Dad's Cuisine

Chestnut, bacon and cranberry loaf Sweet and savoury come together in this chestnut, bacon and cranberry loaf. A delicious, seasonal cake that's perfect for those chilly autumn days. Chestnut, bacon and cranberry loaf Autumn has crept up on us. It's hard to explain why we are constantly surprised by the changing of the seasons, but every year we exclaim and complain how chilly and dark it's getting, as if this is the first time it's happened and the universe is pranking us.  But this year, we aren't complaining. In a time where everything is uncertain and we're all having to adapt to a new way of living, it can be comforting to honour the season's rituals and welcome a change that is familiar.  In our family, autumn heralds a period of long walks and foraging in the forest for mushrooms and chestnuts.  After all, eating seasonal foods is good for your health and great for your wallet.  Now, I'm not overly confident when it comes to mushrooms; I can't...

Caramelized onions and Camembert tart with hazelnut pastry This sweet and savoury tart with caramelized onions and melted Camembert is just the ticket when you want to indulge yourself on a cold winter evening. While preparing this recipe for caramelized onions and Camembert tart , I was transported back to my Mum's kitchen. I would often wander in to find her leaning over the kitchen counter, crying her eyes out and brandishing a sharp knife - no, she wasn't about to carry out a crime de passion ; she was merely chopping onions. And although I did shed a few tears making this, I think I may have found the best way to chop onions without crying - or at least to stem the flow of tears as much as possible.  I really love to make dishes with caramelized onions: they add a delicious sweetness to any savoury dish. I was inspired to make this recipe after my uncle visited my father recently. We hadn't seen him for about ten years, and Dad was thrilled to be ab...

BEEF BOURGUIGNON The temperatures are dropping and the sky is grey, which is perfect weather for some warm and hearty beef bourguignon!  Beef bourguignon My parents are people who grabbed life by the horns. Shortly after they married, an opportunity arose that would see them leaving family and friends in London and starting over in Paris. They jumped at the chance and never looked back. My brother and I were born and raised here, and although we maintained close ties with the British community by joining a British sports club for expats on the outskirts of Paris, my parents threw themselves into French life with gusto, and French food inevitably found its way onto our table through fondues, boudin noir and beef bourguignon . Boeuf bourguignon evokes cosy family suppers, bringing comfort and warmth on cold and dark winter evenings. I love making it because you can just chuck everything into the pot and leave it to simmer while you get on with other things and enjoy the...

PAPRIKA CHICKEN IN PARMESAN SAUCE This paprika chicken in parmesan sauce is a creamy, buttery dish that will delight friends and family for a laid-back dinner party.  I made this dish recently to celebrate my husband's birthday.  It's not the first time I've made it: the first time was one year ago, when I invited a bunch of friends round to surprise my husband for his birthday. About an hour before everyone was supposed to turn up, my husband complained of stomach cramps and was cruelly struck down by a nasty tummy bug. The surprise dinner was put on hold, babysitters cancelled, and TLC dispensed accordingly.  A couple of months later I invited more people round and made this same dish - but adverse weather conditions forced several guests to pull out at the last minute. Since then, I've associated this dish with scuppered plans - the upside being that at least I can tuck into a tasty meal (and I can have seconds. And thirds.)  That said, it really is a...

BEEF STIRY-FRY WITH PEANUT BUTTER AND OYSTER SAUCE  Packed with protein, this beef stir-fry with peanut butter and oyster sauce can be whipped up in next to no time.  Dad and I have always shared a love of peanut butter, a passion Mum could never understand. He has been known to scoop it straight out of the pot with a teaspoon; I like to spread it on celery sticks and convince myself I'm having a healthy snack. And now, much to my husband's bewilderment, my children have inherited this love of peanut butter - the crunchier the better. I don't think I've ever cooked using peanut butter, though I know it's great for satay sauce. I love the combination of peanut butter with the savoury-sweetness of oyster sauce in this dish.  It's ready in next to no time, with no need to marinade the beef. I was lucky to pick up a couple of Aberdeen Angus beef fillets, but any good-quality beef will do the trick. I've made this dish using  green beans (pictured), whic...

CHICKEN STIR-FRY WITH BASIL AND MINT This chicken stir-fry with basil and mint was the happy result of some poor meal planning. There's hardly any prep involved, making it a winner for evenings when you're pressed for time. I would like to claim that I'm organized in the kitchen and have the week's meals planned in advance, but that would be untrue. Most evenings I stare despairingly at the contents of my fridge and complain we have nothing to eat, much in the same way I stare despairingly at my clothes and complain I have nothing to wear.  More often than not, I write a list before I go to the supermarket and either forget the list at home or forget to buy things on the list. I end up impulse-buying and come home with ingredients that would be great in a meal if only I had all the other ingredients for that meal - just like when I buy fabulous shoes that don't match any of my outfits.   All of this means I have to improvise, chuck a few things together...

CHUNI LAL'S MALAI CURRY A tasty curry straight from Dad's childhood in India. Now that Dad has stopped relying so much on takeaways, he's been craving a decent homemade curry. Having grown up in Burma and India, he knows a thing or two about how a decent curry should taste.  This dish is one that was prepared by Dad's family's cook, Chuni Lal, when the family was in Delhi. As a child, Dad would sit cross-legged on the kitchen floor with Chuni Lal as he ground spices, chopped onions and garlic and smoked his biri (a foul smelling Indian cigarette, according to Dad).  This is a Malai recipe – Malai was the cooking style of the cooks of the Mughal emperors . The Mughals conquered the entire Indian subcontinent, but hated the spicy, fiery curries of their subjects. Malai cooking was created to make curries which were easier on the palate. We are exceedingly proud of Dad, who made this curry from scratch, using a recipe he found on a scrap of paper in his M...

COCONUT LIME CHICKEN & BROCCOLI Bring in the sunshine with this zingy, zesty dish.  One of the biggest challenges in teaching Dad how to cook is his dislike for vegetables - he has never enjoyed eating what he refers to as "green things". However, we all know that green, leafy vegetables are nature's gift to our guts, so I have to find creative ways of getting Dad to incorporate the dreaded green into his diet. Mum never simply boiled vegetables, but always prepared them with other ingredients to ensure they were bursting with flavor. Green beans, for example, were always made with garlic butter; the obligatory Christmas Brussels sprouts were tossed with roasted chestnuts, giving them a nutty, buttery taste. Despite these efforts, she still had to berate Dad at every meal to serve himself some veggies, whereupon he would protest and point to the three green beans on his plate. I actually created this recipe for my children, who also narrow their eyes wit...