Nigella Lawson is our kitchen inspiration. She's self-taught, worldly, sophisticated and homey. Need proof? These 12 delicious recipes.

These are some of Nigella's best recipes, from comforting pasta dishes and all-in-one roasting tray suppers, to indulgent desserts and bakes.

I thought I had exhausted the culinary possibilities of a pack of frozen peas, but my friend, and excellent cook, Alex Andreou, led me by the hand — it does take a leap of faith — to his method of using them, still frozen, as the first layer of a traybake. It’s a life-changer. The peas become soft and sweet in the heat — duller in colour, but so much more vibrant in flavour — and the steam they produce as they bake makes the chicken beautifully tender, its skin crackly and crisp on top. What’s key here is the size of the roasting tin. I wouldn’t go any smaller — measuring from inside rim to inside rim — than about 38 x 28cm / 15 x 11inches (a little larger is fine) as there needs to be space around the chicken thighs for the magic to happen. 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 Lawson is our kitchen inspiration. She's self-taught, worldly, sophisticated and homey. Need proof? These 12 delicious recipes.

There is very little that can compare with the glory of a sticky toffee pudding. My STP is altogether deeper and darker than the original version: it is still sweet, but the muscovado sugar and black treacle give it an almost savage intensity. It shouldn’t be eaten piping hot, but warm: once the sponge has been topped with a glaze of the sauce you should leave it for 30 minutes before serving, though you can easily leave it for up to an hour. I recommend serving this with the Salted Caramel Ice Cream — in fact, I positively urge you to. (And for Christmas, I suggest the brandified version.) The combination is truly joyous. You will find it easier to measure the treacle if you dip the spoon into boiling water or run it under the hot tap first. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

Recipe for Nigella Lawson's Flourless Chocolate Orange Cake made with whole oranges, almonds, and cocoa.

Five easy recipes for the home cook, from chicken barley to slow-roast five-spice lamb with Chinese pancakes and walnut carrot cake

Nigella Lawson is our kitchen inspiration. She's self-taught, worldly, sophisticated and homey. Need proof? These 12 delicious recipes.

There are three crucial things that I think make the difference here: the heat of the fat, the size of your potatoes and finally, dredging the potatoe...

There was a time, years ago, when this was on my table pretty much whenever I had friends over for a lazy Saturday lunch. And I love it still. It’s simple and undemanding to make, and can equally offer summer sprightliness or winter comfort, and in summer you might certainly consider scattering over basil on serving, along with the parsley. The sauce itself (rather like the eggs in a carbonara) is not actually cooked, but warmed through as it’s tossed fragrantly with the hot pasta. I find when cooking such an amount of pasta (though bear in mind that this recipe halves easily enough), it is always a good idea to put the pan on to boil quite a bit before you think you need to. Once it’s come to the boil, you can switch off, cover the pan, and know that you are almost ready to go. And finally, may I suggest that with the two egg whites you have left over, you make a batch of Forgotten Cookies within two days, if the egg whites are kept covered in the fridge... 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 recipe is The Bomb. It is quick, requires a handful of ingredients, will rock your world and impress everyone who is lucky enough to sample even a drop of it. This sauce requires real, lux sal…

Nigella Lawson is our kitchen inspiration. She's self-taught, worldly, sophisticated and homey. Need proof? These 12 delicious recipes.

While steaming then roasting potatoes may seem rather a fandango, one bite of these will convince you that it's utterly worth it; besides, it's not as if you have to do anything while they either steam or roast. Go slowly when adding the salt and vinegar, tasting as you go, as I like these to have the wincing hit of salt and vinegar crisps, and you may prefer a lighter hand with the sprinkling. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

Nigella Lawson Chocolate Brownies are probably the only brownie recipe you will ever need.

There is nothing more comforting with a cup of tea than a scone, with or without jam. Scones are so quintessentially British and always bring to mind the echoing gulder of “Tralllllleeeee!…

Nigella carrot cake is made with fresh carrots, crunchy walnuts, warming spices, and crystallised ginger, topped with creamy cream cheese icing. This delicious Nigella Carrot Cake recipe takes about 1 hour to prepare and can serve 8-12 people.

An indulgent selection of puddings and cakes – from lemon pavlova to a boozy British trifle

Ingredients 125 ml milk 85 ml corn or other vegetable oil 1 large egg ½ tsp of vanilla extract 200 g self-raising flour 100 g caster sugar 12 tsps strawberry jam 100 g unsalted butter 150 g granula…

I’m a fan of scooping up relatively dry but still succulent, gently spiced minced (ground) meat with pliable, puffy or flaky bread. Even more so if eggs are involved. When craving this sort of thing, makhlama lahm (sometimes called ‘Iraqi eggs’) hits the spot every time.

A healthier gluten free, sugar free version of her original breakfast bars.

I find fresh horseradish easy to come by these days but, if you don't, add the same amount of hot horseradish cream or sauce from a jar for the marinade. If you want to serve lamb skewers alongside, then use cubed leg, replace the horseradish in the marinade with a teaspoonful each of ground cumin and coriander, and make a dip by mixing good shop-bought hummus with Greek-style plain yogurt, and drizzle the top with a little olive oil before scattering with some pomegranate seeds. 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 rather like Eastern Mediterranean meatballs in sausage form, though you can come across them as fat burger-like patties, too. As loose-packed sausages, they’re formed around skewers and turned over an open flame. Since I rarely use a barbecue, but just stare at it being rained on in the garden, I simply fry them in a pan. And much as I like the long lollipop approach, I can’t make a skewer fit in the frying pan, so sausages — albeit highly seasoned and juicy sausages — it is. I don’t wish to be too prescriptive as to how you should eat them, but I roughly chop some tomatoes and parsley and mix them together in a bowl, to be brought to the table along with some shredded iceberg lettuce and an eye-poppingly intense garlic sauce. Eat them, hot-dog-style, wrapped in warm flatbread. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

I was watching an American TV show recently and missed a lot of the plot, as I was distracted by the amount of waffle-eating going on. I tried to prevent myself getting a waffle iron; I’d made that mistake once before. Reader, I didn’t succeed. But I vowed that this time I wouldn’t use it once then consign it to a cupboard under the stairs, and I’ve been as good as my word and have turned into something of a weekend waffler. How long you cook the waffles for, as well as how many you make, will depend on the waffle iron you’re using. Mine is a sturdy, non-stick stove-top Belgian waffle iron, which takes 250ml / 1 cup of batter per batch; if you’re operating a different machine, follow the directions for quantities and cooking times that come with it. I advise you to preheat your oven to 120°C/100°C Fan/200°F before you start so that you can pop the waffles on a wire rack over a baking sheet as you make them, to keep them warm. This also helps to give them a lovely crisp crust. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

This is really a tweaking of a fairly traditional rabbit recipe. The chicken is easier to come by in a supermarket, though, and more likely to please generally. You can leave the skin on or off the thighs, as you wish, but I think it’s important that the bone be left in. This is just my preference (I think it boosts flavour) but bear in mind that this is a pretty easy-going recipe, and you could use thigh fillets if that’s easier, or indeed — at the other end of the spectrum — a whole chicken, portioned. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

Much as I love to have a pan bubbling away on the stove, I often feel that the most stress free way to feed people is by taking the oven route. When I'm frazzled, I firmly believe that the tray-bake is the safest way to go. Enjoy the easefulness of the oven: you just bung everything in, and you're done. I think I'd go to the supreme effort of laying on a green salad as well but, other than that, you may kick up your flamenco heels and enjoy the fiesta. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

There are a few meals I can say I'm making that will make my children excited (or pretend to be), and this is one of them. Alongside there must be Pie Insides (which is what my daughter has always called leeks in white sauce) and for ultimate gratification, roast potatoes although I usually use goose fat for roast potatoes, I feel the pork belly allows, indeed encourages, the substitution of lard. I'm not convinced that with all that fabulous crackling you do need roasties as well, but I like to provide what makes people happy. I have advised an overnight marinade, but if I'm making this (as I tend to) for Sunday supper, I often prepare it in the morning and leave it in the fridge loosely covered with baking parchment, or midday-ish and leave it uncovered in a cold place (but not the fridge) for a few hours. 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, an adaption of Claudia Roden's magnificent orange and almond cake, is a wonderfully damp, dense and aromatic flourless cake: it tastes like one of those sponges you drench, while cooling, with syrup, only you don't have to. And it's such an accommodating kind of cake, too: it keeps well, indeed it gets better after a few days; and it is perfect either as a pudding with creme fraiche, or as a sustaining slice with a mug of tea at any time of the day. 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 very different from the richly sweet, loftily layered and aerated American original. While it is in some senses far more reminiscent of an old-fashioned, slightly rustic English teatime treat, it is, with its ginger-spiked cream cheese icing — only on top, not running through the middle as well — just right to bring to the table, in pudding guise, at the end of dinner, too. Before you chop the amber dice of crystallised ginger, rub the cubes between your fingers to remove excess sugar. Then chop them finely, though not obsessively so: you want small nuggets, not a jammy clump. And, for what it’s worth, I find it easier to crumble up the walnuts with my fingers, rather than chopping them on a board. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

I can't count how often I find myself stirring a pan with some mince in it, day to day. Not that this is anything to apologize for: it's easy, quick and comforting. I could probably measure out my life in chilli bowls, and that's no bad thing either. This recipe draws again on a favourite time-saving practice of mine, which is to start off with some paprika-piccante chorizo sausages that give off a fiery orange oil in which to sear and season the mince. Tex-Mex custom decrees that chilli be eaten with — among other embellishments — a handful of grated cheese thrown on top. This is merely an impatient rendering of the same, whereby you simply chop or tear some mozzarella and stir it in to the chilli in the pan, just long enough to let it melt into the meat. If you've got the time, and have managed to think ahead, you could put some baking potatoes into the oven to provide a substantial vessel for the cheesy chilli (it will also make the chilli go further) but I don't think anyone would argue with a bowl of tortilla chips alongside, or indeed a beautiful loaf of bread, freshly sliced for dunking. All I'd add further would be a crisp green salad, sharply dressed and a small cup of chopped fresh coriander for all-round anointing. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

My Yorkshire puddings have developed a reputation of their own on the blog, so naturally, they had to be in this book. Everyone loves them because they rise even more than muggle Yorkshire puds and they’re super crisp on the outside. Oh and they only need 3 simple ingredients! Vegetarian Low fodmap Dairy-free: use dairy-free milk | Lactose-free: use lactose-free milk TIP: You could use tapioca starch instead of cornflour. This recipe also works perfectly for toad in the hole!

The famous food writer talks about her new cookbook and her issues with professional-grade recipes for amateurs.

This is the most luscious of treats: rich, to be sure, but somehow delicate at the same time. Smoked paprika and crab (a 50/50 mixture of both white and brown meat) give an almost honeyed depth to the velvety cheese sauce, which is made with nutty and sweet gruyere. The combination is just sumptuous, like a cross between a mac’n’cheese and a bisque. I stray further from tradition in that I use pasta shells rather than macaroni, and I don’t scatter more cheese on top and brown it in the oven, and indeed advise sternly against it. I find a freckling of Aleppo pepper (though you could use paprika) more than makes up for the familiar heat-scorched finish. It would be remiss of me not to let you know that if you bump up the milk in the sauce recipe to 300ml / 1¼ cups, it makes for sensational seafood nachos: warm tortilla chips in the oven, then pour the sauce over them, and top with sliced red chillies and chopped chives or whatever you please. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

One of the best culinary inventions from the women of the Roman Ghetto are pizzarelle, small, sweet matzo fritters soaked in honey. These treats can be found in bakeries year-round. I know it might be difficult to believe that anybody would want to eat matzo when it’s not Passover, but give pizzarelle a try, and you’ll instantly be converted into a matzo lover.

This is an Italian-inspired recipe that comes to me from Australia via Brazil. To explain: a Brazilian friend, and the best cook I know, Helio Fenerich made it for me, and I had to keep (rudely) asking him to carry on making it for me. Eventually, I begged him for the recipe, which he told me he’d found in Australia. The journey was certainly worthwhile: it is a complete winner; I go into auto-Parmesan-shortbread mode whenever I have friends coming for supper, as not only is it perfect with drinks, but it can be made in advance. Indeed, you can make the dough, wrap it and then leave in the fridge for up to 3 days before slicing and baking it as instructed below, although you will need to let these cheese-scented cylinders sit out on a kitchen surface just long enough to get the fridge-chill off them before slicing. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

I am very much in favour of a bit of DIY at the table, and in my experience it’s always particularly popular with any children you might be feeding, too. Fajitas (properly pronounced “faheetas”, though we favour the Kath’n’Kim pronunciation “fadge-eye-ters” in my house) are a Tex-Mex joy, and although I am perfectly happy to acknowledge that this may not be an authentic rendition, I have tried to preserve the flavours and brio it’s had when I’ve eaten it on my travels. I’ve included a list of suggested accompaniments in the ingredients list (and do look at it before you go shopping for the wherewithal to make these) but I haven’t added salsa. So let me give you a trio of choices here. You can go for the tomato salsa that accompanies the Tortilla Lasagne, my Jumbo Chilli Sauce or that house favourite, Coriander/Cilantro and Jalapeño Salsa. But no one is going to come and knock at your door if you choose to go salsa-less! For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

Nigella Lawson calls these simple chocolate biscuits ‘Granny Boyd’s biscuits’ after her editor’s granny, who gave her the recipe. And, as Felicity Cloake says in her article on how to cook the perfect chocolate biscuits, ‘these biscuits are so fine-textured they actually melt on the tongue’. If you prefer cookies, we can guarantee our best ever chocolate chip cookies won’t disappoint.

Nigella Lawson's delicious one-pot recipe for Orzo with Meatballs is a comforting and warming pasta dish perfect for wintry weekend cooking.

This is a dish, a family favourite, that I cooked moreorless straight after I’d got off the plane after two months on the road, to signal and celebrate that I was truly home. It’s a simple one pot dish that brings comfort and joy, and it is my pleasure to share that with you. It’s so hard to be utterly precise and specific with this kind of cooking: if you’re feeding small children, for example, you may not want to add the chilli flakes. Similarly, you may want to use just one lemon, rather than the two I like. Your chicken may weigh more or less: the ones I get tend to vary between 1.5kg and 1.7kg / 3½lb and 3¾lbs. And although I have specified the casserole I have used, and always use, you obviously will use the one you have, which will make a difference to how quickly everything cooks, how much evaporation there will be, and so on. Don’t let these things trouble you unduly: this is a simple recipe that brings profound pleasure. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

This chilli sauce is big — big flavour, big kick, big reward. The name, however, derives from the fact that the recipe was given to me by my brother-in-law, Jim, Jimbo to me, but often known teasingly as Jumbo due to his compact size. I cannot have enough of this. I love it with prawns, with cold chicken, with chips, with everything. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

There is something about cooking the classics that feels like coming home and this comforting Belgian casserole is a reassuringly simple recipe — I scarcely bother to sear the meat — that feeds a huge tableful of people cosily. And — always music to my ears — it is at its best if cooked ahead, cooled and then refrigerated before being reheated. A final note: it is the shin of beef that makes this stew so sweetly succulent; by all means substitute regular stewing beef, if you must, but it will never cook to the melting softness of shin. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.

A useful, no-hassle, chuck-everything-in-together dish, you don’t even need to brown the chicken (though make sure you sprinkle the skin with sea salt flakes, to help it crisp up). Find a dish that has about the right dimensions, to ensure that it works well. Don’t be afraid of assertive seasoning – rice dishes such as this need it – and don’t skip the step where you wash the rice, or it will end up sticky. A bowl of Greek yogurt is good on the side.

Don’t let the recipe title put you off because until you make them, you won’t know what I mean. These lovely little halloumi and herb pastries inflate when you fry them, making them feather-light, crisp and delicious. They are best enjoyed freshly made, so fry them just before you intend to eat them.

Fantastically easy and delicious, these give you that little sugar and lemon hit at the end of a meal, lifting you up for the last part. When blood oranges are in season you can use those instead, if you like, to make blood orange possets.

I would be remiss if I didn’t include a leche flan recipe in this book! Although there’s a wide array of renditions of this dessert from around the world, I believe Filipino leche flan is the richest of them all. I’m relieved that my dad was able to write down his recipe for me when I first released my zine, flipped: matamis. My friend Meghan also graciously shared her nani Ramila’s chai masala recipe to incorporate into this flan. The mix of warm spices complements the sweetness of this egg custard. You can bake the leche flan in classic llaneras, the traditional oval-shaped metal pans from the Philippines, but I like using a heart-shaped aluminum pan for the cuteness of it.

I love the fact that, even though we live in different continents, every Easter my mother and I make the same hot cross buns.

Nigella Lawson is our kitchen inspiration. She's self-taught, worldly, sophisticated and homey. Need proof? These 12 delicious recipes.

Pecans, buttermilk, and maple syrup, oh my!

Look, the name is meant to be a bit of a joke, but what I'm talking about is a pitta-like bread, glazed golden with beaten egg and sprinkled with nigella seeds. This is what I make when I'm in mezze-mode. It's not hard, and although I love some of the flatbreads you can buy, it gives me more pleasure to make these, doubling the quantity and putting the flat oval loaves in the oven in batches so there's always a wooden board of warm, dippable bread on the table. For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.