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Much as I adore a proper, old-fashioned treacle tart, when my need is greatest I’m less likely to have the energy and patience required for rolling out pastry neatly and all that goes with it. This is where this treacle slice comes in: you simply throw everything for the dough into a processor if you have one (and if you don’t, it’s still no trouble) then press it into a shallow oblong tin, pop it into the oven, and stir up the syrup, butter, breadcrumbs and egg while it bakes until ready to receive the sweet nubbly topping. For those unfamiliar with treacle tart, I should explain that it’s Golden Syrup that’s actually the key ingredient; if you can’t get hold of it where you are, I dare say you could use honey, but I urge you to seek the authentic ingredient, often known abroad just as Lyle’s. I have to be strict about using homemade breadcrumbs (see the intro to the Queen of Puddings, and I suggest you start with 200g of bread) and I find it more accurate to use American cup measures for this (you need 2 and a quarter cups) or fill a measuring jug up to the 550ml rather than weighing them. And yes, I know that’s a lot of breadcrumbs, but once they’ve soaked up the buttery, lemony syrup, what you get is a gorgeous chewiness, more fluffy than heavy. And if the topping is temple-achingly sweet, the base is plain to the point of dourness: that is exactly how a treacle tart should always be. This brings me to the clotted cream, my accompaniment of choice here: mad though it sounds, its lusciousness seems to temper the sweetness with cool efficiency. Still, those who’d prefer to eat this not as a cream-topped slice, but swathed with custard and spooned out of a bowl will not find any argument from me. And there is definitely a good case to be made for vanilla ice cream alongside, too. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
A comforting steak and kidney pudding and an easy fish pie – more of our favourite Nigella dishes
'Trying to be perfect is paralysing,' the 63-year-old admits. 'Life can be hard enough without punishing yourself for making mistakes.
This is one of the best sort of recipes — a family hand-me-down. My paternal grandmother instructed me in the art of adding the final layer of sour cream, sugar and vanilla towards the end of the cooking time: and it's true, it does finish it off wonderfully. I cannot tell you how much the velvety smoothness is enhanced by cooking the cheesecake in the water bath. It's not hard, though you really must wrap the tin twice in extra-strength tin foil. Once you've tried it this way, you won't even consider cooking it any other. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
In all honesty, the origin of this cake is simply that I cannot make a go of a lemon meringue pie. I've tried, and I've tried, and it's not that I've utterly failed, but I haven't completely delighted myself. There's enough of that kind of falling short in the rest of life, without having to usher in disappointment and self-loathing in the kitchen. This, then, is the easy option. And the funny thing is, the layers of sponge, with their crisp-carapaced squashy-bellied meringue topping are, sandwiched with tart lemon curd and softly whipped cream, so much better than a lemon meringue pie could ever be. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
My children wouldn't care if all I ever gave them was pasta with some bottled sauce poured over, and I don't deny that's sometimes indeed what they are given; but to please myself, and them, this is what I make when I get it together a little. Making this is hardly effortful; the potatoes cook in the pasta water — requiring a little extra time, nothing more — and the pinenutless pesto is whizzed up easily by the processor. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Nigella Semolina Pudding is a tasty treat that only needs a few simple ingredients, like milk, semolina, vanilla sugar, and ground cinnamon. It takes 20 minutes to put together and can feed 4 people.
When I included these black pudding meatballs in Cook, Eat, Repeat, I thought they would be a niche choice, but I have been gratifyingly overwhelmed by the number of people who have made and loved these. Even when I thought take-up would be small, there was never a chance I would have left them out of the book: I love them far too much for that. I included them in the Loving Defence of Brown Food chapter, even if they are too cheery in their tomato sauce to count as brown food, exactly, as I felt they probably were going to be fully appreciated by true brown-food lovers. Even unapologetic meat eaters can be disgusted by the dark mysteries of blood. And while it's not entirely rational, our emotional responses so rarely are. Besides, I make no attempt now to convince anyone about these: I love them too much to waste making them for people who fail to appreciate them, no matter how brave they feel for trying. And cooking is by no means always altruistic. The quantities below make for a big old batch of black pudding meatballs, simply because they are one of my absolute favourite things to eat, an instant sparker of joy; I honestly feel so much better about life knowing there's always a container or three of them in the freezer. I thrill at their deep gloriousness every time I eat them. It's up to you what you eat them with but I must tell you that the Brown Butter Colcannon is sensational with them. But if I'm eating alone, I like them best with good bread and butter. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
From her famed Coca-Cola braised ham to chicken Cosima, Observer Food Monthly’s selection of favourite Nigella Lawson dishes
This Nigella meatball is a tasty dish made with ground pork, ground beef, Parmesan cheese, garlic, herbs, and other ingredients. This recipe takes about 45 minutes to make and makes enough food for 4 people.
A roast chicken always feels celebratory; indeed, a roast chicken always is celebratory. The vibrantly coloured and intensely flavoured vegetables that are cooked alongside here seem only to underline this, offering their own brightness and brio, sunny in taste as well as mood. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
These are a very English kind of macaroon, the sort you always used to see displayed in bakers' shops alongside the madelines (those sponge castles dipped in luminous strawberry jam and dredged in throat-catching desiccated coconut, and so very different from those that inflamed the memory of Marcel Proust). The difference with coconut macaroons is that you need neither to be ironic nor self-consciously retro-cool to enjoy them. One bit of retail bossiness here: buy shredded, not desiccated, coconut, otherwise the sugary, fragrant dampness — which is, after all, the whole point — will be lost. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Forget the name, this cake is heavenly. The crumb is tender, the filling and frosting luscious. When I made it one Friday, I expected my children, resident food critics much in the mould of the Grim eater, to find it too dark, too rich, not sweet enough: you get the gist. Instead, I came down on Saturday morning to find nothing but an empty, chocolate-smeared cake stand and a trail of crumbs. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
These are the best scones I’ve ever eaten, which is quite how it should be since they emanate from one of those old-fashioned cooks who starts a batch the minute the door-bell rings at teatime. Yes, I know they look as if they’ve got cellulite — it’s the cream of tartar, which is also why, despite their apparent solidity, they have that dreamy lightness. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
This is my idea of a perfect cake: simple, beautiful, fragrant and beguiling. This is invitingly easy to make, and while I love the poetry of its ingredients, the cake doesn’t overwhelm with its Thousand-and-One-Nights scent. Rosewater can be a tricky ingredient: a little, and it’s all exotic promise; a fraction too much and we’re in bubblebath territory. One of the things that makes this so easy, is that you can throw all the ingredients into a food processor. But if you don’t have one, simply chop the prepared dried apricots and cardamom seeds very finely and then beat together with the remaining cake ingredients. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
My version of pasta alla puttanesca has had a slight name change. And yes, I realise that it’s not really necessary to translate the title, as this store cupboard standby of pasta with anchovies, olives, capers, garlic, chilli flakes and tinned tomatoes is widely enough known, but humour me: Slattern’s Spaghetti it now is! Although you will often see its Italian name explained as meaning “whore’s pasta” in English, the general consensus seems to be, however, that this is the sort of dish cooked by slatterns who don’t go to market to get their ingredients fresh, but are happy to use stuff out of cans and jars. Whatever you call it, it is as flavoursome to eat as it is easy to cook. Do add more fire, in the form of chilli flakes if you wish, though I should warn that even if the first mouthful doesn't seem that hot, the fieriness builds up as you eat. And you can fiddle around with quantities as pleases you generally; vegetarians and vegans, for example, can just leave out the anchovies and maybe bump up the olives and capers a bit. I recently had a twitter conversation with one Jim Hewitt (@jimbarleycorn) about the new name for this, and I gratefully end with this fabulous message of his: "On those days when my mum couldn't be bothered to brush her hair and cooked dinner using whatever was in the cupboard she would say: "Hush. I'm slatterning!" This is perfect for a slatterning day." For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
I can't tell you how often I get asked to make this at home. This is something of a culinary pun: it looks like a pizza, but its base is made out of meatball mixture, moreover a meatball mixture you don't have to roll into balls but can simply press into a tin, rather like a juicy disc of meatloaf, or polpettone. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
I don’t know if I should apologise for this or boast about it. Either way, I feel you will thank me for it. The thing is, it’s embarrassingly easy to make and unembarrassingly easy to eat. Don’t be tempted to let the cheesecake come to room temperature before serving. It slices and tastes better with a bit of fridge-chill on it. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
This is a Greek recipe — actually, strictly speaking, it's Italian, or of Italian derivation: strapazzare meaning, in the context of eggs, "to scramble". And really that's what this is: eggs scrambled with tomatoes. I was initially hesitant about this, as the notion of tomatoes mixed into scrambled eggs didn't seem appealing. But the thing is, it doesn't quite taste like that. This is what cooking is all about: what the ingredients do together in the pan, not what they sound like on the page. A simple alchemy. I am reliably informed that the cheese you would eat with it is Xynotyro, but since there's no way I have of getting my hands on that in my neighbourhood, I go for Wensleydale as the closest substitute available locally. What you want is a sharp and salty cheese that will crumble and melt a little, if that helps. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
This is a strange hybrid of a recipe: kedgeree cooked as if it were a risotto, that is to say Anglo-Indian influence, Italian method. I admit, however, that Italians may look askance at this recipe: after all, it calls on spices entirely alien to the Italian kitchen. But it's long been an Easter favourite of mine, and I stoutly defend it! And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Known simply as Green Sauce, this is a constant in my house: I just wouldn't be allowed not to have it in the fridge at all times. It can be eaten either as a condiment — and once you get the taste for it, you'll find yourself dolloping it alongside pretty much everything you eat — or a dip, specifically good with blue corn or unsalted tortilla chips. And don't be lulled by the cool greenness: this is — desirably — fierce and fiery. Even though I wouldn't — it's the unrelenting heat I love — you could, of course, de-seed the jalapenos. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
I love the punchy saltiness of halloumi and find it an invaluable standby, since it can be kept in its pack in the fridge for months. This is one of the many ways I cook it, and the confetti of red pepper gives glamour and heat. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
This may well be — indeed is — the smell, the taste, the dish that says "family" to me and my siblings, and brings our long-absent mother back to the kitchen and the table with us. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
There is something old-fashioned and comforting about a cream sauce. It's so rare to come across these days, and I think it's time we welcomed it back. My paternal grandmother was very keen on chicken with finely sliced button mushrooms and cream, which I remember fondly if blandly, and although you could certainly fry a panful of mushrooms in butter and add cream to it, I much prefer this funghi-free and fiercely garlicky version. I love this best, I think, with plain basmati rice, but I can't deny there is an equally good case to be made for some simply steamed new potatoes alongside instead. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
I don't know if I ever ate Madeira cake as a child, but just the sight of this golden-yellow loaf with its long crack down the middle makes me feel satisfactorily nostalgic. This recipe, given to me by my mother-in-law Carrie, is the best of any version I've tried. It's just one of those plain cakes you think you can't see the point of, until you start slicing and eating it. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Forgive the tweeness of the title, but this is a soup of such sunny, mood-enhancing yellowness that it overcomes even the most pervasively innate cynicism. To eat this is to feel cheered; even cooking it gives me a lift. It's incredibly easy to make, but that's not the clincher. This golden broth, rice-thickened and studded with a confetti dice of yellow courgettes and sprightly with lemon is pure joy. You only have to see it to believe it. And not surprisingly in some Middle-Eastern cultures, it is believed, in Claudia Roden's words, that 'eating yellow foods will result in laughter and happiness'. This, then, is a yellow soup to banish the blues. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
The general explanation given why Thai drunken noodles are so called is that they have enough chilli in them to shake you out of even the worst hangover. This is my simplified version. I've cut to the chase — no meat, fish or veg, just highly seasoned, searingly hot noodles. Most of the ingredients come from the storecupboard, and the finished dish is in front of you in 10 minutes. I find these hot noodles hard to beat, and they do really blow your head off: if you want less of a fiery fright, then halve the chilli flakes. To start with, at least... For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
The tortillas I use here are those crisp, crunchy, corn-gritty triangles that I never need an excuse to eat, but if you are in search of one yourself, I heartily recommend this soup. Mind you, even without the cheesy chilli-flecked tortilla topping, this is a winner. When I plan to make this, I tend to take a big pack of frozen corn out of the deep freeze at breakfast time, in readiness for a super-quick, fantastically soothing, mellow-yellow and very pleasing supper that night. Use whatever cheese you like; mostly I go for Cheddar since I always have some in the fridge, but I am happy about using up other bits and pieces. If children are eating, it's wise to omit the chillies — unless they're being very annoying. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Although a regular coxinha really is the size and shape of a pear, these are mini versions, and you can get a fabulous 70 out of not much more than three small chicken breasts (although I feel I should have used 6 chicken thigh fillets instead, given the name of this dish) and a great deal of flour. Yes, they are time-consuming to make, but if you get a bunch of friends together and get a little conveyer belt going, it is enormously companionable. I have given measurements below, but I find it easier to think in terms of ratios: in other words, for each cup of chopped cooked chicken, you will need a cup of flour and a cup of liquid. By the way, I find a small chicken breast fillet yields one cup of chopped meat. Helio, whose recipe this is, says that in Brazil these are commonly made and then frozen and then dipped in egg and breadcrumbs and deep fried from frozen. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Like many good brunch recipes, this is also just the ticket for an early evening supper, the sort you eat in your dressing gown before sophisticated adults feel it is entirely proper to dine. The joy of this is that you make up the mustardy ham and gruyere sandwiches and cover with beaten eggs the night before, and just let them sit in the fridge melding into one savoury, gooey pudding overnight. The next morning goes as follows: oven on, egg-and-bread dish in; brunch effortlessly served. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
I love the sort of dinner that you cook without any special effort but without sacrificing gratification. That's the thing really: cooking is simple; you can choose to complicate it, but there's no need to. Even when you're at a low ebb, this is a manageable supper and just what's needed to pull you out of a slump. It's comfortingly retro, too: I think it's the generous amount of — well — gravy that the juices and the de-glazing-action make. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
I could have called these Cornflake-Crunchy Chicken Cutlets as the crisp coating is provided not by breadcrumbs, but by cornflakes. This is particularly handy if you want a gluten-free crunch, though do check the cornflake packet to be sure. You can buy chicken escalopes already beaten, but otherwise just buy a couple of chicken breasts and, one at a time, place them on a chopping board lined with clingfilm, cover the chicken with another layer of clingfilm and bash the living daylights out of them with a rolling pin. This is a gratifying way to de-stress at the end of a long day. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Even the word pie is comforting. But then, it would be hard to deny the very real lure of pastry, especially when, as here, you know you're going to dunk it in gravied juices till its luscious lightness has become deliciously, soggily heavy. I concede, however, that making and rolling out your own pastry is not necessarily the speediest option, so I use bought, all-butter ready-rolled puff pastry and feel fine about it. And if you don't have the garlic oil that I suggest cooking the bacon in (and I know a teaspoon doesn't sound like much, but the streaky bacon should yield enough of its own glorious fat) simply use a teaspoon of olive (not extra virgin) oil and then mince in a small clove of garlic when the mushrooms are all but cooked. I make the pie even easier, by browning the chicken and making the sauce all in one go. And gold-crusted, welcoming pies for two people in half an hour is not bad going. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Just thinking of these makes me salivate: these toasted sandwiches have the perfect more-ish mixture between thin crisp crust and gooey yielding middle. What's more, they're pretty well instant to make. These would go well with the Coriander and Jalapeño Salsa, Red-Hot Roast Salsa or Jumbo Chilli Sauce. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
It wasn’t until my first visit to the States, in my early 20s, that I first ate meatloaf. It took me many years to get over it. But a couple of decades or so later, I ate this meatloaf, cooked for me by agent and friend, the late, great Ed Victor according to his mother’s recipe, and it was love. I knew I had to have the recipe. And although I did get my hands on it and, indeed, it appeared in my 2010 book, Kitchen, it is only now that it has found its way to nigella.com. It is a bit of a process to make, I don’t deny, but it is so worth it. Make it on a day when you’re not racing against the clock, and you can potter about in the kitchen, actually enjoying every step. It’s not as if it’s difficult to make, but it is time-consuming. And while this makes a large meatloaf which can happily feed 8-10, I make it even when there are just the three of us at home to eat it, as leftover meatloaf — cold, not reheated — makes for some of the best sandwiches in the world. In an ideal world, it should come with mash for its first time out, and you may well consider gravy essential. I don’t, and am perfectly content just to have the juices that drip from the meatloaf as it cooks; use a high-sided baking tin and you will end up with more of these gorgeous pan drippings. These may be too fatty for some tastes, so feel free to remove some of the fat from the pan, and then heat what remains with a splosh of red vermouth and some beef stock. If you want a thicker gravy, just stir a little flour into the pan juices before adding any liquid. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
While this started off as a little something to pick at over drinks when friends came over, it has long since escaped those confines in my house, for it makes a rather lovely lunch (or indeed supper) in the normal run of things. Of course there’s nothing to stop you just popping each plumptious patty into your mouth just as it is, but I like to wrap mine in a crisp lettuce leaf, like a juicy edible parcel. And there is nothing to stop you wrapping them in warmed flatbread, pitta, a couple of pieces of bread or a bun along with anything else you’d like; and do check out the Lamb Patties and Fried Chicken Sandwich for inspiration! You may need to be rather brutal with the lettuce as you tear the leaves off to provide the edible wrappers for the patties, so I suggest you need one to two icebergs. If you want to perk the leaves up a little, making sure they curve into appropriate respositories for later, leave them in a big bowlful of very cold water (throw in ice cubes too) for 20 minutes or so, or plunge them in before you make the patties, then make sure you drain them well before piling them up on their plate. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
A roast chicken always feels celebratory; indeed, a roast chicken always is celebratory. The vibrantly coloured and intensely flavoured vegetables that are cooked alongside here seem only to underline this, offering their own brightness and brio, sunny in taste as well as mood. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Everyone seems to have a very strong opinion as to what should or should not go into a Salade Nicoise, so let me tell you from the outset, I have no desire to join the fray. I put in what I have at home from, broadly, the accepted canon, but not necessarily everything the purists would. Since the tomatoes we get mostly don't have a lot of flavour, I tend to use those tubs of "sunblush" tomatoes, and their intense, flavourful acidity works well here. I am a great believer in keeping these on hand. Otherwise, speed being of the essence, the only real deviation is that I use croutons (some high-end baked ones from a packet will do) rather than boil potatoes and then have to wait for them to cool. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
I can't think of a better solitary treat: making something that needs unmoulding is nerve-wracking when you have to do it in front of people; alone, it gives a rather delicious frisson, and the bestowing of a hushed and hallowed moment. Creme caramel is just such a ridiculous thing to be making for oneself; therein lies the gift of it. And then there's the dreamy softness of the mild custard, the scorched syrup that counters it: eating it is a transporting experience. I know it's customary to use both cream and milk in a creme caramel but to me it's the delicacy, the lack of richness, of the custard that gives it its teasing elegance. And, it's true, I used just yolks for it, rather than the more usual combination of whole egg and extra yolk, because that's what I needed to use up, but I would never toughen the texture of a creme caramel with an egg white again: this version is so exquisitely tender, its set so soft, it's like a whisper on the lips. That ethereal quality is partly, too, due to the way it's cooked. The water bath is routine enough, but covering it for the first 30 minutes it's in the oven helps it cook more gently still, as it protects the top from even the low heat it bakes at; it does need to be uncovered for the last 20 minutes, though, or else it won't hold its form when unmoulded later. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
This thick, creamy pottage, somewhere cosily between a stew and a slightly soupy, sticky risotto, offers instant comfort. This is the sort of food that gets left behind in the Instagram age: not pretty to look at, but gratifyingly reassuring to eat. It's not hard to remove the skin from a clutch of chicken thighs, and you can fry it to make chicken crackling to be crunched as it is. Nothing would go wrong if you were to keep the skin on but, for once, I prefer to keep the fat out of it. Do not even think about using boneless thigh fillets. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
I feel very strongly that you should use the moister brown meat, from the thigh, for this, but if you prefer breast meat, and it's a common preference, that's your choice. I can't pretend to understand it though. There is a long list of ingredients below — and I am not going to pretend this is the sort of food you can bang out in a moment. One ease-making factor to be borne in mind: not only can it be made in advance, it needs to be; only after a day or two in the fridge does it have the full depth and resonance of flavour. And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
This is one of those welcoming, big-bowl suppers, perfect for feeding friends cosily. Soft, oniony cubes of squash are answered by the salty, sharp and pungent cheese; a little sage breathes its necessary but not overbearing bitterness, and the waxy, scorched pine nuts give quiet crunch, a hint of nubbliness, to this meltingly gorgeous concoction. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
An indulgent selection of puddings and cakes – from lemon pavlova to a boozy British trifle
