9 h. ago Wanted: new sauces and dressings to jazz up weekday cooking | Kitchen aide

If your evening meals are getting a bit samey, our roster of cooks has a bounty of saucy ideas that might just help transform your dinners for goodWhat sauces and dressings can I make to rejuvenate weekday meals?Sauces and dressings give dinner life, making even the simplest meals taste better. The formula, says Gurdeep Loyal, author of Flavour Heroes (published in June), goes something like this: “You need two things: a really good fat and a really good sour.” Sure, that fat could be oil, but it doesn’t have to be. “It could be an egg yolk, it could be avocado, but if it’s oil, go for a flavoured one,” Loyal says, and in place of the usual acid suspects (vinegar or citrus), try the likes of gherkins, capers or preserved lemons instead. “My go-tos are preserved lemon whizzed up with a bit of their brine, some garlic-infused olive oil and maple syrup. Or avocado blitzed with gherkins, gherkin brine, a bit of sugar, if you want, and perhaps herbs such as chives or tarragon. Or chilli-...

Politics

54 h. ago Bake Off star Paul Hollywood's plans to tear down crumbling conservatory at his farmhouse for huge open plan kitchen to film new TV shows

Paul Hollywood hopes to turn home cooking into a money spinner by filming TV cookery shows in a new kitchen extension at his historic farmhouse.

Culture

1 week ago ‘It’s less intimidating, less vulnerable’: why cooking in company helps us to talk

The pressure’s off when we’re not staring at each other, we can relax and have a nice chatOn the day after Boxing Day last year, my dad and I went to buy some cabbage. My aunt and cousins were joining us for dinner that evening and we had a meal to prepare. The local supermarket was closed and the cabbage, sourced from an Italian deli around the corner, was obscenely overpriced. In a bind, we bought some anyway and headed back home to begin cooking. Standing around the kitchen island chopping and peeling vegetables, preparing a rib of beef and assembling a side dish of dauphinoise potatoes, we listened to music and chatted. The meal was a success and the cabbage – lightly browned and decorated with caraway seeds – tasty. But most important was that, for the time we had spent cooking, I felt closer to my dad.This kind of intimacy almost always occurs for me while I’m cooking with someone. When I was 14, I was paired with a classmate in food technology where we were tasked with making...

Politics

1 week ago Prue Leith warns she 'hasn't got much longer' as she soaks up time with TV star husband

Great British Bake Off star Prue Leith has been married to fashion designer John Playfair since 2016 and he has started sharing the limelight with her after they starred in their cooking show Cotswold Kitchen

Events

2 w. ago Loose Women presenter issues apology to ITV viewers after Prue Leith's 'fruity' language

Great British Bake Off judge Prue Leith appeared on Monday's edition of hit ITV daytime show Loose Women where she spoke about her new cooking series, Prue Leith's Cotswolds Kitchen

Politics

2 w. ago 'I've found world's healthiest breakfast after studying how people live to 100'

A researcher claims to have found the secret to living a long and healthy life - and it's all down to a unique breakfast cooked in a small kitchen by a group of locals

Society

2 w. ago Chinese restaurant closed down by cops for serving street pigeon as 'roast duck'

Plucking hell... A Chinese restaurant in Spain allegedly grabbed pigeons from the street and cooked them in its filthy kitchen in a bid to pass them off as roast duck

Politics

3 w. ago How to turn leftover cooked potatoes into dinner | Kitchen aide

Use them up in fishcakes, roll them into balls, use them to thicken soups the possibilities are almost too numerous to mention, but our culinary experts have had a go anywayHow can I turn leftover cooked potatoes – mashed, roasted, boiled – into dinner? This sounds like a job for queen of spuds Poppy O’Toole, whose latest book just so happens to be all about the tuber. We all know that mashed potatoes can cause heated debate, with smooth and buttery making some folk purr, while others prefer a bit of texture, and this also affects what you do with any spares. “It can be difficult to use leftover mash, because many recipes depend on how creamy you like it to begin with,” says the author of The Potato Book, although she says one “surefire way” begins by putting a good splash of olive oil in a frying pan on a medium-low heat. “Fry two chopped spring onions [green bits and all] until soft, add the leftover mash, and fry until hot and almost caramelising.” Season, and you’ve got a great ...

Politics

3 w. ago Meghan Markle admits relying on chicken nuggets to feed kids despite lavish Netflix recipes

Meghan Markle has given a glimpse inside her kitchen in a brand new interview and talked about her cooking skills, including what she usually makes her children for dinner

Politics