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Recipes written for home kitchens, reviewed by a professional chef before they're published.

Duck confit cassoulet in an earthenware dish with a golden crust, white beans, duck legs and sausage

Recipe

Duck Confit Cassoulet

A slow-baked French cassoulet of white beans, confit duck legs, Toulouse sausages and pork belly, with a golden crust on top. A generous, make-ahead centrepiece for a winter dinner party.

A bowl of clear golden tomato consommé with diced tomato and a basil leaf

Recipe

Tomato Consommé

A crystal clear, intensely flavoured tomato consommé made by hanging blended ripe tomatoes in muslin overnight. No egg whites, no stock and no cooking: an elegant, make-ahead starter.

Manchester eggs cut in half, showing an egg wrapped in pork and black pudding with a crisp breadcrumb coating

Recipe

Manchester Egg

Manchester's answer to the scotch egg: a pickled egg wrapped in pork sausage meat and black pudding, coated in panko breadcrumbs and fried until crisp.

A dark traditional Christmas pudding topped with holly on a white plate

Recipe

Traditional Christmas Pudding

A rich, dark, properly old-fashioned Christmas pudding that you make weeks ahead, feed with brandy and steam again on the day.

Creamy garlic mushrooms with thyme and parsley on toasted sourdough

Recipe

Creamy Garlic Mushrooms

Golden mushrooms in a garlicky cream sauce, ready in 20 minutes. Serve on toast as a starter or a light lunch, or spoon them over a steak.

A smooth cheese sauce in a saucepan with a whisk and a block of cheddar

Recipe

How to Make a Cheese Sauce

A smooth, lump-free cheese sauce made with a simple roux, in 15 minutes. The base for macaroni cheese, cauliflower cheese, lasagne and more.

Shortcrust pastry rolled out on a floured worktop beside a lined tart tin

Recipe

How to Make Shortcrust Pastry

Crisp, buttery shortcrust pastry by hand or in a food processor, with how to blind bake it and how to avoid shrinking and soggy bottoms.

Sliced pink cannon of lamb with rosemary, garlic and salsa verde

Recipe

Cannon of Lamb with Rosemary and Garlic

What a cannon of lamb is, and how to cook it perfectly pink: seared, basted in garlic and rosemary butter, finished in the oven and served with a fresh salsa verde.

Cod and chorizo stew with butter beans and peppers in a cast iron casserole

Recipe

Cod and Chorizo Stew

A smoky one pot stew of cod, chorizo, peppers, tomatoes and butter beans, ready in under an hour. Serve with crusty bread to mop up the juices.

A bowl of smooth mushroom soup topped with sauteed mushrooms and thyme

Recipe

Mushroom Soup Without Cream

A rich, velvety mushroom soup with no cream at all. Well browned mushrooms and a potato give it body, and it is easily made vegan.

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