Dinner

Crispy Duck

I've always thought one of the best ways to eat duck was as the Chinese do, but I had never thought it would be so easy to cook. I say "cook". I do nothing except cut some fat off the duck and sit it…

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Curry In A Hurry

If you want to make this with fresh vegetables rather than frozen, then up the water (keeping the amount of stock concentrate the same) and indeed I would double it to 500ml / 2 cups. But if using fro…

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Duck Breasts With Pomegranate and Mint

This is my idea of perfect dinner party food: it's easy to make, not complicated to serve and looks — and tastes — exquisite. Feel free to griddle or grill your duck, rather than just sear it on the h…

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Kerala Fish Curry

This tamarind-tangy curry makes for a perfect dinner on a hot night; light enough not to knock you out, but spiced enough to prompt a heat-drowsy appetite. And it is such gloriously easy food to make.…

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Lamb With Rosemary and Port

I love the sort of dinner that you cook without any special effort but without sacrificing gratification. That's the thing really: cooking is simple; you can choose to complicate it, but there's no ne…

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Squid Salad With Lime, Coriander, Mint and Mizuna

Don't worry if the word mizuna means nothing to you. It's a tenderly peppery Japanese salad leaf, which some greengrocers, and even supermarkets, stock these days, but you can easily use rocket instea…

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Pappardelle With Lamb Ragu

‘Ragout’ is French, ‘ragù’ Italian, and this meat sauce is certainly inspired by the Sicilian combination of sweet lamb, dried wild mint and crushed chilli flakes, though I’ve added an Anglo note with…

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Pasta With Onions and Anchovies

I know that people feel very strongly about anchovies, pro or anti. I'm fiercely pro, and if you are, too, you will love this. For those who are hesistantly rather than resoundingly anti, I say to you…

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Pasta With Ham, Peas and Cream

When my children were younger, this was always one of their favourite teas and is now one of their favourite suppers. It serves 2 or 3 children — double quantities for teenagers and above.

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Slow-Cooker Lamb and Pasta

Admittedly, making a meat sauce and then cooking pasta in it is very un-Italian, but it is dee-lish. Plus, it goes down a treat with children and teenagers and thus makes a great family supper. I love…

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Spaghetti With Marmite

I came across this recipe in Anna Del Conte's memoirs, Risotto with Nettles. Now, there are so many recipes I could borrow from her, and many I have, but this is the one I have to show you here. She i…

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Chicken, Almond and Parsley Salad

This came about the way most of my favourite food has come about, by greedy opportunism. I had some cold chicken in the fridge, a huge bunch of parsley in a jug by the stove and had recently opened a…

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Warm Shredded Lamb Salad With Mint and Pomegranate

You do need to serve this lamb salad warm rather than cold (a bit of fat provides flavoursome lubrication at anything above room temperature; once cold we're talking congealed, waxy whiteness — not su…

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Beef Stew With Anchovies and Thyme

The anchovies really just provide flavourfulness, certainly not fishiness: there is no need to mention their presence if you are feeding people who might take against the idea. This, as with most stew…

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Carbonnade a La Flamande

There is something about cooking the classics that feels like coming home and this comforting Belgian casserole is a reassuringly simple recipe — I scarcely bother to sear the meat — that feeds a huge…

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Juicy Beef Skewers With Horseradish Dip

I find fresh horseradish easy to come by these days but, if you don't, add the same amount of hot horseradish cream or sauce from a jar for the marinade. If you want to serve lamb skewers alongside, t…

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Mellow Meatballs

I buy organic beef mini meatballs from the supermarket, which makes this extremely easy to put together, and there'd be nothing to stop you freezing them and cooking straight from frozen, if that help…

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Aromatic Lamb Shank Stew

As with all stews, this is even better made in advance and reheated; for me, this only makes things easier.

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Butterflied Leg of Lamb With Bay Leaves and Balsamic Vinegar

A roast, boned, butterflied leg of lamb is just about the easiest, speediest way to cook a joint of meat. Plus, you dispense with all the difficult carving (I am an embarrassingly inept carver myself)…

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Beautifully simple and exceptionally flavoursome recipe, a real winner with a nice glass of wine.

Crispy Lamb Chops

The joy of these, particularly, is that they are wonderful eaten cold as well, their pink juiciness trapped within their eggy parmesan coating. If you don't have any stale bread to hand for making the…

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Hummus With Seared Lamb and Toasted Pinenuts

I love this combination of cool hummus, hot, lemony-sweet shards of meat and the waxy, resiny nuts.

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Lamb Patties With Hummus and Pitta

Think hamburger, Middle-Eastern style. And if this isn't enough of a come-on, think again. I am mad for these pitta-sandwiches smeared with hummus and stuffed with red onion, mint, shredded lettuce an…

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Roast Lamb for One

I know that I am often regarded as somewhat odd for cooking entire meals just for myself, alone. I wouldn't think of apologising. On the whole I am not someone either good with her own company or with…

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Lentils with Tamarind and Dates

I love this dal-inspired combination of earthy lentils, sour tamarind and sweet dates. It's so full of tang and flavour that you really need eat nothing else with it, save some flatbread or naan, thou…

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Grilled Sardines With Lemon Salsa

There is something about fresh, really fresh, grilled sardines that reminds me instantly of those long holiday lunches in rented summer houses abroad. But if neither sardines, nor a fishmonger to fill…

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Linguine With Chilli, Crab and Watercress

You know, I'd eaten this a couple of times and made it myself (throwing in handfuls of peppery watercress as I did so) a few more before I realised it was, give or take, the River Cafe's recipe — by w…

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Scallops on the Shell

I can't quite believe how simple yet luscious these are. I prefer to get my scallops from the fishmonger for this, which is just as well as I don't think I could ever get a supermarket to supply me wi…

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Pasta E Fagioli

This is that life-saving, thick, pasta-and-bean meal of a soup — pasta fazool — as sung about by Dean Martin in That's Amore. It's just the thing you want to eat when the rain's battering against the…

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Chicken Schnitzel With Bacon and White Wine

This is one of those fast and easy suppers that makes you — and whoever else is eating it — purr with delight. You don't have to use garlic infused oil, but minced garlic is likely to burn. What I'd s…

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Chicken With Chorizo and Cannellini Beans

This is a proper supper, but a speedy one. And though it's not often I choose chicken breast over thigh, here it is gently poached so stays wonderfully tender, and the fat from the chorizo balances it…

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Chicken With Spring Onions, Chilli and Greek Yogurt

The sauce borrows from the idea of tsatsiki and all those Middle-Eastern yogurt salads — it is a cool, pungent accompaniment to the tender, but not strongly flavoured, chicken.

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Chicken With Tarragon Salsa Verde

Tarragon, the gorgeously named “dragoncello”, is actually little used in Italy, despite the country’s immoderate passion for all things anise. You find tarragon used only here and there, mainly in Tus…

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One Pan Sage and Onion Chicken and Sausage

I took it into my head one day that I wanted to marinate and cook some chicken with the flavours of a traditional sage-and-onion stuffing. So onion, mustard, sage and lemon infuse the jointed bird, an…

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Ritzy Chicken Nuggets

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 tende…

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Slow Roasted Garlic and Lemon Chicken

This is one of those recipes you just can't make once: that's to say, after the first time, you're hooked. It is gloriously easy: you just put everything in the roasting dish and leave it to cook in t…

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This really is such a great roast chicken dish. Simple and delicious - make sure you try it!

Turkey Breast Stuffed With Italian Sausage and Marsala-Steeped Cranberries

I know it might sound a bit of a faff, but take it from me that stuffing a whole double breast joint is very much easier than stuffing and rolling a single breast joint, as is more commonly found in s…

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Gammon Steaks With Parsley

Of course, I'm tempted to do a gammon steak with pineapple, and I wouldn't begin to stop you, but I think parsley is really the key here. When I've got time, I am happy to stand at the hob, whisking u…

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Steak and Kidney Pudding

I often double the quantities for the meat filling, then freeze half, so I'm only a defrost away from another pudding. Traditionally, oysters were added to steak and kidney pud; I thought a little oys…

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Steak Slice With Lemon and Thyme

The method is this: instead of marinating the meat before cooking, you marinate it after; it really does keep it extraordinarily tender.

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I made this last night and I think I am going to be addicted to it!! Doing it again tonight as well. Thanks.

Baked Ricotta With Grilled Radicchio

If you want to forgo the grilled radicchio alongside, then do and just make a tomato salad to go with it, but the combination, as it stands, is perfect: the heat-wilted radicchio loses some of its bit…

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Cheese Fondue

I don't suppose this is ever going to win plaudits from the World Health Organisation, but a cheese fondue is surely the stuff of dreams. On the plus side, health-wise, I love it best with radishes, c…

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Cornbread Topped Chilli Con Carne

There are few more welcome sights than a big vat of chilli. The cornbread topping is a glorious golden touch, that everyone can crumble into the spiced meat as they eat, for ballast and crunchy contra…

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Marinated Salmon With Capers and Gherkins

This is wonderful: light and refreshing and very, very easy to put together. It does, however, need to be cooked, if that's the word, at the last minute; any more than 10 minutes' steeping and the lim…

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Mirin Glazed Salmon

This must be the fastest way there is to create a culinary sensation. You do scarcely a thing — just dibble some salmon steaks in a dark glossy potion, most of which you get out of a jar — and what yo…

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Salmon Fishcakes

Matzo meal is widely available at supermarkets, and well worth keeping in store. I use tinned salmon here because I think, strangely enough, that's how they taste best (if it's good enough for Marguer…

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Tarragon Salmon

I like my salmon almost sushi-coral and cooked for two minutes a side, but if you want yours less pink, then cook for three to four minutes a side and add some water to the vermouth mix, as the longer…

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Absolutely great! Loved everything about it. A great fast and easy dish to make.

Pink Picante Prawns

You can find raw prawns ready shelled in the freezer compartment at the supermarket these days, so even though this is an extravagance to buy, it isn't difficult to cook. Think of this as the trade-of…

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Seared Salmon With Singapore Noodles

I know the list of ingredients is long, but a lot of this is stuff that will help you generally if it's part of your storecupboard-stash. If you don't want to go in for specialist shopping at all (I l…

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Three Fishes With Three Herb Salsa

You can take the girl out of the eighties, but you can't quite take the eighties out of the girl. Far be it from me to call for a return to la nouvelle cuisine, but this is a chunky hommage to the sea…

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Nursery Fish Pie

There are certain days when only something soothing and comforting and topped with mash potato will do; on such days, this pie could make you weep with gratitude.

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Potato, Parsnip and Porcini Gratin

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 ma…

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Red Prawn and Mango Curry

This is one of the easiest suppers to make, but somehow, however much I know this, it always surprises me. Not in the cooking, so much as in the eating: I can't believe, each time anew, how deep and t…

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Thai Yellow Pumpkin and Seafood Curry

It's a good idea to have something up your sleeve that you can cook quickly, and simply, when you've got friends coming over to supper midweek after work. This is that something. Don't let the length…

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I have made this recipe umpteen times now. And, without fail, the guests ask for the recipe!

Macaroni Cheese

This is the shortcut version: no cheese sauce, but a gorgeously huge amount of cheese, bound with egg and evaporated milk. Yum. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the rec…

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Maple Chicken 'N' Ribs

The recipe title says it all. You need no more than a few minutes to load up a couple of freezer bags (I wash mine and re-use them) with ribs and chicken, oils and unguents and then, after a day or so…

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Quick Calamari With Garlic Mayonnaise

Strange though it might sound, this is another of my supper-standbys. I keep the frozen squid in the deep freeze, taking it out in the morning at breakfast to let it thaw in time for the evening's mea…

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Spring Chicken

This is really a tweaking of a fairly traditional rabbit recipe. The chicken is easier to come by in a supermarket, though, and more likely to please generally. You can leave the skin on or off the th…

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Italian Roast Chicken With Peppers and Olives

A roast chicken always feels celebratory; indeed, a roast chicken always is celebratory. The vibrantly coloured and intensely flavoured vegetables that are cooked alongside here seem only to underline…

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Italian Sausages With Lentils

My mother used English sausages mostly, and those flat, sludgy lentils (Puy lentils weren't so easily available then) but this is at its best made with highly flavoured Italian sausages (I love the on…

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Lentils Braised in Red Wine

I've used Beluga lentils here, partly because I love the name, but mostly because I am very keen on these tiny, black spheres which, when slicked with oil, look like caviar. But do use the paler grey-…

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Coq Au Riesling

I don't bother to sear the meat, which means you really need skinless portions; unbrowned chicken skin is not pretty. If you're not buying thighs, but thigh fillets, then it is probably more helpful t…

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Mustard Pork Chops

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…

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I've made this for my daughter and I a couple of times now. Its so easy yet yummy and so quick to do, from walking in the door to on the table in twenty minutes.

Slow Roast Pork Belly

There are a few meals I can say I'm making that will make my children as excited as this. Alongside there must be Pie Insides (which is what my daughter has always called leeks in white sauce) and for…

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Cod With Clams

If you are afraid of tackling fish in general, and of cooking seafood in particular, just reading this recipe will show you how easy it is, but doing it is even better. This is one of those simple but…

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Goujons of Sole With Dill Mayonnaise

Goujons have fallen from grace, but it is hard to work out why. The crunch of the breadcrumb casing, the tender, yielding softness of the white fish within: this is a fish finger taken to the highest…

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Smoked Haddock and Cannellini Beans

This is one of my most regular standbys, and the speediest. You just heat up some smoked haddock in a frying pan/skillet with some water and aromatics, then get a couple of cans or a jar of beans, hea…

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Pepper-Seared Tuna

Those of my vintage may remember this dish from the eighties fondly as Tataki of Tuna: a log of ludicrously rubied fish, rolled in pepper, briefly seared and eaten finely sliced with shredded spring o…

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Chicken, Mushroom and Bacon Pie

Even the word pie is comforting. But then, it would be hard to deny the very real lure of pastry, especially when, as here, you know you're going to dunk it in gravied juices till its luscious lightne…

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Fresh Tagliatelle

No one’s saying you have to make fresh pasta, but once you try, you’ll soon see that it’s not so difficult. I had a pasta machine for years before I was brave enough to use it; for some reason I thoug…

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Spiced and Superjuicy Roast Turkey

For me the only turkey is a brined one. Not only does it tenderize and add subtle spiciness, but it makes carving the turkey incredibly much easier. You have only to try this method to be utterly conv…

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My Mother's Praised Chicken

This may well be — indeed is — the smell, the taste, the dish that says "family" to me and my siblings, and brings our long-absent mother back to the kitchen and the table with us. This is not merely…

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Spanish Chicken With Chorizo and Potatoes

Much as I love to have a pan bubbling away on the stove, I often feel that the most stress free way to feed people is by taking the oven route. When I'm frazzled, I firmly believe that the tray-bake i…

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One of the easiest, tastiest recipes I have cooked.

Ligurian Pasta with Basil, Beans and Potatoes

My children, when little, wouldn't have cared if all I ever gave them was pasta with some bottled sauce poured over, and I don't deny that's sometimes indeed what they were given; but to please myself…

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Meatballs

The trick to these meatballs is to keep them small. Don’t actually use a teaspoon, but use about a teaspoon’s amount of mince to roll each ball. If there are children around, so much the better; they…

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Penne Alla Vodka

As with all dishes that find their way into a country's repertoire, even oddball ones like this, there are many versions of this recipe: some add chilli flakes, some cubes of bacon: I prefer it with n…

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Slattern's Spaghetti

My version of pasta alla puttanesca has had a slight name change. And yes, I realise that it’s not really necessary to translate the title, as this store cupboard standby of pasta with anchovies, oliv…

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Sea Bass With Saffron, Sherry and Pinenuts

Consider this simply a guide: use other fish fillets if you like, or indeed substitute chicken breasts; just remember they'll need much longer cooking and therefore probably more liquid. I love this w…

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Salmon Kedgeree with Lime and Coriander

Kedgeree started life, in India, as a dish of lentils and rice and then, translated into the kitchens of the Raj, and brought back home, became an eggy, golden pile of rice punctuated with slabby chun…

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Cheddar Cheese Risotto

This might seem odd to Italians but it works beautifully: the starchy rice, the sharp Cheddar, both are the perfect counterpoint for each other. I make this on days when I need to escape to the kitche…

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Kedgeree Risotto

This is a strange hybrid of a recipe: kedgeree cooked as if it were a risotto, that is to say Anglo-Indian influence, Italian method. I admit, however, that Italians may look askance at this recipe: a…

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Roast Stuffed Pumpkin With Gingery Tomato Sauce

There is something so magnificent about a whole pumpkin stuffed with jewelled rice, that it doesn’t really need too many side dishes to detract: its starchy interior means you can forgo potatoes or th…

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Saffron Scented Chicken Pilaf

Call me Scheherazade, but I'm in my turquoise gauze veil and jewelled slippers for this one. The cinnamon and lemony yoghurt marinade gives the chicken a soft, perfumed tenderness; the saffron in the…

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Sake Steak and Rice

Like all old favourites, this changes pretty well every time I cook it. Sometimes I use the sake, both in the marinade and the fluid sauce later; sometimes I use Marsala or sherry. And there is no rea…

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Tomato Curry With Coconut Rice

Balance is everything in cooking: here, the acid brightness of the tomatoes is met with the sweetness of peas and the rich creaminess of the coconut rice, itself pricked with the sharpness of lime and…

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Tortilla Lasagne

Many of you might have noticed this recipe has had a name-change: somewhat lazily, and definitely erroneously, I’ve always called it “Mexican Lasagne”; I’m far happier with its new name, Tortilla Lasa…

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Hearty Wholewheat Pasta With Brussels Sprouts, Cheese and Potato

It is not quite normal to feel as joyous as I do when saying the words “Brussels sprouts”, but this recipe does not merely use said much-denigrated ingredient, it also celebrates it. Sprouts are nutty…

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Linguine With Mushrooms, Lemon, Garlic and Thyme

This is one of my proudest creations and, I suppose, a good example of a recipe that isn't originally from Italy, but sits uncontroversially in her culinary canon. I don't think it would be too presum…

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So easy and so delicious! I can't wait to cook it again.

Yellow Spaghetti

Although this recipe does not itself issue from Italy, the inspiration is entirely Italian. One of my favourite things to eat is a risotto Milanese, sometimes called "risotto giallo" — or yellow risot…

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Thai Crumbled Beef in Lettuce Wraps

One of the joys of this is how easy and quick it is to make. You may need to be rather brutal with the lettuce as you tear the leaves off to provide the edible wrappers for the beef, which is why I sp…

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Bulgur Wheat Salad with Pink-Seared Lamb

This bulgur wheat salad is loosely based on tabbouleh, only using coriander in place of the parsley, lime in place of the lemon and omitting the tomatoes and adding the chilli and some raw, diced cour…

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Mexican Chicken or Turkey Salad With Tomato and Black Bean Salsa

This is the perfect recipe for using leftover chicken or turkey at any time. A jicama is sometimes known as a Mexican potato, though that's a bit misleading since you can eat it raw. It looks like a t…

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Anglo-Asian Lamb Salad

I love the tangy fire of Thai cooking; I love equally the traditional English partnership of lamb with redcurrant and mint. I just happened, one day, because of what I had in the kitchen, to bring the…

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Hot and Sour Beef Salad

In How to Eat, I used a shallot for this salad; here I've used a spring onion. Frankly any allium of your choice would be fine. Similarly, any salad leaf you like can be used as its foundation.

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Chicken, Mango and Chilli Salad

This started off life as a reworking of Coronation Chicken, that mixture of cold chicken, mayo, mango chutney, curry powder and apricot puree (or that's how both my grandmothers made it) that, strange…

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Gingery Hot Duck Salad

This recipe is a slight reworking of a Cambodian beef salad I often make; here the lime juice in the steeping mixture (which turns into the dressing) is supplemented with orange juice (Asian evocation…

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Red Mullet With Sweet and Sour Shredded Salad

We are in rose-tinted heaven here: the pink glint of the red mullet's skin flashes like a Barbie-mermaid's tail against a salad of shredded pawpaw, red chilli pepper, carrot and spring onions, sprinkl…

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Vietnamese Chicken and Mint Salad

When it comes to chicken, I am very much a thigh than a breast person, but this salad makes me happily relish the white meat. Indeed, I am always happy to roast a chicken, eat the brown meat, and leav…

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Mouclade

For some reason, this lesser-known cousin of moules mariniere has gone out of fashion. That's to say, I haven't seen it on a menu or eaten it anywhere outside of my kitchen for yonks. And yet it's so…

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