Jamie Oliver to relaunch Italian restaurant chain in UK six years after collapse

Jamie Oliver is to revive his Jamie’s Italian restaurant chain in the UK, more than six years after the celebrity chef’s brand collapsed.Jamie’s Italian is poised to be relaunched in the spring, starting with a restaurant in London’s Leicester Square.Oliver’s return to the UK restaurant scene is being backed by Brava Hospitality Group – the private equity-backed group that runs the Prezzo chain – which intends to relaunch the brand across the UK.“As a chef, having the chance to return to the high street is incredibly important to me,” he said. “I will drive the menus, make sure the sourcing is right, the staff training, and ensure the look and feel of the restaurant is brought to life in the right way

Helen Goh’s recipe for edible Christmas baubles | The sweet spot

These edible baubles make a joyful addition to the Christmas table or tree. Soft, chewy, marshmallow-coated Rice Krispies are studded with pistachios and cranberries, chocolate and ginger, or peppermint candy cane; they’re as fun to make as they are to eat, and they make a perfect little gift. To add a ribbon for hanging, cut small lengths of ribbon, then loop and knot the ends. Push the knotted end gently into the top of each ball while it’s still pliable, then reshape around it, so it holds the knot securely as it sets. Alternatively, wrap each bauble in cellophane, then gather at the top and tie with a ribbon, leaving a long loop for hanging

A gentle trade in edible gifts binds communities together

A guest at our restaurant recently told me about her mother’s seasonal side hustle, though no one would have dared call it that out loud: in the weeks before Christmas, she became a quiet merchant of puddings. The proper kind of pudding, too: all dense but not leaden, heavy with prunes and warm with careful spicing.As December crept in, forgotten cousins and semi-estranged uncles seemed to find reasons to drop by her place. She never advertised the fact, of course, but everyone knew that if you came bearing even a modest offering, you might just leave with a pudding wrapped in waxed paper and still warm with possibility. The exchanges were subtle

Chocolate tart and zabaglione: Angela Hartnett’s easy make-ahead Christmas desserts – recipes

When you’re the cook of the house, you spend quite enough time in the kitchen on Christmas Day as it is. And, after those time-consuming nibbles, the smoked salmon starter and the turkey-with-all-the-trimmings main event, the last thing you want is a pudding that demands even more hands-on time at the culinary coalface. For me, the main requirement of any Christmas dessert is that it can be made well in advance, not least because, by the time the pudding stage comes around, I’ll be completely knackered and more than ready to put up my feet and finally relax (or, more likely, fall asleep on the sofa).Prep 15 minRest 3 hr+Cook 40 minServes 6-8For the sweet pastry500g plain flour, plus extra for dusting 150g caster sugar 250g cold butter, diced2-3 eggs, lightly beatenFor the filling640g 70%-cocoa dark chocolate, broken into small pieces800ml double cream 64g glucose syrup 64g cold butter, cubed 100g roasted hazelnuts, lightly choppedPut the flour and sugar in a large bowl, stir to combine, then add the diced butter and work it in with your fingertips until the mix takes on the consistency of rough breadcrumbs. Add two of the beaten eggs, then mix until the dough comes together into a ball; if need be, add the third beaten egg, but take great care not to overwork the dough

I called my recipe book Sabzi – vegetables. But the name was trademarked. And my legal ordeal began

Vegetables, in my experience, rarely cause controversy. Yet last month I found myself in the middle of a legal storm over who gets to own the word sabzi – the Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi, Persian, Dari and Pashto word for cooked veg or fresh greens. It was a story as absurd as it was stressful, a chain of delis threatened me with legal action over the title of a book I had spent years creating. But what began as a personal legal headache soon morphed into something bigger, a story about how power and privilege still dominate conversations about cultural ownership in the UK.When the email first landed in my inbox, I assumed it must be a wind-up

Choice taste test: the best Australian supermarket Christmas ham is also ‘one of the cheapest’

Consumer advocacy group Choice has found when it comes to supermarket Christmas hams, pork price is not necessarily an indicator of quality.In a blind taste test of 12 Christmas hams from Aldi, Coles, IGA and Woolworths, the best and worst-ranked pork products retail at almost identical prices.The best-scoring product was the Coles Christmas Beechwood Smoked Half Leg Ham, with a price per unit of $8/kg. Judges awarded it a score of 80% and described it as a “good overall ham” for its “mild but pleasant” aroma with “a nice balance between sweet and smoky flavours”.The worst-performing product, the Aldi Festive Selection Australian Half Leg Ham On-The-Bone, is similarly priced at $7