Recipe – Chinese Red-Cooked Chicken Salad

Chinese Red-Cooked Chicken Salad Red-cooking is a classic Cantonese technique of braising food in dark soy sauce and Shaoxing wine to give it a burgundy hue. Inspired by a recipe of Cheong Liew’s, I use those ingredients to marinate chicken before baking it. Cheong served a deep-fried version of this dish as part of Neddy’s […]

Recipe – Apple & Pecan Salad

Apple & Pecan Salad Two of the American South’s favourite ingredients, crisp sweet apples and crunchy pecans, come together in this simple salad that’s a bit like a Southern version of Waldorf salad. I like the way it looks layered, with the apple mixture piled onto a bed of mixed greens, but you can just […]

Recipe – Salade Verte (How To Dress A Salad)

Salade Verte – How To Dress A Green Salad A simple green salad (salade verte in French) is the ideal accompaniment to so many dishes, whether it’s made from just one type of leaf or a mixture of several. It may be simple, but it deserves the same respect as the rest of the meal […]

Recipe – Southern Ham Salad

SouthernHam Salad The South is famous for smoked ham. It’s fried for breakfast, sliced for sandwiches and popular in this party favourite. It’s called a salad, but is really more of a dip or spread, perfect for serving alongside its retro cousins, pimento cheese dip (see video below) and devilled eggs, for an impressive start […]

Recipe – Turkish Eggplant Salad

Turkish Eggplant Salad Eggplant appears in so many dishes in Turkey that it should be named the country’s national vegetable! And why not – it’s a wonderfully versatile and delicious ingredient, especially when it’s exposed to a bit of intense heat. One of Turkey’s most ubiquitous dishes, patliçan salatası (Turkish eggplant salad) often automatically arrives […]

Recipe – Orange, Almond & Date Salad

Orange, Almond & Date Salad Once you discover how easy it is to segment an orange (see video below), you’ll be making this simple dessert regularly. Use vivid Persian pistachio slivers instead of almonds if you like (no need to toast them) or add some pitted olives, chopped parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper for […]

Recipe – Kisir (Turkish tabouli)

Kisir (Turkish Tabouli) I’m a fan of traditional recipes but every now and then I prefer to do things my way. And I’ve always made tabouli with far more cracked wheat than any Lebanese cook ever would. Then I realised I wasn’t making tabbouli, I was making the kisir I enjoyed so much in Turkey. […]

Recipe – Bresaola Salad

Bresaola, Watercress & Egg Salad I fell in love with bresaola when I was researching A Lombardian Cookbook in Italy with Alessandro Pavoni. A specialty of Lombardy, bresaola is salt-cured beef eye round that’s dried in the crisp Alpine air. Virtually identical to Swiss bündnerfleisch (viande des Grisons) from just across the border in the […]

Recipe – Poussin with Preserved Lemon Salata

Poussin with Preserved Lemon Salata Poussins, French for chicks, are young chickens, sometimes called spatchcocks. They’re a good size to serve whole or halved, but you can also make this dish with a regular-size chicken and just increase the cooking time. I love the flavour of preserved lemon, and this delicious salata (Arabic for salad) […]

Recipe – Spicy Slaw

Spicy Slaw This spicy coleslaw is a great way to liven up a simple poached chicken, steak or piece of grilled fish. It’s also delicious on a sandwich with a hard cheese (like cheddar) or a fried egg. I like chardonnay with the richness of mayonnaise, but prefer something more like a Chablis than the […]

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