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There’s a certain kind of Londoner who has turned their lockdown experience into their own personal ‘MasterChef’. Their only competition? Themselves (oh, and all the other people posting pictures of their dinner on Instagram.)
These new culinary whizzes have spent the past two months sautéeing, flambéeing, deep-fat frying, blitzing and mixing their way to restaurant-standard dinners, while the rest of us have been weighing up whether to get an oven pizza or a takeaway one.
We asked Londoners to show us the best thing they cooked in lockdown, and these cooks came out in their droves to share pictures of their most delicious dishes. Their pictures – of everything from meze to burgers to full englishes to a giant lemon meringue pie – are great encouragement if you’ve got stuck in a cooking rut.
Today we salute these cooks, for their tenacity, drive, ambition and ability to inspire us to, maybe, cook something too.
Middle Eastern feast complete with homemade falafel and humous, cous cous salad and home baked pitta bread pic.twitter.com/yMMbdVTb0x
— Alice Burns (@aeburns92) May 12, 2020
Brazilian stew (feijoada) with black turtle beans, pork, chorizo and bacon accompanied by rice and cavolo nero 😊 pic.twitter.com/PvRwP1339f
— Kasia Churchill (@kazia66) May 12, 2020
A mezze platter with cheese bourekas, roasted aubergine, spinach with a garlic yoghurt, falafels and jewelled couscous! pic.twitter.com/XiH4IXegSZ
— Hannah Brandler (@hannah_brandler) May 12, 2020
This bowl of udon for sure! 🍲 pic.twitter.com/xhlWulbD7H
— lou2000 (@loudemile) May 12, 2020
— Knowledge Monkey (@KnowledgeMonke1) May 12, 2020
Pan fried duck breast, wild garlic pesto and shakshuka pic.twitter.com/kJJEyZUeti
— hungry tiger (@hungry_tiger71) May 12, 2020
Isolating alone but I've cooked something new from scratch everyday of the (for me) 55 day lock down. It has kept me sane. Here's buta no kakuni. pic.twitter.com/8W9siau5VB
— tomhall (@contentedtom) May 12, 2020
Butter Chicken with toasted cashews, always a winner! pic.twitter.com/iSEoThNfA3
— Dinner Ladies (@dinner__ladies) May 12, 2020
Leftovers utilised; fajita chicken & asparagus omelette on sourdough with marinara sauce topped with fresh dill. pic.twitter.com/xBErBai6YN
— Jason (@JasonR_86) May 12, 2020
We made a whole My Neighbour Totoro showstopper complete with Cat Bus, Totoro, chocolate trees and pistachio crumb grass 😇 pic.twitter.com/bk2m8rPTdX
— Katie (@katiestringer_) May 12, 2020
Made lemon meringue pie last night inspired by Gloria @bigmammagroup 🍋🥧 pic.twitter.com/NLUlpYWvUe
— A$AP Gnocchi • Joelle Owusu (@Joelle_o) May 12, 2020
Gnocchi alla sorrentina 😋🔝 pic.twitter.com/YafoAnW3Uc
— Simone (@Skylon27) May 12, 2020
Has to be my tapas! Patatas bravas/alioli, ensaladilla, tortilla, padrón peppers, chorizo, manchego, jamón (er, had to cheat with Parma ham) and bread. pic.twitter.com/hu76l9cdLU
— Chris (@kristojaxx) May 12, 2020
Indonesian sweet martabak - a kind of pancake, marble cake and Indonesian spicy shredded chicken with basil! 👩🏻🍳🇲🇨🇲🇨🇲🇨 pic.twitter.com/Xfge7r9V6Q
— Dyah Widiastuti (@dyahwie) May 12, 2020
Pizza da padella pic.twitter.com/UwC0MypuA2
— 𝔡𝔢 𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔣𝔬𝔯𝔱 🌊 (@nancydemontfort) May 12, 2020
@Nigella_Lawson 's brilliant strawberry meringue layer cake for a lockdown birthday. pic.twitter.com/qqAsomd23v
— Charlie Burt (@CharlieKBurt) May 12, 2020
#Hummus Bil Lahmeh (Hummus With Meat) a traditional Palestinian hummus dish topped with warmly spiced beef meat, toasted pine nuts, olive oil & Sumaq, served with pickled turnips, served with pita bread & mint, lemon garnishes because they are healthy & colourful!#bonappetit pic.twitter.com/pFfjy3YZxt
— Aser El Saqqa (@AserSaqqa) May 12, 2020
It’s been fun so far - @WorkshopCoffee iced filter; pici cacio e pepe recipe from @TimeOutLondon by @Padella_Pasta; banana cake recipe by @kaffeinelondon and the @pattyandbunjoe Ari Gold burger amongst other dishes... pic.twitter.com/3fE2BGdFux
— Hugo Bieber (@thehugobieber) May 12, 2020
American style blueberry pancakes w/ maple syrup 🤤 pic.twitter.com/JMHnsLg26l
— dave (@davidpox) May 12, 2020
Probably this spinach and ricotta #lasagne from @jamieoliver 👌🏻 pic.twitter.com/PGeRoXLq9O
— Zsofia Bkny (@ZBokanyi) May 12, 2020
made a whole damn vegan doner kebab from scratch, better than the p!ssed up real thing tbh pic.twitter.com/QKz062nXuw
— John Longland (@JPLongland) May 12, 2020
It's a toss up between last weekend's outrageous steak with all the sides and this Pad Thai - cooking and eating is the only thing keeping me sane. pic.twitter.com/6ZwMDRzABa
— Katherine Brook (@KJVBrook) May 12, 2020
— TheLondonHusky🐺🇬🇧 (@RavePigeon) May 12, 2020
Cakes! But more importantly, my Carrot and Apple Cake 🍰 pic.twitter.com/9RAFeTE4YP
— PDOT 🐝 (@pauly_wauly_) May 12, 2020
Here are a few favourites: lasagne, shakshuka, karage and nasi goreng pic.twitter.com/hNyr55nv57
— Hannah Page (@HanHanPagey) May 12, 2020
Fish, fish and fish pic.twitter.com/IJD9EopgFg
— Joanna S (@es_joanna) May 12, 2020
— Jared Evans (@jarede) May 12, 2020
Roast lamb with an Indian twist pic.twitter.com/hN2ssNdrQy
— Sunetra Chakravarti (@csunetra) May 12, 2020
Read our three-ingredient recipe series.
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