​Folded​, whipped or baked into something golden, ricotta ​i​s brilliant and adaptable

My record for making ricotta and lemon ring cake is three minutes and 42 seconds. That doesn’t include heating the oven or baking, or finding a recipe, which is in my head. It does include getting out the utensils (bowl, spatula, grater, scale, ring tin) and the ingredients (ricotta, olive oil, flour, sugar, baking powder, eggs, lemons), then speed-mixing everything in one bowl, scraping the batter into the tin and getting the tin in the oven via a discus throw. The timer is stopped as the oven door is closed. This is not relaxing cooking, it is entertaining cooking

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for almond and lemon spiced treacle tart | A kitchen in Rome

It wasn’t that dessert trolleys were banned in Italy during Covid, but guidelines from the Instituto Superiore di Sanità (national institute of health) were so (necessarily) rigorous around these “potential vehicles of the virus” that most places banished them to storerooms. Happily, many restaurants have since retrieved them from their long stay, so they glide or rattle between tables once more, or sit parked in an admirable position. This isn’t my first time mentioning the dessert trolley at La Torricella here in Testaccio, having written about its fabulous puff pastry and cream millefoglie in the past. But another dessert that might catch your eye as you enter the restaurant and look right at the cloth-covered trolley parked under the bar is what owner Augusto refers to as torta medievale, because of its spiced almond and dried fruit filling. It’s an unassuming but extremely good thing

I’m welcoming ​in spring ​with ​big ​Mediterranean ​flavours

A combination of the warmer weather, dusting off my sunglasses and the impending release of my new book, MEDesque (out on Thursday!), has got me fully focused on sunshine food and Mediterranean flavours. OK, so I’m not quite in rosé-in-the-garden territory just yet, but it’s close. And I am counting down the days. At home, I am leaning heavily on recipes from the queen of all things Med, Claudia Roden, to get my fix. Big hitters such as her bean stew with chorizo and bacon and chicken traybake with olives and boiled lemon deliver on all fronts, and immediately transport me to my favourite region

Save blue cheese rind for this unbeatable dressing – recipe | Waste not

On a single crumb of cheese rind there are more than 10 billion microbes: that’s more microbial cells than there are people on Earth. Cheese rind is an intensified expression of the cheese, with a powerful flavour and highly concentrated community of good bacteria, yeast and mould. But it is misunderstood and underrated, and often removed and discarded. Though it can be intense, it’s almost always edible, unless it’s grown new mould or contains synthetic plastic, wax or cloth, which should be removed.Like an apple or slice of bread, the skin, crust or rind add texture, flavour and nutrients to the eating experience

Head’s up: 12 main-course cauliflower recipes from easy to ambitious

Cauliflower looks like the ghost of broccoli, or a human brain that has been drained of blood. As is the case with many overlooked vegetables, boiling is the absolutely second-worst way to cook it (we do not talk about cauliflower rice), while roasting is best, to coax out its sweet and nutty flavours. A whole head is very good and affordable in Australia at the moment and can easily feed a whole family.Marrying florets with warm spices and fragrant baked rice, Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe is finished with a drizzle of fresh lemon juice to keep the flavour fresh. Pick a purple cauliflower and the acid at the end will flush the florets bright pink

How do I get texture and that umami hit without meat? | Kitchen aide

I’ve recently given up eating pork, but I’m struggling to compensate for its umami. How can I recreate the taste and texture in, say, carbonara or my beloved chorizo dishes?James, by emailFor Joe Woodhouse, author of Weeknight Vegetarian, there’s just something about white beans: “Whether cooked from dried, then dropping chopped onion, garlic, sage and thyme into the broth, or just dumping a jar or tin into a pan with fried garlic and sage, the smell that fills the kitchen is like that of sausagemeat,” he says. “It tastes a bit like it, too – or at least the memory of it, bearing in mind I haven’t eaten the stuff for 30 years.”The quest for that umami savouriness could start with soy sauce, Woodhouse says (“or Slow Sauce’s oat shoyu”), while chef Mike Davies’ first port of call would be Totole’s Chinese mushroom seasoning powder: “It’s super-effective in replacing the richness and fattiness that comes from cooking with any meat, and especially pork,” says the chef-director of the Camberwell Arms, south London. “Honestly, it’s such a cheat-code ingredient