Delia Smith

Delia Smith’s apple crumble layers two kinds of apple under a crisp, short topping spiked with cinnamon and roughly chopped almonds. The Bramleys collapse into a sharp purée while the Cox’s hold their shape, so you get both softness and bite. It bakes at 200C for 40 to 45 minutes and serves six to eight. …

Delia Smith’s British pancakes are thin, lacy-edged pancakes made from plain flour, eggs, and a mix of milk and water, with melted butter whisked into the batter. They’re the traditional Shrove Tuesday kind, rolled up with lemon juice and caster sugar. The batter takes five minutes and the recipe makes about twelve. This is her …

Delia Smith’s leek and potato soup sweats leeks, onion and potato in butter, then simmers them in vegetable stock and milk before blending to a smooth purée. It’s finished with a swirl of cream and a scatter of chives. There’s no cream cooked into the body, which keeps it light. It serves four to six …

Damson jam is a deep ruby, sharp-sweet preserve made from just damsons, sugar and water. Damsons are naturally high in pectin, so it sets firmly without any bottled pectin or special jam sugar. This version follows Delia Smith’s preserving techniques, and it takes about an hour plus potting, filling five to six jars. Delia doesn’t …

Delia Smith’s dauphinoise potatoes are thin slices of floury potato baked slowly in cream, milk and garlic until meltingly soft, with a golden top and a little nutmeg. There’s no cheese and no par-boiling. It bakes low at 150C for an hour and a half and serves three to four as a rich side. This …

Coronation chicken is cold poached chicken folded through a mild, fruity curried mayonnaise, scattered with toasted almonds and sultanas. This version cooks the chicken using Delia Smith’s own gentle poaching method, which keeps the breast meat moist for a cold salad. It serves six and needs about 40 minutes plus chilling. Delia doesn’t have a …

Delia Smith’s all-in-one Victoria sponge puts equal weights of self-raising flour, spreadable butter, golden caster sugar and eggs into one bowl, whisked together for a minute and split between two tins. No creaming, no rubbing in. It bakes at 170C for about 25 minutes and gives you a light, even sponge to fill with jam …

Delia Smith’s salmon steaks with creme fraiche sauce is cold foil-baked salmon served with an avocado and creme fraiche sauce sharpened with sherry vinegar. It serves 6 and takes 20 minutes at 180C, plus cooling. The recipe comes from Delia’s Summer Collection. Delia uses this foil method in her Winter Collection too, swapping avocado sauce …

Delia Smith’s salmon in champagne sauce is fillets poached in champagne for 8-10 minutes, served with a cream sauce made from the poaching liquid. It serves 6, garnished with keta and dill, from The Delia Collection: Fish. Delia says she was served this at “the house of a Champagne producer in Rheims” and this is …

Delia Smith’s spiced pickled apricots are dried apricots and mi-cuit plums soaked in Lapsang Souchong tea, then packed in spiced vinegar with Armagnac. The recipe makes 5 jars and needs a month to mature. It comes from Delia’s Christmas Easy Magazine, 2003. Delia has a companion recipe in Complete How to Cook using Agen prunes …