Supplemental #19 | Recipe roundup June '25

What's been cooking in the papers and online over the last month?

Jul 06, 2025

Hi team

Here are a couple of dozen recipes and cookery ideas that caught my eye last month. Maybe they’ll tickle your fancy too??

All the best, Ed

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There’s one #Supplemental at the beginning of each month. This is then followed by weekly missives involving recipes by me. They’re on a revolving set of themes (family friendly ‘tomato pasta’; centrepiece dishes; sides; winning chicken dinners; and more). If you haven’t already signed up, do so to make sure you never miss a post. And if are already a regular reader, please do consider becoming a paid supporter.

It’s salad season innit

LOTS of salads flying around.

One of the most useful columns was by Georgia Levy for The Observer (I think an OFM edition??), in which she introduced five staple salads to be assembled through the summer. Think panzanella; a flexible coleslaw (including intriguing versions involving ramen noodles and Bombay mix); mango chaat; and nectarine (or peach), mint, dill and dukkah over labneh. All worth adding to your repertoire.

Another must read (or three) are the

Yotam Ottolenghi

‘how to salad’ posts. Properly good, these — which should be no surprise, given they’re from the desk of the king of communal salads. I like that, across three posts, Yotam and co offer specific recipes (behind the paywall) but also much to think about: pick a hero ingredient and think properly about what shapes you’re cutting; contrasts, layers and the perfect forkful; and eating with your eyes.

On the more prescriptive side of things, have a look at Ravinder Bhoghal’s watermelon salad in The FT Weekend Magazine. I’m a huge fan of this sort of thing (melon salads) through summer - particularly when it’s heatwaving. Typically mine’ll be seasoned with lime juice and fish sauce. Or maybe it’ll have a feta vibe. Ravinder’s includes Thai basil and lime BUT loads of tomatoes too, and LOTS of fresh coriander, coriander seeds and jalapeños through the dressing.

Ravinder Bhopal’s watermelon and tomato with a coriander and jalapeño dressing. Photo Credit Andy Sewell.

Diana Henry’s prawn, cucumber and seaweed salad in The Telegraph looks ace. I’d forgotten about the sanbaizu vinegar she mentioned (slightly sweet and also emboldened with bonito flakes), which is absolutely outrageously lip-smackingly good. Must restock.

Also in The Telegraph was a recipe for potato, cuttlefish (or squid) and samphire salad. Good stuff. Is it a salad, though? The plating in the picture looks a stretch, but then if it’s chilled and dressed, why not? As per the Ottolenghi piece, it’s also how you cut it… there’s no questioning the salad credentials of Kay Chun’s calamari, celery, olive and potato assembly on NYT Cooking.

Image from *NYT Cooking*. Photo Kelly Marshall, styling Rebecca Jurkevich

A whole section on salads and no mention yet of anything leafy! Look to Rachel Roddy’s bitter-ish leaf salad with gorgonzola dolce, hazelnuts, and a honey-sweetened dressing - from The Guardian’s Feast magazine.

To finish, you MUST check out Ashley Lonsdale's ginger and lime cucumber salad (for NYT Cooking). Again, it’s not leafy… but as with Rachel’s salad will be very useful and something you’ll probably end up making on repeat forever more. (Take a look through the link, but in short: sliced cukes, loads of salt and pepper, lime, grated ginger, plus basil, mint and honey too. Will go with everything.)

It’s still strawberry season, too

Eager readers will recall I went early on strawberries this year. Mentioned in last month’s roundup as well. But given it’s only the middle weekend of Wimbledon right now, and we should have a good few weeks of excellent strawberries left, it’s worth highlighting a few more ideas.

First up, Nigel Slater offered a couple of really nice ices in The Observer. One, a strawberry sorbet, the other a ricotta ice cream, to be topped with a sorta lumpy-coulis of passion fruit, orange, strawberries and black pepper.

Anna Jones

on roast strawberries and what to do with them is very good. (Off topic: really into her chickpea and spring onion pancake with a zingy slaw from earlier in June too.)

The meeting point between Nigel’s strawberry ices and Anna’s roast strawberries, is

Rosie Mackean

’s strawberry granita. Some of the strawberries roast, some fresh, all blitzed and frozen. SO GOOD. Think that recipe might be behind a paywall (but nb she’s doing a pre-mat leave discount deal atm that you’d do well to get on board).

Still want more? How about supping on a Mark Hix strawberry bellini while you ponder your options. He also suggested Telegraph readers try a dessert involving hulled strawberries, (shop bought) lemon sorbet, lemon verbena and green or kampot peppercorns.

Something savoury

Personally, I’m not feeling particularly meaty this month, unless the barbecue is lit.

If yours is, note Helen Graves’ essential BBQ skewers recipe (she also dropped loads of good salads and dressings last month).

Got chicken breasts in the fridge or freezer? Have a crack at my confit tomato chicken piccata — the first in a new series of winning chicken dinners.

Or if you’d prefer something beefy, a charred rib-eye steak with guacasalsa and black beans recipe I had in last month’s Waitrose Food Magazine.

I think Zainab Shah’s keema palek on NYT Cooking looks really good (minced (ground) chicken and spinach curry). It’s not been up for long and already has a bunch of ratings, all 5/5, so I’ve a strong suspicion you’ll also think it looks (and tastes) really good.

Can’t get much more savoury, or much more tempting, than Nick Bramham’s perfect steak au poivre, via

Vittles

From the same publication, but of a different palate, is Barsha Mallik’s piece centring bitter gourd. Helpful and enlightening intro/explainer and a couple of easy to cook recipes.

Coffee and sugar

I got a new coffee machine recently, and my caffeine intake has gone up immeasurably. It’s probably unwise, but I’m not that sad about it tbh. See, for example, my heatwave caffeine kick solution:

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