Nigella Lawson

Eight famous cooks reveal their secrets for making dinner extra special

“There is nothing worse than going for Christmas lunch and finding someone’s done something interesting,” Nigella Lawson declared in her first column for British Vogue’s December 1995 issue.

A thick, creamy pottage that’s a cross between a stew and a slightly soupy, sticky risotto

Chorizo sausages combine with mince and mozzarella to make a quick Tex-Mex-inspired bowl of chilli

You only need to cook the pasta for this easy dish

A comforting fruit pudding – just add custard

No condiment has divided the world quite like Marmite, but it makes a flavoursome sauce for spaghetti that even your kids will love, says Nigella Lawson

In December 1995, Nigella Lawson opened her inaugural British Vogue column with some refreshingly sensible advice for the home cook at Christmas. “There is nothing worse than going out for Christmas lunch and finding someone’s done something interesting,” she began. “I don’t want pheasant Marengo or lobster medallions in Armagnac sauce; I want turkey, Brussels sprouts with chestnuts, bread sauce, roast potatoes, dense, aromatic, herby stuffing, and a great pink roast ham, parsley-smothered or sp…

Nigella Lawson’s no-fuss, alluring yet relatable cooking style is as legendary as her trips to the fridge for a midnight feast and her pronunciation of ‘microwave’. From simmering ham in Coca-Cola to buttering toast twice, here we reveal her greatest (and most controversial) cooking tips.

At the time of writing, I confess you will need to go to an Italian deli or specialist food outlet for fregola, the sun-dried and toasted Sardinian ‘couscous’ specified for this recipe. I wouldn’t substitute regular couscous for the fregola, which is rather more like dense pasta peas than semolina grains, and thus most comparable to the larger Middle-Eastern or Israeli couscous which could be used in its stead.