Category Archives: Main course

Ribs and dogs: Gary Lee’s recipes for the Super Bowl

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Recipes for Superbowl 56 next weekend from the kitchen of Joe Allen in Covent Garden: slow-braised smoked baby back ribs and vegetarian hot dogs with quinoa chilli. Touchdown!

I’m a huge sports fan, so revel in everything around a big sporting event: getting friends over, the TV set up and, of course, prepping the ultimate game-day spread. The Super Bowl next weekend is the perfect excuse to get some American-style dishes on the go, and it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t make a couple of Joe Allen classics. Today’s recipes have been a closely guarded secret – or at least until now – and, regardless of whether or not you’re a meat eater, together they make the perfect finger food for everyone who can’t take their eyes off the screen.

UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado

UK readers: click to buy these ingredients from Ocado

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How to make the perfect pork (or chicken, duck or tofu) larb – recipe | Felicity Cloake’s How to make the perfect…

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Larb, larp, laap, lap … however you spell it, this salty-sour staple of south-east Asia has myriad versions, which won’t stop our resident perfectionist from seeking out the best

Larb, also transcribed as larp, lap, laap, laarp and laab, is a dish that doesn’t fit easily into western boxes. A highly seasoned mixture of chopped meat, fish, tofu or mushrooms – Thai food writer Leela Punyaratabandhu clarifies that laab “is a verb denoting the mincing of meat” – that, as fellow Thai food writer Kay Plunkett-Hogge observes, can “also be referred to as a salad by virtue of its being served frequently in lettuce leaves”.

It’s not even strictly Thai, though the travel hub of south-east Asia is where most Brits are likely to have come across it; a speciality of the north, it’s said to have originated with the Tai people, and variations on the dish are also found in Laos, Myanmar and south-western China. The one you’re most likely to be familiar with, though, is laarp isaan, from the north-eastern Thai region of the same name: as Punyaratabandhu explains, “the way lap is made varies from province to province, and it is hard to nail down a normative version – if there is one. But this version is the most common in Bangkok and at Thai restaurants outside Thailand. It also happens to be one of the simplest.”

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Courgettes, tomatoes and amaretti: Yotam Ottolenghi’s taste of Italian summer – recipes

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Slow-cooked courgettes with a toasty breadcrumb topping, a summery tomato and feta salad with lemon dressing and, to finish, a classic pick-me-up of soft amaretti with coffee sauce

Italian summer, anyone? I know! Me, too! This might not be a summer when we get to drink espresso with a little amaretti biscuit on the side in situ, but I fully intend to pretend for a good few meals. Amaretti biscuits, Italian extra-virgin olive oil, hard ricotta from Puglia, the sweetest tomatoes and most basil-y of basil leaves you can get your hands on: invest in the power of food to transport. Cin-cin!

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Absolute bangers! 10 brilliant sausage recipes – from risotto to perfect pizza

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Sausages are a fabulous ingredient in their own right, and should never just be served up with a pile of veg. Here’s how to use them with panache

It is easy to be lazy with a sausage. They are already seasoned, so all you have to do is cook them, put them on a plate next to some other stuff and eat them. But to simply plonk a banger next to a pile of veg is to do it a grave disservice – far better to use the sausage as an ingredient in its own right. Here are 10 recipes that do exactly that.

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Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for sweet potato mochi with black sesame sauce | The new vegan

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Rice flour and sweet potato make chewy-crunchy cakes to coat with a salty-sour sesame dip

When I think of food that “sparks joy”, to borrow the phrase of a well-known house organiser, I don’t think of multicoloured cakes or the smoke and dance of Mexican restaurant sizzlers. It’s the fun, playful chewiness of the Japanese glutinous flour rice cakes called mochi that I want. Often they’re sweet, filled with adzuki beans or peanuts, but they can also be savoury, as in today’s recipe. Here, they are fried like pancakes to give them a toasty, crisp exterior before being coated in a deeply flavourful and dark sesame sauce.

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Ban the burger! Ways to raise your barbecue game | Kitchen aide

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Sweep aside those boring burgers and bangers, and instead let smoky veg, grilled stone fruits and knockout marinades steal the barbecue show

• Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@theguardian.com

I always find barbecues underwhelming. Any easy upgrade ideas?
Megan, Bristol

“Vegetables and fruits are the real stars of the barbecue – this is the wisdom of the Middle East,” says chef Itamar Srulovich, whose latest cookbook, written with partner Sarit Packer, is called Chasing Smoke. “Everything that hits the grills get smoky and sweeter, even cabbage.” For something “really special”, Srulovich dresses charred wedges of the humble veg with chopped shallots, chilli and garlic, all fried in butter with a big handful of dill stirred through at the end. Steve Horrell, executive chef of Roth Bar & Grill in Somerset, meanwhile, tops charred hispi cabbage with caesar dressing or aïoli, pangrattato and parmesan, then lets it “all melt together”.

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How to cook the perfect Singapore chilli crab – recipe | Felicity Cloake’s How to cook the perfect …

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A sauce-splattered Singaporean signature dish that’s so good, you won’t mind the dry-cleaning bill afterwards – but what’s the definitive version?

Like fondue or a 99 Flake, Singapore chilli crab is a dish whose pleasure lies as much in its theatre as in its flavour – if you can crack your way through a crab smothered in vivid, red sauce without making a happy mess, frankly, you’re probably doing it wrong. Created, it’s said, by Cher Yam Tian in the 1950s to please a (decidedly ungrateful-sounding) husband bored with steamed crab, it’s become a delicious, sauce-splattered icon of a city that’s not afraid to get its hands, face and shirt dirty in pursuit of a good meal.

Chilli crab has come a long way since the days when Tian sold it from a pushcart in Kallang without a permit – you can even get chilli crab ice-cream at one of Singapore’s Michelin-starred restaurants – yet whether you eat it from a starched tablecloth or a plastic table at a humid tze char, it’s always worth the dry-cleaning bill. But with international travel still a distant dream, is it possible to recreate the magic at home?

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Yotam Ottolenghi’s 15-minute lunches – recipes

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Two 15-minute meals that are perfect for WFH lunches: a quick-cook pasta with a zippy fusion sauce, and an all-day brunch of buttery asparagus and eggs on toast

The days are getting longer and our freedom to roam outside is getting greater. As a result, the amount of time we want to spend indoors cooking is perhaps getting smaller. But lunch hour continues, every day, for those still working from home. Eat we must, happily, so cook we must, too – we might just want to spend a bit less time doing it. So here are two 15-minute meals to help you cook, eat and then get outside.

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Tangy jam and vanilla cream: Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for rhubarb

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Reliable rhubarb spans the ‘hungry gap’ with a tangy rhubarb and lime jam squashed into a cheese toastie, and a refreshing cold dessert soup topped with mint sugar and cream

Whatever else is happening in the weather or the world, forced rhubarb is reliably, happily hot pink. Grown in warm barns, rather than facing the elements as field rhubarb does, forced rhubarb is tricked into an early harvest, which is why we get its pink fluorescence in the first three months of the year. The season ends around the end of March, when it hands over to its outdoor-grown cousin, so make the most of its sweetness and slender, bright pink stalks while you can.

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Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipes for Valentine’s Day

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A three-course showpiece to prep in advance, so you can spend more time with your better half: burnt aubergine with feta and harissa oil, prawns in vanilla and rum butter, and a chocolatey coffee mousse to finish

This time last year, many of us were looking forward to a special, one-to-one supper with a loved one. The partner we live with, for example, but perhaps forget to go on dates with; a special meal, quality time, stories saved up to be shared. The past year has, of course, brought a whole new meaning to the idea of “quality time”, and I’m not sure anyone has any great stories they’ve saved for this Valentine’s dinner. Be kind and cut yourself some slack: forget about the top new chat and focus instead on a top new meal. Pat yourself on the back for making it this far, and raise a large glass of something you adore.

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Chicken pulao and an orange and piquillo pepper salad: Nik Sharma’s Christmas recipes

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The perfect combination: spicy chicken jewelled with cranberries and cashews, and a sharp fruity side

The simplicity and elegance of pulaos combined with their ability to moonlight as a one-pot meal stole my heart long ago. Pulaos saved my mother and grandmother hours in the kitchen; they’d make a large pot and all that was needed was a salad or pickle on the side. I’m keeping that principle in mind with this winter-themed chicken pulao, jewelled with cranberries and cashews, alongside an orange and piquillo pepper salad. You can serve the meal with a bowl of salted plain yoghurt.

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Rachel Roddy: a recipe for life – and for pasta | A kitchen in Rome

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When you feel stuck in life and work, start by boiling a pan of water. Then see what you have. Some greens? A handful of olives? Even just butter and cheese will do …

Rachel Roddy’s work-from-home pasta lunch recipes

One of our many neighbours spends a fair bit of his day just outside the main gate of the building, or on the nearby corner of the piazza. He is 84, although he seems younger, and is always immaculately dressed: his trouser pleats sharp, his shirt collar firm, his suede jacket brushed in the right direction.

On the corner, he is part of a group of men – most of whom were born in one of the four buildings that box the piazza – who chat in the sunshine. At the gate, he is often waiting for his wife, also in her mid-eighties (and in my opinion the best dressed signora in our neighbourhood). It is a good day if, when coming round the corner from my part of the building, I coincide with her coming down the stairs from hers, so we can walk to the gate together, and therefore meet her husband, with his performed exasperation and obvious pride. Meeting her is rare, though. Usually I see only him, waiting, and he always asks, “Vai a spasso?” (“Going for a saunter?”), and I always say yes, even when I am rushing to the optician. And because trips these days out are short and masked, I might also see him on my way back, still waiting. And if it is lunchtime, which it often is, he always says the same thing. “Vai a cucinare la pasta?” (“Going to cook pasta?”), and I always reply yes, because I probably am, again.

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Tempura herbs and hasselback beetroot: eight flavour-packed new veg recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi

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After decades of messing about with vegetables, I’m still finding fresh ways to unleash their powers, revealed in this extract from my new book, Ottolenghi Flavour

I have never been shy about my love of vegetables. I have been singing the praises of cauliflowers, tomatoes, lemons and the mighty aubergine for years. But while it’s my mission to present vegetables in new and exciting ways, I must confess to a niggling doubt: how many more ways are there to roast a cauliflower, slice a tomato, squeeze a lemon or fry an aubergine?

The answer, I’m delighted to report, is many, and in my latest foray, I have been joined by my brilliant colleague and co-writer Ixta Belfrage. Our journey of discovery into the world of vegetables has focused on understanding what makes each one distinct, so they can be tasted afresh. It’s about creating flavour bombs, and it’s done in these three ways.

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