Recently Added Recipes

Corned Beef Hash
Corned beef hash is pure comfort food. It's easy to make, sometimes using leftovers, and fabulously tasty. There's no fixed standard for corned beef hash, but my version is as simple as can be, using not much more than potatoes, corned beef and onion.

Minced Beef and Onion Pie
Minced beef and onion is one of the classic savoury pies. It's fantastic hot or cold, and it really isn't difficult to make. This recipe uses a rich shortcrust pastry.

Easy Lamb Bhuna
The Curry Guy, Dan Toombs, recently sent me his latest book, Bible. Dan is well-known for reproducing the techniques and methods developed in British Indian Restaurants. The dishes he produces are not really authentic Indian, but they are very tasty. I chose to make his Lamb Bhuna, and this also includes a method for pre-cooking the lamb. You will need some base curry sauce, but I'm doing that as a separate recipe.

Potatoes Parmentier
It's hard to believe, but until the 18th century, potatoes were thought to be unfit for human consumption and were fed to animals. The French agronomist Antoine-Augustin Parmentier made them popular and this tasty little dish is named after him. So when you're fed up of chips, fries, mash or roasties, or even if you're not, try this - it's lovely.

Cumberland Sausage
Cumberland sausage must be one of the UK's most popular types of sausage. Traditionally made in coils and sold by length or weight, you can also identify Cumberland sausage by its strong spicy and peppery seasoning.

Jamaican Ginger Cake
McVities make the 'definitive' version of this cake in the UK. It was a weekly treat when I was a kid. But homemade Jamaican ginger cake is seriously easy to make - it has a wonderful crumb texture, a sticky outside and a delightful flavour. Try making your own Jamaican ginger cake - you'll be surprised how easy it is.

Chicken Maryland
This is one of those dishes that was wildly popular in the 60s and 70s, but is rarely seen now. In 'The Prawn Cocktail Years', Simon Hopkinson and Lindsey Bareham describe it as 'frankly weird'. It's basically chicken fried in a spicy batter with a creamy gravy, corn fritters, fried banana and bacon. To traditionalists the banana is an abomination that started appearing in the 50s when Baltimore began importing bananas.

Leek and Potato Gratin
This delicious potato and leek gratin is perfect either as a vegetarian main course or as a side dish. If you're bored of mash, chips or roasties, have a go at this.

Rissoles
I remember Birdseye rissoles from when I was a kid. I've always though they should be made with leftorver lamb, but beef, pork, chicken, camel etc can also be used. I've also seen recipes that use fresh mince, but I don't think they really qualify as rissoles.

Tortilla de Patatas - Spanish Potato Omelette
Tortilla de Patatas is an absolute staple of every café in Spain. Made from eggs, potato and onion, nothing could be simpler or more delicious.

Steak Diane
This steak - actually the sauce for it - is possibly named after Diane, the Roman goddess of hunting. I can't see the connection myself, but there ya go. There are other theories for where the name comes from, and also competing ideas of the origin of the dish - London, New York, Belgium and Australia can all lay claim to it. Whatever - it's really tasty and stupendously easy to make.

Waldorf Salad
This salad was invented in 1893 by the Maitre D' at the Waldorf Astoria in New York City. And then made beloved to us Brits by John Cleese in Fawlty Towers - the chaos created by an American guest asking for a simple Waldorf Salad is a true gem. As is the salad itself - it couldn't be easier to make, and it's really fresh and tasty.

Beef Wellington - Cheap Sous Vide Method
Beef Wellington is a favourite celebration dish. If it's made well, it's bound to impress, but it's not easy to get the beef fillet cooked right while maintaining a firm and crisp pastry shell. Plus the fillet of beef is frighteningly expensive. As an experiment, I decided to try making beef wellington with a cheaper cut of beef (I ended up with topside, which cost less than half the price of beef fillet), and pre-cooking it using the sous vide technique. It turned out really well. Some versions of beef wellington have the meat wrapped in Parma ham, and some include a layer of pâté de foie gras. I think the dish is plenty rich enough just with the meat coated in mushroom duxelles, so that's what I'm doing, along with crêpes to stop the bottom going soggy.

Beef Bourguignon | Boeuf Bourguignonne
Beef bourguignon is a bit of a retro classic. It was hugely popular in the 70s, but has since almost sunk without trace. The phrase 'a la Bourguignonne', by the way, refers to a style of dish from the Burgundy region of France that involves meat (not always beef!) cooked slowly in red wine and garnished with mushrooms and tiny onions.

Prawn Cocktail
Prawn cocktail (or shrimp cocktail) is something the Boomers will remember fondly, while wondering whatever happened to it. In the 70s and 80s, this was on menus everywhere and was the de facto starter for many a dinner party. A well-made prawn cocktail is a wonderful thing, and it's actually devastatingly simple to make. This recipe is borrowed from The Prawn Cocktail Years, by Simon Hopkinson and Lindsay Bareham.

Steak & Kidney Pudding
Steak and kidney puddings seem to have fallen out of favour in recent years, but you really should try one. Tender chunks of beef with kidney in a rich savoury gravy encased in a light suet crust. Total comfort food. Delicious!

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