Clams, lovage, linguine; ricotta and cherry cake – Florence Knight’s summer...
The ex-Polpetto chef celebrates her return to a professional kitchen with fresh dishes perfect for the warmer weatherAfter a few years away from the pass at Soho’s Polpetto, I’m heading back to a...
View ArticleKitchen sorcery: lunch with Britain’s best chef
Clare Smyth has three Michelin stars, and cooked for Harry and Meghan’s wedding. Her mission? To make the humble magicalWhen Clare Smyth first looked round the premises of her restaurant, Core, she had...
View ArticleKitchen porter, commis chef, novelist: how working in restaurants shaped my...
The author of the acclaimed debut novel Moth tells how hard graft in the kitchen prepared her for the world of literatureYou hear about the shouting, the “oui chef”, “non chef”, the “behind you!”, the...
View ArticleMaggi Hambling: ‘There are always goody goody people telling you you’ve done...
The artist discusses statue rage, tennis tips from Andy Murray – and teethA little way into lunch, Maggi Hambling asks me, fatefully, how brittle the little rectangle of pork crackling that comes with...
View ArticleWatermelon and barbecue feta salad; jerk chicken; chilled courgette soup –...
Former Great British Menu champion James Cochran delivers five summery dishes, each one zinging with flavour and perfect for serving outsideJames Cochran has never been happier. A wildly inventive and...
View ArticleWelcome to August’s Observer Food Monthly
Our special restaurants issue brings back memories of my own happy, exhausting years working in the industryAll I ever wanted was to feed people; to bring them something good to eat, to offer a drink;...
View ArticleRavinder Bhogal’s secret ingredient: tajin spice mix
The chef and cookery writer on the Mexican chilli and dried lime flavouring that can be used on sweet and savoury alikeI was speaking to the Mexican chef Martha Ortiz, and she told me about a spice mix...
View ArticleThe classic recipe I can never get right | Jay Rayner
Everyone has a dish that defeats them – no matter how often they try to make itAll cooks, however competent, have a kitchen skill that defeats them. Some cannot make mayonnaise. Others have a blind...
View ArticleForgotten how to have a dinner party? Here are three rules to ease you back in
Step one: don’t try out a new recipe…I haven’t yet caught any of Jamie Oliver’s new Channel 4 series Together, in which he cooks the kind of stuff you can rustle up for groups of family and friends...
View ArticleVick Hope: ‘At Cambridge, I came through like Nigella just because I could...
The Radio 1 presenter on student food, fighting with her brothers over fish eyes and her mum’s lockdown Nigerian food Zoom classesMy mum did Zoom masterclasses for the family in the pandemic. I hadn’t...
View ArticleAinsley Harriott’s secret ingredient: allspice
The chef and broadcaster on his mum’s versatile kitchen favouriteAllspice has been with me for ever. My mum used it in the kitchen, there was always allspice around. It was normally the whole berries,...
View Article‘Table for one? Yes, please’ – the joy of eating alone
More of us are cooking or eating solo – it’s time to break free from the stigma of dining alone“We call it a crisis of loneliness. In France, it’s a crisis of manners. In China, it’s a crisis of...
View ArticleFood, faith and family: how we feed our son his rich mixed heritage
I’m a Bangladeshi Muslim. My husband is an Ashkenazi Jew. And our baby son? He’ll eat chicken soup and chicken curry…Even before my son was born, I used to imagine all the things I would feed my future...
View ArticleJohn Cooper Clarke: ‘I draw the line at flapjack, falafel and tripe’
The poet relates tales of his childhood, run-ins with Bernard Manning – and explains why he wishes Ken Loach would lighten upDr John Cooper Clarke, Salford’s favourite son, arrives in the whitewashed...
View ArticleClaudia Roden: ‘What do I want from life now? Having people around my table’
The food writer discusses her new book, Med, while Yotam Ottolenghi, José Pizarro and Sam Clark pick their favourite dishesClaudia Roden wasn’t sure that anyone would be interested in her writing...
View ArticlePerfect roast chicken, apricot tarts, cheesecake: recipes from Nigel Slater’s...
‘Cooking is about quiet moments of joy,’ says the Observer’s food writer in this exclusive extract from A Cook’s BookYou could measure my life in recipes. Each one a letter to a friend, a story of...
View ArticleThe 20 best recipes for the weekend
Green shakshuka, roast lamb with anchovies, or a salted caramel tart – all the recipes you need for a Saturday brunch, a quiet Sunday breakfast or a smart weekend dinnerNigella Lawson’s American...
View ArticleLooking for the finest French restaurants? Go to London, not Paris | Jay Rayner
Not only that, but the Italian restaurants are better than Rome’s. Really, why bother going abroad? It was while I was scarfing down the blistered flat bread, laid with lardons, snails and shiny jewels...
View ArticleMonica Galetti: ‘My goal was to be a chef, it wasn’t to be on TV’
The chef on 13 years of MasterChef: The Professionals, the many uses of Marmite and why she can’t have a banana in peaceI grew up in Samoa and, looking back, I don’t think I realised how wonderful life...
View ArticleEverything’s in short supply. The 1970s are looking better all the time…
Food bills are up, broccoli pickers are in short supply … and I can’t help thinking of our local butcher all those years agoA funny thing happens when I open a newspaper just lately. Gazing at the...
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