Sweetcorn Chowder With Toasted Tortillas
The tortillas we use here are those crisp, crunchy, corn-gritty triangles that somehow always feel like a guilty pleasure. Although having said that, I know only that "guilty pleasures" exist, but I have never understood the point of feeling guilty about pleasure. Rather, I see plenty of reasons for feeling guilty about failing to take pleasure in things. When I plan to make this, I tend to take a big pack of frozen corn out of the deep freeze at breakfast time, in readiness for a super-quick, fantastically soothing, mellow-yellow and very pleasing supper that night. Use whatever cheese you like; mostly I go for Cheddar since I always have some in the fridge, but I am happy about using up other bits and pieces. If children are eating, it's wise to omit the chillis - unless they're being very annoying.
Nigel Slater’s easy feelgood recipes for chicken and flapjacks
There has been much rummaging in cupboards recently and, whilst I have come across a small cornucopia of seeds, nuts and dried fruit in tightly lidded storage jars, few have contained more than the end of a packet. I could have used them up in a seeded fruit cake, but what felt more useful right now was a recipe within reach of anyone, maybe someone who has never cooked before. A recipe that won’t mind if you mix and match the ingredients according to what’s left in the cupboard. Which is why I dug out Mum’s flapjack recipe, the first thing I ever cooked with her; a recipe that in addition to being up for a few additions from the store cupboard, carries with it the warm scent of butter and golden syrup and baking oats and tells you, almost more than any other, that everything is going to be all right. I am currently rather grateful for these sort of recipes, the ones that are happy with a bit of give and take.
Sweet-sour sausages and spiced mince pasta: Ravinder Bhogal’s easy recipes for a staycation
In her book French Country Cooking, Elizabeth David acknowledges that delicious meals can be cooked with the sole aid of a “blackened frying pan and a camp fire”, but writes about assembling her ideal batterie de cuisine to “cook something less primitive in the way of food”. Holiday cooking shouldn’t require intense packing, and I prefer to take a minimalist approach: pared-down techniques with sparser kitchen equipment and ingredients, and meals that can be cooked in no more than two pans. After all, who wants to be left doing the dishes when staycationing?
Vegan Spag Bol
This is perfect when you need ballast, comfort and cheer. It’s certainly not light, and you may of course use less sauce per pasta (and indeed less pasta, too) than I advise, but I have very much modelled it, as its title indicates, on that traditional British delight, spag bol, which is always much more heavily sauced than any Italian would condone. I do want to say that this is no second-best meat substitute, but a gorgeously rich sauce in its own right: the aubergine/eggplant melts into the lentils, and the dried mushrooms – predominantly the soaking liquid – bring an intense umami depth.
Chicken In A Pot with Lemon and Orzo
This is a dish, a family favourite, that I cooked moreorless straight after I’d got off the plane after two months on the road, to signal and celebrate that I was truly home. It’s a simple one pot dish that brings comfort and joy, and it is my pleasure to share that with you. It’s so hard to be utterly precise and specific with this kind of cooking: if you’re feeding small children, for example, you may not want to add the chilli flakes. Similarly, you may want to use just one lemon, rather than the two I like.
Crab Mac 'n' Cheese
This is the most luscious of treats: rich, to be sure, but somehow delicate at the same time. Smoked paprika and crab (a 50/50 mixture of both white and brown meat) give an almost honeyed depth to the velvety cheese sauce, which is made with nutty and sweet gruyere. The combination is just sumptuous, like a cross between a mac’n’cheese and a bisque.
Charlotte's Lively Kitchen
How to make perfect vanilla buttercream – Easy to make with just four everyday ingredients, and ideal for cupcakes, sandwich cakes, macarons and decorated celebration cakes. Skip to the recipe I’ve shown it here as cupcake frosting, but it’s extremely versatile and can be used for all sorts of cakes and desserts – cupcakes, sandwich/layer cakes, macarons and, my favourite, as a delicious buttercream layer beneath the fondant icing on the decorated celebration cakes I make for my family. If you’re making my all-in-one vanilla sponge birthday cake, then this is the recipe I use for the buttercream. What’s the secret to perfect buttercream?
Cheesy Chilli
I can't count how often I find myself stirring a pan with some mince in it, day to day. Not that this is anything to apologize for: it's easy, quick and comforting. I could probably measure out my life in chilli bowls, and that's no bad thing either. This recipe draws again on a favourite time-saving practice of mine, which is to start off with some paprika-piccante chorizo sausages that give off a fiery orange oil in which to sear and season the mince. Tex-Mex custom decrees that chilli be eaten with - among other embellishments - a handful of grated cheese thrown on top.
Chinese Spareribs Recipe
When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375°F. Remove ribs from bag, wiping off excess marinade with your fingers (reserve the marinade). Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, set a wire rack in it, and spread the ribs evenly over the rack. Cover with aluminum foil and roast for 1 hour. Remove foil, brush ribs with marinade, increase heat to 450°F, and continue to roast until charred, glazed, and sticky, about 20 minutes longer, rotating ribs and basting with marinade once more during cooking. Let rest 10 minutes, then serve.
The Best Chili Ever Recipe
Heat 4 tablespoons (60ml) rendered beef fat (if necessary, add vegetable oil to reach 4 tablespoons) in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed stockpot over medium heat until shimmering. Add onions and cook, stirring frequently, until softened but not browned, 6 to 8 minutes. Add fresh chilies, garlic, and oregano and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add chili purée and cook, stirring frequently and scraping bottom of pot, until chili mixture begins to fry and leaves a coating on bottom of pan, 2 to 4 minutes. Add chicken stock, chopped beef, beef bones, and bay leaves.
How to Make the Best Chili Ever
[Photographs: J. Kenji López-Alt] I gotta admit up front: The title of this article is somewhat misleading.
