Recipes
Polish spiced Christmas cookies
Even if you don't normally bake it's worth taking the time at Christmas and what could be more perfect than this Polish spiced Christmas cookie recipe from Ren Behan's lovely book Wild Honey & Rye
Chocolate Banana Tahini Brownie
I love a one tin cookbook and the latest that's caught my eye is Rosie Sykes Roasting Pan Suppers which she's written for the National Trust. This is less of a supper dish obviously than an indulgent cake but none the worse for that!
Celeriac, potato and anchovy gratin
I love the idea of cooking everything in one dish (quick, easy, no washing up!) so Sue Quinn's book Roasting Tray Magic is right up my street.
Red wine spaghetti with olives and anchovies
I stumbled across a recipe for cooking spaghetti in red wine when I was researching my latest book Wine lover's kitchen. It sounded so bizarre I had to give it a try and can vouch for the fact that it’s delicious! It would be a bit expensive to make for a crowd so this quantity is designed to feed 2–3. And my version is dairy-free.
Quality Chop's legendary confit potatoes
It's not often you go to a restaurant just for the potatoes but The Quality Chop House's confit potatoes are off the scale - crisp on the outside, meltingly delicious within. Fortunately for those of you who don't live in or near London chef Shaun Searley shared the recipe in his book The Quality Chop House which came out last year. (I also have my eye on the beef fat Hispi Cabbage!)
Roast crown prince squash, ricotta and caramelised chilli sage butter
One of the most evocative cookbooks to have been published this autumn is Lori de Mori and Laura Jackson's Towpath, a series of recipes and reminiscences from the charmingly quirky Towpath Café. It's divided up month by month and this is in fact a September recipe but as squash is still in season and wonderful warming at this time of year it works equally well now.
Beef, Stilton and Onion Pie
This is just one of the amazing pies in Calum Franklin's The Pie Room which will happily give you projects to work through all winter (just as well in the circumstances!). He says it's for 'wintry days when the roads are blocked and you are snowed in' but I'd be perfectly happy to have it on a grey October or November day. However one can't argue with Calum's conclusion that it's 'rich, decadent and best followed by a nap on the couch'.
Sticky chicken tulips, prunes, smoked bacon, toasted pecans and star anise
There was so much interest when I posted this pairing from 67 Pall Mall's new book Wine and Food in my Match of the Week slot recently that I had to follow up the the recipe from chef Marcus Verberne.
Squash Baked with Beer, Cheese, Cream and Pretzels
I love this recipe from Claire Thomson's brilliant new book Home Cookery Year which I'm tempted to say is the only cookery book you'll ever need although if you're anything like me it's highly unlikely you're going to give the other however many dozen books you've got away.
Prawns with Ouzo, Orzo and Courgette
A really lovely summery dish from Marianna Leivaditaki of Morito's Aegean: Recipes from the Mountains to the Sea. The tip of roasting the prawn shells before you make the stock is genius though, having made it, I think you can get away with using fewer of the other ingredients in the stock - see my note at the bottom of the recipe.
How to cook grouse
You might be daunted at the idea of cooking grouse but it's a great treat for a small dinner party.
Yogurt & spice roasted salmon
A new Sabrina Ghayour book is always a treat, especially her latest one Simply, which is packed full of her trademark flavourful recipes. I've tried a couple of them now but particularly liked this ridiculously easy, tasty salmon dish.
Salmon burgers with goats cheese and sundried tomatoes
Burgers don't have to be beefy as these delicious salmon burgers from my book An Appetite for Ale prove, inspired by browsing the aisles of the Wholefoods market in Denver during the Great American Beer Festival a few years back!
St John's Welsh rarebit
If you're a fan of the iconic St John in Smithfield you'll have no doubt had their rarebit at some point and here's how to make it (if you can work out what 'a very long splash' of Worcestershire sauce is!)
One tin cream tea
I would never in a million years have come up with the brilliant idea of baking a scone in a single tin as Great British Bake Off winner Edd Kimber has done in his new book One Tin Bakes but then all the recipes can - miraculously - be cooked like that. I can't quite bring myself to call it a slab scone though which doesn't make it sound nearly as enticing as it is. So I've renamed it One tin cream tea (sorry, Edd!).
Hiyajiru (chilled miso soup) with cucumber ice cubes
The perfect hot weather dish from chef Tim Anderson's Nanban - even if you only make the cucumber ice cubes
Plum and Frangipane Tart
If you feel like baking this weekend here's a recipe from Christine McFadden's massively useful book Flour, a guide to how to use all the many new flours on the market.
Pot-roast chicken cooked in herby crème fraîche
A really lovely, summery way of cooking roast chicken from Olia Hercules beautiful new book Summer Kitchens.
Tomato and tapenade tart
The most perfect Provençal-style summer tart from Alex Jackson's evocative book Sardine, named after his London restaurant which has now sadly closed.
Honey & Co's chocolate and pistachio cookies
I tasted these gorgeously squidgy chocolate cookies last year at the Bath launch of Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich’s baking book which is a must-buy for anyone who loves baking. Or frankly, even if you don’t - you will by the time you've read it.
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