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.

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.

A Simple Sharer of Asparagus with Butter and Lemon

Most cooks agree that when you have an amazing ingredient it is best to prepare it as simply as possible. And they are not wrong: this must be the very best way to eat asparagus. Steamed and presented in a big stack to share. Butter, salt and lemon are optional extras…

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.

Panelle (Sicilian Chickpea Fritters) with Lemon Basil Flowers

A Sicilian specialty made with chickpea flour. I’ve made my variety using lemon-scented basil flowers from Casanova and Daughters of Covent Garden.

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, Jersey Royal and Parmesan Fritatta

Fresh asparagus is full of flavour and goodness – the perfect vegetable to celebrate the arrival of spring. Dairy, eggs, potatoes, Parmesan and parsley all marry well with tasty asparagus and come together to create this delicious frittata recipe.

Asparagus Summer Roll

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

Asparagus Vignarola

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

Grilled Asparagus

This is not really a recipe, more a method for grilling or griddling your 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.

Our Favourite German Snack, Are Pretzels Unhealthy?

I was enjoying my ‘pretzel moment’ when it occurred to me that my lunch was actually quite salty. Can a pretzel have too much salt?

The Power and Pleasure of Pesto

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

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….’

Top 10 Classic Family Meals

A list of our top family meals we used to have together when the children were growing up.



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