Diana Henry's Oven To Table Recipes
by Diana Henry
Telegraph food writer Diana Henry's cookbook Oven to the Table: simple dishes that look after themselves is a celebration of generous but simple cooking. Recipes that are as comforting as they are vibrant, inspired by flavours from around the world but rooted in the warmth of home. From golden roast chicken layered with spices to bubbling gratins and rustic fruit bakes, her dishes are designed for ease, but never compromise on taste.
The dishes below strike the perfect balance: simple enough for weeknights, yet full of flair for entertaining. They showcase how the right spices, herbs, and pantry ingredients can transform everyday meals into something memorable — without keeping you tied to the stove.
So whether you’re cooking for family, friends, or just yourself, Diana Henry’s From the Oven to the Table brings that irresistible mix of practicality, comfort, and inspiration that makes cooking (and eating) a true pleasure.
"The flavours of a tajine without the fuss. This is quite sweet, because of the prunes, so it does need the preserved lemon to cut through that. If you don’t like prunes (I know they divide people), use dried apricots or pitted dates instead. "
"My adaptation of a Moroccan dish; there the result is usually much sweeter and can be more elaborate. In a wonderful Moroccan restaurant called La Mansouria, in Paris, I’ve eaten a version of this dish which even contained pounded rose petals (though, to be honest, you couldn’t tell). Moroccans also serve the sauce on its own as part of their mezze.
Recipes should be guides rather than instructions set in stone, but in this case do what the recipe says: reduce the sauce until it is really jammy."
"This, a kind of white gazpacho, is an amazing dish. The worst cooks can’t muck it up, you can make it in the last ten minutes before guests arrive, and the unpromising ingredients of yesterday’s bread, almonds, garlic, water, and oil are whipped into something eminently appetizing. Needless to say, neither the almonds nor the garlic should be old; in fact, plenty of purists would pound freshly shelled almonds in a mortar and pestle, or so they tell me. The stale bread should have been good in the first place and the oil should be the best. Serve ajo blanco well chilled in very small portions: it’s pretty rich."
About the author
Diana Henry is one of the UK’s best-loved food writers. She has a weekly column in the Sunday Telegraph and writes for BBC Good Food, House & Garden and Waitrose Weekend, as well as being a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4. She also has a series of popular podcasts, in which she interviews other prominent names in the food world. Her journalism and books are multi-award-winning. Diana’s last book, How to Eat a Peach, won the André Simon Food Book of the Year for 2018, while A Bird in the Hand won a James Beard Award in 2016. Her other titles have won book of the year at both the Fortnum & Mason Food and Drink Awards and at the Guild of Food Writers awards. Diana has written several books, including Crazy Water Pickled Lemons, Cook Simple, Food from Plenty, Salt Sugar Smoke, A Change of Appetite, A Bird in the Hand, Simple and How to Eat a Peach.
