In 1999, she introduced herself with clarity and unimpeachable purpose. “There is nothing worse,” she wrote, “than going out for Christmas lunch and finding someone’s done something interesting.”
Please, she beseeched us, leave the Armagnac lobster and experimental sides for another day. We cannot beat turkey, sprouts, and stuffing – nor should we presume to try.
Since then, I’ve noticed a trend in her recipes. She respects, but is not beholden to, culinary tradition (there’s a tried-and-true feel to her “old-fashioned” chocolate cake, except for the fact that she makes it in a blender).
Her common-sense practicality (don’t “bother” peeling carrots for her lasagne ragu; you “don’t need soap” when rinsing out a pan between sauces) means that when she tells you to go the extra mile, you listen.
In that same lasagne recipe, for instance, she asks you to infuse the milk for your béchamel, which really does make a difference.
There is a strictness to Nigella’s decadence and a decadence to her strictness. No, you cannot call them roast potatoes unless they are “sweet and soft inside and a golden-brown carapace of crunch without”. But isn’t there something atavistically gleeful about giving “the potatoes a proper bashing so that their edges fuzz and blur a little”?
Combine that with a frankly childish hedonism (she has a crumble recipe for two, because sometimes she’d share a whole tray for dinner), and it’s no wonder her recipes are so often delicious. What if the kid in the proverbial candy shop knew how to flambé a crêpe, and also quite liked Gentleman’s Relish?
6 of the best Nigella recipes I’ve tried
Is it naff to call this “a classic for a reason”? It’s certainly the best I’ve tried.
Yes, it takes a long time to make. But every possible shortcut (blending the veg, skipping handmade pasta, cooking the mince and onions together) has been identified and included.
Everything that remains is absolutely crucial for an eye-wateringly delicious depth of flavour. And, if it lasts that long, this lasagne tastes even better the next day.
2) “Old-fashioned” chocolate cake
Here’s my hot take: most cake is bad. The invention is good, but its failed interpretations (dry sponge; sickly, grainy buttercream) far outnumber more successful specimens.
Of course, Nigella would never do that to us. This luxurious cake – which, I’ll remind you, is made in a blender – is fudgy, moist perfection.
Man cannot, it transpires, live off cake and hours-long lasagne alone. For a speedy, healthy-ish midweek meal that won’t offend your sense of dignity, this zippy pasta comes together in 15 minutes.
Rocket, chilli, and lemon render tuna’s solemn meatiness fresher and more fun. The texture’s great too – neither too slick nor too dry.
It’s a recipe Nigella herself said is “embarrassingly easy to make and unembarrassingly easy to eat,” which ought to be obvious from the name alone.
All you’ll need is a blender, a big bowl, and a cake tin for this dangerously simple fridge cake. Somehow, despite its masses of sugar and chocolate, the recipe’s tangy sour cream, salty Digestives, and nutty topping make it surprisingly well-balanced.
It’s basically a normal tiramisu, but Nigella puts Bailey’s in the coffee part. Need I say more?
6) A highly adaptable crumble topping
If I’m being honest, I never really crave a balanced, proper crumble. I actually just want a pan of thick crumble topping, with a teaspoon-high layer of fruit somewhere deep below and a lake of custard on top.
This, of course, poses challenges. Layer the topping on too thick, and it risks staying soggy and gluey in the middle while the top grows dry and dusty.
Nigella’s solution – mixing baking powder into the flour – might have originally been meant to make a regularly proportioned dessert lighter and less stodgy. As it happens, it works for my less respectable purposes, too.
To be fair, I didn’t just rely on Nigella’s advice here – tips from Mary Berry and Gordon Ramsay have helped me to achieve my own go-to carrot cake recipe. But her version provided some of the more structurally important elements of my dessert.
For instance, she recommended adding a teaspoon of baking powder to plain flour rather than using the self-raising kind. This kind of control is needed in such a damp recipe.
Nigella deems ginger a non-negotiable here, and so do I. She also taught me to add some butter to the cream cheese icing, which gives it some extra hold at room temperature.
This is the cake my partner always requests for their birthday, and they like two layers of icing. Still, if I were making it for myself, I’d follow the GBBO host’s instructions there too: apply it “only on top, not running through the middle as well”.
