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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!

Tater Tot™ Casserole
Foodie snobs (like me) might not regard this as proper cooking, but when it's the middle of the week, you need to get food on the table in a hurry and don't want a takeaway, this is quick, easy, and deeply satisfying. Tater Tots™ were invented in 1953 by Ore-Ida Corp as a way to use up scraps of spud from making chips etc. They never really made it across the pond, but there are any number of similar things in the freezer cabinets of British supermarkets. Or if you watch the linked video, I actually made my own.

Proper Steak and Ale Pie
There's nothing to beat a proper British steak and ale pie - tender meat, rich gravy, all covered in a delicious pastry. And this is truly a 'proper' pie - it has pastry top and bottom, unlike the feeble impostors often served in bars and restaurants - a ceramic dish full of stew with a brittle frozen puff pastry shell top does not a pie make.

Souvlaki
Souvlaki is a very well-known Greek dish consisting of chunks of lamb or pork marinated in a herby, lemony concoction that tenderises the meat. It can be served on the skewers or pulled off and stuffed into pitta bread.

Balmoral Chicken
This wonderful dish is similar to chicken cordon bleu or chicken Kiev, but in my version I don't just cut a slot in a chicken breast and ram haggis in, I butterfly and flatten the chicken, form the haggis into a sausage and roll it up in the chicken. Then I wrap it all in bacon and bake it. It certainly makes a change from the regular haggis, neeps and tatties on Burn's Night.

Pierogi Ruskie
Pierogi are associated with Poland, but they are quite common in East Europe and Slavic countries, and of course, wherever Poles have settled. Pierogi (that's the plural) are very similar to the Italian ravioli but they're generally not served with a sauce. You can eat them hot or cold, as a snack, a side dish or part of a main meal. They take a bit of practice to make, but it is worth the effort.

No-Yeast Pizza Dough
If you find yourself wanting to make pizza but don't have any yeast or the time to wait for it to prove, try this amazing recipe for no-yeast pizza. It's only self-raising flour and Greek yoghurt. It doesn't give you the complex chewiness and flavour of a slowly-risen yeast dough, but it's perfectly acceptable for a very quick pizza.

Salmon en Croute
Salmon en Croute (from the French 'en croute' meaning in - pastry - crust) has been around in some form or another for centuries. Modern versions contain two fillets of salmon sandwiching a paste of spinach and cream cheese all wrapped in puff or flaky pastry. Ready-made pastry is pretty good these days, so I recommend that.

Wisconsin Butter Burger
In 1936 Solly's Café (now Grille) made Milwaukee famous by inventing the butter burger. It's a very simple burger, elevated to exquisiteness by being smothered in ridiculous amounts of butter. So, not a healthy thing and definitely something to only have as an occasional treat.

IKEA Meatballs with Cream Sauce
Bit of an odd recipe this - it's more or less identical to one IKEA published in April 2020, but in my own words and without the flatpack cartoon pics. The meatballs and sauce are really easy to make, and very tasty - well worth trying. You should serve it with a dollop of lingonberry jam - available from IKEA in normal times, but you can substitute cranberry sauce/jam, or blackberry/blueberry jam, anything sharp.

Maltloaf
This unusual treat is associated in my mind with the popular commercial version, Soreen. Their 60s/70s/80s/who knows advertising slogan 'where's the Soreen, Doreen' is forever engraved in some portion of my memory, read-only, unerasable. Maltloaf itself is a deeply weird thing - a rich fruity loaf that's not really bread and not really cake. But it is delicious - spread thickly with butter and wash it down with a cup of tea.

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