Alan Rosenthal

SCarrots really are an unsung hero.  Not only are they good for you, but they’re also deliciously sweet and brighten up the dullest of days, especially when cooked like this!  Even in the depths of winter, this recipe will bring some warmth to your table. The quantities here will serve 4 as a starter or side.  Alternatively, it will easily ...

I love fennel both raw and cooked; finely shaved and covered with a delicious orange and sherry vinegar dressing, it’s delicious.  Equally, roasted, or pan fried it’s hard to go wrong.  Here, I’ve chosen to gently cook the fennel in butter until soft and sweet and then bake it with salty olive tapenade and creamy goat’s cheese on a (shop ...

Tartiflette is a classic wholesome dish from the Savoie region of the French Alps, perfect after a long day skiing or hiking because it’s full of cheese and cream!  That being said, occasionally, on a cool day in less energetic climes, it’s a great treat. Traditionally, it's a layered dish comprising of sautéed onions, smoked bacon lardons and potatoes (cooked ...

I recently started collaborating with Crop Drop, the Haringey based organic veg box company.   They were after someone to write recipes using their lovely veg so I jumped at the chance.   The first week I was tasked with a challenge; swede!  Swede isn't the easiest of vegetables to turn into something delicious.  It can often be a hefty vegetable, ...

I'm often asked about the process I go through to create a recipe and have been giving this some thought over the past couple of weeks.  And I've realised it's quite hard to articulate! However, things started to become clearer last week after attending a mobile phone photography workshop run by Matt Inwood . Matt took us through some key principles ...

This delightfully light salmon recipe makes use of wonderful blood oranges that are available right now from good greengrocers.  Blood oranges not only have a beautiful colour but they’re also extremely sweet, having an almost berry like quality to their flavour. Here, the juice is used in a dressing to envelop peppery watercress leaves whilst a few slices are also ...

After a couple of days of turkey and ham post 25th December, we’re all a little bit tired of the same old food being passed around time and time again. So I love transforming them into something quite different but equally delicious as their original incarnation. This recipe is a great way to use up all the odds and sods ...

It might seem an obvious thing to say, but the food I love to create, is the food I want to eat. I'm often plagued with troublesome voices trying to convince me that my food isn't cerebral enough, that it needs to be more refined and plated up as if it's on the culinary catwalk. But as time goes on, ...

Delicious tasty food needn't be expensive or time consuming, especially if you cook with the seasons.  This tasty vegetarian gratin is bulked out with full flavoured root veg whilst strong cheese, used sparingly, adds loads of flavour without breaking the bank. I served this alongside some raw kale and dates dressed with a pomegranate dressing. Again, lots of flavour in ...

This one pot recipe is a great way to cook squid if you're not in the mood for quickly chargrilling or (deep?)frying it.  Squid needs to be cooked for a short amount of time at a high temperature or braised for a much longer time at a low temperature.  This ensures you get lovely tender squid.  If you hit the ...

This is a super quick recipe using one of my favourite fish. Although traditionally low down in the pecking order and often overlooked in favour of more 'prized' fish like sea bass and salmon, mackerel is deliciously moist and rich and, if cooked properly, can rival many of its relatives. It's also dirt cheap to boot.  What's not to like? ...

I cooked this pasta dish the other day on the hoof and filmed myself making it for Instagram stories (now in my highlights).  It wasn't a rehearsed recipe or video so, for sure, it doesn't look perfect but I can assure you, it tasted delicious.   The recipe's quite interesting; its title might seem a bit fancy and inaccessible, but ...

One of the most important goals I set myself at the start of this period of self discovery was to define my cooking style and culinary USP.  After all, in this day and age, in order to carve out an identity in the food writing world, it seems necessary to home in on what makes me different and sets me ...

I was inspired to slow cook some beef shin in red wine today after seeing James Dawe's  overnight ox cheek ragu on Instagram.   Once cooked at 75°C for a good 12 hours, the meat is removed, which is as tender as can be, the veg are mashed into the cooking liquor which is then reduced before mixing the pulled meat ...

Over the past few months I've begun to think of pasta more as a vehicle to carry delcious combinations of flavour rather than the decision maker for a finished dish.  Until farily recently, I've tended to see pasta as a set of classic recipes - carbonara, arrabiata, Norma, putanesca, pesto, walnut and gorgonzola... all those tried and tested delicious Italian ...