Recipes
Chocolate Banana Tahini Brownie
I love a one tin cookbook and the latest that's caught my eye is Rosie Sykes Roasting Pan Suppers which she's written for the National Trust. This is less of a supper dish obviously than an indulgent cake but none the worse for that!
Baked polenta with feta, béchamel and za’atar tomatoes
Ring the changes with this brilliant homemade alternative to a takeaway pizza from Ottolenghi and Noor Murad's book Ottolenghi Test Kitchen, Extra Good Things
Chicken and cucumber salad with pul biber and tahini lime dressing
Anyone who is a fan of Sabrina Ghayour will be thrilled that there's a successor to her best-selling book Persiana. Actually there have been several but this one relates back directly with a collection of easy, but supremely tasty family-friendly recipes.
How to cook grouse
You might be daunted at the idea of cooking grouse but it's a great treat for a small dinner party.
One tin cream tea
I would never in a million years have come up with the brilliant idea of baking a scone in a single tin as Great British Bake Off winner Edd Kimber has done in his book One Tin Bakes but then all the recipes can - miraculously - be cooked like that. I can't quite bring myself to call it a slab scone though which doesn't make it sound nearly as enticing as it is. So I've renamed it One tin cream tea (sorry, Edd!).
Honey pastries with baked figs
I love this Spanish twist on baklava from José Pizarro's gorgeous book Andalucia - it would make the perfect end to a summer meal.
Breadcrumbed Tomatoes Baked in Cream with Fried Chicken
There are so many recipes I want to make from Claire Thomson's brilliant new book Tomato but this decadent dish of breadcrumbed tomatoes baked in cream with fried chicken, as if you could make it any better, heads the list.
Gill Meller's raised pork, chicken and parsley pie
If you fancy a cooking project this weekend Gill Meller's raised pork, chicken and parsley pie from his new book Outside would be perfect.
Salted Salmon with Tarragon Butter
This recipe comes from a fascinating book by award-winning food writer Sybil Kapoor called Sight Smell Touch Taste Sound which reveals the role our senses can play in the way we cook and eat.
Yogurt & spice roasted salmon
A new Sabrina Ghayour book is always a treat, especially her most recent one Simply, which is packed full of her trademark flavourful recipes. I've tried a couple of them now but particularly liked this ridiculously easy, tasty salmon dish.
Fruit kimchi
I've never got round to making my own kimchi as I can buy an excellent one locally (from Every Good Thing in Bristol (which also sells online) but this one from Mark Diacono's invaluable new handbook Ferment from Scratch sounds irresistible. Give it a go.
Jersey royal potatoes with peas, wild garlic and crème fraîche
A recipe for one of my favourite ingredients (potatoes) from one of my favourite restaurants, Root in Bristol, whose chef, Rob Howell has written a glorious cookbook of their food which is basically vegetable-based without being wholly veggie.
Romy Gill's lamb harissa
One of the most beautiful and original books that has been published recently is Romy Gill's On the Himalayan Trail which focusses on the food of Kashmir and Ladakh. Here's her recipe for lamb harissa which - surely a bonus for meateaters - is commonly garnished with a sheekh kebab. I also like the idea it's a brunch dish!
Potato boulangère
There are few totally new recipes but sometimes just thinking of one in a different way as Joe Woodhouse has done with his gorgeously crispy potato boulangère in his inspiring new book Your Daily Veg takes them to another level.
James Martin's chocolate and hazelnut choux buns
I love the idea of a whole book devoted to butter, surely one of the most underrated and maligned ingredients, so congrats to TV chef James Martin for pulling it off. There are so many recipes that appeal to me but this indulgent take on profiteroles has a real wow factor.
Dublin coddle
If you're wondering what to prepare to celebrate St Patrick's Day, Coddle could be the answer. Here's the version from J P McMahon's magnificent new The Irish Cookbook.
Pizza by any other name
What to eat on a Sunday night when you've been out for the day and everyone suddenly wants supper? Rosie Sykes addresses just this issue in her delightful Sunday Night Book which was published in 2017.
Nokx Majozi’s Fish Curry and Pumpkin Maize Meal
There are so many good recipes in The Female Chef, a compilation of favourite recipes from Britain’s leading women cooks that it’s hard to pick out just one but here’s one from a chef I really admire, Nokx Majozi of the Holborn Dining Room. Nokx is famous for her pies but this is a family recipe from her homeland of South Africa.
Layered sweet and sour beef stew (Lah'meh Fil Meh'leh)
So many cookbooks these days have similar dishes that it's great to come across one that includes recipes you won't find elsewhere. That's absolutely the case with Eat Share Love a collection of recipes and stories from the home cooks of Bristol's 91 language communities collated by food writer and campaigner Kalpna Woolf.
Burmese Mango Salad with Peanut and Lime
I've loved all of Meera Sodha's books but her new one, East, which includes vegetarian and vegan recipes from the Indian sub-continent to the far east may be the best yet. And I love the zingy fresh flavours of this mango salad.