food

There are recipes, from long years ago, that linger in the back of my mind. Rarely, if ever, are they used. But there is some security in my old cook’s mind just knowing they are there. Usually it will be a series of events or memories that triggers...

A good rule for cooking pasta is to take a saucepan large enough for the amount you wish to cook, and then get a bigger one. The bigger the saucepan, the faster it will come back to the boil after the pasta is added. I like to season the water and...

I would not normally present a recipe with this many steps. In fact, at home I don’t really have time for recipes with more than three or four components. This is different. It is a recipe off the menu in the restaurant. It first made an appearance...

A guide to the season's top wines, from the buyers at Cutler & Co, Supernormal, Cumulus Inc, the Builders Arms Hotel and Meatsmith.

Pumpkin reminds me of my childhood. Each winter, pumpkin soup would grace the table and was always welcomed. It was also the only soup that appealed to the whole family. It was the most wholesome soup, made of the simplest things: pumpkin, chicken...

At the start of my cooking career it seemed that most restaurants had a crème brûlée on the menu. Chefs went a bit nutty professor and started adding all kinds of strange flavours – everything from truffle oil and artichokes to green tea...

I’ve called these ricotta dumplings, but they could be called ricotta gnocchi. There is no strict reason for this, but I thought I would go for a controversial opening. I’m not fussed. They’re delicious either way. This recipe is somewhat...

I don’t know where the idea for upside-down things came from in the kitchen, but there is magic and theatre about it, inside out and upside down. I like the way you almost make something backwards and then it reveals itself at the end. You never...

This recipe asks for more protein than is possible to eat in one sitting for the prescribed number of people. This is definitely intentional: I love leftovers. Leftover brisket shredded into strands and tossed through a mustardy cabbage salad spiked...