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If I had to name one habit that makes the biggest difference in how I cook, it wouldn’t be knife skills, fancy equipment, or even the quality of the ingredients. It would be this: tasting as I go.

There’s a school of thought that treats recipes as sacred texts — immutable, untouchable, to be followed exactly lest your dinner collapse in shame. I am not enrolled at that school. I transferred long ago to the far more chaotic (and frankly more fun) institution of Recipes as Templates.

Somewhere along the way, fusion became a bad word. It used to mean excitement, creativity on a plate, and borders blurred in the best way. When did fusion lose its charm?

I’m revisiting my own well-loved cookbooks — Nigella’s for pure comfort, and Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course for nostalgia. There’s also a small-batch recipe for Oatmeal Parkin, the kind of sticky ginger cake that makes rainy days something to look forward to. Put the kettle on, and let’s talk about flour, memory, and finding joy in the bake.

Unfortunately, cabbage has a reputation problem. Too many people first meet it boiled beyond recognition, limp and overtly sulfurous. But when prepared with a little care, cabbage delivers main character vibes in spades.

I’ve always struggled with breakfast. Even now, as I sit down to write this, it’s 10:40am and the only reason I’m eating now is because we’re going out for a 1pm lunch. If I skip food until then, I will be very unpleasant to be around.

From microwaved eggs exploding on the ceiling to lasagne that takes all day and leaves me too tired to eat it… I’ve been rethinking how we cook when we’re in a hurry. Spoiler: flavour doesn’t have to be sacrificed.

Some days cooking feels like a slog and you need a little something extra to make your meal sing. The good news is you don’t need to spend hours in the kitchen – or restaurant-grade equipment – to create that sense of “oof, that’s special.”

The weekly grocery shop seems to creep higher every time, yet most of us still want dinners that feel comforting, nourishing, and satisfying. When budgets are tight, the temptation is to think of “cutting back” as a joyless exercise. But there’s another way to approach it.

If you’ve ever gone looking for one ingredient and instead uncovered culinary archaeology, it might be time to give your pantry a proper spring clean. Here’s how I tackled mine.

Winter’s hanging on with both hands, but the market is starting to tell a different story. Between the beetroot and borlotti, I’m spotting the first shy hints of spring – spears of asparagus, tropical perfume, and produce that whispers of warmer days ahead. Here’s what I’ve been finding (and cooking) while we wait for summer tomatoes to make their grand return.

There’s something magical about a good recipe. It’s more than a list of ingredients and steps. As a food writer and home cook, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what makes a recipe worth coming back to.