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.

Dad’s Californian Salad with Artichokes and Fresh Vegetables

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

Roman Artichokes

This is one of the best ways to enjoy artichokes. I got these artichokes from Kingston Market – they’re fresh in from Italy.

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.

The Laughing Cow Lightest Loaded Quesadilla

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

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 Fondue

Asparagus goes well with Parmesan cheese. Asparagus also goes well with Taleggio and Gruyèr. It seems we can assume that asparagus works with cheese generally – so why not a fondue?

Asparagus in Miso Dressing

Like sesame sauce, miso ends up in sauces and dressing for many classic Japanese salads. Here I’ve combined miso with asparagus to make a rather exotic salad – wasabi on the side adds piquancy and a touch of jeopardy to the dish.

Asparagus and Tuna Sesame

It’s a Japanese way to mix sesame sauces in with food – I suspect the reason is because the sauce is so good it can’t help being slipped into all sorts of dishes…

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.

Why a foodie should walk down… Clerkenwell Road

Clerkenwell Road is part of a route linking east and west London, yet with its quiet passages and historic square it has the character of an intimate neighbourhood. It’s also home to a variety of foodie venues serving Clerkenwell’s creative community. Here’s some of our favourites.

Sweet Corn Memories

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

Can a Brownie be Healthy?

Dad explores the question, can a brownie be healthy? Reducing fats and replacing sugars with Xylitol and Stevia in an attempt to make an indulgent brownie.

Why You Must Walk Down Lower Marsh

Tucked beside the tracks of Waterloo is one of the capital’s most interesting little places. Lower Marsh is full of unassuming gems worth checking out.



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