4 h. ago Nigel Slater’s recipes for fettuccine with mussels and dill, and lemon Swiss roll

Combine classic pasta and a favourite old cake for a spring lunch full of bright colours and vivid flavoursMussels, ribbons of pasta, herbs and cream is a perfect marriage for a spring lunch. I sometimes fill a puff-pastry case with such an assembly or present it in a white porcelain dish with a splodge of creamy potato in the retro style of coquille St Jacques. (And when exactly did I last see that on a menu?) The mixture of shellfish and cream is one of my favourite pasta sauces, especially when I take a few minutes to remove the mussels from their shells.Any aniseed-scented herbs work, chervil or tarragon being good dill alternatives, but also fennel fronds. I even used celery the last time I made this, but you can also finely chop a bulb of fennel instead, letting it cook for a few minutes before you add the vermouth or white wine. You could also swap the mussels for clams, if you are the sort of person who doesn’t mind extricating the little chaps from their shells as you eat. ...

Politics

24 h. ago Inside Victoria Beckham’s 51st birthday celebrations with family

Victoria Beckham marked her 51st birthday by joining her family and friends on for trip on a luxury boat and a celebratory dinner.

Politics

28 h. ago How to make flourless chocolate cake – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass

A chocolatey after-dinner Easter treat that treads the line between a cake and a mousse Rich, dark and squidgy, this cake is very much an after-dinner, rather than an afternoon-tea affair – something you’ll need a fork for, and quite possibly a spoon, too. Somewhere between a cake and a mousse, it’s the perfect end to an Easter celebration (serve with creme fraiche and chilled sliced blood oranges) and a great make-ahead dessert at any time of year.Prep 35 min Cook 40 min Serves 8-10 Continue reading...

Politics

33 h. ago 'The cake here is like the lovechild of a fruit scone and flapjack'

A hidden gem on Delph high street is the perfect place to get a moment of peace

Politics

45 h. ago Starmer will not be able to have his cake and eat it with a Trump trade deal and a Brexit reset

As two hard deadlines come up in the next three months over a Trump trade deal and a Brexit reset, The Independent’s political editor David Maddox looks at why Keir Starmer may be forced to make a choice he does not want to acknowledge

Politics

51 h. ago World's oldest penguin 'Spneb' marks 37th birthday as sad meaning behind name revealed

Spneb, a Humboldt penguin living at Paradise Park zoo in Hayle, Cornwall, celebrated her 37th birthday on Wednesday with a specially made fish and ice cake as zookeepers said she is doing 'amazing'

Politics

55 h. ago Chopping Onions on My Heart by Samantha Ellis review – can you save a culture?

A woman tries to cling on to her parent’s Judeo-Arabic language – and the food, feeling and history that goes with itSamantha Ellis yearns to eat the nabug fruit that her Iraqi-Jewish parents recall from Baghdad back gardens. Yet when she asks for it in London’s Iraqi shops, she’s met only with blank looks. It took much effort for her to find the English name for the nabug – the Christ’s thorn jujube – and even then she’s unable to source seeds online. Eventually an Iraqi Muslim friend brings her a bag of the fruits. She shares them with her mother, who lights up: “It’s nabug!”. She tells her grandson she hasn’t eaten one in 50 years, and despite wanting a Haribo, he joins his grandmother and mother in enjoying the taste, “like a cross between an apricot and a date”.This story in Ellis’s memoir is, like the book itself, about many things – loss, the distance between generations, nostalgia for a place one has never been, and the power of food to evoke memory – but perhaps most fundam...

Politics

56 h. ago The sweet story of how a chance meeting led to Australia’s ‘old baby cake’ going viral on Chinese social media

Demand for a small Sydney patisserie’s chocolate mousse creation leapt from 100 a week to 150 a day after a vlogger struck up a conversation on a trainWhen Paul Adam sees a long queue forming in front of his patisserie in the northern suburbs of Sydney, “That’s when I know I’m going to start working hard,” he says. In the weeks since one of his cakes went viral across several Chinese social media platforms, that has been nearly every day.The gluten-free hazelnut, meringue and chocolate mousse cake, with lorikeets stencilled in icing sugar on top, is, by Adam’s estimation, “only a cake” but it seems to mean much more to the customers queuing for it, some of whom have travelled from interstate, or overseas. Continue reading...

Politics

58 h. ago Gardeners issued 'do not' warning over leaving out specific dried fruit

Gardeners are advised to avoid hand-feeding birds this spring, as it could cause more harm than good, endangering both themselves and the birds

Events

3 d. ago Your bathroom will be 'sparkling clean' if you scrub it using this one 55p fruit

A cleaning expert has shared a simple hack which will make your bathroom shine and smell amazing without the need for expensive cleaning products

Politics

3 d. ago Schools in Spain required to serve fruit, vegetables and fish in fight against obesity

Rules brought in this week limit amounts of fatty and fried food and levels of sugar and caffeine in drinksAll schools in Spain will be legally obliged to serve fruit and vegetables as part of their lunches and fish at least once a week under new rules aimed at reducing the amount of fried and fatty food served to children.Hailed by the government as a key plank of the fight against childhood obesity, the rules brought in by royal decree this week will also compel schools to offer vegetarian and vegan meals. Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago One fruit is 'greater' at lowering blood pressure than cutting salt from your diet

A new study shines a light on preventing the condition that can lead to a series of health complications, including heart failure and stroke.

Events

4 d. ago Tomatoes will stay fresher for longer if stored in 'best but unexpected place'

Tomatoes can be a tricky fruit to keep fresh as they need to be stored differently depending on how ripe they are - and keeping them in the fridge just won't do

Politics

5 d. ago TV fitness guru Jody Bunting is cleared of 'trying to kill allergic boss by deliberately planting chocolate bar'

The ex-Big Breakfast star, 45, was accused of sparking an allergic reaction by leaving the Cadbury's Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut in a Derby leisure club cupboard.

Events

5 d. ago TV fitness guru Jody Bunting accused of 'trying to kill allergic boss by deliberately planting chocolate bar' is cleared after CPS refuses to bring charges against him

The ex-Big Breakfast star, 45, was accused of sparking an allergic reaction by leaving the Cadbury's Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut in a Derby leisure club cupboard.

Economics

5 d. ago The fruit that’s better at lowering blood pressure than cutting salt

Nearly a third of adults worldwide are affected by high blood pressure and its complications

Events

5 d. ago From cheese slices with very little cheese to fruit yoghurt without any fruit, this is what REALLY goes into our everyday foods: JINAN HARB'S in

Looking closely at what goes into everyday foods can be eye-opening. And as our photos here show, even bread can have a surprising number of artificial ingredients. But does it matter?

Politics

5 d. ago £45m for technology such as fruit picking robots and cow ‘Fitbits’ on farms

Farming minister Daniel Zeichner said grants will help farms to develop and implement technologies to boost food production, nature and profits.

Economics

5 d. ago Islanders left without milk, butter, meat and cheese for five days amid supermarket fail

The supermarket was also left without fresh fruit and vegetables after the usual order did not appear amid the crisis.

Events

5 d. ago Great British Bake Off winner John Whaite to open own cake shop in north west

Great British Bake Off winner and Strictly star John Whaite has been having big success with his mail order brownies - now he's preparing to open a full cake shop

Politics