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.

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!

Orzo & Squash Pilaf with Harissa Chicken Wings

‘My kinda’ meal. Bread, chicken, yogurt, peas and pasta – all eaten with the hands. Seriously good food.’

Asparagus Vinaigrette with Soft Egg and Parmesan

A really easy and tasty starter or light lunch or supper. Make during summer when home-grown asparagus might still be available.

Asparagus Niçoise Salad

The exact constituent parts of an authentic Niçoise salad is a matter of contentious debate. There must be as many points of view as there are cooks. So I am throwing my hat into the ring and offer up Niçoise with asparagus!!

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.

Parma Ham and Asparagus

A great flavour combination and presented here as a main meal salad or antipasto.

White Asparagus, Butter Sauce, and Prawns

This is a spring asparagus dish – but not as we know it…

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?

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.

25 Go Mad in Franco Manca, Richmond

A new Franco Manca restaurant has just opened in Richmond. WDC was invited, with around 20 other influencers, to the soft launch.

Sweet Corn Memories

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

A Kerfuffle of Parma Ham…

Whilst shopping at the farm shop, I went to the delicatessen counter to buy some Parma ham for an antipasto. But there was a problem…

To Confit or Not to Confit

How can we say we’re ‘worth our salt’ unless we’ve submitted to the mysteries and heartaches of the confit and lived to tell the tale?



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