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.

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.

Apple Turnover Pancakes

‘This time Dad made crepes with Joe & Seph’s Sticky Toffee Sauce, apples and warmed in the oven…’

Dad’s Californian Salad with Artichokes and Fresh Vegetables

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

Plum Soba, Prawns and Shiso 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 and Cheese Pastry Parcels

Three asparagus and pastry recipes. Choose from goats cheese and spinach, Taleggio and mushroom, or Gruyère. All are quite simple and ideal for a light lunch or supper – or make in advance for a party or a picnic.

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…

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 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.

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….’

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.

Why You Should Try Octopus: A Pro Octopus Blog Post by Dad

Octopus will divide your audience – it’s a ‘Marmite’ type of food: you either love it or hate it. But why all the fuss? We eat all manner of odd things from the sea. So here’s why you should try octopus…

The Power and Pleasure of Pesto

Does anybody know how the perfect pesto should taste? The Genovese should, it’s where the dish originates…



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