Rachel Roddy’s recipe for spaghetti with mushrooms, soft cheese and herbs | A kitchen in Rome

Before cooking something, it is never a bad idea to turn to the expert on the science of food and cooking, Harold McGee. This week, I had mushrooms, which, as he notes, are fruiting bodies, specialised structures that, encouraged by the parent body underground, force themselves up through the soil and open their umbrella-like cap so the gills or pores can release spores into passing air currents. The aim is the same as for all pushy parents: get the next generation into the world and hope they don’t get eaten in the process.I am hoping that a few million spores got out before the white and chestnut mushrooms I bought at our local supermarket were picked and packed. Mushrooms are often described as smelling and tasting earthy, but, as with most things, McGee is right

How to turn puff pastry offcuts into a brilliant cheesy snack – recipe | Waste not

After testing puff pastry for the Filter a few weeks ago, I had loads of trimmings left over, which reminded me of one of my favourite zero-waste recipes. Malfatti are biscuits made from pastry offcuts, which are seasoned, rolled in seeds and spices, baked and served with cheese. Determined to create something new with all my excess puff, I realised that it would be perfect for making misshapen cheese straws. Even if you have only a few offcuts, I implore you to top them with cheese and some sauerkraut or kimchi, then twist and bake alongside a tart or pie. They’re a brilliant little cheeky snack

Tips for downsizing recipes | Kitchen aide

Any tips for downsizing recipes to serve one? Dividing by the number of servings doesn’t always work.Melanie, by email“It’s often just common sense,” says Kitty Coles, author of Make More With Less, plus a little maths – though, as Melanie so wisely points out, you can’t always simply divide the ingredients and be done with it.First, you need to consider your cookware: “It’s really worth investing in smaller pans and a smaller skillet,” says Alexina Anatole, who is behind the Small Wins Substack. A tiny amount of liquid in a large pan, say, will get too much exposure to heat, so it’s very likely you’ll under- or overcook its contents. As Shelina Permalloo, author of What to Cook When Everyone’s Hungry, says, “The absorption method for rice is a nightmare if you’re using a wrong-sized pan

Loaded crisps: four recipes for the ‘perfect finger food’ – ranked from best to worst

Ready salted, prawn cocktail, pickled onion and smoky bacon – crisps are undoubtedly the nation’s favourite snack food, subject to a variety of staple and sometimes suspicious flavour varieties. According to one recent report, they were the UK’s snack of choice on 94% of “all consumption occasions”, often enjoyed with a complementary dip, or served in a packet ripped open on a pub table. But now, the humble bag of crisps is having a revamp.Enter: the loaded crisp bag. It’s a lot like loaded fries or nachos, in that it can be a vehicle for a whole gamut of flavours – as served, for example, at Pablos, a fast food outlet in Nottingham where anything from ground beef to molten cheese is dolloped into an opened bag of crisps

José Pizarro’s recipe for chicken and white bean stew

Chicken and beans are two of the foods I grew up with, and were often cooked in one pot and designed to be shared. It’s the kind of cooking we do at my restaurant Lolo: generous, relaxed and made to be eaten together. March sits between the seasons, when we still need comfort, but also start to look for freshness, too, and this stew feels just right for the moment. As the days get longer and spring starts to show itself, it is warming without being heavy, while the mojo verde lifts everything and gives the dish energy.Prep 10 minCook 1 hr 20 minServes 4-61 tbsp olive oil 3 banana shallots, peeled and finely sliced3 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced 3-4 sprigs fresh oregano 1 tsp smoked sweet paprika 1 pinch saffron strands Sea salt and black pepper 1 large chicken (1

Peter Smith obituary

My father, Peter Smith, who has died aged 97, set up a pioneering health food store in the unlikely setting of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, in the late 1950s, at a time when the pursuit of vegetarianism and healthy eating was a fringe interest.He ran the shop until the mid-1960s before spending a number of years living and teaching in Japan and then opening up another health food outlet in Surrey in the early 70s, guiding it successfully into the late 90s, by which time his advocacy of healthy diets had become much more mainstream.Born in Cottam, on the Nottinghamshire-Lincolnshire border, to Jack and Doris (nee Womble), Peter was raised in the lively setting of their pub, the Railway Inn in Leverton, where he flourished. As a child he showed a talent for snooker, touring local halls to play in charity matches and displaying the confidence that would mark his later life.After leaving Scunthorpe technical high school he did three years of national service from 1946 to 1949 with the Royal Air Force as an engineer and was posted to Iraq, an experience that sparked a fascination with foreign cultures, food and travel