Trusted British chef recipes, tested at home
Nigella Lawson’s red cabbage with cranberries is a long-braised, spiced red cabbage cooked with red onion, apple juice, cinnamon, cloves and a double hit of cranberries. It serves 8 to 10, from her book At My Table. She describes the sweetness of the braised cabbage as perfectly punctuated by the cheek-squeaky sharpness of the cranberries. …
Nigella Lawson’s roast red chicory is quartered red chicory roasted with olive oil, dry white vermouth and thyme until charred, wilted and mellowed. It serves 3 to 4, from her book At My Table. She’s firmly of the “bitter-is-better” school and says barely a week goes by without her cooking it, often just to let …
Nigella Lawson’s golden garlic mayonnaise is a quick, saffron-tinted, garlicky mayonnaise made in one minute with a stick blender. It makes about 250ml, from her book At My Table. She grew up making proper mayonnaise by hand under her mother’s strict instructions, and long felt doing it any other way was sacrilegious. Then she found …
Nigella Lawson’s forgotten cookies are a cross between a meringue and a cookie, flavoured with cardamom and studded with chocolate chips and pistachios. The batch makes 12 to 14, from her book At My Table. A friend described them as tasting like a cookie within a cookie, and at home they’re known as “Merookies”, immensely …
Nigella Lawson’s chicken barley is a thick, creamy one-pot pottage of chicken thighs, pearl barley and root vegetables simmered in mustardy stock. It serves 4 to 6, from her book At My Table. She describes it as somewhere cosily between a stew and a slightly soupy, sticky risotto, offering instant comfort. It’s the sort of …
Nigella Lawson’s Catalan toast is charred rustic bread spread with a fuzzy mush of grated ripe tomato, garlic and olive oil. It makes about 6 pieces, from her book At My Table. She first came across it in a tapas bar in Barcelona “about 100 years ago”. Properly called pa amb tomà quet in Catalan, it’s …
Nigella Lawson’s golden egg curry is eggs poached in a rich, aromatic, turmeric-tinted and tamarind-sharp coconut sauce, spiced with chilli, ginger and lemongrass. It serves 2, from her book At My Table. She credits it to Yasmin Othman and says she glows with gratitude every time she eats it. Known as masak lemak telur in …
Nigella Lawson’s meatballs with orzo is a cosy one-pot dish of tender beef meatballs and orzo pasta, all simmered together in a herby tomato and vermouth sauce. It serves 4 to 6, from her book At My Table. She calls orzo a non-negotiable staple in her kitchen, a stand-in for rice or potatoes, and the …
Nigella Lawson’s negroni sbagliato is a bubbly “mistaken” negroni, made with prosecco in place of gin, mixed with Campari and red vermouth and served by the pitcher. It makes 6 glasses, from her book At My Table. The classic negroni is Campari, red vermouth and gin; this bubbly version swaps prosecco for the gin. It’s …
Nigella Lawson’s grapefruit margarita is a sharp, refreshing twist on the classic, shaken with tequila, orange liqueur and fresh grapefruit juice over ice, in a salt-rimmed glass. It makes 1 cocktail, from her book At My Table. She says one quick gulp of a cold, sharp margarita and she feels she’s on holiday. It isn’t …
