The lunchbox that’s been “lurking” at the back of the cupboard for the last few years “may finally be heading back to work”, said Andrew Ellson in The Times. Fewer of us are popping into Pret a Manger for a sandwich as more office workers are “rediscovering the packed lunch”.

As prices at high street shops continue to soar, polling from Ocado has found that more than two thirds (69%) of professionals think buying lunch out is too expensive. Almost half (46%) of them have started to bring in lunch from home more often than they did a year ago.

But a packed lunch doesn’t have to mean soggy sandwiches or a “punishment tub of undressed baby spinach and slimy sweet potato chunks”, said Jimi Famurewa in The Guardian. Instead, you can get creative with “punchy, textural riots” like Rukmini Iyer’s tasty chapati omelette rolls or Rosie Birkett’s celeriac, apple and lentil salad “brightened by lemony mayonnaise and an enlivening lick of dijon mustard”. Or, if there’s a kettle nearby, consider making Tamal Ray’s “veg-filled, rainbow-hued riff on everyone’s favourite additive-stuffed hangover salve: the noodle pot”.

For something easy but “great for gut health”, try whipping up a batch of ancient grains (you can use a Merchant Gourmet pouch from the supermarket) with feta and avocado, said Xanthe Clay in The Telegraph. Pack in as many vegetables as you like and add pumpkin seeds for a tasty lunch that will “boost your diet diversity” and deliver slow-release energy.

If you prefer a hearty lunch that will warm you up as the weather cools down, consider making a homemade minestrone with parmesan meatballs. Ideal for cooking at the weekend and freezing in batches, it “always tastes better the next day”.

Another brilliant recipe to “add to your repertoire” is an “oh-so-comforting” vegan chickpea and cauliflower dahl, said Good Housekeeping. Filled with “fragrant” spices and plenty of vegetables, it’s perfect served with “cooling” yoghurt, steamed rice or naan bread.

Served just warm with nutty brown rice, garlicky yoghurt and rocket salad on the side, this dish makes a lovely vegetarian supper. It also works well with grilled or barbecued lamb, wrote the late Skye Gyngell in her bestselling book “A Year in My Kitchen”, which has just been reissued in a 20th anniversary edition.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

• 1.5kg aubergines, trimmed
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil, to shallow fry
• 50g unsalted butter
• 1kg ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
• 400ml crème fraîche
• 2 tbsp tarragon leaves, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped flatleaf parsley, plus extra to finish
• ½ tbsp chopped thyme leaves (ideally lemon thyme), plus sprigs to garnish
• 1 tbsp finely chopped chives
• 50g parmesan, freshly grated
• extra-virgin olive oil, to drizzle

Method

• Slice the aubergines into 1cm rounds. Lay in a colander and sprinkle generously with salt. Leave to degorge the juices for about 30mins – beads of moisture will appear on the flesh. Before cooking, pat each slice dry with kitchen paper.
• Heat a 1cm depth of olive oil in a large, fairly deep frying pan over a medium-high heat. Fry the aubergine slices, a few at a time, until golden brown on one side, then turn and brown on the other side. Remove and drain on kitchen paper.
• Melt the butter in another saucepan. Add the chopped tomatoes and garlic and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Cook over a low heat for about 15mins until the tomatoes are soft.
• Meanwhile, put the crème fraîche into a small pan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Allow to bubble until reduced by a third, then take off the heat and add the tarragon, parsley, thyme and chives. Add half of the parmesan and taste for seasoning.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line the bottom of a large, shallow ovenproof dish with a layer of aubergine slices. Follow with a thin coating of the tomato sauce and a sprinkling of parmesan. Continue layering, finishing with tomato sauce. Pour over the crème fraîche and sprinkle with the remaining parmesan. Leave to sit for a few minutes to allow the flavours to get acquainted.
• Place in the oven and bake for about 20-25mins until golden brown. Allow to stand for 5mins. Drizzle with a little extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with a pinch or two of salt. Scatter over some finely chopped parsley and thyme sprigs to garnish and serve... but not too hot!

Taken from A Year in My Kitchen by Skye Gyngell.

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The “real preserving season” begins now at the “deep, sticky end of summer”, said Itamar Srulovich in The Guardian. “In fact, September may well be the best jam month of all.”

As the weather starts to cool there is plenty of produce to turn into jars of the sweet spread. Plums offer “near endless possibilities” and some varieties can “take a surprising amount of spice”, while figs’ “honeyed sweetness” matches up perfectly with a “few pods of cooling cardamom for balance”. It’s well worth “sweating over” pots of fig jam in late summer, so that there’s a “little bit of jarred sunshine” ready and waiting for the dark, cold winter months.

Things are a bit trickier when it comes to grapes. They must be chosen carefully as most of the sweet commercial fruits lack the “funk” and “acidity” needed for a good jam. The fragola variety, with its “intoxicating, wild strawberry flavour”, is a “rare treat”.

Making jam has an “undeniable romance”, said Jane Black in The Wall Street Journal. Just three ingredients are needed: fruit, sugar and lemon juice. Heat them over the stove, and they become “summer in a jar”. “It’s true alchemy.”

It might sound simple, but perfecting the texture and consistency of homemade jam can be surprisingly difficult. Jam-making business owner Daniel Perry suggests using a copper jam pan which “conducts heat extraordinarily well”, and making jam in small batches to ensure the fruit on the bottom doesn’t burn. It’s also worth macerating the fruits in sugar and lemon juice the night before to help “extract juice” before you move on to the cooking.

For a “well-rounded”, gently spiced blackberry and apple jam, try Elspeth Biltoft’s recipe in Stylist. The founder of Rosebud Preserves uses golden granulated sugar in her jams, only cooks with seasonal fruits that are “fresh, firm and slightly underripe” and carefully labels every jar with the date and tasting notes so you can improve your recipe each year.

A menu promising a “glistening digital cheesesteak or an eerily geometrical” turkey sandwich “evokes little more than horror in those who behold it”, said the New Yorker. So why are so many restaurants relying on generative AI to create their promotional materials and are these images straying towards false advertising?

‘Nauseating, nightmarish’

Images of food dishes were once “a thing to be drooled over”, highlighting the “sensual, the luscious, the beautiful”, but now a “nauseating, nightmarish quality defines AI’s insectified interpretation of human cuisine, as if food were just another surrealist goo to stochastically iterate upon”. These fake images “mock life itself”.

The menus might also mock the customers, Adaeze Onejeme, an ad sales worker in Los Angeles, told CNN. “It’s like you don’t even know what you’re going to get” when the actual food arrives, so “at that point, is it false advertising”?

The “phenomenon” is seen around the world, said the broadcaster. In Tokyo, sandwiches are advertised with an image in which they seem to be “made of cobwebs”, in Kuala Lumpur, a bowl of spaghetti marinara “looks like perfectly arranged yarn or strings of Play-Doh”, and in Berlin, there is a “plastic-looking quiche with holes or a penne pasta made from rubber”.

‘Low quality, laziness’

These menu images can signify qualities people generally don’t want to associate with food, such as “low quality, laziness or, well, slop”. Some of them are “alienlike catastrophes”.

There’s “an innateness” to how real food looks that “you can feel in your bones”, Emily Hawkes, a professional food photographer, told USA Today. So when you see AI food images “there’s something wrong, and you might not be able to put your finger on it, but you know it when you see it”.

There’s a reason why we can't look away from the pictures, said psychologist Stephanie Sarkis: our brain gets stuck between “approach and avoidance” as it tries to make sense of an image that looks almost real but is clearly fake.

Running a restaurant in 2026 is challenging because of “rising costs and uneven customer traffic”, said CNN. So “as they look to save money wherever possible”, a growing number of restaurant owners are using AI to “assist with marketing”.

But if food photography is “cost-prohibitive” for an establishment, there are “other avenues to explore” rather than turning to generative AI, Hawkes told USA Today. She suggests contacting student photographers and offering a free meal in exchange for content, or consulting YouTube tutorials for a DIY approach.

I learnt how to make this vibrant dip in Aleppo, where I led culinary tours before the uprising, said Anissa Helou. They included a lesson from chef Maria Gaspard, who made all kinds of fabulous dishes, including this one.

Ingredients (serves 6)

• 600g beets
• 80ml tahini, or to taste
• 1 clove garlic, peeled, minced to a fine paste
• juice of 1 1⁄2 lemons, or to taste
• sea salt
• extra virgin olive oil, to drizzle over the dip
• 1 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley or slivered pistachios, for garnish

Method

• Preheat the oven to 220C.
• Wash the beets and cut any excess stalks but without cutting into the beets. You do not want them to bleed during baking. Wrap each beet with foil and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours, depending on their size, until soft but not mushy.
• Remove from the oven on to a large cutting board. Unwrap, then peel and cut into chunks. Place in a food processor. Add the tahini, garlic and lemon juice and process until you have a smooth purée.
• Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add salt to taste and more lemon juice and/or tahini if you feel it needs it. Spread in a shallow round or oval serving bowl, making grooves here and there.
• Drizzle a little olive oil in the grooves and sprinkle with the chopped parsley or slivered pistachios.
• Serve with good bread.

Taken from Lebanon: A Culinary Celebration by Anissa Helou.

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Jean-Georges Vongerichten, the prolific chef and restaurateur in New York City, operates more than 45 restaurants around the world and has written five cookbooks. All of his books capture the remarkable way he merges simplicity and elucidative flavor combinations. His fourth book, 2011’s “Home Cooking with Jean-Georges ($40),” does so in a particularly utilitarian fashion.

Cooking with eyes wide open

Vongerichten’s five-ingredient watermelon salad, for example, is a ferocious overturning of how to think about a favorite fruit. The rich funk of the blue cheese and resonant twang of freshly ground black pepper convince the watermelon to let its sweetness glow. The fruit’s juicy core tangoes with extra-virgin olive oil’s grassy unctuousness. Pop, pop goes a dusting of flaky salt.

In the recipe’s intro, Vongerichten offhandedly notes the salad “tastes even better when the watermelon is cold and the cheese is room temperature and soft.” Texture steps into the spotlight and turns a sublime recipe all the grander. Vongerichten tosses this intel at the reader as an aside. He cannot help himself. Wisdom plops out of him like ice in a sleet storm.

Such is how “Home Cooking with Jean-Georges” flows. This is a book in which the tricks, takeaways and techniques are embedded in the recipes themselves. Parmesan chicken teaches you that breadcrumbs are extraneous when you grate Parmesan on both large and small holes on a grater, coat chicken breasts with it, bake, and, whammo, savory, textural contrast without the filler.

You might in no other cookbook see someone add a stick and a half of butter to boiling water to cook mustard greens. Then you eat those greens, all silky, their jagged acerbity mellowed after four minutes of boiling, and you shake your head in confounded appreciation.

Famous chef, best-in-class writer

A chef creating a cookbook is only as reliable as their writer. For “Home Cooking,” Vongerichten enlisted one of the finest recipe writer-developers in the game, Genevieve Ko, who is currently an editor at The New York Times.

Ko ensured the recipe’s instructions in this book were as pristine and legible as Vongerichten’s cooking is nimble and gleaming. A watermelon salad can say so much and teach so readily if its quiddities are conveyed with precision. Effortlessness has perhaps never been presented with such rigor.

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Help realize your favorite coffee lover’s barista dreams with a gift that will elevate their at-home java game. Each one of these items, including a versatile milk frother, quality coffee bean grinder and buzzy candy, can be used for making a cup of coffee in the morning or entertaining a crowd ready to get caffeinated.

Fellow Atmos electric vacuum coffee canister

Using fresh coffee beans is one of the “most important parts of making a good cup,” said Wired. Storing them in a vacuum-sealed canister keeps the beans at their peak, preserving the “delicate and rich flavors you get from fresh-roast coffee.” The electric version of Atmos’ coffee canister is easy to use — just push a button — and can also hold spices, nuts and loose-leaf tea. ($80, Amazon)

Instant Pot MagicFroth milk frother

They’ll never need to leave the house for a latte again — unless they want to. The MagicFroth is “highly customizable” and able to make “well-structured” hot, warm and cold foam in three different textures, said Food & Wine. It has a spout designed for precise pouring and can also be used to make non-coffee drinks like hot chocolate and matcha. ($45, Amazon)

Lardera Wilfa Uniform grinder

In order to get the highest-quality cup of joe at home, you have to start with a good burr coffee bean grinder like this one. Its 58mm steel flat burrs ensure precision and uniformity, with 41 settings to choose from for cold brew, pour-over, drip, French press, AeroPress and espresso. The stylish grinder is easy to use — put your beans in, push a button and it shuts off when the beans are “pulverized” — and “sits discreetly” on a countertop “without getting in the way,” said The Verge. ($299, Lardera)

Kinto Sepia amber mug

Coffee tastes better when served in a fun, retro glass. Kinto’s “dainty” glass mugs have a vintage feel and are as “attractive as they are useful,” said Food & Wine. The heat-resistant amber glasses are “durable” and can hold 11 ounces of liquid. They also look “lovely” when displayed on a table or have sunlight streaming through them. ($30, Amazon)

Monin coffee syrup variety pack

Spice up their coffee routine with this selection of five delicious flavored syrups. The pack includes caramel, amaretto, hazelnut, vanilla and Irish cream, along with recipes. Each bottle can flavor up to 15 drinks, from lattes and iced coffees to espresso martinis and milkshakes. ($10, World Market)

Ovalware cold brew coffee maker

The “sleek” design of this “solid” cold brew coffee maker and pitcher adds to its appeal, said Serious Eats. The lid’s “tight seal” keeps the flavor in, with the cold brew tasting the same on day one all the way through day seven (if it doesn’t get consumed sooner). The base and other components came apart “easily” for cleanup, and the borosilicate glass pitcher is dishwasher-safe. ($41, Amazon)

Uncommon Goods blind taste test coffee kit

Help take their knowledge of coffee to the next level. This blind taste taste kit will guide them through distinguishing different bodies and flavors in five mystery single-origin roasted coffees. The kit also includes a flavor wheel, rating sheet, cups and an envelope they’ll open at the end of their tasting experience, explaining each coffee’s origin and flavor profile. ($58, Uncommon Goods)

SugarBean Coffee Bean Brulée

Think crunchy, crackly and like nothing else. Coffee Bean Brulée is a candy made of Arabica coffee beans enveloped in caramelized sugar, which shatters when chewed or crumbled up as an ice cream topping or coffee garnish. There are three caffeine strengths to choose from — Single Shot, Double Shot and Triple Shot, for the biggest buzz — and several different flavors, like cardamom, cacao nib and coconut. ($8.50, SugarBean)

Shandy is “poised for a resurgence”, said Jane Denton on This Is Money. The thirst-quenching mix of lager and lemonade has become an “unlikely” drink of choice for 20-somethings who are seeking out lower alcohol content tipples that “don’t compromise on taste”.

Originating in 1850s England as “shandygaff” – a mixture of beer and ginger ale – the popular drink had dropped the “gaff” by the end of the 19th century and swapped in lemonade for a citrussy twist. Shandy “started going out of fashion” in the 1990s, Jane Peyton, founder of the School of Booze, told the publication but it is now “undergoing a revival”.

Ocado sales of shandy have climbed by 40% year-on-year, said Rachel Dixon in The Guardian, and the drink is popping up in supermarkets everywhere. Made with just two ingredients, it’s “easy to make at home” and “shouldn’t get you too sloshed”. Use a “chilled glass”, pour in classic or cloudy lemonade up to the halfway point, then “slowly add the beer”.

For a fruity twist, try mixing lager with pink grapefruit soda or pale ale with lime soda. And for a sweeter tipple you can blend lager with cola to create a sweeter, amber-brown coloured cocktail that’s known as diesel in Germany. “Yes, it’s a thing”.

If you’d rather buy your shandy ready to drink, try Pillars Radler, said Melissa Cole in The Telegraph. Packaged in a “suitably nostalgic” stubby bottle with a “charming” yellow label, it blends “quality” lager with orange zest and lemon juice for a touch of “refreshing acidity”.

Other options to keep an eye out for include LoFi’s Raspberry Radler which feels like “inhaling a slightly jammy slice of summer”, and Shandy Shack Ginger Beer Shandy which perfectly balances the “bready malt” of the pale ale with “decently spicy ginger pop”. It’s a “belter”.

This is a moist and moreish cake to have at any tea party, said Jennifer Rinkoff. With a scrumptious mascarpone buttercream, you’ll be tempted to make it every weekend.

Ingredients (makes 1)

• 175g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
• 175g caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 175g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp strong espresso, cooled
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp milk

For the syrup and topping:

• 2 tbsp strong espresso, hot
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 250g mascarpone cheese, at room temperature
• 150ml double cream
• 50g icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• cocoa (unsweetened chocolate) powder, sifted, for dusting

Method

• Preheat the oven to 160C fan/180C/350F/gas mark 4 and grease and line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with baking parchment.
• In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well but being careful not to over-mix. Fold in the flour and baking powder. Stir through the cooled espresso, vanilla extract and milk until smooth.
• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.
• While the cake is still in the tin and warm from the oven, make a syrup by mixing the hot espresso with the sugar until the sugar dissolves. Poke small holes in the loaf with a skewer and spoon over the syrup. Leave to cool completely.
• In a bowl, whisk the mascarpone, cream, icing sugar and vanilla extract until thick and spreadable (don’t over-whisk or it may split). Spread the mascarpone topping generously over the cooled loaf using a small spatula.
• Dust with cocoa powder for a lovely finish. Chill for 1-2 hours to set before slicing, and store any leftovers in the refrigerator.
• Tip: this cake can be frozen for up to three months. The frosting and cake can both be frozen but it’s best to freeze them separately, or the finished cake can be frozen if sliced first.

Taken from ‘The Jewish Bakery: over 100 Family Recipes from east London’s oldest Jewish bakery’ by Jennifer Rinkoff.

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The Mediterranean is a place, a mood, a cooking ethos. Twenty-two countries border the cherished body of water, each with its own specialized manner of feeding their people. These books are no comprehensive consideration of every kitchen in the Mediterranean. But they sure are an exhilarating starting point.

‘The Food of Morocco’ by Paula Wolfert

Wolfert’s original book on Moroccan food was published in 1973, far ahead of its time in its insistence on the proper way to cook the food of the North African country. In 2011, she published an even more deeply considered version of that landmark book. “The Food of Morocco” is “hardly the quintessential Paula Wolfert cookbook,” said LA Weekly. “This book is Paula Wolfert.”

Her influence in the intervening decades was immense. The popularity of clay pots for cooking and the ubiquity of preserved lemons in many an American kitchen are all Wolfert’s doing. With “The Food of Morocco,” tagines of all sorts, lively salads with touches of flower water, and the proper way to make couscous can become second nature in American kitchens far from the shores of Rabat and Tangier. ($60, HarperCollins, Amazon)

‘The Food of Sicily’ by Fabrizia Lanza

Italy points its finger well into the Mediterranean Sea, but you could argue that the region most influenced by that body of water is the island of Sicily. Lanza runs a cooking school in Palermo, and “The Food of Sicily” (2023) sings a song many Americans know well, being that so many Italian immigrants to the U.S. were Sicilian.

But no entire cuisine travels with its migrants, so “The Food of Sicily” is loaded with surprises, too — swordfish stuffed with garlic and mint, octopus salad, and watermelon pudding included. Sicily has “always been at the crossroads of the Mediterranean,” said Lanza to Monocle magazine. “It’s a place where people have brought their own unique customs to enrich our table.” ($40, Artisan, Amazon)

‘The Glorious Foods of Greece’ by Diane Kochilas

Love your Greek salad and gyros to your heart’s oregano-laced content. There is a world of Greek food most Americans have never experienced. A “landmark for Greek cooking in the U.S.,” Kochilas' seminal 2001 book, “The Glorious Foods of Greece,” is the result of eight years of research across the country’s varied regions, from the mountains of Macedonia and Thrace in the north to Greece’s six main island groups, and “displays a deep grasp of history,” said Publishers Weekly.

The 400-odd recipes include savory pies of all stripes, a mind-boggling array of uses for many styles of cheese, and boundless vegetable dishes. Moussaka, you are adored, but Kochilas will have you seeing Greek cuisine in colors beyond blue and white. ($40, ThriftBooks, Amazon)

‘Istanbul and Beyond: Exploring the Diverse Cuisines of Turkey’ by Robyn Eckhardt

Turkey, a sprawling, varied country, in the hands of Eckhardt and the photographer David Hagerman, is a “picaresque portrait of a country that doesn’t really have a national cuisine at all; it has dozens,” said Max Falkowitz at Saveur. There are the famed Urfa chiles of the country’s southeast, the seafood, greens and corn in the north that edge the Black Sea, and the grand amalgam of influences in Istanbul.

“Istanbul and Beyond” (2017) is organized according to a number of Turkey’s regions, so you acquire a sense of place as you deepen your knowledge of Mediterranean cooking. Corn and creme fraiche biscuits, brown butter scrambled eggs, sun-dried tomato and pomegranate salad, and herbed fish cakes — this is Turkish food in its truest, most varied form with an aperture in every recipe. ($22, HarperCollins, Amazon)

‘Lebanon: Cooking the Foods of My Homeland’ by Anissa Helou

In “Lebanon” (2026), a book both personal and anthropological, the famed Beirut-born author Helou “returns to her girlhood roots, examining the country’s regional cooking as she makes her way from place to place,” said The Boston Globe. She learns aspects of her native cuisine she had never fathomed. Imagine, then, what we nonnatives glean.

Yogurt is everywhere, from dressing fava bean fatteh (bread salad) to wee meatballs. Vegetables, like chicory, plus artichokes and potatoes, are braised in extra-virgin olive oil. Zucchini and cabbages are stuffed; fish is cooked with tahini. This is Lebanese cuisine in all its familiar, surprising brilliance. ($50, Ecco, Amazon)

‘The New Book of Middle Eastern Food’ by Claudia Roden

Be not fooled by the title. The Middle East is a construct created by people in the West. Across 500-plus pages, the “great cook” and “captivating food historian” Roden captures the foods of countries like Greece, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey, said the blog Cooks Without Borders. What do all these countries have in common? Yes, they abut the Mediterranean Sea, just not the well-trod Mediterranean of the average American tourist.

In the book’s 16 central chapters, Roden wanders from central categories such as yogurt, egg dishes, breads and pickles, showing how the countries of this region prepare stunning variations of common foodstuffs. Your kitchen repertoire will mature as handily as your new lens on geography will if you take an open-eyed tour of “The New Book of Middle Eastern Food” (1985). ($55, Knopf, Amazon)

‘The New Spanish Table’ by Anya von Bremzen

All the hits are here — Spanish tortilla, patatas bravas, various kinds of paella. But “The New Spanish Table” (2005) is also a snapshot of the revolution in cooking that happened across Spain during the early part of the 20th century, an era in which Spanish cuisine began “rapidly usurping the culinary dominance of Italy and France,” said Publishers Weekly.

Von Bremzen spent decades traveling across and writing about Spain. There is both modernity and history in this book. The text profiles the cooking of such influential figures as the Catalan chef Ferran Adrià and the Basque Country’s Juan Mari Arzak and provides recipes for centuries-old dishes from Madrid. ($25, ThriftBooks, Amazon)

I dream about clafoutis for breakfast every day, says Alice Kelly. I can’t make a pancake now without wishing it was a clafoutis instead. Something about its sugary crust, creamy centre and the tangy blackberries won’t leave my head. If you make this, I am almost certain it will be one of your favourites too.

Ingredients (serves 8)

• 30g (2 tbsp) salted butter, melted
• 150g plain flour
• 125g caster sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 250g whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
• 125g blackberries for the topping
• 50g caster sugar for the topping
• To serve: vanilla ice cream or warm custard

Method

• Preheat the oven to 190°C. Brush the melted butter all over the base and sides of a large (approx. 30.5cm) ovenproof frying pan.
• Put the flour, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until smooth, then pour the batter into the buttered pan. Scatter the blackberries evenly over the top, then sprinkle over the caster sugar.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until the clafoutis is golden brown around the edges and set in the centre.
• Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or with warm custard.
• Tip: the clafoutis is best eaten on the day it’s made, but if you want to make it ahead of time, store the baked clafoutis in the fridge and reheat it in the oven before serving.

Taken from “Scratch” by Alice Kelly, published by Nine Bean Rows at £30. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £26.99, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk to place your order, or call 020 3176 3835 to speak to a bookseller.

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Produce shelves are becoming sparser and featuring fewer options. Economic, cultural and environmental factors have reduced the variety of vegetables available to consumers. Prioritizing the same produce can have negative health effects and could make crops more susceptible to climate change.

The same stock

Vegetable diversity is “declining due to market homogenization, land-use change and other threats,” and its “current conservation is insufficient,” said a study published in the journal PNAS. There have been “substantial declines in the range of traditional vegetable varieties grown over the past century, while almost one-quarter of assessed wild relatives of major vegetable crops are threatened with extinction,” said a release by the World Vegetable Center about the study.

“Vegetable biodiversity is one of the world’s greatest assets for improving diets and adapting agriculture to a changing climate,” Colin Khoury, the global conservation lead at the crop diversity preservation nonprofit Crop Trust, said in the release. “But we’re losing it at exactly the time we need it most.”

Several factors have reduced vegetable biodiversity. Initially, “humans selected only a portion of wild plants for cultivation, and then the variety narrowed even further due to the industrialization of agriculture, globalization and the spread of mass production,” said the news publication BB. As a result, traditional varieties of vegetables and “their wild relatives have fallen out of favor, leaving just a shrinking selection of tamed vegetables on supermarket shelves,” said IFL Science.

Also, agricultural practices like “monoculture, the practice of growing a single crop variety across vast areas,” are a “risky business, both economically and ecologically,” said IFL Science. If a “disease takes root in one plant, it rapidly spreads through the entire identical field like wildfire.”

Underrated options

People “consume nearly 40% fewer vegetables than recommended by the World Health Organization,” said the release. Low vegetable consumption is “among the five leading dietary risk factors contributing to the global burden of disease.” In addition, “relying on the same familiar crops,” like “standard varieties of eggplant, kale, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, onion and tomato,” may “not be enough to meet the climate challenges ahead,” said Food & Wine. The good news is that there are 1,480 known species of edible vegetables, most of which are underused.

“The solution isn’t simply to grow more vegetables,” Maarten van Zonneveld, who led the research, said in the release. “It’s also to grow more kinds of vegetables.” Many nutrient-rich vegetables, like “spider plant, slippery cabbage and other dark-green leafy vegetables, receive little breeding attention due to their lower commercial value compared to crops such as pepper and tomato,” said the study. The less-consumed vegetables also “carry traits that could help breed new varieties better able to withstand heat, drought, pests and disease,” said IFL Science.

Unfortunately, these underutilized crops “receive only a tiny fraction of the research, breeding and conservation efforts devoted to globally traded vegetables and staple grains,” said the release. The study highlights the need to “strengthen breeding capacity among both public and private organizations, combined with investment in participatory breeding with farmers,” said the study.

“Much of the vegetable biodiversity we need is still out there,” Zonneveld said in the release. The “urgency is to conserve it properly so that we can use it wisely to diversify diets amid climate change.”

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People in the U.S. eat so much Mexican food in restaurants that you could be fooled into thinking there’s no such thing as Mexican home cooking. You would be wrong. The best Mexican cookbooks lift the veil, revealing a world of lush, inviting, easy recipes that have all the elements you adore in Mexican food. And if you are doing it right, it will be different than you ever knew Mexican food could be.

‘My Mexico’ by Diana Kennedy

Prolific researcher and author Diana Kennedy is a complicated figure in the world of Mexican cookbooks. She did champion the cooking of “rural Mexican women, Indigenous women and working-class women,” said Tejal Rao at The New York Times. But she also “never reckoned with her authority over Mexican cuisine as a white British woman.”

Nonetheless, “My Mexico” is a benchmark, a personal travelogue. Kennedy wanders across the country, picking up a recipe for pozolé de camarón in Jalisco, chuletas de puerco en agridulce (sweet-and-sour pork chops) in Morelia, and chilaquiles en salsa verde from her longtime home state of Michoacán. These are purist dishes that tell the story of place as only cooks from those locales can. ($45, University of Texas Press, Amazon)

‘Oaxaca: Home Cooking from the Heart of Mexico’ by Bricia Lopez with Javier Cabral

Serious food people know that Oaxaca, in central Mexico, has some of the finest cuisine in the country, if not the world. It’s the land of many moles, inspired uses of corn, and sparkling seafood on the coast. And one of the U.S.’s best trumpet-bearers for Oaxacan cuisine has long been Los Angeles’ family-run restaurant Guelaguetza.

In “Oaxaca,” one of the restaurant’s owners, Bricia Lopez, works to “demystify this idea that it takes days to make mole” and other signature Oaxacan dishes, she said to the Los Angeles Times. It’s less anthropology and outsiders looking in and more hands-on cooking. “We are just people, and this is our story. We are not exotic.” ($45, Abrams, Amazon)

‘Pati’s Mexican Table’ by Pati Jinich

With her boundless positivity and irrepressible curiosity, Pati Jinich is a cross-border Pollyanna. She has hosted 15 seasons of her PBS show, “Pati’s Mexican Table,” and her first book, by the same name, is a cheerful invitation to embrace an open-ended version of Mexican cooking. There’s nothing slavishly authentic here, but the recipes’ bones are pure Mexico.

Burgers are laced with ancho chiles and served with lime aioli. A variety of dried chiles are snipped into a plucky take on spaghetti with garlic and olive oil. And hibiscus flowers appear in a vinaigrette that dresses spinach festooned with goat cheese and caramelized pecans. Cook from “Pati’s Mexican Table,” and you too will be a beacon of optimism. ($35, HarperCollins, Amazon)

‘The Taste of Mexico’ by Patricia Quintana

Published in 1986, this book is a “straightforward guide” to the “fundamentals of regional Mexican cooking,” said Saveur. Patricia Quintana, a Mexico City chef and author, introduced American readers to the nuances of good Mexican cooking long before the country’s cuisine took over the U.S. in all its varied glory.

“The Taste of Mexico” operates like a greatest hits of Mexico’s regional food styles. Chiles en nogada from Puebla, draped in a creamy walnut sauce, capture the tricolors of the Mexican flag. Including Oaxacan black mole, beer-soused pinto beans from the north, and European-influenced dishes from Mexico City, the cookbook celebrates the “sumptuous breadth” of Mexican cuisine, said Publishers Weekly. ($20, ThriftBooks, Amazon)

‘Truly Mexican’ by Roberto Santibáñez

Sometimes you want an anchor, rather than the full catamaran, when you aim to understand one of the world’s finest cuisines. In Mexican cooking, those moorings are salsa, moles and their kin. “Truly Mexican” shows you how to prepare them and only them.

You will learn to assemble both cooked and raw tomato salsas and be reminded that endless other traditional salsas have never seen a tomato in their life. Adobos, whether with three chiles or the lone suave guajillo chile, become life-giving purees for marinated fish, chicken and beef shank. Moles are here too in many hues of the color wheel. With “Truly Mexican,” you will gain the “necessary skills to master other recipes,” said New World Review. It’s precisely what one wants from a cookbook. ($38, HarperCollins, Amazon)

‘Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition’ by David Sterling

A grand self-contained microcosm much like its subject, “Yucatán” hovers at nearly 600 pages, telling the varied food stories of the far southeastern edge of Mexico. The food of the Yucatán Peninsula, aside from a few restaurants in several U.S. cities, is not known well north of the border. And Sterling, who died in 2016, aimed to change that.

This “beautiful and comprehensive” book opens with an ingredient primer, then grabs the reader by the wrist and wanders across cities like Valladolid and Mérida, from coast to inland, and into the region’s pueblos and their singular foods, said Portland Book Review. Few books mark the scope of a place so thoroughly, let alone a locale so underrepresented in the U.S. ($60, University of Texas Press, Amazon)

We’re used to puréeing watermelons with sugar syrup and freezing it into granita. Or at barbecues, plugging their “emerald-rinded posteriors” with “an upturned bottle of vodka” for a boozy treat, said Ravinder Bhogal in the Financial Times. But more and more people are now pairing watermelon’s “refreshing flesh” with salty, herby, even hot flavours to unlock vibrant new levels in savoury dishes. Here are some of our favourite deliciously unusual watermelon combos.

Peanut and watermelon chaat

Chaats are crunchy, spicy fried snacks, often served as appetisers throughout South Asia. “Every chaat has a little bit of sweetness, a little bit of tartness, a little heat, and a little crunch,” said chef Vishwesh Bhatt in Food & Wine. He flavours his peanut-based chaat with chilli, cayenne, chaat masala, thinly sliced cucumber, red onion, radishes, mint, basil, coriander, lime juice and “the fleeting succulent sweetness of watermelon”.

Sour watermelon and monkfish curry

For a “bold, new” take, I combine watermelon with “dashes of umami fish sauce, blistering chillies and mouth-puckering tamarind”, said Bhogal in the FT. In a monkfish curry, watermelon chunks bring “bright, pleasing bursts of sweetness” to temper the spiciness of the sauce. “Serve with sticky rice, topped with plenty of fresh Thai basil.”

Spiced pork belly with quick-pickled watermelon

Watermelon pickled with grapefruit, lime, chilli and fish sauce makes a “chunky salsa” so tempting you’ll want to eat it “straight out of the bowl”, said Diana Henry in The Telegraph. But, paired with “punchy” pork belly, marinated in chillies, lime, ginger and garlic, it makes a “delicious sweet-meets-savoury main”.

Watermelon and tomato salad with spicy feta sauce

Chef Ana Sortun has given a much-loved Mediterranean classic a spicy twist, said Adam Dolge Food & Wine. Sprinkling charred jalapeño onto the simple chopped melon and tomato base adds a “subtle smokiness and gentle heat”, and the creamy feta sauce brings a “tangy, savoury richness” that strikes a “pleasing balance with the sweet fruit”.

Watermelon rind pickles

“Don’t toss out that watermelon rind,“ says Jodie Kautzmann in Food & Wine. With ginger, allspice, black peppercorns, bay leaves and lemon peel, you can turn it into “crunchy, tangy” pickles that are “perfect for adding to a charcuterie board” or “chopping into a relish for burgers and hot dogs”.

Sweet figs and salty prosciutto make an irresistible pairing, said food writer and cookbook author Sue Quinn. And it’s even better combined with the tang of blue cheese and the crunch of nutty pangrattato in this light but luxurious appetiser.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 80g creamy blue cheese
• 4 ripe figs, halved lengthwise
• 4 slices prosciutto, halved lengthwise
• 1 tbsp runny honey, plus extra for serving
• 1 small handful of basil leaves, torn

For the pangrattato

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 30g fresh breadcrumbs (not too fine; ideally sourdough)
• 20g chopped hazelnuts or walnuts
• 1 small garlic clove, minced finely
• grated zest of 1⁄2 a lemon

Method

• Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place a small spoonful or slice of blue cheese on the cut side of each fig half. Wrap each with a strip of prosciutto, and arrange them snugly in a baking dish.
• Drizzle with the honey and roast until the cheese has melted and the figs are soft – about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the pangrattato. Warm the olive oil in a small skillet, add the breadcrumbs, nuts and garlic and fry over a medium-high heat, stirring until crisp and golden. Stir in the lemon zest and set aside.
• Transfer the roasted figs to a serving plate, pour over the juices from the dish, and scatter with the pangrattato. Top with torn basil leaves.
• Serve straightaway, with an extra drizzle of honey, if desired.

Taken from Cheese Please by Sue Quinn.

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A Detroit-style pizza hits all the right notes — a thick crunchy crust, caramelized brick-cheese edge called the frico and rich red sauce spooned over the toppings. Find the real deal at these seven Motor City institutions, including the spot where the glory began.

Buddy’s Pizza

This is the birthplace of Detroit-style pizza, so it’s “no surprise its pies rank among the best,” said Detroit Metro Times. Back in 1946, Italian immigrant Gus Guerra borrowed forged-steel pans from an auto plant and made his first square pizza, its interior “soft” and bottom crust “crispy.”

The rest is history, with countless other pizza places putting their own spin on the style. Buddy’s dough is “light and airy” and the “gooey, flavorful” cheese “caramelizes into crispy perfection,” said Detroit Metro Times. There are multiple locations; the flagship is at 17125 Conant St.

Cloverleaf Bar & Restaurant

Gus Guerra didn’t just leave his mark at Buddy’s. After selling the pizzeria (and his recipe) in 1953, he went on to establish the beloved Cloverleaf Bar & Restaurant in Eastpointe, which his family still operates today.

The menu features a build-your-own pizza option, alongside more adventurous specialties like the BLT with bacon, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise and the Mexican Pizza covered in ground beef, banana peppers, green peppers and cheddar cheese and served with sour cream and salsa.

Grandma Bob’s

Grandma Bob’s “creative” flavors bring traditional Detroit-style pizza into a “new age,” said Bon Appétit. Take the Lobster Roll Pizza. It’s a classic, crispy square pizza topped with lobster, “herbaceous” crème fraîche, crushed kettle chips and chives, with drawn butter and lemon on the side for your “dipping and drizzling pleasure.” Vegans can also get in on the fun combinations; the Big Mack is loaded with Impossible Burger, vegan mozzarella and Thousand Island dressing, pickles, white onion, iceberg lettuce and sesame seeds.

Loui’s Pizza

This “iconic” pizzeria “stands in a league of its own,” said the Detroit Metro Times. Loui’s pies start with crusts that are the “ideal mix of crunch and fluff,” and only get better as a “bold and tangy” sauce is “generously ladled” over an “abundance of cheese.” The atmosphere inside the restaurant is “just as inviting as its pizza,” with wine bottles hanging over the tables covered in checkered cloths.

Michigan & Trumbull Pizza

There’s always a new pizza to try at Michigan & Trumbull. The menu is “guided by Detroit’s seasons,” with monthly specials featuring locally grown ingredients, said Bon Appétit. While Detroit-style pizza is known for its “racing stripes of red sauce,” Michigan & Trumbull has a robust selection of white pizzas, like the Cadieux e Pepe, which “reimagines” cacio e pepe, and the Bagley Chorizo with pickled red onion and cilantro ranch. For the “staunch traditionalists,” you can build your own pie with red sauce, mozzarella, parmesan and whatever toppings you’d like.

Shield’s

Open since 1937, Shield’s is a “real old-school pizza restaurant,” and you can savor history in every bite, said Tasting Table. Pies are cooked in pans that have been used for years, and it’s almost like the flavors from the past are “infused into every new pizza made.”

For all of its “fantastic” pies, said Tasting Table, Shield’s uses the customary brick cheese, which melts all over the crust. There are nearly a dozen specialty pizzas to choose from, with the spicy Gold Medal, featuring Italian banana peppers and sweet red bell peppers, an award winner.

Sicily’s Pizzeria & Subs

Sicily’s, known for its sourdough crust, has been feeding Detroit since 1989. Fans appreciate this twist on the traditional approach, along with Sicily’s dedication to using locally produced ingredients. Other menu items that set the place apart include the Tomato Pie, which eliminates the mozzarella, and the East Coast White Pie that’s heavy on the garlic and multiple cheeses.

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Cold, al dente truth: What we generally know about Italian food in the U.S. is a mere snapshot of the country’s grand diversity. These cookbooks unveil that scope. Some include full-kitchen immersions in foodstuffs like balsamic vinegar and prosciutto, while one laser-focuses on a northern Italian region less-known in America. Together, the books expand the mind and guide the hands in the myriad delicious ways Italian cooking exists.

‘Cooking by Hand’ by Paul Bertolli

The right obsessive is destined to write a cookbook that will “wake up the imagination and capture a cuisine in both recipes and prose,” said Serious Eats. “Cooking by Hand” is that book, a personal homage and textbook from a man entrenched in a lifelong fascination with Italian cooking.

Bertolli, once a chef at a number of legendary San Francisco Bay Area restaurants before debuting his salumi company, Fra’ Mani, devotes 14 pages to his fondness for true balsamic vinegar and 12 ways to think about cooking with tomatoes. It is that kind of book, one that commemorates the “heart and soul of Italian cooking as much as its technical execution,” said Serious Eats. The recipes and instructions are built for a cook to “marvel at” because Bertolli’s “enthusiasm for the result is infectious,” said Publishers Weekly. ($40, Clarkson Potter, Amazon)

‘Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking’ by Marcella Hazan

No cuisine is a monolith. Even traditional recipes from one city can be interpreted immeasurable ways by various families. “Essentials of Italian Cooking,” however, purports to be the one true path to true Italian cooking. In truth, it is a vision of Italian food seen through the strong-willed lens of its author, Marcella Hazan, who had opinions and “was not afraid to share them,” said Aimee Levitt at Eater.

A strong point of view is a boon for kitchen literacy. You learn Hazan’s way as you cook through this “foundational text,” said Serious Eats, that aims to “enlighten, instruct and offer key cultural insights in one fell swoop.” Then, in time, you excavate your own path so that you too might be full of righteous opinions about the proper way to cook Italian food. ($45, Knopf, Amazon)

‘Pasta e Verdure: 140 Vegetable Sauces for Spaghetti, Fusilli, Rigatoni, and All Other Noodles’ by Jack Bishop

Cook with pasta and vegetables for an extended period of time, and you learn that the repertoire expands with possibility every time you shake your dinner from skillet to serving bowl. “Pasta e Verdura” is like an infinity mirror: a collection of more than 100 sauces organized alphabetically by vegetable base. Flavor and variations that go on and on.

These are “simple recipes that combine common ingredients into gourmet vegetarian meals,” said Teri Bickmore at Midland Daily News, including asparagus with mushrooms and shallots, leeks with white wine and parmesan, spinach with melting gorgonzola, and butternut squash with sage. “Pasta e Verdure” might soon be one of a “very few indispensable cookbooks” in your kitchen. ($27, ThriftBooks, Amazon)

‘The Silver Spoon’ [NO AUTHOR]

There are tomes, and then there is “The Silver Spoon.” At almost 1,500 pages, the most magnum of Italian magnum opuses was first printed in 1950. “No matter where you turn” in the beloved cookbook, you’ll be faced with the “sight of something delicious,” said Serious Eats.

“The Silver Spoon” leans toward recipes that are forthright, ones that combine a “few ingredients to make simple dishes with rustic appeal,” said Serious Eats. The allure of these recipes’ “simplicity is that many can be combined or tweaked at will.”

Still, it is too large of a book to be perfect. Sometimes the recipes are so terse, they confuse. But as a source for creative thinking in the kitchen, for expanding one’s resourcefulness in the kitchen, “The Silver Spoon” is an expansive gift. ($55, Phaidon, Amazon)

‘The Talisman of Happiness’ by Ada Boni

An almost century-long journey brought one of Italy’s most beloved cookbooks to the United States. The book’s author, Ada Boni, published “The Talisman of Happiness” in 1929, and its more than 1,500 recipes aimed to capture the breadth of Italian cooking, the cuisine of a country that was still rather new when the book was written. Boni, said the book’s publisher, Michael Szczerban, to NPR, is the “most important forgotten culinary icon in Italian cooking history.”

As of 2025, “The Talisman of Happiness” is available in English. “Regional home cooking was essential to maintaining Italy’s national culture, and the book evolved along with the cuisine,” said Kim Severson at The New York Times. Cook through “The Talisman of Happiness,” and you learn that a national cuisine is, in truth, a compendium of how home cooks across various topographies and miles feed their people with what is available nearby. ($60, Voracious, Amazon)

‘La Terra Fortunata: The Splendid Food and Wine of Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Italy's Great Undiscovered Region’ by Fred Plotkin

So much of what we consider Italian food in the U.S. is, predictably, a product of migration patterns. We know well the red-sauce extravagances of southern Italian cooking. A culinary blind spot for most Americans is the cooking of the far north of Italy, which has more in common with Italy’s neighbors, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria, than it does with a tomato.

Plotkin’s essential book, “La Terra Fortunata,” captures the food and wine culture of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the northeasternmost region of Italy. It is a locale where gnocchi are stuffed with plums, and penne with cinnamon and ricotta sauce turns the “palate upside down,” said Amanda Hesser at The New York Times. You will also learn an ensnaring new way with cheese: the frico, in which shredded Montasio cheese melts then hardens into a “crisp, golden cheese snack,” said New York Daily News. ($35, ThriftBooks, Amazon)

This is the way to enjoy the British summertime. Battered fish and salt-and-vinegar-seasoned chips have been a staple for hundreds of years, best paired with stinging seaside winds and spray. Wherever you are in the UK, there will always be a handful of chippies vying for your order. Here are some of the best seaside establishments, giving you decades-crafted favourites, and some newer twists on tradition.

Anstruther Fish Bar – Fife, Scotland

“My heart belongs to Anstruther Fish Bar,” said Gordon Thomson in The Telegraph. Edinburgh has “salt and sauce”, a “piquant brown-sauce-and-vinegar combo”, and in Glasgow, the “mighty ‘fish supper’ reigns”, but fish on the east coast of Scotland is something else. Once you’ve navigated the queue under the “watchful eye of the mannequin fisherman”, you settle down into an “old-school caff table”. Last time I was there, I had haddock, with the “most incredible chips – perfectly crisp and yet fluffy inside – and mushy peas, all washed down with white wine and a craft beer”. Truly “award-winning fare”.
anstrutherfishbar.co.uk

Aldeburgh Fish & Chips – Aldeburgh, Suffolk

“The Cooney family and their faithful tribe of fryers have been frying in beef dripping on Aldeburgh High Street since 1967,” said Chris Haslam in The Times. There are actually two spots on the high street to pick up your supper, and you’ll get the “same shatteringly crispy battered fish” at both. Above the second location, the Golden Galleon, there’s a small dining space, but Aldeburgh’s “windswept sand and shingle beach is an unbeatable picnic spot”. I’ve even known a seal to have “bobbed along to say hello”.
aldeburghfishandchips.co.uk

Whelan’s Fish and Chips – Lytham St Annes, Lancashire

Whelan’s has been visited by some esteemed figures in the culinary world – such as Gordon Ramsay and Rick Stein – and yet it primarily “remains a favourite with the locals”, said Delicious. It was established in 1937, and “since it started, not much has changed and for all the right reasons”. They source fish from “sustainable stocks, they use local produce (wherever possible)” and you are always looked after by “welcoming” staff. Of course, you can’t go wrong with something traditional, but keep your eyes peeled for one of the “gourmet fishcakes which often feature as a daily special”.
whelansfishandchips.co.uk

Ainsworth’s – Bridge Street, Caernarfon, Gwynedd

Now this is a “treasure trove of a place”, said Joanna Whitehead in The i Paper. Naturally, “no two chippies are the same”, and each place is “dazzling with individuality”: a “gratifying phenomenon in a homogenised world of chain eateries”. It is hard to beat cradling a “box of their glowing offering under your arm” and heading “to the waterfront to eat between bay and castle”.
ainsworthscaernarfon.co.uk

The Rockfish – Dartmouth, Devon

If you need convincing, look no further than celebrated chef Mitch Tonks’ “65 awards”, said Food and Travel Magazine. “Set overlooking the bucolic River Dart with its fishing boats meandering up and down with the ebb and flow of the tide, you can almost taste how good The Rockfish’s wares are going to be before they arrive.” In winter, the restaurant’s log burner is the perfect antidote to “long yomps across the moors”. There are a few West Country change-ups from your classic chippy menu: the “South Coast calamari with aïoli” and a “South Devon crab roll, served with pickled cucumber, Marie Rose sauce and lashings of sweet white crab meat” are fan-favourites.
therockfish.co.uk

There’s more than one way to barbecue in Texas. Each region has its own “distinct approach to the ’cue,” influenced by the cooking styles of 19th-century German and Czech immigrants, Mexican Americans and Indigenous and enslaved people, said Houstonia.

The classic East Texas style “dominated” Houston for decades, with pitmasters focusing on “slow-roasted meats and sweet, tomato-based sauces,” said Houstonia. But by the 1960s, the techniques of Central Texas — sprinkling briskets with salt and pepper and cooking them over indirect heat — started to become more commonplace.

Today, Houston is at the center of a vibrant barbecue scene that offers those traditional styles alongside new ones influenced by Asian and Tex-Mex flavors. Visit any one of these eight beloved institutions, and you’ll leave full of delectable meat and appreciation for Houston’s take on barbecue.

Brisket & Rice

What do you get when you combine Vietnamese cuisine with Texas barbecue? Brisket & Rice, a “bustling” restaurant that shares a parking lot with a gas station, said The Michelin Guide.

Chef Hong Tran’s signature dish is his pull-apart tender brisket served with barbecue fried rice, a “reflection on his Lone Star upbringing and Vietnamese roots,” said The Michelin Guide. Adding pickled jalapeños and onions takes the dish to the next level. Other favorites include the house-made jalapeño sausages, “delicately” smoked pork ribs and a pulled-to-order pork sandwich on a potato bun. Don’t forget banana pudding for dessert.

Burns Original BBQ

The late Roy Burns started sharing his iconic barbecue with the public in 1973, dishing out plates of brisket and ribs from a pickup truck on the side of the road. His family is still operating Burns Original BBQ, now in an “old school” building “smack-dab in the middle of a residential neighborhood,” said Texas Monthly.

During your visit, the hardest decision you’ll make is whether to go with the “saucy” pork spare ribs, robust chopped beef sandwich or massive loaded baked potato that’s “so big the Styrofoam lid has to be taped down,” said Texas Monthly. Make it easy on yourself by coming with a few friends and ordering one of everything for a finger-licking feast.

CorkScrew BBQ 

Barbecue lovers in Houston routinely make the trek to the suburbs to enjoy CorkScrew BBQ in Spring. Owners Will and Nichole Buckman operate a “love letter to smoked meat,” with all sides and sauces made in house, said Travel and Leisure.

CorkScrew is famous for its smoked brisket, but the pulled pork and pit-smoked beans “steal the spotlight,” said Travel and Leisure, thanks to the “perfect blend of seasoning and sauce.” For dessert, try the cobbler of the day.

Gatlin’s BBQ

Pitmaster Greg Gatlin has perfected the art of “decadent” barbecue enhanced by “craveably” sweet and balanced sauces, said Bon Appétit. The “marbled, juicy and glorious” brisket, like all the meat on the menu, has a “punchy” aroma, thanks to hickory smoke, and the chopped meat sandwiches on “buttery” Texas toast have a “rich, bacon-like taste.” For a little of everything, try the Gatlin’s Kitchen Sink sandwich, a behemoth of sausage, sliced brisket, onions and jalapeños, with sides of the “well-seasoned” collard greens and Cajun-style dirty rice.

Pinkerton’s

The star of the show at Pinkerton’s is the “hulking” beef rib, which is all but guaranteed to sell out by early afternoon, said The Michelin Guide. Pitmaster Grant Pinkerton has “made a name for himself” with his delicious meats, smoked over oak and mesquite.

The sweet, sticky St. Louis-style pork ribs are “brilliantly tender,” said The Michelin Guide, and the duck-and-sausage jambalaya offers a welcome bayouland change of pace. After looking at the menu, check out the back wall, where “daily specials are written in small print.”

The Pit Room

The flavors of Texas and Mexico collide at The Pit Room. Bite into one of the chopped brisket tacos “drizzled with salsa roja and served on tortillas freshly griddled in rendered brisket fat,” and you can see how the two “marry beautifully,” said Bon Appétit. The Pit Room, founded by Michael Sambrooks in 2016, uses two custom barrel-style offset smokers and a vertical sausage cooker, resulting in “standout” meats.

Stop in early for “decadent” pulled pork hash and egg tacos, said Bon Appétit. Or wait for lunch and grab one of the “hefty” beef sausages with a side of “exceptional” elote and “hearty” charro beans.

Roegels Barbecue Co.

You should visit Roegels Barbecue Co. any chance you get, but Thursdays are special. That’s when you can order the state’s’ “best pastrami Reuben,” said Texas Monthly.

During visits the other days of the week, you can’t go wrong with the house-made sausages, “newly perfected” by owners Russell and Misty Roegels, and the ribs, said Texas Monthly. Sample a little of everything by ordering The Trinity (a quarter pound each of sliced brisket, pork ribs and sausage, plus two sides) or the Texas Two-Step sandwich with brisket and sausage.

Truth Barbecue

Set your alarm — you’re going to want to beat the crowds at Truth Barbecue. Fans arrive well before opening to line up for “what may be Houston’s best version of the classic Texas Trinity,” said Southern Living. That would be a heaping plate of Truth’s “superb” brisket, pork ribs and smoked sausage. The “impressive” sides are just as delicious, with owner and pitmaster Leonard Botello pulling out “all the stops” with his “creamy, cheesy” tater tot casserole, thick corn pudding and loaded baked potato salad.

“For once the colour associated with a boom in Zimbabwe is blue, not gold,” said The Economist. The country’s blueberry industry is booming; it is exporting 40 times more of the fruit than 10 years ago as part of a wider fresh produce drive across the continent.

“The success of Zimbabwean blueberries, Kenyan flowers and South African oranges” would suggest that there is “huge potential for African agriculture to play the sort of role long envisioned for manufacturing”, said The Economist. And if Africa can learn from such success stories, “there will be fruitful returns”.

‘Momentum is still building’

Just a few years ago, blueberries in Zimbabwe were seen as a “relatively small niche crop”, said Linda Nielsen, CEO of Horticultural Development Council, on Fresh Fruit Portal. Now, it is becoming “one of the country’s most exciting horticultural export success stories”. In 2025, 9,500 tonnes of blueberries were exported from the country, this year the total is expected to reach 12,000 tonnes. And “momentum is still building”.

New production techniques promise “exciting development”, planting “improved blueberry genetics” from international “breeding houses”, with “encouraging” results. These newer varieties are showing “strong performance in yield, fruit quality, shelf life and production timing” and could “significantly speed up industry growth over the next few years”. And with “favourable growing conditions, competitive labour availability, improving technical expertise, and strong international demand for our premium blueberries”, the future is looking bright too.

One major reason for the African blueberry boom is improved trade with China, said Fruitnet.com. Zimbabwe has maintained strong export links to the EU, UK and Malaysia, but China offers a market “capable of absorbing considerably larger volumes”. Growing consumer interest in healthy eating has meant “premium fresh fruit” has become much more attractive to the Chinese.

New commercial agreements have also strengthened Zimbabwe’s position. At the start of May, China’s zero-tariff policy for 53 African nations, including Zimbabwe, took effect. The first arrival of blueberries into China represented “far more than a symbolic shipment”: it marked the “opening of a potentially significant new trade channel” for the industry.

However, compliance with China’s rigorous import protocols could add “another layer of cost and complexity”. Additional steps such as methyl bromide fumigation for airfreight needed to be approved by the Zimbabwean government, and fluctuations in seasons either in Zimbabwe, or competitors Morocco and Peru, could mean the African nation being squeezed out.

A ‘boon for Africa’

Beyond blueberries, a wider emphasis on fresh fruit could be a “boon for Africa” and “force a rethink of what is meant by farming and manufacturing”, said The Economist. “In recent years African agribusinesses have responded to rising global incomes – and demand for fresh produce.”

For example, Kenya and Ethiopia account for a combined 8% of global cut-flower exports and, last year, Europe consumed more than one million tonnes of avocados for the first time, and “much of its demand was met by Morocco and Kenya”. South Africa, whose biggest export has been citrus fruit since wine was overtaken in 2010, recently replaced Spain as the world’s largest citrus exporter.

This milestone in particular not only “marks a significant shift” in the fruit trade, but also “South Africa’s growing influence in international agribusiness”, said Business Insider Africa. Yet, while South Africa leads the export market by volume, China and Brazil dominate global production, though most is used domestically, said South Africa’s agriculture minister John Steenhuisen. Forecasts have been trimmed due to bad weather and war in the Middle East, but South Africa’s position in the industry is becoming more and more established.

Nostalgia for trifle has led to a “sudden resurgence” in sales of the classic British dessert, said The Times. Made with layers of “sherry-soaked sponge, fruit, custard, whipped cream and jelly”, the traditional pudding is even popping up on the menus of fancy restaurants.

The origins of the dish go back to the late Tudor period but the cake base layer was only added to the recipe in the mid-18th century. Today, the dessert is no longer “just a festive centrepiece” but instead the “ultimate nostalgic crowd-pleaser” embraced “all-year-round”, Charmaine Katz, chef tutor at Waitrose said in The Times. Its popularity comes down to how “versatile” the dessert is: recipes can be either “quick and easy” or “dramatic and technical”.

Chefs are finding ways to put innovative spins on the traditional dish. At Restaurant Roots in Bournemouth, for example, the “bitter chocolate millionaire’s trifle” is “laced with Rémy Martin cognac”. Nowhere is “seemingly too posh for a trifle” as five-star hotels and restaurants, including The Ritz, have found their own “twists for a modern palate”.

Want to try making one yourself? Nigella Lawson’s showstopping “Anglo-Italian” trifle recipe is a “delightful summer pudding” perfect for “garden gatherings”, said WalesOnline. The recipe calls for soaking trifle sponges in limoncello then layering – the “shiny black of the berries” and “soft whiteness of the mascarpone”, topped with the “golden toastiness of the almonds” making it look ”beautiful”.

For a “gloriously pink” version, try Georgina Hayden’s “twist on the traditional Greek dessert ekmek” on the BBC. Swap sponges for “crisp, buttery kataifi” as your base, then drizzle over rhubarb syrup and top with custard and whipped cream.

A good trifle, however you make or eat it, is a “self-indulgent concoction” that will have you “sink into a pleasurable, full-sated stupor”, said Rowan Pelling in The Telegraph. “It’s the food stuff of hedonists: innocent-looking, nostalgic, yet laden with booze, not to be underestimated or (forgive me) trifled with. Edible heaven.”

In the wrong hands, a salad is a vapid strategy for healthful eating. In Hetty McKinnon’s hands, a salad is a gallivanting exploration of flavor, place and texture.

“Neighborhood: Hearty Salads and Plant-Based Recipes from Home and Abroad” is McKinnon’s second cookbook. “Twice every week,” beginning in 2011, she writes, “I would cook healthy and hearty plant-based salad boxes, stack them into my bicycle basket” and deliver them to locals in her then-home of Sydney. She and her family moved to Brooklyn, New York, in 2015, and McKinnon published “Neighborhood” in 2017. Lucky for roughage lovers, McKinnon’s salad daring also made the transcontinental move.

Hearty economy

At the book’s outset, McKinnon banishes the notion that salads are consumptive meals: frail assemblages that keen and collapse if you look at them sideways. No, salads can — and should — be both sound and protean.

Her four-point approach to using leftover salad is alone worth the book’s price of entry: 1) “put an egg on it”: self-explanatory; 2) “blend it into a soup”: blender, salad, plop, broth, whirr; 3) “make a grilled cheese”: melty vegetable crunch, yes; 4) “go kuku!”: beat a bunch of eggs, add the leftover salad, bake into the Iranian version of a frittata. Salad as adaptable bedrock. Who would have imagined?

Vegetable traipsings

The salad-making blueprint of “Neighborhood” comprises six chapters, taking the reader from McKinnon’s current home in the United States back to Australia, with stops in France, the Mediterranean and Asia. The recipes strive for inspiration not purity.

Chili is molly-whopped into a substantive dish of various beans, bell peppers and tomatoes served with a vibrant sauce of yogurt, avocado, cucumber and lime. A salade niçoise becomes greenified, with fried green beans, oozy steamed eggs, lentils and caper mayonnaise. A dressing of honey, fresh ginger and toasted sesame oil napes quinoa, edamame and sautéed bok choy. The salad, in McKinnon’s kitchen, wonders and wanders, and the author heeds its inquisitiveness.

A bonus chapter stars dessert recipes, like a three-ingredient raspberry mousse and rice pudding with caramelized pears, from some of McKinnon’s friends. “Neighborhood” stands without a coda. McKinnon cannot help herself, though. She, like so many of the best cooks and recipe developers, is a giver.

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There is no paucity in veganism. Plant-based eating — phenomenally delicious plant-based eating, that is — has long existed in many of the world’s great cuisines. As with any kind of cooking, how a dish tastes is all in how it is cooked. Cook it poorly, with mediocre ingredients, and you get an insipid meal. Prepare it with care, smart technique and sublime ingredients? Welcome to the world of top-tier vegan cooking. These six cookbooks all show you how to achieve that goal, from six different angles.

‘Cool Beans: The Ultimate Guide to Cooking With the World’s Most Versatile Plant-Based Protein, With 125 Recipes’ by Joe Yonan

An adeptness, a fluidity, a knowingness with beans is a godsend when cooking vegan. It is akin to learning a new alphabet, then hurtling toward fluency using that new language’s architecture. With “Cool Beans,” the author, Joe Yonan, convinces you to “handily add beans to your cooking arsenal,” said Eater. Over the course of the book, he “evokes the incredible versatility of the bean,” said Daniel Modlin at The Daily Beast, with recipes like Nigerian Stewed Black Eyed Peas with fried plantains, Tunisian Chickpea Stew that “will change your winter” and Cuban Style Black Beans that will have you gladly not “make any other kind of black beans” again. ($33, Ten Speed Press, Amazon)

‘The Korean Vegan Cookbook: Reflections and Recipes from Omma’s Kitchen’ by Joanne Lee Molinaro

If you pay the slightest attention to food or cooking on social media, you may already know Joanne Lee Molinaro, aka The Korean Vegan. Her lush videos lure and enjoin viewers to try their hand at her style of vegan cooking.

Molinaro, in her debut, namesake book, “masterfully intertwines delicious recipes with intimate moments from her life, sharing how her Asian American identity has been shaped by her family’s cooking,” said Julia Duarte at Bon Appétit. Americans might think of Korean food as meat-centric, but Molinaro learns from a Korean monk that “Korean plant-based eating is not a new idea. Korean temple food, the cuisine prepared by Korean Buddhist monks, has been around for a thousand years, predating Korean BBQ and bibimbap.” Korean vegan food being novel or a bastardization? As if. ($37, Avery, Amazon)

‘Provecho: 100 Vegan Mexican Recipes to Celebrate Culture and Community’ by Edgar Castrejón

Let us begin with aguachile. Bright, supple and plucky, it is a staple seafood treatment in some coastal regions of Mexico. Author Edgar Castrejón, when he decided to no longer consume animal products, realized an apt substitute for fish, shrimp and their kin is young coconut. The same slip and bite, nary an animal employed.

Such is the galvanizing approach that anchors “Provecho,” a book that proclaims the monumental possibility of Mexican veganism. There are jackfruit tacos, cauliflower roasted in the semi-style of carne asada, pozole rojo loaded with mushrooms. These are “quick, relatively straightforward recipes,” said Library Journal, that are a “solid starting point” for people who want to play in a vegan remodel of the Mexican-cooking playground. ($35, Ten Speed Press, Amazon)

‘Superiority Burger Cookbook: The Vegetarian Hamburger Is Now Delicious’ by Brooks Headley

Come for the recipe for the New York City restaurant’s legendary vegetable burger, stay for the monstrously delicious dishes that orbit that burger’s well-deserved fame. What with a battery of ingredients, making the burger is an ordeal of sorts, but the result is a paragon of the genre: “crisp outside and a soft but not-boring inside that’s lightly spiced and spicy, with plenty of vegetables and meat-free umami,” said Josephine Scott at Edible Manhattan.

Not every recipe in the text is vegan, but most are — or can be made so. Dishes like burnt broccoli salad, salt-and-vinegar string beans and BBQ carrots with cashew cream and corn chips are “infinitely craveable, combining textures and flavors in unexpected ways,” said Library Journal. 224 pages of incontrovertible evidence that vegan cooking can electrify. ($30, Norton, Amazon)

‘The Vegan Chinese Kitchen: Recipes and Modern Stories From a Thousand-Year-Old Tradition’ by Hannah Che

Hannah Che discovered that her present-day vegan approach to eating has a centuries-old history in China. The book she created as she pulled the thread from her present to her ancestral past is “as much a cookbook as it is a historical document and educational resource to turn to time and again,” said Dayna Evans at Eater.

There is, of course, a chapter on tofu that shows readers how to treat it like both a hearty stew and an invigorating salad, among endless other treatments including an additional chapter on tofu skin. Bonus: “Many of the dishes are served room temperature or cold — which means that not only are they great for do-ahead entertaining, but also that they’re great for summer picnics and potlucks,” said Leslie Brenner at Cooks Without Borders. ($35, Clarkson Potter, Amazon)

‘Vegetable Kingdom: The Abundant World of Vegan Recipes’ by Bryant Terry

In “Vegetable Kingdom,” Bryant Terry, a food justice advocate and author, skips across the Black and African diaspora, pulling inspiration from boundless sources. Spinach salad with blackened chickpeas, a panko-crusted cauliflower take on the Kenyan chicken and coconut curry called kuku paka, jerk tofu enveloped in collards — this is a book for “anyone who wants to expand their vegan cooking repertoire and make their beans and greens more exciting,” said Bettina Makalintal at Bon Appétit.

For people with children, know this: Terry wrote “Vegetable Kingdom” in part to show kids, including his own, how thrilling vegetables can be. The book is a tool to “provide a few recipes for vegetables — something that’s simple and easy — that might be a way to sneak a vegetable in as an initial contact” for picky kids, he said to The Kitchn. ($30, Ten Speed Press, Amazon)

“The sand and the sea spray of the Pacific are calling,” said Astrid Kayembe in Food & Wine. Though Los Angeles County boasts 76 miles of coastline and packs it with great food options, finding a restaurant that offers true beachfront dining can be a challenge. Below are four, stretching from Malibu to Santa Monica, where the coast’s cooling breezes and “stunning” views make every meal more memorable.

Duke’s Malibu

Malibu

Named after Olympic surfing champion Duke Kahanamoku, this classic Malibu spot leans Hawaiian and East Asian. Poke tacos, creamy coconut stew, and Korean short ribs are highlights, and you can’t beat the ocean view you can enjoy from Duke’s recently refurbished patio. 21150 ­Pacific Coast Highway

Malibu Farm at the Pier

Malibu

On the iconic Malibu Pier, Helene Henderson’s beautiful restaurant “joins coastal cool with the rustic texture of her Topanga Farm.” Henderson’s farm-to-table veggie-focused dishes offer a sense of escape from the bustle, while the pergolas and crashing waves “make for a refreshing girls’ brunch or romantic date night by candlelight.” 23000 Pacific Coast Highway

Paradise Cove Beach Cafe

Malibu

Paradise Cove is one of Malibu’s “smaller and more serene beaches,” but when you step into this laid-back café, “its heritage as Hollywood’s beach is palpable.” Photos of screen legends adorn the walls, while on the patio, “you can find simple serenity, sharing a seafood tower with family and sipping out of a pineapple while sinking your toes in the sand.” 28128 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu

Back on the Beach Cafe

Santa Monica

Will Rogers State Beach regulars know the charms of this casual eatery where the chairs and tables sit on the sand while cyclists and skateboarders zip past. The menu favors Italian seafood dishes, to be enjoyed with a panoramic sunset view. 445 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica

This dish felt like a permanent fixture on our menu during the late 1970s and early 1980s, says Rick Stein. I probably first had it in Paris, during one of our early trips, which would have been around 1978. When my then wife Jill and I were on holiday, we made a point of testing things out and picking up recipes and ideas for the kind of restaurant ours should aspire to be. When fish conservationists began discouraging people from fishing for skate, we discovered that ray was OK – so this dish was born.

Ingredients

• 4 skinned ray wings, about 225g each
• 15g nonpareilles capers in brine, drained and rinsed

For the court-bouillon

• 300ml dry white wine
• 85ml white wine vinegar
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 black peppercorns
• 1 onion, roughly chopped
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp salt

For the black butter

• 175g butter
• 50ml red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley

Method

• First, make the court-bouillon. Put all the ingredients into a large pan with 1.2 litres of water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Set aside to cool, which will allow the flavour to improve before using.
• Put the ray wings into a large pan. Pour over the court-bouillon, bring to the boil and simmer the wings very gently for 15 minutes until they are cooked through.
• Carefully lift the ray wings out of the pan, leave the excess liquid to drain off and then place the wings on to 4 warmed plates. Sprinkle with the capers and keep warm.
• For the black butter, melt the butter in a frying pan. As soon as it starts to foam, turn quite brown and smell very nutty, add the vinegar, then the parsley. Let it boil down for a minute or so, until slightly reduced. Pour the butter over the ray and serve.

Taken from “The Seafood Restaurant Cookbook” by Rick Stein and Jill Stein, published by Jon Croft Editions at £35. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £31.99 (incl. p&p), visit theweekbookshop.co.uk or call 020 3176 3835.

As the heatwave burns on, “the last thing people want to do is turn on the oven”, said the BBC. Sweltering weather can suppress your appetite and make it harder to concentrate or sleep. Could tweaking your diet help?

Crucially, it’s important to “drink more” to replace the liquid lost through sweat. But there are other ways to rehydrate than keeping your bottle topped up. “We need to eat our water as well as drink it”, said Aisling Daly, senior lecturer in nutrition at Oxford Brookes University. Fruit and vegetables like watermelon, celery, cucumbers, grapes and tomatoes have a “very high water content” of over 90%, making them great to snack on.

Sweating also “depletes our electrolytes”, said The Telegraph, which play an important role in helping our nerves and muscles to work properly. Instead of relying on powders or gels, try stocking up on coconut water or the yoghurt-based drink lassi, which are both natural sources of electrolytes and packed with magnesium.

It’s worth making yourself a cup or two of mint tea, or mixing the fresh leaves through a salad. Mint contains menthol, which scientists have found activates your mouth’s cold sensitive receptors and “triggers the same response as touching ice”.

Spicy foods can also be beneficial as peppers and chillies contain capsaicin – a compound that “tricks the nervous system into thinking the body is hot, encouraging you to sweat and cool down”. Avoid heating up the kitchen by having a barbecue outside instead and marinating your kebabs in a spicy marinade.

And what should you steer clear of? Salty nuts and crisps, caffeinated artificially sweetened drinks like Diet Coke, or a glass of wine might sound appealing in the heat but they “won’t leave you feeling your best”, said Metro. Their high salt content can “encourage water retention” and make you “bloated and uncomfortable”, said nutritionist Lola Biggs. Instead, for a “satisfying crunch”, try whipping up a batch of paprika-roasted chickpeas.

The best cookbooks can be read from multiple directions. A compendium of utilitarian recipes that can be both browsed and zeroed in on. An anthropological telescope through which you gape at a cuisine. The history of a food told through a kitchen aperture.

If a cookbook achieves one of those objectives, it warrants consideration. If it attains all three, the angels sing, the pots clang and the fridge door swings wide open. Rachel Roddy’s “An A-Z of Pasta: Recipes for Shapes and Sauces from Alfabeto to Ziti, and Everything in Between” is that style of cookbook.

Pasta, then and now

Roddy, a Brit who has lived in Rome for the last 20-odd years, notes that only a “genius or an idiot” would try to gather the stories of the “350 to 600, depending on who you talk with” pasta shapes used across Italy. “I am neither, at least not in this context, so I haven’t tried,” she writes.

You could wager she is instead both a genius and an idiot. With the valiant undertaking of “An A-Z of Pasta,” she does the near-impossible: She captures, across 50 pasta shapes, the lifeblood of an ever-shifting subject.

In the chapter on paccheri, those chunky, dried elongated tubes akin to rigatoni on ’roids, Gragnano, a town near Naples, is the main character. You learn that in the 18th century there were “22 mills and 97 pasta factories” in the area. Now there are “23 pasta factories,” only some of which “bear the mark Pasta di Gragnano DOC, that Gragnano is the city of pasta.” The present clings to the past, like fava bean pesto should adhere to al dente paccheri.

The entry on busiate jumps even further back, to 12,000 years ago, when wheat was first domesticated, then on to cultivated wheat’s appearance in Italy in 6500 B.C. Sumerians, Greeks, Arabs, Vikings; Greek and Roman texts, plus the Jerusalem Talmuds — all played their part in pasta’s ascendance as a commonplace food.

Flip to the “L”s, and we time-warp to the present, as Roddy sits with a pasta maker in the region of Le Marche, “examining uncooked pasta like dermatologists, admiring the pores and rugosity.” She offers a recipe for linguine, dressed in a silken sauce of thinly-sliced onion and zucchini, egg yolks and Parmesan. If this is food-history whiplash, bring on the 17-car pileup.

Bags of opportunity

Should your pasta pantry be forever stocked with an array of shapes, like a menagerie of delicious rigidity, flip through “An A-Z of Pasta” and be astounded. You might gasp and nod so much at the book’s recipes, that your jaw remains unhinged and your head frozen in descent.

Those wagon wheels, aka ruote, untouched because you cannot quite figure out how to use them? Drape them with Gorgonzola, sage and walnuts, or mascarpone and, again, walnuts. Jaded by your staple spaghetti with tomato sauce? Wander the week with nine tomato-based recipes, tripping from a raw sauce with dried oregano, to spaghetti alla Norma with eggplant, tomato and ricotta salata, to the apotheosis of leftovers, a frittata made with day-old spaghetti and tomato sauce.

Pasta will tell you how it wants to be treated in the kitchen, if you listen. Roddy, with “The A-Z of Pasta,” teaches you the foodstuff’s centuries-old language. Lend an ear, and put some water on to boil.

As the scorching weather returns, the best way to cool down is with an ice cream by the sea. The UK’s coastal towns are peppered with parlours serving everything from rich, creamy gelato, to refreshing sorbets and conefuls of quirky flavours. Here are some of our favourite spots.

Joe’s Ice Cream, Mumbles, Swansea

This century-old family run parlour in Mumbles is a “local cult”, said Felicity Cloake in The Times. It also has branches in Cardiff and Llanelli. There are rules: “always order the vanilla” which is “churned fresh every day” and has a “distinctly savoury edge”. You’ll also find huge sundaes here, and a knickerbocker glory that present owner Adrian Hughes thinks is “far too big for one person. Believe me, it’s not.”

joes-icecream.com

Jannetta’s Gelateria, St Andrews, Fife

“If you’ve ever visited St Andrews in winter, you’ll appreciate just how good Jannetta’s gelato must be to have stuck it out in South Street for the past 118 years,” said Cloake in The Times. When it comes to choice you’ll be hard pressed to find better: the parlour serves 54 different flavours that make use of locally sourced ingredients like Fife tayberries and Dundee marmalade. Expect long queues when it’s hot but the samples on offer while you wait “sweeten the deal”.

jannettas.co.uk

Hive, Aberaeron, Wales

Master ice cream makers Kevin and Mateuz make their “legendary” honey ice cream at Hive, said Portia Jones on Wales Online. The “distinctive, creamy” confection is “hands down my favourite ice cream” in the country. “One scoop, and you’ll see why it has a cult following.” Located right by the picturesque harbour in Aberaeron (with branches in Cardigan and Saundersfoot), it’s a great place for a sunny afternoon stroll.

thehiveaberaeron.com

Rossi’s Ices, Weymouth, Dorset

“Forget your standard vanilla”, said Judy Cogan in The i Paper. At Rossi’s, the Figliolini family “let the natural taste of the cooked milk shine”. They’ve been scooping here since 1937 and certainly know a thing or two about how to make and serve ice cream properly. Expect everything from banana splits and chocolate sundaes to affogato and ice cream sodas.

rossisweymouth.com

Moomaid of Zennor, St Ives, Cornwall

Milk is supplied by the cows at the on-site family farm to the parlour at this charming spot in St Ives, said Cogan in The i Paper. In keeping with its Cornish location, every scoop of ice cream is “topped with a dollop of clotted cream”. Flavours are creative but not “heinously quirky”: things like orange and mascarpone or almond and cherry ripple. “Watch out for circling seagulls”.

moomaidofzennor.com

If the weather doesn’t scorch, you want to be outside during the year’s hottest months. You also want to be drinking because you are going to need to both stay hydrated and take the edge off. These eight destinations run the spectrum from full-bore bars to semi-restaurants that also do drinking very well. Fun in the sun — or better still, shade — is how to hit the bars this time of year.

Bacchanal Wine, New Orleans

Bacchanal is New Orleans’ worst-kept secret: a top-tier, low-key destination with an enormous patio, far from the scrum of the French Quarter. At its core, “it’s just a really, really cool wine shop, with a great number of bottles prechilled,” said Imbibe magazine. That is merely the opening salvo. You could leave with your bottle, or you could head to the building’s back and share your bottle with a bunch of current — or new — friends while you nod along to the live jazz band.

Bowstring Brewery, Raleigh

If your idea of the ideal outdoor drinking spot involves 10,000 square feet, throngs of people and constant live music, Bowstring Brewery is where to be. There are more than 10 beers available by draft and endless others available in a can. The food menu is designed for people-pleasing, with pizza, wings and cheesesteaks. Sometimes, you want to hide in a bar. Other times, you want to be among loads of other drinkers. Bowstring is all about the latter.

Club Tee Gee, Los Angeles

Los Angeles is a wonderland of outdoor drinking spaces. But good luck finding one that sports the right vibe — cool but not trying too hard. Club Tee Gee nails it. The 75-year-old bar reopened in 2018 after a renovation and now has a “banging roster” of dance parties, karaoke nights and regular live music, said The Infatuation.

Jet Wine Bar, Philadelphia

Sparkling Spanish whites, earthy Georgian oranges, bright Chilean reds — Jet Wine Bar wanders wide for its exciting by-the-glass wine list. Out back on the patio is where you want to be while getting to know your wine. Once a month, there is a wine tasting group, and its leader, Jill Weber, comes at wine from an uncommon angle, taking attendees on “wild side quests through unexpected histories” about the day’s wine-growing regions, said Philadelphia magazine.

Metro, Indianapolis

This “laid-back” bar is the “gathering place for much of Indy’s LGBTQ+ community,” said Do317 of this bi-level institution. Mondays have $5 martinis, mules and margaritas, Fridays and Saturdays are for boogying upstairs and the patio at Metro is an any-day spot for a leisurely drink or three.

Paymaster Lounge, Portland, Oregon

A good dive bar rarely lends itself to outdoor seating. Too much sun and space can burn the allure away. Paymaster Lounge sizes its patio right, with plastic siding functioning as roof material and well-worn communal tables optimal for staying put. Two bonuses: an outdoor pool table, if that is how you want to pass your time, and a drink menu far better than it needs to be.

Strega, Nashville

“Casual but not sloppy,” said Nashville Scene about the admirable vibe of this new Italian-centric bar. On the ample patio are darts, a pool table and a shuffleboard, along with plenty of tables under umbrellas. The drinks at Strega, like the Cucumber Lemon G&T and Italian Margarita, are smart and accessible. From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. during the week, pizza slices are a mere $1. Come thirsty, come hungry.

Supergeil, Detroit

In some ways, Supergeil, with its dishes that speak to the culinary connections between eastern Europe and northern Africa, can indeed be experienced as a restaurant. But the inspired cocktails, many of which are made with spirits from the local distiller Two James Spirits, demand that attention must be paid. Do so on the patio, and order a doner or lamb meatballs to help you keep drinking.

It is not just that you want to avoid adding additional heat to your home during summer. Skipping the oven and the stove for meals during the dog days also ensures a mere modicum of effort. Because the last thing anyone wants to do during summer is spend unnecessary time feeding themselves.

Bean Salad Marbella

The best bean salads are adventures in contrast. This legume-centric take on chicken Marbella combines prunes, capers and almonds with a plucky vinaigrette of red wine vinegar, maple syrup and Dijon mustard. In the interest of ease, choose whichever canned beans suit your fancy. (Get your recipe)

Everything Bagel Cottage-Cheese Dip

Cottage cheese: very much not just for breakfast! Acquaint your crackers and crudités with the pleasurable versatility of this savory dip. Bring out the premade everything bagel seasoning dip, or make your own. Stir it into cottage cheese, along with capers and scallions. Make the dip a day ahead or so, if you like. (Get the recipe)

Greens-and-Beans Sandwiches

Mashed beans are mixed with a sesame-scallion sauce then stacked with fennel, planks of feta and chile-spiked cucumbers on rye bread. Zip, crunch, salt, lushness — satisfaction in no time. (Get the recipe)

Raw Thai Citrus Crunch Salad

The dressing does the heavy lifting in this vibrant tangle of zucchini, carrots, cabbage and red bell pepper. You whir together soaked cashews, dates, lime juice, chile, ginger and garlic, then toss it with the uncooked vegetables. The result is both light and rich, precisely how you want to be satisfied when the scorching weather heckles. (Get the recipe)

Strawberry Malt Icebox Cake

Seven ingredients and many hours in the fridge are all this no-bake recipe requires. The cake anchor is dozens of vanilla wafer cookies layered with whipped cream laced with malted milk powder and strawberry slices. No muss, no fuss, all summertime deliciousness. (Get the recipe)

Sugared Melon with Cardamom and Mint

A sublime melon needs nothing further than a fork and your mouth. Then you go and toss it with turbinado sugar, salt, and smashed cardamom, let it sit for an hour or so and realize: Oh, now that is a whole other kind of delicious. (Get the recipe)

Tomato Tonnato

No, not toh-may-toh, toh-mah-toh. Toh-may-toh, toh-nah-to. Tonnato being the absurdly delicious — and absurdly simple — sauce of tuna, mayonnaise, capers and anchovies. Tradition dictates, in its birthplace of the Piedmont region of Italy, that tonnato is served with thin pieces of veal. Here, the lush puree is mounded on a plate, then topped with sliced ripe tomatoes, black sesame seeds, basil and flaky salt. (Get the recipe)

Wedge Salad with Tahini Green Goddess Dressing

The “green” comes from a glut of basil, cilantro, dill and parsley. The dressing’s base is mayonnaise and sour cream, along with the traditional addition of tinned anchovies and the untraditional — and inspired — inclusion of tahini. The wedge salad never saw the tahini coming and will never want to bid it goodbye. (Get the recipe)

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Summer is a sleepy season for new cookbooks. Publishers are stacking the deck for the fall, when a glut of books are sent into the world steeled for holiday gifting. But the publishing machine never quite halts, and the coming months do star a (smaller) collection of exciting new releases.

‘Cooking from Scratch: A Careful Selection of Useful Recipes’ by Toya Boudy

New Orleans is forever a keystone of African American culture. Boudy, a native New Orleanian, draws the thread from the Black past to the Black present, using the first known cookbook published by a Black woman, Malinda Russell’s 1866 text, “A Domestic Cook Book,” as a model. The subtitle of “Cooking from Scratch” is “A Careful Selection of Useful Recipes.” Practicality and lineage, with recipes that capture south Louisiana, like mini crawfish pies, and those that honor the homeland, like African spinach stew, anchor Boudy’s story in the now and the omnipresent before. (out now, $33, Countryman Press, Amazon)

‘Great Bakes from the Midwest: Modern Classic Recipes from the Midwest’ by Martin Sorge

The debut cookbook from Sorge, the winner of “The Great American Baking Show” in 2023, sprints across a variety of baking topics. It is a fitting approach, considering the show’s versatility demands. Chapters on cookies, bread and cobblers and their kin cover all the baking essentials.

There is often a Midwestern bent to Sorge’s recipes, proper for someone whose home base is Chicago. Focaccia bursts with the flavors of a Chicago hot dog. A Michigan Forest Cake employs the state’s famed sour cherries. Homey and precise, the book will prime you for baking success.(Aug. 4, $38, Agate, Amazon)

‘Coffee Shop at Home: The Ultimate Guide to Making Your Favorite Coffee Drinks’ by Katerina Diaz

You’ve heard the gripe: Millennials spend all their money on fancy coffee drinks. The bromide has been debunked, but there is power — and delight — in making coffee shop drinks at home. Diaz shows you how, by walking almost-caffeinated readers through how to shop for beans, buy equipment and brew. Plus, there are recipes for the syrups and techniques you crave, including Brown Sugar Oat Milk Shaken Espresso and Honey Lavender Latte. Yes, even pumpkin spice appears, in the form of Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew. (Aug. 11, $25, Clarkson Potter, Amazon)

‘Cooking Thai: Heritage and Modern Recipes from My Kitchen Notebooks’ by Pim Techamuanvivit and Andrea Nguyen

Plenty of chefs have Michelin-starred restaurants across different continents. Less common is a female chef doing so. All the more rare is a Thai American woman juggling that kind of constellation. Techamuanvivit, the Bangkok-born chef of San Francisco’s one-starred Kin Khao and Nari and Bangkok’s one-star Nahm, gets to the bones of Thai food. There are family recipes, alongside modern interpretations of Thai food.

A personal tale that also looks at one of the world’s great cuisines from a bird’s eye view, “Cooking Thai” might overturn your ideas of Thai food. Essential bonus: Techamuanvivit’s co-author, Andrea Nguyen, is one of the States’ premier cookbook authors, a guarantee that this book’s recipes will be clear-eyed and executable. (Aug. 25, $40, Ten Speed Press, Amazon)

‘Foods of La Frontera: Recipes and New Taste Frontiers from Both Sides of the Border’ by Pati Jinich

Jinich is like an ambulatory Benetton ad. She deftly flits between the U.S. and Mexico, aiming to not solely showcase recipes from both sides but to reveal the humanity behind those dishes. In her latest book, the Mexico City-born, Washington, D.C.-based author and television personality wanders the borderlands of the two countries.

Tamales are loaded with bean, chile and cheese. Chocolate deepens tres leches cake. Nachos receive the starry treatment they warrant. Whether you want to cook ideal versions of dishes you already know and love or crave to better understand the exceptional liminality of La Frontera, Jinich’s newest treatise is ready to assist. (Sept. 15, $35, HarperCollins, Amazon)

Visit the “specialist aisle in most British supermarkets” and you’re almost certain to find a “red jar with the kindly face of a middle-aged Chinese woman staring back at you”, said Ammar Kalia in The Guardian.

These are jars of Lao Gan Ma chilli crisp – a “spicy, crunchy and moreish umami condiment” that has made the woman on the label, Tao Huabi, a fortune. Generously dolloped on top of everything from dumplings to fried eggs, chilli crisp has become a “social media sensation” and inspired countless spin-offs from independent producers.

It is usually made by “pouring hot oil over chilli flakes, spice mixes and fresh ingredients such as spring onions, garlic and peanuts”, resulting in a “multi-sensory flavour bomb”.

Both “comforting and punchy”, Lao Gan Ma is “stupendously addictive and can be added to basically anything”, said Dusty Baxter-Wright in Cosmopolitan. “Fiery yet sweet”, it’s “crunchy with soybeans and tingly on your tongue”.

Lao Gan Ma is a “classic for a reason”, said James Park in Eater, but there are other options. As a “self-proclaimed chilli crisp hype man”, I discover “creative” new brands almost “daily”. Momofuku Chilli Crunch is “full of umami with a surprising level of heat”; what “sets it apart” from other jars is the addition of shiitake mushroom powder. Try serving this with baked brie and “you will be hooked”.

Other stand-out jars include Barnacle Foods Kelp Chilli Crisp, which features “salty” Alaska-grown kelp, in addition to spicy chilli flakes, fried onion and garlic. Fermented black beans add an extra “layer of depth” and it goes perfectly into a “light vinaigrette to top off fresh oysters”.

Or you could try making your own. Start by heating a neutral, high-heat oil then add sliced garlic and shallots, and fry “until golden”, said Great British Chefs. Remove the crunchy bits from the oil before mixing in dried chilli flakes and Sichuan peppercorns. Then return the fried garlic and shallots to the oil, “allowing everything to infuse together”.

There are so many dishes a drizzle of chilli crisp can lift to another level. Consider “using it as a topping for pizzas and tacos” or even folding it into bread dough to make a “spicy, aromatic loaf that pairs wonderfully with savoury spreads”.

Summer means it’s probably going to be hot where you are or at least some version of “warmer than it often is.” And with rising temperatures come slipping appetites. You still want to eat, but you want to do so in a different manner. These restaurants across the country specialize, in part, in summer-ready dishes. So bring yourself and your appetite, whatever that happens to look like when the mercury skyrockets.

Handroll Bar Rolling, New York City

It’s all there in the name: This Manhattan restaurant specializes in hand rolls, served from a long bar at which you sit and the rolls are, well, rolled. At Handroll Bar Rolling, choose from a set of four, five, six or seven seafood rolls or four or five vegan rolls. Should you crave a more bespoke meal, choose from one of the 20 a la carte roll options, such as eel with avocado, blue crab, scallop and shiitake. There’s sublime satisfaction in having each step of your meal waved your way in handheld progression.

Honest, Houston

In the proper hands, a chain restaurant is a glorious institution. Honest was born in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the northern Indian state of Gujarat. The restaurant group has since exploded and landed in oodles of states across the U.S., and its menu reads like a greatest-hits compilation from across the subcontinent. This time of year, you likely want chaat, those deliriously snackable nibbles born in Bombay. Whichever you choose — whether its bhel puri with its puffed rice base or dahi puri and its thin, crackling edible cups — the chaat will be a riot of textures, chile heat and sweet chutney lift.

Hue Oi, Fountain Valley, California

The menu at this restaurant in Orange County serves the Vietnamese dishes that Americans know best. You are here, though, for Hue Oi’s dishes from the central region of Vietnam. To skitter among a variety of recipes, order a selection of banh, a genre of savory snacks that includes banh beo chen (tiny saucers of steamed rice cakes topped with ground shrimp and fried shallots) and banh khoai (small crackly crepes stuffed with bean sprouts and two kinds of pork). Because you didn’t really come all this way for egg rolls and pho, did you?

Kokkari Estiatorio, San Francisco

You could order a main course at this nearly 30-year-old restaurant near San Francisco’s downtown. At Kokkari, though, the mezethes (small plates) section is stacked: More than 15 wee dishes cover every craving you might have. Some, like the gigantes (monster-sized white beans with tomato sauce, feta and rivers of olive oil), are evergreen staples. Others are hyperseasonal, such as kalamboki (roasted corn with feta butter) and aginares souvlaki (artichoke skewers with bell pepper, red onion and a yogurt side). Choose your weapon. Then select another, and on you go.

Kunjip, San Jose, California

When the weather scorches, zero in on numbers 6, 7 and 8 at Kunjip. Saucy, spicy sweet-potato-starch noodles served with cucumber, radish, Korean pear, sesame oil and boiled egg are the base for bibim naeng myun (number 6 with sliced beef) and hwe naeng myun (number 8 with marinated raw skate). Or go light and slurpable with mul naeng myun (number 7), in which those same noodles and accompaniments are set in a light beef broth loaded with ice. Soup can indeed be hot-weather refreshment.

Malagón Mercado y Tapería, Charleston, South Carolina

Tortilla española, jamón serrano, queso de Valdeón — you go to a restaurant in the States that claims to traffic in tapas, and you want the classics. Malagón has them. But this small restaurant, with a Michelin star to boot, also knows how to be free-wheeling. There might be fried rabbit on the menu or shrimp skewers with guindilla-pepper vinaigrette. A smashing drink menu loaded with vermouth and endless Spanish wines ensures your food will play so very nicely with its accompanying beverages.

SRV, Boston

“Cicchetti” are the Venetian notion of what we often know as tapas in the U.S.: diminutive bites crafted to be eaten alongside a drink or cocktail. SRV serves delightful pasta, salads and mains in a broad Italian idiom. Wander that way, if you must. But begin with the cicchetti. This time of year you might encounter crostini with duck prosciutto, stracciatella and cherry, fried rice balls with pickled green garlic and a lofty puree of whipped salt cod with black bread. After a couple drinks, you may find you have worked your way through every cicchetti available.

Tanta, Chicago

Oh, the zippy luxury of Peruvian fish dishes. Like your raw seafood in chunks? How about the nikkei ceviche with tuna, tamarind leche de tigre and cucumber, scallions, avocado, daikon, sesame seeds? Prefer your fish sliced? Consider the apaltado, with salmon, tapioca cracker, chile oil, cherry tomatoes and choclo (large kernels of starchy field corn). Tanta is beloved in Chicago. Your meal here will reveal why.

“Tropical fruit and chilli sauce” is a tried-and-tested flavour combination that “works”, said Lucy Knight in The Guardian. The zingy mix of fruity and spicy – “fricy” – flavours has been around in South American cuisine for years. Now, though, it’s being tipped as the food trend of the summer here, with “more fresh, spicy, exciting flavour combinations” appearing on UK menus.

‘Fricy’ may sound like a “silly word” but the demand is real, Holly Thomson, food editor at online food retailer Sous Chef, told the paper. The website has seen a 19% year-on-year increase in sales of the “hero product” of the trend: a Mexican lime, salt and chilli spice blend called Tajín.

“The hashtag #fricy hasn’t quite gone viral” yet, said BBC Bitesize, but there are “plenty” of posts celebrating the flavour combination. The Mexican drink mangonada, more traditionally known as chamoynada, a mix of mango with chamoy, a condiment made from pickled, spiced fruit, has “more than 47k TikTok posts with people trying the fricy taste for themselves”. Spicy fruit bowls that mix “fruit such as pineapple and mango covered in spices like chilli” are also having a moment.

Food trends usually rely on “emotional pull” and “visual appeal”. Just as the “striking purple” hue is responsible for the rise of ube, or purple yam, the “vivid yellows, oranges, reds and browns” of the mangonada makes people “curious” to taste it.

The mangonada has lured many customers into Mango Twist, a London café founded by Peru-born Dominic Vargas, which sells its own version of the drink. The “tangy, spicy, sweet, salty” combination is “something you wouldn’t find in the UK that easily”, Vargas told The Guardian.

But this isn’t the first trend marrying the sweet and savoury. People have been “endlessly seeking umami” flavours in their food, Marks & Spencer food trends lead Annette Peters told The Times. She added that this explained the increasing demand for miso-infused desserts because the “balance of sweet and savoury gives you such a depth of flavour”. As long as the dish doesn’t “tip into cloyingly sweet”, the pairing can be “delicious”.

Though caffeine remains the world’s most widely consumed drug, some people are turning to a smaller dosage to achieve their morning kick. A slew of lower-caffeine drinks are hitting the market as consumers look for ways to shake the negative effects of caffeine, while still having their daily cup of coffee.

‘Experimenting with a new range of options’

Even as millions of Americans consume mass quantities of caffeinated drinks, some question their caffeine intake. Many started “experimenting with a new range of options beyond the traditional cup of hot java, paying heed to caffeine’s impact on their sleep, mood and energy level,” said Bloomberg. Some people still consume multiple caffeinated drinks per day, but others are “becoming more cognizant of ‘energy management’ in their beverage choices,” Daniel Jhung, the president of the coffee and beverage division of Nestlé USA, told Bloomberg.

Many of the options are changing to accommodate shifting preferences. Younger consumers have begun to “embrace cold, canned beverages over hot coffee,” said Bloomberg. The change is not only evident in “rapid growth of energy drinks but also in less-supercharged options.” Sales of ready-to-drink, low-caffeinated bottles of coffee and tea were “up almost 15% in the 52 weeks ending March 22” of this year, while “sales of coffee beans and cocoa fell nearly 10%,” according to data from market research group Spins cited by Bloomberg.

A number of companies are also moving toward this trend. Panera Bread began “rolling out a new line of lightly caffeinated drinks,” said Business Insider, which comes about two years after the company’s discontinued, ultra-caffeinated Charged Lemonade was “linked to two deaths and multiple lawsuits.” While the Charged Lemonade had about 260 milligrams of caffeine, or the equivalent of three Red Bull cans, Panera’s lighter caffeinated drinks “contain about as much caffeine as a can of soda.” There has also been a resurgence in sales of Coca-Cola Zero Zero, which has no sugar or caffeine, said Bloomberg.

‘There are also some concerns about excessive consumption’

Many doctors seem to be happy that caffeine is trending the way it is due to potential health issues. Caffeine can “have positive effects on alertness, cognitive function and athletic function,” but there are also “concerns about excessive consumption and potential health risks,” said the American Medical Association (AMA). “One of the things that people don't realize is, if you think of it as a medicine, then the best way to use it is in small, frequent doses,” Dr. Shannon Kilgore, a neurologist, told the AMA.

Most people, despite the shifting tides, are consuming too much caffeine, which could have negative health effects. About 85% of adults “consume 135 milligrams of caffeine daily in the U.S.,” approximately “equivalent to 12 ounces of coffee, which is the most common source of caffeine for adults,” said the AMA. While drinking up to three cups of coffee per day “can reduce dementia risk and slow cognitive decline,” according to a recent JAMA study, even that would still be over the recommended daily dosage of caffeine.

The shift toward low-caffeine is because “health and wellness trends have persuaded many consumers to scrutinize ingredients more closely, with many trying to cut back on artificial dyes, added sugar, processed food and, in some cases, caffeine,” said Bloomberg. The anxiety of Jeremy Clark, an engineering professor in Montreal, has declined “almost to negligible levels” since he cut back on caffeine, Clark told Bloomberg. “So I think it was worth it.”

It’s the ice, people! Yes, ice is central to the making of any cocktail — unless it’s a hot one. In the playland of frozen drinks, though, ice plays an all-the-more crucial role. It doesn’t simply chill then bolt for the sink. Ice becomes integral to the lush texture of a blended cocktail. These frozen reconsiderations of classic cocktails are summer manna.

Frozen Banana Daiquiri

An instant coconut cordial is made by combining coconut milk and sugar. Then you’re off to the banana-daiquiri races by blending together two kinds of rum (1 part each) with fresh lime juice (¾ part), half a way-ripe banana, that cordial (2 parts) and a load of pebble ice. (Get the recipe)

Frozen Caribbean Coffee

What happens when Irish coffee, tres leches cake and spiced coconut syrup take a trip to the islands? You get a lively, luxurious blended drink that merges a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and whole milk (2 parts) with an egg, coffee liqueur (¾ part), rum (½ part), brandy (½ part) and a heady masala-coconut syrup (¾ part). (Get the recipe)

Frozen Gin & Tonic

In this brain-freeze-y adaptation of a G&T, the tonic water is substituted by a tonic syrup. Because no one wants a watery frozen cocktail. A touch of that syrup (½ part) tangoes with gin (1½ parts), simple syrup (½ part) and lime juice (¾ part). (Get the recipe)

Pink Frozen Margarita

Campari (1 part) provides the pink element in this animated variation on a classic margarita. The tequila (3 parts), triple sec (2 parts), lime juice (2 parts) and agave nectar (2 parts) all play their roles like they typically would. The blender and ice step in for this performance, turning everything the right kind of chill. (Get the recipe)

Frozen Mojito

All that you admire about a mojito is present here. The mint (1 part), the rum (2 parts), the simple syrup (1 part), the fresh lime juice (1¼ parts). Start the four together in a blender so the mint is properly blitzed. Then add ice (8 parts), zap away and pour a few out for your pool mates. (Get the recipe)

Frozen Moscow Mule

You know the quartet — vodka (2 parts), ginger beer (3 parts), lime juice (¾ part), simple syrup (¾ part). Pour the lot into a blender, add ice, and your Moscow mule becomes even more of a warm-weather lounge-fellow. (Get the recipe)

Frozen Negroni

A Negroni is always an appetite-whetter. Come summer, one wants it to do double duty by dragging it into refreshing territory too. Freeze the base combination of gin (4½ parts), Campari (2½ parts) and sweet vermouth (2½ parts) for at least eight hours. Then whir that with ice in a blender. Zip, hunger, poolside nap. (Get the recipe)

Paloma Slushy

A handful of ingredients turn a classic paloma into a summertime icon for you and three pals. Start by freezing together grapefruit juice (2 parts) and lime juice (1 part) for a chunk of time. Toss the frozen juices in a blender along with tequila (1½ parts), sugar (¼ cup) and ice (4 cups). And if you like, line the rims of those glasses with salt. (Get the recipe)

Instead of reaching for biscuits or chocolate to “combat the 4pm slump”, people are turning to a “more natural sweet alternative: dates”, said The Guardian.

The wrinkled fruit has been “thrust into the snacking spotlight” thanks to a slew of viral online recipes and a growing demand for alternatives to ultra-processed foods. Ocado reports that sales of Medjool dates have soared by 100% year-on-year and searches for date butter have shot up by 458% over the same period.

Some fitness experts are suggesting their followers swap “additive-laden” protein bars for energy balls made with a mix of dates, nuts and oats. And TikTok is bursting with ideas for comforting yet nutrient-dense snacks like “sticky fried dates drizzled with olive oil and served with tangy yoghurt”.

First cultivated in the hot, arid climates of the Middle East and North Africa, “dates have had a place in culinary culture for millenniums”, said The New York Times. Traditionally used to break the fast during Ramadan, they are a staple ingredient in everything from tagines to sticky toffee pudding.

With more consumers interested in adding fibre to their diet, dates are “emerging as a simple vehicle for the macronutrient”. One serving of dates (around two to three large Medjools) contains about 5g of fibre – “a helpful step towards the daily recommendation of 25g per day for women and 38g for men”.

Brands like Date Better are opting for “bold flavour choices” to stand out in the crowded market. Varieties include dates stuffed with cashew butter, coated in chocolate infused with lime and dotted with toasted quinoa “for texture”.

But it’s important to “manage your health-related expectations” if you’re reaching for a jazzed-up version of the fruit. “If it’s stuffed with peanut butter and covered in chocolate, enjoy it!” said nutritionist Maya Feller. “But don’t think it’s going to support gut health. Right? That’s a dessert.”

If you don’t want to splash out on pricey on-the-go packaged snacks, consider adding the fruit when baking cakes, said The Times. Dates can be “chopped or blended” and “stirred through the batter instead of sugar, substituting the weights like-for-like”. They also make a delicious caramel sauce: simply soak them in boiling water before “blending them with butter” and “adding enough hot water until you have a smooth sauce”.

Dates aren’t only suitable for sweet treats, though. “I do a simple but brilliant lemon, chickpea, feta and date traybake,” said author and cook Melissa Hemsley. “The sweetness of the roasted dates with the salty feta is amazing. I’ll have that in a wrap or toss it into a warm salad. It’s perfect.”

The possibilities are endless when it comes to tacos. There are so many regional specialties and choices to be made — crunchy shell or soft, what type of filling, which toppings, and what style of salsa to add.

Los Angeles is one place where all this bounty collides. The city is home to thousands of taquerías, taco trucks and stands, many of them owned by immigrants, where hungry diners queue for perfect bites of al pastor, carne asada and carnitas wrapped in freshly made tortillas. These nine spots are just a few of the places Angelenos head to when the mood for a satisfying taco strikes.

Carnitas El Momo

Pork is the star of the show at Carnitas El Momo, where the Michoacán-style carnitas tacos “shine the brightest on the menu,” said The Infatuation. Before you place your order, you’ll be hit by the “intoxicating” scent of “fried pork in bubbling cauldrons,” cooked in lard and seasoned with a “secret blend of spices.” The meat — choose from shoulder, belly, skin or a combination of all three — is so “obscenely rich” that the best way to top your tacos is simply with some pickled jalapeños, lime or “smoky” salsa verde.

El Cocinero

The focus at El Cocinero, the San Fernando Valley’s first Mexican vegan restaurant, is imparting a “rich, soulful flavor” to the soy alternatives used instead of meat, L.A. Taco editor Javier Cabral told Bon Appétit. Each piece undergoes an “intense seasoning” and “heavy fry,” and though all of the plant-based options are “delicious,” the vegan chicharrón taco is the most impressive. Traditional fried pork rinds are replaced with soy curls cooked to have an “amazing crunch” and the same “satisfying, umami-forward flavors” of a traditional chicharrón.

Holbox and Chichen Itza

Holbox serves some of the "highest quality and most beautifully prepared seafood" in all of Los Angeles, said the New York Times. The menu changes based on the season and catch, but expect tacos stuffed with shrimp, Hokkaido diver scallops, vermilion rockfish, octopus and kanpachi.

Holbox is located inside the Mercado La Paloma food hall in South Los Angeles, next to its sister restaurant Chichén Itzá. The seafood game is also strong at this Yucatán-inspired spot, and while the hearty tacos de pescado with flaky fried fish are great, fans love the "succulent" cochinita pibil (achiote-seasoned pork) tacos with pickled red onions, said Condé Nast Traveler.

Mariscos Jalisco

At lunchtime, the crowds head to Mariscos Jalisco, one of the “pioneering” taco trucks that dot Olympic Boulevard in Boyle Heights, said the Los Angeles Times. The taco de camarón is what lures diners and keeps them returning. These “golden” tacos are filled with crispy shrimp that emerge from the fryer “tender at the center and crisped on the edges.” Each one is topped with salsa and avocado, which together add bright creaminess.

Sonoratown

The made-in-house flour tortillas at Sonoratown set this taqueria apart. They are “so paper-thin you can almost see through them,” Cabral told Bon Appétit. Lard makes them chewy, and the “first bite feels different than any other taco in the city.” Everything here is cooked in Sonoran style, that is over a mesquite grill, and the meat has a “slight crisp to it.” The costilla asada taco is a standout, thanks to a “unique” cut of rib meat that’s tender and juicy.

Tacos Don Cuco

With carne asada, pollo asada, chorizo, tripa and al pastor on the menu, it’s “difficult to go wrong” with Tacos Don Cuco’s meat options, said the Los Angeles Times. Tacos are prepared Tijuana-style, and the meat is cooked over mesquite coals before being sliced to order and placed in a fresh corn tortilla. The thick adobada, or marinated pork, does have the edge, as it gets “caramelized and crispy” and “garners even more smokiness off the mesquite grill.”

Tacos Los Guichos

When you walk up to the Tacos Los Guichos taco cart, you’ll be greeted by “glistening” trompos (vertical rotisseries) of the “absolute best al pastor” around, said TimeOut. Expect “sweet, porky nirvana” in the form of “beautifully charred” and “slightly smoky” shaved al pastor, which manages to taste even better when “anointed” by either the “delicious” salsa verde or “subtly fiery” salsa roja. You can only order the al pastor after 5 p.m., but it’s worth fighting traffic to get there on time (it helps that Tacos Los Guichos is at a tire shop right off the 110 freeway).

Tacos y Birria La Unica

You can find a birria truck on “practically every corner of Los Angeles,” but none are like Tacos y Birria La Unica, said Eater. It specializes in shredded goat and shredded beef birria, cooked in a “rich, herbal stew.” The meat is served in a variety of ways, with the quesataco (crunchy taco with cheese) a popular choice. Do not skip the consomé — you will want to dip your tacos in the savory broth.

“Maxed out on matcha lattes?” said the Financial Times. Try swapping the trendy, green-hued drink for its “toasty cousin”.

Hojicha has many of the same benefits as matcha but with much less caffeine. Made from green tea leaves roasted at a high temperature over charcoal, it has a distinctive “nutty” flavour. While it’s not traditionally paired with milk in Japan, in the UK hojicha lattes are starting to appear in cafes up and down the country.

At London matcha chain Jenki, for example, sales of hojicha lattes were 55% higher between January and April than the same period last year, said the BBC. The popularity of hojicha “feels like where matcha was two or three years ago”, Rashique Saddique, director of How Matcha, told the broadcaster. “It’s moving from niche to mainstream quite quickly.”

Less bitter and more earthy than matcha, hojicha also contains “significantly lower” levels of caffeine, with around 7.7mg per cup, compared to matcha’s 70mg, said Country & Town House. But it still boasts a range of health benefits; hojicha is “packed with antioxidants” like catechins and polyphenols which help to protect cells from damage, and the amino acid L-theanine which may help to calm the nervous system and improve sleep quality while enhancing focus.

The roasting process also breaks down the tannins and lowers the acidity, making it perfect for aiding digestion after a meal as it’s “gentler on the stomach than raw green tea”.

Traditional hojicha is “steeped like a loose-leaf tea” but it can also be mixed with milk and served hot or cold in a latte, said Vogue. “Look out for organic, shade-grown hojicha from Japan to avoid contaminants and ensure purity”, nutritionist Rhian Stephenson told the publication. And if you don’t fancy a latte, try adding the powder to smoothies or mix it into cakes, cookies or even ice cream.

The briefest spell of sunshine sends Brits rushing to the park or pub. But if you’re looking for somewhere a bit more special to soak up the rays, try a buzzy terrace with a view. From trendy, canal-side spots to swanky rooftop bars, these are some of the best places to catch up over a cocktail.

The Gun, Docklands, London

The waterfront terrace at the Gun “feels a little like one of many harbourside restaurants in Amsterdam”, said London’s The Standard. Open all year round thanks to the retractable roof and glass walls, the views are “superb”, looking out “where the river bends around the O2 on its way to the Thames Barrier”. Sip a glass of rosé and “feast on oysters” or, come summer, enjoy a pizza from a van in the riverside garden.

Lock 91, Manchester

This “charming canalside garden” is one of the city’s “best-kept secrets”, said Secret Manchester. The fashionable bar is set within a carefully restored 19th-century lock-keeper’s cottage, and you can usually “snag a spot” on the “intimate” outdoor terrace. Once you’ve settled with a drink and begun soaking up the “serene” views, it’s hard to “pull yourself away” from this “addictive little suntrap”.

Blackstock Roof Garden, Liverpool

Set atop the newly revamped Blackstock Market, this “Mediterranean-inspired rooftop brings a slice of coastal Europe to Liverpool”, said Condé Nast Traveller. “Sun-drenched” breaks can be spent here enjoying brunches, afternoon teas and cocktails, while in the evening the terrace transforms into “the perfect place to dance under the stars”. Inside, there’s a “chic” lounge, ensuring the party continues “rain or shine”.

The Raeburn, Edinburgh

This “smart boutique hotel” is “often unknowingly overlooked”, said Condé Nast Traveller. Its “secret rooftop terrace” becomes a “real suntrap” over summer, and there’s also a first-floor mezzanine looking out over the historic Raeburn Place sports grounds for an “out-of-the-city type view that you won’t find anywhere else”.

Rockwater, Hove

“A beach bar with a rooftop terrace, what more could you possibly ask for?” said The Telegraph. Rockwater offers a “huge wine collection, along with cocktails and spritzes”, all with a sea view. And if you’re feeling peckish there’s a great selection of “luxurious seafood dishes” and handmade pizzas. Down at the beach, you’ll find “extra food shacks”, too.

Most standard-size cookbooks showcase between 100 and 150 recipes. In 2008, the author and cooking teacher Raghavan Iyer said “pshaw” and published his magnum opus, “660 Curries.”

“To us Indians, a curry is a sauce-based dish,” said Iyer, meaning “curry” as employed in Western instances like all-purpose “curry powder” is a term so general as to lose all significance. Curry instead is both the alpha and the omega. It’s both a saucy dish across the subcontinent and a hyper-regional way of preparing said saucy dishes.

Name your cooking weapon

Pick a base, and you are nearly guaranteed at least one recipe for it in “660 Curries.” More often, you will be bombarded with an array of options.

Consider the legume. Yellow split peas, horse gram, chickpeas, brown lentils and moth beans — Iyer assembles an armada of more than 15 different types of legumes for the Legume Curries chapter. The hits are present, including a faultless recipe for the restaurant icon, dal makhani, with its whole black lentils opulent with Punjabi garam masala, yogurt and heavy cream.

A behemoth is forever going to do the absolute most, so lesser-known regional specialties are everywhere across the book. Toovar dal (split yellow pigeon peas) is softened in a bath of unripe green mango, green bell pepper and coconut milk in a dish from the southwestern state of Kerala. Stressing the omnipresent influence of the Portuguese colonizers, chorizo cooks with red kidney beans and black-eyed peas in a spunky chile-vinegar tomato sauce in a Goan adaptation of Brazilian feijoada. Here and in the book’s other chapters on vegetables, seafood, poultry and eggs, meat, and paneer, curry is no catch-all. It slips, shifts and adapts.

To the curry-sphere and beyond

Iyer cheated a touch with the book’s title because some chapters exist outside of the sauce world. The opening chapter, Spice Blends and Paste, provides a constellation of building blocks and endless masalas with seven types of garam masala alone.

The final chapter, Curry Cohorts, dabbles in a touch of everything: rice preparations, including a Maharashtrian-style fried rice with peanuts and curry leaves; all manner of breads, such as poori, roti and naan; and even a mango cheesecake and saffron-licked green tea. “660 Curries” is an imposing endeavor. And, oh, how the book’s recipes work.

Iyer died, too young, at 61 in 2023. He was an admired teacher and an indefatigable researcher. And almost 20 years later, “660 Curries” remains as essential as it was when it first appeared. Scratch that. “660 Curries” is all the more pertinent now. The world needed time to embrace its sweeping, detailed grandeur.

“Is it a red wine, or a white?” said The Economist. “It is both.”

Trendy “blouge” wines have started popping up in bars around the world. A mix of white (blanc) and red (rouge) grapes, the resulting tipple is “light and refreshing, like a white, but with the structure and depth of a red”.

Mixing red and white like this is “not a new idea”. Winemakers have long been making champagnes from different coloured grapes. But recently producers have been “breaking new ground” with a growing number of “fresher” blouge wines often with “playful names to emphasise their novelty and expand their appeal”.

While rosé is made from red grapes alone with limited skin contact, and orange wines are made from white grapes in the style of a red with extended contact with the skins, blouge wines are a hybrid made by co-fermenting both red and white grapes. They are targeted at “younger, more adventurous” consumers keen to try something new.

Combining grape varieties gives producers more “flexibility” in the face of climate change. Hotter weather can lead to red grapes accumulating sugar faster, while the “ripening of skins and seeds can lag behind, causing a mismatch”. By adding white grapes to the mix, acidity is boosted while the high alcohol level found in ripe red grapes is diluted.

The pretty colours “tempt the Instagram lens”, said The Telegraph, luring “aperitivo-hour drinkers” on the lookout for wines with the “appeal of a light cocktail; often fruity and chilled, perhaps with a vestige of florality and a tinge of either astringency or sweetness”.

BoogieWoogie from Aubert et Mathieu is due to arrive in the UK this month, said The Guardian. A “light and juicy blend of red and white grenache grapes”, this is the “perfect match for tapas, pizza and picnics”.

Or try Domaine Lucas Madonia: The Blouge 2024, a “high-quality, natural” wine that uses grapes grown at a vineyard nestled on a “steep mountainside in the Swiss Alps of Valais”. Best enjoyed “cold on a sunny day after work”, the “fruity, aromatic blend” of chasselas white and gamay red grapes has a “clean, lively finish” with hints of “juicy strawberries and raspberries”.

Everyone in my family is a fan of bread studded with salty briny olives, and this recipe takes that craving a step further, said Joe Woodhouse. Feel free to add a block of grated halloumi to the mix. You can also cut the flatbreads in half and freeze them. Just put them in the toaster to defrost and crisp from frozen.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 400g self-raising flour, or plain flour with 1 tbsp baking powder
• 200g wholemeal flour, plus more to dust
• 250g yoghurt, or kefir
• 3 tbsp olive oil, or oil from the sundried tomatoes, plus more (optional) for cooking
• 200g jar of sundried tomatoes in olive oil, drained and sliced
• 50g black olives, pitted and sliced
• 25g basil, stalks finely chopped, leaves chopped
• 3 tbsp drained capers
• 1 tbsp dried oregano

Method

• Put the flours in a mixing bowl. Mix the yoghurt or kefir in a jug with the oil and 200ml water. Add to the flour and knead to combine. Knead in the sundried tomatoes, olives, basil, capers and oregano.
• Divide the dough into 4 and roll out each piece on a floured surface to a diameter of about 20cm.
• Heat a griddle pan over a med-low heat. Add the flatbreads one at a time, brushing with olive oil first to get them extra crispy. Cook for 4-6 mins on each side until puffed and cooked through. To check if they’re ready, break a chunk off one, pull it apart and see if it is fluffy in the middle.
• Serve as is or spread with pesto, harissa or tapenade, or with a bowl of pickled chillies.

Taken from Weeknight Vegetarian by Joe Woodhouse

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Something special happens when cinnamon and puff pastry come together, says Moroccan chef Nargisse Benkabbou; it’s like culinary alchemy. And these knots are extra special because they include amlou, often referred to as “Moroccan Nutella”, a paste traditionally made with roasted almond butter, honey, and argan oil. The amlou in this recipe is slightly thicker than normal, so that it can be used to fill the knots without risk of it running out of the rolls during baking. Eat while warm – but they will keep in a sealed container for up to three days.

Ingredients (makes 12 knots)

For the amlou:

• 120g natural (ideally, roasted) almond butter, or substitute with peanut butter
• 1 1⁄2 tbsp (35g) honey
• 1 tbsp argan oil, or substitute with walnut or groundnut oil
• 1⁄4 tsp fine sea salt

For the knots:

• 2 sheets puff pastry (about 400g each)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 100g granulated sugar
• 3⁄4 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

• Combine the almond (or peanut) butter, honey, argan (or nut) oil and salt in a medium bowl and stir together until smooth and well blended.
• Unfold one of the puff pastry sheets on a lightly floured work surface. Use the back of a large spoon to spread the amlou over the sheet in a thin, even layer, about 3mm thick. The layer shouldn’t be thicker than a coin, as too much amlou will leak out when you slice the filled pastry.
• Place the second puff pastry sheet on top, making sure that the edges are aligned. Use a pizza cutter or sharp knife to cut the pastry rectangle lengthways into 2.5cm-wide strips.
• Line two baking trays with baking paper. Pick up one strip and shape it into a knot: hold the opposite ends of the strip, pull on them slightly, then roll it up into a spiral and tuck the end of the strip into the centre of the knot. Place the knot on a tray and shape the rest, dividing them between the two trays and leaving about 5cm between them.
• Cover the knots and transfer to the fridge. Let them rest for at least 45 mins, and as long as overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C fan, with the racks in the upper and lower thirds. Brush the knots with the beaten egg and transfer to the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 mins, switching the positions of the trays about halfway through, until the knots are puffed up and golden. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
• Remove from the oven and let cool on the trays for 1 to 2 mins. Gently transfer each knot to the bowl of cinnamon sugar and turn to coat thoroughly, then transfer to a plate. Serve the knots warm or at room temperature.

Taken from Madaq: Simple Everyday Recipes with the Flavours of Morocco by Nargisse Benkabbou.

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“There are few better ways to immerse yourself in the great outdoors than to forage,” said Connor McGovern in National Geographic. As the countryside springs to life with an abundance of edible plants, now is a great time to start keeping an eye out for ingredients on your next walk.

April is “peak nettle season”. Packed with minerals and vitamins, the herbaceous perennial is surprisingly versatile and can easily be added to soups or used to make tea. Best harvested “sooner rather than later”, make sure you wear gloves to avoid getting stung and only pick the “top few leaves”.

Look out also for wild garlic, which “often grows in dense clusters on the floor of damp woodland and along shaded hedgerows”, said Helen Keating on the Woodland Trust. The leaves and flowers of the native bulb have an “unmistakable” garlicky smell, and can be used to whip up a “wild garlic pesto” or mixed with butter to make a “delicious version of garlic bread”.

Cow parsley, also known as wild chervil, is an “excellent all-round” ingredient. The perennial herb features tiny white flowers in “umbrella-like clusters” and “fern-like” leaves, and can be used in the same way as parsley when cooking. A word of warning: be careful not to mistake it for poison hemlock, which has distinctive purple blotches at the base of its stems, and an unpleasant musty odour.

Now is also the time dandelions “explode across fields, verges, scrubland and any patch of your garden they can set down roots in”, said Carys Matthews on BBC Countryfile. The petals of the bright yellow wildflower can be used to make desserts and “look lovely sprinkled on a cake”.

Be sure to look out for blackcurrant leaves, too, which have palmate lobes and a “serrated margin”. A handful of “fresh, young leaves” from the deciduous shrub can be used to make a “tasty tea with antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory” properties.

And if you’re on a health kick, try swapping out spinach for common mallow leaves or using the edible weed to thicken up soups. Identifiable by its “five-lobed leaves”, it’s rich in vitamins A, B, C and E and come summer its mauve-coloured flowers can be used to garnish cocktails and salads.

You can’t go wrong with a meatball, says chef Georgina Hayden. Light, lemony and spring-like, this brothy meatball recipe is both comforting and fresh – and a gorgeous way of getting greens into your dinner. My kids love it, especially when I roll the meatballs really small.

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 bunch spring onions
• 1 garlic clove
• ½ bunch flat-leaf parsley
• a few mint sprigs
• 50g breadcrumbs
• 400g minced meat (beef or pork, or a mixture)
• 1 unwaxed lemon (zest and juice)
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil
• 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
• 180g mini pasta shells, or other small pasta shapes
• 150g peas, frozen or freshly podded
• 40g pecorino or parmesan (optional)

Method

• Trim and finely slice the spring onions.
• Peel and finely slice the garlic.
• Finely chop the herb leaves.
• Place half the sliced spring onions in a food processor with the sliced garlic clove, the breadcrumbs, half the chopped herbs and the minced meat.
• Finely grate in the lemon zest, season generously with salt and pepper and blitz until it all comes together. (You can of course do this by hand and mix well in a bowl.)
• Roll the mixture into small meatballs, around 2.5cm wide.
• Set a large casserole over a medium heat, drizzle in 3 tbsp olive oil and fry the meatballs for around ten minutes, turning, until they are browned all over.
• When the meatballs are browned and gnarly, pour the stock into the pan, bring to the boil and then stir in the pasta shells and the peas.
• Return to the boil, and simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until the pasta is tender.
• Remove from the heat and squeeze in the lemon juice.
• Taste the broth and adjust the seasoning as needed.
• Finish by stirring in the remaining herbs and spring onions, and serve in warmed bowls, finely grating over the pecorino or parmesan cheese, if using.

Taken from MEDesque: Everyday Recipes with Mediterranean Roots by Georgina Hayden.

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“It wasn’t long ago that crunchy or smooth was the sum total of our nut butter options,” said Sue Quinn in The Telegraph. But there is now more choice than ever and the “humble peanut is jostling for shelf space with almond, cashew and pistachio” spreads.

Sales of peanut butter overtook jam in the UK for the first time in 2020, and nut butters are “now making a bid to unseat honey from its long-held perch as number one”.

Filled with “fibre and healthy fats, it’s easy to see why nut butters appeal to the health-conscious among us,” said Lauren Shirreff in The Telegraph. They are a fantastic source of protein, “especially for people who are following plant-based or vegan diets”, nutritionist Jenna Hope told the paper.

A 30g serving of peanut butter contains around 8g of protein, which is “roughly the same as that in a large egg”, and a large spoonful “would also contain nearly three whole grams of fibre”.

One of the best alternatives to peanuts is almond butter, said Shirreff. It ticks lots of boxes, having the “most fibre” of any nut butter, and “fewer calories” too. Though it has “marginally” less protein than peanut butter, it’s “packed with magnesium and calcium”.

Pistachios have been all the rage as TikTok-viral sweet treats – think Dubai chocolate – but the best way to unlock their “bold, subtly sweet, roasted-nutty taste” is in savoury dishes, said Autumn Swiers on Tasting Table. A dollop of pistachio butter can be “placed under the skin of a chicken breast pre-roast for extra crispy, sweet-nutty moisture”, or as an “elevated candidate for homemade salad dressings”.

It is important to check the label for additional ingredients, said nutritionist Brianna Sommer on Delish. “I would look for a pure nut butter that has no added anything.” It is much better to add a pinch of salt, or a dollop of honey yourself than relying on whatever the “manufacturer has decided to include”.

The easiest way to eat nut butters is “on a slice of sourdough” or “poured over porridge”, said Stacey Smith in Women’s Health. But we all know they taste just that bit better “sneakily spooned straight from the jar”. For a “treat day” indulgence try Pana Organic Cashew Caramel Spread. “Packed with good stuff”, it includes coconut sugar for a hint of sweetness, while maca and sesame seeds bring “extra oomph”.

And if you’re looking for a classic peanut butter, try the M&S range, said Martha Roberts on Which?. Its smooth version is “rich”, “creamy” and “high-oleic” with the highest fibre content of the 56 items tested. Not only is it "reasonably priced”, it contains high levels of protein, and is “extremely low” in salt. Its crunchy alternative “comes a close second to its smooth sibling” because of its higher calorie and lower fibre content, but it’s “still high-oleic and with the same keen price”.

The best cookbooks feature throughlines. These days, the threads in new cookbooks star the people behind the books, functioning as mirrors that showcase a cook’s technique, their family story or the kind of food the author likes to make. “Hot Sour Salty Sweet,” published in 2000, looks out, not in.

While researching the text, its authors, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, traveled along the Mekong River in Southeast Asia over a few decades. The pair visited villages, snapped photos and documented recipes from both sides of the monumental body of water that defines and feeds parts of Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and China. The book is epic, like the tome’s size, its 330-plus pages loaded into a format that’s far wider than it’s tall. “Hot Sour Salty Sweet” is not easy to hold in one’s hand, much like the region’s diverse grandeur.

Variations of a common theme

The cookbook’s 12 chapters wander from Sauces, Chile Pastes and Salsas to Sweets and Drinks, with moorings at Simple Soups, Salads, Rice and Rice Dishes, Noodles and Noodle Dishes, Mostly Vegetables, Fish and Seafood, Poultry, Beef, Pork, Snacks and Street Food. Each chapter is a head-spinning exercise in dissimilarity, with so many common ingredients treated wildly unalike.

Take the seafood chapter. A recipe from Tonle Sap, Cambodia’s “great inland lake,” melds smoked fish and unripe mangoes with a dressing of vinegar, shallots, galangal and fish sauce — tart, funk, spunk, pop. In tom thit heo, from southern Vietnam, shrimp and thin slices of pork shoulder frolic in a stir-fry heady with lemongrass and black pepper. Simplest of all, salt-grilled catfish has its flesh slashed and loaded with coarse salt before a turn on a grill. Each dish and recipe howls with a common sense of place. Listen closely, and you hear the soft noise of distinguishability.

The personal as point of entry

There’s no foolhardy attempt at comprehensiveness in “Hot Sour Salty Sweet.” An essay about a border town on the edges of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar; a return to the village Sangkhom in northeastern Thailand to visit pals; a profile of a Laotian rice noodle maker working from her home on stilts near the Chinese border — Alford and Duguid covered thousands of miles of territory, but their experiences there are theirs alone.

Decades before the notion of the “exotic” was proscribed, rightfully, and white journalists began learning how to remove themselves from the center of every story, Alford and Duguid, who are both white, liaised with more than 15 Southeast Asian ethnic groups for “Hot Sour Salty Sweet.” They did so with curiosity, capturing their subjects with careful research, stirring photos and clear-eyed writing. This is documentation as honoring.

With its “green, rolling hills” and “patchwork of pinot noir and chardonnay vineyards”, Oregon’s Willamette Valley has been compared to Burgundy, said National Geographic.

The valley is home to 11 designated grape-growing regions with diverse terroirs, spanning all the way from Portland to Eugene. In recent years, the “cool nights and warm summer days” here have provided the perfect conditions for some “top-notch sparkling wines”. Grape varieties used in champagne like pinot meunier have been “thriving” here.

Method Oregon is a non-profit established by a coalition of producers to ensure high standards and help place their wines on the map. Bottles carrying the stamp must be “100% fermented, bottled, riddled, and disgorged in Oregon”, use the traditional method that requires sparkling wines to go through a “natural secondary fermentation in a bottle”, said National Geographic, and be aged for no less than 24 months en tirage (“the crucial stage where wines are aged on yeast”) to develop a complex flavour.

Gran Moraine’s sparkling brut rosé is “exquisite, rich and lovely”, said Clive Pursehouse on Decanter. The delicate wine spent six years en tirage and is bursting with “floral notes of apple blossom, sweet lemon cream, and ripe, fleshy pears”.

But chardonnay remains the “king of Oregon white wines”, said Mike Desimone on Robb Report. For a special occasion, consider splashing out on a bottle from Eyrie Vineyard where winemaker Jim Maresh makes “small-batch, high-quality wines from estate-grown grapes under his family label”.

Or, you can’t go wrong with a Résonance chardonnay, said Vine Pair. When renowned French winemakers come to Oregon “you know to pay attention”. That’s exactly what happened when Thibault Gagey and Jacques Lardière embarked on their “first project outside of Burgundy” in the Willamette Valley – and this bottle is an “excellent example” of how the chardonnay grape variety is flourishing in the cool climate. Expect refreshing mineral notes, hints of “ripe pear and crisp apples”, with a “wonderfully balanced” palate.

Welcome to the icons-only edition of where to drink this spring. Half of the bars in this compilation are the kind of place where the drinking is simply a means to an end. The rest are bars where cocktail-making is revered. All have been around for a spell, achieving venerable notoriety in their respective cities. All hail the longtimers.

Barret Bar & Grill, Louisville

If the Barret Bar “were a person, it would be an old Hollywood character actor with stories about getting drunk with Errol Flynn and Betty Davis,” said the Louisville Courier Journal. Barret began its life as a shotgun bar in 1947 and has since expanded to three times the size with a handful of pool tables. The bar is no frills and all welcoming camaraderie. The “place has a heart and soul of its own,” said a former general manager, John Campbell, to the outlet.

Clermont Lounge, Atlanta

It is unjust to call the Clermont Lounge a strip club. Let’s call it a bar with strippers. Or a lounge, like its name connotes. A “core group of women” have worked there for more than 25 years, said Dana Hazels Seith in The Bitter Southerner. The Clermont, which debuted in 1965, is a rip-roaring good time; it is also a ravishing snapshot of what it means to be alive, to be human. “Every person who spent time there — from bartender to customer to dancer — told me the same thing,” said Seith. “You can be yourself at the Clermont Lounge.”

The Cloak Room, Austin

The Cloak Room’s location within spitting distance of the Texas capitol building might suggest there is some fanciness afoot here. Wrong! The lounge’s “lack of a hoity-toity menu” means that drinking here is “decidedly unfussy,” said Anthony Head at Austin Monthly about the bar that opened in 1979. You might encounter a politician taking a breather, sure. You will also assuredly find an “aged wooden countertop” and a “great neighborhood spot that prefers to fly a little under the radar.”

Cure, New Orleans

Cure, which opened in 2009, is both record-keeper and innovator, an admirable endeavor in a city that is the birthplace of the cocktail. Ask for any classic, and the bar will make it even if the drink is not listed on the regular menu. The bartenders are that adept. They are also ever-forward-thinking: Four times a year, the crew overhauls the seasonal drink menu. Fixed and fresh, Cure does it all.

Julius’, New York City

At once a raunchy dive bar and an LGBTQ+ icon, Julius’ has been open since the 1860s in Manhattan’s West Village neighborhood. And, yes, Julius’ is option D: all of the above. It is a place to meet the man of your dreams for a night, as well as one of the centerpieces of the queer civil rights movement. And as of 2022, Julius’ is an officially designated New York City landmark. For as long as there are people on planet Earth, may Julius’ reign.

The Normandie Club, Los Angeles

Whether you seek an “excellent first stop before a night out in Koreatown” or a “great nightcap destination after a dinner date,” The Normandie Club is an optimal choice, said The Infatuation. The swank, welcoming bar opened in 2015 and covers its bases. Margaritas, palomas and a whiskey-Aperol spritz are on draft for streamlined serving. On the flip side, the bar has reconsidered classic cocktails such as the gimlet and old-fashioned, the latter built with coconut-washed bourbon and spiced almond demerara syrup.

Smuggler’s Cove, San Francisco

The Tiki heyday, the story goes, occurred during the middle of the 20th century, with Americans pining for exotic locales and fruity cocktails. All true. You could instead argue, though, that the finest incarnation of Tiki-dom launched when Smuggler’s Cove opened in San Francisco in 2009. Fresh juices, quality rums, pristine drinkmaking technique — the Cove stupefied with its faultless approach. Yes, a Zombie from the Cove will render you lifeless. But it will taste so good before your demise begins.

Sweet Liberty Drinks & Supply Co., Miami

Sweet Liberty was a hit from the moment it opened in 2015. More than a decade on and endless accolades later, the “bar isn’t letting all that praise go to its head,” said Jennifer M. Wood at Condé Nast Traveler. Situated alongside the Bass Art Museum, Sweet Liberty is both a home base for locals and a destination for tourists. The cocktail list knows its mission: South Miami crowd-pleasers, thoughtfully considered, like a frothy Midori sour with green Chartreuse and an apple martini with apple brandy and dry vermouth.