroot. Cover with stock and simmer until it is all soft. Blend and serve with sour cream, croutons and chopped chives.
BELLY PORK WITH ASPARAGUS
Take a flat of belly pork – you need about 10cm wide per person. Slice under the layer of fat and rub fennel seeds, lemon rind and garlic into the incision. Slow cook for 3 hours. When cooked remove the meat from the dish, cover and allow to rest. Take some asparagus and cook it [...]
BEEF WITH FRESH HORSERADISH AND ALMONDS
Buy a decent cut of lean beef. You want a small topside and cut it yourself. If you have a good butcher, tell them what you’re making but don’t buy anything that’s called ‘frying’ or ‘minute’ steak’. Cut the beef into long, thin strips and flash fry, making sure you don’t cook it too long [...]
PORK IN MILK
Remove any rind or fat from a loin of pork. Brown it with some oil in a pan, adding fresh cracked black pepper and lots of grated nutmeg. Cover meat with milk and simmer for two hours until the liquid is reduced to a nutty, caramelised sloop. Keep turning the meat in the pan, so [...]
SPICED GAMMON AND EGGS
Coat the skin of a gammon joint with a mixture of garam masala, ground cumin, coriander, lemon juice and honey. Bake gently in a medium oven. Melt a little butter and olive oil in a frying pan with salt and pepper and fry two large slices of brown bread and two eggs. Serve with generous [...]
LAMB STEW WITH COUSCOUS
Slice two onions and soften them in oil. Add big cubes of lamb neck until beginning to brown on the outside. Next turn the lamb in a little flour, fresh thyme leaves and cayenne pepper. Continue to brown and let the pan get a bit gooey, then cover with water and red wine. When bubbling [...]
BOILED BEEF IN RED WINE AND VINEGAR
This is a triumphant dinner party dish for a Friday night when you’ve been busy. Just come home, put on the beef, keep a steady eye on it and open some wine. By the time you’ve had a drink, bathed and talked to your guests, it will be ready. Chop onions, carrots, celery very fine [...]
PORK PATTIES IN THYME AND BUTTER
Mix pork mince with salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, celery salt, finely chopped shallot and the yolk of an egg. Shape into patties and coat in breadcrumbs*. Fry gently in butter with thyme. Anna del Conte thinks that everyone should have a jar of breadcrumbs in their fridge. It’s very easy. Take a stale loaf and [...]
PORK LOIN WITH CARDAMOM AND ORANGES
Toast some cardamom seeds and cumin seeds in a pan with butter. When they are popping, whizz them in a blender with garlic, salt and red peppercorns, capers, olive oil and the zest of two oranges. Squish this mixture into small incisions all over meat and smear the mixture all over the outside. Put it [...]
PEPPERED T-BONE STEAK WITH BRAISED CUCUMBER SALAD
For two people ask your butcher to cut you one generous T-bone steak or Porterhouse, with a decent bit of fillet in it. It’s important to bring it to room temp for an hour before cooking, particularly if you like it rare. Before cooking drizzle balsamic vinegar over the meat and roll in black pepper, [...]
ROAST MUTTON SHOULDER WITH ANCHOVY AND FENNEL
Don’t be frightened by the idea of mutton. It went out of fashion in the 1970s with the aggressive marketing of cheap New Zealand Lamb. But its worth finding and cooking. It’s really just lamb that’s a bit older, has richer flavours and stronger taste. The shoulder requires long slow cooking being layered with fat [...]
PERFECT SUMMER PICNICS
Picnics, summer pudding and skinny dipping
A picnic should be organised like any other meal; with timing, balance, poise and companionable guests. And given the potential style of a picnic, an eye for detail.The flavours, textures and colours of the experience need to match the perfection of our natural surroundings.
COOKING VEGETABLES
Great recipes for cooking vegetables
For years, the poor vegetarian has been relegated to meatless lasagne and risotto, never allowed to move beyond goat cheese tartlets. Exercise aplomb and a pioneering spirit in your culinary matchmaking. Go for things you don’t recognise or haven’t had before. There is always a literal cornucopia of new and interesting contenders.
SORREL SOUP AND SUMMER DAYS
Recipes for a bittersweet salad leaf
I love sorrel. It’s wincing sourness crumples your nose like an old lady at a bus stop. I remember, crouching in the kitchen garden of my childhood, sucking the lemony stalks, one eye half closed.
DUCK SOUP
Poached and roasted duck with marmalade
With warm days and blossom on the trees it's good time for spring ducklings. According to my guests, this marmalady dish, redefines duck.
OXTAIL
Always be ready to save a recipe from itself
Learning to cook isn't about recipes. It's acquiring an instinct for food. And sometimes how to get out of trouble in the kitchen when it all goes wrong.
SUNDAY LAMB
A weekend roast lamb with anchovies
In 1980 Elizabeth David wrote a delightfully perverse and typically judicious article called 'The Besprinkling of a Rosemary Branch'. She finds it an overbearingly fragrant and frankly undeservedly ubiquitous herb.
MEZE
Lighter eating after a season of indulgence
The mezze is a perfect antidote to festive feasting and an ideal way to eat for those of us resolved to shake off the lingering effects of over-indulgence.
CHICKEN STOCK
Some ideas for making delicious soups
When it comes to cooking, there is nothing simpler and more satisfying to make as soup. You can have completely free reign to concoct any mixture of ingredients you want.
SEA TROUT WITH CLAMS
A seasonal recipe for wild seatrout
The simple joy of two seasonal delights. Sea trout and Jersey Royals. Neither require much in the way of preparation, are easily and quickly cooked, and taste like the month of May on a plate. A marriage heralding summer days.
CHRISTMAS RECIPES
Some simple recipes for Christmas dinner
For those still toiling behind their laptops on Christmas Eve. And who look forward with eager dread at making the festive dinner tomorrow, I thought I would just offer some useful tips for escaping disaster and ensuring some happy results. Some of these may seem obvious, some less so.
PETE’S HOME COMFORTS
A great recipe for prawn couscous
Let’s face it, involved cooking experiences are not always appealing at the end of a long day. Like all creative enterprise, sometimes you just haven’t the energy to do more than hold a plate.
SWEET CHESTNUT SOUP
Easy recipes with chestnuts
An October favourite for me is chestnuts. Something about their brave attempt to keep out intruders with those thick spiny shells but the inevitable fall makes the having more welcome. The smell and crack as they roast away in the oven or on a fire.
DEVILLED KIDNEYS
Eating offal should be a high class affair
It’s easy to dismiss offal. I haven’t got a big repertoire. But I do like kidneys. Mounted on a couple of rounds of toasted brioche on your most beautiful plates, they are fit for a king’s birthday.
READING
COOKING WITHOUT RECIPES
Do you envy people who seem to be able to cook with effortless ease. Have you ever wanted to cook like your mother, bringing an endless variety of meals to the [...]
COOKING
MARMALADE, BAKED HAM, DUCK CONFIT
Something about January marks the midset of winter. Cold. Wet. Miserable. Looking forward now to that wonderful March day when the light evenings return. But in [...]
EATING
THE DISHES WE COOK
Quite often I am asked what sort of food my kitchen partner, Mary and I cook at PipsDish. After all how would you know what to expect from one of my pop-ups? It [...]
CAMPAIGNS
KITCHEN TABLE PROJECT
For me, an integral part of business is to find ways to ensure that the community we work in somehow benefits from our success. This is not some sort of pious a [...]
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