Australian supermarket meat pie taste test: ‘What I want to dribble down my front at the footy’

Nicholas Jordan and friends wade through the gristle and the gloop to find out if there’s such a thing as a bad meat pieAfter years of eating the wares of service station hot cabinets, stadium menus and country bakeries, I never found a pie I didn’t enjoy. I doubted such a thing existed. But I thought maybe, somewhere in the depths of an Australian supermarket freezer, I would find it: a pie that would save me from the shame and utter plainness of writing an article that says “any pie is fine”.I bought every frozen or refrigerated pie labelled beef or meat and did a blind taste test with a team of Sydney bakers and chefs – Rob Pirina (Glenorie Bakery), Tom Mitchell (Shadow Baking), Andy Bowdy (Kiln), Justin Narayan (MasterChef), Toby Wilson (Ricos Tacos), Kimmy Gastmeier (Cherry Moon General Store) and Ryan Broomfield (Broomfields Pies).I cooked the pies according to their packet instructions then placed them in a pie warmer

José Pizarro’s smoky cabbage and white bean soup with crisp chorizo and paprika oil – recipe

Cabbage is often an afterthought, but here it takes centre stage by celebrating its natural sweetness and earthy flavour. When charred, cabbage develops a smoky depth that makes this soup wonderfully rich and comforting. In Spain, cabbage and chorizo have long been a winning combination found in all manner of hearty stews and rustic dishes. The addition of white beans not only makes this soup more satisfying and filling, but also gives it a gorgeous, creamy texture that helps to balance all the smoky notes going on. This is a simple and honest dish that’s full of warmth and great flavours

Rukmini Iyer’s quick easy recipe for baked trout with beetroot, lentil and pomegranate salad | Quick and easy

An easy dinner packed with colourful plants and leaves. You could make a batch of the salad by itself for lunchboxes, but the trout elevates it to a filling dinner for two. You can, of course, use your preferred fish: any thick fillets, such as cod, pollack or haddock, would work well here. And if you don’t have pumpkin seeds, substitute breadcrumbs or any type of nut.Prep 15 min Cook 30 min Serves 24 medium beetroot, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks1 red onion, peeled and roughly chopped1 tbsp olive oil1 tsp ground cumin 1½ tsp flaky sea salt 250g packet cooked puy and green lentils 50g baby leaf spinach, roughly chopped90g pomegranate seeds (from about ½ pomegranate)3 tbsp roughly chopped walnuts2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil ½-1 large lemon, juiced 2 trout fillets 2 tsp smooth dijon mustard 2 heaped tsp pumpkin seeds, roughly choppedHeat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for hazelnut and mushroom ragu with pasta | A kitchen in Rome

“Antica e desueta [archaic and forgotten] is a beguiling introduction to a recipe,” I said to my friend, the cook and writer Stefano Arturi, when we talked on the phone the other week. He laughed, noting that those words in relation to recipes made him both curious and, because of their foggy closeness to mythologising, suspicious.It was his recipe for hazelnut ragu that started it all, sending us down more or less the same paths in books and online, where we met more of the same thing: fabulously contradictory stories in which ragu made from hazelnuts was an ancient Piedmontese dish of great beauty born out of economy and hardship, and also “forgotten”, which justifies the lack of any evidence as to where it actually came from. Yet also, a breezy, contemporary dish that, like so many modern dishes, was scorned by those faithful to more traditional (ancient, authentic) versions. There were other claims, too, such as “This is the authentic recipe” and “This is an improvisational dish: do as you wish”

Pappardelle alla Yorkshire? Gourmet producers inspire a boom in British pasta

The UK imports more than £1bn worth of the Italian staple a year, but now sales are taking off for makers in Yorkshire, Cumbria and beyondNutty, chewy and with a chestnut-brown hue, it’s a far cry from the pasta you may be used to serving with your bolognese. But the Northern Pasta Co’s products, from rigatoni to fusilli, are part of a growing wave of the Italian staple being made in the UK.The Cumbria-based company’s sales increased 357% in the year to February 2024, and from the spring its products will be sold on Ocado. Similarly, the Yorkshire Pasta Company, founded in 2019, is now stocked at more than 600 shops. Cornwall Pasta Co makes flavoured pastas, while Riverford sells pasta made by the Fresh Flour Company in Devon

Notes on chocolate: mini eggs are major fun

Mini eggs have such a special place in our hearts and mouths. I’ve heard of them getting people through exams, divorce, long train journeys, sickbeds. When I say mini eggs I mean a sugar-coated, egg-shaped confection containing chocolatey things.Marks & Spencer does an acceptable ‘every day’ version for £2 a bag (Speckled Eggs). If you want to go posh, then you cannot better Chocolate Detective’s Blue Tit Eggs (go for the praline version), £14