T H E E S S E N T I A L N I G E L S L A T E R. The story of my cooking life, from the first tray of jam tarts Imade with my mother when Iwas nine, to the food Icook now, in my kitchen at home. With over 200 recipes, each with its own story of how it came tobe part of my life, the collection is a mixture of my personal favourites and many new ones. There are chapters on vegetarian suppers and meat-feasts; cakes for everyday and special occasions; bread, everyday suppersandthe ritual of tea. Dutch, German and US editions will be published later this year. Set the oven at 180C fan/gas mark 6. Scrub the potatoes and cut them in half lengthways, then into long wedges. Toss them in the groundnut oil, then place in a roasting tin in a single layer, with as much space as possible between them. Roast for about 45 minutes, turning them over halfway through. They should be crisp and deep gold. A lemon is another possibility. For years I popped half a lemon inside the bird as it roasted and still do so from time to time. Mostly on a summer’s day, for the citrus spirit it imbues to the meat juices. A magnificent volume of comfort. After all these years, no one describes the simple sensuous pleasures of food better than Slater’ Bee Wilson Yes it was. If I could keep only one cookbook, this would be it. How to Eat suits the way I cook. It is as if Nigella is sitting on a stool next to me in the kitchen as I’m cooking. It’s almost like she’s chatting to me. There’s an intelligence to the way she writes and she expects a certain intelligence of her readers as well. Her recipes don’t patronise. There’s nothing reverential or sombre about the food she writes about, or the way she writes about it.

Toast is the memoir of Nigel’s childhood. It has won five literary awards and been translated into six languages. Toast has been dramatised for radio, made into a filmand has recently been adapted for the stage. After itspremier at The Lowry and the Edinburgh Fringe it moved to London in the spring and summer of 2019 and then toured for six months until the end of the year.Your next choice is Elizabeth David’s French Provincial Cooking. Food writers always seem to love her, but for the rest of us is this more a work of literature than a practical everyday cookbook? Your next choice, The Cook’s Companion, is by Stephanie Alexander – one of Australia’s most famous chefs. What can you tell me about this book? Nigel’s recipes are often told as stories, as in his award-winning books Tender, the three-volume Kitchen Diariesand The Christmas Chronicles. Others are collections of simpler, more concise recipes to use as daily inspiration. These are published as Appetite, Eat and the recently published, vegetable-based GreenFeast. He has also written a best-selling memoir and a book of essays. Nigel's books have been translated into German, Russian*, Dutch, Portuguese, Korean, French and Taiwanese. His latest publication is A Cook's Book (2021). A culinary letter from the chef to her son Samuel and a manual for learning to cook and stand on your own feet in the kitchen. A book of food rules to live by: kitchen rules, shopping rules, simple rules such as how to crush garlic, even how to wash up. All recipes are rated according to the level of confidence needed to accomplish it well. AJ

Nigel has written hisweekly column for The Observer newspaper for almost thirty years. Itis his curiosity andfascination for details, his observationsof thesmall, human moments of cooking and eating that are the hallmarkofhis writing. The much-loved essays from his kitchen are photographed each week by Jonathan Lovekin. And yes, we learn from what he’s cooked and what he shares with us, but it’s how he shares it that makes those millions of us who love his columns and his books feels so importantly and intimately connected to them. He is king among foodwriters, with a voice so immediately, recognisably his: at turns encouraging, cosy, confiding, calming and arch. The problem I have in describing his writing is that I can’t bear not to quote vast tracts of it. It’s just too good not to glory in. But without going that far, let me just read some glorious sentences to you. Nigel Slater is the author of ten cookery books, a memoir and a collection of essays.His first book was published in 1992. All are still in print.Nigel Slater is a British food writer, journalist and broadcaster. He has written a column for The Observer Magazine for seventeen years and is the principal writer for the Observer Food Monthly supplement. Prior to this, Slater was food writer for Marie Claire for five years. He also serves as art director for his books. Beim Kochen geht es – zumindest für mich – darum, sich selbst etwas zu essen zu machen und das Essen mit anderen zu teilen, aber es geht auch – flüstern Sie es – um die stillen Momente der Freude, die man dabei erleben kann.» Put the cream cheese and caster sugar in the bowl of a food mixer and beat for a few seconds until mixed. Grate the lemon zest into the cheese, then add the vanilla extract. Although best known for uncomplicated, comfort food recipes presented in early bestselling books such as The 30-Minute Cook and Real Cooking, as well as his engaging, memoir-like columns for The Observer, Slater became known to a wider audience with the publication of Toast: The Story of a Boy's Hunger, a moving and award-winning autobiography focused on his love of food, his childhood, his family relationships (his mother died of asthma when he was nine), and his burgeoning sexuality. It is a bible. And no, there are a lot of recipes in there. They vary from the basic classics, some very simple things, and then she’s got her recipes from her restaurants as well. It’s a colossal work. It must have taken her years.

Nigel'swriting has won the National Book Awards, the Glenfiddich Trophy, the James Beard Award, The Fortnum and Mason Award,the British Biography of the Year and the André Simon Memorial Prize. Television awards include a Guild of Food Writers’ Award for his BBC1 series Simple Suppers and the BBC Food Personality of the Year. The stage adaptation of Toast by Henry Filloux-Bennett, was itself recipient of a Cameo Award. Nigel is an honorary Master of Letters(MLitt). Hewasawarded an OBE in theNew YearHonours 2020 'for services to cookery and to literature'. Break open the cardamom pods, extract the seeds within and grind them to a coarse powder. I use a pestle and mortar for the sheer olfactory pleasure, but an electric spice grinder will work too. Mix them with the cumin seeds and ground coriander and turmeric, and stir into the onions. Cut the tomatoes into small dice and stir into the vegetables, leaving them to simmer for a further 10 minutes until the tomatoes have released their juice.In 1998 Slater hosted the Channel 4 series Nigel Slater's Real Food Show. He returned to TV in 2006 hosting the chat/food show A Taste of My Life for BBC One.