For a few brief weeks at the beginning of each year, boxes of seville marmalade oranges arrive in the shops from southern Spain. At first sight, they are an unpromising fruit, coarse skinned, with wincingly tart juice and meagre, pip-filled flesh. And yet, cooked until the skin turns soft and with their bitterness mitigated by

I wish I could tell you that this week’s recipe resulted from a desire to bring the world to my table – a deep longing for sunshine exoticism at a time when I am confined indoors with only the dreary promise of a British January beyond the window. After all, what better than the bright,

The keen-eyed among you may have noticed that the fish in the photograph isn’t, in fact, lemon sole, but plaice. The simple truth is that it’s what they had at the fishmongers, though at the moment lemon sole is actually a more sustainable choice. Plaice enters its breeding season in January and should be left

Award-winning chef Lucas Hollweg has some ideas for the parts of the Christmas feast left on the table.  I’ve never really liked the word leftovers. It feels negative and reproachful, as if the unfortunate bits of food are unwanted hangers-on at a party. How many people moan about the prospect of eating turkey sandwiches for

In many countries, fish is the traditional choice for Christmas Eve. Italy has its Feast of Seven Fishes (now often reduced to a more moderate five to fit with modern appetites), which might include salt cod or anchovies, spaghetti with clams and whole roast fish. Spain has besugo al horno – a large bream baked

This is a variation on the Sicilian idea of spaghetti con le sarde, using mackerel instead of sardines. From my rudimentary knowledge of culinary Italian, I think it is probably called something like spaghetti con (lo) sgombro. The raisins, pine nuts and saffron betray the Moorish influences in Sicilian cooking, with fennel, chilli and lemon

Roots aren’t generally thought of as the most sophisticated of vegetables. They tend to be used as culinary workhorses, the stuff of hearty stocks, stews and soups. But turn them into a silky purée to serve with scallops and suddenly they seem rather glamorous. Celeriac, jerusalem artichokes and parsnips are key players for this earthy

This simple vegetable stew straddles the cusp between autumn and winter, its layered spicing and citrus undertones delivering a bit of zing as well as a comforting glow. You’ll need a jar of preserved lemons – or rather, you’ll need one preserved lemon. Buying a whole jar may seem extravagant, but you will quickly find

This satisfies an appetite for Indian spice, without actually being a curry. The dahl is pretty mild, warm with ginger and a touch of green chilli. Kedgeree aficionados will know how well curry spicing goes with smoked haddock, but it also forms a happy partnership with unsmoked white fish. I happened to have a bit

This Northern Italian combination brings together the alluringly bitter edge of radicchio – arguably Italy’s greatest contribution to the chicory family and certainly its most colourful – and the savoury washed-rind flavours of taleggio. The walnuts are my own textural addition, though you can leave them out if you want to play things straight. Cooking

The rules for cooking squid are simple: it needs to be either hot and fast or long and slow. Anything in between will yield a plateful of rubber bands. I usually reserve the hot and fast route for summer days, the squid scored and flashed “a la plancha” in a pan so it curls into

This is a robust salad, full of big flavours and substantial enough to work as a light main course. I rather like the punning Roman name; the fact that it’s made with cavolo nero makes it all the more pleasing. I know this rugged winter brassica isn’t on everyone’s list of favourite vegetables, but for