Vivid colours and powerful fresh flavours to welcome the brighter days of early May Sorrel, asparagus, radishes: at last, some strong colours and flavours. After I’ve doused asparagus spears with melted butter at least once I’m up for something new, so we’ve been eating British asparagus with lemon-spiked gnocchi. The mellow of the cream and soft white fish underwrites the pepper of the seared radish in a quick and sustaining supper. Sorrel adds its vivid splash of green to a fresh and bolstering spring soup. This is food for the brighter days of May ..read more

From a maximalist pumpkin soup to a low-and-slow dal, these are the dishes to cook when you seek comfort and flavour Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email Vegetable and bean soup reads so quotidian; ribollita is a far more elegant-sounding name. This thick Tuscan stew is an excellent way to use the odds and ends in your kitchen – that onion rolling around in your fridge crisper, that tin of beans from when you promised you’d eat more legumes, that nub of parmesan rind. Tear up some stale bread, stir it through the soup in the final minutes of cooking then, if you like, pop it under a h ..read more

A big slab of lush, chocolate heaven with a velvety crumb and mascarpone icing, and just made for sharing and showing off I almost never say no to chocolate cake. I’m a sucker for them all, from super-fudgy, flourless ones to intensely dark tortes. But this is the chocolate cake I’ll make for a crowd. It’s an easy, one-bowl bake with a velvety crumb and a milk chocolate mascarpone frosting that brings a luscious, creamy texture. Casual yet decadent. Discover this recipe and many more from your favourite cooks in the new Guardian Feast app, with smart features to make everyday cooking easier an ..read more

Aquafaba comes to the rescue again as the egg substitute in these very convincing vegan meringues The egg is an everyday miracle – so basic, so cheap, so reliably astonishing in its protean ability to morph from rich custard to airy mousse – and its removal from the equation leaves a gaping culinary hole. And, though plant-based fats are pretty easy to find, for a long time recreating the sturdy foam of whisked egg whites in particular was a challenge that had chefs, scientists and hungry vegans scratching their heads. According to Sébastien Kardinal and Laura Veganpower, despite experimentati ..read more

Rich, crisp, complex, decadent – and no pastry in sight! There’s a pub in east London that serves one of my favourite ever desserts. The Marksman’s brown butter and honey tart is rich, crisp and full of depth – everything you could ever want from a sweet tart. Here, I’ve tried to recreate its flavour in the form of custard pots to serve at the end of dinner with an elegant grating of good-quality dark chocolate. Discover this recipe and over 1,000 more from your favourite cooks on the new Guardian Feast app, with smart features to make everyday cooking easier and more fun ..read more

A marvel from the maestro of Mexican food: a smoky tomato hotchpotch of chicken in a spicy sauce, and a velvety, milky coffee flan with hints of vanilla and dark caramel Flowers are frequently used in Mexican cookery, and dried hibiscus is one of my favourites. The flowers have a tart, cranberry-like flavour that’s a little reminiscent of sumac or pomegranate molasses, and they work wonderfully in soft drinks, cocktails and puddings. They also work well in savoury dishes such as today’s smoky tomato tinga, or shredded chicken in a spiced sauce. As for the pudding, imagine a coffee cake rolled ..read more

More than a decade after acai bowls reached peak popularity in Australia, the Amazonian berry is back, with a dedicated TikTok fanbase – and a soft-serve makeover Get our weekend culture and lifestyle email In Old Guildford, a suburb in Sydney’s west, there’s a small cafe open until midnight called Caffeine Hit. It’s a fair walk from the main strip, in a mainly residential area, with a bottle shop next door and an Arabic church across the road. It doesn’t have a flashy dining room, a fancy menu or a famous chef, but there’s often an evening queue outside. Everyone is there to get one thing ..read more

Spring’s fresh new shoots deserve the very lightest touch The tender young shoots are here, long-stemmed broccoli, purple sprouting and early asparagus all waiting in line in for a spoonful of hollandaise sauce. I ring the changes by stirring in a few fresh garlic or tarragon leaves, or the finely grated zest of an orange, then add a textural contrast with toasted almonds or fried breadcrumbs – sometimes both ..read more

A creamy mango frozen dessert with a salty-sour chilli kick inspired by a Mexican street-food favourite I spent two glorious weeks in Mexico City last year, and nearly every day I bought a large cup of the juiciest mango, all chopped up and sprinkled generously with a bright-red powder that I quickly learned was called Tajín. This is a ready-made spicy mix of chilli peppers, lime and salt that transforms mango into a perfectly sweet, spicy, tangy snack with which I soon became obsessed. I’ve channelled those flavours into this semifreddo for a refreshing, no-bake pudding. Discover Benjamina’s ..read more

Scoop something cold and sweet into something soft and bready for a scrumptious sandwich treat The Amalfi coast, summer 2005: I’m 14 years old and on a family holiday. I keep seeing people eating these brioche rolls stuffed with ice-cream and, naturally, they’re all I can think about. When I finally get one, it’s not at all how I’d imagined – the brioche is a bit stale, and the sun melts the ice-cream inside and it runs down my elbow. I still love the idea of it, though, and I like to think this version is an improvement on that first one I ate in Italy ..read more