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The Guardian
24-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
Bowls of comfort: seven soothing soup recipes to get you through winter
When the throw blanket isn't cutting it, soup feels like the best way to warm up from the inside out. It's nourishing, versatile and you can make use of the season's best veggies, with leftovers for easy office lunches. Here are seven recipes for simple soups, ranging from a 15-minute tom yum to a Slavic recipe that transforms sad root vegetables. Swap your knives and forks for spoons and get slurping. (Pictured above) When you're facing a dinner-time emergency, Lara Lee's sweet, sour and spicy soup is a quick and delicious solution. Store-bought tom yum paste is the key ingredient, and if you don't have prawns you can sub them out for your preferred protein or veg. 'I've used it to rescue meals for the best part of my adult life,' Lee says. It's a classic for a reason. To nail the ultimate pumpkin soup, we're taking notes from Felicity Cloake, who recommends using stock instead of water. 'I prefer chicken to vegetable stock [as] it tends to blend more easily with other ingredients: pumpkin is easily overwhelmed by more strident vegetables,' she says. She keeps it simple with sauteed red onions and carrots to enhance the pumpkin's sweetness. You'll need at least an hour to roast the beetroot and garlic for this vibrant, fragrant soup but the results will be worth it. The sweetness from the beetroot is complemented by the tartness of the saffron-infused yoghurt that is dolloped on top. Ottolenghi finishes his with a sprinkle of almonds. It's a dish he says reminds him of the flavours of home. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning Colder weather not only brings sniffly noses but also a lack of energy and motivation. Both are symptoms of what Hetty Lui McKinnon has called 'the mid-season slump'. Let lashings of ginger, garlic and bok choy simmer away to create the perfect soup for when you are in need of a pick-me-up. 'This is a dish is designed to restore our sense of wellbeing,' McKinnon says. Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion Unassuming at first, but packing a punch, the humble kidney bean is the base of this hearty soup. Don't let the mention of dumplings scare you as they come together quickly with a simple combination of flour, salt and thyme. Once the soup has thickened, top with extra crispy bacon for a surge of 'salty deliciousness', as Jack Monroe puts it. There is nothing more disheartening than seeing wilted vegetables at the bottom of your fridge's crisper drawer but they don't have to be a lost cause. Alice Zaslavsky has a tasty Slavic recipe that transforms sad root vegetables into a nourishing meal. Soften fennel, carrot, potato, turnip and cabbage together for a cost-effective option that lasts up to a week. The French restaurateur Marc Kuzma believes that making french onion soup from scratch is 'one of the easiest dishes' you can make. His one-pot wonder can be whipped up in 15 minutes from eight ingredients, including half a cup of cognac and white wine. 'Using a good quality cognac and white wine is very important,' Kuzma says.
The Guardian
10-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
The secret to good coleslaw
What's the trick to great coleslaw?Chris, Paignton, Devon'Coleslaw is such an under-rated salad,' says the Guardian's Felicity Cloake, whose latest book, Peach Street to Lobster Lane, was published last week. 'Familiarity breeds contempt.' (As do those claggy tubs you get in supermarkets.) The whole point of coleslaw is that the veg has to be crisp, which is why Cloake shreds rather than grates the cabbage (a mandoline or food processor is helpful here). 'That will leave it less mushy. And, if you have the patience, shred the carrot, too.' Cloake tosses the two with salt, vinegar and a little sugar, then leaves the mix to sit: 'This both softens and seasons it.' Then, once drained, bring on the mayo: 'Don't go overboard, though – it should be lightly dressed rather than gloopy.' Conveniently, Jessica Prescott, author of Epic Salads: For Every Mood, Craving and Occasion, has been working on an essential coleslaw guide, and her dressing template goes like this: 'Two tablespoons of something creamy [mayo, sour cream, yoghurt], a tablespoon of something acidic [lemon or lime juice, apple cider vinegar], and citrus zest, if you like. A spoonful of mustard, honey or soy sauce can deepen the flavour.' If mayo is your 'something creamy', Richard Turner, chef/partner of Bodean's, advises adding some soured cream or creme fraiche, too, though Jack Croft, chef/co-owner of Fallow, Fowl and Roe, all in London, would ditch the white stuff altogether. He favours dijon mustard, a splash of good-quality vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil and a load of fresh herbs (chives, parsley): 'That'll be rich enough without feeling heavy.' Cloake often adds horseradish or mustard, plus finely chopped spring onion or chives. Another good tip for counteracting coleslaw that cloys comes from the queen of country herself, Dolly Parton. In her book DollyWood Presents Tennessee Mountain Home Cooking, she combines dill pickle brine with mayo, white vinegar and seasoning (and adds a minced pickle to the slaw, too). Whatever your poison, it's then time to prep the veg, Prescott says: 'Thinly slice a quarter of a small green, red, savoy or napa cabbage, soak in cold water, then spin dry for maximum crunch.' You could bolster things with grilled corn ('my absolute favourite'), carrot or cucumber: 'Grated, finely diced or thinly sliced all work, but if you're adding water-heavy veg, sprinkle with salt and let them sit first.' Soft herbs, 'finely chopped so they integrate rather than dominate', are non-negotiable, too, as is setting the lot aside for 15 minutes, so 'the flavours get friendly'. Once dressed, 'taste, taste, taste', Turner says, because 'a slaw's character changes over time'. And if you're not eating it straight away, Croft advises to cover and chill. 'Just before serving, season with salt and a good squeeze of lemon – this keeps the slaw fresh, bright and avoids clagginess.' There is, of course, a whole world of slaws beyond coleslaw. Start by mixing up the veg: Turner combines a shredded savoy, two finely sliced onions, a julienned granny smith, a thinly sliced green pepper, a jalapeño and chopped coriander and mint. 'Mix 100ml yoghurt, the juice and grated zest of two limes, some salt and sugar, and pour over the vegetables,' says Turner, who chills until ready to serve. 'I make one with ribboned mango tossed with sliced red onion, chilli and coriander,' adds Maria Bradford, food writer and chef/owner of Shwen Shwen in Sevenoaks, Kent, who brings that together with a lime and maple dressing. 'It's delicious with grilled meat or a whole baked bass or snapper.' The real takeaway here is that slaws are 'one of the most flexible dishes around', Prescott says, so do your worst: 'They're riffable and always satisfying.' Got a culinary dilemma? Email feast@
BBC News
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
From Tabasco sauce to Taiwanese Tex-Mex: Felicity Cloake's American odyssey
For her new book, Peach Street to Lobster Lane, British food writer Felicity Cloake cycles across the US from coast to coast in search of a definition for its national cuisine. Gordon Ramsay famously credits his success in the US to Americans knowing nothing about good food. Felicity Cloake begs to differ. In her new book, Peach Street to Lobster Lane, the award-winning British food writer sets out to challenge the stereotype of American food as deep-fried and cultureless. "On this trip, I'm determined to find this unicorn, cover it with ketchup and pickles and have it for lunch," she writes. Over the course of 10 weeks and several thousand kilometres, she cycles coast to coast across the US, discovering independent restaurants, fusion cuisine and an attitude towards food she's seen nowhere else in the world. Her food-filled obsession takes her from San Francisco's most refined sourdough to the home of the hamburger in Columbus, Ohio. Along the way, she explores the source of Tabasco on Avery Island and feasts on crawfish on an accidental stop in Houston. Her mission? To discover what, if anything, ties American cuisine together and to celebrate the creativity, history and heart she finds everywhere she goes. We caught up with Cloake to talk about the good, the greasy and the gloriously surprising food that fuelled her adventures. Why did you decide to write a book about American food?I don't think my publisher will mind me saying that they were a bit reluctant, because the theme is a bit tricky. If you don't already love America and its cuisine, it's difficult to see beyond the top-line stereotypes of McDonalds, KFC, ridiculous eating competitions and too much on the plate. It doesn't sound very attractive. But I was thinking about the amazing Mexican food and all the different immigrant cuisines there. There's much more of a sense of possibility, fun and flexibility when it comes to cooking in America. They don't feel so hide-bound to tradition for a lot of things as we do in Europe. And that was so exciting to me; uncovering this really playful attitude to food that manifests in potentially fun but unhealthy things like, you know, a cheeseburger that has doughnuts instead of a bun. There is some fantastic food and fantastic produce in the US, but it just gets sort of swept under the carpet because we only see this cartoonish version. For me, there's always been a glamour about America, which I find hard to shake. It's a sense of "wow, everything's like it is in the movies". And it is! You spent 10 weeks cycling across the US in search of the best food. Why did you decide to travel by bike? I thought: I've cycled in Italy, I've cycled in France. How different can it be? And then when I got closer to the trip, I was more concerned. Everyone I knew tried to put me off. But I actually found that it was a great place to cycle. I did end up riding down a six-lane freeway in LA, but there are lots of little roads too. It's a bit like France in that way; because the country is so vast, the smaller roads tend to be quite quiet. It gave me access to a side of America that I hadn't seen before because I'd always been in a car, passing through at speed. Did you discover a culinary style that is distinctly American? Yes! I think it centres around the idea of playfulness and a lack of concern for tradition and the "right" way of doing things. That's what annoys so many people from the more established and conservative food cultures about American food; that's why they are so dismissive. It's a fun place to eat and they've got some great produce. They don't overcomplicate it either. I had some brilliant farm-to-table food in New England in particular. When American food is good, it's up there with the world's best. People need to look beyond the American businesses that are on their local high streets to find real American cuisine. It's a very fun place to eat. What was your favourite meal? I find mashups of unexpected food cultures really exciting. My best meal was at a restaurant in San Antonio where a Taiwanese American chef was making the Tex-Mex food she had grown up with, under Taiwanese influences. So it was things like an orange chicken fried steak and mochi hush puppies. I found that exciting because it's not something that you would ever find somewhere else. Tex-Mex is seen as a mash up in itself, and to add a third culture to the mix just feels mind blowing. There was so much creativity and fun, but it was also delicious. It was clever cooking but it was light-hearted as well, and I love that. What surprised you most about the trip? America is expensive! Ten years ago, travelling in America was very cheap. Food was cheap, motels were cheap. But that is no longer the case – and it was a bit of a shock to the system. I bought a grapefruit in Ohio that cost $2.99 – it would have cost 60p in the UK, and it had surely been grown in Florida. So that was extraordinary. Then the whole tipping culture thing… it's just a really expensive place to struck you most about the differences between English and American food culture?It was difficult getting food that wasn't processed in some way. It's not that people aren't health conscious, it's more that the stuff being marketed as health food is at odds with what I would regard as healthy food. It's very processed, it's packaged. I found it hard to find an unprocessed fruit or vegetable. More like this:• The truth about the US' most iconic food• Is the future of French cheese at stake?• Tucson: The US's ancient, underrated culinary capital Then the throwaway nature of everything really bothered me. It's hard to recycle there. And I don't get the same enjoyment from eating from a plastic plate. There are a few issues surrounding food that made me proud of how much British food has changed. What was your biggest learning from the trip? I hadn't appreciated that all stereotypes of American food in my mind – the hotdogs, burgers and ice cream sundaes – were all imports as well. I had thought about Mexican food and Korean food, and then the rest was American food. But I realised that no; all the food bar Native American food heritage – which is being reclaimed these days – all of it is an import. I would love to go to the Lakes region and learn more about that food culture. There's popcorn, jerky and wild rice, although that's more of an ingredient than a dish. Overall, it's a much more exciting cuisine than I imagined it would be. As different waves of people come in and mix, there's more to see and try. It's evolving and changing – it feels like boundless possibility. Is there anything you'd do differently if you had the chance to do it again?I do slightly regret that I didn't eat any really trashy fast food that we don't get here yet. There is a lot more that I could have found. Another odd regret is that I didn't eat more. I was obsessed with the idea that I was going to die if I didn't eat enough vegetables. I ate a lot of salads out of the bag. I think I might have been a bit overanxious with that, looking back. And if it wasn't for my dog, I would have gone for longer. I would have liked to have spent more time in Texas, for sure. There's so much more to explore. Peach Street to Lobster Lane: Coast to Coast in Search of American Cuisine by Felicity Cloake, is published by Mudlark and is released on 5 June 2025. -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Guardian
20-02-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Bored kids and empty cupboards? Try these child-friendly recipes this half-term
This is an extract from our weekly Feast newsletter, written by Felicity Cloake, Meera Sodha, Rachel Roddy and others. Sign up here to get it free to your inbox every Thursday. Happy half-term everyone! If you are a parent reading this, the chances are you are in desperate need of a snack/strong coffee/stiff drink. I start these school breaks with great intentions – lots of wholesomeness, baking, arts and crafts, and so forth. But the snack cupboard is now bare, the kids have had a side of cucumber sticks with every meal as a token bit of 'green' and there are only so many episodes of Bluey I can take (actually, that's a lie, but you know, we can't have it playing all day). To go out with a bang, I've got a few last-minute treats up my sleeve. First are these ham and mozzarella rice cakes from Yotam Ottolenghi, which look fun to make and eat. All three of the recipes in this article look great and would go down a treat with my small people. The same goes for this cracking collection of six kid-friendly recipes, including a stew with dumplings from yours truly. Uyen Luu's recipe for egg-fried noodles with broccoli and runner beans is a big hit in our house, a real weeknight staple – I just replace the veg with whatever I have to hand. I cannot wait to try David Frenkiel and Luise Vindahl's halloumi veggie burgers: they sound right up our street. I've got Alice Zaslavsky's traybake pizza lined up for Saturday night; the kids will love getting messy making that. We'll tuck into it with a movie or Gladiators – our regular Saturday night treat – and if I don't have too much guilt about the amount of sugar consumed, I'll get them to make these fun Willy Wonka chocolate pops for afters. I'm also keen to give this cupcake caterpillar by David Atherton a try. I love the idea of using banana, spinach and courgette in the cake batter; it's fun and wholesome, and my kids will be thrilled with the vibrant green colour. And finally, as Stuart Heritage explains in this lockdown article that features 15 tips for cooking with kids, the most important thing is to make food they'll actually want to eat. It's all well and good being aspirational and getting them to try something new, but for the best results try offering new dishes alongside the familiar. A new vegetable they haven't had before? Serve it alongside their favourite pasta. I'm planning on getting the girls to make Yotam's rainbow-layered dip (pictured top) tonight alongside some more familiar cheesy quesadillas. It can take a few attempts before something becomes a win. But if they can help you in the preparation, then there is even more chance they will give it a try. You've got them to experience something new and incorporated an educational activity into your day. If that isn't a half-term win, I don't know what is. Unexpected item in the bagging area | If you live in a big city, you probably have your pick of artisanal food shops, piled high with chilli oils and sauces. As a suburban dweller, I often get FOMO on the condiment front, so I am a big fan of Delli's online food haven. My current obsession is the crispy chicken skin sambal from Mirin, and I always try to grab a jar of croissant butter from Mancunian bakery Pollen. But you have to be quick, because that stuff is more sought after than a ticket to Glastonbury. Sign up to Feast Recipes from all our star cooks, seasonal eating ideas and restaurant reviews. Get our best food writing every week after newsletter promotion What I've been reading | It's not a new release, but I have just started reading The Vegetarian by Han Kang, who won the Nobel prize in literature in 2024. First published in 2007, in South Korea, with an English translation released in 2015, The Vegetarian tells the story of Yeong-hye, an artist and homemaker whose decision to become vegetarian leads to devastating consequences. Her story is told in three parts by various family members; the first being her husband, Mr Cheong. It is captivating, uncomfortable, eye-opening and I am totally gripped. Top marks for a student dinner | A few weeks ago I had the privilege of visiting Ulster University in Belfast. My day started by talking to some of the culinary arts students, followed by hosting a Greekish dinner at their awe-inspiring Academy restaurant. Academy not only looks like a swish eatery, but it is a great opportunity for the uni students to gain priceless cheffing experience, both front and back of house. If you are visiting this brilliant city, make a beeline for their student menus or Culinary Salon events. It's great seeing the next generation in action. Don't get our Feast newsletter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here to get our free food newsletter in full every Thursday
