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.

Creamy, Buttery Asparagus Risotto

‘Risotto is my favourite dish, ever.’

Braised Lamb Belly

‘Here’s one of Dad’s more elaborate dishes from a while back – in true Dad fashion he buries himself in the kitchen experimenting with new techniques. Five hours later out come these little gems…’

Goat’s Cheese, Beetroot and Poppy Seed Salad

This is inspired by a recipe in the book, ‘Salad’ by Amy Nathan (1985).

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 Spring Roll

Spring rolls never fail to impress or delight. These rolls are designed to celebrate the asparagus season and although they taste deliciously Asian, you really can taste the asparagus. It works a treat.

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!

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.

Asparagus and peas braised in butter with herbs, hazelnuts, kasha and lemon

It’s the British asparagus season – make the most of it with this very simple combination: fresh asparagus from local fields and fresh peas from a pod, boiled and then quickly braised in butter, with lemon herbs and hazlenuts and kasha for a bit of crunch.

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.

Cookbooks

I have hundreds. So many in fact, that cracks are beginning to appear in the walls around my various libraries from holding the sheer weight of the tomes.

Avocadogate

I must admit to enjoying some satisfaction over the backlash to Nigella’s ‘avocado on toast’ feature in her new television series, Simply Nigella. The furore caused by exaggerated twists and eulogies over a recipe that is as simple as…

How to Cook Like Claude Bosi

Saturday Morning Kitchen is a great start to the weekend for any aspiring home cook. I’m often inspired by the show and adapt many of it’s recipes.

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.



ADVERTISEMENT

GET THE LATEST STUFF!

Sign up to the WDC newsletter for the latest recipes, foodie stories and ingredient specials!

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