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.

Goat’s Cheese, Beetroot and Poppy Seed Salad

This is inspired by a recipe in the book, ‘Salad’ by Amy Nathan (1985).

Quick and Cheap Chilli con Carne

‘With meat or vegetarian, everybody loves Chilli Con Carne don’t they..?’

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!!

Thai Green Prawn Curry

‘One of the best Thai Green Prawn Curries I’ve had and packed full of Thai flavours. It’s a simple dish, and a quick one to rustle up after work for the family.’

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 Mini Wellingtons

These are outrageously delicious. Serve warm as an hors d’oeuvre.

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.

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.

Comparing the Raw Taste of Four Garlic Cultivars

I’m testing garlic. Well, somebody has to do it.

Notes on Quick and Easy Cooking

I’ve recently posted a series of ‘quick and easy’ 30 minute recipes which have unexpectedly made me think again about the hyped-up online food industry – and my own cooking.

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.



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