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!

Be Inspired
Seasonal Favourites

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

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.

Asparagus and Salmon Quiche

The boys are not keen on quiche – but I cannot see what is not to like. Besides putting asparagus in a quiche is a good way to enjoy the asparagus season.

Hake in Green Sauce

This is a staple of the Basque region of Spain. It seems in every way a bit foreign or difficult. But it’s basically fish in a parsley flavoured sauce. It’s a good recipe to learn as you can swap around the ingredients endlessly to suit your taste and budget.

Artichokes and Lamb Noisettes with Potoatoes and Beans

Artichokes and lamb or lamb and artichokes. Whichever, it’s a brilliant combination.

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 and Salmon Quiche

The boys are not keen on quiche – but I cannot see what is not to like. Besides putting asparagus in a quiche is a good way to enjoy the asparagus season.

Asparagus Bruschetta

Most asparagus bruschetta recipes use goats cheese. I tried this and it’s okay but unremarkable, so I made a artichoke and cannellini bean puree to replace the cheese – it’s much better.

Asparagus, Plaice and Maltaise Mousse Canapes

This is a spin on Escoffier’s white asparagus with sauce maltaise. The two are often served as an accompaniment for a white fish such as turbot. Here the fish is plaice rolled around asparagus and a maltaise mousse and served as a canapé.

Dad’s Japanese style Asparagus Tempura Soba

This is a classic Japanese way with soba and tempura. Strickly speaking the asparagus tempura is kaki-age, made like a tempura fritter rather than individual spears coated in tempura. But such academic details seem trivial when it comes to tempura – any tempura is amazing – especially asparagus!

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.

Notes on Quick and Easy Cooking

I’ve recently posted a series of ‘quick and easy’ 30 minute recipes which have unexpectedly made me think again about the hyped-up online food industry – and my own cooking.

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….’

Sweet Corn Memories

Growing up in Southern California in the 60s, our family was fussy about its corn…

Garsons Farm, Esher’s Best Kept Secret

Esher town has something for everybody; but venture off the beaten track and you will find many attractions, including Garsons – a pick-your-own farm, garden centre and farm shop.



ADVERTISEMENT
© What Dad Cooked, 2026. Privacy Policy. Terms and Conditions. Twitter Instagram