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.

Shoulder of Pork with Potato Dumplings and Red Cabbage

This is the dish you can find at Seins’ Kingston branch called: Schweinebraten mit Kartoffelknödel und Rotkraut. I had if for my birthday meal with family and friends: it was a perfeect meal, in wonderful company.

Asparagus Summer Roll

Asian asparagus salad in a rice paper wrap – not your usual way with asparagus – but well worth the effort.

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!!

Porchetta: A Traditional Italian Stuffed Roast Pork Joint

A traditional Italian roast pork joint for a special occasion.

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 Filo Tartlets

These little quiches are full of spring vegetables, served with a salad they would make a brilliant lunch or light supper.

Asparagus Vignarola

This is an Italian stew made from spring vegetables including artichokes, broad beans, peas.

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 Pizza

This recipe matches asparagus with a deconstructed puttanesca sauce. Surprisingly, this really works – the asparagus stands up well to the robust pizza flavours.

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.

British Pie Banquet at The Thomas Cubitt

In case you didn’t know, this week is ‘British Pie Week’ – a fact that might have inspired The Tomas Cubitt gastro-pub to celebrate by hosting a British ‘Pie Banquet’ earlier in the week.

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.

Making Cheese in a Bottle

I was aware of the basic principles of cheese making as a child. The micro cultures and chemical reactions did not exist in petri dishes or test tubes, but right inside our daily pints of milk.



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