Recipe collections

Baba ganoush, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dish, is a wonderfully smoky, creamy and smooth dip made with whipped flesh of charred whole aubergine.

Homemade basic tomato sauce made from scratch, and a couple of tins of good quality tomatoes. It is simple and delicious, making it no excuse to use shop-bought sauce on your pizza or pasta.

Caramelised courgettes with basil and garlic: is it a sauce, a condiment, a side dish? All of those and more.

Compound butter in three flavours: herb lemon butter perfect for steak, chilli crisp butter to transform cooked vegetables and chive butter, dreamy on baked potatoes.

Cranberry ketchup is a sweet, sour and salty condiment with a festive tang, excellent with roast meats instead of the usual cranberry sauce. Tomato ketchup is what springs to mind these days but it wasn’t always so - fish as above, mushroom in 18th century and even walnuts here and there.

Simple and easy cranberry sauce to serve with your turkey. It can be made well ahead of time as it stores well in the fridge. If you prefer it a little tarter, reduce the amount of sugar.

Fig confit with fresh fig chunks in madeira syrup, great with cheese or charcuterie. Something with figs but not jam was the objective. Why not jam?

Greengage jelly with chilli and rosemary is a full of flavour, unusual condiment. It’s a cross between greengage chutney and plum jam and it’s perfect with lamb.

Hot honey, the sweet and spicy condiment that is drizzled over pizzas, cottage cheese and roast chicken everywhere, is very easy to make.

Kewpie-style mayonnaise, the umami bomb of a condiment, which you can make in exactly one minute. A stick blender and a tall jar make true magic happen.

Thinly sliced fennel lightly wilted with salt and sugar is gorgeous, but the homemade ranch dressing with chives and dill is the star of the salad.

Mast-o-khiar is Persian yoghurt and cucumber dip with fresh herbs, walnuts and raisins. Samin Nosrat’s recipe suggests using labneh, strained yoghurt cheese, and that is a complete winner.

Homemade mayo, so rich and smooth you can eat it on its own. Patience in dripping oil into the mixer drop by drop pays off tenfold.

Muhammara, roasted red pepper and walnut dip, flavoured with pomegranate molasses and Aleppo pepper flakes. This should be a firm fixture in your next meze!

Creamy mushroom ragu made to Heston Blumenthal’s recipe is a rich and flavourful dressing for pasta, gnocchi or polenta. With a hint of tomato, it's Umami Central.

Mushroom sauce, creamy and fragrant, with a few dried wild mushrooms that make all the difference. The sauce for pasta, steak, chicken, meatballs and whatever you fancy.

Classic pesto is made from basil, toasted pine nuts, Parmesan and extra virgin olive oil. Easy to make at home and more versatile than you'd think.

How to make pomegranate molasses at home, using fresh fruit? Very easy, just like jam or cordial. Pomegranate molasses can be used as glaze on chicken or pork, mixed in dressings and drinks and much more.

Pork loin roasted at low temperature, served with blueberry sauce. Low temperature roasting makes for fantastic succulent meat and the blueberry sauce is the best for pork.

Italian meat ragù is widely known as Bolognese sauce and commonly drowning bowls of spaghetti outside Italy. Wrong: it should be sparsely served with tagliatelle.

Slow roasted strawberries become jammy but not too sickly, coated in luscious syrup, and they have a multitude of uses in desserts, cakes and afternoon tea confections.

Smoky tomato butter with incredible flavour is a creamy spread, sauce, condiment, everything. The most gorgeous way to use a glut of summer cherry tomatoes.

Whipped feta and hazelnut dip is heavenly spooned on cherry tomato halves. Snacking does not get much healthier than this!