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Welcome to JUNE

How much food do you throw away each week? In our household

June FIVE GOOD THINGS TO DO

Bristol has become a thriving hub of food activity

Five quick things to make with… Strawberries

RECIPE AND FOOD STYLING: LOTTIE COVELL. WORDS: SOPHIE

FOR STARTERS

NEWS, NIBBLES OF KNOWLEDGE AND GOOD THINGS TO DO RIGHT NOW

FROM OUR INBOX…

Christina Quaine’s article on the nuisance of back-seat cooks [May, p130] prompted cries of accord – and revealed some home truths…

A SLICE OF MY LIFE

The Great British Bake Off judge, restaurateur, food writer, educator and novelist reflects on cooking and remembers falling in love in Paris

WISH LIST

“These pages are about us doing the hard work so you

HAVE YOU VISITED OUR delicious. ONLINE SHOP?

“Our online shop gives brilliant small producers a

“IT’S HANDS-ON WORK. WHAT YOU PUT IN, YOU GET OUT”

Family firm T Soanes & Son have been farming chickens for more than 70 years. Phoebe Stone pays them a visit in Yorkshire to discover the realities of rearing free-range poultry

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT…

Peas please our columnist, but she doesn’t like to buy them in the supermarket – and not just because of the threat of trolley collision…

TASTE - The big divide

There seems to be a consensus with food: top restaurants are filled with people saying the cooking is marvellous. But every now and then you eat something you’re not keen on, only to find someone else loves it. Is our sense of flavour shared or is it subjective? Dr Len Fisher reveals how genetics, culture and experience influence more than you might have thought

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF A FOOD FESTIVAL

Food festival season is in full swing and food lovers across the land are planning weekends of making merry. Wherever you’re going, here’s how to ensure good times

CHEERS!

Susy Atkins rounds up best buys and top summery wines

Could you go a whole week without producing any food waste?

Statistics show that 20 per cent of all the food we buy gets chucked away – a figure that’s risen since 2012. Although, realistically, it’s tricky to eliminate every scrap of your food waste, minimising it is a goal we can all work towards. We asked food writer Ramona Andrews and her family to try a no-waste challenge for a week. Here’s how they got on

THE ART OF THE CLEVER SHORTCUT

Is it cheating to use clever shortcut ingredients from the supermarket? Not if the end result tastes great and helps you get a healthy nutritious meal on the table in close to 30 minutes. Who doesn’t need a few recipe tricks like these up their sleeve on a weeknight?

THE LEFTOVERS RECIPE

Couscous in the fridge? Rustle up these Middle Eastern spiced meaty morsels in half an hour

THE QUICK-FIX MEAL FOR ONE

A filling bowlful with colour, texture and great taste that’s ready in minutes – give your taste buds a treat

THE BUDGET RECIPE

A thrifty recipe that punches above its weight with storecupboard spices and the zing of feta

THE 5:2 RECIPE

A sizzling supper that gives maximum satisfaction – and it’s ready in minutes

THE BATCH-COOK RECIPE

Whip up a big pot of these satisfying meatballs and serve half with rice or pasta, then use the rest to make this classic sub

SOUP OF THE MONTH

A fresh, vibrant bowl of goodness that’s ready in just 20 minutes

THE FRIDAY NIGHT SUPPER

Marinating this on a Thursday night is the secret to an awesome end-of-week treat better than any takeaway

TAKE A PACK OF…FETA

Keep a pack of this salty Greek cheese in the fridge. It’s versatile, has a good shelf life – and tastes great in recipes like these

Is dark chocolate really a health food?

A web search for ‘is chocolate a superfood’ yields almost 7 million results, with news and wellness sites featuring chocolate on their lists of must-eat nutritious foods. But can confectionery – even if it contains less sugar than most – ever be that good for us? Sue Quinn investigates

THE FOOD OF THE MED

(good for mind, body & soul)

BROWNIES

These incredibly moist, chocolatey brownies are eggfree, dairy-free and low in fat

delicious TEST REPORT

WHERE Demuths Cookery School, Bath (demuths.co.uk)

BOLOGNA where pasta power reigns

The capital of northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region has long been revered for its food by its country folk. Now it seems we’ve all caught on, with increasing numbers of tourists drawn to this booming culinary hub. Resident Sarah Lane shares the best her city has to offer

The Cottage in the Wood: dinner with a view

WHY IT’S GREAT Ensconced in leafiness, halfway up the

COMING NEXT MONTH INÉ

• Felicity Cloake dons the yellow jersey for a culinary

Why summer diets are a flawed notion

Planning your summer holiday? Do yourself a favour and give the time-honoured beach-body diet a miss this year, says chef, food blogger and author Anthony Warner, aka The Angry Chef

What’s your vintage?

Grana Padano cheese goes through various ageing and production processes to create three distinct varieties

Cheesecake

Judging from your feedback, this cream cheese confection is right at the top of your desert island desserts. We’ve ramped it up another notch this month with three cocktail-inspired recipes – all wickedly good

THE INCREDIBLE SUMMER ROAST

“This is a summery spin on roast pork. I use yellow

THE FAMOUS CARAVAN CORNBREAD BRUNCH

Beloved of London’s food-trend chasers, the original Caravan restaurant had them queuing out the door for this brunch dish. Now you can make like a hipster and knock it together in your own kitchen on a lazy Saturday (craft beer on the side optional)

“Sundays meant barbecues, empanadas and siestas”

Chef Diego Cardoso learned his love of food back in Argentina, where the aroma of grilling meat and his mother’s emapanadas, followed by a snooze, were sacred rituals

THE WISE COOK’S GUIDE TO SUSTAINABLE fish

United Nations World Oceans Day falls on 8 June and there’s no better time than early summer to enjoy fresh fish. Research shows our nation’s shoppers are, on the whole, keen to eat fish that’s sustainably caught, landed and sourced, but it’s not always easy to know what to choose when you’re faced with a glistening array of (ideally) bright-eyed specimens. Follow our tip boxes, try something new and be inspired by these wonderful recipes to enjoy the ocean’s harvest at its best

Courgettes

“Courgettes are the perfect summer vegetable – versatile

Gill Meller A COOK’S YEAR

After 11 years at River Cottage, Gill’s made an art of knowing when seasonal food is at its peak – and how to show it off to its best advantage. This month he turns his attention to mutton: so full of flavour, yet still so underappreciated

THE MEAT-FREE SHARING FEAST

Chef and restaurateur Josh Katz is the new king of the barbecue – and it’s not just meat that gets graced with smoke and flame to emerge as something more than the sum of its parts… This meatless sharing menu is a flavour-packed triumph

“Nothing makes people smile like an old fashioned Famous Five-style feast”

Get summer off to a rip-roaring start with Felicity Cloake’s blueprint for a glorious rain-or-shine picnic. The recipes are full of the flavours of early summer, and Felicity keeps it fresh with new spins on some British classics. Bring on the lashings of ginger beer

Join Yeo Valley for a delicious.

We’ve teamed up with Yeo Valley to offer you the chance to explore their organic family farm in Somerset. You’ll see how they create their wonderful produce, and enjoy lots of great local food and drink

The recipe hall of fame ETON MESS

This crowdpleasing trio of strawberries, cream and meringue is said to have originated at Eton College in the late 19th century after a pavlova-style dessert was dropped – but, says British cookery expert Debbie Major, whether it came about by mishap or design is uncertain. What is certain is its timeless appeal

And the winner is…

Congratulations to delicious.reader Lesley Grant, whose enticing recipe has won her a year’s supply of Brockmans Gin

LOOSE ENDS

Don’t let this month’s special ingredients linger in your kitchen. Instead make the most of them with these smart and easy ideas

WIN! A five-star Scottish break

A luxury stay in Edinburgh, superb accommodation and a vibrant Eastern Mediterranean feast

WIN! West country hotel stay and Luscombe hamper

Cook any recipe from the June issue and send us a picture

Meet your match

Cook’s Matches are the iconic, eco-friendly matches every good cook needs on hand in the kitchen

FOOD LOVER’S CROSSWORD

See how much you really know about the world of food

THIS MONTH IN THE delicious. KITCHEN…

While the delicious.team are testing recipes, they’re often debating the best ways to do things, as well as answering cooking questions that arise in the test kitchen. What’s the best way to prepare globe artichokes? How do you make the perfect meringue? Can you rescue an over-proved dough? It’s the kind of information you won’t find anywhere else, and it will help take your cooking to the next level.

PISTACHIO ROSE BOSTOCKS from Dominique Ansel Bakery

“These beautiful treats are exclusive to our London