Thomasina Miers’ recipes for lamb koftas with buttery tomato sauce and cacik

Several years ago, I was stranded in Istanbul because of the Icelandic eruptions. I wandered through the ancient city and was astounded by the beauty of the place – and just as much by its food. I tasted grilled meats cooked over open fires on the streets, and had a kofta dish served with cacik, a classic cucumber and mint sauce, that was so intensely delicious that the moment has been distilled in my memory. Mince, with good provenance and the right amount of fat to carry flavour and lend moisture, is a kitchen hero. Here, it delivers an astoundingly good dinner inspired by that meal, and which shouldn’t break the bank

Frying solo? 20 pantry, fridge and freezer essentials for single households

A decade ago I put together a Running Away from Home Cookbook as a gentle nudge to one of my millennial chicks. Too gentle as it turned out – 10 years later I was the one who left home. After a lifetime of cooking for the multitudes, I have adapted to cooking for one. It’s been both a relief and a revelation.Single householders aged 65 and over are increasing as a proportion of the population

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for baked feta tacos with pink onion and pineapple salsa | Quick and easy

I will never stop loving cheese and pineapple as a combination, and this version, with herby baked feta and spiced pineapple salsa, is the perfect update to the classic on a stick. Stuffed into warm tortillas with crunchy lettuce, this is a lovely summery dinner that comes together in minutes.The salsa is best made just before serving, so prep and chop everything and keep it separately in the fridge, if need be (though you could chop and mix the onion with the lime in advance).Prep 15 min Cook 25 min Serves 2200g block feta ½ tbsp olive oil 5-6 stalks oregano and/or thyme ½ tsp chipotle chilli flakes 4 small corn tortillas 1 romaine lettuce, finely slicedFor the salsa 1 fresh, ripe pineapple, peeled, cored and flesh cut into small chunks1 small red onion, peeled and very finely chopped1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped15g fresh mint, finely chopped1-2 limes, zest and juiceA pinch of sea salt flakesHeat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6. Put the feta on a lined baking tray, drizzle with the olive oil, then scatter over the oregano and/or thyme and chilli flakes, and bake for 25 minutes

How to make perfect fresh tomato pasta – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

“How many versions of fresh tomato sauce can there be?” Catherine, the generous winner of a charity auction to help me with the research for this column, asks when I tell her what recipe we’ll be making. On the contrary, I tell her, I’ve had my work cut out to narrow the selection here down to a mere seven, not least because the simpler the dish, the more argument there is over how it should be prepared, especially in a place as passionate about its food as Italy.Happily, I’ll have a lot of assistance, because Catherine has raised yet more money for Hospitality Rides (a fundraising initiative for two very worthy industry charities, Only a Pavement Away and the Licensed Trade Charity), by selling tickets to get other people to do my job for me, effectively. In an attempt to sweeten the deal, I tell my assembled minions (all hospitality professionals, though none, sadly, Italian chefs) that, according to Emiko Davies, this raw sauce is “quite possibly the best way to enjoy really good, ripe summer tomatoes – as well as making the most of spending as little time in front of a hot stove as possible”. Then I make them chop an awful lot of tomatoes in the service of perfection

The Greyhound, Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire: ‘An oligarch’s saloon bar teetering on the edge of chintz’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire is heroically lovely, but it does have about it a heavy whiff of the Hot Fuzz. It’s a market town with a nearby model village, while the “best things to do” section on TripAdvisor highlights the cemetery or a trip to the former residence of writer GK Chesterton. If all that fails to thrill, you could just go for lunch at the pub – although be aware that the Greyhound isn’t anything as simple as a plain old gastropub. Heck no, that would be something completely different: more shabbily chic, more carbohydrates on the menu, fewer staff calling you “Madam” while you’re en route to the loo and not even a hint of white peach granita on your burrata starter.The Guardian’s journalism is independent

What? They’re doing raves in the morning now? With coffee? At a cafe?

Daisy Dumas road tests a coffee rave in Sydney where there’s no alcohol and people dance all morning … soberGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailThe only ways I know to rave are festival-style or in the buzzed wee hours – the time between pubs shutting and trains starting. This means I’ve never walked into a cafe, fresh-faced and sober at 9am, with the intention of raving.But this is 2025, not the late 1990s, and people are possibly more questioning of the cost of partying on their bodies than they once were. So, coffee raves have become a thing.They’re all over the world and come in many shapes and sizes, tending towards the bijou