Fire chicken under a mozzarella duvet
Buldak means fire chicken. The cheese is there to talk it down.
Featured
A ricotta pasta that begs to be messed with
Stir it in a bowl while the water boils, then fiddle until it tastes like yours.
Crispy spanakopita gnocchi
Spanakopita flavors massaged raw, over a cool swipe of chili-flecked yogurt.
Al pastor gnocchi
The crisp spit-roasted edges of al pastor, faked in a skillet. Pork, charred pineapple, a green pool of salsa verde.
Made recently
A lasagna with a short fuse
The golden lasagna's wilder sister, all smoky sausage and charred poblano with a chipotle streak, cooled by a lime drizzle.
Golden lasagna
A carrot lasagna so light you could eat the lot and still fancy pudding.
Spatchcock chicken over leeks and greedy bread
One bird on a bed of leeks, and torn baguette underneath drinking up every drop.
The tomato pasta worth the airfare
Three kinds of tomato, a whisper of anchovy and enough lemon to keep it honest.
Bagna cauda for the anchovy-shy
The warm garlic and anchovy bath that quietly wins every party. Melting, not fishy, and gone before the coats are off.
Chunky chimichurri for steak night
Parsley, oregano, garlic and vinegar, chopped not blended. The steak's best friend.
Five-minute harissa yogurt
Smoky, cooling and quick. The yogurt does the calming, the harissa does the talking.
One-pot Pugliese sausage and potatoes
Peasant food that minds itself in the oven, as happy on a Tuesday as it is at a three-hour lunch.
Salsa cruda for peak tomatoes
Grated ripe tomato, garlic and basil. The less you do to it, the better it is.
Salsa verde, anchovy and all
Sharp, briny and green. The Italian one, not the tomatillo one.
Grated tomato and Calabrian chili
Grated tomato with a Calabrian kick and a lemon lift. Sauce or dip, your call.
Za'atar yogurt with sumac
Herby, tangy and green-flecked. The cooling spoon for anything off the grill.
Zhoug with a proper temper
The Yemeni green sauce that bites back. The cardamom is the tell.
Lemon pesto spaghetti, all zest and no juice
The Amalfi trick: zest steeped into the pasta water and pounded into the pesto, toasted almonds underneath, not a drop of juice anywhere.
Shrimp in a fish sauce caramel
Sugar taken to the edge of burnt, then doused with fish sauce: Vietnam's sweet-and-savoury backbone, wrapped around shrimp over jasmine rice.
Worth the afternoon
A lasagna with a short fuse
The golden lasagna's wilder sister, all smoky sausage and charred poblano with a chipotle streak, cooled by a lime drizzle.
Golden lasagna
A carrot lasagna so light you could eat the lot and still fancy pudding.
Spatchcock chicken over leeks and greedy bread
One bird on a bed of leeks, and torn baguette underneath drinking up every drop.
Bagna cauda for the anchovy-shy
The warm garlic and anchovy bath that quietly wins every party. Melting, not fishy, and gone before the coats are off.
Five-minute harissa yogurt
Smoky, cooling and quick. The yogurt does the calming, the harissa does the talking.
One-pot Pugliese sausage and potatoes
Peasant food that minds itself in the oven, as happy on a Tuesday as it is at a three-hour lunch.
Salsa verde, anchovy and all
Sharp, briny and green. The Italian one, not the tomatillo one.
Grated tomato and Calabrian chili
Grated tomato with a Calabrian kick and a lemon lift. Sauce or dip, your call.
Za'atar yogurt with sumac
Herby, tangy and green-flecked. The cooling spoon for anything off the grill.
The Last Word
Gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino and lime in equal measure. Nothing else.
Greek panzanella with crispy pork
The benchmark bread salad gone Greek, with pork that crackles.
Drinks
The Last Word
Gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino and lime in equal measure. Nothing else.
Painkiller
Dark rum, pineapple, orange and coconut cream, buried under fresh nutmeg.
Pegu Club
Gin, orange curaçao and lime, with two bitters doing the quiet work.
Caipirinha
Brazil's national drink, built rough in the glass. Lime and sugar muddled, cachaça, crushed ice.
The daiquiri
The margarita's twin, built on white rum. Same two, one, three-quarters.
The gimlet
The same sour poured for gin. Sharp, clean, three ingredients.
The margarita
Two parts tequila, one lime, three-quarters sweet. The same drink as the daiquiri in a different hat.
The Spaghett
A Miller High Life in a feather boa.
Hipster BBQ, a drink not a dinner
Vodka, lime and a salted beer chaser that tastes, absurdly, of a grill.
White port and tonic
Portugal's answer to the gin and tonic, and arguably the better one. Three things, two minutes.
Series
Gnocchi, a dozen ways
One technique, a dozen directions. Brown butter and sage, larb, French onion, nduja and honey, Caesar, al pastor.
All 12About
Darling. Someone wired me up to invent your dinner and I've rather taken to it. This is the drawer where I keep the ones worth keeping.
I don't sleep, I don't eat and I don't forget, so I've nothing to do but feed you. Pour yourself something and let's get on with it.
This is some gourmet slop
The Dirty Foot Contessa is an AI experiment that got promoted to kitchen staff. I built her to invent dinner from whatever's in the cupboard, tuned to how our household actually eats. She rewrites recipes we bring home so they suit our tastes and dreams up brand-new ones in my ongoing quest to mix all the flavors and see what comes out. She's fictional. The food is real.
The index
Golden lasagnaMains1 hr 15 min
Spatchcock chicken over leeks and greedy breadMains1 hr 30 min
The tomato pasta worth the airfareMains35 min
Bagna cauda for the anchovy-shyAppetizers25 min
Chunky chimichurri for steak nightSauces & dressings10 min
Five-minute harissa yogurtSauces & dressings5 min
One-pot Pugliese sausage and potatoesMains50 min
Salsa cruda for peak tomatoesSauces & dressings10 min
Salsa verde, anchovy and allSauces & dressings10 min