What Dad Cooked is a collection of our dad’s recipes, thoughts, tips and cooking hacks that simply need to be shared with all you foodies!

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Seasonal Favourites

Some delicious seasonal summer family recipes to choose from the What Dad Cooked repertoire.

Biscotti Eight Ways

I made eight flavours of biscotti as Christmas gifts. A bit mad, but lots of fun. The photo shows the hazelnut, orange and chocolate, and chocolate and chocolate flavour – the rest were eaten!

Hearty Squash and Sausage Casserole

‘Loads of sauce and loads of flavour. Here’s an inexpensive and tasty winter warmer that will satisfy the whole family without breaking the bank.’

Five-Spice Glazed Gammon with Five-Spice Sauce

Pete always liked my Asian-flavoured sweet glazed ham. So here is a version based on five-spice flavourings.

Dad’s Californian Salad with Artichokes and Fresh Vegetables

A delicious salad of fresh vegetables, typical of those grown in my childhood home!

Latest recipes

Check out Dad's latest homecooked dishes and recipes below. Or click recipes in the menu to browse through 6+ years of Dad's homecooking recipes for families.

Cassoulet de Toulouse à la Pappa

A perfect winter warmer – Cassoulet!

The Laughing Cow Lightest Loaded Quesadilla

Try Dad’s loaded low-fat salsa quesadillas with The Laughing Cow Lightest x8 cheese.

Melanzane Parmigiana with Dolmio 7 Vegetables Sun Ripened Tomato & Basil Pasta Sauce

An excellent way to turn a popular Italian slow food standard into an easy and quicker family classic.

Pumpkin Pie

My best pumpkin pie yet!

Asaparagus

A seasonal favourite ingredient of Dad's, so much so he made a 30 recipe series about the green spears! Try these recipes whilst asparagus can still be found locally.

Asparagus Vignarola Pappardelle

This recipe uses a vignarola recipe but combines with pasta. A very good combination…

San Joaquin Battered Asparagus

In San Joaquin County, at Stockton California they stage an Asparagus Festival in April. Stockton is the centre of asparagus growing in California so it makes sense to celebrate the crop…

Grilled Asparagus

This is not really a recipe, more a method for grilling or griddling your asparagus.

Asparagus and Potato Samosas

This is an asparagus spin on a pea and potato samosa. I’ve held back on some of the spices to allow the asparagus to shine through.

Dad's Food Journal

Dad loves to write about food. Whether it's discovering a new road local to London or Surrey, where the treasures of foodie stores and independent shops delight—or Dad's macro observations in the world of food. Dad's articles (and foodie stories to his recipes) are a funny and knowledgable journey through the lense of how pops views the world.

Ode to an Omelette Pan

Those of a certain age will remember the post-Elizabeth David halcyon days of home gastronomy…

Making Chocolates

Making chocolates is a labour of love. They need time and patience – and practice. But just like any kitchen skill, the more you do it the easier it becomes. So persevere. They are great fun and very rewarding to give as presents.

How Many People will a Salmon Feed?

It’s a Friday and Darren Poulter, the fishmonger is plying his wares: ‘Lovely wild sea bass today, beautiful Cornish mackerel, line caught cod….’

Wagamama and the Rise of Katsu Curry

The Wagamama in Wigmore Street opened in 1998 and was the chain’s third London restaurant.



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