What’s the secret to crisp-skinned fish? | Kitchen aide

When I fry fish, the skin never goes crisp, and instead either sticks, rips or goes limp. What am I doing wrong?Emily, by email “The secret to perfectly crisp fish skin is heat,” says Mitch Tonks, founder of Rockfish in south-west England. Well, heat plus a little bit of prep. Fish are, of course, moist things, and moisture is the enemy in the quest for that golden-brown crust, so the first thing Emily is going to need to do is dry that skin out. “If the fish has any moisture on it, it will create steam while it’s being cooked, which, in turn, will make the skin go soggy and inedible, rather than crisp and delicious,” says British fish guru Nathan Outlaw, whose latest book, On Fish: A Seafood Handbook, is published next month

Thomasina Miers’ recipe for stuffed cabbage in white wine and escabeche, with buttered dill and pea rice | Sunday best

I love stuffed vegetables. When I was young, I came across a recipe for stuffed aubergines in an old book of my mother’s and must have cooked it a score of times. Later, in the early 1990s and to the echoes of nouvelle cuisine, Delia Smith showed us how we could work similar magic with peppers and tomatoes. Then the technique went deeply out of fashion, but I stayed loyal, and continued quietly stuffing tomatoes, pumpkins and courgettes, all no doubt influenced by my travels in Mexico. Thoday’s stuffed cabbage is inspired by the most delicious tongue in a tantalisingly light escabeche that I once had at Nicos in Mexico City, and also because I can’t get enough of cabbage at the moment

Georgina Hayden’s quick and easy recipe for cauliflower, lentils and chorizo | Quick and easy

The transformation that cauliflower undergoes in a very hot oven means there is now rarely a time when I don’t roast it first. Making cauliflower cheese? Roast, don’t boil – you’ll end up with a richer, potentially less watery finish. Soup? Absolutely roast it first – it is a gamechanger and almost feels insulting to boil it, because that doesn’t release its full potential. Here, roasting cauli with a few spices and paprika-laced chorizo is a dream, resulting in a salad or side that’s packed with flavour and creates its own intense dressing. It is the sort of dish I will make just for me, then proudly tub up leftovers for meals the following days

Meal-breakers: can any relationship survive food incompatibility?

For Anna Jones, it’s lemons. For Ben Benton, it’s rice. For Gurdeep Loyal, it’s anchovies on pizza and, for me, it’s Yorkshire Tea in the morning. I could – did – date someone who “didn’t drink hot drinks”, but I would never have married a man I couldn’t make tea for when I woke up, or who couldn’t make me tea in turn.The Guardian’s journalism is independent

How to make salt and pepper squid – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass

This crisp, salty, pungently aromatic dish is a strong contender to kick off my fantasy final meal – it wouldn’t really go with the steak frites and trifle to follow, but I find the combination of hot, crunchy batter and soft, creamy squid utterly irresistible. Happily, there’s no need to save it for the end times when it’s so easy to make for dinner tonight.Prep 10 min Cook 15 min Serves 2350g small sustainably-sourced squid, cleaned and defrosted, if necessary¾ tsp black or white peppercorns ¾ tsp Sichuan peppercorns ¼ tsp fine salt 50g potato starch, or cornflour 1 generous pinch MSG (optional)1 egg, beatenNeutral oil, to deep fry1 red chilli, stalk, pith and seeds discarded, flesh finely sliced2 spring onions, trimmed, white and green parts finely sliced1 garlic clove, peeled and slicedIf you’re not a fan of the cephalopod, this recipe can be easily adapted to suit anything from small pieces of chicken or fish to whole prawns or mushrooms (king oysters seem to be the most popular, if you can get hold of them; as with anything with a high water content, however, you’ll need to blanch and drain them first).I prefer to use smallish rather than baby squid for this, but it will work with all sizes. Ask your fishmonger to clean them for you, if they’re not already done (those sold frozen generally are), or look at a guide online to help if you’re unsure of how to do this

Trillium, Birmingham B4: ‘There’s a general feeling of people – gasp! – actually enjoying life’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

Trillium, the latest Birmingham restaurant by Glyn Purnell, is absolutely not one of those po-faced, sedate, mumbly kind of places where some Ludovico Einaudi is piped plinky-plonkily throughout the dining room while guests stiffly eat six teensy courses. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, even if Purnell, via the likes of Purnell’s and Plates, is pretty much synonymous throughout the Midlands with fancy, special-occasion, Michelin star-winning refinement. Yet on a recent Saturday night, in this brand new, glass-fronted, multicoloured mock birdcage, the talk is loud, the music is roaring and the plates of battered potato scallop with soured cream are appearing thick and fast.Trillium is a genuine attempt by a Michelin-starred restaurateur to translate some of their best bits into a semi-rowdier yet still upmarket stage. It’s been attempted many times by other chefs (see Corenucopia and Bar Valette for details), but, miraculously, Purnell seems to have pulled it off