If you make one thing…

Liguria’s famous basil and pine nut pesto tends to hog the quick pasta sauce limelight, but Sicily’s trapanese variation is a serious contender – and it’s great with salmon

WHAT’S ON THE MENU?

Food editor Tom Shingler creates summer feasts from the recipes in this issue

APPETISERS

Lunches under open skies and al fresco dinners stretching into the dusk are summer joys – and all the better when someone else is washing up. Book a seat at one of these special feasts or venues for back-to-nature magic...

OVER TO YOU

STAR EMAIL ★ Subject: Bringing food alive From:

delicious discoveries

The best new goodies from producers large and small

Hot on the shelves

New stuff in the supermarkets to approach eagerly with your self-scanning zapper in hand

HOTLIST

What’s new, what’s great, what we rate – including a bargain buy, an eco pick and the ultimate kitchen gadget.

The book list

Mark Diacono takes his pick of this season’s books – from an expert guide to understanding salt to a celebration of Sierra Leonean cuisine – with a glimpse of the most beguiling recipes. We hope you’ve got room on your shelves

A glass of white burgundy with Adam Handling

He’s the 2023 Great British Menu Champion of Champions and owns three restaurants at the age of just 34. What’s his secret? The chef talks to Kerry Fowler about his eyebrow-raising approach to workplace wellbeing and why black pudding makes everything better

A Cornish summer

Take a virtual coastal holiday with chef and food writer Emily Scott’s beautiful recipes using saffron, seafood and clotted cream – ingredients that conjure up the taste of the county she loves to call home 

THE ICE CREAM FLAVOURS YOU CAN’T BUY IN THE SHOPS

There’s a whole aisle of ice cream ready to buy in the supermarket, but if you want to go beyond the ubiquitous vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, you need to take matters into your own hands. Thankfully, making ice cream is easy – and the flavour combinations are endless

Sharing food is a form of culinary courtship

If food is important to you, the planning, the choosing of ingredients, the careful prep, and the eating and sharing can all be as revealing as any verbal or physical exchange. Clare Finney talks to chefs, food writers and a psychologist to examine how something as simple as making scrambled eggs can become a significant marker in a relationship

OUR RESTAURANTS FOR ROMANCE

“Love and food go best together when there are

When you know, you know

My cooking year: July

COOKING WITH PRIDE

Stories from the heart.

The food I cook at home

Simple, shareable and made with budget-friendly staples, Mallika Basu’s everyday Indian dishes are on the table before you can say “easy-cook rice”. Raid the spice rack and enjoy the punchy aromas that fill your kitchen as you cook

Notes from a small island

On the outer reaches of Essex you’ll find the UK’s most easterly isle, Mersea – a haven for oyster farmers, seabirds and those who like their seaside pleasures to be natural and simple. Les Dunn prepares for a seafood feast

delicious

PUZZLES PAGE

There’s a prize to be won and food knowledge to be tested with Hugh Thompson’s crossword and food quiz. They’re what a cuppa and cake were made for

THE FOOD QUIZ

1 Which of these creams is thickened with

Waiter: a word in your ear…

Waiting etiquette isn’t as stuffy as it used to be. Nevertheless, says comedian George Egg, there are still things to avoid – unless you want to give him indigestion

welcome.

PHOTOGRAPHS: PAUL MITCHELL, INDIA WHILEY-MORTON, ONNA BODEN A

July Recipe index

45 STARTERS, SIDES & SNACKS • Burrata, tomato

Win a spa hotel stay in Wales

COMPETITION WORTH £1,000 * You and a friend

RAW!

Serving and eating raw fish can sound scary but, for Pollyanna Coupland, a crudo, tartare or ceviche fits the bill like little else during the summer months. Join her as she urges you not to shy away from the uncooked, sharing expertise and four knockout recipes that keep things zingy, zesty and fresh

SMASH BURGER

No shortcuts. No cheat ingredients. Our best of the best series takes the view that if a thing’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right. Each month we take a deep dive into a classic, stripping it down and analysing why it tastes so good, then we give you our ultimate recipe. This month: Tom Shingler builds the burger to end all burgers

Preserving tomatoes

Good, ripe tomatoes are like buses… You wait ages for them, then suddenly you have more than you know what to do with. Fear not – Emily Gussin is here to show you how to capture that tip-top tomato flavour and preserve it for the months ahead

DON’T BIN IT!

Cream or crème fraîche

COST THE EARTH

Because farming shouldn’t

Meet the people doing it right…

The UK’s new generation of renegerative farms often come with a restaurant attached, where they can showcase their produce. We asked three of the best to share a favourite recipe.

Drinks

Festival-friendly wines, fruity beers and a spicy cocktails special

Susy’s best buys

PHOTOGRAPHS: ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES From easy-to-carry wine bags and

Bearing fruit

Fruit beer is no modern gimmick, says expert Mark Dredge. It’s a respected style – and if you’ve been avoiding it, the time is ripe to crack open a bottle

Make it every day.

Easy meals for summer weeknights, plus a campfire bake to try on your barbecue

Cool dinners for sultry evenings

On summer nights, the last place you want to be is in a hot kitchen. These gorgeous dinners are quick, effortlessly cool and easy to scale up

Gill Meller’s flatbreads

It’s time to fire up the barbecue and make this Italianflavoured open-bake from the River Cottage chef and food writer. Who needs a pizza oven when you’ve got this!

Health NEWS

News, nuggets of knowledge and advice you can trust

Are you a member of the sleep-deprived club?

Dr Ramlakhan’s 10 foods to help you sleep CHICKEN