Recipe Zine

These are not aspirational recipes. There is no dish here that takes a weekend or a special trip. They are the six things I actually make, on ordinary evenings, when I want to eat well without turning it into a project. Quantities are guidance, not law. Every one of these recipes has been made badly and still tasted good, which is the only real test.

Serves 2 · 15 minutes INGREDIENTS 200g spaghetti 1 lemon — all the zest, half the juice 40g parmesan, finely grated, plus more 30g butter Black pepper, more than feels reasonable METHOD Boil the pasta in water salted like the sea. While it cooks, grind the pepper into a cold pan — a lot of it — and toast it dry over medium heat for thirty seconds, until it smells sharp. Add the butter and let it foam. Lift the pasta straight from the water into the pan with tongs, bringing a good splash of the cooking water with it. Off the heat, add the cheese and lemon zest, and toss hard until it turns glossy rather than grainy. This takes longer than you think. Add lemon juice at the very end, taste, and add more pepper.

Serves 4 · 90 minutes, almost all of it unattended INGREDIENTS 1 chicken, about 1.6kg 1 lemon, halved A head of garlic, cut across the middle Olive oil, salt, pepper METHOD Salt the chicken generously the night before and leave it uncovered in the fridge. This one step matters more than everything else combined — it dries the skin and seasons the meat all the way through. Heat the oven to 220°C. Put the lemon and garlic inside the bird, oil the skin, and roast for 20 minutes. Drop the heat to 180°C and give it another 45 to 55 minutes. Rest it for 15 minutes before carving. Do not skip this either. Pour the resting juices back over the carved meat.